Halloween Horror Nights 2013 Planning and Tips

[DTH316]

I went through and it was fairly empty. The only scene that took awhile was the c-block. Everything else was smooth sailing. I did it right after BS during early access while it was a walk on.

[Avila]

I saw that sign also DTH but I'm not sure if its true or not i only saw it early when I first went, but then again I went on the tram at around 12:30 and I didn't see that sign

[Kurseddragon]

So for those who went, if you get to WD from early entry is it still basically a jam packed line in it? Debating as to whether I should jump on that right away or BS.

As I said earlier, listen to people around you. They'll tell you where they're going first. Might wanna run to beat the crowds or go where they aren't. Up to you. Also depends on how crowded the night is. On a crowded like it was on Opening night, I'd suggest trying to beat the crowd. On a day like Saturday, crowds didn't even matter and I'd suggest going the lesser route 'cause you'll still have a small wait in the other maze. ;D

Edited September 23, 2013 by Kurseddragon

[Grindhousehero13]

alright so those who are have been already been to the event I got a plan that depends very much on one tiny factor, What the prize is for Insidious......now as you guys know Im not the biggest fan of the first one, but that being said I loved the second one, and Tucker and Specs are my favorite characters though if the prize is just Spectral Sightings cards I realy don't care to rush to the further just to get a card, maybe if I was a big fan of insidious I would, but I know like last year the prizes changed every weekend and if like last year the prize happens to be a mini poster or something (hopefully since im going on Halloween and and the last day it will be something awesome) Im gonna tear the crowd appart for that lol.

So this is my plan

(Note: usualy my plan is arrive early and eat at City walk but due to my brother and sister getting out of school at 3, and my GF getting off of work at 2, on top of me living 40 mintues away from Universal and LA traffic it leaves no time waste in city though a few of my group will be arrving early to save spots no time to pre game munch)

1. The Plan is to try to reach the front gate first, and in turn get front and center for the opening then RUN to the Star Way and to the lower lot.

2.

Plan A.) Ok if they dont give anything but cards we are taking another dash across the lower lot to the Tram and take a ride to Dead On Arival.

Plan B.) if the prize is something worth while then we will just trek to Insidous (if all goes according to plan much like last year will be the first ones in the maze so we should be done with Insidious in 5 minutes) then we will head over to Dead On Arrival.)

3. Depending on (like Kursed said) where the crowd is heading we the plan is either Walking Dead then BS or BS then Walking Dead, then head back to the lower lot.

4. Once back at the lower lot a quick dash across will take us to Evil Dead then into Transformers.

5. once exited Transformers

A.) If We have not done Insidious now is were we do it then into Jurassic Park (and hunt down Finn the Human!!!!)

B.) If we did Insidious already then we will go straight into Jurassic Park and depedning on lines and time hit the Mummy.

6. Hopefully like last year we get all this done by 9 then this will be our break time either eat at either Jurassic cafe or head up to Pinks then get our shopping out of the way.

7. Terror Tram

8. Depending on how long the queue is for Terror Tram

A.) go to the next Bill & Ted Then El Cucuy

B.) El Cucuy Then the next Bill & Ted

9. Finish everything of with Monster Remix then the simpsons ride if time permits.

[DTH316]

Decent plan. I think all they give out is cards though. However, the "scream patrol" gives out way better prizes and I think they have prizes all night long.

With that in mind, do the same exact plan you have... but do it with early access. I literally had the lower lot and backlot done by 8. That's 7 attractions (4 mazes, 3 rides). That's like 1.42 attractions every 10 mins lol. After that, I had time for an hour lunch, two 40 min waits (one for TT, the other for Cucuy), the Simpsons (which I usually avoid like the plague at HHN since its a time eater but I had nothing but time to kill this time), UMR with an 8 min line, and then I saw the 12:30 Bill and Ted after waiting outside for it for 45 mins. With so much time to kill, we even left the park an hour early having done literally every attraction possible. Oh and we lingered like hell in the scarezones. Early access is the best damn thing ever at HHN.

Edited September 26, 2013 by DTH316

[Grindhousehero13]

what time do they start the early access and to what time?

[DTH316]

I got in the early access line at like 610, but there was a bunch of ppl in front of me so probably earlier. And they let you in at 630. The trek down the starway to the backlot tram, the tram ride, and then going through DOA takes almost 30 mins anyway, and we didn't get into BS until 7 with a minor 10 min wait but then a walk on to TWD and we were back to the lower lot by, I wanna say 715. So imagine how long it took everyone else... 0_0 lol

[Grindhousehero13]

looks like Im doing early access....btw where are the scare patrol?

