Went last night with Early Entry, but was in the park early with AP, got our wristbands at 4. We had Hellraiser, Evil Dead, and Sinners done by 6pm. Went down to the Lower Lot, used a Dining Pass to try the brisket fries, and then had Ozzy and DDD done by 7:15. We skipped ST5, did Klowns, which by that point ended up being our longest wait due to Express people just endlessly getting in, and we didn't get out of it until 8:25.
Ate some more food, went to ride Mario Kart, which only had like a 20-minute wait posted, with the plan to do Killceanara on the way out of the park since it, too, had a short wait, only for MK to break down--we gave it about 15 minutes to get back up and running (it didn't) and by the time we stepped foot back on the Lower Lot, everything was pushing 45/60/80 minutes, and we ended up leaving the park around 9:45.
It seemed like the real surge happened between 8pm and 9pm; if we'd care about getting ST5 and the Tram done, we easily could've squeezed them in instead of our food stops, same with Killceanara if we hadn't wasted time on MK. But once 9 hit? Crowd threshold I/we can tolerate was definitely crossed. No one has work or school the next morning anymore, apparently, considering how many people were still coming as we were on our way out, haha. Thursday's still definitely doable so long as you buckle in with a plan and know there's a ticking clock you're racing against, just like weekend days.