Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Food & Drink

[sparky]

Some food and beverage thoughts for your viewing pleasure:

Blinky Cup Drinks
I had 4 of the drinks (Electric Death, Samhain Shocker, Save Your Tears, Dirty Valentine), plus I had experienced Ghoul Juice last year. Save Your Tears was the only one where I felt like I tasted the alcohol, but I wasn't a fan of the bubble tea ball things. Samhain Shocker was okay for the first couple sips, then it was a chore to put down the rest. Electric Death has a strong pineapple taste, but pretty decent. Dirty Valentine was good as any normal Shirley Temple, but legitimately might've been missing the vodka when they pre-mixed it.

I've done 4 years of Blinky cup drinks, and each year I've gotten less and less enjoyment out of them. I'll probably try one or two in the future if they really speak to me, but probably working with beer going forward.

Beer
I'm not a Dufftoberfest drinker, but it was not there as of last weekend for anyone curious (I know it's not technically an HHN drink, but close enough). One time they refilled my Blinky cup behind the bar with Duff, second time they couldn't take it behind the bar, but gave me the discount and said to just pour the plastic cup into the Blinky cup. Does save a dollar-ish so either way is fine with me.

The bars behind Lombard's are an absolute lifesaver. There's 3 (I think?), and they had nonexistent lines. Poison Snakebite was the highlight of my trip -- Strongbow and Harp stacked on one another with something else poured in (honestly have no idea what it was just saw something being poured in from the jigger). Also had a delicious $10 Bud Light. Something about those aluminum bottles hits different.

Food
Had a Twisted Tater for the first time...what were some of y'all smoking when you gassed this up to be the greatest HHN snack? It's just a harder version of a potato chip...on a stick. Also had the fried Twinkie, which was pretty good, just couldn't finish the whole thing myself or I might've booted. Friend had the Witch's Cauldron Stew and spoke very highly of it.

Closing Thoughts
The lines for these stands were NUTS. Some of them were open during daytime operations, so if it's a food you'd want, go for it then and save yourself the time in line. Didn't see them really die down again until after midnight. Saw a lot of people with the Lacto-Cooler beer, and one of the F&B employees was really hyping it up to me. Not a craft beer guy, so I didn't want to drop $12 on something I probably wouldn't love, but maybe it's good? Would've tried more stuff overall if the lines weren't so nuts.

My other big takeaway on the drinks side of things this year was that the best pre-game buzz is going to come from real bars outside of the park. Finally having experienced it, I can personally recommend hitting Strongwater. Drinks were..strong..and the food was delicious too. Any real bar should be significantly stronger pours than what the pre-mixed drinks give in the park, plus they're usually not that crowded.

Where can I find this fried twinkie?

 

[sparky]

The Witches Stew and Cornbread from the food truck near Rockit is legit. Really good and decently priced. Probably the best food item I've had at USF.

What is in the strew? Meat or a veggie stew?

 

[Bort]

Where can I find this fried twinkie?

The left-most stand across from the Transformers queue bar.

 

[JonsMovies]

What is in the strew? Meat or a veggie stew?

It's a green chile chicken stew and agreed it's quite delicious for the price.

 

[johnathanm]

For those interested, I tried the fried zombie brains (fried cauliflower available at Meetz Locker) and it was very solid.

 

[n i c k]

Only before 5pm. After that security will make you toss them.

Can anyone else confirm this? I have taken a backpack with 6ish waters every year I have gone and never had any issues. Of course they take a look at all the bottles and use their various tricks to verify that it is in fact water in them, but I have always been able to bring them in. It would be a very disappointing change.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Can anyone else confirm this? I have taken a backpack with 6ish waters every year I have gone and never had any issues. Of course they take a look at all the bottles and use their various tricks to verify that it is in fact water in them, but I have always been able to bring them in. It would be a very disappointing change.

Took a bottle in yesterday at about 5:54 and they poured it out, took a full one in today at 4:40 and it didnt get poured, so yeah it's definitely sounding like 5 pm is the hard cutoff.

 

[sparky]

The left-most stand across from the Transformers queue bar.