[DTH316]

sorry, I forgot to post this in this thread (it was in my review). These are the times I ENTERED the attraction. It shows you just how beneficial early access is and will be especially since ur going during a much more crowded night.

6:30 Early Entry

6:40 Hit the Lower Lot after the Starway

6:45 Tram to Backlot (so it takes approximately 15 minutes just to get from the upper lot to the backlot tram, and then an additional 5 - 7 minutes for the tram to get to the backlot)

7:00 Black Sabbath

7:03 Walking Dead

7:03 - 7:28 Transformers (forgot to write when exactly I did it, but it was in between there)

7:33 Insidious

7:43 The Mummy

7:52 Evil Dead

7:58 Jurassic Park

8:15 Dinner at Panda Express

9:34 Terror Tram

10:58 El Cucuy

11:14 Universal Monsters Remix

11:42 The Simpsons

12:30 Bill and Ted

From what I saw, they were only on the backlot and lower lot, from what I could tell. I saw them in BS, ED and Insidious. They give out lame to AWESOME prizes. My group won a sticker and that's it, but there's been other reports on here of winning FOL passes, posters, and DVDs of the movie you're in line waiting for or the 13 BS cd.

Edited September 26, 2013 by DTH316

[Kurseddragon]

looks like Im doing early access....btw where are the scare patrol?

Pretty sure you can line for early access the moment they let you in through the metal detectors. I got there before 5, after the metal detectors were open, and there were already people lined up for early access.

[Mr.HHN]

I'm doing early access as I will be there next Friday around 4! That's early!

[UniversalStudiosGeek]

My schedule for this year:

Arrive at 5-530

Merchandise shopping in Citywalk 535-600

Pick up VIP passes 600-605

Go in VIP line for opening ceremonies 605-630

Inside the park for Opening ceremony 635-655

Opening Ceremony 655-700

El Cucuy 700-705

VIP Lounge for food and wait for tour 705-720

VIP Tour 720-830

VIP Backlot 830-850

Stay and do TT with VIP 850-915

Go to lower lot 915-920

Evil Dead 920-925

Insidious 925-930

Jurassic Park 930-940

Mummy 940-945

Transformers 945-955

Insidous or Evil Dead 955-1000

Tram to backlot again 1000-1010

Walking Dead 1010-1015

BS13 1015-1020

Do WD or BS again 1020-1025

Go back to lower lot 1025-1035

Transformers 1035-1040

Insidious 1040-1045

Evil Dead 1045-1050

Mummy 1050-1055

Starway to Upper lot 1055-1105

Simpsons 1105-1115

El Cucuy 1115-1120

VIP lounge for food and dessert 1120-1150

UMR 1155-1205

El Cucuy 1210-1215

Return to lower lot 1215-1225

Transformers 1230-1235

Insidious 1235-1240

Evil Dead 1240-1245

Jurassic Park 1245-1255

Upper lot 1255-105

Bill and Teds 110ish-155

Leave

My schedule for this year:

Arrive at 5-530

Merchandise shopping in Citywalk 535-600

Pick up VIP passes 600-605

Go in VIP line for opening ceremonies 605-630

Inside the park for Opening ceremony 635-655

Opening Ceremony 655-700

El Cucuy 700-705

VIP Lounge for food and wait for tour 705-720

VIP Tour 720-830

VIP Backlot 830-850

Stay and do TT with VIP 850-915

Go to lower lot 915-920

Evil Dead 920-925

Insidious 925-930

Jurassic Park 930-940

Mummy 940-945

Transformers 945-955

Insidous or Evil Dead 955-1000

Tram to backlot again 1000-1010

Walking Dead 1010-1015

BS13 1015-1020

Do WD or BS again 1020-1025

Go back to lower lot 1025-1035

Transformers 1035-1040

Insidious 1040-1045

Evil Dead 1045-1050

Mummy 1050-1055

Starway to Upper lot 1055-1105

Simpsons 1105-1115

El Cucuy 1115-1120

VIP lounge for food and dessert 1120-1150

UMR 1155-1205

El Cucuy 1210-1215

Return to lower lot 1215-1225

Transformers 1230-1235

Insidious 1235-1240

Evil Dead 1240-1245

Jurassic Park 1245-1255

Upper lot 1255-105

Bill and Teds 110ish-155

Leave

[DTH316]

It appears things have returned to normal (sorta) after last Saturday being oddly empty. The backlot mazes are BOTH at an hour and 40 mins. Lower lot mazes are averaging out at 50 mins each, Insidious yielding higher waits by about 10 mins. But the big mystery this year is now the upper lot attractions remain empty the entire night. Cucuy, UMR, and TT are all less than 20 mins. Looks like what's needed next year is more mazes on the backlot to thin those waits.

