HHN on a sunday?
Universal Orlando: How are the HHN crowds on a sun.
I finally have a random monday holiday in october which means that i am going to HHN on a sunday night. Has anyone ever been on an sun. and or do you think that i will need an express pass? Thanks for your help.
From Raul Araoz
Posted October 8, 2008 at 11:14 AM
I went on a Sunday in 2006 and it was terrible. My family and I were able to go on 4 of the 7 mazes and the Bill and Ted show. Last year, we went on Halloween which was a Thursday and the Friday after. The crowds were much smaller and we were able to do everything on the first day. Halloween is, ironically, quite empty.
From steve lee
Posted October 8, 2008 at 2:09 PM
We've always gone on Sundays, and we've always needed the Express Pass. While Sunday is certainly less crowded than the "peak" nights, lines for all haunted attractions easily surpass an hour. I would honestly say that it's not worth going to the event if you cannot obtain the Express Pass. You'll just end up leaving frustrated.
Now, if you're stuck with a ticket and no Express Pass, your best bet is to get there early. If you have a day ticket, you should be able to crash in a holding area during the period when the park is officially closed for the HHN transition. If you're in the holding area, you may be able to snag three houses before the lines go insane but you have to know which houses are indoors (ask a cast member which ones are open early. They'll know). Once you're released from the holding area (generally at least half an hour before the gates officially open), HAUL ASS and get as much as you can. Once the crowds are in, those wait times are going to skyrocket.
Be sure to do the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Bill and Ted show as you can get in without an Express Pass with relative ease. Be aware, however, that the Bill and Ted shows will fill to capacity. You have to get there early (the latest show of the evening generally has the smallest crowd, but it's still very full).
The other option is the RIP tour which I am not a strong proponent of. They're pricy, but you are guaranteed to get through all the houses and shows without a hassle.
Good luck!
Scott - I'll be going for my first time this Thursday (tomorrow) and Sunday so I can report back after that. However, I do have the Express Pass tickets for both nights.
Steve - tell me more about this holding area...is this something one should take advantage of even if one has an Express Pass?
From steve lee
Posted October 8, 2008 at 5:27 PM
I'm skipping this year, so I haven't done the research. You may have to dig a bit deeper.
In previous years, there was a "stay and scream" deal where you could hang out in a certain area while security sweeps the park and they get ready to start HHN. You'd usually be stuck there for at least an hour, but there was usually something to do while you wait (there'd be some food and tasty adult beverages around). They release you when the first few houses are almost ready and you can queue up (generally these are the soundstage houses since the sun being out doesn't really have a negative effect).
In the past, we've been through two, maybe three houses before the folks at the gate were ever admitted.
I don't know if this is something they still do for anyone with a HHN ticket or if you have to be an annual passholder. The best thing to do is make sure you're in the park before it's scheduled to close and ask an employee what you can do.
This was especially fun the year when the event was in both parks. We stayed in the holding area at Captain America's Diner but they released us before we could cross through Port of Entry. After doing the one house in Superhero Island, we just started doing laps on Hulk. There were only about seven of us, so the ops let us stay on for at least 10 rides.
While doing the stay and scream thing isn't necessary when you have an express pass, it's actually pretty cool because you'll have the option of re-doing houses later in the evening since you didn't use the Express Pass the first time around.
Thanks for your input. Last year we went on a friday and we only got to do four or five (waited from 45-90min)houses Bill and Ted, and we were in the park before the houses opened so we did every ride there in 30 min. I am a florida resident and I'm getting the IOA upgrade. So we will have 3 hours before HHN, which means we will be in the holding area. We were going to get EP's for IOA but now you guys changed my mind. Would it be worth getting EP's for both IOA and HHN? I figure w/o the Ep at IOA we would do the hulk and maybe 2 other rides tops. Thanks for all your help.
From steve lee
Posted October 9, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Find out if they're doing the route from Seuss Landing straight to the holding areas. In the past, we were able to hang out in IOA pretty much until the last possible minute, then cut through the back of the parks (exiting IOA via a path between Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish) directly into the holding area near Twister. Again, it may have just been an AP thing.
I will get on that, thanks.
I may be wrong, but I think you can enter by the Blue Man Group theater.
From steve lee
Posted October 10, 2008 at 7:44 PM
No, that's a real good possibility. When crossing from IOA over to Studios, it seemed like we came awfully close to that area.
Yeah thanks, that would make a lot of sense.
Scott- Thursday was insane!! We were so thankful for the Express passes. All the houses had a 45 - 1 hour wait - except for Creatures which is failing miserably. It had a 5 minute wait and they were begging people to come in! They let us into the park before the opening time - so hopefully the holding area will release you early. We got through a few houses right at opening and had no problem - plus the first showing of Bill & Ted was easy to get into. Even with Express Passes, we still didn't do everything (Missed the magician and Rocky Horror - which we will focus on when we return on Sunday night)
Don't miss Dead Exposure! Truly chilling!
Thanks a lot man, i will definitely move dead exposure towards the top of my list, and my friends and I decided to get the express passes for HHN after all.
FYI - they are doing the crossover from Seuss Landing in IOA to HHR. It opens at 5:45 p.m.
From rob bade
Posted October 13, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Does anyone have an idea of what the typical wait time is for haunted houses on Fridays and Saturdays at HHN if you have an Express Pass ?
Rob - We waited 30 minutes for Dead Exposure and The Hollow with Express passes on Sunday - and Sunday was really packed, however we only had to wait 10 minutes for most of the others. I'd imagine it might be a max of 45 minutes for the best houses on a Friday/Saturday, but I'm just offering a guess based on my recent experience.
From steve lee
Posted October 15, 2008 at 4:30 PM
30 minutes with the Express Passes? Wow, that's very unusual. It sounds like they may have oversold the Express Passes.
HEEEEEEELP!!!!! I went on last night to check and they still had express passes, i went on tonight to buy them and they were sold out for 10/26/08 any ideas?
From steve lee
Posted October 16, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Last year the exact same thing happened to me. The website was never updated to show that express passes were selling out, so I didn't realize the need to purchase them so far in advance. Like I said in the other thread, good luck with this.
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