USS Hornet Halloween Monster's Ball

This was my second year to attend the Monster's Ball on the USS Hornet.  I was very happy to see that they had a special area to board the ship for people with difficulties.  The guys who ran the lift were extremely sweet and kind.  Kudos to the event committee for arranging this option.

I loved it!  My sister and I got tickets for the Monsterball this year and it was amazing!  We came out here at night and it was a bit scary getting to the dock but we found it and there was plenty of parking so that was a big plus.  There were plenty of event staff to guide us and even to help us up those steep stairs into the ship.  While in there, everything was very organized and the checking in went quite smoothly.  We went straight to the bar and we were pleasantly surprised that there were various stands and there was very little wait.  There were also some food stands but we didn't get to try any of the food.  The music was great, the atmosphere was spooky and everyone had a great attitude.  We took the tours that were available and we took some fantastic pictures.

Monster Bash 2011 was a great sucess and I hope the reviewer from last year came back as the Haunted Medical Center was improved. However there are limitations to what they can do as they discovered when they tried to have smoke/fog in the haunted house they set off the smoke detectors and the fire alarm in a previous year.  

Once Again There was a children's area for families and young children to hang out and play with arts and crafts, games, a jumper, and aircraft cockpit to get into.

The flight similator was running and there were plenty of tables and chairs. Food and bar concessions were available and price reasonable, probably less than an amusement park or ballpark.

It is a large ship, a WWII Essex Class Aircraft Carrier that happens to be the recovery ship of Apollo 11 & 12  the first moon landings.  So you are walking on the deck that astronauts who walked on the moon walked on. There are some footprints painted on the hangar deck where the astronauts walked from the helicopter that picked them out of the sea to the Mobile Quarantine Unit that they were sealed into upon their return to earth. The Mobile Quarantine Unit on display is the real one used for Apollo 14. One other trivia fact the one of the helicopters that was of the type that picked up the astronauts on display is a helicopter used in the movie Apollo 13

The emcee for the Bash, and conducting the costume contest was DJ Nikki Blakke from 107.7 "The Bone".  There was a Children's Costume contest and then later in the evening an Adult Costume contest.  Thank You Nikki Blakke for helping out and making this a fun contest.  There were lots of interesting costumes. Winning Children's costume was a robot and the winning Adult costume was Jelly Fish.

The Band was The Cocktail Monkeys who Rocked the house and played a 3 song oncore at the of the night.  The Cocktail Monkey's kept the crowd on their feet and on the dance floor with hits from the 70's, 80's, and 90's Nikki Blakke the emcee even joined the band at one point.

I think the USS Hornet Halloween Monster Bash is the perfect place to go for all ages, not just young adults, not just young children, not just teenagers but everyone young and old.  As you can imagine the crowd was younger earlier in the evening and mostly adult by the time the Adult Costume contest took place after 10 PM

DaVinci Fusion from San Francisco provide the Sound and Lighting for the event and as usual did a great job.

For photos from this and past USS Hornet events go to
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