[jarmor]

So...what I read is that if I get there early (will be there on saturday october 12th) for the early access and go to the backlot (black sabbath and WD) I really dont need to fork over the extra 70.00 for FOL? Im a veteran HHN orlando visitor (since 2004) and haven't used an express since like 2005...

[ferox]

. But the big mystery this year is now the upper lot attractions remain empty the entire night. Cucuy, UMR, and TT are all less than 20 mins

Here's my theory...and it's just a theory.

People who show up at start time are the people who know the park layout well and have a plan. People who don't know up at start time are going to start with the maze with the longest wait time. Since The Walking Dead is the biggest property and (I think) best maze, you gotta hit up the backlot first or second. After that it wouldn't make sense to do anything else besides Sabbath, so Sabbath gets the sloppy Walking Dead seconds.

So then you have waves of people who came from the backlot doing Insidious, Evil Dead, The Mummy, Jurassic Park, and Transformers. During the same time frame (8-10) this is happening, people who just came into the park are heading down to the lower lot. So the lower lot is hit hard from tram fulls of people coming from the backlot at the same time and a heavy trickle of people coming from the front gate. The later they come the greater the need is to start with Walking Dead, and the cycle repeats. The amount of people leaving the lower lot is much lower than the people entering the lower lot.

Also, scarezones. Nobody is checking out the scarecrowz. Dead on Arrival is designed to be something you go through rather than hang out in. By contrast, the upper lot has three (I think) great scarezones to serve as a distraction from El Cucuy and Terror Tram.

[DTH316]

So...what I read is that if I get there early (will be there on saturday october 12th) for the early access and go to the backlot (black sabbath and WD) I really dont need to fork over the extra 70.00 for FOL? Im a veteran HHN orlando visitor (since 2004) and haven't used an express since like 2005...

You honestly don't need FOL. I've done every maze and Bill & Ted every single year since 07. This year, I had so much extra time due to early access that I even did every ride and then left early. Ofcourse, your night might be busier, but from what I'm seeing in the queue patterns so far, TWD and BS are the only two ya need to worry about seeing and if you do them first AND before the park is even open, you're made in the shade. I would only recommend FOL if you plan on doing things twice or if you get there late. But I've never been one to do that, as id rather spend that extra 70 on going another night to see if the experience has changed.

[jarmor]

Thanks for saving me that much more money! Im usually a one and done type haunter unless it really blows me away (Like american werewolf in london did!)

[Kurseddragon]

Thanks for saving me that much more money! Im usually a one and done type haunter unless it really blows me away (Like american werewolf in london did!)

Also, Insidious builds up. Not as much as TWD or BS. But it does build up. Even more than Evil Dead, which is right next door. Might wanna hit that first when you get to the lower lot after the backlot.

But as always, things may differ.

[DTH316]

Yup. Last night I checked and it said Insidious had like a 50 min wait and Evil Dead only had a 10 min wait.

I guess we can cross out "Evil Dead maze based on the originals" in the future

[AbnormalVitality]

Hey Guys, I was wondering what it would be like to go on November 1st or November 2nd? I'm considering going on either one of those days.

[Grindhousehero13]

Hey Guys, I was wondering what it would be like to go on November 1st or November 2nd? I'm considering going on either one of those days.

Im going November 1st as well, but I honestly just expect it to be like any other Firday/Saturday cuz although its november its the day after halloween so it may be packed espeacialy being the last weekend.

[DTH316]

Well, it might be very uncrowded.

Back when Knotts was actually selling out, I once went on a Saturday. I wanna say it was November 2nd. And the park was unbelievably empty.

Once Halloween comes, i think people are just done with it. I only imagine the really big fans will show up

This is HHN and Hollywood though, so it might be different. I'm expecting the same.

[Kurseddragon]

Hey Guys, I was wondering what it would be like to go on November 1st or November 2nd? I'm considering going on either one of those days.

If you're really worried about it, go on the 2nd and wait for reviews on the first. So you can prepare based off those results.

[AbnormalVitality]

If you're really worried about it, go on the 2nd and wait for reviews on the first. So you can prepare based off those results.

That's gonna be tough. What I understand is that those nights may sell out. I personally would prefer going Friday since I could take the Metrolink the next morning to go home. As for the pre-order on discount tickets, do the discount only work if I pre-order online?

[Kurseddragon]

That's gonna be tough. What I understand is that those nights may sell out. I personally would prefer going Friday since I could take the Metrolink the next morning to go home. As for the pre-order on discount tickets, do the discount only work if I pre-order online?

Well, then just plan ahead for the night. Plan as if it's gonna be crowded so you can beat the traffic. And yes, it's an online only deal, as far as I know.