HHN 26 Planning

[SeaBass]

Due to the immense popularity of the event, it's almost certain that you're gonna run into some bumps along the way if you don't plan. To help any newcomers or people in need of assistance, write down the ideal plan for the night(s), and tips and tricks to avoiding the disaster than can be a night at the event.

[SeaBass]

I might as well give my opinion to get things rolling.

 

If it isn't obvious enough, hit the houses in the back first. I'm not sure on locations, but I can assure you that at least one of those houses will be a good use of time. They don't fill up as quickly as AHS and Krampus being right there in the front, so I implore you to go back there and get the houses over with. 

This will do some good to people who have express passes, as you won't have to use it so early.

 

Get there early. I know the website already says this, but let me elaborate. GET THERE EARLY. Lines are gonna fill up faster than you think, and it'll be only 5:45. I suggest 5:30 at latest. That way you can experience houses faster. 

 

When it comes to IP's, it goes without saying that they fill up faster than original guest. That's an unspoken rule. But do not panic. Line waits are overexaggerated most of the time. Last year, The Purge had a listed wait time of 70 minutes. I was in line for 30. Things die down after the first few hours, and then everything is a breeze. It all just depends on the night.

 

I could list so much more but I'll leave that to the rest of the group. I don't want to look like I'm talking to myself.

 

[Brandon_Voorhees]

This is my first year. I'm going as much research as possible and am staying on property. Any advice is appreciated. 

[criticalanalysis]

Do all houses open at the same time?

[Brandon_Voorhees]

From what I've seen yes, once the yellow rope goes, they're all open. 

[SeaBass]

14 hours ago, Brandon_Voorhees said:

This is my first year. I'm going as much research as possible and am staying on property. Any advice is appreciated. 

How many days will you be at their event?

[criticalanalysis]

8 hours ago, Brandon_Voorhees said:

From what I've seen yes, once the yellow rope goes, they're all open. 

 

My buddy and I are going to do Chance's house first (in the back) so it isn't crowded and so we don't waste our poor day eyesight (because our eyes don't adjust to the dark houses fully when it's still sunny out) on a good house.

[Brandon_Voorhees]

5 hours ago, SeaBass said:

How many days will you be at their event?

I'll be there on the 14th & 15th (Maybe 13th too depending on what time I end up flying into Orlando). We have Fast Passes for everything and are staying at the Cabana Bay.

[SeaBass]

53 minutes ago, Brandon_Voorhees said:

I'll be there on the 14th & 15th (Maybe 13th too depending on what time I end up flying into Orlando). We have Fast Passes for everything and are staying at the Cabana Bay.

Alright I suggest you get all the houses in the back done while you can, and whatever's left that you can't make time for to do the next day. But since you have Express it might not be much of a worry. If you have any interest, go through houses for detail and look around. It's a great way to share your thoughts in later topics after the event.

[JDW]

16 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

Do all houses open at the same time?

 

No. AP party houses (parade and tent) open first, then the other tent. Then the rest of the houses. It used to be, being and AP holder, got you to see three houses before everyone else and it gave you a head start on the crowd. Now there are so many AP holders it really is kind of pointless. Kind of... Because you do get in early and will probably see a house before opening... probably. Still you end up following the massive AP crowd around and it ends up being more of an impedance than a benefit.

[Brandon_Voorhees]

2 hours ago, JDW said:

 

No. AP party houses (parade and tent) open first, then the other tent. Then the rest of the houses. It used to be, being and AP holder, got you to see three houses before everyone else and it gave you a head start on the crowd. Now there are so many AP holders it really is kind of pointless. Kind of... Because you do get in early and will probably see a house before opening... probably. Still you end up following the massive AP crowd around and it ends up being more of an impedance than a benefit.

Ah, thanks!

[DrWitz]

Last year was my first year and I used the touring plan at https://touringplans.com/universal-orlando/events/halloween-horror-nights-orlando#.  It worked well for me.  I was able to see every house throughout the night, although I did miss the shows, but I did ride several of the rides (including Gringotts at Harry Potter).

As usual, the best advice I found is arrive early, stay late, and choose a date far away from October 31!

 

[SeaBass]

On August 27, 2016 at 1:06 PM, DrWitz said:

Last year was my first year and I used the touring plan at https://touringplans.com/universal-orlando/events/halloween-horror-nights-orlando#.  It worked well for me.  I was able to see every house throughout the night, although I did miss the shows, but I did ride several of the rides (including Gringotts at Harry Potter).

As usual, the best advice I found is arrive early, stay late, and choose a date far away from October 31!

 

Definitely agree with the date part. I hear the beginning of October is pretty quiet, so I'm heading there on October 2nd and no add-ons to my tickets (express and such). I should be able to make it through most houses, but I'm not stressing on not making it to all of them, because as long as I avoid some rides and shows, I should be good. However I will check out that site, so maybe I can sneak in a show or two. Thanks for the link  . One more thing, though. And this goes out to everyone. AVOID HALLOWEEN NIGHT! Especially this year, considering it is one of the cheapest nights available. Other than that, I'm leaving the rest to you guys.

Edited September 4, 2016 by SeaBass

[Nightcrawler]

Three questions:
1) What time does HHN open each evening?
2) Can I get tickets for it at one of the official Universal ticket booths at the park? I need to buy two FFPs (One for me, and one a birthday present for a friend), and would rather not do it online if that can be helped.

3) Along the lines of question 2, are there ticket booths at City Walk? If Question 2's answer is yes, I'd rather go after 6:00, when as a Florida resident, I'll have free parking.

[N i c k]

5 hours ago, Nightcrawler said:

Three questions:
1) What time does HHN open each evening?
2) Can I get tickets for it at one of the official Universal ticket booths at the park? I need to buy two FFPs (One for me, and one a birthday present for a friend), and would rather not do it online if that can be helped.

