Is 5 1/2 hour enough time without Express pass?

[manarchy]

For the last three years I've gone the last weekend in September. I get there before the park opens and go counter clockwise. I've been able to see every house just fine. Toward the last couple houses the lines can get a tad long, but its nothing unbearable.

[JunoSynth]

Also, I've discovered that I actually prefer to go to theme parks ALONE. Few can withstand my relentless pace. Every year I've attended HHN, I have spent the whole day at Universal, from park open to near HHN closing time. My husband doesn't bother to come with me anymore. So, if you want to get the most out of HHN: 1. Get express. 2. Go multiple nights. 3. Alienate friends and family.

OMG I was just thinking about this for my trip this year. This will be my 5th or 6th year at HHN and each time I go with friends and family it's getting harder and harder to coordinate with them. They always want to eat at Golden Corral first and arrive late and leave early. lol. So I was thinking I should least get my own car so I can arrive/leave when I want. HHN is getting more and more expensive so I need to make the most of it!

BTW that's another reason why you should get the express pass. It will allow you to take your time and get the most out of it.

Edited August 11, 2013 by JunoSynth

[Justman1020]

Get there early, do STAY AND SCREAM.

Go straight for the house that is right by the front of the park, because they let stay and scream in about half hr early, get through that house, and STAY a house ahead, the only place you may hit crowds is when you get to the kidzone area.

works every year for me.

[Bowie]

I always get the express pass and do the stay-and-scream. I didn't make it last year, but for the 2010 and 2011, I didn't have much problem getting all of the houses done on ether a Thursday or Friday night in September/early-October. You just have to hoof it to all of the houses as soon as possible to get through them before the lines start building. After that, I'll grab something to eat, see a show, and then use the express pass to see the houses again. I sometimes get through the less popular houses 3 or 4 times depending on my luck with the lines.

The only thing you have to watch is the opening times for the houses. They don't open them all at the same time. The house at the front of the park (line entrance to the left of the bandshell area) is usually the first to open. You don't want to get stuck standing in a line for a house that's not open.

[Guest kiwisoup]

Yeah, i've kind of wondered that. In what order do the houses order before the official open time?

[Justman1020]

The houses they hold on opening are (Im going to use the location as where Last years house was so i hope this helps)

Whatever house ends up where

Dead end

The Walking Dead

Penn and Teller

These houses they wait to open until 6:30. It's a timing thing...So, my advice?

Do the first two, (should be able to finish by 5:45)

RUN to where Universal Monsters and Alice Cooper were last year,

then you end up by MIB,

Do that house

Do whatever is in TWD house

then do the dead end.

Now this isnt 100% accurate because there is an 8th house, and I dont know where they are putting that, but it should give you a general idea of how to make it work.

[knapaxe]

Sorta related question. Do any of you know if I have to purchase the express pass at the same time as the event tickets or if I can get them a little later?

[Guest kiwisoup]

The houses they hold on opening are (Im going to use the location as where Last years house was so i hope this helps)

Whatever house ends up where

Dead end

The Walking Dead

Penn and Teller

These houses they wait to open until 6:30. It's a timing thing...So, my advice?

Do the first two, (should be able to finish by 5:45)

RUN to where Universal Monsters and Alice Cooper were last year,

then you end up by MIB,

Do that house

Do whatever is in TWD house

then do the dead end.

Now this isnt 100% accurate because there is an 8th house, and I dont know where they are putting that, but it should give you a general idea of how to make it work.

I'm sorry, your descriptions are a little confusing. I know last year I went and they blocked off going counter-clockwise, so we did Silent Hill, the closest studio house first and then were able to continue counter-clockwise.

I guess I don't understand what the "first two" are. Were you meaning Silent Hill and Gothic last year? The first two studio houses? Maybe it was a fluke that day that they didn't allow people to take the counter-clockwise route till 6:30pm, I dunno, never seen that before.

Edited August 19, 2013 by kiwisoup

[Justman1020]

Silent hill and gothic yes.

This startegy really only works with stay and scream.

[Bowie]

Sorta related question. Do any of you know if I have to purchase the express pass at the same time as the event tickets or if I can get them a little later?

I tried this on the ticket website and it seems like the website will only sell the express pass along with an event ticket. You may be able to do this if you place the order via phone. You'll have to call and ask.

