yellowfish,
without looking at a calendar right now, i can not name the dates for the first weekend of hhn for you.
i know there will be hhn on oct 6-7-8 friday/ saturday/ sunday.
i have plans for those dates, already secured my room on site for that weekend.
the first two weekends the hhn is held only on fri/sat/sun.
after that in mid october weekdays are picked up. (after columbus day that is) that won't affect you as you are leaving on the 8th.
i buy my hhn tickets on line when they go on sale. in 2005, that was in later part of july. i did mine by phone but you can buy on line. i choose phone in order to get a discount which couldn't be done on line when i wanted them last year.
i started buying the express pass plus for hhn 2 years ago. it allows you to go thru the express lines for each house and ride one time only. last year some lines ran 90 minutes in the regular line.
on hhn nights, ioa closes at 5 and us closes at 6. you do not have to leave the park at that time if you have the hard ticket. you go to the stay and scream area, which there are two of them. any employee can direct you to it.
last year the one in ioa was at captain american cafe.
once the park has been cleared out, those in the s & s area area allowed to leave and get a head start on the rides and houses before it is opened to the general public.
i recommend buying the epp as a limited number is sold. you can do 2-3 houses and without a wait if you start from inside the park early.
around 8:45, you might consider starting to use the epp depending on crowds. you can repeat the houses you did not use the epp on in the beginning of the night. same for rides.
i have always gone on fri and sat. both are peak nights meaning 7 pm to 2 am for hours. on sunday a non peak night, park closes at midnight.
last year was the first year i can remember that hhn began at 6:30 instead of 7 pm.
i have been to the first weekend hhn twice. the only crowd i found then was the 2nd night/saturday. the first friday crowd was not bad and the first sunday hhn was a breeze, didn't need the epp much of the time.
the last 2 years i have been going on the second weekend of oct. this year also. the reason behind that is i needed to book air, rooms, agenda and did not know in advance if hhn would start on a friday when sept ended then (30th) i am totally and completely addicted to hhn and need to go 3 nightss not just 2.
keeping on the safe side, i started booking my stuff for the second weekend.
also, the onsite hotels did sell out on some of the hhn weekends so i book my room by march to get the best deal out there. then i can modify it if discounts come out before i go. also, the further out i can book out of chgo, the better time schedule i get in going to florida.
i start my trip at disney then transfer over to universal.
thats one of the main reasons i plan months aheard.
i have not heard of hhn tickets being sold out in advance for the early part of oct.
epp has sold out prior to the dates for hhn though
more questions?
just ask
without looking at a calendar right now, i can not name the dates for the first weekend of hhn for you.
i know there will be hhn on oct 6-7-8 friday/ saturday/ sunday.
i have plans for those dates, already secured my room on site for that weekend.
the first two weekends the hhn is held only on fri/sat/sun.
after that in mid october weekdays are picked up. (after columbus day that is) that won't affect you as you are leaving on the 8th.
i buy my hhn tickets on line when they go on sale. in 2005, that was in later part of july. i did mine by phone but you can buy on line. i choose phone in order to get a discount which couldn't be done on line when i wanted them last year.
i started buying the express pass plus for hhn 2 years ago. it allows you to go thru the express lines for each house and ride one time only. last year some lines ran 90 minutes in the regular line.
on hhn nights, ioa closes at 5 and us closes at 6. you do not have to leave the park at that time if you have the hard ticket. you go to the stay and scream area, which there are two of them. any employee can direct you to it.
last year the one in ioa was at captain american cafe.
once the park has been cleared out, those in the s & s area area allowed to leave and get a head start on the rides and houses before it is opened to the general public.
i recommend buying the epp as a limited number is sold. you can do 2-3 houses and without a wait if you start from inside the park early.
around 8:45, you might consider starting to use the epp depending on crowds. you can repeat the houses you did not use the epp on in the beginning of the night. same for rides.
i have always gone on fri and sat. both are peak nights meaning 7 pm to 2 am for hours. on sunday a non peak night, park closes at midnight.
last year was the first year i can remember that hhn began at 6:30 instead of 7 pm.
i have been to the first weekend hhn twice. the only crowd i found then was the 2nd night/saturday. the first friday crowd was not bad and the first sunday hhn was a breeze, didn't need the epp much of the time.
the last 2 years i have been going on the second weekend of oct. this year also. the reason behind that is i needed to book air, rooms, agenda and did not know in advance if hhn would start on a friday when sept ended then (30th) i am totally and completely addicted to hhn and need to go 3 nightss not just 2.
keeping on the safe side, i started booking my stuff for the second weekend.
also, the onsite hotels did sell out on some of the hhn weekends so i book my room by march to get the best deal out there. then i can modify it if discounts come out before i go. also, the further out i can book out of chgo, the better time schedule i get in going to florida.
i start my trip at disney then transfer over to universal.
thats one of the main reasons i plan months aheard.
i have not heard of hhn tickets being sold out in advance for the early part of oct.
epp has sold out prior to the dates for hhn though
more questions?
just ask
To Jason- We actually plan on doing two days at UO, one at each park, but one of those nights will be HHN's. I guess what I should have said was will we still be able to see everything in one park before it closes for HHNs. 