We had the twinkie and fried oreo. They should be always selling these. Going back tomorrow for the fried pb&j.

 

[anihilnation]

Took a bottle in yesterday at about 5:54 and they poured it out, took a full one in today at 4:40 and it didnt get poured, so yeah it's definitely sounding like 5 pm is the hard cutoff.

Even sealed bottles? I think they used to let you bring in sealed bottles, but it makes sense, means they got smartened up and realized that you can just buy bottle caps with a seal on it.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Even sealed bottles? I think they used to let you bring in sealed bottles, but it makes sense, means they got smartened up and realized that you can just buy bottle caps with a seal on it.

Can't speak for sealed bottles, in both cases mine were opened.

 

[snayberry]

Can anyone else confirm this? I have taken a backpack with 6ish waters every year I have gone and never had any issues. Of course they take a look at all the bottles and use their various tricks to verify that it is in fact water in them, but I have always been able to bring them in. It would be a very disappointing change.

sealed bottles are fine. I brought sealed water bottles in around 9pm last night.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Had a Twisted Tater for the first time...what were some of y'all smoking when you gassed this up to be the greatest HHN snack? It's just a harder version of a potato chip...on a stick.

Correct, how anyone can like them is beyond me.

 

[DestinationDoug]

Correct, how anyone can like them is beyond me.

My wife and I have always thought they were pretty terrible. The one with the hot dog in the center is edible, at least.

 

[Skipper Justin]

My wife and I have always thought they were pretty terrible. The one with the hot dog in the center is edible, at least.

Years ago they were fresh and the seasoning was aplenty. They used to add the seasoning in large plastic containers. Now they sprinkle it on and undercook them. Also, taking away the salt and vinegar flavor was a super dumb move.

 

[UNIrd]

Tried the Save Your Tears drink. Way too sweet for me. Ended up dumping half of it.

Also tried the Lacto Cooler beer. Blegh. Also ended up dumping half of it.

 

[jseal777]

Food this year for the most part has been disgusting compared to last year. Macaroni and cheese and arrepas were the only things my wife and I really enjoyed. Really liked the peach mix drink(can’t remember what it’s called) and both of the seasonal beers were fantastic and made up for the Dufftoberfest not being here yet.
Think next year I’ll skip stay and scream and just get a big dinner at toothsome or hard rock or something and just grab a sweet from the tribute store. I’m more of a night owl anyway.

 

[Neo]

Food this year for the most part has been disgusting compared to last year. Macaroni and cheese and arrepas were the only things my wife and I really enjoyed. Really liked the peach mix drink(can’t remember what it’s called) and both of the seasonal beers were fantastic and made up for the Dufftoberfest not being here yet.
Think next year I’ll skip stay and scream and just get a big dinner at toothsome or hard rock or something and just grab a sweet from the tribute store. I’m more of a night owl anyway.

Disgusting in that stuff you'd normal like tasted bad...or that you're just a picky eater and they didn't have anything you like?

Have heard anybody say anything as harsh as "disgusting" anywhere else.

 

[jseal777]

Disgusting in that stuff you'd normal like tasted bad...or that you're just a picky eater and they didn't have anything you like?

Have heard anybody say anything as harsh as "disgusting" anywhere else.

I’m not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination. Both corn dogs were gross. Mummy cookie didn’t even taste cooked and was somehow still dry lol. Pumpkin bun was just okay. Cake pop was just cake on a stick and not actually a cake pop. Ice cream sandwich looked better than it tasted. But the mac and cheese was incredible. So was the pepperoni skull thing.

 

[monykalyn]

we liked the maggot dogs a lot

 

[sparky]

Disgusting in that stuff you'd normal like tasted bad...or that you're just a picky eater and they didn't have anything you like?

Have heard anybody say anything as harsh as "disgusting" anywhere else.

We had a disgusting experience at the food truck across from fast furious. The pork meat on a stick was ALL fat, just a horrible mouth experience to bite into a hunk of fat.
The deep fried pb-j was a giant ball of wet grease. Sad since the twinkie and oreos were the best ever.