Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion

[sjago13]

Made an audible tonight since we arrived later than expected and there was a huge line for kitty s&s. Went to fin and had a beer and did exorcist first. Went to the tents from there and in line for Krampus at 7.20 with a 30 min wait after doing 4 houses. So strat seems to be s&s a soundstage then go to the tents.

Edit: Krampus was a posted 45. At the end of the line now and it's been 7 mins. I'm sorry I seem to have been really lucky with lines while some have seem to gotten screwed.

 

[snayberry]

Hope tonight is better for you guys. Keep the updates rolling in.

 

[RogueAntilles]

AHS, Tomb, Halloween 2, Exorcist, Krampus, Ghost Town. Done before 8. No Express! It can be done ladies and gents.

Good night so far. Better than last night.

 

[graspthesun]

Don't hate on those people. Be thankful for them. For every person who knows what to do to maximize there has to be that person that does the predictable thing such that we can counter it. If everyone knew the optimal way to do it, it would no longer be optimal.

Personally, if I'm pretty much done with a house (TWD in 2015), I'll burn my Express right at opening or the end of the night to get my count up higher without having to wait for a house I don't enjoy as much.

 

[sjago13]

8.45 walk by ghost town and it says 60. Right then it switches to 20 and I ask the guy if it is for real and he is like it's prolly shorter. GT is a half switchback 5 min wait/walkon... at 8.45.

 

[snayberry]

8.45 walk by ghost town and it says 60. Right then it switches to 20 and I ask the guy if it is for real and he is like it's prolly shorter. GT is a half switchback 5 min wait/walkon... at 8.45.

It must have been a ghost town, for real then.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Tonight was much better for us. I still think the first couple of Saturday's are probably the best nights to go.

I chuck last night up to:

Us never going on opening night
The Harvest moon
The eclipse
Going to the event the same night we drove up

Oh, I know what it is. I wore my 'Hyped for Horrah' shirt tonight and it made everything better!

 

[UNIrd]

They have to get control. Disney found that out the hard way that people will abuse a system to the breaking point.
I am confused by the idea that having people who can't stand for long periods use a wheelchair is somehow not a reasonable accommodation.
I am also confused by a person who can't handle the crowds in lines, but can go into a crowded loud, intense haunted house? How does that work? A person with sensory issues is fine in the houses, but can't handle the line?

Yeah, I hope they figure out a way around it. I didn't even realize they made this accommodation and people abused it until last year someone told me first hand they abused it. I was like.. wow. Another option is to pay the $100+ every year like I do and not be a lying sack of s---. But to each their own.

Now I find myself in a predicament where I was in an accident and I'm wearing a foot in my boot. So now I may actually have to HHN in a wheelchair if i don't get better in time. But I'll still buy Express and just use that.

 

[Teebin]

Yeah, I hope they figure out a way around it. I didn't even realize they made this accommodation and people abused it until last year someone told me first hand they abused it.

I understand where many of you are coming from on this issue. I used to scoff at these claims etc etc. 5 years ago I apparently crushed some of my "back stuff" by lifting heavy things. I can kinda walk just fine, but standing still kills me. Just shaving is torture. It makes me so sad as I was such a romping park slut. So, tip your head back and say hmm before getting angry at persons in the chairs.

 

[sjago13]

In line for AHS making it house 13 of the nights without express. Really solid night. I always wonder where are the people that are crazy enough to flood opening night but don't come night 2.

 

[SeventyOne]

Man, the reviews are all over the place for opening night on Twitter.

Opening night of anything horrible for reviews. People get hyped up. I'll be the first to admit my October opinions don't often exactly match my opening night opinions.

 

[SeventyOne]

So, tip your head back and say hmm before getting angry at persons in the chairs.

I don't think anyone is angry at the persons in chairs. It's the persons who expected a free Express Pass being told "we'll give you a wheelchair, take it thru the regular line" who are angry. Saw this twice in maybe 5 minutes tonight at Guest Services.

Abuse of the system was rampant last year. I figured tripling price of Express would exacerbate it, and it seems to have--Universal has to fight back if they want to keep any sort of Express system. (Of course, would be better for everyone but their accountants if they simply ditched it.)

 

[RogueAntilles]

Just got back to Cabana. Had a really good night. Did all the houses (-WD), Bill & Ted and all SZs. Solid year so far, not as good as last year but no one was expecting it to be. I'll write a full review tomorrow.. quick thoughts.

