Age 30 -2007
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
This year has been my BEST & FUNNEST all hallows eve to date, and I’m not just saying that because it’s the most recent one. Due to the fact that Halloween is not really celebrated in Costa Rica, we did an impromptu trip a hop skip and jump away to Orlando / Tampa for the festivities!! There just HAPPENED to be a Horror Convention going on a week and half before the day PLUS Orlando Universal Studios has their big Halloween Nights of Horror at the same time… so we hopped on a plane and flew to Orlando.
Right away the annual Zombie Walk was going on & we were checking into the Wyndham Hotel where the Con was taking place. They all stumbled by us during check in time, lol. The Convention itself was just OK. I’m not sure what I was expecting since the only convention experience I have is Webmaster Shows. But the passes were cheap & the showfloor had a lot of cool stuff to look at but also a lot of goofy crap too. The hotel was nice and we like Orlando so it was easy to have fun there. Shawn & his friend Mike came down for Horror Nights so we hung out with them & also watched some movie screenings ( some B indie movies and also the original Texas Chainsaw which I’ve never seen before ). The dinner scene in Texas Chainsaw was unnerving, even though they didn’t show practically anything! It was the girls reaction and fear that really set the mood. There was some live shows and bands going on as well.
Universal Horror Nights was awesome… BUT very packed with people. Seriously, 30-45 minute line ups to get into each house. Of course the HH’s were amazingly done because they have the budget and the props to do it up! There were tons of “scare actors” in and out of the houses, and all in character because they actually have standards, LOL. The whole park’s ambiance was set very nicely, with fog machines and creepy music. We didn’t pay for the “speed pass” so we had to come back a few days later to go to the houses that we missed, it was THAT PACKED.
On Monday we drove to Tampa so we didn’t discover that my server got hacked until later that night!!! Yes, my server was deleted, and the backup server has hacked & deleted (well, the hacker made backups on his server). He was going to hold them for ransom but after talking to him by email & he found out I’m a girl & I guess he felt bad for me so he gave me back the backups.
In Tampa, we went to Busch Gardens for their Halloween thing and it F-ing rocked so bad. First, the coasters were superfun, looooove big coasters. We went to this buffet dinner they had, after the park closes but before it opens to the nighttime Halloween stuff. It had some goofy musical with it so who can resist. So right after dinner the diners were allowed to go through the park EARLY before they let in the public… so we rushed around and went to most of the HH’s fast! For many of them, we were the only ones going though…Â and it made it like 100x’s freakier!!! It was the most fun I’ve had at HH’s ever. Even though Busch didn’t have the budget like Universal it seemed like they TRIED HARDER to scare you… with the ambiance, with their props, makeup and the actual acting. They were more innovative than Universal IMHO. One of the scariest houses was designed to look just like a NY underground nightclub…. for the Undead that is!! Being the only ones there, the actors will have nothing else to do but to focus their scare on you and you alone, no distractions. It was JUST LIKE BLADE, I swear. They had the body bags hanging from the ceiling and a couple of them even wiggled! Another great stunt I’ve never seen before was they had a “plant” in front of us, a dude pretending to be a visitor. Then a masked killer grabbed him through slats on the wall and dragged him kicking and screaming away!! Another great one I liked was a backwoods house with a crazy familia living in it. So we went through the houses pretty fast and went on some more rides. That park is really big, it takes a long time to walk from one end to the other… argh.
Saturday night, before Halloween we all went down to Ybor City for Guavaween which is where they close down the main street and people party like it’s Mardi Gras. First, a bunch of floats went by throwing beads. Then there were live bands & performances on different stages and of course TONS of BOOZE being sold. Basically people walk up and down the streets partying. Apparently last years, there were lots of “girls gone wild” but this year seemed pretty tame compared to the stories. We went to a sushi place for Saki & sushi for a bit. I dressed in my girly Pirate costume I got on Ebay and Rob was Shaun from Shaun of the Dead! It was an interesting experience but I can DEFINATLEY say that it lacked soul… the true spirit of the holiday, which resulted in somewhat empty and hollow undertones.
On Halloween Day, we were staying at D’s house and I did some errands & drove to Target to buy some halloween candy & stuff for that night. During the drive, I got to reflect on life, past Halloweens and also Florida. I won’t lie; it’s WEIRD when it’s so hot and sunny, and you’re used to seeing your breath when you exhale, and layering in sweaters and autumn colored henleys. It was weird but I liked it, very much. I smiled the whole drive. I got a shot glass set and a Halloween pre-made gingerbread house set to decorate. I’ve got to say that Target way exceeds Walmart in quantity and quality of Halloween stuff by far. Back at D’s house, it was getting dark so I got dressed in my Pirate costume and got all the candy out! I was so excited; I put out the pumpkins we all carved at Jenni’s and the kids all came… in droves! I actually ran out of candy & Ryan had to go buy more quick!! I loved seeing all the kids in costume so much, I hope one day we’ll live somewhere where they have trick or treating and it’s hot *hint hint*
That night was a letdown though. We didn’t know what was going on so Rob, D and I drove to Ybor City to the clubbing district but it was dead. So we naturally thought that the Hard Rock would be happening but it wasn’t in the least. Some older people in costume were dancing to a cover band in the lounge area but that was it. My bad for not doing the research before heading out. But handing out the candy really made my night & if we had watched some Halloween Specials on TV that would’ve been a perfect Halloween week!
After Oct 31, Target had a massive blowout. woot!