HHN

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

Thanks for the response. I guess we'll still get our food before we head to the holding area then.

 

[macraven]

true nkereina but it can be an hour wait for a table at finnegans if you check in there at 5:15.
and then so many peeps will just sit and occupy the table with one beer to hold it so they have a place to sit until let out for the houses.

limited places to sit at finnegans corral zone...
side that faces mummy will be packed
opposite side that has the steps to sit on, can be packed also.

i find this the case on the weekend days of hhn.
wed/thurs, not so much.

but, at least you can grab food/drink at the simpson holding section.
can only get food at finnegans if you are sitting inside.
they enforce the # that can be in the building at one time.

both places are much better than the holding area at the front of the park.
just near the side section where the merch store is.

if you aren't there early, you have to walk thru the middle of the crowd to reach the back of the lines.

 

[macraven]

Thanks for the response. I guess we'll still get our food before we head to the holding area then.

if you can wait until about 7:15-8:00 pm, Finnegans has plenty of empty tables so you could eat there then

most people are doing houses at that time and not ready for a break.

i usually hit Louie's around 9:00 for a dinner break or just to sit, have a soda and watch the crowds outside.
if i am in the park from 4:45 to wait for the start of hhn, my legs are tired by 9ish.

with a short rest, i'm good to do more houses and be there until 2 at closing times.

 

[luvdisdogs]

How early should you get to holding areas?

 

[nkereina]

How early should you get to holding areas?

You have to be in the holding area by 5pm, and I think the earliest you can start checking in there is 4pm. I think we got there around 4:30 and it was comfortably full at that point.

I haven't followed HHN news this year as we won't be attending, but I was just doing some reading on it and it seems as though the Springfield location won't be available this year and instead they will have a Diagon Alley holding area. Can anyone confirm? I read this on a competing web site I will not name here, and the post said it was last updated 2/26/16. The other holding area options it mentions are the KidZone area near E.T., Finnegan's area, and a small area in the Hollywood section near the entrance with no food or drink.

 

[pcstang]

 

[macraven]

DA was used last year


Yes I read earlier possibility Simpsons area might be out this year
Did not go back to the site for any updates

Sad about it not to be used this year

Last year on one of the Hhn nights I went, I did et right before the line was closed
Off the ride at 5:25 and escorted to a holding area that had room for more peeps

Figured since I had the Hhn pass, might as well do a ride before park closed as it beat standing in a holding zone to wait

 

[Raeven]

.

 

[macraven]

Raeven, I did the scare actor dining last year and felt it was the biggest waste of money

Food typical Six Flags fare and no monster interaction after the entrance photo taken

I can eat anything and find something I like
It this case last year, can say the soda was the best thing in that package


Finnegans slacked off on the no reservation in advance when many of the regulars called and said what needed to be expressed

I was able to get them for finnegans but some others were shut out which was not a good thing

From the surveys I have received, would not be surprised if they bring back dining with a scare actor
Limited dares last year but k could see that expanded if they bring it back

 

[luvdisdogs]

Thank you to everyone for answering my questions! You guys are the best!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Last year they also had the Scareactor Dining Experiece at Monsters Cafe. The food wasn't the best but it was fun and I'd do it again. It gives you something to do while waiting for HHN to open, and Finnegans doesn't take reservations after 3:30 on HHN days.

Raeven, I did the scare actor dining last year and felt it was the biggest waste of money

Food typical Six Flags fare and no monster interaction after the entrance photo taken

I can eat anything and find something I like
It this case last year, can say the soda was the best thing in that package

We had a GREAT time at the Scareactor Dining Experience. The staff was fantastic, the food options were really diverse (and we thought the quality surprisingly good for a buffet) and we had TONS of interaction with the a surprisingly large selection of Scareactors: most of them even visited our table multiple times. We got lots of fantastic pictures and had the most awesome interaction during our meal with the Usher in particular (that was worth the price of the experience alone....and he remembered us later in the evening as we passed by his stage).

Our meal featured the pumpkin head man, The Body Collector, the female clown with the chainsaw, The Usher, The Director (all who we had visit us during the meal and were able to capture photos with) and then there was a sixth scareactor that we saw just as we were leaving but didn't bother to stay for.

 

[macraven]

gina you were the exception on being thrilled with the scare actor dining.
i was there the same date you were and you must have missed when some of the guests dropped all the trays of food from the serving line.
took a long time for it to be cleaned up.

there was a section where the tray counter (where many just slide their trays full of food going to each area for selections) had stopped completely and a few people kept sliding their trays until a tm came to stop it.
How management could take out one section of that bar area where trays are placed on, i don't know....

there were so many employees that had a different idea of how this dinner would be run.
very unorganized.
it was stated when i went in to ask a TM to get things from the serving line for you if you wanted more of something.

this was meant if you had gone thru the serving line already and were sitting at a table.
those around me, myself included, asked TM's for a second portion of salad/meat/etc
we were told to get back in the long line and get it ourselves.

(going through the line the first time for the salads, meats, sides, we were told to return later for the desserts and the TM in our sitting area, would get them for us.)

an entire section was treated like the red headed step kids.

when i went back through the long line, i was told i could only have one serving of sliced beef as they did not have enough for everyone.
no characters moved in some of the sections to interact with guests.
the food that was served was typical of high school cafeterias

no, i won't do a repeat of this again.
fooled me once, shame on you
fooled me twice, shame on me.

i ended up going to louies to eat later in the evening
knew there would be food there that was decent


Gina i don't doubt what you said about enjoying the evening, you liked the food and had good interactions.
i believe you.

i'm glad it was a good time for you and your husband but i can't say the same it was for me.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

gina you were the exception on being thrilled with the scare actor dining.
i was there the same date you were and you must have missed when some of the guests dropped all the trays of food from the serving line.
took a long time for it to be cleaned up.

there was a section where the tray counter (where many just slide their trays full of food going to each area for selections) had stopped completely and a few people kept sliding their trays until a tm came to stop it.
How management could take out one section of that bar area where trays are placed on, i don't know....

there were so many employees that had a different idea of how this dinner would be run.
very unorganized.
it was stated when i went in to ask a TM to get things from the serving line for you if you wanted more of something.

this was meant if you had gone thru the serving line already and were sitting at a table.
those around me, myself included, asked TM's for a second portion of salad/meat/etc
we were told to get back in the long line and get it ourselves.

