Universal Horror Night

When I was looking around for things to do I had noticed that the Halloween season had started at the parks.  Universal do a horror night which they recommend for ages 13 and above due to the scare level of the event, the scantly clad performers and some mild language in the shows.  I managed to find a deal online that Burger King were promoting for Florida residents where if you entered a code found on one of their burgers you got it for about half price.  With a bit of searching I managed to find a code that worked so instead of 100 quid it cost me about $63 dollars.

There was a bus that took me to the park from the hotel, I got there at about 5 and there were people already queuing to get in even though it didn't start until 6.30 although I had read they do tend to let people in a bit earlier.   To kill time I went to a burger bar on City Walk and got a burger with onion rings and pulled pork. Instead of fries I went for a Chinese salad which was a bit like shredded gherkins but without the strong vinegar taste.  As I was on my own they wanted me to sit at the bar, I guess so I didn't take up a table as it was quite busy.  The burger was really nice and I'm glad I didn't order a starter as I was stuffed after finishing it.  

By the time I got back to the gate they had started to let people in, standing in the queue I could see a couple of people in horror get up on the other side of the gate stalking their way through the crowds to find someone that wasn't expecting it and then jumping out at them and reving their chain saw. The chainsaw blades had been disconnected from the motor but the sound was enough to make people jump.

Some of the normal rides were open but I didn't go on any of these.  Walking around the park some areas had been done up in Halloween style themes and actors were walking around adding to the whole atmosphere.  There was alcohol on sale on the streets as well so the whole thing had a very adult feel to it.  I thought I would be out of place not being dressed up but hardly anyone else had dressed up save a few women who had to decided to dress a bit risque.

There were a number of "houses" these were very large sets that had been done up based on american cult horror shows / films.  Things like Scarecrow, the shining, the evil dead etc. The sets were very dark, lots of smoke, very loud sound effects, flashing lights, animations and live actors who were either jumping out at you playing out some scene, some of them quite gruesome.  I really enjoyed the first two houses but then it started to get a bit samey and not worth the 60 minutes queue.  If you are going to do this then an express pass is definitely needed, i heard one person say the longest they queued was 15 minutes and they had done pretty much everything in one night.  I only managed 3 houses.  

The street performances were very good as well, the reaping was quite scary with vans and motorbikes revving their engines around the streets and people jumping out of the back of the vans and pulling people (actors) away.

It was a great night but I started to feel it and knew I had an early start in the morning so decided to call it a night at 10:30 and got back to the hotel around 11:10

burger