Express Passes for daytime use are available in the park as long as they don't sell out. I'm not sure if this is true for HHN Express or not.

[knapaxe]

I tried this on the ticket website and it seems like the website will only sell the express pass along with an event ticket. You may be able to do this if you place the order via phone. You'll have to call and ask.

Express Passes for daytime use are available in the park as long as they don't sell out. I'm not sure if this is true for HHN Express or not.

Thanks, I want my girlfriend's first time at HHN to be more at a leisurely pace.

[Justman1020]

Yes you can buy express at the gate, as long as they dont sell out, but last year they did sell out almost every night after the first week...

[Aaronupsidasium]

It's hard to see all of HHN in one night, even with an express pass.

My plan of attack is to get to the metal detectors by 530, get into the park around 6 when it opens of guests. Head to parade building, Kidzone Sprung Tent, then MIB sprung tent and then you should be ready for the first show of Bill & Ted at 7:15. You've just hit three houses in about an hour without an. express pass. You'll probably need an express pass for the rest of the houses in one night and you should have some time for food and to be able to get see the first three houses.

[Guest kiwisoup]

I just wanted to report my results going without an Express pass this past Friday Sept 27th.

We lined up at the gate at 5:45 and got in the leftmost turnstile. There were only about 4 people in front of us. I def recommend looking for gates that haven't yet opened and standing by them, and avoiding the center or right most lanes as they get filled up quick. We had no problem seeing the opening ceremony.

At 6 they let us in, although everything to the right was blocked off until 6:30 and only the first three SS houses were open.

For some reason I didn't see the entrance to CiTW (It wasn't in a usual spot) so we did Resident Evil and then AWiL which was the closest open house to the exit. Walked right into 2 houses before everything opened

Then we made our way to Walking Dead and they were JUST allowing people through. The wait was about 5 minutes.

We exited near La LLorona and they had a mini shortcut into that line from the exit and we walked straight into that one exiting near Afterlife which was about a 5 minute wait.

We then made our way to Havoc and walked right in, then to Evil Dead where we had our first real wait that was posted at 35 min but was actually only 25.

By this time it was about 8pm and the first shows were letting out and the crowds were building up, so we headed over to Transformers which was only a posted 10 minute wait but was really only 5, then did Bill and Ted and it was starting right as we got over there. We checked out the new Simpsons stuff, including the Twirl and Hurl (wow that was a waste of time...) checked out the food court and had a giant doughnut, then we headed to the last showing of Rocky Horror right as they were seating.

By this time, quite a few people had left the park and we did CiTW with a 20 min wait, and went back and did La LLorona again with a couple min wait and Resident Evil again with barely any wait. By this time the park was closed. Note that if you get in a line before close, even if it has a long wait, you'll still be able to get into it.

So to summarize:

No Express Pass

10 houses (2 repeats)

2 rides (Just the new ones)

2 shows

Saw all street experiences

Got a bite at the new Simpsons food court

All night we maybe waited in lines a total of an hour. Not too shabby.

Edited September 29, 2013 by kiwisoup

[dave]

when I went this past thursday it took me 5.5 hours to see every house (with 2 repeats), bill & ted's, and maybe 20 minutes total breaktime . . . with express.

to start out I only did AWiL at the soundstages with the stay & scream group before heading to havoc, and then on to b & t (first show). when I passed by afterlife on my way from b & t to twd, I saw that the wait was an hour. from that point on I used express the rest of the night.

I have FFP+ w/express, but I've felt that I needed to use express every night that I've gone so far in order to see everything. first two nights I didn't go to bill & ted's. I also had a head start because of AP preview. to be fair I ended up seeing 13 total houses on opening night, but it would have been 10 at most without the preview. went to 9 houses the first saturday.

[Guest kiwisoup]

when I went this past thursday it took me 5.5 hours to see every house (with 2 repeats), bill & ted's, and maybe 20 minutes total breaktime . . . with express.

to start out I only did AWiL at the soundstages with the stay & scream group before heading to havoc, and then on to b & t (first show). when I passed by afterlife on my way from b & t to twd, I saw that the wait was an hour. from that point on I used express the rest of the night.

I have FFP+ w/express, but I've felt that I needed to use express every night that I've gone so far in order to see everything. first two nights I didn't go to bill & ted's. I also had a head start because of AP preview. to be fair I ended up seeing 13 total houses on opening night, but it would have been 10 at most without the preview. went to 9 houses the first saturday.

