I went to the second night of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was a fun event, but wasn't exactly up to par as to what the event has been in the past. There were eight haunted houses this year, and I went through six of them. I will return to go through the remaining two. Some of the haunted houses seemed to have a lot of potential to be really good, but didn't quite work out right. Others were just plain bad. Out of all of the houses I went through, there was nothing that was really a huge standout.
My personal favorite house of the night was called The Hallow. It was filled with all sorts of classic Halloween imagery like Jack-o-Lanterns, scarecrows, cornfields, witches, and lots of other good Halloween stuff. This house could have been really good, but the actors in the house really seemed to be lacking. There were times where I would go several scenes without seeing a single actor, and when there was a monster, they just stood there. There was lots of potential here for improvement, but I still enjoyed the house.
Another one of the better, but still mediocre houses was the Body Collectors house. It was one of the houses with lots of potential, with great sets, characters, and the occasional good special effect, but something just seemed off in the house. I remember liking the original Body Collectors haunted house from a few years ago a whole lot better. I'll need to give this one another try.
Dead Exposure was a haunted house that I found really didn't work too well. Before going to the event, I was told by someone who went the night before that this was the best house at the park. I thought it was one of the worst. I found it to be lots of improperly used strobeing blacklights with an occasional glow in the dark zombie. The story had to do with someone taking pictures of zombies or something, hence all the flashing, but it was nothing obvious. It really didn't work, but the only redeeming factors were the people in the floor and ceiling...
Reflections of Fear was the house that featured the events icon, Bloody Mary. The house seemed to be about phobias, but again, it didn't work too well. Out of the houses I went through this was definitely in the bottom three. The only cool thing in here was the claustrophobic hallways that you had to push your way through. Thinking about it, I don't think there has ever been a haunted house in this location (Jaws line) that I liked.
Then there was the Doomsday house. This was just as bad as Dead Exposure, but in a different way. I had no idea what this house was supposed to be. There were biker type people, people with chainsaws, and times when it seemed like the house had a nightclub vibe. It seemed very similar to the setup and execution of last years Texas Chainsaw Massacre house, but at least I had some idea of what was supposed to be happening in that house. I don't think I saw a single actor in here either from entering the house until I was three quarters through.
The remaining house that I went through was called Creatures. It seemed to feature rednecks, giant worms, and aliens. It took way too long for me to figure out what was going on here. The first half of the house seemed to feature no creatures, and just bars filled with people talking with southern accents and shooting at stuff. Then the second half seemed to completely switch to large animatronic aliens. It was a bit strange, but had some pretty nice sets and the aliens were cool. I think I'll need to try this one again when I go back to go through the remaining two houses.
While the haunted houses seemed to be lacking this year, the scarezones were wonderful. Upon entering the park, there was a Wizard of Oz themed scarezone called Path of the Wicked. It had the Wicked Witch taunting the crowds, the Cowardly Lion, The Scarecrow, the Tin man, Munchkins, and some very cool flying monkeys soaring over the street.
The Asylum in Wonderland scarezone was also very cool. It was a nice area poking fun on what could be considered Disney characters. Lots of fog, good lighting effects, and all of the characters seemed to be very good at ganging up on certain people here...
Another really good scarezone was The Skoolhouse. This scarezone seemed to be related to the Hallow haunted house with the classic Halloween theme. An old school house was built, and all of the actors here were dressed up as trick-or-treaters, all holding the classic Jack-o-Lantern candy baskets. Beyond the schoolhouse, the scarezone continued into a wooded area where all of the trees were covered in Jack-o-Lanterns. It was a very well done area, and one of my favorites.
The American Gothic Scarezone had some interesting monsters, but I didn't walk through this area after dark to get the full effect.
The Streets of Blood scare zone really didn't too much for me. Lots of people walking around in Victorian clothes, but that seemed to be about it...
The remaining scarezone called Fractured Tales was another very cool area. It featured fairy tale creatures and was a very fun area overall. The scarecrows at the entrance of the area were great...
The majority of the shows this year weren't anything all that great, although Brian Brushwood's show is always fun to watch.
Oh yes, FOOD!
On this visit, I had some pizza for dinner...
As far as theme park pizza goes, Universal makes good pies. Most theme park pizza is overpriced personal sized pies that seem to be nothing more than bad frozen pizzas. At Universal Studios, there is a restaurant in the New York section of the park called Louie's Italian Restaurant. Here, they make full sized pies rather than the personal sized pizzas. The taste of the pizza, the willingness of the employees to do special orders on the toppings, as well as the imperfections in the crust lead me to believe that the restaurant employees are actually making the pies in the back instead of just heating up pre-made frozen pizza.
On this visit, I ordered a Garden Vegetable pizza, minus the mushrooms. It was a good pizza, but I had problems with the crust and the toppings. I thought the pie could have been cooked a little bit longer to make a slightly crispier crust, although it seemed consistent with the pizza I have eaten here in the past. A generous amount of the toppings were piled onto this pizza. There was no lack of green peppers and onions, but they didn't seem to be cooked into the pizza too well. The toppings seemed like they were piled onto the pie halfway through cooking, so not all of them stuck to the cheese. It was a minor thing, and the pizza held together for the most part except for the occasional bell pepper that decided to escape.
As far as theme park pizza goes, this was a good pie. If you compare it to non-theme park pizza, it would be average, but still tasty.
Something interesting did happen while I was eating the pizza though. A guy in a wheelchair rolled up and dropped a business card with an American flag pin stuck through it. My initial thought was that he was handing out church propaganda to all of us pagans that were enjoying our Halloween event, but it was worse than that. He was begging for money. The card talked about how he was deaf and for a donation of $3, we could keep the pin to help with his expenses. I wonder if those expenses included the admission that he paid to get into the park, which would have cost somewhere between $30 to $70. As we were eating, he probably made about $50 in ten minutes before coming back the section of the restaurant where I was sitting and collecting his card. By the end of the night, he must have made a huge amount of money. Whether he was really deaf or not, no one should be subjected to being solicited for money while eating when you pay an overpriced admission to get into a theme park.
Other than that, Halloween Horror Nights was good, and so was the pizza...
