The First Draft

I was *blessed* to be able to attend Halloween Horror Nights this year with one of my good friends from my DCP!

I flew to Florida on Friday, September 10, and was there until early Sunday morning.

When I landed, I grabbed my bag and took a Lyft to Cabana Bay! I’d never stayed there, and honestly I’d love to go back. The pool area looked like SO MUCH fun, but the only times we were really around the hotel were when it was rainy or we were asleep.

After I dropped my stuff off and changed, we went to Universal Studios and did the majority of our souvenir shopping! We wanted to get it done on Day 1 so that we weren’t searching for merch instead of doing houses. We started off by getting something to eat (and our refillable cups) at the Today Cafe, and it was wonderful. After that, we picked up our AP buttons and magnets, and hit up the tribute store.

After our shopping was complete, we went back to the hotel, and dropped off all of our new stuff.

After that it was back to the parks! We managed to do all 10 houses in one night, in this order: Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, Revenge of the Tooth Fairy, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, HHN Icons: Captured, The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin, Welcome to Scarey: Horror in the Heartland, Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience, Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth, The Haunting of Hill House, and last but not least- Beetlejuice.

Overall I thought the houses were good. I would say that Revenge of the Tooth Fairy was the creepiest to me, and Case Files was my least favorite only because it seemed to be narrated, and I couldn’t actually hear the narration throughout most of the house (cons of people screaming, etc.). I think I would’ve liked Case File more if I could’ve understood the story.

We also hit up all the Scare Zones, and they were really cool. On our adventures, we realized they had just put out the cutest jean jackets, so naturally more money was spent.

We also got to see Jack! The drinks were great. I got to eat pizza fries again, and try the s’mores sweet potato fries. And I got to ride The Mummy one last time before it shuts down for refurbishment. 10/10 for our first day, but it was also exhausting.

For day two, we started out in Islands of Adventure. We went on some rides, got some food and butter beer at the Three Broomsticks, and generally had fun. We took a break before HHN, and it was nice to lay in the room for a while and just exist. We grabbed dinner at Cabana Bay and I have to say the vanilla milkshake I got was everything I’d hoped for.

At HHN, we really got to just wander around! We went through the scare zones again, went through some of the houses again, and had overall a laid back experience.

I went back a little early, because my flight was scheduled to leave at the crack of dawn, but it was still a great day, and honestly more than enough park time for me. I must be getting old.

Anyway, if you’re someone out there who loves Halloween and spooky things- I HIGHLY recommend trying to make it to this event. It’s a little late for HHN 30, but you can always make it to 31 next year!