By: Alicia Harriman, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
The houses are up, the scare zones are ready, and the monsters are out-which can only mean one thing! It’s time for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood! I recently had the opportunity to enjoy HHN via a RIP Tour. And let me tell you what…I will never do it any other way now! What an incredible experience!!
We entered the park through a special VIP Entrance and were greeted by the hostess, who checked us in and gave is our super cool RIP lanyard and badge! I instantly felt like I was among the elite! We then made our way to the dinner buffet which was absolutely delicious. There were so many different offerings: several pasta salads, regular salads, pulled pork (my favorite of the night!), corndogs, mac and cheese, a carving station, and so much more! The desert was on point with the theming of the night, with candy knives sticking out of slices of cake and white chocolate dipped strawberries drizzled in “blood”. There was a bar serving up some fantastic seasonal drinks. I personally ordered the St. Germain’s Violet Flame, which was an alchemical rum cocktail made with blue butterfly pea flower, mint and citrus. Not only was the presentation gorgeous (and the show they put on making it), but it was so good too!
Once dinner was over, we walked out of the VIP club and straight into a scare zone! The fog was out, the monsters were lurking, and it was the perfect start to our night! Our incredible tour guide Danielle led us to our first experience: The Terror Tram. Our RIP group were escorted into our own personal trolley, while all the other guests shared the backlot tour tram. Getting to ride on the trolley with only a handful of other people made this a much more intimate experience. We were able to chat one on one with the tour guides and ask any questions we wanted. We were taken directly to all the houses/mazes this way, which greatly reduced the amount of walking that we had to do!
Our first house was Chucky! There are 3 different queue lines in front of each house. There is a general, express pass and then RIP. Yes, this means that the RIP groups get to go DIRECTLY to the front of the line, even in front of the people that have express passes. There is zero wait (while the general guest are waiting up to 180 minutes for just ONE house)! The Chucky House was filled with many scenes from the movie, featuring true to size and larger than life Chucky dolls. It did not have very many human actors inside but the attention to details are spot on! I don’t want to go into too much detail, but let’s just say your nose will also be pleasantly surprised in this house!
Next up was Monsters Unmasked: Paris Catacombs with original music by Slash. Featuring dirt floors and cement brink walls, this house will definitely make you feel like you are underground. With the various creatures lurking in the shadows around each corner, you’ll want to make sure you use the buddy system!
At 7:58 pm on the evening of my RIP Tour (keep in mind that HHN doesn’t even begin until 7:00 pm), the wait time for the Stranger Things House was at 180 minutes! We walked right into it, bypassing everyone else. The only reason we had to stop was so that the cast member could scan our badge! I was absolutely LOVING getting not having to wait for anything!
Here’s a fun fact that we learned during our RIP Trolley ride: The new Exorcist movie release date had to be moved up because of the Taylor Swift concert that is being released to theaters!
Okay, moving on. The Bates Motel was full of bugs and cockroaches. The house that you see during the Terror Tram is the second portion of the original house which was later added for the movie Psycho! Here is where you will find Norman Bates waiting to snap your neck, er I mean a picture with you!
Next up, from the horror/sci-fi movie Nope, was Jupiter’s Claim. This featured an abandoned theme park and ended with an RIP exclusive photo op with Albert from Abracadabra Entertainment and Supplies. Albert Shaw, better known as The Grabber, is the main character (played by Ethan Hawke) in the supernatural horror film The Black Phone! We snapped a picture with him and then made our way out of there quickly, before his magic turned deadly!
We decided to make a pit stop at a pop-up bar in the Upper Lot. There was a very long line but we had our own RIP line, with our own bartender and were waited on immediately! Again, there were specialty drinks available that could only be found during HHN.
After enjoying a quick rest, a handful of us decided to ride The Mummy. And guess what? Our RIP badges meant that we automatically had express passes! That’s right- any ride that is open during HHN means that you can hop into the express lane and once again, skip the line!
The next house was The Last of Us, where death equals freedom. There were many twists and turns that consisted of some elemental surprises around each corner.
The Exorcist House proved to be, well…horrific. Let’s just say that they definitely make you feel like you are in the middle of the movie in so many different ways. I was completely immersed and couldn’t get out fast enough!
The Holidayz in Hell Maze was one for the record books. This one gets the winner of the night for me! It features all of the holidays: New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Spoiler alert: this house SMELLS much better than it looks!
There is a reason the Stranger Things house had a 180 minute wait the entire night. I am not going to go into detail on this one because you must experience it completely for the first time, in person!
Next up, Evil Dead Rise, it is based on an ancient curse that has taken over an LA family that lives in a downtown apartment. All they have to do is survive the night-but can they?
And lastly, Monstruous: The Monsters of Latin America. My personal favorite is the Whistler. If the whistle is close to you, don’t worry, you’re safe. But if the whistle is far away, well, good luck.
We finally ended the night by attending the 11:15 showing of Purge: Dangerous Waters. This is where a local representative has hidden away during the night of the purge but his secret location has been leaked from inside his camp, and the purgers are here for revenge! While the stunts and special effects in this show were absolutely incredible, I think that my favorite part was that we had out own special RIP section in the stadium. We arrived about 2 minutes before the show started and were still front and center in the arena, with the most perfect view of the show!
The RIP Tour is the perfect way for the ultimate Halloween fanatic to be able to experience all of what Halloween Horror Nights has to offer, with zero wait times and VIP treatment everywhere you go! The only downfall? This means you’ll be the first to go into the houses, but will you be able to get out? Good luck!!
Ready to book your RIP Tour? Please reach out to Marvelous Mouse Travels for more information or for a quote!
