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

[tony67]

This year had a few houses I quite enjoyed but overall, did not wow me

Yeah it was not the best - I understand why and it wont stop me from going next year - but it did stop me from going all 9 nights that I could have this year - and I regret paying for express pass

My biggest disappointment was the scare zones

Looking forward to HHN31

 

[CAPSLOCK]

So if they opened the last Wed to TMs, obviously it had slower sales. Do we think it'll now end up as one of the busier nights this last week with the TM access?

 

[macraven]

I went on a Wednesday earlier this month when TM’s
were allowed in free.
It did create some longer waits for me on some houses.

 

[Skywalker3]

I went on a Wednesday earlier this month when TM’s
were allowed in free.
It did create some longer waits for me on some houses.

Hey, do you know if one of those TM nights was Wed, Oct 13? That night was crazy busy w lines. We havent' been to any other HHNs, so don't have actual experience to compare it to, but had been tracking wait times, throughout the nights on weekdays and on weekends too, and wait times that night were SO long, more than what I'd been tracking, and haven't seem them all that crazy since. I know it was also due to the holiday week, but I just wondered if that was one of the TM nights also??? Still so much fun! thanks

 

[OKWFan88]

I am doing my first HHN on Wednesday. We purchased the Scream Early tickets and have express pass for each house. Not sure if that was overkill. Is the Scream Early ticket just allowing you to go into houses earlier than someone who doesn't have a scream early ticket? Is it like an hour head start? Also, with express pass, is it possible to do all houses in one night? Sorry, not sure how many houses there are. Also, from what I have been reading, there are other things to do other than the houses. We want to do all the houses, but what are these scare zones? Is the HHN in both parks or just one?

 

[wnwardii]

I am doing my first HHN on Wednesday. We purchased the Scream Early tickets and have express pass for each house. Not sure if that was overkill. Is the Scream Early ticket just allowing you to go into houses earlier than someone who doesn't have a scream early ticket? Is it like an hour head start? Also, with express pass, is it possible to do all houses in one night? Sorry, not sure how many houses there are. Also, from what I have been reading, there are other things to do other than the houses. We want to do all the houses, but what are these scare zones? Is the HHN in both parks or just one?

Let's see if I can help. I have attended HHN the past 3 nights. Tonight is my last night. On Thursday and Friday nights I did Stay and Scream. The only difference with your situation is that I have an Annual Pass so I was already in the park and didn't need to purchase the Stay and Scream option. I also have Express. HHN is only in Universal Studios. So you do not have to cross over to Islands of Adventure. There are a total of 10 house, 5 Scare Zones and 2 night time shows. Lots of food and drink options. Plus there are some rides open during the event. If you have the Universal Florida app, then you can get lots of information about HHN. Plus the posted wait times will be in the app and will be at the entrance of the house line.

Others may know the correct time you can enter, but I believe the Stay and Scream areas open around 4pm. I have only been in two of them. On Thursday, I did the Simpson's area Stay and Scream since I wanted to get some dinner at Fast Food Boulevard. You can line up for 3 houses in this area. Most people it seem are lining up for The Haunting of Hill House or Beetlejuice. But you can also line up for Welcome to Scarey: Horror in the Heartland. The other Stay and Scream I used on Friday was the one in the New York area. For this area, people will typically line up for the Bride of Frankenstein Lives or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not all houses will open early. For all of these houses I mentioned, they should open up at 5:45pm for those that are in the respective Stay and Scream line. Guests that are not using Stay and Scream are not allowed to enter until about 6pm. So you will get roughly 15 minutes head time in some houses.

