DTH316 Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 The "I'll go with the flow" has ruined so many trips this year so far and its only the second weekend. A lot of my own friends read my game plan, were like "cool, I'll do that" then I ask em how it went and its basically what happened to oatmeal because they didn't wanna seem intrusive onto other people's agendas. All it takes is ONE person to fuck EVERYTHING up. Which is why apart of my gameplan I point out to INTERROGATE everyone you don't know in your group and the ppl you do know, to drill the gameplan idea in their heads. The only plan and agenda that matters IS THE GAMEPLAN. If someone wants to get pissy and say "you only wanna do what you wanna do" then firmly tell em "you'll thank me at the end of the night when we did everything" or simply "don't fucking come with me than, because this is the ONLY way" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGmoney1996 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 My group of 5 followed by gameplan and by half way through the event, as they saw the 30 minute wait for Dracula which we were about to wait for and the 2 hour wait for AvP, they all thanked me (except for the person who's gone with me for the past 4 years and already knew it would work). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grindhousehero13 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 For those of you doubting the importance of having a solid plan, allow me to recount the atrocity that was last night: I was going to follow the plan that I had created last year, which worked wonderfully. However, my brother had not informed me that he wanted to take a detour to Rodeo Drive (he likes cars) so I was not able to account for that when we departed at 1:30. I objected very vocally, reasoning that it would mess with my plan, but my dad just said "Go with the flow, it doesn't matter." We arrived at the park at 7:30. I was able to do AWiL, Clowns, and AvP (Which, by the way, I waited 140 mintues for.) Everyone bitched about how long the line was. I want so bad right now to slap everyone in my family and scream "I TOLD YOU SO" So if you haven't yet, make a plan RIGHT NOW. Or else HHN will be hell. When we say do early entry, DO EARLY ENTRY! each maze is a 5 minute walk through if it goes smoothly so you will get the back lot done within an half an hour and everything from rides and mazes on the lower lot by 9:30/10:00. Also STICK TO YOUR PLAN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deliciousoatmeal Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 When we say do early entry, DO EARLY ENTRY! each maze is a 5 minute walk through if it goes smoothly so you will get the back lot done within an half an hour and everything from rides and mazes on the lower lot by 9:30/10:00. Also STICK TO YOUR PLAN! Oh believe me, I tried. Now that everyone in my group sees how awful HHN is without a plan, 1 of 2 things will happen: 1. They never come back 2. They praise me as their lord and savior 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 20 min waits at the most for the first hour on the backlot, this year Grind, with early entry. I would say 5 mins if you have First Stab. But because 70% of the early access crowd plus regular entrance is going to the backlot first now, it actually gets slammed a lot faster. Either way, you'll be done with the backlot by 8-8:15. Lower lot by 9-11. And everything else by 1. I seriously think the back-upper-lower method might work out a lot better than back-lower-upper this year. With 3 attractions up top with low waits in the middle of the night but gaining way more lines after midnight, then with low waits on the lower lot for only 2 attractions after midnight -- seems like it would work out.Oatmeal, are you gonna get a chance to go again this season? I sure hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deliciousoatmeal Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 20 min waits at the most for the first hour on the backlot, this year Grind, with early entry. I would say 5 mins if you have First Stab. But because 70% of the early access crowd plus regular entrance is going to the backlot first now, it actually gets slammed a lot faster. Either way, you'll be done with the backlot by 8-8:15. Lower lot by 9-11. And everything else by 1. I seriously think the back-upper-lower method might work out a lot better than back-lower-upper this year. With 3 attractions up top with low waits in the middle of the night but gaining way more lines after midnight, then with low waits on the lower lot for only 2 attractions after midnight -- seems like it would work out. Oatmeal, are you gonna get a chance to go again this season? I sure hope so. 1% chance. I haven't in previous years (because I didn't need to) and I'm kind of in a tight situation money-wise, but I haven't discussed it with my parents. Honestly I'm ok with what I hit, I got everything that was a must-see. AvP, Awil, and Dark Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grindhousehero13 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 20 min waits at the most for the first hour on the backlot, this year Grind, with early entry. I would say 5 mins if you have First Stab. But because 70% of the early access crowd plus regular entrance is going to the backlot first now, it actually gets slammed a lot faster. Either way, you'll be done with the backlot by 8-8:15. Lower lot by 9-11. And everything else by 1. I seriously think the back-upper-lower method might work out a lot better than back-lower-upper this year. With 3 attractions up top with low waits in the middle of the night but gaining way more lines after midnight, then with low waits on the lower lot for only 2 attractions after midnight -- seems like it would work out. Oatmeal, are you gonna get a chance to go again this season? I sure hope so. I meant the walk through not the queue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Why would someone complain about early access? "You mean we get to go in early before everyone else and get a headstart on the lines? Who wants that?!