Best houses so far (in no order)
Tomb of the Ancients
Halloween 2
Krampus
Exorcist

 

[Lucky Planet]

Not necessarily. The boards were just wrong. When we left and just got out of ghost town with a 15 min wait the board at the front said 50. The boards were either really slow to update or just wrong.

As for the wait times posted at the houses I either waited that time or less. Never had a wait over posted. Again it seems other pepole had issues so I must have just been lucky.

Wait times at HHN are always hit or miss. I usually try to pay close attention to the queue setups the first few days so I can judge for myself and not rely solely on the wait time signs.

This year the boards that show all the wait times on them seem to be particularly off. Several times I've seen some say 5 minutes while the house entrance would say 60 minutes. That's a pretty big discrepancy.

Today exorcist said 45 and i waited 15 maybe
Texas chainsaw said 50 and waited 20.
Times are very off. I wonder if they are trying to get more people to get express or something
I remember in 2014 the mega walking dead house always always had a longer times posted everyday.
All day long. Could be 20 minutes and it would say 60. If it was 40 would say 75. It was crazy.

 

[RogueAntilles]

Today exorcist said 45 and i waited 15 maybe
Texas chainsaw said 50 and waited 20.
Times are very off. I wonder if they are trying to get more people to get express or something
I remember in 2014 the mega walking dead house always always had a longer times posted everyday.
All day long. Could be 20 minutes and it would say 60. If it was 40 would say 75. It was crazy.

It's all about herding the crowds around the park. The general public will see a wait (unless it's a house they have to do) and say "forget it" and move on. I noticed this especially by B&D because of how crowded that area can get, Texas said 60 we waited 25, Chance said 50 it was 15. Especially later in the night, they want people to go home.

I know most of us will see 60min wait time and have to scope it out first.

 

[hishedale]

Maybe they put the overly high wait times as a "worst case scenario" time.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Ding! The number 1 problem with HHN. Express passes are a joke. When I was walking into Ghost Town earlier in the evening the express was WWAAYY longer than the regular. We got into the house long before Express.

Last night was an off night for us to. Tomb of the Ancients was stellar. No problem with that at all. EVERY other house I felt like saying, did the actors show up tonight to scare? There were vacant areas in houses completely. The first i was like it was prob a cast change. By the 4th I was like... where is everyone?

The biggest issue for express is that they can't control when people show up to the houses. So even if you use express you have to be mindful of the crowd flow to the express people. Since they don't care about lines the average person will work front to back in sequence. Also what ducks for express is that they seem to keep the ratio for merge consistent regardless of express length. Only time I have seen them really favor express was at tent 2 a few years ago when express line back up into the park.

Bingo! It said 5 minutes for Halloween for a while. I got suckered by a 20 minute posting for Krampus that was 50 minutes 5 minutes later when I got to the entrance.

Edit: I get the issue. It's nearly impossible to be accurate with a dynamic allocation of express vs standby. You get a glut of express users, you get long express lines or you get literal "stand" by as the ratio drops to 1% standby.

how many people from the regular line are supposed to pass between express groups of people?
I understand Express is meant to not stop, it is meant to have people pass quicker and basically express is not really meant to stand still. ( I know it does but still)
but when the regular line is one hour, how do they handle who passes between express?
sometimes the regular line is stand still for so long. I know express is paying more but there are times where the regular line is just completely stuck in place for what feels like a very long time

 

[s8film40]

Tonight's wait times were great! I arrived a little late (9pm), everything was a round 15-30 minutes with only one exception TWD at 45 minutes. Then some rain came everyone left and just about every house was in the 5-15 minute range. A little wet, but I could have easily done all 9 maybe more if I had tried, I took a break during the rain and also caught the final B&T.

 

[SeventyOne]

Crowds Sunday were noticeably lighter even before the monsoon set in. Not sure if people were burned out by 2 nights already, or if no one knew first Sunday had an event this year.

Even with football on you could maneuver Finns with ease during S&S. Anecdotally I hear Lucy S&S was packed, with people waiting to release to AHS.

 

[georgemoe]

What has been the first house open for Springfield S&S? Has it been Halloween consistently? Is Tomb open shortly after so can can queue right into it from the H2 exit? Is the first house for Finn's Ghost Town and then TWD? It appears there is huge demand for Kitty and AHS. Thanks!