Latest / Mom Street USA / 97. All Things Spooky & Not-So-Spooky in the Orlando Theme Parks (Hub Episode)

Transcript

97. All Things Spooky & Not-So-Spooky in the Orlando Theme Parks (Hub Episode) · Mom Street USA

• 0:05
  Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
• 0:07
  My name is Jackie AKA Wishes. Mama and I am joined for this
• 0:11
  hub episode by our good friends Duck and Jess AKA Beanie Duck.
• 0:16
  And today's episode is all about spooky season, so it feels a
• 0:21
  little early, but if you know anything about the theme parks,
• 0:26
  it's already spooky season. The merch is out, they're geared
• 0:29
  up for the parties. So today we are discussing
• 0:33
  primarily HHN or Halloween Horror Nights at Universal and
• 0:37
  Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party at Magic Kingdom at
• 0:40
  Disney, with a few other honorable mentions thrown in
• 0:43
  there. And this is kind of Duck and
• 0:45
  Jess's speciality. So I'm excited to hear what
• 0:49
  their opinions are and what they have to share with us today.
• 0:52
  Duck and Jess, how are we doing? Doing great.
• 0:55
  I couldn't be happier to talk about all.
• 0:56
  Thanks spooky season, this is our bread and butter.
• 1:01
  Yeah, so if those of you who don't know Duck and Jess attend
• 1:05
  HHN pretty much every single year and have for how many
• 1:11
  years? I think 2019 was the first time
• 1:14
  that we went, Yeah, yeah, that sounds right.
• 1:18
  Six or seven years. So we've been going every year.
• 1:21
  And some of those years we have also done Mickey's Not So Scary.
• 1:25
  We try to just depends on the timing and the party
• 1:28
  availability. But more often than not, we also
• 1:31
  go. And because we can't get enough
• 1:32
  of the spooky season and we also go head over to Magic Kingdom to
• 1:35
  hit up Mickey's Not So Scary. Yeah, and you guys typically go
• 1:39
  really close to like opening weekend of HHN, right?
• 1:41
  So you're there like right at the beginning, ready to soak all
• 1:45
  it. Soak in all the spooky vibes to
• 1:47
  start your Halloween season off. Yes, it kicks us off at the
• 1:50
  beginning of September. That's usually when we go.
• 1:53
  I love that. I love that.
• 1:54
  Well before we jump in today I do just want to mention and hype
• 1:58
  up my Co host here just momentarily because they also
• 2:02
  have a very big life event happening this weekend from when
• 2:05
  we are recording this. Duck and Jess are like doing a
• 2:09
  thing and getting married this weekend.
• 2:10
  We sure are, which is so exciting and we are so thrilled
• 2:14
  and I'm so sorry I can't be there, but I know it's going to
• 2:17
  be amazing and I cannot wait to hear all about it.
• 2:20
  I'm so excited for you guys. Thank.
• 2:23
  You we'll miss you. We're sorry you can't join us,
• 2:25
  but there will be plenty of pictures so.
• 2:28
  All the pictures. Yes, yes, please.
• 2:30
  I can't wait to see. So big, big Congrats to you
• 2:33
  guys. All of that aside, again,
• 2:35
  Congrats. Super excited for you, but let's
• 2:37
  jump into the spooky stuff. Yes.
• 2:40
  So I think we're going to start off with Mickey's Not So scary
• 2:45
  tonight. Is that where we're headed?
• 2:46
  First we got. To ramp up slowly, right?
• 2:48
  We start with fun, spooky, and then we go spooky, spooky.
• 2:50
  I think. I think that's a fair order.
• 2:52
  Love it. OK, So what are we starting
• 2:54
  with? What information do we have?
• 2:56
  All right. So we're going to do, I think
• 2:58
  we're going to do this for both of them where we're going to do
• 3:00
  a lot of the same similar format that we've done on some of the
• 3:03
  other episodes, you know like the Universal episodes where we
• 3:06
  kind of did overview and then into pricing and then some more
• 3:08
  details. So we'll follow that same
• 3:10
  structure here. So for Mickey's Not so scary,
• 3:13
  the name may shock you, but it is a not so scary Halloween
• 3:17
  party. I cannot believe that it is not
• 3:21
  terrifying in there, truly. But this is an event that
• 3:26
  happens in Magic Kingdom. It's a separately ticketed after
• 3:29
  hours event. And it is when you think of a
• 3:33
  Disney Halloween experience, it's exactly that.
• 3:37
  It's fun, it's spooky, there's characters in like special
• 3:41
  Halloween themed costumes. It's a welcoming, all ages,
• 3:46
  friendly, fun, spooky environment, just like for some
• 3:50
  some things that they have up around the park that you can
• 3:52
  experience even if you aren't attending the party, right?
• 3:55
  We have fall decorations all around, those very famous Mickey
• 3:58
  pumpkin wreaths that I think myself and everybody who has
• 4:02
  ever been on social media is absolutely obsessed with.
• 4:05
  Right. I love them and I love that
• 4:06
  they've started selling them like I think last year was the
• 4:09
  first year that they started selling like little replica
• 4:12
  versions. Amazing.
• 4:13
  I love. I'm surprised it took them that
• 4:15
  long because like every year as soon as it turned over to
• 4:18
  Halloween, photos of specifically the pumpkin wreaths
• 4:21
  would be everywhere. So I'm glad they finally decided
• 4:24
  to, because we're going to purchase one this year.
• 4:26
  Bor sure, yes. It's a must.
• 4:29
  It's a must have. But also we have some scarecrows
• 4:33
  and carved pumpkins, especially right as you walk into the
• 4:37
  entrance. You know that sort of like I
• 4:40
  called the landing area, right right around the flagpole and
• 4:43
  Main Street that as with all seasons Got gets really dressed
• 4:47
  up. There's hay bales and fun
• 4:48
  pumpkins and just cute, fun scenes with some scarecrows and
• 4:52
  carved pumpkins in there. So feels very fall as you walk
• 4:55
  into the Magic Kingdom, even if you aren't able to make the
• 4:57
  Halloween party. Yeah, I just wish they did a
• 5:00
  little bit more with some of the like, Main Street is like, Yep,
• 5:04
  it's Halloween, it's fall time. You can definitely tell.
• 5:07
  But like, the further away from Main Street you get, the more
• 5:09
  you're just like. This.
• 5:10
  Just looks like the regular park so I wish they did a little more
• 5:14
  widespread across property. But you know, I guess beggars
• 5:18
  can't be choosers and we'll take what we can get.
• 5:21
  I I wish what they would do is sort of like themed wreaths in
• 5:25
  every area, right? Like you don't have to go all
• 5:27
  out if you don't want to be, but like how fun would like a
• 5:29
  Tomorrowland themed wreath be or like an Adventureland?
• 5:33
  If I got a tiki room themed wreath, I would Halloween
• 5:35
  wreath. I would die.
• 5:36
  That would be it. But no, I completely agree with
• 5:39
  you that sort of like landing area right in, you know, the,
• 5:43
  the around the flagpole right down Main Street is very themed.
• 5:46
  It's very fall and then it Peters out the further out the
• 5:49
  spokes you go. OK, so let's talk about dates
• 5:53
  for this year. Now this is 2025 dates.
• 5:56
  They shift a little year to year depending on the calendar, but
• 6:01
  what dates do we have for this year?
• 6:03
  So for this year, we are starting at August 15th and
• 6:06
  running through October 31st. Sometimes it's like you said, it
• 6:09
  shifts a little. So sometimes it's like the first
• 6:11
  weekend in August, sometimes it's the second weekend.
• 6:14
  It very much depends kind of like where calendars fall.
• 6:17
  But it's usually like early to mid August.
• 6:19
  And then it will always run through October 31st.
• 6:22
  No matter where the Halloween holiday actually falls, that
• 6:26
  will always be the end of spooky season because then magically
• 6:30
  overnight ish it transforms into Christmas.
• 6:34
  Nights nowadays, yeah, approximately, yeah.
• 6:38
  And although I think was it last year that it ran until like
• 6:41
  November 2nd was the last Halloween party, which was so
• 6:44
  weird. But it's just, again, it has to
• 6:46
  do with how the calendars fall and they try to replicate the
• 6:49
  the number of dates that they give because it is a very
• 6:52
  popular event. So they try to make sure they
• 6:55
  give enough times and enough days for people to go.
• 6:59
  But yeah, typically the 31st will be your last day for that.
• 7:03
  So the other thing to know about this because like we said it, it
• 7:06
  is an after hours and so no matter where in the party you're
• 7:09
  going, it functions the same, right?
• 7:11
  No matter what date you pick, you are able to start entering
• 7:14
  at 4:00 PM into the Magic Kingdom and then the party
• 7:17
  officially starts at 7:00 PM. So you have if you know, if
• 7:21
  you're not big on wanting to show up early or get those extra
• 7:25
  couple of hours in, that's OK. Just make sure that you show up
• 7:28
  before the 7:00 official start time of the party itself.
• 7:31
  Although if you do have the opportunity, taking advantage of
• 7:35
  the extra hours is absolutely a recommendation from out of
• 7:38
  hours. We have done it pretty much
• 7:40
  every year that we've gone because they're tends to be
• 7:43
  lower attendance in Magic Kingdom on party days simply
• 7:46
  because it it closes earlier. So people don't usually
• 7:49
  prioritize using their park tickets on MK.
• 7:52
  So especially by towards the end of the day, you're going to see
• 7:55
  a lot of people starting to filter out.
• 7:57
  So it's a great opportunity to hit some of those more popular
• 8:00
  rides, especially maybe above a good idea to prioritize the ones
• 8:04
  that aren't open during the party, which we'll talk a little
• 8:07
  bit more about that when we get to the attractions during the
• 8:10
  party itself. Yeah, and I think something to
• 8:13
  to realize is exactly what Doug just said the the day of even
• 8:17
  the party nights, those tend to be very, very much lower
• 8:21
  attendance at Magic Kingdom. On the flip side of that, if you
• 8:25
  are visiting during not so scary, it's it's kind of a catch
• 8:29
  22 because the days that there are no parties, Magic Kingdom is
• 8:33
  going to be slammed. It's going to be so busy,
• 8:36
  there's going to be tons of people there.
• 8:38
  So if you know you're not going to make it until fireworks or
• 8:42
  you plan on an early night anyway, we've got a park hopper.
• 8:46
  Maybe Magic Kingdom on a party day is not a bad idea because
• 8:49
  those crowds are lower. You're going to be able to fly
• 8:52
  through rides super quickly in the morning, especially if
• 8:55
  you're someone who can get up and get to like early entry or
• 8:57
  even just get there at Ropedrop, you're going to be able to take
• 9:00
  advantage of that pretty easily. So a little bit of planning tips
• 9:04
  there. You kind of got to figure out
• 9:05
  what makes the most sense for your group with the time because
• 9:08
  Magic Kingdom will close, I believe it's 6:00 PM typically
• 9:12
  for the like day, guests quote, UN quote and they will start to
• 9:16
  usher you out. So usually at 5, they'll start
• 9:21
  to make announcements, check for wristbands. 530 is usually like
• 9:25
  towards the back of the park. They'll start not like shutting
• 9:28
  you out, but they'll start saying, OK, maybe, maybe this is
• 9:31
  your last ride on 7 dwarves. You got to start making your way
• 9:33
  to the front. Yeah, right.
• 9:35
  Exactly. Do keep in mind that if you are
• 9:37
  someone who's planning to arrive for that 4:00 PM early ticket
• 9:42
  entry time, there can be very long lines out front of Magic
• 9:47
  Kingdom because they will shuffle everybody for the party
• 9:51
  over to. As you're looking at the tap
• 9:53
  styles. The right hand side, typically
• 9:55
  closest to like the buses is where they will typically
• 9:59
  shuttle all of the party entry people because regular Daegas
• 10:04
  can still come into Magic Kingdom on the left and center
• 10:07
  sides. That that line can get very,
• 10:10
  very long. It moves very quickly because
• 10:12
  it's a fairly simple process to tap in and get your wristband.
• 10:16
  But don't expect to just waltz in right at 4:00.
• 10:21
  If you really want to get in right at 4:00, I do suggest
• 10:24
  getting to Magic Kingdom by like 3:00-ish to make sure that you
• 10:29
  can get in line, you know, find something to do to entertain
• 10:32
  yourself. Lines are not a novel thing at
• 10:35
  at Disney World, but I would get there early so that way you can
• 10:40
  get into the park quickly if if that is your only entry to the
• 10:44
  park for that day. Do also keep in mind that if you
• 10:47
  are already in the park prior to the party starting and you are
• 10:51
  attending the party, there are locations inside of the park
• 10:55
  that you can go to receive that party wristband so you don't
• 10:58
  have to exit the park, get in that really long line to get
• 11:02
  back in. That's really silly.
• 11:04
  So don't do that. Please don't.
• 11:07
  No, please don't do that. Also that being said, if you are
• 11:10
  someone who has a park hopper or is an annual pass holder or has
• 11:14
  a valid ticket that can get you into Magic Kingdom for that day,
• 11:17
  don't wait in the party line. Go through the regular tap style
• 11:21
  and then go to one of the inside park locations.
• 11:25
  Previously they have been at Tortuga Tavern, the Monsters
• 11:29
  Inc, Laugh floor, and the Fill her magic.
• 11:32
  I'm guessing they'll be the same.
• 11:34
  I think those have been the locations for several years
• 11:36
  running. But again, some of this
• 11:38
  information and you'll hear us mention this again later.
• 11:40
  We don't have the exact specifics because Disney is not
• 11:43
  really great at releasing it early.
• 11:45
  We will find out literally on the 15th on the first day.
• 11:48
  So those of you listening to us live, that's still, you know, a
• 11:52
  little ways away If you're listening to us on our replay,
• 11:55
  that was earlier this week, so you probably know by now what
• 11:58
  that looks like. But do keep that in mind.
• 12:02
  Again, if you've got valid entry to Magic Kingdom that day, do
• 12:05
  not wait in that party line. Go through the other key, other
• 12:08
  regular tap styles and go to the one of the in park places.
• 12:13
  It's going to save you a whole lot of time.
• 12:15
  We we can attest to that. We have done it both ways and it
• 12:19
  is much, much easier. In the park, yes.
• 12:22
  Yes. I mean, surely by volume, right,
• 12:24
  Because like we said, a lot of people are just doing Magic
• 12:27
  Kingdom, Magic Kingdom Day is the party.
• 12:29
  So by volume, more people are getting the wristband right at
• 12:31
  the front gate. So if if you can finagle your
• 12:34
  way in there to get your wristband at one of those
• 12:37
  locations, it's definitely worth it, yes.
• 12:39
  And I don't know exactly how early they start those
• 12:42
  wristbands, but my guess would be it's somewhere between 3:00
• 12:44
  and 4:00 they will start handing out those wristbands at those
• 12:47
  locations. Yeah.
• 12:49
  And it gets around there because we did it for the Christmas
• 12:51
  party one year. And I think it was around that
• 12:53
  time that we started seeing them like setting up and we were able
• 12:55
  to just walk up, show them our ticket, get the wristband and
• 12:58
  then we were good to do. Yeah, I actually think it might
• 13:01
  have even been earlier because the Christmas party is also very
• 13:05
  popular. And I think the day that we were
• 13:07
  going it was it was like one of the sold out days or if not it
• 13:10
  was sold out was very close to it.
• 13:12
  So they might have even started it like like 2:45, like it was
• 13:16
  very early to try to help filter some of that.
• 13:20
  Yeah, that totally makes sense. So again, there's our our tip
• 13:23
  for you for getting in. Let's talk about prices.
• 13:28
  Money. The pain of everyone's
• 13:30
  existence. So prices do start at 1:19 and
• 13:36
  they go all the way up to 229. Of course, the I know, I know, I
• 13:41
  saw that. It was like, oh, that's.
• 13:43
  Every year, every year they raise it and it's like they only
• 13:46
  raise it by 10 or $20 every year.
• 13:48
  But then it's like, you look back and you go, oh, I remember
• 13:51
  when all of the days used to be like under 100.
• 13:54
  Yeah, and I remember complaining because it was like 89 one year.
• 13:58
  And I'm like, wow, that was, I mean, me five years ago was so
• 14:01
  foolish. We couldn't have known the world
• 14:05
  is such a different place now. It's OK anyway.
• 14:08
  But yes, so as far as, yeah, I know, right, I felt that size so
• 14:11
  deeply. But the closer that you get to
• 14:15
  Halloween, of course, the prices go up with the most expensive
• 14:18
  night being Halloween itself and kind of understandable, right?
• 14:21
  That is going to be the prime party time.
• 14:23
  I actually think Halloween sells out first thing.
• 14:27
  Every year it sold out. Yeah, it is.
• 14:29
  It sells out. Like almost immediately.
• 14:31
  Understandable. At the Halloween party on
• 14:33
  Halloween is going to be the hot ticket.
• 14:35
  I am, yeah. Right.
• 14:36
  Usually day one will sell out pretty quickly and Halloween
• 14:39
  will sell out pretty quickly. Yeah.
• 14:41
  And that's The thing is random other dates will just sell out
• 14:45
  like for for no rhyme or reason. So like, unfortunately you
• 14:49
  really can't wait to buy these tickets.
• 14:51
  Like if you're thinking about it and you're like, yeah, I think
• 14:54
  I'm probably going to go buy your ticket.
• 14:56
  I. Will say don't rely on this
• 14:59
  method, but if you are there day of and you don't have plan
• 15:04
  right, like your, your heart is not set on going to it.
• 15:06
  You just want to maybe try. Sometimes you can walk up to
• 15:10
  will call and there is a very, very limited number of tickets
• 15:13
  available. So sometimes you'll get lucky.
• 15:16
  We're like, there was cancellations or they had to
• 15:19
  swap somebody's ticket date because they bought the wrong
• 15:21
  thing. And occasionally you will get
• 15:23
  lucky. We've seen it happen at almost
• 15:25
  every party or somebody has been able to get in.
• 15:28
  Now, of course there's not a lot.
• 15:30
  So this is like a total gamble. Don't have your heart set on
• 15:32
  this if this is your method, but should you be around and you're
• 15:35
  like let me just go check, you might get lucky.
• 15:38
  Yeah. And you can usually check at
• 15:40
  the, if the ticket booths are open at the TTC, you can check.
• 15:44
  So like if you are driving or monorailing or whatever you end
• 15:48
  up at the TTC first. You can usually check there if
• 15:50
  those ticket booths are open and not have to go all the way over
• 15:54
  to Magic Kingdom if you if you want to check before you make
• 16:00
  the trek all the way across the the lagoon.
• 16:02
  I mean, but it's fun to just ride the monorail around all
• 16:05
  day, so either way you get a fun ride.
• 16:07
  You know, you know, yes, the ferry's better, but I'll take
• 16:10
  the monorail. That's ballad.
• 16:15
  It is a beautiful view. Yes, I, I, that's, that's the
• 16:19
  way that I'll enjoy getting from the TTC to Magic Kingdom.
• 16:24
  So. This might shock you.
• 16:26
  I just like trains. So perhaps the least shocking
• 16:29
  thing I've ever said to anybody. I just really dig trains.
• 16:33
  I don't mind the monorail in the morning.
• 16:35
  The later in the day you get, the stinkier it gets and the
• 16:39
  more that I'm like. I think I'll pass.
• 16:40
  So that's a Ferrisos maces because we generally will only
• 16:44
  do a monorail in the morning. That is actually a completely
• 16:47
  fair assessment of that situation.
• 16:48
  It gets feedier the longer you go.
• 16:50
  Totally fair. Yep, exactly.
• 16:53
  OK, anyway. Enough talk about the feedies.
• 16:56
  And the monorail moving off of the the the.
• 16:58
  Moving right. So don't you dare bring The
• 17:04
  Muppets into this feat conversation.
• 17:08
  OK. So now we're going to dive a
• 17:11
  little bit into some of the highlights, a little bit of the
• 17:14
  layout of the party. What can you expect when you are
• 17:16
  actually at this event? So it may shock you that the
• 17:20
  Halloween party has trick or treating stations.
• 17:23
  What? I can't believe it.
• 17:25
  I know a Halloween event has Halloween themed things but
• 17:29
  there are of course this is like the big draw that I mean.
• 17:31
  Not to say This is why people go, but this is such a hot topic
• 17:36
  a a draw for sure. Every people I see those photos
• 17:39
  of kids candy halls, it's like cover entire queen size hotel
• 17:43
  Yeah so. So as first trick or treating
• 17:47
  goes, what's nice about Mickey's Not So Scary is that you can
• 17:51
  trick or treat in costume. You can dress up for this event.
