Halloween Horror -- More or Less Crowded?

[SevenSeas]

Hi all! Open to any help you can give!

Conventional Disney wisdom says that the Magic Kingdom is less crowded on MNSSHP nights due to the reduced hours of operation. Is Universal likewise less crowded on HH Nights, or does the Stay and Scream option cause crowd levels to go up?

 

[macraven]

Depends on the date you go.
Some days the parks don't grow until the afternoon on dates of hhn.

 

[DOOM1001]

If you mean during the actual events,HHN is going to be much more crowded,especially on weekends as houses and rides will have 60-120 minute waits by 8pm and they won't go down until near closing.On weekdays and Sundays the waits will be a bit less and the wait times could drop later in the night,either way it's a very crowded event compared to MNSSHP.The difference is that HHN is pretty much the premier Halloween event in the nation with new houses yearly and people coming from all over for it.MNSSHP is neat but it's basically a special fireworks show,parade,shows and CM's giving out candy,more of a family event and on Halloween a truly scary event is just going to be more popular.

 

[SevenSeas]

Sorry! Just re-read my post. I meant during the day touring, not during the event itself.

We plan to do two Universal days during our Disney trip, and I was trying to determine if we should go on a day when there would be a HHN, or if it would even affect crowd levels at all.

Like I mentioned previously, most touring sites indicate that the Magic Kingdom is significantly less crowded during the day when a Mickey party will occur that evening, due to guests preferring a park with more extended hours (the MK closes at 7 on party nights). I was wondering if daytime crowd levels are affected by HHN, or if there's generally no difference in touring on a different day.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[Senator Tressel]

Yes, it is especially dead (lol) the few hours before the park closes for HHN. Only a thousand people at most do stay and scream, so everyone else is headed out early. You can walk on most rides the last two hours of park operation.

 

[philliplc]

Yes, it is especially dead (lol) the few hours before the park closes for HHN. Only a thousand people at most do stay and scream, so everyone else is headed out early. You can walk on most rides the last two hours of park operation.

This was not always the case when I was there Sept. 24-Oct 4. Or at least on HHN Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays the park was consistently much less crowded and more pleasant the first few normal park hous (8-10 AM) than it was the last few (3-5). On some days it was still fairly crowded 3-5 and there were tons of people still exiting after the 5:00 close. Also Gringotts closed down for the day very early on at least some HHN nights, I think once as early as 3:45.

 

[ORMom2Four]

I have found it very crowded on nights when there was a Horror Nights event in the evening!