Did you know in 2002 that Halloween Horror Nights expanded, not just to another park or to City Walk, but in 2002 for a few select nights HHN expanded into one of the hotels. The resort hotels had long been in the HHN game with special gory food offerings and Halloween merchandise, but in 2002 they took it to a whole new level!
That’s right, for select nights in 2002 “The Eternal Rest” stayover package was offered exclusively at the Hard Rock Hotel. The Universal hotels (and many along I-Drive) have been offering special HHN packages for nearly as long as HHN has been around, but unlike any of these packages, and any offered since, this package was a full on 1-on-1 extension of HHN, right into your hotel room!
For $585 per person, guests could spend a day and a whole night at HHN. The idea was that guests would check-in to the Hard Rock Hotel and bag services would take care of their luggage, they would then spend the evening at HHN, followed by a no-so relaxing night inside a specially extended version of HHN right in your bedroom. Essentially creating a mini HHN house right in your bedroom!
While guests were at HHN, Universal’s crews would specially theme and decorate one of the rooms. Guests would return to the hotel at midnight to find skeletons in the closet, dry-ice smoke being pumped in via the ventilation systems, prop body parts in the drawers, a scene outta PSYCHO or Carrie in the bathroom with red dyed water pouring from your shower, cobwebs throughout the room and a prop spider in each bed. Sounds of mice scattering, heavy breathing and even random baby cries would occur periodically through the night.
Your beds were promised to be possessed with hidden motors that made them rattle and let out ghostly moans, and at some point in the night your bathroom mirror would crack, and then at 2.45 am, the room would become colder, with strange organ music playing and objects would move around with ghostly apparitions (using projectors), then you would receive a visitor… two grim weirdos at 3am will usher in a coffin. It would slowly open and a perfectly timed lightning strike would occur, inside would be an actor made-up as The Caretaker (the icon from that year) who would be on hand to read guests a delightfully devilish bedtime story.
Though Hard Rock’s management had taken every opportunity to protect anyone who has purchased the “Eternal Rest Package” which included a 24-hour on call contact. Guests were also expected to sign a waiver absolving the hotel of any responsibility for what “harm” or hilarity may come to pass during the night.
“This really will be unbelievably terrifying,” said a spokesperson. “Though it’s all in good fun, the line between realism and special effects will definitely be blurred. I expect many requests for an express early checkout. They’ve pulled out all the stops and scares!”
This is the only time this package has been offered for HHN guests and it is believed that take-up wasn’t popular enough for it to return.
Did you stay on this package in 2002 or would you stay in this now? Let us know in the comments!
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