HHN - The timing of it all

[G&J's Mom]

Just curious. We are going on Friday, 10/6. We have the Express passes. How do you HHN veterans do it?? What time do you get there??? And how long do you stay???

Thanks!!

Denise

 

[robvia]

In the morning, visit a park, very light crowds.
In the afternoon, I go back to my room, take a nap, order pizza from Flippers, eat, put leftovers in zip lock bags.
Go back to USF at about 4pm. Ride the Mummy using single rider line. Go to the Stay and Scream area, take pictures, get in line for first house. I stay until about 10pm. I can usually get thru all but one house, and I watch the Bill and Ted show. At that time I get hungry and want food, which is why it's a good idea to have leftovers in the hotel room, or visit TGIFridays.

 

[OgreRod]

The express pass is your best purchase yet, just be sure you catch at least one of the shows for Bill and Teds. As far as seeing it all with the express pass you should be able to make all the houses easy, just take a look at the map and plan a good route. This is my 13th HHN and I hadn't seen all the houses till I started getting the express passes 3 years ago.

 

[F-L-A]

You won't need to rush through everything since you have Express, but you should still be there before they start letting guests into the park if you want to get a good spot for the opening Arrival show (there will be a line at the gate.) With Express, I'm usually done with everything by 10:00.

 

[G&J's Mom]

Thanks so much for your responses!!!

Denise

 

[robvia]

Yeah, the express passes will be worth it. You'll find a full queue at each house and you'll skip it.

There's one more thing I can talk about. If you show up at the stay and scream area, you'll see a few drink stands. Don't start drinking this early. If you do, you'll be tired out as the event goes on. Drink prices are VERY expensive, they make a ton of money on it. So it's best to go thru all the houses first, watch the Bill and Ted show, then you can have a few drinks and hang out.

 

[G&J's Mom]

Yeah, the express passes will be worth it. You'll find a full queue at each house and you'll skip it.

There's one more thing I can talk about. If you show up at the stay and scream area, you'll see a few drink stands. Don't start drinking this early. If you do, you'll be tired out as the event goes on. Drink prices are VERY expensive, they make a ton of money on it. So it's best to go thru all the houses first, watch the Bill and Ted show, then you can have a few drinks and hang out.

Gotta "definitely" let DH read this post. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[rcraw45425]

IF you are an onsite guest, must you still purchase Express for the party? We're still on the fence about this, our girls are 9 & 11, it may be too scary for them.

 

[robvia]

Yes, you would still have to purchase express passes for HHN16, it's a seperate event. 9 & 11 is a tad young. 13 is the age I'd say teenagers can handle it. You may want to take them to Sea World for their Spooktactular.

 

[rcraw45425]

We're doing the Disney party, is the sea world one enough different to warrant a trip over? Oh yeah, never done SW, is everything open during the party?

 

[GreyStr0ke]

If you get there early enough then you should be able to get a few of the houses done without having to wait in any line and using your express pass so that later on when the lines are long you can use your express pass and cut the 2 hour line.

The good thing about the express is that you can take your time.

I wish that onsite guests got express access during HHN. To bad though.

 

[F-L-A]

IF you are an onsite guest, must you still purchase Express for the party? We're still on the fence about this, our girls are 9 & 11, it may be too scary for them.

HHN is very much an adult-oriented event.

 

[robvia]

We're doing the Disney party, is the sea world one enough different to warrant a trip over? Oh yeah, never done SW, is everything open during the party?

The Sea World party is an all day thing included with the admission. Check the web site here.
http://www.seaworld.com/seaworld/fla/swfse/spook.aspx
Yes, it would be worth a visit with the kids. They'd love to feed a dolphin, and see the shows. You could dress them in a comfortable costume and walk around. At SWF, it's a friendly event. Whereas at HHN16, they're trying to scare you a lot. I don't think an 11 year old is ready to see people running around with chain saws.

 

[rcraw45425]

I don't think an 11 year old is ready to see people running around with chain saws.

Heck, I'm 43 and I dont' think I'M ready to see people running around with chain saws!!

 

[MartDM]

You didn't say if you had park tickets or not so I'm not sure if our routine will apply, but here it is:.

The day we're attending HHN, we tend to sleep in a little later & have a relaxing morning and early afternoon. We get to the park around 3:00 pm and do some touring until it's time to go to the Stay and Scream area, where we wait for the event to begin.

Once we are released into the event, we try to hit as many houses as we can without using our Express Pass (usually not a problem because you are getting a good 30 to 45 minute head start on the masses waiting at the entrance, so it's not hard to stay ahead of the crowd and wait times are quite low at this point).

Once we've done that, the crowds are usually getting a little thick so we take a break, get a bite, and rest for a few minutes. This is a good time to see a show (we aren't Bill & Ted fans so we're looking forward to the additional show offerings this year).

Once we've revived, we do the circuit of houses once again, experiencing little or no wait time because we are now using our Express Passes.

After we've seen the houses twice, we might hit some rides but if the crowd level/drunkenness/rudeness factors are reaching intolerable levels (which they tend to do as you get beyond 10 or 11 pm), we just take off.

Enjoy yourself! It's a really fun event but, as others pointed out, definitely not for children!

 

[thrillriderbb]

You didn't say if you had park tickets or not so I'm not sure if our routine will apply, but here it is:.

The day we're attending HHN, we tend to sleep in a little later & have a relaxing morning and early afternoon. We get to the park around 3:00 pm and do some touring until it's time to go to the Stay and Scream area, where we wait for the event to begin.

Once we are released into the event, we try to hit as many houses as we can without using our Express Pass (usually not a problem because you are getting a good 30 to 45 minute head start on the masses waiting at the entrance, so it's not hard to stay ahead of the crowd and wait times are quite low at this point).

Once we've done that, the crowds are usually getting a little thick so we take a break, get a bite, and rest for a few minutes. This is a good time to see a show (we aren't Bill & Ted fans so we're looking forward to the additional show offerings this year).

Once we've revived, we do the circuit of houses once again, experiencing little or no wait time because we are now using our Express Passes.

After we've seen the houses twice, we might hit some rides but if the crowd level/drunkenness/rudeness factors are reaching intolerable levels (which they tend to do as you get beyond 10 or 11 pm), we just take off.

Enjoy yourself! It's a really fun event but, as others pointed out, definitely not for children!

Agreed, I've had friends who work the event talking about how people bring their little and I do mean little as in strollers to the event and then get mad at how the scareactors scared them. I advise all parents DO NOT bring children to this event as they even have a disclaimer not to both in the ads and tickets.

 

[rcraw45425]

Thanks guys, after hearing some of your comments about the excessive drinking (not that there is anything wrong with having fun if you are not going to be on the highway or are not going to be an embarrassment to anyone )and horror aspect, we won't be attending this event till they are a good bit older. It was just that the Orlando Sentinel is playing up the event with the pictures and all, not emphasizing the extreme scare factor involved. Unfortunately, as someone mentioned, there WILL be foolish parents that DO bring little ones to this and they will probably be the ones that get drunk too! Some people don't have any common sense at all.