30 Years & Counting HHN 2021, XXX Let’s Stick This One!

[patster734]

Maybe take the bus to Volcano Bay and then walk to Cabana Bay or, take the boat to City Walk and take the bus to Cabana Bay. I’ve been thinking about this too.

Thanks. I was also thinking of taking the boat to Citywalk, switch to the SF boat, and then walk to CBBR from SF.

 

[soniam]

When you do the behinds the screams daytime tour. Ho do they pick the house you go in. My husband and I got the 6 houses, do they have certain houses that you go through and some that you do not

I believe it is very specific houses that do not change throughout the event. Since it’s only 6 houses and there are more than that, then yes, you will not go through some. Usually the tour houses are the originals and a smaller number of IP.

 

[klfay80]

thanks

 

[heidijanesmith]

This is our first stay at Cabana Bay, as HRH is full when we are going. I am super excited about the "Jacked up" experience.

I am also excited that this years HHN seems to be going back to the Scarier/Gore/Raunchier HHN that we 1st fell in love with. While we love the show Stranger Things and did enjoy the House, it really tamed down the Adultishness of the event. I am looking forward to more Adult scares and shows.

It's been two years since we have been to HHN and I am so happy to be coming back!!

 

[imprint]

When you do the behinds the screams daytime tour. Ho do they pick the house you go in. My husband and I got the 6 houses, do they have certain houses that you go through and some that you do not

From what I remember a couple years ago, and I might be misremembering... The 3-house tour had Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Universal Monsters, and Graveyard Games. The 6-house tour had House of 1000 Corpses, Depths of Fear, Nightingales: Blood Pit, Stranger Things, Yeti: Terror of the Yukon, and Ghostbusters. It seems like the year before there was a house or two of overlap though. It would be nice to know ahead of time which houses would be included for each tour, but if you're like us, then overall it's better going through more houses than specific houses. We like to go to a HHN night before the daytime tour, and then go through the tour before our remaining nights. Get to experience the houses "blind" then we get to look for all the stuff pointed out in the tour later. We love it.

 

[shb5007]

We are going for our first ever HHN visit on October 9th, it will be very busy with the Saturday / Holiday weekend combination.

We plan to get Scream Early tickets. We already have single day tickets (for HHN) and Express Passes.

Can someone fully explain how the Scream Early works? What is the full benefit (in regards to HHN)?

Any tips on food for this event? We will need to eat, but want to maximize our HHN house / zone time.

 

[tony67]

slightly off topic but just saw these today on Amazon




may see one of these at HHN - but the other is a Spirt Halloween "exclusive"

Great to see some Sam stuff at a reasonable price

 

[Lynne G]

Scream Early let’s you into the Studios sometime between 3 and 5 pm to allow you into the park, and then to get you into holding areas by around 5pm where they scan your HHN ticket to enter. In the past, getting into those holding areas was a great way to get a jump on a house or two with lower lines, as you were released from the holding areas before the gates open crowd could catch up to those houses. Also nice, as cheaper than buying a day ticket.

As if you do not have an HHN ticket, they do clear the people out of the park starting at 5pm.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you only have HHN admission, the Scream Early tickets let you get in the park in the afternoon. You can hop on a few rides and then wait in the park for HHN to start and get a head jump on the first house or 2.

If you already have admission to the parks for the day, you don't need Scream Early tickets - you already have access to the park before HHN starts.

 

[soniam]

We are going for our first ever HHN visit on October 9th, it will be very busy with the Saturday / Holiday weekend combination.

We plan to get Scream Early tickets. We already have single day tickets (for HHN) and Express Passes.

Can someone fully explain how the Scream Early works? What is the full benefit (in regards to HHN)?

Any tips on food for this event? We will need to eat, but want to maximize our HHN house / zone time.

That will be one of the busiest nights of the year. I will be there too. Taking a break to eat can be beneficial and give your legs the rest they will need to go the rest of the night, even if it's just a QS meal.

 

[imprint]

We are going for our first ever HHN visit on October 9th, it will be very busy with the Saturday / Holiday weekend combination.

We plan to get Scream Early tickets. We already have single day tickets (for HHN) and Express Passes.

Can someone fully explain how the Scream Early works? What is the full benefit (in regards to HHN)?

Any tips on food for this event? We will need to eat, but want to maximize our HHN house / zone time.

Great replies above to your question.

I'll add that since you are going in October (we are too), you will be able to read what people's experiences are in September and the first week of October.

Historically, the Stay and Scream areas are at Finnegan's, Simpsons, and Hello Kitty. I think they used Diagon Alley before, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, if you are getting there a few hours before regular daytime closing, you might be able to get food during the wait, but there are lots of people doing the same thing. Might be able to or might not be able to. You might want to consider (though again see what people report in September to help you decide all these things) eating earlier at City Walk before Stay and Scream. You can also use the SaS time to get a ride or two in before HHN.

Since you have HHN express, you can take a quick break for food during the night (we usually snack a couple of times each HHN night and go on a few rides between houses). Note that Diagon Alley is open most of the night (it usually closes early though) and it is a great opportunity to ride Gringott's without too much wait and get ice cream if you want.

As for the release, once they clear the park of non-HHN ticket holders, they will release the SaS people from their holding areas (before opening the gates for people waiting outside). You can rush to the main soundstages (near Rip Ride Rocket and the Tribute Store), the back houses near Men in Black, or the houses in the Kid Zone (again, see what people say in September to get a better idea how things work this year).

