HHN The Next Two Houses

     Universal took another step this year to alleviate unnecessary walking time.  These final houses (plus Terrifier) were all in close proximity in the front of the park.  Walking between houses was done behind the buildings this year instead of the front.  It saved a lot of time.  

    Our next house was Grave of Flesh.  The house theme according to nbcuniversal.com was: Welcome to your funeral, where things go from bad to worse. You'll enter your grave and then the underworld, where flesh-eaters who feed on the dead will hunt you for all eternity. 

    Overall, I liked this house.  It had a good setting setting and I enjoyed the soundtrack.  It had some good jump scares. It was a visually interesting house.

*pictures from Inside Universal

Walkthrough video from Attractions Magazine

Next up was usually Five Nights at Freddy's.  The best scene in this house was the first room when you come face to face with full-scale replicas of the characters on the stage singing.  The rest of the house consisted of iconic scenes from the movie as Freddy, Chica, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake stalk you. According to nbcuniversal.com, the characters were created in collaboration with Jim Henson's Creature Shop who created the animatronics and costumes for the movie. 

* picture credit: Spectrum News 13

*picture credit: Orlando Informer

I liked the house, and there was really only a couple times where the wait time was absurdly long. There was also a couple times when we could basically walk right in with no wait time.  In general, though, it was a very popular house (of course).

Walkthrough video: Attractions Magazine

Up Next: The final two houses

HHN 2025 - The Next Three Houses

 The next house on our tour was Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters.  I'm not sure why, but this house seemed to have one of the longest wait times. 

This house was based off of one of the movies from Slaughter Cinema 2 which was a house in last year's HHN.  According to Wiki, Hatchet and Chains are Bounty Hunters Chains is someone who can see and interact with demons and kills them with a mystical chain. Hatchet is a demon who saved the life of Chains. They work together traveling the Wild West hunting demons. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

While not one of my top favorite houses, I generally enjoyed it.  The characters and ambiance were good, just not really many scares. 

Walk through video from Attractions Magazine

Making our way to the front of the park, we stopped along the way at Jason's Universe. 

Try to escape Jason Voorhees as you walk through Jason's shack in the woods and the summer camp that started it all. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

This house was a solid medium for me.  I enjoyed it for the iconic Jason Voorhees scares, He was literally everywhere!

Walk through by Attractions 360*

Moving to the front, the next house we usually hit was Terrifier.

The house was based on all three Terrifier movies; of which I have not seen any of them. In this house, Art the Clown recreates some f his more famous kills.  

I enjoyed this house even with not seeing the movies.  Detailed sets and the fun factor, balancing the brutal kills with dark humor.  At the end you could choose to exit on two different paths (blood bath or dry path).  We did the blood exit on our night, but really it was just globs of water falling on you. Did not impress me. 

Pictures from Wiki: Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

Walk through from Attractions 360*

Christmas Traditions Part 1

As I attempt to ambulate through the one year "anniversaries" of the three deaths, I cannot help but torment myself by mentally reliving the worst 46 days of my life. In addition to grieving the loss of them, I am, at the same time, saddened at the loss of our Christmas traditions.  

In addition to the traditions we enjoyed recently, I have been reflecting on past traditions which were revised as my sister and I grew up and expanded our family circle to include boyfriends/husbands/in-laws, etc.   

Aesthetically, my earliest Christmas memories included a real white flocked tree with blue lights and ornaments, along with a cardboard fireplace where we would hang our stockings.  That is until one year, the white flocked tree wasn't so beautiful to us anymore and my sister and I begged our parents for a green tree with colored lights. They were happy to oblige and I vividly remember making a trip to the Sears store in our local mall to purchase a fake green tree.  😁

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Renwick-7-5ft-Pre-lit-Pencil-Artificial-Christmas-Tree-with-Warm-White-Lights-Lake-Blue-Gradient/11173472998

As for traditions, we always had a ham dinner on Christmas Eve and usually either apple pie with ice cream or strawberry shortcake (my dad's favorite) for dessert.  After the dinner clean-up we would make our way to the basement where my dad would pull out his guitar and we'd sing Christmas Carols.  I remember this being one of my favorite things.  I always loved Christmas music and enjoyed the sound of my mom and dad's signing voices.  