3) Along the lines of question 2, are there ticket booths at City Walk? If Question 2's answer is yes, I'd rather go after 6:00, when as a Florida resident, I'll have free parking.

 

 

1) 6:30

2) Yeah you can get tickets there, but if you wait until the event, the lines will be atrocious. Buying online and using will call is much quicker or just buying during regular park hours.

3) To my knowledge, there are no ticket booths in City Walk and I do not believe free parking at 6 applies during HHN.

[HHNOrlando2005]

Just a FYI..... If you have to use 2 cards (credit or debit) to buy your tickets you can not use them together but what I found out is that if you use one card to buy a gift card then they can use the gift card and credit or debit card together. Had a hard time spending $850.

On 9/4/2016 at 0:18 PM, N i c k said:

 

 

1) 6:30

2) Yeah you can get tickets there, but if you wait until the event, the lines will be atrocious. Buying online and using will call is much quicker or just buying during regular park hours.

3) To my knowledge, there are no ticket booths in City Walk and I do not believe free parking at 6 applies during HHN.

You can get HHN tickets in City Walk. I did last year, I just don't remember if was at guest services or the info booth.

[duh1011]

11 hours ago, HHNOrlando2005 said:

Just a FYI..... If you have to use 2 cards (credit or debit) to buy your tickets you can not use them together but what I found out is that if you use one card to buy a gift card then they can use the gift card and credit or debit card together. Had a hard time spending $850.

Thanks for that tip! I actually came here just to ask about that

[SeaBass]

Time to put in more of my two cents. The event starts in six days!

 

One thing I recommend has to do with the houses in the back. This year would mean TCM and Lunatics 3D. Check showtimes for Bill and Ted. These two houses will be packed after the completion of those shows, so make sure to go in those houses during the show.

 

This is for us one-nighters. Don't, I repeat don't, go on rides until after you get those priority houses out of the way. I know from past experience that me going on rides changed the course of the night. For the waits I had in lines for the Mummy and Gringotts I could've been in Asylum in Wonderland. So just get the houses out of the way and then worry about other things going on.

 

And finally, if you're with a group of friends (like I will be), plan order of houses and events for the night in advance. You don't want any conflicting opinions . 

 

So I will leave it at that. Anymore tips? Feel free to leave em here. It sure helps all of us.

[defgmx]

I'm planning on going on either Sunday the 16th of October or Sunday 23 of October. What do you guys think about those dates? Lots of traffic?

[sarah21683]

Does anyone know what the typical wait times for Gringotts are during HHN? We have express and aren't worried about hitting the houses, but I know that Gringotts doesn't take express so we were considering going straight there or getting in 2-3 houses and then heading back to the ride. Do people rush it during HHN, or are the wait times okay? Thanks!

[Jediwhit82]

I've been checking the App, and it looks like with the exception of Rock-it, every ride and thing not HHN related is dead during the event, like walk right on to mummy and transformers.

[Oysterhead00]

18 hours ago, Jediwhit82 said:

I've been checking the App, and it looks like with the exception of Rock-it, every ride and thing not HHN related is dead during the event, like walk right on to mummy and transformers.

 

Don't ask me WHERE I saw it, because I can't remember, but someone posted/tweeted out pics of the house/ride wait times a couple days over opening weekend.  The Mummy was always like an hour (I think they said because the store takes up the one option for going on the ride where the queue usually splits, so it was running at half capacity) and Rip Rocket was all over the place, but always over 30 min.  Transformers and Harry Potter were like 5-15min.  Can't remember what MIB was as I didn't really care.

[zombieman]

During just about every night of HHN:

Little or no wait: MIB, Gringott's, Mummy, Transformers

Moderate wait: Simpsons

Long wait: Rockit

 

AHS will be packed all night.  Mostly due to its location.

 

Always a good strategy to hit the tents first (i.e. head to right).

Check Krampus but because of its proximity to the front gates, it will have long wait very early on.  May want to skip for now.

Do Halloween, Tomb of the Ancients - in that order.  

You will exit Tomb of Ancients near MIB

Do TCM

Do Chance house

By then the lines will start to get long.  

Head toward Mummy.  Check TWD wait time.  If too long, maybe do some rides.

 

Sound Stages (TWD, Ghost Town, Exorcist, AHS) will be long all night.  Ghost Town and Exorcist seem to ebb and flow.  If you see a 25 min wait, do it.

Exorcist and AHS exit at Ghost Town queue entrance.

AHS exit has a ridiculously long walk.

Ghost Town exits at TWD queue entrance

 

Bill and Ted show exit FORCES people toward soundstages.  Do not plan on hitting Chance or TCM right after Bill and Ted.  They will not let you.

 

Transformers, Krampus, Halloween, Tomb of Ancients will swell when Academy of Villains show ends.

On 9/21/2016 at 9:03 AM, sarah21683 said:

Does anyone know what the typical wait times for Gringotts are during HHN? We have express and aren't worried about hitting the houses, but I know that Gringotts doesn't take express so we were considering going straight there or getting in 2-3 houses and then heading back to the ride. Do people rush it during HHN, or are the wait times okay? Thanks!

Lines will be nonexistent during HHN, but if I am incorrect, use Single Rider.  People will NOT rush rides at HHN.  They will rush to first houses they see.  In this case it will be AHS and Krampus.

Edited October 6, 2016 by zombieman

[Pandry]

Reminder: Hell weeks are starting.  This and next Friday have most Central Florida counties off from school.  So these next two Thursdays will be much more crowded than others have been, thus far this season.  However, as it's mainly teens and tweens, they don't typically have Express.  But the streets sure get congested.  Wednesdays are great!