• 17:56
  Now, of course, common sense, common sense costume rules do
• 18:00
  apply, right? So no masks, no ball gowns,
• 18:05
  nothing violent or gory or creepy, right?
• 18:08
  This is not so scary Halloween party.
• 18:10
  So most people are pretty good at the common sense.
• 18:13
  But just as a general disclaimer, you can dress up,
• 18:16
  but use your your Mickey judgement, if you will.
• 18:19
  Yeah. Yes, and most people do some
• 18:23
  sort of dress up, even if it's just like a themed T-shirt or
• 18:28
  you know, themed ears with a T-shirt.
• 18:30
  Some people. Go all out.
• 18:32
  And how people do I look like full spandex, like body suits
• 18:37
  walking around like 90° weather? I was last.
• 18:40
  Year we did like we'll usually do Disney bounding, which if
• 18:44
  anybody doesn't know, that's like a sort of like an everyday
• 18:46
  outfit that is inspired by a Disney character.
• 18:50
  So it's sort of a costume without it being a costume,
• 18:53
  right? That was that's a way that a lot
• 18:54
  of people who want to dress up at Disney are able to, I don't
• 18:57
  want to say get around the rules, but honor the rules at
• 18:59
  Disney while still being able to portray their favorite
• 19:02
  characters. So last year we did Prince Eric
• 19:05
  and Ariel and I was in a short sleeve white shirt and black
• 19:10
  shorts. And I so many people walking
• 19:12
  around in full body suits and like these these gorgeous, well
• 19:16
  put together costumes and I'm like, I am having a heat stroke
• 19:19
  in shorts and AT shirt. What is going on?
• 19:23
  If you can't do it, more power to you, but I that's what we
• 19:26
  don't. That's why we just Disney band.
• 19:27
  We don't like dress up. Dress up because of a costume is
• 19:29
  just too much for us in the park we went.
• 19:32
  And in 2022, that was the last time that I've done not so
• 19:35
  scary. And we did a whole family
• 19:38
  costume with we did like like superheroes, like Avengers.
• 19:43
  And I felt so bad because my kids were in like the spandex,
• 19:46
  you know, the, the kid like Spidey suits.
• 19:48
  And I was like, so we ended up instead of having them wear
• 19:52
  their costumes to the park, we had them wear shorts and AT
• 19:56
  shirt. And we changed like, after the
• 19:57
  sun went down, Yeah. It is.
• 20:01
  Yeah, it is so hot. And I did have a good question
• 20:05
  in our chat while we're talking about costumes that Vinny was
• 20:07
  asking what time you can start wearing costumes if you're there
• 20:11
  for the day. Typically that 4:00 time is
• 20:13
  going to be when they say that you're good to go.
• 20:16
  If you change a little before then, you probably won't have
• 20:18
  any cast members that are like you can't do that yet, but
• 20:21
  usually around that 4:00 time. So if you're someone that's in
• 20:25
  Magic Kingdom. Like, all day long.
• 20:27
  Let's say maybe you stash your stuff in a locker about 4:00, go
• 20:31
  and swap out and get yourself changed and and ready to go.
• 20:34
  So definitely don't wear it at 9:00 AM cuz they will not, no,
• 20:38
  no, they will not let you in at 9:00 AM.
• 20:41
  And also you may have heat stroke.
• 20:43
  Yeah, right. Yeah.
• 20:45
  So do again, prepare yourself, think about what you want to
• 20:49
  wear a T-shirt and some shorts in some way shape or form a
• 20:54
  dress, if you're someone who enjoys wearing dresses may be a
• 20:57
  good idea. Lately in the last like year or
• 21:00
  two, a lot of I see a lot of girls dressing up like the
• 21:03
  really popular like Halara, like tennis style dresses and stuff
• 21:07
  and making those more like kind of like Disney bounding plus
• 21:11
  almost, you know, those types of things.
• 21:14
  So just be smart about what you're what you're going to
• 21:16
  wear. Let's talk about trick or
• 21:18
  treating because that's super fun.
• 21:20
  So with your trick or treating, you will start off when you walk
• 21:25
  in for the party, they will actually take you into like a
• 21:28
  backstage little walkway behind the as you're looking like the
• 21:34
  right side of Main Street. They will park the double Decker
• 21:38
  bus there and it'll say have a big sign that says like not so
• 21:41
  scary Halloween party. This way they will give you
• 21:43
  these cutesy little bags for trick or treating and they will
• 21:46
  give you your first treat. Yeah, we'll get there.
• 21:50
  They will give you your first treat.
• 21:51
  So that is where you will start. But then after that, there are
• 21:54
  typically 8 treat locations that will be marked across the park.
• 21:58
  You'll find them in your party specific map, but then you'll
• 22:01
  also see they have big large inflatables that are outside of
• 22:06
  each location. Also marking those like as it
• 22:10
  gets dark. You can see them, yes, yes.
• 22:12
  Which honestly, it's really helpful because if you're just
• 22:14
  like wandering through the park, you're like, oh, hey, there's a
• 22:16
  treat location. That's, that's how we usually
• 22:18
  trigger when we go. So, you know, there's, there's
• 22:22
  that the bags they give you and I should have grabbed mine from,
• 22:28
  from when we went, but they are, they are not even a foot tall.
• 22:33
  So I'd say they're maybe 11 inches by about 6 inches wide.
• 22:37
  They're small, very, very small. The year that we went, my kids
• 22:41
  bags were full to the top in two stops because the cast members
• 22:47
  will grab a giant handful and give it to you.
• 22:52
  So, kiddos, they'll just shovel it in the yes.
• 22:54
  So bring bags to empty into if you are someone who wants a lot
• 23:00
  of candy. Our thing was once all four of
• 23:02
  our bags were full, we were done because we did not need any more
• 23:05
  than that. We were good to go.
• 23:08
  But if you're someone that wants the big candy hall, wants to be
• 23:11
  able to take all that home, bring some grocery bags or
• 23:14
  Ziploc bags to empty into so that way you have the ability to
• 23:19
  do that. I also highly suggest these bags
• 23:22
  get very, very heavy. If you have a stroller, get one
• 23:25
  of those giant carabiners and hook it on the handle of your
• 23:29
  stroller and then hook all of your bags onto the carabiner
• 23:33
  that. Is so smart.
• 23:35
  Yes, yes, I found that out after I went on my trip in 2022 and I
• 23:41
  was like, that would have been a game changer.
• 23:44
  So I highly suggest some sort of a hook situation to, to be able
• 23:51
  to do that. But you will literally get so
• 23:52
  much candy. We got so much candy that you're
• 23:54
  just in our 4 bags that we turned around and gave out some
• 23:59
  of that candy at our trick or treated.
• 24:01
  I was I was going to say there are people I see it every year
• 24:04
  in like the Facebook groups. And things like that, that
• 24:06
  literally will go to the Halloween party and get bags and
• 24:10
  bags and bags full. They'll feel like a whole
• 24:12
  backpack and then they just take that home and then that is their
• 24:15
  the candy that they give out for Halloween.
• 24:17
  Yep, so they just paid the price of the party ticket to buy their
• 24:21
  Halloween. Candy, yeah, which is an
• 24:23
  affordable. Option, yeah.
• 24:25
  Right, Halloween candy is expensive, man.
• 24:28
  But. They do.
• 24:30
  It is. Yeah, but they do have like name
• 24:33
  brand candies, you know what I mean?
• 24:34
  It's all the typical stuff that you're going to see and it's.
• 24:38
  All the Mars branded stuff. So like, think M&M's Snickers
• 24:42
  sweater fingers Snickers, stuff like that.
• 24:44
  Yeah, is what they give out. They had a ton of starbursts the
• 24:47
  year that we were there too, so I don't know if that's normal or
• 24:50
  not, but I feel like we got so many starbursts so we have
• 24:53
  started. Mostly chocolate last.
• 24:55
  Year yeah, so and also I'm going to say I have noticed like not
• 25:00
  not compared to like when we first started necessarily, but
• 25:03
  like they kind of used to have it where like not that each
• 25:06
  station had different types of candy, but like 1 station might
• 25:10
  be more heavy on the Starburst, 1 station might be more heavy on
• 25:13
  the chocolate or the Butterfinger, whatever it was.
• 25:15
  The everything is just like mixed into a barrel now with the
• 25:18
  last few times that we've gone, it's all just you're going to
• 25:21
  get a whole clump of miscellaneous.
• 25:23
  Candy, Yes, yes. Now those of you that may be
• 25:27
  going that are like, well, I have allergy concerns.
• 25:30
  I can't do peanuts, I can't do whatever other things are in
• 25:34
  candy that you dairy, you know those types of things.
• 25:37
  They do have allergy friendly options.
• 25:39
  So a couple things to know if that is you when you go through
• 25:43
  that backstage entry, when you first get into the park, you
• 25:48
  need to let the cast member know that you would like an allergy
• 25:50
  friendly bag. It is a teal version of the bag.
• 25:54
  So that has become kind of a universal sign for allergy
• 25:57
  friendly options over the last several years with trick or
• 26:00
  treating like the teal pumpkins or teal buckets, things like
• 26:02
  that. But they will give you a teal
• 26:04
  bag. Now you will still be able to
• 26:09
  trick or treat, but instead of getting your candy actually at
• 26:12
  the trick or treat stations, they will give you a little
• 26:14
  token and you will put that in your bag and hang on to it.
• 26:18
  Because later in the night or at any time of the night, I suggest
• 26:22
  just waiting and doing them all at the same time.
• 26:24
  But at any point in the night, you can trade that in for
• 26:27
  allergy friendly treats. So there are two centers that
• 26:31
  you can trade in your tokens for those allergy friendly treats.
• 26:34
  The Liberty Square ticket office, which is next to the
• 26:37
  Hall of Presidents is 1 and it is open until midnight, which is
• 26:41
  the end of the party. But you know, if you're at the
• 26:43
  last stage show or you're in the line, you're going to be in the
• 26:47
  park. Yes, exactly.
• 26:49
  But so that one's open until midnight and then the other one
• 26:52
  is the Chamber of Commerce on Main Street and that one is open
• 26:55
  till 12:30. So you want to make sure that if
• 26:58
  you have allergy friendly things that you are making time to get
• 27:02
  to one of those locations before they close and you will trade in
• 27:06
  your tokens and they will hook you up with allergy friendly
• 27:09
  options. They also have non food options
• 27:12
  as well. So if you're someone that's
• 27:14
  like, I got a bunch of allergies, I can't do any of
• 27:16
  this. They will take care of you.
• 27:17
  They will make sure that you have some goodies to go home
• 27:21
  with. You guys know we've talked about
• 27:23
  it on Mom St. before. Disney is really great with
• 27:26
  allergies. So they they will definitely
• 27:28
  hook you up and make sure that you are taken care of when it
• 27:30
  comes to all of that. And one more quick note before
• 27:33
  we get off of the trick or treating, just a friendly
• 27:36
  reminder that I mentioned earlier that candy is heavy.
• 27:40
  If you are flying to Mickey's Not So Scary and you're planning
• 27:45
  to fly home from Mickey's Not So Scary without having to pay for
• 27:50
  extra baggage fees, just keep that in mind.
• 27:54
  You may want to figure out a way to rearrange because the weight
• 28:01
  of candy is way more than you think it's going to be.
• 28:05
  It's. Shocking.
• 28:06
  Yeah, it's not a space issue with with this.
• 28:09
  It is literally a weight issue, so.
• 28:11
  They're dense. It's a density problem.
• 28:13
  Yes, so keep that in mind when you are if you're someone that
• 28:17
  maxes out the weight of your checked luggage, make sure you
• 28:23
  that would be just what shocker. Be aware of that plan to have
• 28:29
  some room for it in your carry on if you're able to.
• 28:31
  You know, if you've got a backpack and your backpack's
• 28:33
  full of candy, that's your carry on to go home.
• 28:36
  With that would be you got snacks at the.
• 28:39
  Red, I know you won't go hungry. It'll be perfect.
• 28:42
  Yes. So just plan accordingly for any
• 28:45
  snacks that you may want to bring home with you.
• 28:49
  And like, if you're not going to take it home with you, just
• 28:51
  don't get it in the parks. You don't have to go trick or
• 28:54
  treating. Or you could just get your, you
• 28:56
  know, one small bag and what you'll eat in in, you know,
• 28:59
  maybe you're at the beginning of your trip and you'll just eat it
• 29:03
  on your way, you know, on on all throughout your trip and be done
• 29:06
  with it by the time you're done. I don't suggest doing that if
• 29:09
  you have bags and bags and bags of candy.
• 29:12
  So just again, plan accordingly. Yeah, Katie is right.
• 29:16
  An airport Twix is like 5 bucks. So you know.
• 29:18
  Yeah, you are saving. People, a little stash for your
• 29:21
  airport, for your airport snacks for sure.
• 29:24
  But just again, plan, plan accordingly, OK.
• 29:27
  I think that's all we have to say.
• 29:28
  Again, we're not giving every single detail about every single
• 29:31
  thing with these with these events or we would literally be
• 29:34
  here all night. We're already going to be here,
• 29:35
  yes. We already have Quito.
• 29:38
  Let's keep going. What kind of other food options
• 29:42
  can we find at Mickey's Not So Scary?
• 29:44
  Yes. So of course, in addition to the
• 29:46
  free candy trick or treating, there are a variety of exclusive
• 29:49
  snacks and treats that you can purchase at the event.
• 29:52
  So these can be purchased throughout the park.
• 29:55
  I would say all your favorite, but I'll say most of your
• 29:57
  favorite food locations because there are some places that are
• 29:59
  closed, but each year there are, you know, returning favourites
• 30:04
  and then also new treats that they add to the menu each year.
• 30:07
  So some treats that are returning this year for Mickey's
• 30:10
  Not So Scary include the Madame Liotta seance candle.
• 30:13
  So this is a red velvet cake and cookies and cream mousse.
• 30:16
  Someone was like cake pop. It's like a push pop looking.
• 30:19
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 30:21
  And then the Mickey shaped cheesecake is a favorite.
• 30:24
  So this is a pumpkin cheesecake with Graham cracker crust and
• 30:26
  white chocolate whipped ganache. And then for a savoury option,
• 30:30
  there is a beef short rib with purple potatoes.
• 30:33
  So this is braised with red wine, figs, Peppers and a touch
• 30:36
  of dark chocolate. So there are both sweet and
• 30:38
  savoury options. If you're somebody who's not
• 30:40
  into all the desserts but you, you know, like a good, you know,
• 30:44
  lunch or dinner item, they have that too.
• 30:47
  Yeah, they've done a lot better in the last two years, I'd say,
• 30:50
  at giving us more equal savory and sweet.
• 30:53
  It always used to be that Disney World got all of the sweet and
• 30:56
  Disneyland got all of the savory, but they've done a lot
• 31:00
  better of of it a job kind of balancing that out in the recent
• 31:03
  years. So it's nice to see several
• 31:05
  savory options on the exclusive list as well.
• 31:08
  And they they are pretty good, right?
• 31:10
  Like, I mean, like not to, you know, for for you have to run
• 31:13
  brochure again, right. This is this is thing for food.
• 31:15
  You're right, it is, you know, like a special event food.
• 31:18
  So it is maybe a little fresher or a little different, right?
• 31:21
  But we've had some of these savory items and they are pretty
• 31:25
  good, you know, again, pleasant surprise for like a theme park
• 31:28
  party. Food pretty good, nice to break
• 31:30
  up the suite because a lot of these sweets are very sweet so
• 31:34
  you can't try like 10 of them in a night.
• 31:37
  But not with that attitude. A couple sweets, a couple savory
• 31:39
  things and, you know, kind of split it all up a little.
• 31:42
  But right. So some of the new menu items
• 31:45
  for this year are a candy corn vereen, which is layers of
• 31:49
  salted caramel ganache, marshmallow panna cotta, whipped
• 31:52
  cream topped with caramel corn and candy corn.
• 31:56
  My God, Speaking of violently sweet.
• 31:58
  Things, yeah, that's what I mean.
• 31:59
  Like that is so many of the snacks.
• 32:01
  So like, you can't just sit there and eat those All mail all
• 32:04
  got. Yeah.
• 32:05
  And then there is a magic potion slushy which is Fanta blue
• 32:08
  Raspberry slush with yuzu so it changes color from blue to green
• 32:11
  when you stir it, which is super.
• 32:13
  I'm really into that and I also love Yuzu.
• 32:16
  Like it just is a flavor. So like that's just like too
• 32:19
  like a fun magic trick and yuzu, I'm so I'm in, I don't.
• 32:22
  Think I've ever kind of like a lemony, like a citrusy kind of
• 32:27
  flavor. Yeah, it's like, I don't think
• 32:28
  I've ever had it before. So, so it is used, it's a, it's
• 32:32
  like a Japanese lemon. So it's used in like it's, it's
• 32:35
  like a, you still get the lemony punch, but it's less tart.
• 32:38
  So it's, it's like a really, it's used in a lot of like
• 32:41
  specifically Japanese dishes is where I see it.
• 32:43
  Like a lot of Japanese sodas and things like that have yuzu
• 32:46
  flavoring and it's really good. And if you're looking For more
• 32:49
  information about these menus, again, Disney doesn't put them
• 32:52
  out much ahead of time in two days to prep and they never
• 32:56
  include prices, but Disney Parks Blog has it.
• 33:00
  And then Disney Food blog is another really great one that
• 33:03
  you can find. And even if you look at last
• 33:05
  year's and you can kind of compare and contrast, a lot of
• 33:09
  this stuff is is the same from from last year or it's like very
• 33:14
  similar with one difference from last year to this year.
• 33:17
  So you can kind of find that kind of stuff online.
• 33:20
  If you're looking again, we won't get full reviews of all of
• 33:24
  that until after the 15th, which is your first party date.
• 33:28
  So if again, if you're listening in the future, apologies, we
• 33:31
  don't have that one we're recording.
• 33:32
  So you'll have to go online and do a quick Google search to find
• 33:35
  what you're looking for. The other thing to note, and I
• 33:39
  have found this and we got caught with this in 2022.
• 33:42
  So just take take my mistake and learn from it.
• 33:46
  If you want to eat and are planning to mobile order, mobile
• 33:51
  ordering is available. But mobile ordering for the park
• 33:56
  for the party specific food does not start until 7:00 PM so they
• 34:01
  won't it. The mobile order will say
• 34:03
  completely unavailable until 7:00 PM so keep that in mind.
• 34:08
  A lot of the restaurants also will close between 6:00 and 7:00
• 34:12
  because they will be prepping the kitchen and everything for
• 34:16
  the the turnover. So keep that in mind.
• 34:19
  Definitely if you're looking to do dinner in the parks, plan
• 34:23
  accordingly. If you're not looking to do any
• 34:25
  of the party food, grab your dinner by like 5:30 at the
• 34:29
  latest. If you're looking to do party
• 34:31
  food, be ready to mobile order right at 7 when it opens because
• 34:35
  it will get very, very busy with everybody else also wanting to
• 34:38
  try all of that. So just plan a little ahead.
• 34:42
  We got caught right at the end of where mobile order was not
• 34:47
  available like because we were just like, it was like 530.
• 34:51
  We were looking for food and I was like, why is it saying it's
• 34:54
  not available? I don't understand why it's not
• 34:55
  available. And I was like, oh, I'm silly.
• 34:59
  Whoops. Yeah.
• 35:00
  So we were able to go in somewhere and order up until
• 35:03
  6:00 even if the mobile order was not available.
• 35:07
  So again, just plan accordingly, look at what you're going to
• 35:10
  eat, figure out mobile order timing and all that kind of
• 35:13
  stuff. So again, just.
• 35:16
  Like I said. Learn from my mistake when it
• 35:18
  comes to mobile ordering and party food.
• 35:21
  And that's why we're vaguely park experts, because we've done
• 35:25
  everything that you can do and therefore we can tell you we're
• 35:29
  not what to do because we did what you shouldn't do.
• 35:32
  That's so true. That's so, so much of my advice
• 35:35
  is like, hey, I did this wrong, you should do it better.
• 35:40
  Here's my advice. So here's how to do it.
• 35:42
  Ask me how I know. Anyway, OK, so that's your
• 35:46
  little snippet about food. Let's talk about the shows
• 35:50
  because This is why. This is why we go to the parties
• 35:56
  is the exclusive shows and then we'll get to characters and some
• 35:59
  of the other fun stuff here in a moment.
• 36:01
  All that all, you know, all that other stuff.
