HHN 34: Tips, Tricks & Planning Thread

[UniversalRBLX]

Updating this as I think with 3 weekends down I've gotten a good idea of the event this year.


I hate saying this, but I really have no solid stay & scream route this year. The only tip I can give is that there is a "grace period" closer to the event start (around 5:45 to 6:15PM) where the Fallout queue is relatively quiet as most of the S&S guests would have experienced it by then and it's a 5-10 min wait.

Just an observation: stay & scream is busier than ever this year. To a point CityWalk bartenders are complaining they've lost the "pregame" crowd they were counting on this season. Houses are opening up with 100+ minute waits. Last night, they closed FN@F standby during S&S because it was full.

The ripple effect from this is that the rest of the night is more pleasant. Based on last year, I fully expected a quarter-mile of traffic at 7:40 last night--instead, I was greeted with multiple empty "toll" booths. Security is set up to send you all the way to the JP garage like last year, but every time it's been open to the rotunda with at least one open checkpoint. When I left around 11:30, not the usual rush of people still coming in. I can only assume the event is back to slowing down after midnight, but I haven't had a chance to observe that yet.

Make of this what you will, and adjust plans/expectations accordingly.

Credit to UOR, parking and security have been a breeze this year. However S&S has gotten ridicously useless over the years and difficult to navigate without express.

 

[SeventyOne]

Credit to UOR, parking and security have been a breeze this year. However S&S has gotten ridicously useless over the years and difficult to navigate without express.

"Credit" might be a strong word in this case. Universal is clearly set up -- and staffed up -- like they expected a different event. They seem to have been caught flatfooted just like everyone else. I hope they don't cut staff only to have October return to normal.

Best theories I've heard are (1) Five Nights crowd is younger, has to be home at a decent hour, and (2) guests are priced out of Express and think S&S the only way they'll be able to see the marquee IPs without a 2 hour wait (which, of course, everyone else thinks, defeating the purpose altogether). Bars have been relatively empty as well lately, which I suppose could support either theory.