They started screening ticket holders at about 5:45 pm even though they weren't to open until 6:30 pm. We were screened, scanned, and in the park by 6:15 pm and hit the streets full of goblins, ghouls, zombies, and chain saw guys bent on terrifying anyone walking the street. We hit a few of our favorite rides such as the Mummy and Rip Rocket Roller Coaster. We also went on the Despicable Me ride which is new this year replacing Jimmy Neutron. If you haven't been to Universal for some years that one was originally a Flintstone's ride. Although it was the same type of virtual roller coaster they did a great job and it was nice to have something new to see.
After that we hit the haunted houses. Silent Hill, which was billed as the most popular attraction, was excellent. I may have enjoyed it more if I was more familiar with the video game culture but it was certainly awesome. My favorite houses were Penn & Teller, Alice Cooper "Welcome To My Nightmare", and Gothic. Gothic had a flying gargoyle that stood out for me as the best character in the entire park. The other houses, Walking Dead, House of Horrors, and Dead End were all great and nothing was short of fantastic.
They also had Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween and 20 Penny Circus, supposedly a remnant of the old carnival shows. We didn't participate in those because we weren't interested but I spoke with some party goers by the bars and they all liked them so each to his own.
I noticed something different this year. Last year we went on Friday night and the crowd was moderate until about 10:00 so we were able to do a lot more. This year we went on Saturday and the crowd was loaded and ready to go at opening time. They were rowdier and definitely more of a party crowd but we didn't witness any trouble. If you go with your kids like I do you may opt for a week night or Friday but if you go with friends or couples Saturday is probably more for you. I also recommend investing in the Fast Pass option because the lines after only an hour were 60-90 minutes long. That's a lot of standing.
There are still plenty of nights left so hit it if you can. I promise you won't leave disappointed.
