Halloween is our favorite holiday, and yet, again we have canceled our Halloween party. Covid seems to have killed it officially, yet, we may pick it back up one of these years. We have so many decorations just collecting dust in the “dungeon” yet I don’t care enough to put them out. Grant put out a few so he does care more than I do. I think when we move to our forever home, we are going to be looking closely at the neighborhood to see if it cares about Halloween and Christmas decorations or not. Half the battle is moving from apathy to caring and I just haven’t found the enthusiasm I once had.
While we did not continue our annual Halloween party, we did continue our trend of going to various theme parks for their haunted attractions. First up was Universal Studios Orlando Halloween Horror Nights in early September, and it was a bit lacking this year. One thing we picked up from last year, was Howl-O-Scream from SeaWorld San Diego. In 2021, they premiered with 3 haunted attractions and this year (2022) they expanded it to five. We did not plan on making this a continued tradition after the first year, but due to circumstances, it may be here to stay.
Our friend, Erica’s daughter, Ashley, works at SeaWorld San Diego and was able to procure us discounted tickets for $20. We had been sitting on them for some time. As we planned our lazy Saturday, we decided to throw this theme park into the mix at the very last minute. We notified both Erica and Ashley of our plan and Ashley wanted to tag along.
You cannot even go into the park without shelling out money for parking. While we learned the secret that they do not regulate employee parking, we decided to play it safe and park in the normal lot since this even ran later than normal park hours. Parking was $30, which is insane to me. When I pulled up to the parking attendant, I pulled out the discounted tickets and showed them to him. I explained that our “niece” was an employee. He said, “great, it will be $30.” I said, “wait…I thought parking was free with these tickets. Are you telling me I have to spend $30 on parking when the tickets themselves are only $20? Parking costs more.” He said…”just go…” indicating that I did not have to pay. Score! Free parking! I guess if you are a minimum wage worker who charges each car more than they make in an hour your ability to care is at an all-time low.
Karma caught up quickly as we attempted to get into the park, and we realized that the tickets we had been given had an expiration date that had passed. We were in communication with Ashley so she could meet up with us and gave her the bad news. She attempted to find the discount again but was unable to locate it. Instead, she ushered us to the front of the line and spoke to the gate operator. She politely explained the situation and asked us to let us in. He agreed. Again, another minimum wage worker who didn’t really care about the rules. Perfect for us. Not only did we get free parking, but we also got free admission to the park!
After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Ashley called her mother and explained how she was able to get us in for free. Ashley persuaded her mom to join us (even though she is triggered easily) and she joined us. The haunted houses themselves were hit or miss. None were outstanding, but none were awful. It really hinged on how many “actors” or individuals were working. It was hilarious seeing Ashley refuse to look up and all of the actors focus exclusively on terrorizing her. Eventually, she caught on and began conquering her fears. While we could not get her to take the lead in the mazes, we do think that in future years she may! With short wait times, we were able to go through all of the mazes pretty fast with only one taking approximately 20 minutes to wait. Not a bad night!
To help combat some of the lines, they do offer a show to move people from the lines into a seat. The show was some mashup of a dream, ballet, stage fighting, and lights. Not the best of shows, but it was fun. The actors cared and took pride in the show, which made it more enjoyable. Also, the sheer number of stage performers on that tiny stage was a feat! They just kept coming! After watching the show and finishing the houses, we called it a night.
““Universal Studios Halloween Horror Night Hollywood is better than Orlando.” ”
I just want to put this out there to memorialize this forever.
The next few days blurred by and somehow we found ourselves already at the next weekend. Grant had recently put in his two-week notice at this current employer due to him finding a new/ more desirable position. Wanting to take advantage of that, he left early on Friday to go up to Los Angeles to do a taping of “The Connors” and hang around the area with friends.
On Saturday morning, after completing chore after chore, Lara and Tyler showed up and rescued me from doing more housework. They were kind enough to pick me up and we skedaddled out of San Diego. We stopped at Circle K so Lara can get her styrofoam cup of diet coke. I picked up some Mexican Street Corn Cheetos. They started okay, but by the time I was scooping up the seasoning at the bottom of the bag— I must have liked them more than I thought.
