HHN Question- 1st Timer!

BigTiggerGuy · Mar 8, 2006

I know this question is being asked VERY early but I need some advice. My friend and I are making our second trip to US Oct. 11-14 and bringing along three first timers. We are all "dying" to go to HHN. Here is the question:
Tickets and dates are not available yet but looking at last year's dates, it looks like they had a HHN on a Thursday during the second week of October. If they do the same this year, which would you recommend----visit HHN on Thursday or Friday? We might not even have this option once they announce the dates, but we are trying to plan each night.
Thanks for the help!

Sylvester McBean · Mar 8, 2006

I'd definately take a thursday over a friday. weekend nights at HHN are insane.

macraven · Mar 8, 2006

very tricky question.......thursday/friday.

check the site for the school schedules in orlando. no school on some days of the middle of the month in the week.

normally, yes thursday is better over friday due to the crowds. mcbean gave good advice on that.

i belong to chainsawwolf site and some talk about hhn will start to come about june/july. many there are universal and hhn employees.
that is where i get my direction on dates. last year, an additional wed was added on for hhn.

totally and completely addicted to hhn.
be sure to do the stay and scream.
buy the epp......it's like insurance. use it when you have to.

the last 2 years, i have HAD to buy the epp for all 3 nights i attend. the crowds have really grown over the years.

do the stay and scream and you can be on your third house before the general public is admitted. then around 8:45 when the place is so crowded, use your epp at that point.

2 years ago and past, the park opened at 7 to the general public. stay and scream people got to start between 5:35 - 6:00 on the event.
last year it was changed to a 6:30 opening for the public. this pushed back our s & s time but still did 2 houses before everyone else got in.

if you don't do s & s, be at the gate in line early. you have to go thru metal detectors and the lines move sssssllllllllooooooowwwwwww.

if you have the ap, get the discount on the passes for hhn and epp

BigTiggerGuy · Mar 13, 2006

Thanks for all of the great advice! I'll keep my eye out for any new information.
Love the Stay and Scream idea......will definitely have to plan on that!

Thanks again! :goodvibes

Belle Amy · Mar 13, 2006

I would definitely recommend a Thursday to a Friday. It gets ridiculous on peak nights. The argument can be made that peak nights have more "scare zones" (areas spread between houses to keep the flow of people going) but we found that it's just not worth the crowds. We are annual passholders, so with the purchase of HHN tickets we automatically get to stay in the park before HHN officially starts, but it's definitely worth buying the Stay and Scream passes. Like the previous poster said, you can at least a few houses done before the regular public enters. We also invested in the Frequent Fear pass that allows you to come back on any remaining off peak nights. We went at least 7 times last year. We are addicted. We really got most things done before the lines started getting too long, but I would also recommend checking out a map closer to the dates to organize a tour plan as it can get confusing when the crowds gather and it gets darker and foggier....or in our case, we get a tad more intoxicated....

Good luck, I hope you have an amazing time....we'll probably be there...

macraven · Mar 13, 2006

the one piece of advice i give to everyone is............

do the park in the daytime and look around. you will see some sites about hhn. you will catch on to the hidden areas that will be enticing once nightfalls.

then, when you do hhn, you will have a better bearing of your way around.

it is dark and sometimes foggy in sections.

you might miss seeing some of the sites if the first time you are at universal is the hhn night.

disneyfreakk · Mar 15, 2006

My group does HHN a little differently.

We go on the last friday and saturday of October. HHN is open 2 hours later on the peak nights, which gives you more time to see everything. We all have express passes so we sit around and have a couple of drinks until about 7pm and then head over to the event. Its dark by the time we get there so you get the full effect of all of the props right from the start~! ( and the lines are really small too

)

Another thing to consider is that Thurs is less expensive than Fri/Sat. And many people are able to see everything by doing the stay and scream without express passes.

chainsawwolf · Mar 15, 2006

A similar thread just came up over at my group.

If you use the IOA park hours for Oct/Nov as a guide (as always
subject to change), the event dates should be:

:hourglass