Some people don't use their express passes on the first house or two and repeat those houses later with express. Depending on your stamina, this can work for you or you might want to go ahead and use express passes immediately. We've done both, but we usually just start using express right away so we have more time to enjoy the scare zones and have more food/rest breaks throughout the night.

If I only had one night, and it was October 9 (which as you said is expected to be very crowded), I would eat before going in the park and focus on making sure we were able to go through all 10 houses and spend time in each scare zone. After a couple of hours, you should be able to gauge how much there is left to do and be able to decide how many rides and breaks you can take based on your stamina and time you want to leave.

I'll strongly recommend again to check back for reports from September and then extrapolate those reports for more crowds in October. I'll say that in the past 10 years, using express passes, we have been able to experience it all, if we want to. Sometimes it has been a long night, and sometimes it has been a not-so-long night. Please, though, make a priority list of houses, scare zones, rides, food, drinks, breaks, etc and make a loose plan. If your group is at all stoked for this event, you will have a great time. It is fantastic. Your feet might not like you in the morning, but the memories will remain.

Good luck and have a great time!

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention that you may or may or may not want to pad time for the show(s) during the night. Noting has been announced, but there is usually a show or two. Sorry about that.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

Regarding the holding areas, what time do you ideally need to be in the park for in order to go here?
When I last visited in 2017, I tried to make my way over from IoA to US about an hour prior and was told I would have to queue with HHN ticket guests even though I had regular park admission. My fault, I should have checked first but I'm not making the same mistake again
Any advise is appreciated.

 

[mamapenguin]

Regarding the holding areas, what time do you ideally need to be in the park for in order to go here?
When I last visited in 2017, I tried to make my way over from IoA to US about an hour prior and was told I would have to queue with HHN ticket guests even though I had regular park admission. My fault, I should have checked first but I'm not making the same mistake again
Any advise is appreciated.

Universal closes at 5:00, are you saying you tried to go in at 4:00 and were told to go wait with the masses? Scream Early starts at 3:00, I would go with that. I have Margaritaville at 2:15 on one of my HHN nights, but I will cancel if it could be a problem. I was thinking before 4:00 would be ok.

 

[FoxC63]

Watch your flight! Delta just changed ours for Wed. Oct 27th. This is the second time.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

Universal closes at 5:00, are you saying you tried to go in at 4:00 and were told to go wait with the masses? Scream Early starts at 3:00, I would go with that. I have Margaritaville at 2:15 on one of my HHN nights, but I will cancel if it could be a problem. I was thinking before 4:00 would be ok.

Aah perfect, thank you - I'll try to get there for 3pm.
Yes I got there around 5-5:30 I reckon and just (naively) thought I could still get in an hour before the event started

 

[keishashadow]

LOL, any die-hard fans recognize themselves?

https://fb.watch/7fR_4-5TJ6/

 

[soniam]

Watch your flight! Delta just changed ours for Wed. Oct 27th. This is the second time.

Our SW flights keep changing too. In fact, SW canceled our flight home from Orlando last Sunday. We ended up driving home 16 hours. We couldn't get a fight out of Orlando to anywhere on any airline. I am worried about our HHN trip, because we will really need to get home for our son's school. I hope they get this worker shortage sorted out soon.

 

[keishashadow]

SW canceled our flight home from Orlando last Sunday. We ended up driving home 16 hours. We couldn't get a fight out of Orlando to anywhere on any airline. I am worried about our HHN trip,

Ugh…I’m dreading 11+ hour drive tomorrow. Allegiant cancelled our flight to MYR for yesterday, last Thursday. Had to scramble to rearrange trip dates around to leave tomorrow. Wanted to extend the trip a few days to make the drive ‘worthwhile’. At least Allegiant was generous in compensation.

Spirit changed our fall trip flights one time too many in less than four days for my liking. I was done with Messing with it, 8 hour changes in fight times, etc. SWA fared far better in my market last week. bit the bullet, cancelled Spirit outright & booked SWA For the fall.

it’s just too long of a drive to Orlando for me at this point. May the force be with us all

 

[mamamelody2]

Watch your flight! Delta just changed ours for Wed. Oct 27th. This is the second time.

Thanks for making me check our Southwest flight. It didn't change again (already did once) but the price went down on our return trip and I got 30,000 points back. Yay!

 

[tony67]

From what I remember a couple years ago, and I might be misremembering... The 3-house tour had Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Universal Monsters, and Graveyard Games. The 6-house tour had House of 1000 Corpses, Depths of Fear, Nightingales: Blood Pit, Stranger Things, Yeti: Terror of the Yukon, and Ghostbusters. It seems like the year before there was a house or two of overlap though. It would be nice to know ahead of time which houses would be included for each tour, but if you're like us, then overall it's better going through more houses than specific houses. We like to go to a HHN night before the daytime tour, and then go through the tour before our remaining nights. Get to experience the houses "blind" then we get to look for all the stuff pointed out in the tour later. We love it.

Agree with above.

In the past it was totally random which houses might be on the tour and the 3 hour might be some of the same houses as the six house tour

At HHN29 they did not have any repeats so people could book the 6 house and 3 house and do 9 Houses in total.
They also started giving buttons instead of lanyards

I assumed it would be the same this year and booked both.

If you watch for trip reports Im sure someone will list the 6 houses and I would assume that will be the six for the tour.