• 36:03
  But let's talk about the shows. So the the star of the show for
• 36:08
  Mickey's not so scary Halloween party is the Boo to you parade.
• 36:12
  It is absolutely one of the most loved Disney parades for a very
• 36:16
  good reason. It's got tons of really fun
• 36:18
  characters, tons of like villains.
• 36:21
  If you're into villains, it's got all the villains.
• 36:23
  It's got lots of kind of obscure characters too, which is super
• 36:26
  fun. It's got the catchiest song.
• 36:29
  I'm not going to sing it. We're not going to earworm
• 36:31
  everybody. But my head.
• 36:34
  All the time. Yeah.
• 36:36
  Yeah, My kids will walk around singing it this time of year and
• 36:39
  just out of nowhere. Like, cool, cool, nailed it.
• 36:42
  Now I'm doomed for the next week.
• 36:45
  Yep. Yes, they have some super
• 36:47
  impressive floats, all of your favorite Disney characters.
• 36:50
  A lot of them are dressed up in Halloween costumes, which is
• 36:52
  super fun. So like you'll get Mickey and
• 36:54
  Minnie and Donald, Daisy, Goofy, but they're all in their
• 36:56
  Halloween outfits for for the season.
• 36:59
  If you want to. There are two things that
• 37:02
  happened before right before the parade, and the parade is
• 37:05
  typically twice in the evening. The times can vary, but in
• 37:09
  previous years I believe it's been a nine and an 11, between
• 37:12
  which we'll talk about the fireworks momentarily, but two
• 37:16
  things that do happen before the parade starts.
• 37:20
  The first one is the Headless Horseman from the Sleepy Hollow
• 37:24
  story does ride the parade route.
• 37:28
  So the parade route is the same as Festival Fantasy.
• 37:31
  Don't get confused with the new Starlight Night Parade that goes
• 37:34
  backwards. This one does go forward.
• 37:37
  So it starts by Tiana's Bayou Adventure and ends by the train
• 37:41
  station down Main Street. So let me just clarify that with
• 37:44
  the new nighttime parade, it gets a little confusing.
• 37:47
  Also side note, the Starlight Parade is not being performed on
• 37:51
  Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party evenings.
• 37:53
  So that's going to be another reason we talked earlier about
• 37:55
  magic making them being slammed on your non party days.
• 37:58
  That is another huge reason this year in 2025, why it's going to
• 38:02
  be even busier as people want to see that new parade, which you
• 38:05
  should because it's amazing anyway.
• 38:08
  Anyway, the Headless Horseman, about half hour to 20 minutes
• 38:14
  before the parade starts, he goes trotting down and it's one
• 38:18
  of the coolest things that happens in the parks, like
• 38:23
  because it just kind of comes out of nowhere and there's no
• 38:25
  real like music. You know, you're in the parade
• 38:27
  route normally, like the music starts and then you know that
• 38:29
  the parade is coming. Nope.
• 38:31
  They they clear the, the, you know, they cleared the, they
• 38:36
  cleared the, the. Parade path, the walkway and he
• 38:39
  just, it's, it's so cool. It's just so cool and the horse
• 38:42
  so beautiful and it's so like physically imposing because it's
• 38:45
  a, it's like a truly large human on a truly large horse.
• 38:50
  It's just so incongruous with being in Magic Kingdom in a
• 38:54
  theme park to see something quite like that, you know, so I
• 39:00
  completely agree that it is booty you is one of our favorite
• 39:03
  things that Disney does period. But like the the Headless
• 39:07
  Horseman is the one of the coolest parts.
• 39:10
  It's so good, so cool. So again, if you.
• 39:14
  Want to see that? If that's something that you're
• 39:15
  like, Yep, got to see that, Be sure you arrive early so you
• 39:18
  don't miss it because it is very easy to miss if you are not
• 39:22
  paying attention to time. The other thing that will happen
• 39:25
  before, and this one is a little bit more specific, if you want
• 39:29
  to catch the Max as Power line dance party extravaganza where
• 39:35
  all the dancers and Max teach everybody the eye to eye dance
• 39:38
  and they go and do it in the streets.
• 39:40
  So fun, super cute. It only happens on Main Street,
• 39:45
  so it does not happen even into the hub or anywhere on the other
• 39:49
  whole other side. So if you want to see that,
• 39:53
  participate in that, whatever with that, you have to stand.
• 39:58
  That's your thing. You have to stand at the
• 40:01
  farthest down would be like Casey's corner or the Plaza ice
• 40:05
  cream shop. You cannot go past that or you
• 40:07
  will totally miss it. And even if you're on that far
• 40:10
  end, you're still not going to be set up for success because
• 40:13
  they do it like. I don't know, maybe five times
• 40:16
  down the row. So it doesn't necessarily, it's
• 40:19
  not like a parade where they're going to walk from there down
• 40:23
  dancing the whole time. They like stop and dance in
• 40:25
  different little segments. So if that's important to you,
• 40:28
  do some research about where they stopped previously.
• 40:31
  There are blogs all over the Internet that will tell you
• 40:33
  where to go. But it's super fun because there
• 40:36
  are some really great cast members that are like bring the
• 40:38
  kiddos in and teach them to dance and then they do it all
• 40:40
  together. Super, super fun, great time.
• 40:43
  So but be sure that you are in the correct location to be able
• 40:47
  to participate if that's something that you want to do.
• 40:50
  One of the places that I like to watch is actually like at the
• 40:53
  very end of the parade route. So either standing right in
• 40:57
  front of the train station or standing like on the corner in
• 41:00
  front of the the bathrooms between like town hall and the
• 41:04
  Firehouse as it comes around the corner.
• 41:07
  That is a really fun place to watch because you can watch the
• 41:10
  parade come around the hub towards you, which I really
• 41:14
  like. So those are my two places that
• 41:16
  I like to stand in that vicinity.
• 41:18
  If you want to do power line and see the Headless Horseman that
• 41:21
  those are the two places that I would look to stand.
• 41:25
  Again, we cannot say enough good things about the parade.
• 41:27
  We have to stop talking about the parade because we have to
• 41:29
  continue talking about everything else.
• 41:33
  Three of eight of notes we have to keep.
• 41:35
  Going to keep pushing along. So yes, let's continue.
• 41:39
  On what other shows can we look forward to because they're all
• 41:43
  fabulous at and also scary they are so the next show.
• 41:47
  That we're going to talk about is the Hocus Pocus villains
• 41:49
  spelled hackular. This is another one, or I mean
• 41:52
  everything at the Halloween party is like our favorite
• 41:54
  things in Magic Kingdom ever, but the I have a deep attachment
• 41:58
  to the sass. And I can see it.
• 42:01
  But we have the Lego Sanderson sisters house love.
• 42:04
  I love it. I love.
• 42:05
  Everything hocus. Pocus.
• 42:06
  So much so this holds a special place in my heart in particular.
• 42:10
  Sorry, I didn't mean to. I don't know.
• 42:11
  I couldn't remember myself. So this features the Sanderson
• 42:15
  sisters and some help from your favorite Disney villains.
• 42:18
  So Oogie Boogie, Ursula Hades, think all your classic like most
• 42:23
  beloved Disney villains aren't part of his show.
• 42:26
  So there are typically three showings of this per night.
• 42:28
  Last year's showtimes for August 9th through September 28th,
• 42:33
  there was a nine O 5 show, a 1035 show, and then a midnight
• 42:37
  showing. So right at the end of the
• 42:38
  event. And then from September 29th
• 42:41
  through Halloween, there was a 735 showing, a nine O 5 showing,
• 42:46
  a 1035 showing and a 12 AM showing.
• 42:48
  So they added an extra show kind of getting closer to Halloween.
• 42:53
  That's the thing I like about the show is they show it
• 42:54
  multiple times a night. So it is easy like if you want
• 42:57
  to see it to kind of work it into your night.
• 43:01
  And some of them are less crowded than others.
• 43:02
  So it's just kind of like all about planning and when is it a
• 43:05
  priority for you to kind of go see the show, I think as a
• 43:08
  general. Rule for these parties, the
• 43:11
  later you can hang and the later your kiddos can hang, right?
• 43:15
  Don't don't push your kiddos into meltdown.
• 43:16
  Don't push yourself into meltdown.
• 43:18
  Let's be clear. Yeah, nobody needs to be having
• 43:20
  a freak out at at Magic Kingdom. But the later that you can hang,
• 43:25
  the better off you're going to be.
• 43:26
  Because of course, for different circumstances, people drop out
• 43:30
  of the party early or they may get on rides later in the night
• 43:33
  that they sort of neglected early on to do trick or treating
• 43:36
  or shows or fireworks. So the later, the like the last
• 43:40
  shows that you can see are usually the best.
• 43:43
  You will be able to get better spots, better views and it's
• 43:47
  fully dark by then, which really changes the experience into like
• 43:51
  a a more a more Halloween appropriate vibe and you get a
• 43:55
  lot more of the effects and things like that.
• 43:58
  Yeah. And I will say what say with.
• 43:59
  This show, when my kids saw it, they had not seen Hocus Pocus
• 44:02
  yet and it didn't matter. Yeah, yeah, they had, they've
• 44:05
  seen it now. But at that age that was that's
• 44:07
  fine. Like 3 years ago.
• 44:09
  I was going to say, I guess that's OK.
• 44:11
  They were quite a bit younger, and there are.
• 44:13
  Some things in that movie that are like the whole, like Virgin
• 44:18
  having to light the candle. How do you blame that to Yabos?
• 44:22
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 44:23
  So, you know, there's some things.
• 44:25
  There's some things, but they hadn't seen it, but they still
• 44:28
  love that show. So if you're like hesitant
• 44:31
  because you're like Hocus Pocus, well, you don't like that's not
• 44:34
  our thing. Still go to it is fabulous.
• 44:36
  You are not going to want to miss it.
• 44:38
  You don't need to know the the story.
• 44:40
  Of Hocus Pocus, it tells the Sanderson sisters are like
• 44:42
  hosting this gathering of like Disney villains.
• 44:45
  Basically, it's what it turns into.
• 44:47
  So it's really not dependent on the knowledge of that.
• 44:51
  So then we get the fireworks show for Mickey's Not so Scary
• 44:54
  is the Disney's Not so Spooky spectacular have a lot of not so
• 44:59
  spooky and whatever in the names, it gets good.
• 45:01
  They lean into it. They really lean into it.
• 45:03
  But this is. Hosted by Jack Skellington.
• 45:06
  So he narrates the party's fireworks show.
• 45:09
  So the story that it kind of tells is Mickey, Minnie, Donald
• 45:13
  and Goofy exploring a haunted house and they encounter Disney
• 45:18
  villains and dancing skeletons and so much more.
• 45:21
  So there are projections up on the castle, just like with any
• 45:24
  fireworks show. And then of course, you know
• 45:27
  some of your favorite Disney music and just it's really
• 45:31
  beautiful. The projections are gorgeous,
• 45:34
  especially they do like some Haunted Mansion things.
• 45:37
  So if you're a fan of that, like we are, it's just it's amazing.
• 45:40
  So everything about it and the Jack like animatronic that they
• 45:44
  get up there. So type in thing is like, I
• 45:47
  don't know, I'm he's like he's like 10 feet tall.
• 45:49
  He's amazing. He's absolutely amazing.
• 45:52
  It's like actual life-size Jack Skellington.
• 45:54
  Like that's what I picture him to look like and move like
• 45:57
  through space. It's the very first time that we
• 45:59
  saw it. We were really close for the
• 46:01
  fireworks and it was genuinely shocking.
• 46:05
  I actually just thought it was like it was Jack there.
• 46:07
  Like it was really, really impressive.
• 46:09
  Yeah, this is when I highly. Suggest being close for like the
• 46:14
  fireworks are a thing, yes, but this one is so much more with
• 46:17
  the castle projections and with the puppet on the stage.
• 46:21
  Like it really pays off to be nice and close so that you can
• 46:24
  see So previously the fireworks. We're sorry.
• 46:28
  I'm going to step on you for a second here where it was 10:00.
• 46:31
  So what a lot of people will do is they will follow the as soon
• 46:36
  as the 9:00 PM parade comes through, they will follow it to
• 46:40
  the hub to get their spot. Now the only downfall, again,
• 46:45
  this is what I've learned through all of this, is if you
• 46:48
  are someone standing where I told you to stand, it's going to
• 46:51
  be really hard for you to get close for fireworks.
• 46:55
  So again, maybe you do this the second parade and stand where I
• 46:59
  told you to stand. So that way you for the first
• 47:03
  parade, you can already stake out your spot to get up close
• 47:07
  for the fireworks if that's your thing.
• 47:09
  So again, it does take a little bit of planning going into it to
• 47:13
  kind of coordinate all the times between the showtimes, the
• 47:16
  fireworks, the parade to make sure you kind of align
• 47:19
  everything in a way that makes sense for you.
• 47:21
  A couple other things that they have going on throughout the
• 47:23
  parks that are worth noting. They have some dance parties and
• 47:26
  some other entertainment including the Disney Junior Jam
• 47:30
  at Cosmic Rays. So they have a they give Sunny
• 47:34
  Eclipse the night off and they have a DJ in there along with
• 47:37
  the Disney Junior friends. So it's the same friends that
• 47:40
  you found previously in the Hollywood Studios version of the
• 47:43
  Disney Junior dance party. So it's Doc Mcstuffins,
• 47:46
  Vampirina, Roadster Racer, Mickey and Timon from Lion King.
• 47:51
  So those will be your friends that they come out and like they
• 47:53
  dance with with the kiddos that are one of those.
• 47:56
  Things is not like the other. You know.
• 47:59
  I don't ask questions. Disney desperately needs to redo
• 48:02
  their Disney Junior characters. I will not get on my soapbox
• 48:05
  about that right now, but it is so desperately needed when we
• 48:09
  reel it back in. So yes, Disney Junior Jam at
• 48:13
  Cosmic Rays is a super fun little dance party.
• 48:15
  You can pop in, pop out. There's no set showtimes for
• 48:18
  that. It's just kind of an all night
• 48:19
  thing this year for the Tomorrowland stage.
• 48:23
  They kind of rotate through this one depending on what movies are
• 48:27
  popular. Last year it was a Descendants
• 48:29
  themed 1 because Rise of Red had just come out.
• 48:31
  This year it is the Zombies Bash celebrating.
• 48:36
  I know. Celebrating the new Disney
• 48:38
  Channel original movie Zombies 4, so it's going to be zombies
• 48:43
  themed. If you're familiar with that D
• 48:45
  com franchise, you can also catch the Cadaver dance.
• 48:49
  If you are familiar with the Dapper Dance.
• 48:52
  This is a spookified version of the Dapper Dance and they
• 48:57
  perform in Frontierland by the Frontier Trading Post and they
• 49:01
  are typically up on the like catwalk area, so you can kind of
• 49:05
  stand below and listen to them. They will be like miked and
• 49:09
  amplified, which is kind of nice.
• 49:10
  So you'll be able to hear them as you're walking by.
• 49:13
  And then they also have a DJ ringmaster that's going to be
• 49:17
  back in the Storybook Circus area.
• 49:19
  So if you've heard about Cool Kids Summer, they've been doing
• 49:22
  a bunch of stuff back in that big top area for that.
• 49:25
  So they are utilizing that space as well for this new DJ
• 49:29
  ringmaster this year, which is new for the party this year.
• 49:33
  So tons of other fun things to do if you're looking for those
• 49:37
  experiences. It's a lot to fit in in one
• 49:40
  night. So you really need to prioritize
• 49:43
  because we haven't even talked about characters, which we're
• 49:44
  going to talk about next. And that is another huge draw.
• 49:47
  So you really sign it. Have to pick and choose and see
• 49:51
  some of these. We tend to like, do a drive by
• 49:54
  that kind of like audiences, the costume.
• 49:56
  Bottle. Yeah, like purposefully walk.
• 49:58
  Through the Tomorrowland area or purposely walk through
• 50:01
  Frontierland to catch it. But yeah, it, it can be hard to
• 50:05
  to spend a lot of time at any of these.
• 50:07
  So you really have to kind of pick and choose to make sure you
• 50:10
  don't miss something. Yeah, definitely.
• 50:13
  Yeah, All right. Shall we talk about characters?
• 50:14
  I was going to. Say, on that note, Speaking of
• 50:16
  things. That are extremely popular yes
• 50:19
  character meet and greets. So this is I'd say like at any
• 50:23
  after hours party, the characters tend to be one of the
• 50:28
  biggest draws and that is especially true at the Halloween
• 50:31
  party because there are often like rare villains that are out
• 50:36
  to be able to be met or even just see right like it's pretty
• 50:40
  normal to have these villains. I don't want to say they're
• 50:42
  roaming, but like in certain places they will appear
• 50:46
  regularly. For example, Cruella will appear
• 50:49
  sometimes on that double Decker bus that you see on the way in.
• 50:52
  Very often, excuse me, throughout the night you'll get
• 50:56
  Maleficent and Evil Queen or somebody else up on top of the
• 51:00
  train station, especially later in the night, sort of bidding
• 51:02
  people farewell. Last year they were in the queue
• 51:06
  at. Princess Fairy Tale Hall for the
• 51:08
  first time, which was so fun. Yes, yes, so that they don't.
• 51:13
  So there are certain things that are announced ahead of time,
• 51:15
  right? For the most part, we kind of
• 51:16
  know the characters that will be there, but Disney does like to
• 51:19
  surprise you with where and when you may end up seeing a
• 51:23
  character that's out and about in a place that they aren't
• 51:25
  normally. They do like to mix it up and
• 51:27
  they do like to have experiences like that where maybe you can't
• 51:31
  directly meet somebody, but you will see that character.
• 51:34
  You will get to experience some sort of interaction that sort of
• 51:38
  adds to the whole atmosphere of the Halloween party itself.
• 51:42
  The biggest draw, however, is Jack and Sally from The
• 51:47
  Nightmare Before Christmas. These lines, both of the
• 51:51
  Christmas party and the Halloween party, are always the
• 51:54
  longest character meet and greet lines I have ever seen for a
• 51:59
  good reason. They're an.
• 52:00
  Incredible meet and greet at so ever gotten the chance like they
• 52:03
  are just so good. They're so much fun.
• 52:05
  If you, like really know the world and I remember before
• 52:07
  Christmas too, it just like makes it even better because you
• 52:09
  can just have all these like amazing conversations with them.
• 52:13
  And like, it's we did it a couple years ago at the
• 52:16
  Christmas party because it was like the tail end of the night.
• 52:18
  It wasn't a super long line. And I do not regret staying the
• 52:23
  extra like however long it took us to meet them because it was
• 52:26
  really like, it made my day. Yeah, first thing.
• 52:29
  That's the best thing to get in line for.
• 52:31
  If you're like, that's my priority.
• 52:32
  You better get in line at 4:00 PM at Town Hall and be careful
• 52:37
  at the end of the night. It is normally a good time, but
• 52:39
  they will cut the line off. So do not plan to go at 11:59
• 52:45
  and get in line 'cause they will cut the line.
• 52:47
  So just be aware of that. And then did you see the new
• 52:51
  Jack costume? It looks so good.
• 52:54
  It looks so. Good, so good.
• 52:57
  Like the old one was great. For what it was now seeing the
• 53:00
  new one, it's like we could have had that all along.
• 53:03
  Man, this is a long needed redesign.
• 53:06
  And it's been a topic of conversation for years and years
• 53:09
  that like that costume was serviceable when they started
• 53:13
  doing the Jack and Sally Meet and Grease.
• 53:15
  But it is long, especially seeing some of the other
• 53:17
  costumes that they have had in the inter like intervening
• 53:20
  years. They do.
• 53:21
  It was then time to update it to more modern costuming.
• 53:25
  I'll put it, it's a fantastic costume and they put the the top
• 53:30
  tier attendance that are involved in there.
• 53:33
  So you are you are in you are getting a meaningful interaction
• 53:36
  with Jack and Sally, right. They don't just rush you
• 53:38
  through. You get a good few minutes.
• 53:40
  You get you. It's really it's fun.
• 53:43
  It's a it's worth it. It is one of the few meet and
• 53:45
  greets like we're not big character people, but I would
• 53:48
  totally do it again. It was they were everybody was
• 53:50
  fantastic. But if Jack and Sally's line is
• 53:54
  maybe it's much too long for you.
• 53:56
  There are also tons of other characters.
• 53:58
  Like we said, some of them are sort of, again, not free
• 54:01
  roaming, but you will be able to see them and interact throughout
• 54:03
  the night. But there are also some set ones
• 54:06
  that are available through throughout the park, right?
• 54:09
  There's many of them. Of course, that's one of the big
• 54:12
  draws of this party. Disney knows it.
