AP Holders Night

[Hockeyman55]

ok guys dont want any spoilers but how can you see the opening scaremonies on an APHN? is it possible just to go over to the gate when it opens to the public? you think its worth it?

Watch it on Youtube and save yourself the hassle of waiting outside the gate or wasting the valuable time before the gates open

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so mike do you feel like we got a real answer....lol

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and thanks bobwadd for an answer...though i really dont think i like the idea of waiting while i see other people around me walking around

Somewhat of an answer Im going to test my luck with AP Fri night and Sat will be up the air depending on how Friday goes.

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You'll be fine. Just go to the Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone as stated. They will give you wristbands and corral you like cattle. If it's anything like years past you will start seeing AP holders walking around the park before they release you. These guests came in the front gate but somehow they forgot to open the cattle gates. You will start to question what's going on and after a 10 minute delay they will release you after they finally figure out that you should have been let out 10 minutes ago.

Last year we could wait at Finnegan's, a much better option IMO.

But waiting at Finns and headed to the Kidzone houses instead of Soundstage house might lead to more lines to wait in dont you think?

 

[kimlovesfl]

Kidzone, for the first 2 Fridays and Saturdays, is a holding area for AP holders only; after that, it becomes a Stay and Scream area just like around Delancey St. The Kidzone folks get to the parade building and ONE tent early, and the other tent opens shortly after that. The other Stay and Scream area gets to ONE soundstage house early, and the other soundstage houses open in quick succession after that first release before the general public gets in. If you have a FFP, why not mix up your Stay and Scream areas? I did this last year, spending one or two late afternoons in Kidzone, then most of my time in Delancey St (can't beat having Finnegan's for a drink). I HIGHLY recommend getting there early, because the lines will be long to enter these areas, and often take 15 minutes or more to get in to. FFB will be open for HHN, I believe, but it is NOT part of the Kidzone holding area.

Any other questions? I will be working these most nights of the event.

 

[Jwhee]

Is the opening ceremony every night? is it worth watching?

 

[Hockeyman55]

Is the opening ceremony every night? is it worth watching?

I watched it on Youtube and its cool but not something I would wait at the gates for to be honest with you. I would much rather be in the Stay and Scream area and get a jump on the houses

 

[romo]

well mike let me know i wont be there friday but will be saturday and let me know what you think is the best option....and kim your saying only area for APHN is just kidzone? not by finnegans?

 

[Hockeyman55]

well mike let me know i wont be there friday but will be saturday and let me know what you think is the best option....and kim your saying only area for APHN is just kidzone? not by finnegans?

Fins is the Stay and Scream area with Kidzone being the AP area for the specific dates. After those AP nights the kid zone turns into another Stay and Scream area. It really depends which house you want to hit first. We usually hangout at the Fin zone and hit the sound stages right as they let us out. Last year we went in ate Oct and did that and hit all the house by 10pm. Havent done the Ap zone in years so tomorrow will be my first in a while. Ill hit the tent house and then work my way around towards the sound stages and go from there. If we dont get thru all the first night we might pass on the AP things Sat and go to the S&S area and head right to the Soundstages and get the ones we missed.

 

[Felipe]

You'll be fine. Just go to the Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone as stated. They will give you wristbands and corral you like cattle. If it's anything like years past you will start seeing AP holders walking around the park before they release you. These guests came in the front gate but somehow they forgot to open the cattle gates. You will start to question what's going on and after a 10 minute delay they will release you after they finally figure out that you should have been let out 10 minutes ago.

Last year we could wait at Finnegan's, a much better option IMO.

Thanks, Bob! Very helpful! :thumbs: I always did the gate check-in, so I was clueless as to how it worked when inside the park

 

[romo]

Fins is the Stay and Scream area with Kidzone being the AP area for the specific dates. After those AP nights the kid zone turns into another Stay and Scream area. It really depends which house you want to hit first. We usually hangout at the Fin zone and hit the sound stages right as they let us out. Last year we went in ate Oct and did that and hit all the house by 10pm. Havent done the Ap zone in years so tomorrow will be my first in a while. Ill hit the tent house and then work my way around towards the sound stages and go from there. If we dont get thru all the first night we might pass on the AP things Sat and go to the S&S area and head right to the Soundstages and get the ones we missed.

I just thought bob said they could wait at Finns last year and what u mean went in and Oct?