Last night, Friday, I ended up doing a total of 17 houses in about 5 1/2 hours. I did 7 houses without Express before the lines started to creep to the 30+ minute wait. After I went through all 10 houses, I went back and went through the 7 that I did not use Express earlier. Last night (Friday), I started in the New York area and got in line for Brides. We got walked over a little before 5:45. Got through that house and immediately went to Texas Chainsaw. Once that was done, the Icons house had opened. Completed that house and then went and did Revenge of the Tooth Fairy (this opened around 6:30). I then walked back to the front of the park and did Case Files Unearthed. Went to the back of the park, near Men in Black, and did Welcome to Scarey and then Wicked Growth. When I got back to the entrance for Puppet Theater, this is when I started using my Express pass. Then I followed Puppet Theater with Haunting of Hill House and Beetlejuice with Express. Basically at this point I just went back around to hit the houses that I did not use my Express for earlier.

Your mileage may vary based on the crowd level that particular night. I also did not spend much time in any of the Scare Zones nor did I see either show.

For the Thursday night, I could have done something similar but I was waiting to meet up with a friend. So this delayed me going through some houses multiple times.

For my last night tonight (Saturday), I plan on doing something similar. Still trying to figure out which Stay and Scream I want to use. There are a few houses that I would like to possibly end on. But it is Saturday, so I may not be able to do 17 houses tonight. Just depends on the crowd and what time they get there.

Enjoy HHN. It has been a blast!

 

[macraven]

Hey, do you know if one of those TM nights was Wed, Oct 13? That night was crazy busy w lines. We havent' been to any other HHNs, so don't have actual experience to compare it to, but had been tracking wait times, throughout the nights on weekdays and on weekends too, and wait times that night were SO long, more than what I'd been tracking, and haven't seem them all that crazy since. I know it was also due to the holiday week, but I just wondered if that was one of the TM nights also??? Still so much fun! thanks

It was the week before and first Wednesday of the month in October for TM night when I was there

 

[schumigirl]

I am doing my first HHN on Wednesday. We purchased the Scream Early tickets and have express pass for each house. Not sure if that was overkill. Is the Scream Early ticket just allowing you to go into houses earlier than someone who doesn't have a scream early ticket? Is it like an hour head start? Also, with express pass, is it possible to do all houses in one night? Sorry, not sure how many houses there are. Also, from what I have been reading, there are other things to do other than the houses. We want to do all the houses, but what are these scare zones? Is the HHN in both parks or just one?

Keishashadow has created this thread and it`s ideal for folks who are new to the event......the first 17 or 18 posts are filled with info if you are new or old to the event.......enjoy reading .

 

[Lynne G]

OKW, the scream early ticket is for anyone who did not have a ticket or pass to be in the Studios, before the stay and scream areas opened. As said above, they usually open those areas around 4 pm. You enter by scanning your HHN ticket. Once inside you are welcome to eat, drink, and just relax until they’ve released you, generally around 5:45. It’s great to have an express pass for HHN. Those express lines are always shorter than the regular ones. But as also said up thread, by staying in the stay and scream areas, you can get into 2 or more houses with little wait. This, save your express for those, if you want to repeat them later in the night.

And yeah, the last Wednesday in September, was definitely TM night, as I was in the boat going back to the hotel and several were complaining about how early they had to be back to work. Makes sense, as I would think it would be the more chance of never being sold out on a Wednesday, unlike this weekend, which was sold out by Thursday.

 

[5lilfish]

I know it is late in the game to help anyone, but I’ll share our experience anyway…

We went to HHN last night (Sat Oct 23). It was sold out, i believe. We had early entry from 3-5pm and we had Express Passes.

Of our party of 5 (me, my husband, adult daughter and twin 14 yr old daughters), I am the only one who has been to a HHN. I’ve gone twice (2018 and 2019). Both times, I was part of a public RIP tour. So basically, we are not experts at all.

We arrived at 3:30pm and headed directly to Diagon Alley. We wanted hot Butter Beer and ice cream. We hit a gift shop, bathroom stop and went to the holding area near the Simpsons around 5ish and got in the line for Haunting of Hill House. We were let in early and led to the house. We chose not to use our Express Pass. We were through in about 20 min. We went right to Beetlejuice. Again, we chose not to use our Express Pass. We were through in about 25 minutes. When we came out, the wait was posted as 55 min.