• 54:14
  They are here to, you know, have folks get what they want out of
• 54:17
  these experiences. So there's plenty of meet and
• 54:20
  greets throughout the park. So some of the villains are that
• 54:23
  we you'll regularly will meet our Maleficent evil Queen from
• 54:28
  Snow White Lady Tremaine, which is fun because Lady Tremaine,
• 54:32
  Anastasia and Drizella can all meet together or sometimes where
• 54:36
  was it was right by Friar's Nook, that little gated off area
• 54:41
  like the filler magic like. Any area, Yeah.
• 54:43
  So it's like, I don't know if it's like an.
• 54:45
  Overflow queue of where the princesses normally meet or what
• 54:49
  it was, but it was like all three of them just putting on a
• 54:53
  little show for everybody. Anastasia and Drizella were like
• 54:57
  poking fun at everybody. And then Lady Tremaine came out
• 55:00
  to get them in line. And it was really like just such
• 55:02
  a fun, special, like atmospheric moment that again, like really
• 55:08
  unique to these parties. But we don't just have villains.
• 55:11
  As much as I love villains and that's the focus.
• 55:14
  There are also some classic characters, so I I don't know if
• 55:18
  we mentioned it, but Mickey and Minnie are meeting in their
• 55:21
  special Halloween gear, which for the first time ever this
• 55:24
  year they are meeting together in their Halloween gear.
• 55:27
  That's exciting, yes, so. You can get both of them at
• 55:29
  once. Which is a huge win for
• 55:32
  character collectors. Is that the term?
• 55:34
  I don't know. Sure, we'll go with it.
• 55:37
  There's also Elvis Stitch, which was a life changing meet and
• 55:41
  greet for me. You're so much fun.
• 55:43
  So much. Fun.
• 55:44
  It's such a good meet and greet. So we have him.
• 55:46
  And then of course, there's, you know, some some miscellaneous
• 55:50
  princesses. There's Jasmine, there's
• 55:51
  Jeannie, who is also a Princess in my heart.
• 55:54
  Well, and I will say the thing about the.
• 55:56
  Parties, and this is true for Christmas as well, is you get a
• 55:58
  lot of those pairs meeting together.
• 56:00
  So you'll get Princess meeting with some of the princesses,
• 56:04
  which is super funny. So you get more kind of more
• 56:07
  bang for your buck when you're waiting in those lines, which is
• 56:09
  really nice. And some of these characters
• 56:12
  don't come out except for the parties, right?
• 56:15
  So again, it's that it the exclusivity of the characters.
• 56:19
  And again, we don't find out exactly who is where until the
• 56:23
  very first night of the party. But we can pretty much guess,
• 56:27
  again that a lot of the ones that we've talked about and have
• 56:30
  seen previously, if there are any new ones, Disney always
• 56:33
  announces that, you know, that you'll get to hear, but we just
• 56:36
  kind of have to sit and wait and assume that it'll be what it
• 56:41
  was. Last year.
• 56:43
  Oh. Goodness.
• 56:44
  OK, so is there anything else on character meet and greets or
• 56:46
  should we just keep on trucking into attractions?
• 56:49
  I think we're good to keep on going.
• 56:51
  Cool. All right, so we alluded to
• 56:54
  earlier that not everything is open during the party.
• 56:58
  Most things are right when you think of like the big
• 57:01
  attractions, the common ones that most people are going to
• 57:04
  ride. 7 dwarves mine train Haunted Mansion Tiana's Those
• 57:09
  big ones are open during the party.
• 57:12
  Haunted Mansion features some. Fun surprises in the queue?
• 57:15
  Oh yeah, not. They're all year round too.
• 57:17
  Good call. Yes, A. 100% like can't.
• 57:21
  Miss if you're a Haunted Mansion fan, even if you're not like,
• 57:24
  it's a very strong. It's it's an incredibly fun
• 57:27
  moment just to just go take a take a swing by the queue.
• 57:31
  If you're not if, if you're not feeling maybe a Haunted Mansion
• 57:34
  ride that day, which I can't relate to, but I understand
• 57:37
  that, but not everybody wants to.
• 57:38
  It is really, it is a it is a fun time.
• 57:40
  That's that's a good call. But like we said with the Tiki
• 57:45
  Room, sometimes attractions are shut down because they are
• 57:48
  repurposed for cues. Or sometimes just the popularity
• 57:52
  of that ride or the logistics that it takes to run that ride
• 57:56
  may not, you know, warrant the staffing that is available
• 57:59
  because they do have to divert staff to party activities.
• 58:02
  Yeah, and it's mostly the shows. That don't run so things like
• 58:07
  here's all the progress fill her magic the tiki room those types
• 58:11
  of things they're either used for meet and greets or they're
• 58:13
  used for trick or treat locations so it just really
• 58:17
  depends and again all of that stuff is on your map so when you
• 58:20
  enter and go through that backstage area you can get the
• 58:23
  party specific map that will tell you what's open what's not
• 58:27
  those those types of things. The best part about the
• 58:30
  attractions, though, is the overlays.
• 58:34
  Yeah, so there are a few rides, not enough rides in my opinion,
• 58:39
  but a few rides that get some really great Halloween overlays.
• 58:43
  So the ones that are regular every single year, Space
• 58:48
  Mountain gets a spooky soundtrack and the lights are
• 58:51
  completely off completely. So like no moon, no stars, no
• 58:57
  nothing, pitch black with a with a spooky soundtrack.
• 59:01
  Mad Tea Party gets spooky lighting and some spooky music,
• 59:05
  which is fun. And then the Monsters Inc laugh
• 59:07
  floor gets the full Halloween treatment.
• 59:11
  Now previously with that it's it doesn't function like the
• 59:16
  standard show does because it also has served as a trick or
• 59:20
  treat location in the past. We'll have to again wait and see
• 59:23
  what they do this year, but what it's been before is you can go
• 59:27
  in and trick or treat and then they will just have like
• 59:31
  constant running Halloween jokes up on the screen.
• 59:34
  So don't think of it as like the go and sit down show with
• 59:37
  Halloween with Halloween jokes. It's a little bit different than
• 59:40
  that. But those are your three.
• 59:42
  Again, like just mentioned, Haunted Mansion has some fun
• 59:46
  things added to it. The lighting on Haunted Mansion
• 59:49
  gets a little spookier. Some different colors and
• 59:52
  things. That's beautiful.
• 59:54
  It's that. In and of itself, truly like
• 59:56
  wait, wait towards the end of your evening when it's really
• 59:59
  dark out and then go take a walk over to Haunted Mansion.
• 1:00:03
  Not only is it really cool, but those characters are truly in
• 1:00:06
  full swing. Yes, yes.
• 1:00:07
  So that's super fun. A few years back, they also did
• 1:00:11
  some live performers in Pirates of the Caribbean.
• 1:00:13
  I keep hoping that maybe if we keep talking about it, they'll
• 1:00:16
  bring it back because that was. Super fun so.
• 1:00:19
  They are. There are some other fun little
• 1:00:22
  hidden gems throughout the parks that some of them we may not
• 1:00:25
  know until the night of because they're never going to announce
• 1:00:28
  it. Some of them may not be on your
• 1:00:30
  map. So again, Disney Food Blog is a
• 1:00:33
  really great resource for that. Chip and Co, our affiliate
• 1:00:37
  sponsor here with our podcast, they're really great, you know,
• 1:00:41
  resource for all of that. So do some quick Google
• 1:00:43
  searching if if you're going to the first night, just try to
• 1:00:47
  see. Everything as much as you.
• 1:00:49
  Can and good luck. Good night and good luck.
• 1:00:52
  Exactly. Yes, yes.
• 1:00:53
  So that's kind of your overlay situation for the party.
• 1:00:59
  So we. Just just one more note on
• 1:01:02
  rides, we mentioned it a little bit earlier that the wisest way
• 1:01:07
  to use your time is to really hit those attractions that will
• 1:01:11
  not be open during the party. The other thing I'm I'm going to
• 1:01:18
  just steal, steal, step on you a little bit.
• 1:01:20
  The important thing to know is and, and maybe this appeals to
• 1:01:24
  you, right? Maybe you don't want to ride
• 1:01:26
  space Mountain in the pitch dark.
• 1:01:28
  Maybe that's not your vibe. Then you can go hit space
• 1:01:31
  Mountain. We would recommend hitting it
• 1:01:33
  between like 6 and seven right when they're really starting to
• 1:01:35
  clear the guests. But the Halloween party has not
• 1:01:38
  started because much like mobile ordering for the special
• 1:01:41
  Halloween treats, it does not start until 7:00 and they are
• 1:01:44
  pretty strict about it. So if you go ride it at like
• 1:01:47
  6:30, you will still get your moon and stars.
• 1:01:50
  You are. If you're not going to get,
• 1:01:51
  you're not going to get your spooky.
• 1:01:53
  Time. Space Mountain chiropractic
• 1:01:54
  adjustment, right. You're you're just going to get
• 1:01:57
  your average, your average chiropractic experience on Space
• 1:02:02
  Mountain. Yes, yeah, that.
• 1:02:04
  Is important to note because if you are a fan of those
• 1:02:07
  attractions and you want that Halloween experience,
• 1:02:10
  unfortunately you got to wait until 7.
• 1:02:11
  Now you might be able to time it to where you get in line at like
• 1:02:15
  6:45 and you get on pretty quickly with that overlay, but
• 1:02:19
  you definitely, again, you need to do a little bit of planning
• 1:02:22
  and it it stinks because there is so much in these parties.
• 1:02:27
  You know, we're we're wrapping up here very shortly with with
• 1:02:30
  not so scary. You're going to talk about HHN
• 1:02:31
  and it's the same way there. You really have to prioritize.
• 1:02:35
  You have to look at everything because all of it is so cool.
• 1:02:40
  That you really have to. Have to pick what your
• 1:02:42
  priorities are, are they characters, are they rides, are
• 1:02:45
  they food, are they shows and you really have to kind of focus
• 1:02:48
  on one and and plan the rest of your night accordingly.
• 1:02:52
  Yes, agreed, this is definitely. We, I think we've given this
• 1:02:56
  advice before where like you sort of have your big three
• 1:02:59
  things that you must do and then from there you rank your nice to
• 1:03:03
  haves, right? That is, that is the way that we
• 1:03:06
  have done that before and that is the way that we have
• 1:03:08
  successfully gotten through frankly most things at the
• 1:03:10
  party. But like we are also two
• 1:03:13
  childless adults, so we were able to speed through maybe more
• 1:03:16
  than a lot of the mom St. audience, right.
• 1:03:18
  So the probably what would be best, you know, is to sort of
• 1:03:22
  like Jackie said, prioritize, make your make your list of your
• 1:03:26
  must do's and then everything else that you can just get done
• 1:03:29
  on top of that is gravy. So and if you're like, I don't
• 1:03:32
  know what I must. Do booty, you parade.
• 1:03:36
  Top of the list? Absolutely.
• 1:03:38
  The not so scary spectac Spelltacular fireworks,
• 1:03:42
  fireworks. Second on your list, third on
• 1:03:45
  your list could be either a character meet and greet or the
• 1:03:48
  stage show. Yeah, that would be the top
• 1:03:51
  three. That if you're like, I'm
• 1:03:52
  overwhelmed, that's where I would start.
• 1:03:54
  Agreed. I think that I think that it
• 1:03:56
  makes total. Sense because anytime we have
• 1:03:58
  conversations with friends or family who are interested in
• 1:04:01
  going to this booty you parade is #1 what we always say line up
• 1:04:06
  early, see the horseman make sure that you experience that
• 1:04:09
  whole parade because it is genuinely fantastic and I pretty
• 1:04:12
  much agree with the rest of the rankings good stuff look at that
• 1:04:15
  we have the same opinion shocking wow OK, but before we.
• 1:04:19
  Wrap with not so scary. We do need to talk about merch,
• 1:04:21
  just briefly. So Duck, what can you tell us
• 1:04:24
  about merch? We could do a whole episode on
• 1:04:26
  merch but. To keep it brief, to keep it
• 1:04:28
  clear, there is party exclusive merch every year.
• 1:04:32
  There is always party exclusive merch, be it pins, spirit
• 1:04:36
  jerseys, anything and everything that you can think of there.
• 1:04:40
  If if you can purchase an item, they have made a party exclusive
• 1:04:43
  of it. What is always especially
• 1:04:46
  popular though are if they have them popcorn buckets or the
• 1:04:49
  sippers. People, myself included, go
• 1:04:52
  bananas for them, right? They are a hot, hot, hot
• 1:04:56
  commodity. So these are going to be
• 1:05:00
  exclusive to party guests. If it's a shirt that says Boo to
• 1:05:04
  you if it's the that year's themed design.
• 1:05:08
  If it is the Jack was is it a popcorn bucket this year?
• 1:05:12
  Which there are a couple, yes. Now, but you do have to double
• 1:05:17
  check because some of the popcorn buckets are not
• 1:05:20
  exclusive, they're just Halloween themed.
• 1:05:22
  Some of them are exclusive to the party.
• 1:05:25
  So you need to really look. Again, Disney Parks Blog is your
• 1:05:29
  best case for that. I'm not even going to try to
• 1:05:33
  explain what's where and who's where of that because there is
• 1:05:37
  certain ones or a certain stands.
• 1:05:38
  Yes. So there is a Jack Skellington.
• 1:05:41
  Popcorn bucket where he's like sitting on a gravestone and the
• 1:05:44
  gravestone is like the popcorn holder.
• 1:05:45
  The other popcorn bucket that I saw I'm obsessed with, but it's
• 1:05:50
  not for the party. It's the ghost.
• 1:05:52
  Mickey. Have you seen it?
• 1:05:54
  It's so cute. I'm obsessed with it and.
• 1:05:57
  I need it desperately. I'm like, it's cute.
• 1:06:02
  Well, so that one. That one's at Disney.
• 1:06:04
  Springs, yes. So again.
• 1:06:06
  You have to look and see. Because like the ghost Mickey
• 1:06:08
  one is there the the Jack one I think is the party exclusive one
• 1:06:13
  this year. And then they do have for
• 1:06:16
  sippers the Pluto in his skeleton outfit withholding his
• 1:06:19
  little trick or treat bucket in his mouth.
• 1:06:22
  And I don't remember. I think that one is, I don't
• 1:06:25
  remember if that one's party exclusive.
• 1:06:26
  That one might be everybody. Yeah, that might be.
• 1:06:28
  That's what they've started. Doing is, they'll have like a
• 1:06:30
  Halloween themed item that's generally accessible to the
• 1:06:35
  public and then they'll have the exclusives.
• 1:06:39
  These are going to sell out everything.
• 1:06:41
  A lot of stuff sells out. Stuff sells out very quickly.
• 1:06:45
  Unfortunately, it can sell out early in the night, it can sell
• 1:06:49
  out early in the parties and they may restock.
• 1:06:51
  So by the time it comes to your party, they may not be
• 1:06:53
  available. So not to not to push anybody to
• 1:06:57
  purchase anything that like was not in your budget or or
• 1:07:00
  whatever, but like if there's something that you absolutely
• 1:07:02
  have your heart set on and that is your trip souvenir, grab it,
• 1:07:06
  grab it. Not that we have absolutely had
• 1:07:08
  instances both here and at HHN where we regret not grabbing
• 1:07:12
  something earlier in the night. And then by the time we go back,
• 1:07:14
  it is long gone. So we're limited edition.
• 1:07:17
  So like, Oh yes, be mine pins pins, yes.
• 1:07:20
  That's a good point. The SO pins are the best example
• 1:07:25
  of something that we can give, not only of something that's
• 1:07:26
  limited edition. So they will maybe only have so
• 1:07:29
  many a night, but some merch in some locations they will start
• 1:07:35
  selling a touch early, not like 4:00, right?
• 1:07:39
  Right when you get in there, sometimes it is 4:00.
• 1:07:43
  So for the T-shirts and. Stuff the less limited items,
• 1:07:46
  I've noticed that they'll have a strict so the way that the.
• 1:07:49
  Emporium started doing it last year or the year before, I don't
• 1:07:53
  remember is they have a section that they transform into the
• 1:07:57
  party section and then they keep it roped off and then you have
• 1:07:59
  to show a party ticket to gain entrance to that area to be able
• 1:08:04
  to purchase those items. OK, so I think so by the time.
• 1:08:07
  We got in last year, then it must.
• 1:08:09
  Have just been been everybody, yes, So they will do that.
• 1:08:13
  But again, show proof of your party ticket to be able to gain
• 1:08:18
  entry to look at the merch. Now, I don't know if all of the
• 1:08:22
  merch was out during that open or that early open time, but I
• 1:08:27
  do know that I think it was just last year they started doing it
• 1:08:30
  that way because it was a little bit easier for them to push
• 1:08:33
  people through. Yeah, it's a good idea.
• 1:08:36
  It allows people to get. Their shopping done earlier in
• 1:08:39
  the night, it's lost congested at the end and you know, for
• 1:08:42
  folks who just want something like a hat or a general pin or
• 1:08:46
  the shirt design or whatever it is that are far less limited,
• 1:08:49
  much easier to pick it up early on.
• 1:08:52
  Yes, so the party specific. Before we get yes, yes, too far
• 1:08:56
  away, the party specific popcorn bucket is the Jack Skellington
• 1:09:01
  one. OK.
• 1:09:02
  And that is 2 per person per transaction libel while supplies
• 1:09:05
  last during now so scary Halloween party.
• 1:09:08
  Now keep in mind in previous years, recently supply has been
• 1:09:13
  an issue and like they didn't have popcorn buckets like the
• 1:09:16
  first party. Yep, you know, or.
• 1:09:19
  Things like that have happened. So again, some of that is out of
• 1:09:22
  everyone's control. The sipper, which I am now, now
• 1:09:26
  that I'm seeing it, I'm like I knew that is the mare from
• 1:09:29
  Nightmare Before Christmas and it's his.
• 1:09:32
  It's like shoulders up with the tall hat and his face is is 2
• 1:09:37
  sided like it is in the movie. Again, limit to per transaction
• 1:09:42
  and that is at Pecos Bell. So if you want the sipper,
• 1:09:45
  that's where that one is. The popcorn bucket is various
• 1:09:49
  popcorn carts. So good luck.
• 1:09:51
  Yeah, usually by the Hub, sometimes into Tomorrowland or
• 1:09:56
  you know, but usually by the hub is where you're at.
• 1:09:58
  I was going to say that's where we've had.
• 1:10:00
  Luck before with other popcorn buckets is the hub that's
• 1:10:03
  usually the the spot that gets them and gets the most yeah and
• 1:10:07
  the line will be very long so if you.
• 1:10:09
  Find a relatively short line, jump in it, pop.
• 1:10:12
  Just don't even ask questions, you know Pop.
• 1:10:13
  Right on it. Yep, exactly.
• 1:10:16
  OK, I. Think.
• 1:10:17
  Now that we've been here for over an hour, we've got through
• 1:10:20
  everything for a not so scary haul party.
• 1:10:22
  Maybe we should have made this 2 episodes.
• 1:10:24
  Oh well, too late, let's keep going.
• 1:10:25
  You committed, OK. Thanks for hanging with us.
• 1:10:28
  OK, let's talk about now for something completely.
• 1:10:31
  Different. Let's talk about HHS.
• 1:10:34
  So just a quick note before we jump into our full notes about
• 1:10:38
  HHN. If you want more about HHN and
• 1:10:41
  the events at Universal, we did talk about them in our whole
• 1:10:45
  series that we did for Universal.
• 1:10:47
  So episode 89 of Mom Street, if you scroll back into our
• 1:10:51
  archives, we talked more about HHN.
• 1:10:53
  So some of this we might kind of fly through.
• 1:10:56
  I'm also because we've already been here for an hour and plus
• 1:11:00
  because we did. Yes, because we did.
• 1:11:03
  Just talk about it so. But just keep that in mind if
• 1:11:06
  you want more in depth. We did talk more about prices
• 1:11:09
  and different options and things like that for HHN.
• 1:11:12
  Yeah. All right, so.
• 1:11:13
  Moving on from the cute scary of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween
• 1:11:17
  to the straight up scary of Halloween Horror Nights.
• 1:11:20
  So this a little disclaimer. The event does not necessarily
• 1:11:23
  have an age restriction, but there are 1,000,001 disclaimers
• 1:11:27
  all over Universal's website and everywhere saying that the event
• 1:11:30
  might not be recommended for kiddos under 13.
• 1:11:34
  So we have seen people bringing their younger kids into the
• 1:11:37
  event. So I mean, you really just have
• 1:11:39
  to know your kids and know what they can tolerate and whatnot.
