If you saw how many happy faces there were at the opening of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios L.A., you wouldn’t even remember that we are in the middle of a recession. 

During the Halloween season, Universal Studios transforms from a regular theme park to the coolest, scariest Halloween attraction in the L.A. area. There are four mazes, three shows, the terror tram, and rides.

There’s so much to do, I couldn’t get it all done. I was there opening night and managed to fit in everything except for the Slaughterworld show (which I, for some unknown reason, have now missed three years in a row) and the Chucky show (which I would have seen, but I mismanaged my time and missed it.)

I’ll tell you the real scoop on why this event is crazy good.  When you enter the park, there will be a ton of monsters just lurking around outside, waiting to pounce. There’s smoke, chainsaws, helicopter noises, the works… everyone's getting scared. The monsters working the streets were some of the best. There was this pig, and I was coming out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze and I was writing stuff on my clipboard for my article. He came over and starting yelling about how journalists were bad. It didn’t faze me; I don’t scare that easily. So, he leaves, and I put my clipboard down and start talking - and he turns his chainsaw on. I thought he was going after these two girls, because I was far away now, but he comes charging at me. I’ll tell you, I don’t get scared easily, but he scared me so bad I almost wet myself. I came to be scared, and he delivered.

The first maze I entered was the Friday the 13th maze. No monster scared me there. I got freaked two or three times, but other guests were getting scared a lot more. That’s what happens when you start going to these places when you're three - you just don’t get that scared. But there were very good visuals, like a guy in a mattress popping out. (I was there at 8:15 and there was only a ten-minute wait, but the line got longer later.)

From there, my father and I made our way to the Nightmare on Elm Street maze. It was much better than the first. The monsters were hidden better; that was key. But again, I didn’t get scared. (My dad got scared in both mazes though.) This was at 8:40 or so, and there was a 30-minute wait. I recommend getting a Front of the Line Pass, because the lines just got longer. Get there early too, because it gets crowded.

The House of Horrors with the Strangers was next. Around 9:00, the line was 45 minutes. But this maze was the best, complete with body bags, mirrors, and a tunnel. This is where the Van Helsing ride is. I finally got scared. The monsters double-teamed me. I was focused on one and the other sneaked up - rookie mistake.