HHN23 - Scare Zones - The Walking Dead

The Scare Zones

The Walking Dead: The Undead Streets

Time for another HHN overview post, this time I want to talk about the scare zones spread throughout the park. This year they are all themed to various scenes from The Walking Dead series.

So what exactly is a scare zone anyway? The scare zones are the streets of the park, where the monsters and various 'scareactors' and such just walk around, hiding and jumping out at you. This year we're gonna see A LOT of zombies!

Here are the official HHN 2013 scare zones -

The Fall of Atlanta - The smell of death is in the air as you make your way past an iconic tank, sandbag barriers, and decayed rotting corpses on your journey through this decimated city. But be warned — the city’s not empty.

Woodlands - Tread carefully through these woods, as you never know who you might encounter. Lurking deep in the hidden depths are unforgettable scenes and characters from Seasons 1, 2 and 3.

Survivors Camp - There’s no one telling ghost stories at this derelict campsite, but there are plenty of undead. Will you dare to go closer to the eerily abandoned RV? Keep your wits about you or you might become a ghost story yourself.

The Farm - Something’s burning and it’s not a Sunday roast. Gasoline fumes ignite your senses as you encounter the smoldering remains of a singed country farm. See and smell the putrid barn, the red tractor, and more as you learn what’s causing that horrifying stench.

Clear - Turn around and live, proceed and face your fate. Stick together as you head down this street, because the spiked barriers are there for a reason. If you refuse to heed the spray-painted warnings, you’re in for a terrifying walk that will feel like an eternity.

And there's one more, not Walking Dead based, that I'm fairly certain would cause a riot if they didn't include these guys...

Chainsaw Gang - This classic HHN troupe returns, and this time they've got a ringleader.

There's also talk of the 'Walker Bomb' truck from season 3 driving around the park and loosing loosing walker to infest the area!

Done well, a scare zone can be worth the price of admission all on their own! Next post we'll go back to the houses.

HHN23 - Forth House - Havoc 2

Havoc 2: Derailed

"Hang on tight aboard a militaristic train convoy that is secretly transporting the “Dogs of War”—a genetically engineered super soldier outfit. These bloodthirsty maniacs are only bent on mayhem and destruction of a speeding train. This is Havoc! In this all-new original house the train convoy has derailed and the bloodthirsty maniacs are loose!"

So this is a follow up to a previous HHN20 house called Havoc: The Dogs of War which told how Shadowcreek Labs was hired by the government to breed super soldiers. The experiment succeeded, but the procedure had horribleside effects. The superhumans grew insane and ravaged the labs, where they stalked and destroyed anyone who entered. The same crazy super-solders are back as you board a high tech and armored train that is transporting the captured prisoners; on route to a new more secure long-term storage location. 

Truth be told, I barely remember the original house. Hope this one leaves a more lasting impression.

This one is located in the Disaster queue and the entrance is near the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue theater.

HHN23 - Third House - The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven

"AMC’s The Walking Dead returns to Halloween Horror Nights. Fans will have a chance to walk in the footsteps of human survivors as Universal debuts an all-new terrifying maze inspired by Season 3 of the critically-acclaimed, award-winning television series."

The eerily authentic and disturbingly real maze will place you at the heart of the show’s once impenetrable prison, the West Georgia Correctional Facility, now overrun by hordes of flesh-eating walkers. Then, cower through the walker-infested wilderness that surrounds the prison and into the seemingly utopian town of Woodbury, where gruesome secrets are concealed.

Last year's Walking Dead house was pretty good, not great though. Based on season 2, there were a lot of zombies in a farm/barn setting, not my favorite season, to say the least. This year looks to be so much more fun and much scarier, just the fact that it's based primarily in a prison already sounds more terrifying!

A few preview pics of the haunt -

I'll talk more about it later, but I wanted to note that all the scare zones are Walking Dead themed this year as well.