• 1:11:45
  Like, I see a lot of people bringing kids in strollers
• 1:11:46
  because you could just kind of like pull the little shade down
• 1:11:51
  that is. Wild, you know.
• 1:11:53
  So then they don't. Notice but you know, really just
• 1:11:55
  like gauge your kids and and you know, see what you think they
• 1:11:58
  would be OK with. But moving more into details of
• 1:12:02
  the event. So just like with Mickey's, Not
• 1:12:05
  so scary. This is a separately ticketed
• 1:12:07
  event, so this takes place only at Universal Studios.
• 1:12:10
  They tried it at IOA and it doesn't go well.
• 1:12:13
  Marble was upset they didn't love the.
• 1:12:17
  Dead heroes, they were not built.
• 1:12:20
  I don't suspect it will be going back to IOA ever.
• 1:12:23
  No. So this year.
• 1:12:26
  The event runs on select nights from August 29th to November
• 1:12:30
  2nd. It mostly runs Wednesday through
• 1:12:32
  Sundays. There's a couple random other
• 1:12:36
  days in there, but that's basically the schedule.
• 1:12:38
  A lot of Wednesday it's. Basically almost every week from
• 1:12:42
  now until Halloween weekend, it's Wednesday through Sunday.
• 1:12:44
  They run this event a lot, you know, just a little different
• 1:12:48
  from. Mickey's where I feel like it
• 1:12:49
  starts off like just a couple days a week and then it picks up
• 1:12:52
  like this is just they go full swing into Halloween.
• 1:12:56
  So the event begins at 6:30 PM with the very, very fun opening
• 1:13:00
  ceremonies. So this is, you know, they'll
• 1:13:02
  have all of the icons and characters from each scare zone
• 1:13:06
  and stuff come up to the front and do like a whole spooky stage
• 1:13:10
  show basically to open up the event, which is super cool.
• 1:13:14
  And they'll sacrifice a few people each night to like be the
• 1:13:16
  first to run in and run away from all the scare actors.
• 1:13:19
  It's very fun, it sets the tone, is what I'll.
• 1:13:23
  Say it very much sets the tone for the event, Jackie.
• 1:13:25
  'S like this does not sound like fun for the giant.
• 1:13:29
  Chainsaw sounds and people sprinting and I'm like, that's
• 1:13:33
  chaos. It is.
• 1:13:35
  It is great. And I was going to say, and I
• 1:13:37
  feel like that. Is very much our vibes.
• 1:13:39
  You're like, why would anyone do that?
• 1:13:41
  And I'm like, I would love to be the side volunteers tribute.
• 1:13:44
  Yeah. I'm a sacrifice.
• 1:13:48
  So if you do want to get into the park earlier than that 630
• 1:13:52
  start time, though, you can get the Scream Early Pass, which is
• 1:13:56
  an extra $55 a night all throughout the season until
• 1:14:00
  then, that lets you get into the park at 3:00 PM.
• 1:14:03
  So you get a couple of hours in the park and then you get to,
• 1:14:06
  you know, stay in after they close so that you could be kind
• 1:14:10
  of right there at whatever house when they open.
• 1:14:12
  I do just want to say that. Previously this was done where
• 1:14:17
  when you did the scream early, if you wanted to queue up for a
• 1:14:21
  house, there were corralling areas right as they were
• 1:14:25
  starting to clear the park of day guests and you had your
• 1:14:27
  wristband, you had to go to one of these holding areas.
• 1:14:30
  There was like 3 of them through the park and you would pick
• 1:14:33
  whichever one was closest to that, right?
• 1:14:36
  The strategy was let me go to the house that I think is the
• 1:14:39
  one that I must see or is going to be the most popular.
• 1:14:42
  Let me knock that out right away.
• 1:14:44
  What they are doing this year is they are corralling.
• 1:14:47
  Stay in Scream folks or scream early folks into the queues of
• 1:14:54
  the houses. There has been no word as to
• 1:14:57
  whether they will start them a little bit early to get some of
• 1:15:00
  this moving. There's no, there's no
• 1:15:03
  information, right? Because in previous years, they
• 1:15:05
  kind of opened it a touch early for those screamerly, like
• 1:15:09
  generally when the opening ceremonies started, which was a
• 1:15:12
  few minutes before 6:30, they would then open the queues for
• 1:15:15
  the houses and start running it to get things moving.
• 1:15:18
  There's no answers as to whether they're going to continue to
• 1:15:22
  honor that, whether it's just going to be right at 6:30,
• 1:15:27
  they're going to start it or even a couple minutes after.
• 1:15:29
  There's no information. But that is a major, major chain
• 1:15:32
  with how people are planning their HHN this year because they
• 1:15:36
  are corralling you in the physical lines rather than large
• 1:15:40
  holding areas. When I think they said.
• 1:15:42
  Correct me if I'm wrong. It used to be 3:00 I believe,
• 1:15:45
  now it's 4:00. So they they pushed it back by
• 1:15:48
  an hour with that change. And there was something about
• 1:15:52
  wristbands with it too. Yes.
• 1:15:54
  Yeah. So that has always that.
• 1:15:55
  Has that has always been true when you when you do this early
• 1:15:59
  much much like Disney, there are like designated areas actually
• 1:16:03
  don't know how we haven't done scream early in a long time.
• 1:16:06
  I don't know how they are doing the wristband distribution now.
• 1:16:10
  Once Upon a time it was when you were entering the park and you
• 1:16:13
  were showing that you had your scream early.
• 1:16:16
  They would give you the wristband at will call or like
• 1:16:18
  at the front there could be somebody handing out.
• 1:16:20
  Then for a while I think they went to somewhat like Disney
• 1:16:24
  where there was like other check in.
• 1:16:26
  Areas. I have a feeling they'll just
• 1:16:28
  stick with the we'll call though because that's just like the
• 1:16:31
  best way that they are equipped to deal with folks coming in is
• 1:16:35
  that sort of front ticketing gate situation.
• 1:16:38
  So I have a feeling that they'll they'll just stick with that for
• 1:16:41
  over span distribution. Yeah, that could be and do keep.
• 1:16:44
  In mind that if you want to see this, the opening ceremonies,
• 1:16:49
  you really can't do the scream early because you're not going
• 1:16:53
  to be able to see it from inside the queue.
• 1:16:55
  So again, decisions need to be made.
• 1:16:58
  You need to figure out what you want to do with that.
• 1:17:00
  But if you're OK, just, you know, watching it on YouTube for
• 1:17:03
  the for the ceremonies, you know, then that's that's an
• 1:17:06
  option of what you can do. But just keep that in mind that
• 1:17:09
  you're not going to be able to do the ceremonies and the scream
• 1:17:12
  early. Yes, good point, very good
• 1:17:15
  point. So prices for.
• 1:17:17
  Horror Nights start at $85 per night for a single ticket and it
• 1:17:21
  goes up to $126.00. So obviously the closer you get
• 1:17:25
  to Halloween, the more expensive it's going to get, just like
• 1:17:27
  with Mickey's. So single night tickets are the
• 1:17:30
  cheapest during the week and they're more expensive on
• 1:17:33
  Saturdays, especially Saturdays in October is the most expensive
• 1:17:37
  time to go. So as we talked about before,
• 1:17:40
  though Universal loves to do, there are million different
• 1:17:44
  types of tickets. It's so Express Bank guys.
• 1:17:46
  So, so many options. Too many.
• 1:17:49
  Options. We've been going for years and
• 1:17:50
  sometimes I'm like. What is this?
• 1:17:52
  What is this? What do I get with?
• 1:17:54
  This so we'll keep it simple and go over some of like the most
• 1:17:59
  basic and most popular ticket options out there.
• 1:18:02
  So the single night tickets, obviously.
• 1:18:04
  So if you're just going once and that's it for the season, that
• 1:18:07
  would be your option. There are a couple different
• 1:18:10
  options if you want to go from multiple nights are out the
• 1:18:12
  season. So those being Russia fear and
• 1:18:14
  frequent fear, depending on how many times you want to go.
• 1:18:17
  I think frequent fear has more nights included in Russia fear
• 1:18:20
  is fewer. I think Russia fear is 18.
• 1:18:23
  Frequent fear is 30 or 40. I don't remember the number, but
• 1:18:27
  yeah, you're right. Russia fear is less than
• 1:18:29
  frequent fear and a lot of those are like weeknight dependent.
• 1:18:33
  Like so like some of them will be like Wednesdays, Thursdays
• 1:18:36
  and some of them will be Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
• 1:18:38
  or you know those don't quote me on that.
• 1:18:40
  That's not exactly it, but you guys get the gist.
• 1:18:42
  So it's going to give you access on different nights throughout
• 1:18:45
  each week while HHN. Is obviously a huge draw for
• 1:18:49
  like everybody. We've met people from all over
• 1:18:52
  the world at this event. Like people specifically travel
• 1:18:55
  to Orlando for HHN. Hi, it's us.
• 1:18:58
  It is us, yes. Hello.
• 1:19:00
  Not necessarily all over the world, but from up the coast.
• 1:19:05
  It it is also a huge, huge, huge thing with locals.
• 1:19:09
  So those like frequent passes are mostly aimed at pass holders
• 1:19:14
  who are available to go and hit a couple houses on a Wednesday
• 1:19:18
  night after work or, you know, they're going to go have a
• 1:19:21
  drink, you know, at the, at the Ghostbusters bar or whatever.
• 1:19:24
  And then they're going to go do a house and then they'll go
• 1:19:26
  home, right. Like that is more who those are
• 1:19:28
  aimed at but it depending on how many nights you are staying and
• 1:19:33
  how interested you are in HHN and if you want to pay for any
• 1:19:36
  of the upgrades like the VIP or whatever, those frequent passes
• 1:19:41
  may end up being worth it. Now they are for this season
• 1:19:45
  sold out I believe. Maybe Russia fear isn't but so
• 1:19:49
  this is maybe planning for future vacations and future
• 1:19:52
  years. Something to consider.
• 1:19:53
  Just weigh those price points and see if it makes sense for
• 1:19:56
  your vacation length and the number of nights that you want
• 1:19:59
  to go. So then there are also.
• 1:20:02
  The VIP tours, or RIP tours as they call them for Horror
• 1:20:05
  Nights. I love it.
• 1:20:09
  At the first time I heard it, I'm like.
• 1:20:10
  That's adorable. My mom's like, that's
• 1:20:12
  horrifying. So this is what Duck and I.
• 1:20:16
  Do every year only go down? So there are two different
• 1:20:18
  options for this. There is the public tour, which
• 1:20:20
  is you purchased it and then you just get kind of thrown into a
• 1:20:22
  tour group with a bunch of random other people.
• 1:20:25
  And then there is the private tour, which is what we do.
• 1:20:27
  We get together with a group of of friends.
• 1:20:30
  I think you need at least 10 to do it between 10:00 and 12:00.
• 1:20:34
  And then it is just your group of people.
• 1:20:38
  And so for the the public tour, you get a set like you go to
• 1:20:42
  these houses at this time and then you go to the show and then
• 1:20:45
  you do this. So you can only kind of do
• 1:20:46
  everything once and there's like a set order that they take you
• 1:20:49
  in. With the private tour, you get
• 1:20:52
  to kind of choose. So you get to tell your tour
• 1:20:53
  guide, I want to go here, I want to go there, I don't want to do
• 1:20:55
  the show, I want to do this house again.
• 1:20:58
  And you get exclusive food, not exclusive food, but you get free
• 1:21:01
  food and you get access to exclusive like kind of eating
• 1:21:05
  areas and seating areas and you get some cool behind the scenes
• 1:21:08
  towers. You got behind the scenes.
• 1:21:10
  Tours and ride queues, which is super fun and then you also get
• 1:21:16
  front of the line access to all the rides.
• 1:21:18
  So you get to basically go through the back entrance and
• 1:21:20
  then show up and be like hey, and get in.
• 1:21:23
  So it's the way to go if you really want to do all the houses
• 1:21:26
  and do the show and do everything, but you only have
• 1:21:29
  maybe a night that you can actually do it.
• 1:21:31
  If it can work on in your budget, I would definitely
• 1:21:33
  recommend doing it this way because we've been doing it the
• 1:21:35
  last few years and I don't know that we will ever go back.
• 1:21:38
  No, it was. It is.
• 1:21:40
  Truly, I can't say enough good things about not only the
• 1:21:44
  experience, but the tour guides that Universal hires.
• 1:21:46
  They are. They are so good.
• 1:21:48
  They're so good. They're.
• 1:21:50
  They're friendly, they're knowledgeable, they're flexible.
• 1:21:53
  They really are. Every single tour guide that
• 1:21:55
  we've had, we have a different 1:00 every single year and
• 1:21:57
  they've all been fantastic. And just seeing other tour
• 1:22:00
  guides like along the way, they're all also fantastic.
• 1:22:04
  So I really have to hand it to the Universal team members
• 1:22:07
  there. They do a great job with their
• 1:22:09
  VI. They give you like a back story.
• 1:22:11
  To the houses, to the scare zone.
• 1:22:13
  So even if you maybe don't know an IP or you're not sure of like
• 1:22:17
  the story that of certain area relates to because a lot of
• 1:22:20
  things are kind of interconnected storylines, they
• 1:22:22
  will go into all that for you and kind of catch you up.
• 1:22:24
  So it's it's a lot of fun and very worth it I think, to do so.
• 1:22:31
  On top of the regular. Tickets.
• 1:22:33
  HHN does offer paid express passes to help you get, you
• 1:22:38
  know, past those general standby queues because the lines for the
• 1:22:41
  houses can be multiple hours long.
• 1:22:44
  So the express passes do help, but these are only single use
• 1:22:48
  per house. So you could basically go
• 1:22:49
  through each house once. But even with those, you're not
• 1:22:51
  going to get to everything in one night because even with the
• 1:22:55
  express passes, queues can be pretty long.
• 1:22:57
  So maybe prioritize you know, which houses you really want to
• 1:23:01
  do and make sure you hit those first with your express pass and
• 1:23:03
  then go to, you know, anything else you have time for after
• 1:23:05
  that. I will say it is technically.
• 1:23:08
  Possible to get through every house in one night with no
• 1:23:12
  express and no VIP, but you have to be dedicated and the general
• 1:23:17
  strategy is keep a very close eye on your app And the second
• 1:23:21
  that you see wait times dropping sprints to the to the other side
• 1:23:25
  of the park right like that is like you really this is not a
• 1:23:28
  lot of back and forth they running around.
• 1:23:30
  It really is. You're up for that.
• 1:23:32
  Then go for it. We've done it before, it's
• 1:23:34
  really difficult. I would never do it, not not at
• 1:23:37
  the age I am now. I would never do it again.
• 1:23:39
  But years ago when we were younger and foolish, it's
• 1:23:43
  definitely possible, especially late late late at night because
• 1:23:47
  HHN is usually open until like 2.
• 1:23:49
  So it is like 1:00 to 2:00 depending on the night.
• 1:23:53
  But it is open super late and a lot of people drop out before
• 1:23:56
  the end of the night. So if again, if you can hang,
• 1:23:59
  you can get it all done. But if you are elderly like us,
• 1:24:03
  perhaps an investment of an express pass could be worth it.
• 1:24:06
  Could be just maybe. So you guys typically go around
• 1:24:09
  opening? Weekend.
• 1:24:11
  What length do you typically see these lines for the houses?
• 1:24:15
  Because like I have no concept of what a long line for these
• 1:24:18
  houses would be so on. I know it changes based on what
• 1:24:21
  the house is, what the IP is. Year to year.
• 1:24:24
  But like on average, what do you guys typically see around
• 1:24:28
  opening weekend for house weights?
• 1:24:30
  I think the. It's very tough to give an
• 1:24:33
  answer because it depends on how hyped the house is, right?
• 1:24:36
  Because sometimes then you can have everybody going right to
• 1:24:40
  that house and that has a three hour long wait, right?
• 1:24:44
  But then all the other houses, right?
• 1:24:46
  So it's a little hard to to sort of like even out across those
• 1:24:50
  experiences because those are outliers.
• 1:24:52
  But there are years where there are super hyped houses where
• 1:24:55
  they are #1 but we have regularly seen, I'm going to say
• 1:25:00
  like an hour and a half to two hours opening weekend for
• 1:25:04
  weights. And we would consider those
• 1:25:06
  fairly long. OK, now they do the thing.
• 1:25:09
  That. Disney does where it's like
• 1:25:10
  slightly overestimated, but you do have to remember that there
• 1:25:14
  are times where house cues may be paused because those working
• 1:25:20
  in the houses themselves do you need to be rotated out.
• 1:25:24
  So there are times where you might have like a short 5 minute
• 1:25:26
  window where everything is paused because it is somebody's
• 1:25:30
  dinner time, right? Like we got I, I know, we have,
• 1:25:33
  you know, Jason Voorhees in the house, but Jason Voorhees got to
• 1:25:35
  go eat dinner, you know what I mean?
• 1:25:37
  So we need, we need a little snack, a little water break.
• 1:25:41
  So you know, that is that is also a contributing factor.
• 1:25:44
  And that is also especially true as they are sort of like working
• 1:25:47
  out the logistics of the houses opening weekends.
• 1:25:50
  Sometimes there might be a hiccup, something might need to
• 1:25:52
  be reset, you know, something like that.
• 1:25:55
  So I would say generally most houses are between 45 minutes
• 1:26:01
  and an hour and 15 opening weekend.
• 1:26:03
  That's like a general consensus longer wait houses hover around
• 1:26:08
  2 hours opening weekend. That's just for general
• 1:26:10
  admission, not even talking about like any of the express
• 1:26:13
  passes or anything Yeah. Now if you saw like let's.
• 1:26:16
  Say that the house that you want to go to, that's like one on
• 1:26:19
  your top. 3. We talked about top three with
• 1:26:21
  Not So scary. Let's say it's an hour wait.
• 1:26:23
  Is that worth an hour in your guys''s opinion?
• 1:26:26
  Do you think an hour is a good weight?
• 1:26:28
  I would say if it's. I'm just genuinely curious cuz
• 1:26:31
  I. Have no concept so I like a
• 1:26:34
  really popular. House.
• 1:26:35
  And something that's like really hyped and you might just have to
• 1:26:38
  wait an hour. You might see what it is.
• 1:26:40
  That's the lowest, yes. I would say the way that we
• 1:26:45
  generally operate is that like in previous years before we we
• 1:26:49
  did like the RIP tour, we would if we saw a house had a a weight
• 1:26:54
  of 45 minutes or under, we would just pop in the queue because
• 1:26:57
  generally that means it's about 1/2 hour, right.
• 1:26:59
  All things considered it roughly half hour.
• 1:27:03
  At worst it's 45 minutes. And so we have found that like
• 1:27:08
  45 minutes or under, pop in. If it's 20 minutes or under, do
• 1:27:11
  it twice. You know what I mean?
• 1:27:12
  Like you might not ever see it again at 20 minutes.
• 1:27:15
  So if it's something that you desperately want to do, an hour
• 1:27:21
  is is a good gauge of yes, I should go, I can go pop in line
• 1:27:24
  now. And we do have a really good
• 1:27:26
  question from Sarah. Over here in the chat that I do
• 1:27:28
  want to touch on before we continue, how much does the
• 1:27:31
  Express pass cut the weight? Is it similar to like a
• 1:27:35
  Lightning Lane at Disney World? I would say yes.
• 1:27:39
  I would say that that they also do the thing at Universal that
• 1:27:44
  Disney is sort of guilty of where they prioritize the
• 1:27:47
  express lane. So in theory maybe your weight
• 1:27:52
  in the regular lane would be 1/2 hour, but if there's a lot of
• 1:27:57
  people in express because they do sell a lot of express passes,
• 1:28:01
  your wait could be 45 minutes to an hour right?
• 1:28:03
  It can really go U because they do prioritize the express
• 1:28:06
  passes. I would say express passes can
• 1:28:10
  cut the weight in half for not the most popular lines because
• 1:28:16
  people with express passes will also prioritize the most popular
• 1:28:21
  early on in the night because they want to get it out of the
• 1:28:23
  way, right? This they think this is the
• 1:28:24
  quickest way. So it's sometimes possible that
• 1:28:27
  the express line is going to be about about 45 minutes to an
• 1:28:31
  hour, which would still be less than the two hour wait for the
• 1:28:34
  really popular line, but it is still going to be very long.