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mellie_Monster Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I told people that are meeting me at the park next weekend that I would be doing early entry with the person I'm driving up with, and if they (the other 5 people coming) want to go, then they better be there at 500, if not, I basically said "I've got a game plan to get everything done, and not feel like you're rushing, if you're cool with that, then there won't be issues, if you want to stop and do something else, we'll meet up with you wherever you end up" too many years I've dealt with one or two group members ruining the night for everyone else. No more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbnormalVitality Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 They wanted to walk around citywalk instead of waiting in line for it. I told them they could go but I'd stay and they can just enter the park at 7:30 instead. They stayed.. If your friend wanted to walk around Citywalk, he might as well had gone there around noon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbnormalVitality Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 20 min waits at the most for the first hour on the backlot, this year Grind, with early entry. I would say 5 mins if you have First Stab. But because 70% of the early access crowd plus regular entrance is going to the backlot first now, it actually gets slammed a lot faster. Either way, you'll be done with the backlot by 8-8:15. Lower lot by 9-11. And everything else by 1. I seriously think the back-upper-lower method might work out a lot better than back-lower-upper this year. With 3 attractions up top with low waits in the middle of the night but gaining way more lines after midnight, then with low waits on the lower lot for only 2 attractions after midnight -- seems like it would work out. Oatmeal, are you gonna get a chance to go again this season? I sure hope so. Has anyone tried the back-upper-lower method and compare that with the back-lower-upper method? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) Nobody has said they've done it to date. I'm really thinking about trying it, but being a creature of habit, I'm apprehensive. Plus I know everybody in my group will complain and be lazy about going up and down the escalators. Like seriously, what's the big deal? Not like you're walking down steps. Sure it takes 5 - 10 minutes sometimes, but it's a very simple thing. Anyway... I think the method will save you an extra 30 minutes though (if you're trying to do EVERYTHING - rides too). Meaning you'll be done at 1 AM, as oppose to 1:30, like I was. Maybe even 2 whole hours if you're just trying to do haunted attractions. 3 hours if you're skipping Terror Tram. 3 and a half hours if you skip all that plus Face Off (which you shouldn't, it's great this year). I'll take the wait times from the night I went and see what would've happened if I did back-upper-lower instead. The times will be what time I imagine I would've ENTERED the attraction. For reference, here's what happened to me on Sept 20th. Early Access - 6:45 AVP - 7:11 TWD - 7:32 FDTD - 7:48 Transformers - 8:13 Clowns - 8:42 AWIL - 10:00 Dinner - 10:25 TT - 11:05 Dracula - 12:25 Face Off - 1:00 JP - 1:30 AWIL 2 - 2:04 Notice the lines after 12 on the upper lot. I waited 40-50 for Dracula and 30-40 for Face Off. I had to skip Despicable Me because it was 60. This has been common for the last 2 weekends. Anyway, here's my imagined back-upper-lower scenario. Ofcourse, backlot will basically stay the same. Early Access - 6:45 AVP - 7:11 TWD - 7:32 FDTD - 7:48 At 8 PM, the only thing getting slammed was FaceOff, but by 9, it was cooling down. Let's waste time until 9 so everything can be in one swoop of short lines. Terror Tram - (15 min wait) 8:15 -- plus 40 mins to get through, done at -- 8:55. Dracula - (20 min wait) 9:20 FaceOff - (10 min wait) 9:35 Despicable Me - (10 min wait) 9:55 Around 10 PM, the lower lot mazes were sporting some hefty waits, but around 12, they'd go down. Now I need 2 hours to kill. Might as well do the rides and/or dinner! The Simpsons - (20 min wait) 10:20 Jurassic Park - (15 min wait) 10:45 The Mummy - (25 min wait) 11:15 Transformers - (40 min wait) 12 AM Great, it's 12! The mazes down here should have shorter lines now. People either did the upper-lower-back method (newbs), the upper-back-lower method (confused newbs looking for short lines after being in the backlot), or the back-lower-upper method (generally us nerds). Which means, at this time, only the very small portion of weird newbs are on the lower lot at this time, and they've just about had it with long lines for the night so they're only gonna do one more maze and go home due to frustration, meaning by 1, there'll be NO lines at all. AWIL - (30 min wait) 12:35 Clowns - (30 min wait) 1:05 REPEAT TIME or CHAINSAW CHASE OUT. Edited September 29, 2014 by DTH316 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Actually, I need to re-do this a bit. I was going by memory and not the actual times. Basically, upper lot had no lines at around 10, not 9. So maybe... it should be backlot-lower lot maze 1-upper lot-lower lot maze 2? Fuck it. I give up. All I know is do Early Access and you should have at least a decent time if you're not trying to be too greedy with repeats haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorrorNightsFan13 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'm considering going again either with just GA or if I get the money FOL. If I go with GA I'll try the back-upper-lower method, even if I go with FOL I'll try that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deliciousoatmeal Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'm