(going through the line the first time for the salads, meats, sides, we were told to return later for the desserts and the TM in our sitting area, would get them for us.)

an entire section was treated like the red headed step kids.

when i went back through the long line, i was told i could only have one serving of sliced beef as they did not have enough for everyone.
no characters moved in some of the sections to interact with guests.
the food that was served was typical of high school cafeterias

no, i won't do a repeat of this again.
fooled me once, shame on you
fooled me twice, shame on me.

i ended up going to louies to eat later in the evening
knew there would be food there that was decent


Gina i don't doubt what you said about enjoying the evening, you liked the food and had good interactions.
i believe you.

i'm glad it was a good time for you and your husband but i can't say the same it was for me.

That really stinks, especially considering the price (it wasn't cheap). I wonder if you were there before us or after? We didn't see the accident with the trays and they definitely didn't short us on any of the food items (just the opposite....we had TONS to eat....the only thing we didn't like was that banana chocolate bread pudding).

We would do it again in a heartbeat, but alas....there will be no HHN on our October trip this year. We've decided to go to Discovery Cove twice instead.

 

[schumigirl]

gina you were the exception on being thrilled with the scare actor dining.
i was there the same date you were and you must have missed when some of the guests dropped all the trays of food from the serving line.
took a long time for it to be cleaned up.

there was a section where the tray counter (where many just slide their trays full of food going to each area for selections) had stopped completely and a few people kept sliding their trays until a tm came to stop it.
How management could take out one section of that bar area where trays are placed on, i don't know....

there were so many employees that had a different idea of how this dinner would be run.
very unorganized.
it was stated when i went in to ask a TM to get things from the serving line for you if you wanted more of something.

this was meant if you had gone thru the serving line already and were sitting at a table.
those around me, myself included, asked TM's for a second portion of salad/meat/etc
we were told to get back in the long line and get it ourselves.

(going through the line the first time for the salads, meats, sides, we were told to return later for the desserts and the TM in our sitting area, would get them for us.)

an entire section was treated like the red headed step kids.

when i went back through the long line, i was told i could only have one serving of sliced beef as they did not have enough for everyone.
no characters moved in some of the sections to interact with guests.
the food that was served was typical of high school cafeterias

no, i won't do a repeat of this again.
fooled me once, shame on you
fooled me twice, shame on me.

i ended up going to louies to eat later in the evening
knew there would be food there that was decent


Gina i don't doubt what you said about enjoying the evening, you liked the food and had good interactions.
i believe you.

i'm glad it was a good time for you and your husband but i can't say the same it was for me.

I remember us talking about that......you had the same experience as several friends of ours that same night. The food pics did not look good when she showed them to us...........

Even our mutual TM friend commented on the food.

Last year they also had the Scareactor Dining Experiece at Monsters Cafe. The food wasn't the best but it was fun and I'd do it again. It gives you something to do while waiting for HHN to open, and Finnegans doesn't take reservations after 3:30 on HHN days. (I saw some people say they got one, but they told me they did not take them after that time over the phone and were pretty rude once they knew I was asking about an HHN night). They also let us out early to do one of two houses (Walking Dead or Freddy vs Jason).

Raeven.........there a whole big stink last year about Finnegans. They had planned to cancel all reservations that had been made months in advance, and didn't inform most people of this change.

Some called and had their reservation reinstated..........some didn't though. Very poor service from them.....especially the non contact part. It was handled very badly. Not nice they were rude to you either.

We used to do Finnegans for holding area, but decided it was just too long to hang around. We can go 10 nights or so over a trip, now we just go in after the crowds and take our time........but, yes it was good getting into those two houses quickly.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I remember us talking about that......you had the same experience as several friends of ours that same night. The food pics did not look good when she showed them to us...........

Even our mutual TM friend commented on the food.

Being a character buffet, maybe we just had lower expectations on the food and therefore were less disappointed by it? We have done a lot of character buffets in Orlando and this one was far better (to us) than, say, Chef Mickeys. We certainly weren't expecting the quality to be equal to a cooked-to-order table service entree, so maybe that helped form our opinion. And.....we had such good character interaction (which was the main reason for booking that meal), I really wasn't too worried about the food.

Of course, I am also one that was underwhelmed by Mythos (which gets A LOT of love here) so maybe we just have odd tastes!

I know we received an email survey about the Scareactor Dining Experience a few weeks after our trip, so hopefully other folks did as well. I am a firm believer in constructive feedback.

 

[macraven]

oh, i got the survey also and another one after that once they read my first one......


i have an AP, i don't need an offer of free tickets.

 

[schumigirl]

oh, i got the survey also and another one after that once they read my first one......


i have an AP, i don't need an offer of free tickets.

So we can safely say you won't be doing it again this year.........lol..........don't blame you.........

Friends were the same.......did the survey and then got another. I think people just expected more than what was on offer........

Someone told me it was what used to be the TM dinner before HHN started? You know......a solid rumour from the Disney bus drivers, wife's, sisters, second cousins dog walker