Halloween Horror Nights

[macraven]

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

 

[LOLA2]

We will be at Univeral Oct 25-Oct 29 should we go Thurs, FRi, or Sat?

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Thursday: shorter lines.

 

[Metallicat]

U.S hasn't put on a decent HHN since they moved it from the studios over to Islands. back at the studios, there were fewer drunks, skanks and meatheads walking around and the houses had more character and the themeing was 100% better. I mean, what is scarey about guys on motorcycles or chicks in chains writhing around in cages? give me scarey clowns, vampires and monsters you can recognize. even the chainsaw guys were scarier back then. nowadays, they don't even bother with trying to look scarey. they slap on a arm band, paint a little black stuff on their face and stand out in the open where everbody can see them. what is so scarey about that? IMO, 2000 was the best year. wish they would scare it up more. its sooo predictable now. I found the ATROX in Birmingham alot scarier. the scareactors could actually touch you which was terrifying. and and we even got to meet Leatherface from the original Texas chainsaw massacre movie! he was there signing autographs and taking pictures. we loved it.

 

[Jason71]

Basically what I'm asking I guess have any ideas on how to get in at least one full day of US and IoA AND HHN?
Thanks everyone!

If you have the stamina, timewise you could certainly finish one park during the day, even with the 6:00 pm closing, then hit HHN that night. The parks are not that crowded during the day, even on weekends; you could probably see everything even without FastPass (save your money to buy it at night). Of course, you'd be on your feet for 15 hours straight.

 

[Jason71]

To LOLA:

Thursday will be less crowded, but if you are buying FastPass anyway (and I recommend you do), the houses are usually better staffed on Friday and Saturday. Also, the park is open two hours later, giving you more chances to try a few rides in the dark after you've done the houses.

 

[yellowfish78]

I just re-read what I wrote. 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.

 

[Laurabearz]

Yes you should be able to see all of one park before it closes... just hit the big rides first, then circle back and hit the others.

 

[henrydog]

when we went in 2003 we didn't buy any tickets in advance, as we were already in the park with the flex tickets we had, we got the stay & scream ticket i think they were called, on the same day for about $25.
does anyone know if you can still do this, this year ?

 

[macraven]

when we went in 2003 we didn't buy any tickets in advance, as we were already in the park with the flex tickets we had, we got the stay & scream ticket i think they were called, on the same day for about $25.
does anyone know if you can still do this, this year ?

any park guest that is there during the daytime can do the add on for stay and scream tickets. it is cheaper that way.

for the hhn i have attended the last 4 years, it has been that way.
i doubt universal will change this. it is extra money for them

you have some guests that have not been to a hhn and they find out about it that day. they decide at that point they want to stay for it and add it.

the die hard fans like myself, order the tickets in advance and plan around those dates.

back to your question, i don't know for sure but would highly doubt they would change it since it is successful.

also, don't know if any dates have been sold out n the past.
if the tickets are sold out, then you would be out of luck trying to do the add on that day.