Pumpkin Lords, S'mores Fries & Cosmic Rewind-An HHN 31 TR-Completed 11/5

[Raeven]

My name is Raeven!



I'm 30, and I'm the planner, photographer, & TR writer for our trips. I love Halloween, theme parks, & horror movies so I spend all year counting down to HHN.

This is my trip partner and boyfriend of 9 years, Josh:



He's 36 and likes horror movies, roller coasters, & drawing. He also loves HHN, and was really excited to get to spend more time there this year.

A little background: We took our first HHN trip in September 2015, and then we agreed we'd go back every year for HHN. In the beginning we'd just go one night, but now we get a Rush of Fear pass, and go as many nights as we can. On the days with no HHN we added a little Disney into this trip.

For the last few years we've also met up with @amalone1013 & her husband, Zack at HHN. & we got to spend some time with them this year too!



This trip took place from Sep 7th-16th. We stayed at Aventura Hotel, the Yacht Club at Disney, and Surfside Inn & Suites. When we go in September we mostly try to make plans at night because the heat and humidity does not agree with me or my hair so most of our plans centered around Halloween events.



If you want to look back on the planning for this trip my PTR is here:
HHN 31 Time!

And here's my DTR link:
Fry Flights, Pizza Skulls, & More!
​

Stay tuned if you want to hear about:
-Reviews for the three hotels we stayed at
-My first experience on Cosmic Rewind
-Our HHN rankings & experience
-All the snacks we tried at HHN
-Our upgrade to club level at the Yacht Club
-Our opinions on MNSSHP now that it's back
-What we tried at Food & Wine this year
-Some places we went off property
-& the night we attempted HHN in the rain

​

 

[Raeven]

Table of Contents
Travel Day
"Wait, There's a Bee Movie 2?!"
First Night at HHN!
The Smell index
Outlet Malls, Friends, & Sweet Revenge
Lifetime Movies & Mummy Curses
Surprise, We're Fancy!
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Surf's Up!
Our Final Trip to HHN 31
Wrap Up Post ​

 

[Robo56]

Raeven so nice to see your HHN trip report up and running. I look forward to reading more. I look forward to your take on the food offerings. I always say I’am going to try the food and just never do. Some of the things looked good.

I also look forward to your report on the other Resorts.

The Pumpkin Lord was so awesome and a fitting Mascot for HHN.

Very nice photo of you, your boyfriend and the lovely Carole.

 

[schumigirl]

Yay!

Wondered where you were starting……..lol

Love the picture……that was such a fun coincidence that night!

Really looking forward to reading about your trip……

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

 

[Raeven]

Raeven so nice to see your HHN trip report up and running. I look forward to reading more. I look forward to your take on the food offerings. I always say I’am going to try the food and just never do. Some of the things looked good.​

We didn't get to everything I'd wanted to try, but I feel like we got a good amount in. ​

The Pumpkin Lord was so awesome and a fitting Mascot for HHN.​

It was! I love the Pumpkin Lord!​

Very nice photo of you, your boyfriend and the lovely Carole.​

Thank you! ​

Yay!

Wondered where you were starting……..lol​

Lol I intended to start when I came back because I still had one more day off, but I had a lazy day instead. ​

Love the picture……that was such a fun coincidence that night!

Really looking forward to reading about your trip……​

It really was ​

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!​

Thanks for following along! ​

 

[amalone1013]

I feel like I'm here so early compared to the last couple years

 

[Raeven]

I feel like I'm here so early compared to the last couple years ​

Lol yes! ​

 

[Raeven]

Travel Day

We left for the airport around 2 pm on our travel day. Security was quick and our flight was only delayed by a couple of minutes. (I kind of expected it to be because the flight before ours got off like right before we were supposed to board and I wondered why they didn't build in some extra time for getting everything ready for the next flight).



Once we got on the plane they taxied then told us they didn't have the all clear to takeoff since there was bad weather somewhere on the flight path. They said they'd let us know when we'd be taking off, and then suddenly less than a minute later with no warning the plane took off.





