We did Stay and Scream, and they let us out around 5:45, which was earlier than we ever have been let out before. I guess they got everyone out pretty quickly last night. We did both Creatures and Body Collectors before they opened up the main gate.

Creatures was very good. My sister-in-law got a good scare from it. It was either too dark or my eyes were still adjusting to going from light to dark and other than the first scene, which was visually great, I couldn't really see much of anything. The "greeter" character in the bar was great at interacting with people and a great distraction as well. Loved the alien at the end, especially using the silhoutte to exaggerate it.

Then on to Body Collectors. There was a lone Collector standing outside the line around a corner, popping his head around on occassion, which got my sister-in-law again. This was a revisit of our favorite haunted house of all time, so I was personally excited, and it delivered. The Collectors were creepy as always, and the scenery was awesome. The facade was great. I didn't get as scared as the first one, but it was still really cool. The observation room was one of the best overall scenes of this HHN.

We then hit-up Doomsday, and it was just ok. While standing in line, we saw the cast heading into the house, and they played up the crowd great. So for me, the cast did a great job, I just wasn't thrilled with the theming. So "A" for effort by the cast, but "C-" for theming. The chainsaws at the end got my sister-in-law and she literally ran past everyone to escape, which of course caused the chainsaw to chase after her. We didn't see my sister-in-law until outside the exit. Once again, good fun.

We did Reflections of Fear next, and it was cool set-up. Not as good as it should have been for the lead house, but not bad. The opening scene with Mary was great, but there were way too many scenes that just involved the scare-actors staring at you trying to creep you out, and not enough actual scares. Not bad though, the Mary's were very creepy looking.

Then the bottom fell out.

Literally.

While standing in line for Dead Exposure, the clouds opened up drenching us. It was horrible. We were soaked to the bone. I probably would have enjoyed Dead Exposure much more if I wasn't cold and wet going through it. I liked the idea and it looked cool, but like I said, I was soaked, so there wasn't much they could do with it that would impress me.

It continued to rain, so we decided to dry off some in The Simpsons. Second ride on it since coming down for the week, and still great. Probably my new favorite ride at Universal.

We get done with Simpsons...still raining, so we try Men in Black. Nope...technical difficulties...had people stuck on it, so we walked quickly to Mel's Die -er to get a bite to eat. Despite being overpriced, it was a great tasting meal. Really enjoyed it. And the bonus, after we got done eating, it had stopped raining!

Yay!

On to the scarezones heading back to Scary Tales. The Skoolhouse was creepy. Loved the theming of it. The actors in it were great.

On to Scary Tales...with a 60 minute wait. This was my most anticipated house, so we decided to do this and think about heading out. Well, a 60 minute wait time actually turned into a 20 minute wait is all, which I was very happily surprised at. And the house didn't disappoint. Best house of the nice. Best looking, best acted, and my wife got the absolute best scare in Oz. We were paying attention to the Tin Man and poor, poor Toto, when we heard the lion roar, and my wife saw something next to her, and all of a sudden, all I know is I'm being shoved forward with my wife's head buried in my back, pushing me out of the scene. The mirrors were great, everything was great about this place.

After Scary Tales, we tried The Hallow which had a 60 minute wait time, but after our experience with Scary Tales's wait time, we decided to try it. And once again, the wait time was exaggerated, as we were in the house in about 20-25 minutes. Visually a great haunted house, but the scares weren't really there. It looked really cool though.

Continued on through more of the scare zones. The chainsaw drill team in San Francisco was good as always. I watched them go after one girl, and the girl literally just dropped down in the fetal position, and the two guys who had went after her, looked at each other, shrugged, turned, and went after more people, but the girl stayed down for probably a few minutes screaming, all while we were laughing.

Streets of Blood was good, just wish they had utilized the small alley like they'd done in the past, because at night that area is creepy as hell.

And we see Interstellar Terror, we were thinking about not doing it, but it only had a 30 minute wait time, which was actually the only one that was about dead on with the night. It was ok. Reminded me too much of The Thing last year which was my least favorite house last year. I got a really good scare here when someone came out from the bottom bulk head and I wasn't expecting her. I jumped and said bad words, because she got me good. Unfortunately, that was it. The "captain" in the wheel chair wasn't scary, in fact, he came off as trying to make us laugh, and the final scare wasn't good. Overall, probably my least favorite house.

We finished up by going through the final scare zones, and Path of the Wicked gets my second favorite scarezone of the night. The Flying Monkees were awesome, while the Wicked Witch was also great, but too repetitive. Started repeating herself after less than 5 minutes, but she had the voice dead on.

Overall, a great Halloween Horror Nights. Tons better than last year, and probably our overall favorite since the first one (13 with the Director). And can I just say that I think the Mary T-shirt that says "Wanna See Scary" that fills the entire shirt is one of the creepiest T-shirts I've ever seen...and now own!

House Rankings
1) Scary Tales
2) Body Collectors
3) Creatures
4) Reflections of Fear
5) Dead Exposure
6) The Hallow
7) Doomsday
8) Interstellar Terror

Scarezone Rankings
1) The Skoolhouse
2) Path of the Wicked
3) Asylum in Wonderland
4) Streets of Blood
5) American Gothic
6) Fractured Tales