After these 2 houses, we went though a couple scare zones as we crossed the park. From here on out, we used our Express Passes. We knocked out Tooth Fairy, Icons, Bride of Frankenstein, and Chainsaw.

With the max wait being about 30 min.

We crossed the park again, hitting Case Files and the other 2 scare zones. We stopped for snacks/lite bite and then we used Express Passes for Scarey and Pumpkins.

At 11:05pm, we had hit all 10 houses and the 4 scare zones. We doubled back to repeat Beetlejuice with our Express Pass (regular line was 60 min). We have almost no wait. We were going to do Hill House again but we were tired. The regular line was an hour and we didn’t want to chance a long wait. We repeated 2 scare zones simply because they were on our way out.

We watched the water show as we walked around but didn’t actually go to it. Shows were not a big priority.

We left around 12:20am.

I’d call that extremely successful. ctually our Express Pass was so successful that I’d probably skip RIP if we went back next year and do Early Entry and Express again. RIP is great. I wouldn’t try to talk anyone out of it. It worked wonderfully the 2 times that I did it. I did enjoy having the freedom to do things as we wanted to with Express though. Plus, my husband uses an RCV/cart so we didn’t want to slow anyone down and/or feel pressured to keep up.

About using a cart… I don’t find HHR to be very wheelchair friendly. My husband can walk. He has had both knees replaced, so extreme distances and fast paced walks are tough. Basically he uses a cart just to not over-do it and to keep up with our pace (I walk fast…not purposely, I just do). My husband used the cart and transferred to a wheel chair for most houses (he walked 3 of them). I wheeled him up. The paths are very narrow in places, uneven in places, lots or sharp turns and partially up hill. It was not easy but we managed. At some houses the workers would take the wheel chair and my husband would walk through the house. Some houses did not have the staff, so my husband would walk pushing the empty wheel chair (not a big deal and kind of nice for extra support). I could have pushed him through, but (1). He could experience them a little better by walking and (2) having to push and maneuver him would have taken away from my experience (which I would have gladly done if my husband needed it, but he did not need it).

Last note: Unless I had the ability to go multiple times and didn’t care if I only hit a few houses each night before lines got bad, I’d never go without either Express or a tour. Obviously money might dictate that for many people, but I cannot imagine waiting over an hour for multiple houses.

Jess

 

[keishashadow]

Taken the length of line at 4:40 pm for hill house Totally different experience than oct 2

 

[macraven]

Yup
A big difference!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Still looking! Want a really good deal as you avoid all lines next Sat night?

Looking for people to join a private RIP Halloween Horror Nights tour on Sat, 10/30.

Under $70 more than EP now. And EP doesn't include snacks, true front of the line, reserved show seating, or multiple runs through the houses... Please PM for details.

Saturday will be busy - with unlimited VIP front of the line & reserved show seating, we won't care!



Would anyone be willing to share with others going this night? I've been trying like crazy to add a few people, but no luck
Really, really don't want to cancel this, but we cannot do it split between just 6.

 

[macraven]

Have you posted in Facebook?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Have you posted in Facebook?

Yes, I literally made a Facebook just for this.

 

[FoxC63]

We're finally here.
Tonight is our 1st HHN and there was a tornado watch, thunder & lightening and rain. Lots of rain. Water taxes stopped running. It's suppose to continue raining, lightly as each hour passes.
We're going to eat here at 5pm then head in.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We're finally here.
Tonight is our 1st HHN and there was a tornado watch, thunder & lightening and rain. Lots of rain. Water taxes stopped running. It's suppose to continue raining, lightly as each hour passes.
We're going to eat here at 5pm then head in.

Oh no! I forgot you were going last night. We ended up going too.

I thought it was an amazing night.

We were there for stay and scream and lined up in the Hill House line at 5. First of all there was a problem scanning my pass and they tried to tell me it had expired on Wednesday Oct 27. I was like...uh...it's an ultimate fear pass. Pretty sure it doesn't expire the Wednesday before Halloween. The TM argued with me a bit and finally another TM came over and told her to scan it again. Let me in just fine, was most likely a problem with her equipment.