As I mentioned in my dining report, we were hoping to get to HHN after we arrived, but we were just too tired. We ate at Urban Pantry in our hotel before bed.

Urban Pantry Review

Here our room! We stayed in one of the deluxe rooms that have one wall that's all windows.



I really liked this room and its unique layout. We had a view of Cabana Bay (which you'll see in many upcoming pictures), and I thought it was really spacious. We were near the top floor so we had a similar view to the one you'd get on the roof. The hotel was also very compact, and our room was very easy to get to. I had some issues with the wifi (as I seem to every trip), but it worked out eventually. I liked the iPad they have in the Aventura rooms for the room controls. We used it to order more towels and pillows to our room, and it was easy to control the temperature and TV with it. I liked having the TV guide right on the iPad, and that you could use it to sign into Amazon Prime etc. Transportation was easy. And if we didn't want to use the bus, we took the water taxi from Sapphire Falls or Royal Pacific; which were both only a short walk away.



My only issue with the room was that despite being in a corner with barely any rooms around it, it was pretty loud in the hallway but all of our rooms were this time and it was nothing earplugs couldn't solve. My other source of confusion is that the TV cannot possibly face both beds at the same time. This wasn't an issue on our trip as we just used the bed across from it. But I'm staying in the same type of room on my upcoming trip with my friend Kayleigh. I guess we can just both sit on the same bed when we watch TV, but I don't think we'd both be able to sit in our individual beds and watch it.



The bathroom had a nice glass door shower, and for the small area its in the sink has a lot of space and shelves around it which I really liked.



We stayed here the longest out of all the hotels we stayed at on this trip, and I really enjoyed staying here. I loved our room at Disney but this room was definitely one of my favorites we've stayed in and the price was really good!



Here's a picture from the next morning because this post was very short:



I loved that we could see the volcano!

Next Up
We go to Universal to check out the Tribute Store and scare zones before our first night at HHN!
Also to anyone living or vactioning in Florida right now, I hope you stay safe! ​

 

[saskdw]

I've always wondered if the TV could be viewed from both beds at the same time in those rooms. It's hard to tell from the website pics.

TV's are so cheap now I don't know why they wouldn't just put another $300 TV in there. It is billed as a Deluxe room after all.

The resort does look like a great value though for the money.

 

[Raeven]

I've always wondered if the TV could be viewed from both beds at the same time in those rooms. It's hard to tell from the website pics.

TV's are so cheap now I don't know why they wouldn't just put another $300 TV in there. It is billed as a Deluxe room after all.

The resort does look like a great value though for the money.​

I wondered that too before I went, and I don't think there's a way you could turn it where it would be. It's also set facing the main bed, and its up near the ceiling so in order to even try and move it you'd have to climb on a chair or something.

I feel like there had to be a layout they could've done that allowed them to put the beds near each other or do something else with the TVs.​

 

[Raeven]

"Wait, There's A Bee Movie 2?!"

This morning we placed our Instacart order for water bottles (which saved us A LOT). Then we ate lunch at Breadbox. While at Breadbox I heard someone exclaim: "Wait, there's a Bee Movie 2?!" The person exclaiming it sounded so betrayed that no one had told them which is why it was so funny. But I also googled it, and there doesn't seem to be a Bee Movie 2.

Breadbox/Florean's Review

Then we headed to Universal!

I was so excited to see the Tribute Store this year! So much of the merch looked amazing and watching videos beforehand I had a list of everything I wanted.





I loved the dark ride theme in the Tribute Store this year. It was pretty dark so I don't have pictures in some of the rooms, but my favorite room was the little Halloween Town at the end.
I loved these moving stained glass "windows".



And these cute little ghosts!



They had a lot of the merch here, but the first weekend we were there they were missing some items. All the Lil Boo stuff seemed sold out (I saw it the following weekend), and some of The Weeknd shirts were missing until a few days later. I also couldn't find my size in the Pumpkin Lord sweatshirt, but found it at the store near the front of the park on the way out. Sometimes there were things we didn't see there that they had in the front store or the main store on Citywalk.

Then I took a picture with what would become my favorite float in this scare zone.



