Time to get in to park

[marchofprogress]

Sorry if this is in some other thread already (since just about everything I post seems to be - sorry mods!), but I was just on my way to HHN when it dawned on me that I might only be in the park for five minutes or something.

I thought I'd ask the experts. Maybe get a ProTip. :

How much time do you budget between pulling in to the parking lot line (i.e. arriving at Universal) and getting into the park?

Obviously this is hugely variable, so I'll put some conditions on it:

1- Off-peak night (you can answer for on-peak night anyway if you'd like, just to make the thread more comprehensive)

2- Assume nothing out of the ordinary happens (ever gotten stuck behind someone at the metal detector who had a gun? I have.)

3- Broken down into two hour blocks (6-8, since 8 is when parking goes down and they get a little rush, then 8-10, since after 10 it's probably just FFPers going, then 10-12, when it's probably just crazy FFPs going)

I've never showed up after 830ish so I don't know. For the record: up until 8 I budget about 45-60 min, around 8 I add another 15. I break it down like this:

Parking line - parking : 15-20

walking from garage, through security, etc, to UniGate - 30

Getting in to park from UniGate: 5-10

On a peak night I don't even have enough info to guess. I've only been there on peak night one time and it was a horrible experience that I'll never do again. I still remember though:::

Parking line - parking : ~1:30

Walking from garage, through security, etc to Unigate: combined with getting in to park vvvv

Getting in to park from UniGate: ~2:30

That was a Saturday in 2007, second or third week of October. It was so bad that my friends will never go again, even after I ranted and raved about 08 (still my favorite year). One of them (there were 5 of us) won't go even if I buy his ticket for him. I had the good sense to tell them we needed to leave early.. Like... REALLY early.. The were complaining that the event doesn't start til 6:30 the whole time and I just had to keep telling them "ttruuussttt meeeee its gonna be baaaddddd" ...We got to the parking line around 4 and got in around 8. We saw two houses (Freddy and The Thing), a couple random clowns wandering around ("The whole park is a scarezone - our seven scary clowns will make you afraid to GO TO THE BATHROOM!"), and that's it. And both house lines were sixty three hours long. So peak nights I don't know about; I just assume that's par.

But it's Thursday. Not peak night.

So the way I did the math I figured I'd arrive at 10 and I could be in line for one of the houses by maybe 11:15, and by the time I got out, that would be all I'd get to do. That'd be fine with me if gas wasn't twelve thousand dollars a gallon (I live in Altamonte - close, but not next door).

What do you all think? Would you have made the same choice if you were going to pull into the parking line at 10 and decided it wasn't worth it?

[LV-426]

wow

[Minij83]

You beat me to it.