The line began to move at 5:30 and we were inside the house at 5:51. It was a pretty good run through and as we left we noticed there was absolutely no one in line for Hill House. On the way out we also saw Beetlejuice was empty. It hadn't been the plan to do Beetlejuice last night but we hopped in line at 6:03 and and basically walked right in and were inside by 6:09 (it's a long walk back there).

We noticed that Hill House still had an extremely short line but we decided to move on.

We stopped by the sandwich tent to get a brisket and grilled cheese. There was no one in line and we got our food and ate while walking. The sandwiches were very greasy, but good for that type of food.

Next up was Wicked Growth. We walked right up, I had a moment of panic because Lil' Boo the pumpkin was gone. Then I spotted him way up higher towards the right of the arch. I wonder if they thought people might try to steal him so they put him up higher.



We were in Wicked Growth by 6:28 and were next walking into Puppet Theater at 6:35.



Wicked Growth and Puppet Theater are in my top 3 houses so we decided to do Wicked Growth again.

We were walking inside at 6:46. I wanted a selfie with Lil' Boo (like I don't already have 20) and this was the first attempt.



Uh yeah he's up high now. Take 2:



At 6:56 we were entering Puppet Theater for our second go round there:



See? Slightly darker.

We were headed to the next house in my top 3: Case Files. The skies were looking a bit threatening at this point but it never did rain.

Walking through Gorewood at a bit past 7.



Then Hacktion:







In line for Case Files at 7:10. This was our longest wait so far. We didn't make it in until 7:25. The standby was really short but the Express was massive so we moved incredibly slowly.

Next up Tooth Fairy had a 10 minute posted wait time so we headed there.

In line at 7:30 and I believe it took somewhere around 15.

Walked through Crypt TV:



We wanted to see if we could squeeze into the 8 pm Nightmare Fuel show but when we got there they said it had been canceled.

Continue in next post because I'm out of picture room.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

So there was no show to watch and our friend hadn't arrived yet so we got in line for Scarey at 7:56. We were in right around 8:10.



At this point we were sitting pretty with our house count. We'd done 7 out of the 10 houses and we'd done 2 of those twice so were at 9 for the night and it was barely past 8.

Crowds were starting to show up at this point, sadly. It had been so much fun running from house to house and actually having space to breathe in the scare zones.

Our friend was almost there so we made our way slowly through Gorewood and picked out a nice bench in Hacktion to people watch.













Our friend arrived around 8:30 and we were off to get some food before the 9:30 Nightmare Fuel show.

Off to San Francisco and we got our fav HHN food, then Bahn Mi:



We were in line for Nightmare Fuel at 9:12 and were some of the last to get in.

The show was really good, you could tell big parts of the crowd had seen it before and had their favorites out of the cast and favorite moments. A TM at the start had really great energy and got the crowd going. The dance troupe should hire that guy to tour with them to get the crowds into it.

We were out a little after 10. Went through Seek and Destroy. We went into the Tribute Store and saw things were starting to get marked down. Some of the merch was at 30% off.



We then waited way too long for some Twisted Taters. We almost got into line for Icon but we could see how long it was and didn't feel like waiting. Was most likely an hour. We did wait for Bride and I think the wait ended up being between 10-15 minutes. Then we decided to loop the park and check out some different house lengths.



Continue in next post again for more pictures.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Puppet Theater stated a 25 minute wait and we got in line around 11:20. We were out by 11:40 so the line took about 20. This was our last house. So our final count was 8 out of 10 houses, all the scare zones, 1 show and a lot of food. Final house count was 11.

We were out of the park by midnight and at home around 12:45. Weather was perfect, crowds got a bit large around 9 but were otherwise perfect. It was a fantastic night. All 3 of us felt pretty sure they'd added a decent amount of scare actors to Seek and Destroy and Hacktion. Saw a lot of new costumes at Hacktion we'd never seen before like a handful of Trick R Treat people.

 

[macraven]

Awesome pictures !
Great write up!