I really liked the parade floats. They're such cool pieces, and I love the vintage Halloween look.

Next we headed to Diagon Alley!



I had to get some ice cream! (It wasn't terribly hot at least, but it was very humid).



We saw some of the show, and then I had to tell The Tale of Three Brothers to Josh because he didn't know what was going on.

We didn't have EP these days so we figured we'd ride them at HHN. Wait times were pretty long this day (MIB was at 40 mins) so we skipped it and headed back around.

I did want to get a picture here to go with my shirt:


(I got that shirt on Etsy before the trip, and I love the colors and think its a unique Back to the Future one).

I'm behind the times, but I've only recently seen all three of the movies, and I love them.

Here's the train too:



My haul for the day:



I think I showed amazing restraint not buying everything. My favorite merch pieces were the Pumpkin Lord stuff. I felt like I had to get this year's UOAP shirt, and I really like the pumpkin on the sleeve too. But I also loved the tie dye look on the sweatshirt and like that design because it has the witches etc.

During the afternoon/evening there were a lot of storms, so we tried to wait them out in our room before going to HHN.

Next Up
We got to HHN 31 for the first time! ​

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in! I think we were at HHN the night you were there, if it was 9/8 we were there! It was raining some and crowds very light!
I loved the Tribute store and also didn’t try any of the treats in there.
The room at Aventura looks very nice.
I really liked the scare zone with the floats, I had so many scares there our first night!

 

[schumigirl]

Love the start and the Tribute Store pics are good.

That was Draco?? I wondered what it was supposed to be….lol…..

And yes, the Pumpkin Lord merch is fun!

 

[Raeven]

Joining in! I think we were at HHN the night you were there, if it was 9/8 we were there! It was raining some and crowds very light!​

Thanks for following along! Yes we were there that night. We waited out the rain before going though. ​

I really liked the scare zone with the floats, I had so many scares there our first night!​

It was my favorite one!​

That was Draco?? I wondered what it was supposed to be….lol…..​

It barely looks like him but yes Some of the plushes had very strange heads lol​

 

[Raeven]

First Night at HHN!

We had decided to wait out the rain at Strongwater Tavern where we ran into @schumigirl and her husband Tom!



Strongwater Tavern Review

Finally the rain stopped and we were headed to HHN!



I loved that the Pumpkin Lord was right up front to greet you this year. He was kind of like the unofficial icon.



The first house we did was Hellblock Horror which was only a 25 minute wait so we walked straight in with our EP. We didn't have a great experience with this house because I think we got in right after a shift change, and a lot of the scare actors weren't in place yet (there seemed to be a lot of empty spots). Although I did like seeing the yeti again.

Afterwards we had to go to Dead Man's Pier. This was the house I'd heard the most about leading up to the event, and it didn't disappoint! This was one of my favorites this year. It was absolutely beautiful (which seems weird to say for a haunted house but you'll agree if you saw it). The design was just wow, and even the music in it was beautiful. It was a really cool house. (And if you're playing "spot the Pomeranian picture" like I do every year then you'll find that in this house too ).

The Major Sweets scare zone was my absolute favorite. (And because it was near the food booths I feel like we spent the most time in/near this zone). I do have more pictures from other nights, but I loved the vintage Halloween feel. I think the parade floats were really cool pieces, and I liked the variety in costumes in this zone. The scare actors we saw here were all wonderful too.

We wanted to stop to get a snack, but there were so many choices this year!



I settled on the Killer Stovetop Popcorn Custard the first night (which I also reviewed in the above Strongwater Tavern review).
​

Next up we headed to the Blumhouse house. The wait was about 35 minutes, but I'd say we waited maybe 10 minutes. I really liked The Black Phone movie, and didn't like Freaky that much so I wasn't surprised that I liked The Black Phone portion better. It was really creepy!

Sadly, the Coven scare zone was not what I'd hoped. I don't even think I have any pictures of it because there wasn't much to see each time we walked through. I was really excited at the idea of them having some witch themed things at this event because I feel like they haven't really done that at all in the years we've been going and it could be really cool. But I found the scare zone disappointing (and I'll talk more about the house later).

