A Little A&A

As we are coming upon the last 3-weeks of Halloween Horror Nights, there is a few things you may want to know. How early to arrive? Where to go first? What day should I pick?

Lets start with the last question: What day should I pick?

Starting this week, HHN opens on Wednesday night. Obviously, going on a Wednesday or Thursday night will be the least crowded. However, the park does not stay open as late on these nights: 6:30pm-12am. On Friday the park hours are 6:30pm-1am and on Saturday 6:30pm-2am. Even though the park is open later on Saturday, that does not mean you will get to do more. Saturday is the busiest night and the lines can get to be over 1hr long for houses like The In Between or Saws n’ Screams- Into the Machine. The last two weekends I have attended, these houses had the longest wait time. 

Even if some of the houses have long lines, when you are in big groups amongst friends, the wait does not drag on. Another option is to get HHN Express pass for an additional fee. If you can only go one night and want to experience all the houses and attractions within this event, I strongly suggest you get this. The Express pass will cut your wait times from 1hr to 15minutes. 

How early should I get there?

As early as possible. Most of the houses have 10 minute wait times at 6:30pm. You can knock out at least 3 houses before 7:30pm. Also, some would wait until 8pm to arrive to try and get out of paying for parking. This year you still have to pay no matter the time you arrive. Before 8pm, parking is $15. After 8pm it goes to $3. My suggestion is to hitch a ride with a friend who has a Preferred or Premier Annual Pass to Universal Orlando. They get free parking. 

Where should I go first?

If you decide to arrive at this event when it opens, head straight to the back of the park. Everyone else will try to do the houses in order starting with the houses near the entrance by the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster, which includes Winter’s Night, Nightingales, and The Thing. These houses will have shorter wait times further into the night. Houses like Saw n’ Screams, by Jaws, wait time will get longer as the night goes on.  

If you do not get to HHN21 as early as you planned, text 64646 and you will receive wait times for all the houses every hour. 

If you can not do all the houses, let me suggest my personal favorites:

Saw n’ Screams    Winter’s Night       Nevermore       The Foresaken      H.R. Bloodengutz

Do not forget to attend Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. They will meet you at the 69.

http://www.orlandoinformer.com/universal/nevermore-madness-of-poe-haunted-house-hhn-21/#axzz1axTeo8Ik

http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/florida_residents_tickets.html

HHN21: Opening Night

This past weekend was the grand opening of the 21^st annual Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. With 8 houses and 6 scare zones, this year’s Halloween event leaves much to be desired.

            Without the host house this year, what’s the point of even having a theme? The only glimpse of Lady Luck is in the scare zone “Your luck has run out” where she hides behind crates in a darkened alleyway.  Previous years, the host house has been one of the most popular and is usually my personal favorite. Halloween Horror Nights 20 where fear itself was the host, the host house was the best rooms from houses over the last 20 years. Here Universal Orlando had the ability to fall back on their legacy and the host house is still involved their theme. But with HHN21 starts a new decade and a new standard. This year the advertisements says, “the house always wins,” but where’s the house?

            Moving past the fact there is no host house featuring Lady Luck, some of the house themes do not make any sense. For example, Nightingales: Blood Prey. This house takes you through trenches of WWI where “nightingales” hunt the weak and wounded. The nightingales are supposed to be bloodthirsty banshees dressed as British nurses. Though the trenches are quite impressive in design, the story behind this one is a little far fetched. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember having banshees in my history WWI book. Two houses this year that have historical reference are Nevermore: the madness of Poe and The Forsaken. Watch out while your in The Forsaken, it’s extremely dark in there and the ground changes often.

            The best house in my opinion was the Winter’s Night. It was very similar to the Catacombs house last year. The entire house is bone chilling. Literally, the a/c in there must be on at least 60 degrees. The temperature change enhances your experience in the house. The design includes a recreation of an old gothic cemetery with statues that move and doors to coffins that shake. The website states Winter’s Night is the recreation of “the haunting of the hawthorn cemetery.”

            The two shows at HHN21, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure & Death Drums where both excellent. Bill & Ted’s was much better and funnier than last year’s show. Come and join them at the 69. Death Drums, HHN newest show, was very entertaining. To see this show you need to be in the appropriate roped area. It does get crowded so get there early for both shows. 

http://www.facebook.com/halloweenhorrornightsorlando

http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/attractions.html

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist received from ted.com

Beginning as a child cartooning his teachers during class to becoming an internationally known artist, Raghava KK separates his varies stages of his artwork through his changes in art styles.

“With endearing honesty and vulnerability, Raghava KK tells the colorful tale of how art has taken his life to new places, and how life experiences in turn have driven his multiple reincarnations as an artist -- from cartoonist to painter, media darling to social outcast, and son to father.”

           Every stage of artwork is a life. Like many artists, he has separated his works into different progressions, or as he states it, five lives:  1life = cartoonists, 2life = performance painter, 3life = realist painter, 4life = abstract expressionism, 5life = abstract expressionism with humor. As his life changed so did his work. But sometimes his work changed his life.

            His speech was more personal compared to other artist lectures I have attended. He was humorous, personable, and honest about what he has created. He was very forthcoming about how his cartoonist days ended by making a politically incorrect cartoon related to 9/11 shortly after the Twin Towers fell. He also discussed how he allowed himself to be open to discover new things. A painter in Italy inspired him to become a painter being his 2nd artist life. He explained how there are “100” different brushes used for painting; and how he, as a person who drew, was overwhelmed. Instead of using brushes he started to paint with his hands and feet, which evolved into painting dancers into paintings being performed by dancers. The same painter also inspired him to be reborn on a daily basis.  This is maybe where the “5 lives of an artist” come from and one of the reasons he was so daring as an artist.

           I appreciated him letting you into his lives. I sat through a lecture my senior year of college which an artist made the statement that she hated how other artists always felt the need to categorize their work making their lectures long and boring. Instead she critiqued her favorite works in no particular order or progression; but in the end, her lecture was still long and boring. Though this was a timed speech, I still think Raghava KK's approach was better than others I have seen. He did not stay highly academic nor did he try to be something he is not. He spoke from the heart about what he has done as an artist, a person, a son, a husband, and now a father. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/raghava_kk_five_lives_of_an_artist.html

http://raghavakk.com/

Little A&A: Full List of HHN21 Houses, Scare Zones, and Shows

EIGHT HAUNTED HOUSES

Nevermore: The Madness of Poe
The madness of Edgar Allen Poe’s greatest works has come to life.  Step into the mind of the iconic writer, where every turn of the page takes you closer to the brink of insanity. 

The Forsaken
Four ships began Columbus’s fateful voyage, only three became legend. Condemned to a watery grave, the mutinous and cursed crew of that 4th ship has returned with a vengeance.  For within the walls of a Spanish fort, a maelstrom has brought from the depths....death itself.