HHN 33: Tips, Tricks & Planning Thread

[Brian G.]

The dedicated thread for Tips, Tricks & Planning questions, advice, etc. regarding HHN 33 at Universal Orlando

 

[gbird]

Brilliant timing was going to start planning this weekend with my 'squad'

I will ask the first question for some advice. Which holding zones will be let out to which houses this year?

 

[SeventyOne]

To answer the inevitable Hell Week question -- after a few years of staggering days off, the five closest counties (Orange, Oscelola, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard) have settled on Monday, October 14 as their in-service day. Which corresponds to Columbus Day up north. Expect a massively busy weekend with wall-to-wall middle and high school kids, particularly that Sunday.

In addition, Orange County (the one Orlando sits in and the biggest of the big three local) is off Friday, October 25, so expect a spike in kids that Thursday/Friday.

Finally Volusia (Daytona Beach) is also out Friday, September 20 and Polk (which is technically the Tampa market but at its closest <20 miles from Universal) has a half-day, so might see a spike that Thursday/Friday as well, but not to the level of the above dates.

 

[Clive]

I'll be there 9/4-9/9. Very excited!

 

[Brian G.]

Brilliant timing was going to start planning this weekend with my 'squad'

I will ask the first question for some advice. Which holding zones will be let out to which houses this year?

Still too early. We should find out soon!

 

[johnathanm]

Still too early. We should find out soon!

Do we usually know prior to opening night?

 

[Tobias]

Do we usually know prior to opening night?

IIRC, we find out opening night when folks report from the various stay and scream pens.
The best thing to expect is NY generally opens to SS 22 (A Quiet Place) and at least one other, though they've let folks line up for more in previous years. But NY doesn't open up to the SS 23 house down at the entrance to the park, so no Monstruos.

If there's a S&S in Richter's, it'll probably open to Major Sweets.

Springfield is the big ??? right now, as we don't know if they'll include either or both of the new Sprung tents. I would expect at least one of the the original tents. (Be it Slaughter Sinema or Museum.)

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Question;
I always go in September and will be there opening weekend again, but want to throw in a late October visit.
Which week would be better, 10/23 - 10/28 or 10/30-11/4. I assume less crowds after Halloween but not sure if the atmosphere & houses suffer because scare actors might be tapping out?
Thanks!

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Springfield is the big ??? right now, as we don't know if they'll include either or both of the new Sprung tents. I would expect at least one of the the original tents. (Be it Slaughter Sinema or Museum.)

I wonder if they're considering adjusting how S&S is laid out this year to accommodate just how far the two newer tents are? Ticket scanners at FFL rather than Central Park? It's a bit of a tight area to accommodate a holding pen and queues for houses.

Question;
I always go in September and will be there opening weekend again, but want to throw in a late October visit.
Which week would be better, 10/23 - 10/28 or 10/30-11/4. I assume less crowds after Halloween but not sure if the atmosphere & houses suffer because scare actors might be tapping out?
Thanks!

By this point, there's already a few holes in the houses... but not too bad. Definitely would recommend after Halloween, crowds died down a lot.

 

[SeventyOne]

Question;
I always go in September and will be there opening weekend again, but want to throw in a late October visit.
Which week would be better, 10/23 - 10/28 or 10/30-11/4. I assume less crowds after Halloween but not sure if the atmosphere & houses suffer because scare actors might be tapping out?
Thanks!

With RBLX, by that point in October attrition has already done its damage. I would guess better off with the second weekend, weekend before is traditionally slammed. I'm curious when local bars observe Halloween this year, if they wait for 11/1, that might keep crowds down a bit, in addition to the general post-holiday loss of interest. Plus Halloween night itself at the event is always just a little more fun.

 

[humanlike]

Not super sure where to ask this, but has anyone else had a frequent fear pass printed at will call print without a typical barcode and just a qr code in the corner instead? I feel like mine probably misprinted but just want to make sure lol

 

[HHN Maddux]

Got Premium Scream as a surprise early Christmas gift, and now I'm baffled on which house I should start with! Was originally planning on starting with Eternal Bloodlines through Springfield S&S on opening night, but now I got all 10 to choose from on Premium Scream!