 

[Frank Drackman]

I haven't done stay and scream, but I did do an AP night last year. I do not think stay and scream lets you into any houses as early as the AP nights do. My take from last year was that they kept us in the KZ and opened the two houses there at 5 PM. Last year, we had finished those two houses before the third house opened and we were kept in the KZ until the third house was opening.

What I was trying to say in my earlier post was that it is possible that stay and scream (I assume the group by Finns) might have been able to start around the time they let us out for the third house....when we were let out of the KZ, we just head to the 3rd house that was mentioned for the AP early start, but we did not try to see if would could have headed to the sound stages at that point instead of going to the house by MIB as it was still before 6:30 at this point in the night.

Anyway, from what I experienced last year, the bennifits of the AP event are that:

You can get a friend in early who does not have an AP/day ticket (they still need an HHN ticket and the RSVP)
When the park closes at 5 PM, they let you see the two houses over in the KZ
The third house opens a little later, but still prior to 6:30, so you get to go through three houses that are near by each other prior to the event starting, then I guess the logic is you can see the first showing of Bill & Ted while still in that area of the park.

I feel it gave us a great head start, after the third house, we just continued to the Disaster queue house and then around to the sound stages.

For us, it worked out great as we did go through three houses and although I was not checking the time, I am pretty sure we did those three by 6:30.

 

[Hockeyman55]

I just thought bob said they could wait at Finns last year and what u mean went in and Oct?

Stay and Scream area is at Fins ever night. The AP area is at Kids one but only on those few AP nights. After those AP nights are over the kid zone area turns into another stay and scream holding area from what I gather

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I haven't done stay and scream, but I did do an AP night last year. I do not think stay and scream lets you into any houses as early as the AP nights do. My take from last year was that they kept us in the KZ and opened the two houses there at 5 PM. Last year, we had finished those two houses before the third house opened and we were kept in the KZ until the third house was opening.

What I was trying to say in my earlier post was that it is possible that stay and scream (I assume the group by Finns) might have been able to start around the time they let us out for the third house....when we were let out of the KZ, we just head to the 3rd house that was mentioned for the AP early start, but we did not try to see if would could have headed to the sound stages at that point instead of going to the house by MIB as it was still before 6:30 at this point in the night.

Anyway, from what I experienced last year, the bennifits of the AP event are that:

You can get a friend in early who does not have an AP/day ticket (they still need an HHN ticket and the RSVP)
When the park closes at 5 PM, they let you see the two houses over in the KZ
The third house opens a little later, but still prior to 6:30, so you get to go through three houses that are near by each other prior to the event starting, then I guess the logic is you can see the first showing of Bill & Ted while still in that area of the park.

I feel it gave us a great head start, after the third house, we just continued to the Disaster queue house and then around to the sound stages.

For us, it worked out great as we did go through three houses and although I was not checking the time, I am pretty sure we did those three by 6:30.

Last year in the Stay and scream holding area they let us out between 5:30 - 5:45, don't remember exactly. They led us to one sound stage house and then by the time we got out 2 more were open so we got a jump on the general guests. AP sounds like you could get three house done before they even let the stay and scream guests out.

 

[IzzyB]

Yes, both AP events I went to I was done with all 3 houses by 6:30 and the first year I got their earlier and actually had to wait a good 20 minutes before they opened the rest of the area up. So everyone queued up at several release points and as soon as they released us we ran to the next house. The first year since I was queued up pretty far we ran to the first one and walked straight in (by jaws) and then was able to go over and do the Disaster one and still made it back for the first showing of Bill & Teds. I think we waited about 5 or 10 minutes at the Disaster one. If you get there at the beginning of the AP event (and especially those in the park already) you will get three houses done and do a lot of waiting for areas to open up. And as you can see I got 5 houses done before the general public could really make it back to effect me.

 

[Hockeyman55]

So here was my experience with the AP preview from this past weekend. We left the park in the early afternoon to go check into our hotel and upon returning around 3:30 there were already a ton of people in both the line out in front of the main gate as well as the line they had set up by the entrance to Kidzone. We had already planned to meet up with some fellow OU members at 4 so waiting in the line wasn't happening, not that we would have anyways We decided to stick it out until 5 and then head over to the check in table at Kidzone and by then there was no line at all and the house were open but by that time Walking Dead was already 60min and La Llorona around 20. So you can guess which one we went to first. After we got out I don't recall if we went into WD or if we went over to Afterlife and went on that. I do remember it was around 6pm when we went to the AL line and waited about 20 min or so for that house and by that time they had opened the gates for us to head out and roam around the rest of the park. If im not mistaken we didnt hit WD during AP but came back later in the event and went on it when the line wasnt so bad. Saturday I did Stay and Scream and that worked out well. Hit Werewolf, Resident Evil, Havoc and then headed to tent house and by then the AP crowd had thinned out and pretty much walked on Ll Llororna and Walking Dead, maybe wait 10min or so for each.