Next we headed to Bugs. I always love the horror/comedy houses each year so I had a feeling we'd enjoy this one.



And we did! I hate bugs in real life, but I thought this house was fun and campy. I loved the giant spider at the end too. The wait for this house was about 40 minutes, and I think we also waited about 10 minutes.

It had started to rain a little bit again so there were less scare actors out in the Scarecrow scare zone but I got a picture of this guy.



I didn't really care for the Scarecrow haunted house a couple years back (even though I know it was a favorite) so I didn't really care for this scare zone much either. We had just watched the old Goosebumps episode where the scarecrows come to life, so this kind of reminded me of that.

Our final house of the night was The Weeknd.



This house was also pretty cool, but I think we went in right after a shift change as well here so there seemed to be some extra empty spots in here too. I love the idea of this house, and I love the After Hours album; but I did feel like I needed to see it more than once to take it all in.

We were satisfied with the amount of houses we got in, and decided to go back to the hotel for the night. (We try to spread out going to all the houses since we have multiple nights).



We walked through the graveyard scare zone on the way out.



I actually really liked this one too. I think a graveyard themed scare zone was perfect for HHN 31, and it had great characters and a spooky atmosphere.

Next Up
We head to IOA & check out All Hallows Boutique

​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Love your honesty in terms of the houses and so happy to hear you had a great time!

 

[Raeven]

The Smell Index

We started today with lunch at Mythos.

Mythos Review

We headed to All Hallows Boutique after lunch. I loved the vintage Halloween decor, and really wished some of it was for sale.





The ride waits were actually pretty long on this day so we just walked around.



But we did ride Spiderman before we left.

Back at the hotel we took a nap, and saw this very strange commercial.



We also kept seeing a commercial for lotion you put on your butt instead of showering. It played all the time while we were there and we thought it was hilarious. The lady says you can change your "smell index" with this lotion so now we use the phrase "smell index" all the time.

Ready to go back to Horror Nights!



This shirt has nothing to do with horror nights, but I love The Frighteners. It's one of my favorite movies, and I found someone on Ebay who makes shirts with a Frighteners print so I had to get it, and I thought HHN would be a good place to wear it.



I'm also glad I documented my hair before we left the room because within 5 minutes of walking outside it looked completely different. The humidity hates my hair, but it especially didn't agree with my bangs.

While waiting for a table at Antojitos we browsed the stores on Citywalk.

Antojitos Review

After dinner we headed to HHN.

Our first house tonight was Spirits of the Coven, and it was disappointing. Again, I thought all the witch stuff they announced this year was a really cool idea. I don't know what I expected, but this was not it. The house was just boring, nothing was scary in it, and I'm not even sure what the story line was. I always try to go through most houses at least twice, but we actually never ended up going back to this one.

Next we went in the Halloween house. This one ended up being my favorite of the event. It was so good! There were so many good scares, and the mirror room at the end got me every time.

We also went to Fiesta De Chupacabras. I actually liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. I didn't like the smell in it, but I did love the chupacabra puppets. I kind of wish they sold a plush of them because I'd buy it.



Over in Major Sweets, this was my favorite guy:



He kept poking one of the "bodies" and then jumping back and screaming and it was hilarious. I loved his character.


The last house we did this night was Descendants of Destruction.



I wasn't crazy about this house, but I did go through it a few times throughout the event. I liked it a little better after subsequent times through, but I just personally didn't love the theming.

More stilt walkers were out this night than the night before because it wasn't raining, and there was a guy in the Graveyard scare zone that was moving really fast on those stilts!

Next Up
Outlet mall shopping & another night at HHN but this time with @amalone1013 and Zack!

​

 

[schumigirl]

lol.....we saw that advert too!!! We thought it was a spoof advert at first.......but, nope, it was real!!! Can you imagine..........er, no.

I never really warmed to Descendents of Destruction either......just didn`t grab me. Coven I liked the second time, but then it kind of went downhill again.

Loved the boutique and yes, we wished they sold some of the props around too, they were so cool.

 

[saskdw]

Smell index……LOL