• 1:28:37
  So our general advice is if you have the express pass, use that
• 1:28:44
  on like some of the medium weights earlier on in the night
• 1:28:48
  and then wait for that super popular house towards the end of
• 1:28:52
  the night. That would be a good time to use
• 1:28:54
  that express pass because like around 10 or 11, most people are
• 1:28:57
  starting to hit like some of their later houses right there,
• 1:29:00
  like maybe I'll hit two more and go home.
• 1:29:02
  That would be a good time to, you know, deploy your express
• 1:29:05
  pass usage to maximize your time cutting, right?
• 1:29:09
  Yeah, it's difficult to say because the queues make so
• 1:29:13
  dramatically and they really go far afield.
• 1:29:17
  They're really in like, backstage.
• 1:29:19
  Areas, these houses, so you're like really going back there and
• 1:29:22
  sneaking through, Yeah, so it gets to the house even.
• 1:29:25
  Us like walking past and anytime we've walked past anything right
• 1:29:29
  it's like hard to get a gauge on how long a wait maybe but yes,
• 1:29:32
  the long and the short of it is it's going to cut your wait time
• 1:29:35
  about in half from the standby time.
• 1:29:38
  OK. And those express passes we
• 1:29:40
  should? Mention are one use per house
• 1:29:43
  correct there you there once. Upon a time was a time where
• 1:29:47
  they sold the multi pass right like it was an unlimited express
• 1:29:51
  pass. They have since done away with
• 1:29:53
  it. I think last year or the year
• 1:29:55
  before they stopped selling them because it's simply got too
• 1:29:58
  popular and people in these big houses were just doing them over
• 1:30:02
  and over and over again. So like express was waiting an
• 1:30:05
  hour and regular line was 3 hours, you know so that it was
• 1:30:08
  just it became untenable. So now, right, what they're
• 1:30:11
  doing, they also want to try to push people towards those RIP
• 1:30:14
  tours. So now what they're doing is
• 1:30:16
  that single use express pass. And I will also say the express
• 1:30:19
  passes also work on the rides. So if you are interested in
• 1:30:23
  riding the Mummy or Gringotts or any of the other attractions
• 1:30:26
  that are open during the during HHN, you can use those express
• 1:30:30
  passes also. Once per once per ride, once per
• 1:30:33
  night. Perfect.
• 1:30:35
  All super helpful information. Cause a lot of us that are here,
• 1:30:38
  myself included, as you guys all know we are very naive to the
• 1:30:41
  world of HHN. So super helpful.
• 1:30:44
  We are going to press on the gas a little to keep pushing through
• 1:30:47
  this information. So let's continue on with our
• 1:30:50
  notes here friends. So we have now headed to the.
• 1:30:53
  Layout section right so we're going to talk about when you are
• 1:30:56
  physically in the park, what are you experiencing what are you
• 1:30:59
  seeing? You're looking everywhere,
• 1:31:01
  you're seeing spooky things what's going on right?
• 1:31:03
  So once the event starts, so kind of similar to Mickey's, not
• 1:31:10
  so scary, but a little more violent.
• 1:31:12
  There's there are props all throughout the park, right?
• 1:31:16
  Because large set pieces that are throughout the park that
• 1:31:19
  contribute to what's called scare zones.
• 1:31:22
  We'll talk about them in a second.
• 1:31:23
  Have to stay up. They get covered mostly during
• 1:31:26
  the day, like the gory bits. So if you have kiddos, you do
• 1:31:29
  not have to worry about them seeing something untoward right?
• 1:31:33
  Like, that gets physically covered with the sheet during
• 1:31:35
  the day so you are safe from the gore.
• 1:31:39
  But then once opening ceremonies hit, like once they are locked
• 1:31:43
  and loaded and ready to go, the whole park transforms into this
• 1:31:47
  very spooky domain, right? We have not only the houses in
• 1:31:51
  the scare zones, but we have fog everywhere.
• 1:31:54
  We have music piped all throughout the park.
• 1:31:57
  And there are like, also like, mood spotlights, for lack of a
• 1:32:00
  better term, right? Like on the MIB building,
• 1:32:03
  there's like cobwebs or like HHN highlighted on it, right.
• 1:32:07
  It's just year number that yeah, it's like. 3334 So like
• 1:32:11
  whatever, like everywhere. You look, you are fully immersed
• 1:32:14
  in the spookiness of HHN. So I mentioned earlier we've,
• 1:32:20
  we've been talking about houses this whole time, but we never
• 1:32:22
  really like clarified what houses are or what scare zones
• 1:32:25
  are. We should probably do that.
• 1:32:27
  Yeah, yeah. That's probably fair for this
• 1:32:29
  conversation. So houses, if anybody has been
• 1:32:31
  patiently listening, waiting for us to explain what a house is,
• 1:32:35
  it's essentially a walkthrough attraction made-up of different
• 1:32:40
  rooms with that are telling a story of some sort, right?
• 1:32:44
  So the story could be based on an IP and an intellectual
• 1:32:49
  property. So it could be like this year
• 1:32:51
  we're having a Five Nights at Freddy's house or we're having a
• 1:32:54
  Jason house, right? Like those things are existing
• 1:32:58
  properties and they will weave a story around that.
• 1:33:02
  And you are going through like basically these large warehouses
• 1:33:05
  with different rooms that have setups that will weave the story
• 1:33:10
  of the movie or the show or whatever it is all together.
• 1:33:14
  Now, these IPS can be like fun, scary.
• 1:33:17
  Like we've done. We've had Ghostbusters houses
• 1:33:19
  before. I really like the Ghostbusters
• 1:33:21
  houses. Those are always very well done.
• 1:33:24
  We've also had like Stranger Things houses or they can just
• 1:33:27
  be straight up scary like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, right?
• 1:33:30
  Like they they have done or Terrifier this year, right?
• 1:33:33
  Like there is the whole gambit of houses where they're like
• 1:33:36
  fun, scary, and scary scary. Now, in addition to the IP
• 1:33:41
  houses, there are also original concept houses, which is exactly
• 1:33:45
  what you think of, right? So these are houses that the
• 1:33:47
  Universal creative team has come up with from start to finish.
• 1:33:52
  The story surrounding it, the layout, the costuming, the
• 1:33:56
  concept, this is all created by the Universal has a dedicated
• 1:34:01
  HHN team that weaves these stories together and will build
• 1:34:06
  houses out of it. And often times they are
• 1:34:09
  interwoven into, for lack of a better term, the lore of
• 1:34:13
  Halloween Horror Nights. Right?
• 1:34:14
  So in previous years we've had, there's this fictional town of
• 1:34:22
  Cary or Scary Ohio, where like a lot of these stories have taken
• 1:34:27
  place. So not Ohio.
• 1:34:29
  Isn't that all I'm mentioning? Ohio, Not Ohio, No Ohio.
• 1:34:35
  So but like last year there was a house called major suites and
• 1:34:39
  that related to a scare zone in which the scare zone was all
• 1:34:43
  these kids broke into this factory and were transformed
• 1:34:46
  into these terrifying candy monsters.
• 1:34:49
  Great. That takes place that that's it.
• 1:34:51
  That's related to the carry Ohio location.
• 1:34:53
  And then last year we got the prequel to the scare zone we
• 1:34:57
  got. How did those kids get get
• 1:34:59
  involved with this candy monstrosity situation?
• 1:35:02
  What did major suites do? Right?
• 1:35:04
  So these can be woven throughout.
• 1:35:06
  Very often the icons will also play a part.
• 1:35:09
  We'll talk about what an icon is in just a second.
• 1:35:12
  But there are stories woven throughout.
• 1:35:15
  The one that we have this year is called Hatchet and Chains,
• 1:35:18
  the Demon Bounty Hunters, which was actually a poster.
• 1:35:22
  So it was like an original concept in a house last year
• 1:35:25
  called Slaughter Cinema 2. So there are the original house
• 1:35:30
  is very often are interconnected in very interesting ways.
• 1:35:34
  Oh hey, shall we talk about scare zones?
• 1:35:35
  I'd. Love to talk about scare zones?
• 1:35:37
  Of course you. Would, of course.
• 1:35:39
  They're my favorite. So scare zones are zones of
• 1:35:44
  terror? No, they are sections.
• 1:35:48
  Of the park's walkway. That are, they have props, they
• 1:35:52
  have sets, they have scare actors who are all dressed up in
• 1:35:57
  theme to whatever that particular chunk of sidewalk has
• 1:36:00
  been designated for lack of a better explanation, right?
• 1:36:04
  It is. It is a chunk of walkway.
• 1:36:06
  It's actually like large swaths of area for that.
• 1:36:10
  Like from point A to point B, it is themed to whatever that
• 1:36:15
  particular scare zone is. And then there's actors.
• 1:36:18
  We're going to free roaming who are free roaming and going to
• 1:36:20
  pop right out at you when you at least expect or follow you or
• 1:36:23
  follow you like poor. Poor Jess had an.
• 1:36:25
  Experience like that, that's OK. So just like the.
• 1:36:29
  Houses the scare zones can be based on IP1 year.
• 1:36:33
  There was a Rob Zombie scare zone and it was to this day in
• 1:36:37
  my favorite scare zone. I was in love it was so good
• 1:36:42
  just was like pulling me out of there No I got to take a picture
• 1:36:45
  with the car. This is right after my very.
• 1:36:48
  Bad scare zone experience of being followed.
• 1:36:50
  So I was just about the scare zones that year.
• 1:36:53
  I was like, we need to just like get through these as quick as
• 1:36:55
  possible. And then of course there's a Rob
• 1:36:56
  Zombie one and Duck just wants to spend the whole night there
• 1:36:59
  so I could live there. It was great.
• 1:37:01
  Last year had that Zodiac. One that was pretty cool.
• 1:37:04
  I thought that one was because they had all, like all of the
• 1:37:07
  different Zodiac signs were represented somewhere, the
• 1:37:10
  characters, and it was kind of like a it was fun figure out
• 1:37:12
  who. Yeah.
• 1:37:13
  Who? And.
• 1:37:14
  That one was cool. I'll.
• 1:37:16
  Give you that. I like that one, and I like you.
• 1:37:18
  Probably did not like this one, but I really liked torture fair,
• 1:37:22
  which was like a torture renaissance fair.
• 1:37:25
  It was. You probably just were gone
• 1:37:27
  after that one left. I can send you pictures.
• 1:37:31
  If I'm. Remembering correctly, the
• 1:37:32
  Zodiac 1 was pretty early in the yes, so I saw that one quite a
• 1:37:37
  few times and then I think after that one I was like bye, so
• 1:37:41
  that. That one, the Zodiac one, was
• 1:37:43
  the 1 immediately to your right when you walk into the park down
• 1:37:46
  Hollywood. Because they don't.
• 1:37:49
  Although I think they might be put in a scare zone close to
• 1:37:54
  minions, it's not right in front of minions.
• 1:37:56
  Also what I heard might have. Some words, yeah.
• 1:37:58
  So it's not So what they're. Doing I think is where they had
• 1:38:01
  Odd Fellow, Odd Fellow, that's his name.
• 1:38:03
  I kept trying to think of it so where they had Odd fellow last
• 1:38:06
  year, I think like across the way, like I think they're going
• 1:38:09
  to scooch it down. So you walk into it, but it's
• 1:38:12
  still not in front of illumination.
• 1:38:13
  You're just pushing, pushing they.
• 1:38:15
  Are pushing the boundary a. Little bit there.
• 1:38:18
  They got to make the most of the space they got.
• 1:38:20
  I can't blame them and I have to say it has been different ever.
• 1:38:24
  Since they stopped, what was that the was it the arcade was
• 1:38:27
  the last year that haunted arcade with the stilt walkers?
• 1:38:30
  That was the, I think the last year that they had anything in
• 1:38:33
  front of Illumination. And it, it is noticeably not
• 1:38:36
  like it ruins the event, but it is noticeably different when you
• 1:38:40
  are looking straight down as you are in like what is supposed to
• 1:38:43
  be this intense scary moment and you see a minion.
• 1:38:48
  It's. Yeah.
• 1:38:50
  It's. Just a little.
• 1:38:51
  It's just and then you look to your right and then you see
• 1:38:55
  haunted Zodiac signs or, you know, some, some such or like
• 1:38:59
  slimy zombies and then they just look back and it's like bun and
• 1:39:02
  Nah, like it's just it's just very incongruous.
• 1:39:07
  I love this. OK, what?
• 1:39:08
  Else do we need to know about scare zones?
• 1:39:11
  So scare zones I. Like I said, it could be like
• 1:39:14
  Rob Zombie, it could be there's been Zombie land ones, like it
• 1:39:16
  could be property or they can be original.
• 1:39:18
  They are largely original for the last few years.
• 1:39:21
  I have a feeling they'll stick to the originals because that is
• 1:39:24
  like a a much more freeing concept for them.
• 1:39:27
  They can get really creative with them.
• 1:39:28
  So the one that I'm extremely excited for this year.
• 1:39:33
  Is called the Cat Lady. Of Crooked Lane, which sounds
• 1:39:36
  delightfully unhinged. I'm so excited The description
• 1:39:40
  from universal is travel down a spooky winding path to a
• 1:39:44
  mysterious home where trick or treaters are transformed into
• 1:39:47
  feral felines. Be careful or you'll be next and
• 1:39:50
  like dude, that rocks that's so camp it's unbelievable like I
• 1:39:55
  love like horror like that right like it's absurd.
• 1:39:57
  It's camp like they did a vampire Woodstock 1-2 years ago.
• 1:40:02
  Vamp 69. I remember that So like I.
• 1:40:05
  Really like when they. They get when the creative team
• 1:40:09
  can just, like, do whatever wild idea they come up with.
• 1:40:13
  It's like their time to shine, you know what I mean?
• 1:40:15
  Like the cat lady of Crooked Lane.
• 1:40:17
  Yeah, bro, I'm in. So let's talk about the icons.
• 1:40:21
  So icons. We vaguely mentioned it before,
• 1:40:24
  but icons are the the star of HHN.
• 1:40:30
  I shall say they don't have them every year, but when they do, a
• 1:40:34
  lot of HHN will be themed around to them.
• 1:40:37
  Sometimes they're very clear icons and Universe will say this
• 1:40:41
  is this year's icon. Sometimes they're more subtle
• 1:40:46
  about it where things will be scenes around a concept and
• 1:40:49
  maybe there's a recurring character, but they aren't
• 1:40:52
  necessarily the designated icon of that year, right?
• 1:40:56
  So like Odd Fellow is a good example.
• 1:40:59
  Like I'm, I'm mentioned him a little bit earlier where a lot
• 1:41:03
  of things were woven around him and he reoccurred a lot
• 1:41:07
  throughout the park, but he was never designated like the
• 1:41:10
  official icon for that year. There have been years where
• 1:41:14
  there was the official icon like the pumpkin Lord, right?
• 1:41:17
  Like it's exactly what it sounds like.
• 1:41:19
  It's like a 10 foot tall guy in a pumpkin who's like, yes, go
• 1:41:23
  out and do my bidding. Like like he's really also like
• 1:41:26
  it's incredible. So it's like every year it's a
• 1:41:30
  little bit different. Some years they have clear
• 1:41:31
  icons, sometimes they don't. But the, the, this year, I don't
• 1:41:37
  know if we're going to get one. The rumor and what I thought
• 1:41:41
  early on was that we were going to get an icon called the
• 1:41:44
  Illustrator, which is originated in Singapore, Universal
• 1:41:48
  Singapore actually, because a lot of stuff this year was
• 1:41:52
  themed around like a gothic art gallery, right?
• 1:41:56
  Like a, like a gothic collection that one might see and like, I
• 1:41:59
  think they called it a Gothic Conservatory, right?
• 1:42:02
  So there is a house called Artista, I think it's called a
• 1:42:06
  Spanish haunting. So like we don't really know too
• 1:42:09
  many details other than it is some sort of like tortured
• 1:42:11
  artist vibe. So there and there's been a
• 1:42:14
  couple of other scare zones and allusions to like in, in their
• 1:42:19
  press releases that made me think that maybe we were getting
• 1:42:22
  illustrator. But now with some of the the IP
• 1:42:25
  announcements and how close we are to the to the date, I don't
• 1:42:28
  know that we're getting on this year, but that's OK because
• 1:42:31
  little Boo, the perfect pumpkin boy will always be the icon that
• 1:42:35
  we care about. If he will.
• 1:42:37
  You mean they don't want to? Mix the Killustrator and WWE
• 1:42:40
  wrestling. I know that sounds crazy.
• 1:42:43
  Because the Killustrator sounds like a wrestler.
• 1:42:47
  It does. It sounds perfectly poised,
• 1:42:50
  actually. Right?
• 1:42:51
  Because like, you can make the argument that wrestling is art.
• 1:42:53
  It's theater. Absolutely.
• 1:42:55
  So absolutely that there's a there's a lot of things that you
• 1:42:59
  could make the argument for, especially like the scare zones.
• 1:43:01
  But like I just, I just don't think we're getting an icon this
• 1:43:04
  year, which is sad because I really think even when they're
• 1:43:06
  cheesy, I really like the icons. I think it just like, again,
• 1:43:10
  like I love camp scariness. So like I was a big fan of, I'm
• 1:43:14
  always a big fan of the, the, the icons.
• 1:43:16
  Yeah, and I think it's nice when universal.
• 1:43:19
  Puts in that extra effort, right.
• 1:43:21
  They already do a ton for HHN, but when they put in that little
• 1:43:25
  extra effort to have that common thread that is, is through a lot
• 1:43:29
  of the whether it's scare zones and houses or areas or, you
• 1:43:33
  know, those types of things, it's it, it gives more meaning
• 1:43:37
  to it and it's not just and please, please, I was saying,
• 1:43:41
  please don't take this the wrong way.
• 1:43:42
  It's not just like silly little haunted houses because it's not
• 1:43:45
  like it's absolutely not, but it could.
• 1:43:47
  It could definitely appear that way to someone on the outside.
• 1:43:50
  It doesn't realize all these stories that they have
• 1:43:54
  interwoven. I didn't until I started
• 1:43:56
  following some content creators that covered HHN and I was like,
• 1:44:00
  oh wow, they were a lot of like history and storyline behind
• 1:44:03
  this. That's really impressive.
• 1:44:05
  Like the years where a lot of the houses coordinated together.
• 1:44:09
  I was actually more interconnect like I still don't want to go,
• 1:44:12
  but I think the story is really cool.
• 1:44:14
  Yeah, but it's and I appreciate the time and effort that they
• 1:44:17
  put into connecting. All of those dots together.
• 1:44:21
  I'm always excited for the IP houses, but what makes me more
• 1:44:24
  excited is like the. Interconnected lore of the
• 1:44:27
  original houses and the scare zones, and when they can execute
• 1:44:30
  those things together, it's like going to a murder mystery party
• 1:44:35
  with a good storyline and a good.
• 1:44:37
  Host versus going to a murder mystery that has 0 connectivity
• 1:44:42
  and plot and you can't figure out who did it yes, that's a
• 1:44:45
  that's actually an extremely good way to yes yes.
• 1:44:48
  So it's like, yes. They're both enjoyable and
• 1:44:50
  you're probably still going. To have a good time, you're.
• 1:44:52
  Going to have way more fun in my.
• 1:44:53
  Personal opinion, yes, when it all interconnects and you can
• 1:44:57
  find those Easter eggs and find the the the dots to connect and
• 1:45:00
  go, oh, that's super cool. Oh, that makes sense.
• 1:45:03
  Oh, I get it. Ha ha.
• 1:45:05
  You know those types of reactions and and I like it when
• 1:45:07
  it rewards you for feeling like they found something.
• 1:45:10
  You know what I mean? Like we're putting something
• 1:45:12
  together before maybe you have all the pieces right?
• 1:45:14
  Like Odd Fellows year he showed up in houses but then also Jack
• 1:45:21
  who is like the most famous icon.
• 1:45:23
  He's the scary clown that you see all the time with HHN stuff.
• 1:45:27
  He makes Odd Fellow. So like to see him make the
• 1:45:31
  appearance in Odd Fellow's house just in a shadow form was really
• 1:45:36
  cool because it was like that extra piece of lore, that extra
• 1:45:39
  piece of interconnectedness for those who cared to understand
• 1:45:43
  it, you know? So it, it's nice when you're a
• 1:45:45
  fan and you're like rewarded with that sort of
• 1:45:48
  interconnectedness. I understand it can't be done
• 1:45:50
  every year and it can't always be executed perfectly, but the
• 1:45:53
  years where it is present, they are noticeably more enjoyable
• 1:45:56
  for me personally. Yeah.
• 1:45:58
  And all that being said, we do understand and we give a little
• 1:46:01
  bit of grace to Universal this year because.