As we got closer to the Hilton Universal, I reached out to Grant to coordinate. He was actually in the area and was able to pick us up our annual tradition of In and Out. Somehow I avoid this fast-food joint the entire year, but my mouth waters when I see it in front of me. That may have been from all of the salt in the Cheetos, but I was happy to see it. Lara and Tyler ordered off the normal menu, but I ordered the flying dutchman and cheese fries well done. Basically, bun a free double cheeseburger. Why waste a bun when all you want is the meat?
Before we ate, we attempted to check into our room, but it was not ready. So they gave us a pool key to use and took our food outside. We were scarfing down our first bites when a pool attendant came over to shoo us away. We were not allowed to eat in the pool area. Grant clapped back and said our room was not ready so we are going to eat here. She retreated and we enjoyed our food under her watchful/resentful eye. For some reason, Grant bought drink charms of guys in Speedos to figure out whose drink was who. It probably wasn’t necessary since we were all drinking but they were fun trying to get them to hang on to our drinks. What wasn’t fun was when they dropped into the hot tub. Fortunately, Tyler was able to fish them out. Unfortunately, they didn’t survive even after Grant tried to resuscitate them.
Our rooms were supposed to be ready as “housekeeping was just finishing up,” but after an hour’s swim, only Lara and Tyler’s room was. I went up to the front desk half-naked and said why isn’t my room ready. I went swimming and I need to change. What do I do? They somehow found a room and we were able to change. It also might have helped that both Lara and Grant were holding a million towels and look like weirdos!
We got dressed and were able to take the shuttle to Universal CityWalk. Our AMC A-List status gets us 3 movies a week including the overpriced theater in CityWalk. This year’s movie was Halloween Kills where we finally got to see the resolution between Lori Strode and Michael Myers. At least until they decided that its time to reboot this franchise. Grant liked the movie the most out of all of us, but the last 20 minutes was where the movie shined for me.
Afterward, we rushed over to Antijos for some Mexican food. The reservation was for 6:30 pm, but we should be up at 6:45 pm. The waiter let us know that due to a cancelation we were able to get in. Considering there was a line to check in that was well over 15 minutes and we cut— made this seem like a bit of a silly response. The food was not stellar and I do not think we will be making this part of our annual tradition moving forward.
It was finally time! We walked through security and were able to get great photos of us at the front of the entrance. It didn’t take long before we had things jump out of us. What makes it feel real to me is the smell of chainsaws. The actors care and are all about scaring the bejesus out of you! The first house this year was Blumhouse Freaky and Black Phone, and set the tone right off the back. Plenty of jump scares, surprise actors appearing out of walls, fake walls revealing sinister foes, and the attention to detail from the floor, to the ceiling, to the smells— PERFECTION! To me, Hollywood cares about Halloween and it shows!
Tyler wanted to do the rides, which was fine with me! I had not done them in a while and they brought back good memories. We still could not convince Lara to go see the Jabawokez, but we will get her back there even if we have to trick her somehow! Of the 8 houses, I think my favorite was the Scarecrow house. Having an entire room of dripping water and looking up and seeing crows (appearing to be defecating you) was just hilarious, gross, and terrifying. The terror tram was extended past its normal War of the World plane crash set to include the actual set of Nope with terrifying actors from Us. All of them were engaged and did not break character at all.
As we completed house number 6, we decided to go over to Jurrasic World, but it had just closed. Without any notice, they closed the ride at 12:15 am. We stood outside the closed ride at 12:18 am, which made it all the worse. Next year we will have to get that one done right away! We wrapped up the last house wrapped up about 1ish and scurried away back to the hotel room with lights off at 2 am.
The next morning, Lara, Tyler, and I went to go get donuts from Voodoo Donuts. That is not a place where you just order what looks good. Have a plan and stick to it. Otherwise, you’ll end up ordering a half dozen donuts for yourself since Grant does not like donuts. As we were walking, I swear I saw Collin Farrel and it sounded just like him. Before I could confirm or get anyone’s attention— he was gone. Not like it matters, but I would love to know if I am crazy or if I should try out for TMZ.
All around another solid year. Halloween is all about effort and I can say that Hollywood cared to make an effort this year! Now that our Halloween season is coming to a close we learned:
Orlando- you have to do the RIP tour
San Diego- you get what you pay for.
Hollywood- you are going to get scared!
Until next Halloween!