glad I got AvP done at least. Surprisingly it was my brother (not the one who made us late) who convinced me to put up with the long line. FDTD was at 40 mins, as compared to 140 for AvP. So glad I picked it over FDTD. I just wish I didn't have to pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mellie_Monster Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Has anyone tried the back-upper-lower method and compare that with the back-lower-upper method? I'm going to try it Friday while on break/long lunch, just to see the wait times etc for things and how/if they change as drastically and noticeably as they do with the other method. Will post what I see/find out of someone hasn't by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'm just thinking that it has to work a lot better. I mean, the upper lot gets SLAMMED after midnight. I looked at that wait board all night seeing NO WAIT!-30 min lines and thinking we were gonna be made in the shade by the time we got up there with even shorter lines. We get up there and everything skyrocketed. This happened on opening night as I watched the wait times before I prepped for the next day, but figured it was because it was mostly the big fans who already knew the game plan and therefor they all herded together. But apparently this seems to be a common thing that simply just everyone is now deciding to do the upper lot either first or last. Which leaves the middle wide open for no lines. With the lower lot technically now being "the middle" of the park, it's the only place with a consistent line until after midnight. Sure, the first hour over there has little lines, but you'd be foolish to not be on the backlot during that time. The backlot doesn't seem to ever get a break in wait times until like 1:30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 FOL sold out this Friday and Saturday. VIP sold out for Saturday. Both still available for Sunday. Luckily, we're about to see our first Sunday already, so we'll get a good look at the non-peak type days and how bad they are crowd-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 Halloweenhorrornights.com/burgerking is offering discounts. Looks like the only two days without discounts are Oct 18th and 25th. Everything else is at least $6 off though. You're basically saving an extra dollar with the BK discount. Which reminds me, it now looks like the 11th has been discounted in general, as oppose to before. I guess Uni's easing up on their greed since their first 2 weekends have sold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clipper6 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I tried back-upper-lower last Friday. I'll write up more in a full review later. The short version is that it really depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to do the lower lot rides (JP, TF, and Mummy) I would do lower lot first. If you want to do Terror Tram then do upper before lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styp Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) Hey Everyone! Need some help. This is only my second time going to HHN in Hollywood (first time was last year). I went on the first Sunday in October last year and I'm doing the same this year. I'm bringing only two other friends so I'm keeping the group small to have efforts focused on doing everything. The plan is to go to early entry. One of the people I'm going with is not a local and has never been to Universal before...EVER! So, we are trying to do the rides and the houses. A tall order I know, but it's a Sunday so I'm hoping for the best. We don't care about hanging around the scarezones much, and two of us have work tomorrow so we can't be out til 2. I'd say 1 am is the latest. Can the following be done, and tell me if this is a feasible plan. I'm trying to get all the houses done first since that is really the reason we are there, plus I figured those lines would be longer as the night goes on. PLAN We have dinner before entering. Get in line at 6:00 pm. Go to Backlot Walking Dead AVP Dusk til Dawn Go to Lower Lot Clowns AWIL Go to Upper Lot Tram Dracula Face Off Despicable Me Simpsons Back down to Lower Lot Jurassic Park Mummy Transformers Go Home How does this sound? Edited October 3, 2014 by styp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) Do AVP before TWD and you should be fine. With dinner out of the way and rides last, you'll be golden. However, if you're already on the upper lot and Despicable Me says "NO WAIT!" or something like that, maybe deviate the plan a bit, because the lines up there get longer towards midnight-ish. Edited October 3, 2014 by DTH316 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styp Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Do AVP before TWD and you should be fine. With dinner out of the way and rides last, you'll be golden. However, if you're already on the upper lot and Despicable Me says "NO WAIT!" or something like that, maybe deviate the plan a bit, because the lines up there get longer towards midnight-ish. Great! Thanks for the feedback! Also my one friend is really sensitive to loud bangs or explosions (aka gunshots, etc). Are there any in the event at all this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 Other than the nightmare scene in AWIL, not really. But those are just from a speaker and aren't that loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 (edited) 7:30 update for first Friday of Oct UPPER LOT Terror Tram (LAST TRAM: 11:45) 10 min Face Off 10 min Dracula 15 min Despicable Me TEMPORARILY CLOSED Simpsons 20 min LOWER LOT American Werewolf 10 min Clowns 3D 10 min Transformers 10 min Jurassic Park 10 min Revenge of the Mummy 10 min BACKLOT The Walking Dead 15 min AVP 40 min From Dusk Till Dawn 20 min Basically a reinforcement of "do AVP first sucka!" Edited October 4, 2014 by DTH316 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts