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Old 4 Apr 16, 03:52 PM  
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Wobbles
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Howling @ the Horror 2015 - Day 3 - HHN (1)

Back to Day Two

We woke up at 8am which is a much more respectable time and had a lazy breakfast before jumping into the car for Universal. I couldn't wait partly for HHN, our reason for being there in the first place and Diagon Alley, which hadn't opened last time we were there.

Now, we do about 4 - 5 nights at HHN so insteadof repeating the same stuff each time, I am going to pick on one house and scareszone to chat about... and give you one of our tips. We have been "perfecting our version of a HHN holiday for about 6 years now so have picked up lots of tips along the way.

We stay in the same DIBB villa in Windwood Bay near to Championsgate when we go, we like its closeness to the I4 and the 192. Last year we did notice an increase in traffic around the 535 turn off but its still a smooth trip up to Universal from "home" Mr W does all the driving and we tend to spend a lot of the first couple of trips just reading the signs and avoiding the lorries...

We paid for Preferred Parking at Universal, its only $5 more and its great for a quick get away. And once parked we headed into the Parks. Now this year I needed to point out to Mr W the adventure golf @ Universal, despite our many many trips since it had opened, he had never noticed it and it was top of my list this year!



(more on that later...)

We naturally turned right and paused a moment outside of the late lamented NASCAR, we loved that place and were hoping for a soft opening of NBC whilst we were there...



But then as we turned to the Globe we saw the sign we have been waiting for - Jack was Back



Wobble HHN Tip Number 1 - Get an all day locker at the entrance of Universal. $8 and it stays open until HHN closes. We keep our "horror" T-Shirts, small washing kit and towel, change of clothes if we are doing water rides and valuables, meaning we carry very little round the park.

By now its about 1130 and there was only one place I wanted to go and that was Kings Cross Station. Although I live in the West Country, I work in London and like most commuters I am obsessed with train timetables, alternative routes and travel around London. I often have to leave from Kings Cross -so was very excited about seeing it and it didn't disappoint... (and we saw St Neots on the departures board which I got extra excited about as I travel their regularly). The attention to detail was amazing, even Mr W was impressed with the station (including the snack shop half way round).





I got more and more excited when by the time the train pulled in, it looked so much like a British Rail carriage, we were sharing with an American Family who were just as excited about sharing the carriage with people who had been to Kings Cross than they were the ride



All I am going to say is WOW WOW WOW - I am never going to travel between the parks any other way. We did the journey about 5 or 10 times in total each way and never queued more than about 10 minutes in total including walking time.

The queues at Forbidden Journey were only 30 minutes so we shoved our bags in a locker and headed for the queue. Since our last visit I have put on a lot of weight and I knew I would be borderline, I checked outside just OK put we were both pulled aside inside (I think Mr W was just pulled to make me feel less bad) - again just for an outside chair (I am a 22/24 Uk sizing for reference) - so we were good to go, but its a great incentive to loose some weight. The ride is as fantastic as ever.

The lockers were broken when we got out and there were a group of security guards opening each locker in turn and asking you to produce ID from your bags or describe the content, we were lucky we had a photocopy of our passports in there. The family next to us were getting a much more difficult time as they couldn't even remember the colour of the bags.

After FJ, we headed down to the Lost Continent but stopped first to watch the Hogwarts Choir... They had new songs this year



We then headed to a counter service point for a quick snack of dipping dots as we would be eating in about an hour for supper.

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Trip Reports
Howling @ the Horror 2015 (Complete)
Who knew Toronto was on the Med (Complete)
Getting Our Kicks - Pre Trippie

Edited at 12:20 PM. Reason: Getting my Days Muddled!
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Old 4 Apr 16, 05:04 PM  
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By now it was about 2.30 and we wanted to eat about 3.30 to be sure of being back in Universal for 5pm. We didn't want to do water rides today so we wandered through Lost Continent watching the speaking fountain having a hard time from a 10 year old Scots Lad.

We love Suess Landing, its so colourful and cheerful, we did the Carosel and Cat in the Hat ride for a bit of fun.



I resisted the urge to fill Mr W Christmas Stockings for the next few years with odds and ends from the shops (that can come later...) but we did enjoy just ambling, we can do that knowing we would be back... however rumbling tummies we excited through the Point of Entry and headed to Margaritaville for a late lunch/early supper.

...only to find we were that hungry, so we decided just to order some wings, fries and some Volcano Nachoes.



We, err, underestimated the size of the Nachos... Before



And After (and we didn't eat again all day)



All in all - a great meal, it was the only meal we purchased all day and with tip and soft drinks it came to $47 dollars, we miss NASCAR but its work a trip.

As it was about 4pm we waddled back to Universal, I stopped to pick up our frequent fear with Express passes tickets. I like the "Will Call" process at Universal and find it easy to use and very qucik - just remember your credit card and reference number. We took photos of the back of the tickets (just in case we lost them) and headed back into Universal on our day tickets.

We treated ourselves to HHN lanyards and Jack Pins from Aftershock and squeezed in a cheeky Twister (we will miss that ride and hope the concrete cows will be re-housed - "Cow - Another Cow" we miss you ...)

We then headed to the holding area by Flannigans, we always use the holding pens as it gives us a chance to chill before hand. If you have never been before, head to the pens, you can see the park being prepared and just follow the crowd when it starts to move...



We take a drink into the Pen and the time just flies by. As this is our first evening, we aimed to do half of the houses and just enjoy the environment. So we focused on the Front and did The Jack Presents house, American Warewolf in London, Freddie V Jason and Bone Collectors.

We also did Scary Tales and The Block Party Scare Zones...

Each day I am going to share a couple of shots of one of the scare zones and from the behind of the screams tour of the house - today

Scary Tales and Freddie v Jason

The steam punked theme Scare Zone Scary Tales has some things in common with Disney costume, there is not a lot of things more scary than a slim princess with a chainsaw.





It wasn't our favourite scare zone, we would give it a 3/5 there was a lot of smoke but not a lot of places to hide but the costumes were brilliant and the steam punk light effects after dark - great.

On to the house, I have never seen Friday 13th but love Nightmare on Elm Street, the first time through the house, I missed every single Jason but I caught almost every Freddie. This house was brilliant, it helps to know the films but even as a stand alone, the 6ft 5 (plus) Jasons are very effective.




We loved this house, it mixed elements from both franchises extremely well and the tweek of not knowing who would win each time you went through was a great twist to the house. We give it 4/5

After another drink, we decided to head home as we didn't want to do too much on our first evening. By 10pm we were back in the Villa with cold beers, we found Friday 13th on Cable and went to bed later than planned anyway!

Days Spends
Parking/Locker at Universal - 34.36
Two Bottles of Soda at Universal - 5.50
Drinks and Dipping Dots - 16.18
Lunch at Margaritaville - 47.00
More Drinks at Universal - 7.13
Third Round of soft drinks at Universal - 7.13
HHN25 Lanyards and Pins - 52.48

Total Daily Spend - 169.78
Running Total - 403.87
Average Daily Spend - 134.64

On to Day 4
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Trip Reports
Howling @ the Horror 2015 (Complete)
Who knew Toronto was on the Med (Complete)
Getting Our Kicks - Pre Trippie

Edited at 03:13 PM.
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Old 5 Apr 16, 01:10 AM  
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Jojoba
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Really enjoying your trip report, I love The Walking Dead and Thorpe Park Fright night mazes, so I would love to do HHN one year when DD isn't restricted to one weeks holiday in October!
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Old 9 Apr 16, 06:10 PM  
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Wobbles
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Originally Posted by Jojoba View Post
Really enjoying your trip report, I love The Walking Dead and Thorpe Park Fright night mazes, so I would love to do HHN one year when DD isn't restricted to one weeks holiday in October!
Its 100 times better than Thorpe Park, well worth a trip, I hope you make it soon
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Who knew Toronto was on the Med (Complete)
Getting Our Kicks - Pre Trippie
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Old 19 Apr 16, 05:16 PM  
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Fright Nights is awful!
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Old 22 Apr 16, 12:57 PM  
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Reading this has made me so excited for our trip! We've got 2 nights planned for HHN (we last went in 2012) and literally cannot wait.

We've never done the houses or scare zones whilst it's still light tho, does it change the experience at all? We want to make the most of it so plan on getting there for opening.

Thank you for sharing
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Old 20 May 16, 09:45 PM  
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I love Rainbow Dippin' Dots, I could eat my body weight in them.

Those Nachos look amazing!
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Old 20 May 16, 10:19 PM  
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really enjoying your trip report. Wouldn't mind a plate of nachos now though and a cold beer..
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Old 21 May 16, 07:20 PM  
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Originally Posted by collybird View Post
I love Rainbow Dippin' Dots, I could eat my body weight in them.

Those Nachos look amazing!
LOL - Are you my twin Colette? I see we are even heading back next September!

Originally Posted by orlandolover04 View Post
really enjoying your trip report. Wouldn't mind a plate of nachos now though and a cold beer..
It was a very large plate - so have plenty of friends around
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Howling @ the Horror 2015 (Complete)
Who knew Toronto was on the Med (Complete)
Getting Our Kicks - Pre Trippie
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Old 21 May 16, 10:15 PM  
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Great start to HHN!
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