 

[IzzyB]

If you are going this weekend, my suggestion is get into the park before 4:30 and go check in. If you are checked in you can get into the houses right when they open. You probably can do all three houses before the rest opens up. Even without doing this I was able to do all the houses and B&T. I will say this AP event was way more crowded than the ones in the past.

 

[Hockeyman55]

If you are going this weekend, my suggestion is get into the park before 4:30 and go check in. If you are checked in you can get into the houses right when they open. You probably can do all three houses before the rest opens up. Even without doing this I was able to do all the houses and B&T. I will say this AP event was way more crowded than the ones in the past.

Here are my thoughts on this. I would almost say skip the AP and do Stay and Scream and here is why. S&S lets you out as early as 5:30 with us getting out around 5:50 on Saturday and from there hit as many of the Sound Stages as you can. From there head to the Parade/tent house and by then the AP crowd will be heading to the S&S along with the general public masses. Granted this weekend might have been an anomaly with crowds not being too crazy so this might be a little more difficult this weekend coming up. After this weekend AP is no longer available and I say S& S all the way form that point on. Also they dont let the APers out of the area until 6:30 and by then the SS house will be packing them in.

 

[IzzyB]

Here are my thoughts on this. I would almost say skip the AP and do Stay and Scream and here is why. S&S lets you out as early as 5:30 with us getting out around 5:50 on Saturday and from there hit as many of the Sound Stages as you can. From there head to the Parade/tent house and by then the AP crowd will be heading to the S&S along with the general public masses. Granted this weekend might have been an anomaly with crowds not being too crazy so this might be a little more difficult this weekend coming up. After this weekend AP is no longer available and I say S& S all the way form that point on. Also they dont let the APers out of the area until 6:30 and by then the SS house will be packing them in.

Yeah, maybe the AP event is just getting to packed for it to be worth it with stay & Scream being an option. I wonder if you could get both bands so that if they let you out earlier you can get those three houses done and then move over to the AP ones before 6:30. Wouldn't be possible to do if they don't let you out right at 5:30 though.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Yeah, maybe the AP event is just getting to packed for it to be worth it with stay & Scream being an option. I wonder if you could get both bands so that if they let you out earlier you can get those three houses done and then move over to the AP ones before 6:30. Wouldn't be possible to do if they don't let you out right at 5:30 though.

Yeah its a lot of what ifs and dependent on what time they let you out Really either way you decide, whether AP or SS you cant go wrong with and end up getting a jump on one side of the park.

 

[Skipper Justin]

I agree. It was packed this year AP Event wise. I had not seen it this packed before.

 

[Skubersky]

At last Saturday's AP event the line for WD was posted at 70 min by the time it opened at 5, but La Lorna was only about 15 min. We were released to do Afterlife by 5:45, and by the time we got out (5:55) Havoc was open, as were the soundstages except for Evil Dead (which opened at 6:30). I was able to do WD later in the night with only a 20 min wait.

 

[DanB89]

At last Saturday's AP event the line for WD was posted at 70 min by the time it opened at 5, but La Lorna was only about 15 min. We were released to do Afterlife by 5:45, and by the time we got out (5:55) Havoc was open, as were the soundstages except for Evil Dead (which opened at 6:30). I was able to do WD later in the night with only a 20 min wait.

For what it's worth, I got into line for WD at around 5 pm and was out of the house by 5:30. Thankfully, the 70 minute estimate was inaccurate (perhaps intentionally). That, or so many people bailed for La Llorona that 40 minutes worth of wait jumped ship.

I was actually surprised at how manageable the waits on Saturday were compared to Friday. My longest wait was probably the 45 minutes for AWiL (which is easily worth an even longer wait than that).

 

[Jakemeister]

We didn't get let out of Stay and Scream that early but they let us out around 6 and we walked right into 2 or 3 houses.