Later on in the evening we would pile in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights.  There was a street in the city that had these beautiful Victorian houses and they were always decorated so beautifully. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristmasLights/comments/zea8z8/my_house_in_salisbury_nc_decorated_for_christmas/

https://www.dreamstime.com/display-christmas-lights-house-display-christmas-lights-house-illustration-extravagant-victorian-grand-abundance-intricate-image317372503

Christmas Day would begin very early with two excited children!  We'd open presents and get ready for church at 10:00.  Then we'd leave straight from church to drive to my grandparent's house near Milwaukee and spend a full day there.

The day after Christmas we would drive the opposite way to Iron Mountain, Michigan to celebrate with my dad's side of the family.  Due to the three-hour travel time, we would stay overnight at my grandma and grandpa's house.  

The next day would begin with a full breakfast before leaving - you never left hungry from their house!!!  We would not drive home though, instead we would stop at a Ramada Inn in Green Bay for a night.  My sister and I would swim all day.  The pool had a dome roof similar to this one.

photo credit:    https://www.vintag.es/2023/06/ramada-inns.html

HHN 2025 The First Three Houses

 This year, I once again got the 4 week option with express.  I'd like to get the full event ticket, but it is just so stinking expensive.  

In the 4 weeks I believe I was able to go 9 times.  Wednesdays we went through about 3 houses, Fridays we would go through all 10, and once we went on Sunday for a full night. 

Rather than ranking them, I am just going to put them in the order we would go through them. 

1. Galken: Monsters of the North

Storyline according to Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

-  A woman lived in a Norse village and was believed to be a protector. However, in reality, she was searching for her own dark powers. She sacrificed the village livestock and children to gain power. The villagers found out, took her up to the caves above the fjords, and gutted her to protect the village. However, she survived and swore her revenge on the village. 

The woman, now referred to as the Beast summons a horde of monsters to attack the village, based on Nordic folklore. The villagers are ripped apart by these creatures. As time goes on, she absorbs the creatures into herself beginning in the process. At the end, the Beast is extremely large, and guests enter their chest cavity and are "absorbed" into them. 

This was a solid middle of the road house for me -  it wasn't one of my favorites, but it was a fun house to walk through. 

Walkthrough credit to Attractions Magazine.

2. Fallout

This house was based on the Amazon series and video game by the same name. 

Storyline 

- Post apocalyptic L A

This was low on my list.  Probably the second worst house if I had to rate them.  

Walkthrough credit to Attractions Magazine

3. Dolls: Let's Play Dead

Storyline according to Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

- The story follows Lyla, a sadistic little girl who likes to torture and rip apart her dollies.  Guests are shrunk to the size of a doll and are faced with the task of trying to escape. 

Walkthrough credit to Theme Park Insider

This house was another middle house for me.  I enjoyed it, but it was not up there with my favorites.  It reminded me of Sid's room in Toy Story.  

.

The Services (Back in January)

I realized I never blogged about my parents' service. Honestly, some things I still don't like to spend too much time thinking about.  Editing these photos today was not easy.  

 Losing your parents is so difficult - losing them both in just 3 weeks is almost unbearable.  Looking back at that time period, I was living in a fog from mid November to mid January (at least).  

One thing I am so grateful for is that my parents had their final arrangements all prepared and paid for in advance.  All we had to do was show up at the funeral home, listen to the options they chose, and sign paperwork.  

Their wishes were to be cremated and placed in a National Cemetery.  My dad was eligible because he spent time in the army (Korea) back in the early 1960's.  My mom was eligible as his spouse. 

They had selected the National Cemetery in Jacksonville because at the time they made their arrangements, that was the only one in Florida. But since then one opened near Cape Canaveral and was much closer for us, so we switched it to that one. 