I thought it was actually funny because I went this past Friday and I actually spent LESS time waiting in lines than this Saturday when I went WITH an Express Pass. I know Saturday is a lot more hectic, but when you have an Express Pass people don't really even look at the posted wait times and you still even with an Express Pass wait around 30% of the posted wait time. So when we got in a 60 min line, it took us 20 minutes to get in with the Express Pass and then we used the Express Pass in houses that only had 10-15 min waits which I think is a waste but we didn't intend to do anything more than once on Saturday. I much preferred my Friday without an Express Pass than I did my Saturday with one and as I've said before with proper planning you really don't need an express pass and even with an Express Pass I stood in lines longer. It was nice to go at a leisure pace and reduce walking, but I just don't think it's worth the money. To each their own, I guess! :-)

[Bowie]

I thought it was actually funny because I went this past Friday and I actually spent LESS time waiting in lines than this Saturday when I went WITH an Express Pass. I know Saturday is a lot more hectic, but when you have an Express Pass people don't really even look at the posted wait times and you still even with an Express Pass wait around 30% of the posted wait time. So when we got in a 60 min line, it took us 20 minutes to get in with the Express Pass and then we used the Express Pass in houses that only had 10-15 min waits which I think is a waste but we didn't intend to do anything more than once on Saturday. I much preferred my Friday without an Express Pass than I did my Saturday with one and as I've said before with proper planning you really don't need an express pass and even with an Express Pass I stood in lines longer. It was nice to go at a leisure pace and reduce walking, but I just don't think it's worth the money. To each their own, I guess! :-)

I was there this Thursday and Friday and I thought the crowds were actually a bit lower on Friday for some reason -- especially early in the night. Maybe it had something to do with the AP party soaking up some of the early crowd. I did 7 houses without express, did all 8 again with express, saw Rocky Horror, and rode Mummy. I probably could have done at least one more house, but I decided to listen to my sore legs and feet and head back to the hotel instead.

[jorgito2001]

Hello all, brand new to the site! (be nice to the newb) Thought I might help out a bit since I've been attending HHN for well over 18 years and also went this past Saturday, Sept 28th with a party of 7.

My only "cheat", I'm an Annual Passholder and took advantage of the early entry for 3 houses (Walking Dead, Llorona & AfterLife) between 5-6:30...it saved a TON of time (as it has for the last 3+ years they've been doing this). By 6:30, I walked right into Havoc and had to wait anywhere between 10-30 mins for the 4 houses in front of the park (no surprise there), managed to do the 10pm B&T show and skipped Rocky Horror (saw it last time it was at HHN) & redid La Llorona instead, which only had a 15 minute wait later on...did the new Twirl & Hurl (hadn't done this during the day since they opened it) left the park at about 11:30pm...all this with NO EXPRESS PASS!

From what I observed,Cabin In the Woods, AWIL, Evil Dead & Walking Dead remained at or ABOVE 45 minutes throughout the whole night! The other 4 went as high as 30-35 minutes, but as the evening wore on, as low as 10 minutes. Keep in mind this is September, I'd guess these numbers might be about the same this upcoming weekend, and to a lesser extent, the weekend of Oct 10-13.

If you are not an AP and were there on a night they close at midnight (straight 5 1/2 hours), from prior experience, I say you can LIKELY do all the houses IF you get to the gate at, say, no later then 5:45 (they almost always open the gates early) and hit the houses in counter-clockwise order and try to do it NON STOP (0-1 restroom break, 0 food/drink breaks), you should be able to do 'em all. Doing both shows might be a little tougher, especially the deeper you get in October. Good luck OP!

BTW, had a BLAST!!!!

Favorite houses: AWIL, La Llorona (I'm latin, so maybe partial to the legend...freaked out my daughter both times we did it..mission accomplished)
Least favs: Resident Evil, Havoc 2 (the military theme just isn't my "thing" for haunted houses, awesome sets & actors though)

Edited September 30, 2013 by jorgito2001

[darker_half]

Went yesterday 10/20 without express did all the houses and watched bill and ted we skipped rocky horror had no intrest In it we did all this without express stay and scream helped a lot had a awesome time Can't wait for next year