• 1:46:03
  They just opened a brand new theme park, 100%, so some of
• 1:46:07
  their resources were a little bit thin and a little bit busy.
• 1:46:11
  I am still confident that they're going.
• 1:46:13
  To pull off a great HHN. It's just we may not have that
• 1:46:17
  interconnectivity this year due to and that is completely clear.
• 1:46:23
  And here's the thing, even the years where it's like, not that
• 1:46:26
  interconnected. Or I'm just like, I don't know
• 1:46:28
  what the story is. It still rocks.
• 1:46:30
  I'm still going to HHN. It's still awesome.
• 1:46:33
  I still know what I'm going for. You know, like we can talk about
• 1:46:36
  all the lore and the intellectual portions of it, and
• 1:46:38
  that adds something to it, but like, man, it's still rocks.
• 1:46:42
  I'm so excited for Five Nights at Freddy's, dude, I'm so
• 1:46:44
  excited. So I can tell.
• 1:46:47
  I love that for you. Hype, hype, hype.
• 1:46:49
  Okay, we're going to be here for 1000 years.
• 1:46:51
  We are. It's okay, I've just I've.
• 1:46:53
  Just I've just admitted defeat, but let's continue.
• 1:46:57
  Shall we talk about some food? Yes, yes.
• 1:47:00
  My my other favorite topic, food.
• 1:47:02
  I love HHN food so. There are tons and tons of
• 1:47:07
  exclusive treats. As you walk throughout Universal
• 1:47:10
  Studios, you will see lots and lots of additional food booths
• 1:47:14
  that are only open during the. Event and they are serving.
• 1:47:18
  Exclusive food. So the foods, the booths are
• 1:47:23
  usually set up inspired by the houses, right?
• 1:47:26
  Like almost every year pretty much every house gets a food
• 1:47:30
  booth, even the original ones. Like that's pretty common.
• 1:47:35
  Maybe not every single one, but most of them get some sort of
• 1:47:38
  food representation. Remember the triplets of Terror?
• 1:47:40
  That was weird that they got a food booth.
• 1:47:42
  They had like a weird cake pops. It was resetting.
• 1:47:45
  Sorry, I didn't mean to sidetrack, it's just it just
• 1:47:47
  dawned on me. Like what a weird food.
• 1:47:48
  Situation that was anyway, so there are some exclusive snacks
• 1:47:53
  in the Tribute Store. We'll talk more about the
• 1:47:56
  Tribute Store in a second, but some of the exclusive treats may
• 1:47:58
  live in there, but largely they are out in these food booths.
• 1:48:03
  We don't have the exclusives yet.
• 1:48:04
  Maybe when you are in the not so distant future listening to
• 1:48:08
  this, you had that list. But some of our favorites from
• 1:48:12
  last year were the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man S'more.
• 1:48:16
  Oh my God, and so cute. It was so cute.
• 1:48:18
  I broke my heart that I needed it, but it was so good and so
• 1:48:21
  worth it. I'm so sorry.
• 1:48:22
  Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. You were delicious.
• 1:48:26
  So there was that one. And then, Oh yeah, the Slaughter
• 1:48:29
  Cinema 2 had like a walking Taco.
• 1:48:32
  Like it was like like a bag of Doritos that they just like Taco
• 1:48:36
  Taco ingredients. And yeah.
• 1:48:39
  It was awesome. I really, I enjoyed it.
• 1:48:42
  I mean, you can't, right? You can't go wrong with Taco
• 1:48:44
  stuff on. Doritos, but mostly they are
• 1:48:47
  themed around whatever you may be finding in that particular
• 1:48:53
  house, right? So like the state of Marshmallow
• 1:48:55
  Man makes complete sense. There was like a drink last year
• 1:48:59
  called Garaca's icy breath, which was themed around
• 1:49:03
  Ghostbusters frozen empire. So it was like Garaca is the
• 1:49:06
  big, big bad in that movie. And so like he had his own
• 1:49:09
  themed drink, right. So like food drink, lots of
• 1:49:13
  alcoholic drinks. If you are somebody who partakes
• 1:49:15
  in alcohol. We mentioned it in our previous
• 1:49:17
  episode, but there are also non alcoholic versions of most of
• 1:49:20
  these. So for every themed alcoholic
• 1:49:22
  drink, there is usually a themed non alcoholic drink to go with
• 1:49:25
  it. So if you are not of age or you
• 1:49:29
  are just not somebody who partakes in alcohol, there's
• 1:49:31
  plenty of options for you. Now be warned, there is some
• 1:49:34
  stunt food at HHN where it's like.
• 1:49:37
  A green hot dog or all the corn dogs like the min?
• 1:49:41
  Wasn't it like Minty? Too, It was.
• 1:49:43
  Like a lint Korean. Corn dogs read your descriptions
• 1:49:47
  on the menu. Just be careful.
• 1:49:51
  That's that's my warning there. Yeah, just some of it is a
• 1:49:54
  little questionable. So if it sounds good to you,
• 1:49:57
  have at it, but be sure to read the full description before you
• 1:50:01
  order, understand what you're getting into.
• 1:50:03
  Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Yes.
• 1:50:05
  All right. Shall we talk about some shows?
• 1:50:07
  So hair miss. Oh yeah, that's true also.
• 1:50:10
  Theme park. Theme park food, yes, OK, talk
• 1:50:12
  about shows. Because there's some good ones,
• 1:50:15
  yes. So there is.
• 1:50:17
  Nightmare Fuel is the show of HHN.
• 1:50:20
  This is the big headline. People who love the show are
• 1:50:25
  hardcore dedicated to it. So it is essentially an
• 1:50:29
  acrobatic pyrotechnics show is the easiest way to explain it
• 1:50:34
  right? There is a heavy metal
• 1:50:36
  soundtrack that goes with that and it is like a metal Cirque du
• 1:50:40
  Soleil is probably the best way to explain it.
• 1:50:44
  It is incredibly impressive. These people do things that I
• 1:50:47
  could I, I get winded going upstairs and they are doing
• 1:50:51
  flips through flaming hula hoops.
• 1:50:54
  It's unbelievable. It's insane.
• 1:50:56
  But there are every year there's like a slightly different
• 1:51:00
  iteration and they are usually interconnected in some way,
• 1:51:04
  shape or form, right? Maybe there's callbacks to
• 1:51:05
  previous years. Maybe it's like an
• 1:51:08
  interconnected storyline, but you do not have to have seen the
• 1:51:12
  previous years to understand what is going on in the current
• 1:51:15
  year. It's more just like a if you are
• 1:51:17
  dedicated and hardcore fan and you come back, you'll see the
• 1:51:20
  little references and nods. Oh really, Quick one thing for
• 1:51:24
  nightmare fuel before we move on.
• 1:51:26
  Nightmare fuel can get very warm.
• 1:51:29
  If you are a human like I personally am, that gets
• 1:51:32
  uncomfortable. It was like being in the middle
• 1:51:34
  of warm crowds. Like I get a little
• 1:51:36
  claustrophobic. You can.
• 1:51:38
  You can still enjoy nightmare fuel, don't get me wrong, but it
• 1:51:42
  is wisest for you to plan to get there fairly early.
• 1:51:46
  There's several showings throughout the night.
• 1:51:48
  I think it's 9, 11 and midnight. Maybe I have to?
• 1:51:54
  We. Would have to double check, but
• 1:51:56
  please check on the app because there are times where
• 1:51:59
  performances are cancelled right for, you know, safety concerns
• 1:52:02
  or what have you. But there's several throughout
• 1:52:04
  the night and it is wisest if this is important to you to get
• 1:52:07
  there early so you can get your preferred seat and not, you
• 1:52:11
  know, be be too uncomfortable because it's a large stadium
• 1:52:14
  with a lot of people in Florida heat and then you add in the
• 1:52:17
  whole show is pyrotechnics. It gets very warm in there.
• 1:52:20
  Anna is also suggesting in our crap in our chat over here.
• 1:52:25
  It's very loud too. So you may, if you are someone
• 1:52:28
  that is sensitive to loud noises, you may want to pack
• 1:52:32
  those earplugs. And I believe that that's true
• 1:52:34
  about a lot of the houses as well can be loud.
• 1:52:37
  So I've heard from a lot of people who have gone that
• 1:52:39
  earplugs are probably a very good idea.
• 1:52:42
  I think we mentioned it in the last episode, but I actually
• 1:52:45
  almost stopped going to HHN because I.
• 1:52:47
  Was so overwhelmed I was so unhappy.
• 1:52:49
  Like I have some sensory processing issues and it was
• 1:52:53
  like far too overwhelming. And then when Jess was like,
• 1:52:56
  well, why don't we try one more year with with earplugs?
• 1:53:00
  I've never going back. It has been so enjoyable and I
• 1:53:02
  love it and I have a great time because I can still get the fun
• 1:53:05
  and the fear, but I'm not overwhelmed all the time.
• 1:53:08
  So that is absolutely true. Earplugs are 100% for me
• 1:53:12
  personally a must because not only did the shows get loud, but
• 1:53:16
  the houses can get loud, right? There's lots of music piped into
• 1:53:19
  some of them and you know, lots of effects and things going on.
• 1:53:22
  So if if that is a concern of yours, it does not diminish the
• 1:53:26
  enjoyment at all. 100% do whatever you have to do to make
• 1:53:30
  this a comfortable experience. I love love love my earplugs.
• 1:53:33
  They are my best friends at HHN. But then I don't need them and
• 1:53:37
  I'm fine right? So like it's just personal
• 1:53:39
  preference. Whatever you.
• 1:53:41
  Need to feel comfortable and, you know, get through the
• 1:53:43
  houses. Yes.
• 1:53:45
  Perfect. OK, so yeah, tell us about this
• 1:53:47
  new. Well, new but not new returning
• 1:53:51
  show that's coming back. So there is this year for the
• 1:53:56
  first time since 2022. The Lagoon show is making a
• 1:54:00
  return, so we do not know a ton, but what we do know is that
• 1:54:08
  there will be projections on the water, right?
• 1:54:10
  So there is like a fountain that will shoot up at strategic times
• 1:54:14
  and there will be projections on that shooting up water, right
• 1:54:17
  Thing about like what's the one that they do in Disneyland?
• 1:54:20
  The color. So yes, world of color, world of
• 1:54:23
  color like Fantasmic. Has yeah projections on the.
• 1:54:26
  Water, you know. Right, right.
• 1:54:28
  That's an excellent comparison. So they have that and a spooky.
• 1:54:32
  Immersive soundtrack, that is what we know.
• 1:54:36
  That is what we know. That's not a whole lot, but
• 1:54:38
  sure, we'll go for it. That's that's all that we have
• 1:54:40
  for the Hype Book Duck. Listen, you could just tell me
• 1:54:43
  that there is. Anything happening at HHN I'd
• 1:54:45
  be. Like I'm there, let's.
• 1:54:47
  Go now. This has been gone for a few
• 1:54:49
  years, right? It has been.
• 1:54:51
  So it's unclear. If so, the description is a
• 1:54:54
  ghost story is rising from the. Watery grave to haunt Universal
• 1:54:57
  Studios Lagoon featuring water, towering water screens and eerie
• 1:55:00
  music. So the the rising from its
• 1:55:04
  watery grave leads me to believe it may be somewhat connected to
• 1:55:08
  the previous Lagoon shows. It's not clear what exactly
• 1:55:13
  they're going to do. Some of the Lagoon shows years
• 1:55:16
  ago we're sort of like a mash up of classic Universal Monster
• 1:55:21
  clips with some spooky music. They didn't necessarily have a
• 1:55:25
  show show to it. I believe the show that they
• 1:55:27
  were running right before this got shut down did have a little
• 1:55:30
  bit more of a ghost story element to it.
• 1:55:34
  So it sounds to me like that is what they're going with, like a
• 1:55:37
  more interconnected story, especially since Universal
• 1:55:40
  Monsters have kind of been migrated over to Epic.
• 1:55:44
  The description has me suspicious that they're going to
• 1:55:46
  kind of pick up where they left off.
• 1:55:48
  So we mentioned it earlier that there are some rides just like
• 1:55:53
  Mickey's not so scary Halloween party.
• 1:55:54
  There are some rides that are open throughout HHN.
• 1:55:58
  There's a handful of them. It's not very many.
• 1:56:01
  It's every year Revenge of the Mummy is open, which is just
• 1:56:06
  save a must ride. I also love this year.
• 1:56:09
  What's new that's open is Transformers.
• 1:56:11
  Transformers had not been open before.
• 1:56:14
  Men in Black is always open. And man, that is just a killer
• 1:56:17
  burst of air conditioning. I love it.
• 1:56:20
  And then Escape from Gringotts, that's also open now.
• 1:56:23
  The lines for these are almost non existent during HHN because
• 1:56:28
  everybody is busy getting the pants scared off of them in the
• 1:56:31
  houses. So yeah, it's a good time to get
• 1:56:33
  some rides in. Yeah.
• 1:56:34
  So if you were like, I really wanted to ride Revenge of the
• 1:56:37
  Mummy, but it. Was like a 2 hour wait earlier
• 1:56:39
  in the. Day and you're attending HHN.
• 1:56:41
  Just wait. Just wait.
• 1:56:42
  It's not. It's never more than 15 minutes
• 1:56:45
  during HHN. It's crazy quick, so totally
• 1:56:48
  worth it. Now this may shock you, but
• 1:56:52
  there are a handful of character I'm going to call them meets in
• 1:56:57
  quotes, like heavy quotes, because it's it's not like
• 1:57:02
  you're going to run up to the punk skeleton girl and give her
• 1:57:05
  a hug like you would for a lot. Maybe she needed a hug.
• 1:57:12
  Here's the thing. I actually think that's true,
• 1:57:16
  but that's neither nor there. But however, you would then be
• 1:57:21
  thrown into the lagoon and become part of the show.
• 1:57:24
  That's what happened. You are the ghost in the show.
• 1:57:26
  Don't do that. No, no, no, no.
• 1:57:28
  So they introduced this last. Year for the first time.
• 1:57:33
  There is there were like these 4 pedestals that characters from
• 1:57:39
  different houses as well as like I'm going to call her call her
• 1:57:43
  somewhat of an icon. If you guys have seen like last
• 1:57:46
  year's like punk rock aesthetic, they had like a punk rock
• 1:57:48
  skeleton girl. They had a punk rock skeleton
• 1:57:50
  boy. They had a goblin from the feast
• 1:57:53
  of the Goblins house. They have like different
• 1:57:56
  characters from the original houses as well as like some some
• 1:57:59
  icon adjacent characters and they were on pedestals and you
• 1:58:03
  could just like walk up and watch them kind of like like
• 1:58:05
  dance around and interact and you could take pictures with
• 1:58:07
  them. So it is, I don't know who they
• 1:58:11
  are going to have this year. I suspect it will be back.
• 1:58:14
  I don't know that we've heard officially one way or the other.
• 1:58:17
  I haven't seen anything about it even through like my quick
• 1:58:20
  cursory glances, but it was pretty popular last year.
• 1:58:23
  It was cool because you can just kind of walk up and like get a
• 1:58:25
  photo with them being all spooky or whatever to kind of like have
• 1:58:28
  a cool. Interaction, like it was fun.
• 1:58:30
  So yeah, more akin to like what we see at Oogie Boogie Bash on
• 1:58:34
  their tree trail where they have the characters.
• 1:58:36
  Like they're a little bit removed from you.
• 1:58:38
  You can't just walk right up to them, but they will still 1000%
• 1:58:41
  interact with you and have those those moments with you.
• 1:58:44
  So it so it is, it is a little bit of a hybrid because they
• 1:58:49
  are. Physically up on a pedestal,
• 1:58:50
  they're up close, so you cannot grab them.
• 1:58:53
  But you can still get like this close, right?
• 1:58:55
  Like you can get very close and take a photo with them, but you
• 1:58:58
  can't touch them. Please do not, do not touch team
• 1:59:01
  members. Don't do it.
• 1:59:02
  Yeah, they don't sell you and you don't touch them.
• 1:59:03
  That's the rule. That's the We have a healthy
• 1:59:06
  mutual understanding. Space so like thanks, respect,
• 1:59:09
  respect please. All of the team members.
• 1:59:13
  Cast members, anyone in these theme parks, they all work very,
• 1:59:16
  very hard to make your experience enjoyable.
• 1:59:18
  Let us respect them. But yeah, so with these, they
• 1:59:22
  are not meet, they call the meet and greets because you can get
• 1:59:26
  close, you can kind of interact with them and have a fun moment,
• 1:59:29
  but they are not like on the ground for you to hug, right?
• 1:59:32
  So it's sort of like a hybrid. You can get close, but you can't
• 1:59:35
  like no touchy, you know what I mean?
• 1:59:37
  So no touchy. So yeah, so, so I expect that
• 1:59:42
  they will be back this year. They were really cool.
• 1:59:45
  Last. Year they were very popular so I
• 1:59:48
  expect that they'll they'll do something similar this year nice
• 1:59:52
  all right shall we talk merch now everyone this everywhere I.
• 1:59:56
  I spend all of my savings. So there is obviously an.
• 2:00:01
  Abundance of merch at HHN any. Opportunity of the theme parks
• 2:00:05
  have to slap a a brand on something and sell if they will.
• 2:00:09
  So there there are plenty of things and it works on it and
• 2:00:13
  there's especially for the IP houses.
• 2:00:16
  I mean, even I feel. Like we were talking with our
• 2:00:17
  friends and they. Were like oh like I like to wait
• 2:00:19
  and like see the houses and whatever before buying stuff.
• 2:00:21
  Like if it's an IP, like you're probably going to buy it because
• 2:00:24
  you like the IP and you want the shirt that shows that you write
• 2:00:27
  the house, whether you like the house or not, right?
• 2:00:29
  So they, they have a lot of IP themed merch.
• 2:00:33
  But then there are, you know, also things that are themed just
• 2:00:36
  like general HHN themed shirts and you know, different things.
• 2:00:42
  And you know, it's on everything.
• 2:00:43
  Shirts, pins, sweatshirts, hats, candles.
• 2:00:46
  Notebooks. Like literally anything that you
• 2:00:49
  could think of. I had to give them credit
• 2:00:51
  because their candles usually smell pretty good.
• 2:00:53
  Hey all pretty good candles. They.
• 2:00:55
  Are there you go and they have that fancy wooden Wick so you
• 2:00:59
  feel like you're in a fireplace. Is very fun.
• 2:01:00
  Not in a fireplace in. Front of a fireplace.
• 2:01:02
  Oh, God, please don't be in a fireplace.
• 2:01:05
  Yeah, no, please. Oh boy, we've been.
• 2:01:11
  We've been talking for. Too long.
• 2:01:13
  Hey, real people, are hours so close, done so close.
• 2:01:17
  Hang tight, friends. We're almost.
• 2:01:18
  There so some of the merch is inspired by like the different.
• 2:01:22
  Elements of HHN. So for example, Mel.
• 2:01:24
  'S die In, which is a spooky twist on Mel's Drive in which is
• 2:01:27
  one of their food locations. So they've done merch inspired
• 2:01:30
  by that the last couple of years.
• 2:01:32
  There's always merch inspired by Lil Boo, which is one of their
• 2:01:36
  icons. He's kind of just like an ever
• 2:01:37
  present icon of HHN. The cutest little pumpkin little
• 2:01:42
  dude. Things are, you're watching it
• 2:01:45
  now. Duck is holding a popcorn
• 2:01:48
  bucket. That is the head.
• 2:01:49
  Of Little Boo. He's just a little guy.
• 2:01:52
  He's just a little pumpkin. Jackal Lantern head, but.
• 2:01:56
  If you don't know what. It really is.
• 2:01:57
  First off, I feel sorry for you, but second, he glows.
• 2:02:00
  That's so fun. I love him.
• 2:02:02
  Okay, fun. So he's always, you know, a
• 2:02:04
  staple. Of the merch Oh.
• 2:02:06
  Wait, I forgot I'm so. Sorry, ABG moment there's a it's
• 2:02:10
  hard to see, but he. Projects his face.
• 2:02:13
  Oh my God. In 2024, Dad's so cute, right?
• 2:02:18
  He's adorable, so. Do you see the backpack?
• 2:02:21
  This. Year.
• 2:02:22
  Yes, Jackie, I'm going to black out and buy it.
• 2:02:26
  It's. Not OK.
• 2:02:28
  He's so cute. So cute.
• 2:02:29
  I hope they made enough because I'm buying them all.
• 2:02:33
  So cute. They had a shoulder plush of him
• 2:02:36
  last year. That my biggest story, right, is
• 2:02:37
  that it was sold out and I couldn't.