This one is located in the Parade building behind the Simpsons ride and the entrance is near the KidZone stage.

HHN23 - Second House - La Llorona

Urban Legends: La Llorona

Her legend is one of tragedy… of murder. To hear her mournful cries sends chills down your spine colder than the murky, watery depths she drowned her victims within. Forced to eternally walk the earth, she seeks others to share her pain and suffering – now and forever…

I'm actually kinda psyched for this one as it's been a very popular house at HHN Hollywood for a number of years and they're finally bringing it to Orlando!

Guests will come face to face with the 500-year old legend that has haunted millions of people in Latin America for generations, as the popular Mexican legend La Llorona comes to life as a haunted house at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 23.

It will begin when guests enter an old Mexican chapel where they hear La Llorona’s horrifying tale of murder, tragedy and fatal love. Guests step into the funeral of her victims, and as they progress, they’ll hear her cold, ghostly whisper that announces her presence.

“La Llorona’s intriguing and tragic story has been terrifying people in Mexico and all over Latin America for centuries,” said Mike Aiello, Creative Director for Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. “And now at Halloween Horror Nights, you will be transported into her mysterious realm and experience firsthand this disturbing folktale.”

From Wikipedia:

Although several variations exist, the basic story tells of a beautiful woman by the name of Maria who drowns her children in order to be with the man that she loved. The man would not have her, which devastated her. She would not take no for an answer, so she drowned herself in a lake in Mexico City. Challenged at the gates of heaven as to the whereabouts of her children, she is not permitted to enter the afterlife until she has found them. Maria is forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring, with her constant weeping giving her the name “La Llorona”. She is trapped in between the living world and the spirit world.

In some versions of this tale and legend, La Llorona will kidnap wandering children who resemble her missing children, or children who disobey their parents. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late evenings from rivers or oceans in Mexico. Some believe that those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death. She is said to cry, “Ay, mis hijos!” which translates to, “Oh, my children!”

A few preview pics of the house -

This one is located in Tent1 behind the Simpsons ride and the entrance is near the KidZone stage.

HHN23 - First House - Resident Evil

Resident Evil: Escape from Raccoon City

"Raccoon City is overrun with Umbrella Corporation’s most terrifying experiments—and the only option is complete destruction. You’ll need to duck and dodge Lickers, Hunters, and Nemesis himself if you have any chance of escaping Capcom’s video game terrors before missiles send everything back to hell."

I wanted to start with a major one, Resident Evil is based on the second and third video games (thankfully NOT the movies), this house brings Raccoon City back from the dead with the series’ most recognizable locations and creatures.

This house was the last and one of the biggest to be announced, they even made a great video for the reveal.

Universal’s Entertainment team collaborated with the Resident Evil video game creators at Capcom to create a horrifyingly authentic haunted house based on some of the popular video games. Guests will become desperate survivors inside the viral catastrophe, Raccoon City. As they journey through the city, they’ll encounter vicious characters from the games such as Lickers, bloodthirsty zombies, packs of Cerberuses and even Nemesis himself. Fans will be completely transported inside the video game realm – to the extent that one room in the haunted house will appear as if an action-packed fight scene is paused, as if the gamer has taken a quick break before returning to the horror of Raccoon City!

This one is located in Soundstage 21B and the entrance is at the Music Plaza courtyard near the Rockit.

Halloween Horror Nights!!

As many of you know, we spend a couple weeks every fall in Florida and one of the main reasons we go is for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. We LOVE it and have only missed one since 2007. We came close to not being able to go this year, but after working out some hefty money probs, it's happening!! :-D

Today (Sept 20th)  is opening day and I'm so excited for my chance to go! So this is just a warning, I plan on posting a great deal on HHN23 over the next month or so. Both leading up to when we go at the end of Oct, as well as while we're there and our experiences after.

This year is gonna be fantastic, I'll tell you why in great detail in future posts! Stay tuned true believers!