halloween horrors

it's probably fair to say that halloween gives christmas a run for it's money in the 'favorite holiday' category.  i love everything about it; the costumes, the spooks, the (usually) chill in the air signifying the changing seasons.  and there is something eternally child-like about halloween.

conversely, october is typically a difficult month for me personally, because a heavy work-travel schedule means i don't have a lot of time to enjoy those things.  so, when an invitation came my way to join a group at the universal studios halloween horror nights, and i was going to be in town, i simply couldn't pass up the opportunity.

california does halloween right.  i've 'discovered' and loved other haunts during my time here, but had not ventured up to la la land for what i had heard, was a 'premiere' experience.  so, i took a deep breath and sucked it up to pay the exorbitant 'front of the line' ticket price (hopefully) ensuring quick entrance to the various mazes.

when saturday finally rolled around, i wasn't sure i was going to be up for it, having flown in from boston the night before, but i couldn't justify bailing when i had paid so much for a ticket.  thankfully, the financial commitment saved me from missing a truly fun-filled night!

me, rick, kristina, dean

my house was the meeting point and we split up into two groups to head north.  in my car were a couple of people i have 'sort of known' for awhile, and a new face (to me).  we intended to join up with the other group for a meal before heading in to the park, but wait times in local restaurants were long, so when we discovered they were behind us, we opted for a quick bite (which turned out to be delicious) at a citywalk creperie before heading in.

i was particularly excited about the walking dead infiltration at this year's event, and i got my first taste on the 'terror tram'.  while the other group ate, we were off and running!

or so we thought.

dean, kristina, me, rick

because we had made it on the tram quite speedily, we didn't need to use our front of line passes.  it wasn't until we met up with the rest of the group at the next ride that we realized i was the only one of our foursome who had been given the special pass.

ultimately what that meant was that we had to head back to the opposite side of the park to pick them up.  even though i had mine, i opted to stay with my foursome as i was really enjoying the company.

our 30 minute detour left us a little frustrated, as we hadn't yet realized just how much time those passes would save us (seriously, if you are going to do horror nights, spend the money), but we headed back from whence we came and began the serious business of ridin' rides and gettin' scared.

i turned out to be the obvious mark.  fortunately, new friend rick was a gentleman and offered his arm as my 'stress ball', while dean and kristina mostly laughed at how ridiculously easy i was to scare.  what can i say? i like to be scared, so i allow myself to be scared.  that's what makes it fun!

we gave up trying to meet up with the other group for awhile as we played in the lower half of the park, taking a small break from the spooks to try out some rides.  our passes were amazing and we walked right on to the mummy, transformers 3d, and jurassic park rides.

we did a little screamin', got a little wet, and decided to head back to the haunts.  the surprise hit was the texas chainsaw massacre maze, which may or may not have inspired a little pants-peeing action.  after finishing up the lower park, we headed up to try to meet up with the other half of the group.

on our way, we stopped at mazes and rides we knew the others had already done, and eventually the entire group was back together.  i was excited to go through the walking dead maze with the two organizers--sisters--who share my obsession with the show.  and it absolutely did not disappoint.

with only a couple of mazes remaining, we took the opportunity to take some photos, grab some treats, and slow it down a bit.

but, after eventually finishing with all the haunted festivities, our groups said farewell, and we slowly made our way out of the park. the evening was happily concluded with an in-n-out stop and some iphone app video making in the back seat on the way home.

i'm not often able to take advantage of social opportunities on home turf, so it's hard for me to accurately explain just how excited i get when i can.  while i don't know that i would do horror nights again (i thought knott's scary farm was better, and for less $$), the fact that i got to spend my night with a fellow native easterner (rick) and also discovered that someone (kristina) i've sort of known for a while is someone i really like, made it worth every penny.