• 2:02:38
  Get 1 so like very much in the in the vein of Disney lots of
• 2:02:42
  merch for different things, but like there is definitely like a
• 2:02:45
  big like fan culture surrounding HHN.
• 2:02:48
  So some of the like and kind of like jokes and things and like
• 2:02:52
  whatever do get worked into the merch sometimes too, which I
• 2:02:54
  think is fun. Like they're very much like, OK,
• 2:02:57
  we see what the fans like and we're going to give you what you
• 2:02:59
  want basically. And then also like Disney,
• 2:03:03
  there's password or exclusive merch and things like that.
• 2:03:06
  So if you are somebody with, you know, annual pass to Universal,
• 2:03:10
  there's some really cool exclusive merch that you can get
• 2:03:12
  there. So the tribute store, which we
• 2:03:15
  mentioned a little bit earlier is really the place to get all
• 2:03:17
  of this merch for HHN. So this is a store in Universal.
• 2:03:21
  It's kind of in that corner of like New York area by the Jimmy
• 2:03:24
  Fallon ride. The scariest thing in the
• 2:03:27
  scariest thing scarier than any house but so they.
• 2:03:30
  Kind of transform that for every.
• 2:03:32
  Season, every exclusive event happening, if there is a certain
• 2:03:36
  like movie or property that they're highlighting for an
• 2:03:38
  anniversary, whatever, right? So they'll make over that store
• 2:03:41
  for that. So each year they had to pick a
• 2:03:44
  theme for HHM that they will kind of gear the the store to
• 2:03:49
  one year. It was like an investigative
• 2:03:53
  kind of thing with like there was like a Jack of the Ripper
• 2:03:57
  element, wasn't there? Or something.
• 2:03:59
  So like they'll kind of pick a story and pick a theme.
• 2:04:01
  And as you're exploring the different rooms of the Tribute
• 2:04:03
  story, you're kind of finding out about this story, but also
• 2:04:06
  shopping for merch. It's just fun.
• 2:04:08
  I will say the storylines in the Tribute Store are fascinating.
• 2:04:13
  And you could spend an hour alone in the Tribute store
• 2:04:16
  trying to look at all the little clues and figure it out, right?
• 2:04:19
  Like the, I think it was last year's I had like that detective
• 2:04:22
  element and there was like little QR codes.
• 2:04:24
  Now I'm I please do not scan random QR codes out in public.
• 2:04:29
  I work in IT. For your own security and
• 2:04:33
  safety, don't scan random QR codes.
• 2:04:35
  However, in the Tribute Store there were random QR codes that
• 2:04:40
  I was scanning and it gave you little pieces of the storyline,
• 2:04:44
  which is super cool. Interactive.
• 2:04:47
  It's super fun. But it's, there's even like a
• 2:04:49
  fun part where like if you're a pass holder, you can have
• 2:04:53
  yourself kind of featured in the Tribute store.
• 2:04:56
  I know one year you could kind of like get yourself
• 2:04:58
  photoshopped into like an old tiny kind of photo kind of
• 2:05:01
  thing. So like there's fun
• 2:05:03
  opportunities like that too. So then if you, you know, are a
• 2:05:05
  pass holder that's submitted to like be part of this, you can go
• 2:05:08
  and see it. So even if you're not interested
• 2:05:10
  in buying the merchandise, the Tribute Store is still a fun
• 2:05:13
  experience like and part of HHN to just see.
• 2:05:18
  And there is also the room we like we said, they sell
• 2:05:20
  different treats and sweets. So it's mostly like candy and
• 2:05:24
  baked goods kind of things that they have.
• 2:05:25
  But some of it is, you know, themed to some of the houses and
• 2:05:28
  things like that. So it is stuff that is exclusive
• 2:05:30
  to Halloween Horror Nights. So if you're interested in
• 2:05:34
  trying any of that, you can do that there as well.
• 2:05:36
  So I think with that information, that brings us to
• 2:05:40
  the end, unfortunately. Much to Duck and Jess's dismay,
• 2:05:43
  to our HHN not so fast information here now that we've
• 2:05:50
  been here for several hours. That's OK Hope that was helpful.
• 2:05:55
  Before we kind of completely wrap this episode, I do just
• 2:05:58
  want to run down to quick honorable mentions.
• 2:06:01
  If you are in the greater Orlando and all the way over to
• 2:06:05
  the West Coast of Florida area during haunt Season 2 Hallow
• 2:06:10
  scream honorable mentions that we just I just want to give
• 2:06:13
  brief information about just brief.
• 2:06:16
  I promise. The first one being how scream
• 2:06:20
  at Busch Gardens Tampa. So now this is quite a drive
• 2:06:22
  from the Orlando area. So this is like if you have a
• 2:06:25
  rental car or something along the line, if you've got a car
• 2:06:29
  that you can drive yourself, I do not necessarily suggest
• 2:06:32
  Ubering over there because that's going to be a pretty
• 2:06:34
  hefty Uber expensive fee. But Busch Gardens Tampa does
• 2:06:38
  have their own hallow scream. Event.
• 2:06:40
  This event is most. Similar to HHN with their
• 2:06:43
  haunted houses and scare zones being featured and that no, this
• 2:06:46
  one doesn't rotate as frequently.
• 2:06:49
  Neither of the two that we're going to talk about do where
• 2:06:50
  like HHN changes things out completely year to year.
• 2:06:54
  These ones have a lot of things that will stick around year to
• 2:06:57
  year and they'll kind of do like a revamp every so often just
• 2:07:00
  because it's a little bit smaller scale.
• 2:07:03
  Their event does run September 5th through November 2nd of
• 2:07:07
  2025. This year tickets start as low
• 2:07:09
  as 3499, which is very affordable.
• 2:07:13
  Yeah, yeah. But again, you're you're getting
• 2:07:16
  a different level. The scale is different.
• 2:07:18
  That's true, yes. So keep that in mind.
• 2:07:22
  The houses that they have are. The Mars House, Like Capital M
• 2:07:27
  Capital A Capital R Like it's an acronym, you know, you get it.
• 2:07:31
  DH Bagum. Circus of Fear, Shadows of
• 2:07:33
  Wonderland. That sounds mysteriously like it
• 2:07:37
  might imply some Disney IP there, and only based on the
• 2:07:42
  book. Yes, exactly.
• 2:07:44
  Yes, there's no IP thievery happening from.
• 2:07:48
  From. Busch Gardens and then
• 2:07:50
  Stranglewood Estate and again those are all original IP to
• 2:07:55
  what what Busch Gardens has created.
• 2:07:57
  And then their scare zones are Ragnar's Wrath and Sawgrass
• 2:08:03
  Slaughter. Legend of the Skunk Ape.
• 2:08:07
  That makes me specifically happy because the Stunk Ape is a
• 2:08:11
  Cryptid. And anything to do with cryptids
• 2:08:15
  I'm all about. So like Busch Gardens Tampa, you
• 2:08:18
  are crushing. I don't need to know anything
• 2:08:20
  else, but you feature a Cryptid and I'm sold.
• 2:08:24
  OK at Hollow Scream. They also do have exclusive
• 2:08:27
  foods, drinks, merch all. That that type of stuff.
• 2:08:30
  Again, we're not going into detail, just a quick honorable
• 2:08:32
  mention. And basically all of their
• 2:08:35
  attractions are open during their event, which is really
• 2:08:37
  nice. Very few are closed, so they do
• 2:08:41
  have quite a lot of coasters and some good stuff over there at
• 2:08:44
  Busch Gardens. So if that sounds appealing to
• 2:08:46
  you and you have a way to get there without spending an arm
• 2:08:49
  and a leg, Yep, that's a great option.
• 2:08:52
  Second honorable mention that we'll just mention briefly is.
• 2:08:55
  Also Hallow. Scream, don't get confused.
• 2:08:58
  They're two different events at two different locations.
• 2:09:00
  This one is at SeaWorld Orlando. This is much closer to home when
• 2:09:05
  we're talking about Universal Disney.
• 2:09:07
  SeaWorld is just up the road, not too far.
• 2:09:09
  This is an Uber drive. This is not so you don't have to
• 2:09:12
  have a rental car. Terrible rental car SeaWorld.
• 2:09:15
  Uber. That's OK.
• 2:09:16
  Yes, you can absolutely Uber there or whatever your mode of
• 2:09:20
  transportation. That you prefer is their event
• 2:09:24
  runs September 5th through November 1st and again their
• 2:09:27
  tickets start as low as 3499. Now I will mention for both of
• 2:09:30
  these their ticket prices are are what's the word I'm looking
• 2:09:36
  for variable. That's the word I was looking
• 2:09:37
  for their ticket prices. Are variable and they do.
• 2:09:40
  Depend on day of the week, and the closer you get to Halloween,
• 2:09:43
  the more expensive they get. Again, that should sound
• 2:09:45
  familiar. We've talked about that the
• 2:09:48
  specifics of the event itself vary from park to park, but
• 2:09:52
  SeaWorld Orlando promises a park wide scare zone with no respite
• 2:09:56
  from the thrills and haunts. And that was literally copied
• 2:10:00
  and pasted site. I've never heard you say the
• 2:10:04
  word respite before. No.
• 2:10:06
  Yes, I do leveling up. With my hey leveling up my
• 2:10:10
  vocabulary to us. No tea.
• 2:10:12
  No tea, no shade. I fully believe that you would
• 2:10:14
  use the word, I just don't hear. It in your regular everyday
• 2:10:18
  cadence that yeah, you're not wrong.
• 2:10:19
  So just in, just in the description, in this very
• 2:10:22
  moment, I don't think that that would be your.
• 2:10:24
  First choice of words. That's all that I'm saying.
• 2:10:26
  You're very intelligent. I'm.
• 2:10:27
  I'm being so sincere. Thank you.
• 2:10:29
  You're not wrong. OK.
• 2:10:30
  They also the established hollow scream locations and I will.
• 2:10:34
  Mention that some of this is verbiage is worded the way it is
• 2:10:38
  because there are several locations across the country
• 2:10:40
  that do Hollow Hollow Scream, but the established ones, which
• 2:10:44
  Orlando is one of those typically feature anywhere from
• 2:10:47
  5 to 10 houses and three to five scare zones.
• 2:10:49
  So again, it really just depends.
• 2:10:52
  It should be noted that costumes are not permitted at Hallow
• 2:10:55
  Scream. So that is a big difference
• 2:10:57
  between what we've talked about with Not So Scary and HHN.
• 2:11:00
  Although we didn't really touch on costumes for HHNHHN also does
• 2:11:04
  not allow any kind of costumes. They sell like fun, light up,
• 2:11:07
  devil horns and. Stuff that you can buy in the
• 2:11:09
  parks, but you can't come dressed in any costumes so that
• 2:11:13
  you're not like, confused with a scare actor.
• 2:11:15
  So yeah. So no costumes.
• 2:11:17
  Hallow, Scream or HHN for that matter.
• 2:11:19
  The Houses. That they have at are Widow's
• 2:11:22
  Nest Graveyard, Collector's Curse, Farm 51 and Water's Edge
• 2:11:28
  Wellness Center. So use your imagination to
• 2:11:31
  decide what you think those are about or do some research if
• 2:11:34
  those sound interesting to you. And the scare zones that they
• 2:11:37
  have are Wood Rot Hollow, Cannibal Harbor, and the
• 2:11:42
  Bloodlight District. Well now, hold on.
• 2:11:47
  Well, now I have things. That I would like to say, but I
• 2:11:52
  do not think. Are appropriate for this.
• 2:11:53
  Podcast. There are preschool toys
• 2:11:56
  present. I will save my comments for
• 2:11:58
  another day. It's me.
• 2:11:59
  I'm a preschool toys. Words I'm looking for can't be
• 2:12:04
  said because they're a preschool toys present.
• 2:12:06
  Yeah, so that's the name of their stuff again.
• 2:12:11
  They also have themed bars. Food, drinks, shows, etcetera,
• 2:12:15
  all of that. They have a significantly
• 2:12:18
  smaller list of attractions that are open, but SeaWorld just has
• 2:12:20
  a smaller list of attractions than Busch Gardens does.
• 2:12:24
  So the new newest coaster that they have over there, Pipeline
• 2:12:27
  is open, Icebreaker is open, Mako and Infinity Falls.
• 2:12:30
  So if one of those rides are something that are on your list,
• 2:12:36
  maybe you could utilize Hollow Scream to get on them.
• 2:12:40
  So again, just honorable mentions with both of those
• 2:12:43
  Hallow Scream events, they are still really great haunt events
• 2:12:46
  that are happening in the greater Orlando and Tampa area
• 2:12:51
  depending on if you can get there.
• 2:12:53
  So just wanted to make sure we mentioned those if you are
• 2:12:55
  someone looking for all of your haunt options in the Florida
• 2:13:00
  theme parks. We also just want to take a
• 2:13:03
  moment to promote local haunts because it's really important to
• 2:13:06
  support local businesses. We are all we.
• 2:13:08
  All feel very strongly about it and some of the best scares that
• 2:13:12
  I've had didn't come from HHN. They came from local haunts.
• 2:13:16
  They came from local events put on by like very dedicated people
• 2:13:19
  who like truly just do it for the love of the game, you know
• 2:13:22
  what I mean? Like they'll put it together on
• 2:13:24
  a shoestring budget and it's unbelievable what people can
• 2:13:27
  come up with. And so haunted trails, haunted
• 2:13:30
  hayrides just look up in your area, like haunted attractions
• 2:13:34
  especially, you know, come September.
• 2:13:37
  And yeah, so like, of course, these are all very fun and large
• 2:13:41
  scale, but it's also important to make sure that you are
• 2:13:43
  participating in local spooky time too.
• 2:13:46
  Absolutely. And I know our good friends Kirk
• 2:13:48
  and Lem frequent the Sir Henry's Haunt, which is also in the
• 2:13:52
  Greater. Orlando ish area, so that's
• 2:13:56
  another more small, small town local kind of place.
• 2:14:00
  If you're looking for something in the Orlando area but you're
• 2:14:02
  not familiar with the Orlando area, that would be a good place
• 2:14:05
  to start. I know that they have had very
• 2:14:07
  good experiences there as well. Yeah, we've heard nothing but
• 2:14:10
  great things. We consider it every year and
• 2:14:12
  then just the timing doesn't work out.
• 2:14:13
  So maybe, maybe this year or next year.
• 2:14:15
  Maybe we'll pull the trigger. Yes, very.
• 2:14:17
  And it can be tricky, right you to plan all of these things in a
• 2:14:21
  trip and get everything in that you want to do.
• 2:14:23
  So the nice thing is if you're somewhat local or if you're able
• 2:14:27
  to, if your schedule allows, all, almost all of these events
• 2:14:30
  run either August through October or September and
• 2:14:33
  October. So you've got, you know, maybe
• 2:14:36
  you can plan a Labor Day trip and then a trip later in October
• 2:14:39
  and spread them out a little and do 2 short trips or one longer
• 2:14:43
  trip. You know, it's hard.
• 2:14:44
  It's hard, especially for a holiday type things, whether
• 2:14:47
  it's Halloween, whether it's Christmas, whatever your, your
• 2:14:50
  vibe is, it can be hard to get it all in.
• 2:14:54
  So again, with all of these events, with the events in
• 2:14:58
  general, prioritize, look into them.
• 2:15:00
  If something that I mentioned about the Hollow Scream event
• 2:15:03
  sounds more like something you want to do, then look into that
• 2:15:06
  and see, you know, those events. Also, I didn't specifically
• 2:15:11
  mention age ranges for those events, but those events are
• 2:15:16
  typically they're similar to that HHN kind of age range
• 2:15:20
  there. Some of their like scare zones
• 2:15:22
  and stuff are not quite as intense at those.
• 2:15:26
  So if you've got some bubble kiddos that are maybe like, oh,
• 2:15:29
  they might be OK. Or like I really think they
• 2:15:31
  could be OK, Maybe going to a hollow scream event with them
• 2:15:35
  first might be a good idea if you really think they're ready.
• 2:15:39
  Because don't get me wrong, you're still going to get scared
• 2:15:41
  and it's still going to be spooky, but it's not quite to
• 2:15:45
  the level of HHN just because the resources aren't there for
• 2:15:48
  those new parts. Flat out.
• 2:15:49
  That's just the fewer actors and things like that that make it a
• 2:15:53
  little bit easier to get a break from it if you're not looking to
• 2:15:56
  be super. Scared.
• 2:15:57
  Yes, absolutely. Cool.
• 2:16:00
  Before we talk about what's coming next, do you guys have
• 2:16:03
  any? Final thoughts on spooky time.
• 2:16:07
  We, I think we kind of just summed it up pretty nicely.
• 2:16:10
  I think we did it. Yeah.
• 2:16:11
  I think we did it. OK, Have fun.
• 2:16:13
  Stay spooky. It's the best time of the year.
• 2:16:16
  So be kind to everybody, especially especially those who
• 2:16:19
  are working your haunts. Support local.
• 2:16:22
  Stay spooky, have fun. That's it.
• 2:16:23
  That's what we. Got for you.
• 2:16:25
  I love that. Well, briefly before we sign off
• 2:16:29
  officially, I do just want to mention what is up.
• 2:16:32
  Coming next on Mom St. USA Now that we finished this
• 2:16:35
  multiple hour marathon on on summer eve, remember when we
• 2:16:40
  were like, yeah, we'll go through this quickly.
• 2:16:43
  We tried real hard. We sure did, and we had fun
• 2:16:47
  doing it. We did the app we.
• 2:16:49
  We're yappers. We're yappers.
• 2:16:51
  There's no shame. Yep, it.
• 2:16:52
  It Yep, that's you know that that might be why.
• 2:16:54
  We do a podcast, who can say? But anyway, what is coming up
• 2:17:01
  next on our podcast? Is.
• 2:17:03
  A episode from Mom St. on. Disney tech tips?
• 2:17:06
  So something literally completely different.
• 2:17:09
  And then next week I'm going to be chatting about using the
• 2:17:13
  Disney app and hacks for parents that need to use it.
• 2:17:17
  So that is what is coming up next.
• 2:17:20
  Again, literally something completely different.
• 2:17:22
  But that's the lovely thing about Mom Street is that you get
• 2:17:25
  a little bit of everything and we hop around.
• 2:17:28
  That being said, if you've got an idea for a future episode
• 2:17:31
  that you're like, oh, I really wish Mom St. would help.
• 2:17:33
  Do research on this or talk about this or give input on
• 2:17:36
  this, Please reach out and let us know.
• 2:17:38
  You can always send us an e-mail.
• 2:17:40
  We are Mom St. usa@gmail.com or you can always send us Adm on
• 2:17:44
  TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all those good places.
• 2:17:47
  We are at Mom St. USA on those as well.
• 2:17:50
  If you haven't followed our YouTube, please hop over there
• 2:17:53
  and give us a follow. We are working hard and
• 2:17:56
  diligently to continue to grow our reach to help more families
• 2:17:59
  with their trips. You know, we're not in this to
• 2:18:02
  make a ton of money. We literally make nothing.
• 2:18:04
  We're not. No, we're not.
• 2:18:06
  I'm so sorry to break it to you though, man, So sorry.
• 2:18:11
  We are literally here just to help and to make sure that you.
• 2:18:15
  Guys have the information you? Need to have really great trips
• 2:18:19
  and not make the same mistakes that we made.
• 2:18:20
  Circling it back to what we talked about earlier tonight,
• 2:18:23
  right? We want to help you guys with
• 2:18:25
  our experiences and help you guys be able to have really fun,
• 2:18:29
  magical, special, memorable trips.
• 2:18:32
  So any way that we can serve our community, that's what we're
• 2:18:34
  here to do, but we want a greater that reach.
• 2:18:37
  So if you guys are following us, be sure to spread that love
• 2:18:40
  across all of our platforms and do a quick share to somebody who
• 2:18:44
  you think might enjoy our content because you never know
• 2:18:46
  when somebody might need it. OK, I think that's it.
• 2:18:50
  I think we are done. I think it is time for bed
• 2:18:52
  because it is very late as we are recording the finesse.
• 2:18:55
  The final episode or the final thoughts on this episode.
• 2:18:59
  Thank you so much, Duck and Jess for your expertise when it comes
• 2:19:02
  to HHM and sharing all of your knowledge with us been super
• 2:19:06
  enlightening for me and for everybody else involved.
• 2:19:10
  And thank you everybody for listening and we will catch you
• 2:19:13
  next time on Mom St. USA.
• 2:19:15
  Thanks everyone. Bye.