What are y'all thinking I should do? Right now I'm considering Frozen Empire or Quiet Place considering the lines, but at the same time, I'm really not sure how long lines will be since it's 'limited capacity'. I face a conundrum!

 

[Clive]

Got Premium Scream as a surprise early Christmas gift, and now I'm baffled on which house I should start with! Was originally planning on starting with Eternal Bloodlines through Springfield S&S on opening night, but now I got all 10 to choose from on Premium Scream!

What are y'all thinking I should do? Right now I'm considering Frozen Empire or Quiet Place considering the lines, but at the same time, I'm really not sure how long lines will be since it's 'limited capacity'. I face a conundrum!

I don't think you will need to worry about lines.

 

[Stonecoldfreak1]

Not super sure where to ask this, but has anyone else had a frequent fear pass printed at will call print without a typical barcode and just a qr code in the corner instead? I feel like mine probably misprinted but just want to make sure lol

Read what printed out and make sure it doesn't say something along the lines of "not valid until exchanged." I know some people that got them printed out and it printed a voucher that needed to be given to print the actual FFP.

 

[Chumpieboy]

Read what printed out and make sure it doesn't say something along the lines of "not valid until exchanged." I know some people that got them printed out and it printed a voucher that needed to be given to print the actual FFP.

Also either way you can go to Guest Services and get your tickets reprinted or on a card to put on your lanyard or add to the app.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Not super sure where to ask this, but has anyone else had a frequent fear pass printed at will call print without a typical barcode and just a qr code in the corner instead? I feel like mine probably misprinted but just want to make sure lol

as mentioned, I would try to scan it in the APP, if that works, you are good. I have seen newer (park) tickets using a small QR code as opposed to a barcode so I imagine everything is fine.

 

[HHN Maddux]

I don't think you will need to worry about lines.

I now go back to the conundrum of having to decide which house I wanna go through first, the hardest choice for any HHN fan!

 

[Rescuer73]

To answer the inevitable Hell Week question -- after a few years of staggering days off, the five closest counties (Orange, Oscelola, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard) have settled on Monday, October 14 as their in-service day. Which corresponds to Columbus Day up north. Expect a massively busy weekend with wall-to-wall middle and high school kids, particularly that Sunday.

In addition, Orange County (the one Orlando sits in and the biggest of the big three local) is off Friday, October 25, so expect a spike in kids that Thursday/Friday.

Finally Volusia (Daytona Beach) is also out Friday, September 20 and Polk (which is technically the Tampa market but at its closest <20 miles from Universal) has a half-day, so might see a spike that Thursday/Friday as well, but not to the level of the above dates.

Our dates at the 11th to the 18th of October. Oh well. We will just need to make the best of it. At least we have express on the Wednesday.

 

[SeventyOne]

Got Premium Scream as a surprise early Christmas gift, and now I'm baffled on which house I should start with! Was originally planning on starting with Eternal Bloodlines through Springfield S&S on opening night, but now I got all 10 to choose from on Premium Scream!

What are y'all thinking I should do? Right now I'm considering Frozen Empire or Quiet Place considering the lines, but at the same time, I'm really not sure how long lines will be since it's 'limited capacity'. I face a conundrum!

Personal recommendation, soundstage houses and F&F tend to work better in daylight v. the back tents. More indoor or at least shaded queue time for your eyes to adjust. With sunglasses, can see pretty clearly the moment you walk into the opening scene.

 

[4hartthreat]

Got Premium Scream as a surprise early Christmas gift, and now I'm baffled on which house I should start with! Was originally planning on starting with Eternal Bloodlines through Springfield S&S on opening night, but now I got all 10 to choose from on Premium Scream!

What are y'all thinking I should do? Right now I'm considering Frozen Empire or Quiet Place considering the lines, but at the same time, I'm really not sure how long lines will be since it's 'limited capacity'. I face a conundrum!

I'm going to vote for Sweets. You'll be (one of) the first to see the new layout for how they are doing the house at F&F this year.