We had the service on Friday January 31 and it was perfect! The weather was a beautiful sunny 80* and we commented more than once that my mom would have definitely been at water aerobics on that day.  Everything about the ceremony was so professional and well done. The most difficult part was having to listen to Taps being played.  

We were so grateful for the people who came to support us and who loved our parents and family from Wisconsin who were unable to attend but I know kept us in their thoughts and prayers.  After the service we drove back to Daytona Beach and took everyone to Manny's.  

  

The only disappointing part of the day is that we were assuming after the service that we would go to the vault for the internment.  Instead, the service was over at noon and they were not putting their ashes in the vault until 4:00.  So we could not be there for that.  

During Spring Break, on what would have been my dad's 90th birthday, we finally drove over to the cape to see their vault.  

I chose the saying on their vault 

True Love is Selfless

Because that was how they lived!!

Cruising Day 4 (and Day 5)

 Thursday June 5

Day at Sea

The day began ----yes early again (6:45 ish) and with some Starbucks coffee.  We decided to go down to breakfast in the dining room and were lucky enough to get a great table right next to a window.  

Most of the day was spent walking around or reading on the balcony.  We made our way up to the taco bar for lunch, but it was so loud on the pool deck that we brought the food back to our room to eat. 

The Boardwalk area of the ship:

 While we ate we watched a good documentary on the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.  

For our last dinner we both had lentil soup, crusted salmon, and apple crisp for dessert.  

We did some more quiet reading out on the balcony.

In summary, I am glad we had the experience and the time together was great for us, but I do not foresee any more cruises in our future. 

Friday June 6

    We were awake bright and early (6:15) because again the beds were shaking as we docked at Cape Canaveral.  

Disembarking was just as easy as embarking and I was home by 10:00 am! 

Cruising Day 3

 June 4

        Today was probably the day my sister and I realized that we were not really cruise type people😳.   

      The day began just like the past two - early (7:15)!!! And with a trip down to the Starbucks for morning coffee and a little reading out on the balcony.  We were already docked at Coco Cay - which is what really woke us up because the beds were shaking.

        We got off the ship but the only thing to really do here was swim and we were not wearing our swimwear, so we just walked around and looked through a few souvenir huts. We both bought a bracelet and my sister also bought a Cuban cigar for her friend. I was curious about where the people who were working lived so I asked a lady and she said they all lived at a nearby island and come over by boat - about a 15 minute boat ride. 

        There was another Royal Caribbean ship docked across from us (Grandeur of the Seas) and I was shocked to see how much larger the Utopia was!!! 

        Again, the day was cloudy, hazy, and rain was coming so we made our way back to the ship.  We were really excited to check out the solarium.  It was an over 18 area and I had visions of peace, quiet, sipping a fruity drink, reading, and maybe taking a little dip in the hot tub.  That was far from the reality! 

Photo Credit: Gangwaze.com

Photo Credit: Business Insider

        It was packed with people. One guy in the hot tub was talking so LOUD AND PICKING HIS TEETH WITH A FLOSS PICK!!!! Right there in the hot tub!  It was so disgusting, I was NOT getting in the hot tub after seeing that.  We found some lovely deck chairs (We sat on the green chairs in the background) but it was so loud it was hard to concentrate enough to read. So after only about 20 minutes, we decided it would be more peaceful to read on our deck. We also bought things from the taco bar back to the room.  The pulled pork was amazing. 

        Dinner that evening was tomato soup (this prompted my sister and me to remember an old babysitter of ours forcing us to eat tomato soup and how much we hated it when we were younger), shrimp scampi, and blueberry cobbler for dessert. We also both had a fancy red alcoholic drink this night. 

    After dinner we walked around and ended up in the Central Park part of the ship sipping a kalua and cream and talking about mom and dad - especially how much they enjoyed cruises.  

    Before bed we read a little more on our balcony and watched September 5 again since we both enjoyed it so much.