Halloween Horror Nights 2021 (USH) - News & Info

[StopMakingSense]

I went Saturday night without early entry and prepared myself for the worst, but it turned out much better than expected. I'm wondering if going in at 7 and hitting the upper lot first helped my cause.

1. Halloween 4 - hit this as soon as I got into the park at 7 and was out by 7:15.
2. Bride - went straight to Bride next. It said a 20 minute wait but it was really just a walk in after they sent me through the ridiculous queue setup. Was out by 7:25.
3. Terror Tram - Tram said no wait so I went straight there. This was really the perfect time for the tram. The sun was just setting and there was hardly anyone there. We were done by 7:45.
4. Hill House - after hitting those three, the rest of the wait times were getting up there. We took about 15 minutes to get some water and decided to go get into the HH queue. It said 75 minutes and took exactly that long. We lined up at 8 and were out by about 9:20.
5. Exorcist - the queue said 75 minutes but it definitely didn't look like it would take that long. We lined up and guessed right - we were in about 45 minutes later. Lined up around 9:45 and out by about 10:30.

At this point, TCM was still above a 100 minute wait and had been all night, and the queue looked every bit of 100 minutes. We debated getting in line or waiting until 11 and buying the After 11 pm Express pass for $89 so we could hit every maze again on the way out. For anyone wondering, there was a booth set up right outside of the mummy queue selling them. Huge sign, you can't miss it. Ultimately we ended up buying the express passes for $89 each, but I was still amazed we were able to do 5 of the 7 mazes (Walking Dead excluded) before 10:30 pm and without early entry. Way better than I expected after seeing everything Friday night.

6. TCM - went into TCM right at 11 pm with express. Wish I could have done this one twice, but I just couldn't make it work with the way the line was all night long.

After doing TCM at 11, we started working our way out of the park. In order, we went to Exorcist, Hill House, Pandora's Box (skipped it initially since I wasn't crazy about it in 2019, but strangely went through alone this time and got all the scares - much better), Bride, H4, and we were back in the car around 12:30.

For an opening Saturday night, I was ecstatic about the mazes we were able to go to without express and without early entry, all before 10:30. The after 11 express passes really just helped me squeeze into TCM and get an encore of everything else. The night still would have been amazing without them, and if I lived closer to the park or had passes for the year I would have just called it a night at that point. Long story short, had a significantly better time than I expected to have after seeing the wait times Friday night and reading about everyone else's experience.

 

[JawsVictim]

What’s the consensus here? Is HHNH worth checking out this year, or am I better of just hitting Knott’s?

 

[kingcooger]

What’s the consensus here? Is HHNH worth checking out this year, or am I better of just hitting Knott’s?

My friend goes every year as press and tells me whether or not she thinks it is worth the money

She said as much as she liked some small aspects, she would not recommend paying for this year

Take that how you will

 

[JawsVictim]

My friend goes every year as press and tells me whether or not she thinks it is worth the money

She said as much as she liked some small aspects, she would not recommend paying for this year

Take that how you will

I felt like HHNO was barely worth attending this year, which is why I asked. Thanks for the input!

 

[StopMakingSense]

What’s the consensus here? Is HHNH worth checking out this year, or am I better of just hitting Knott’s?

From my experience, I'd say it was worth it. Definitely didn't live up to 2019, and if I could only go to one this year I'd probably choose Scary Farm. But I do think it was worth the $70ish I paid for the general admission ticket.

 

[JawsVictim]

From my experience, I'd say it was worth it. Definitely didn't live up to 2019, and if I could only go to one this year I'd probably choose Scary Farm. But I do think it was worth the $70ish I paid for the general admission ticket.

Two questions: is there a ton of clear vinyl/plexiglass like in Orlando? And do APs get a discount?

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Two questions: is there a ton of clear vinyl/plexiglass like in Orlando? And do APs get a discount?

APs do get discounts and no
almost every instance of plexiglass is in the form of an in-scene window or scrim built into the theming, I personally really like how they did it.

 

[JawsVictim]

APs do get discounts and no
almost every instance of plexiglass is in the form of an in-scene window or scrim built into the theming, I personally really like how they did it.

Now I’m a bit more intrigued. I kind of assumed it’d be the same as Orlando where the plexiglass/vinyl hamstrung the scares.

 

[chris.g]

If you can go on a Thursday or Sunday night I would recommend it, there is actually more atmosphere this year but its just a solid year at best.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Now I’m a bit more intrigued. I kind of assumed it’d be the same as Orlando where the plexiglass/vinyl hamstrung the scares.

In all honesty it's kind of hard to tell whether the plexiglass was a covid measure or planned from the start for these mazes. It's pretty seamless so it's hard to believe they were a later addition.
Plus theres still a lot of non-plexiglass scares that get really up close and personal so I think it might just be a new tactic theyre trying out.

 

[JawsVictim]

Thanks for the feedback. Going to look into both Knott’s and HHNH more once I get back on the West Coast later this week.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

In all honesty it's kind of hard to tell whether the plexiglass was a covid measure or planned from the start for these mazes. It's pretty seamless so it's hard to believe they were a later addition.
Plus theres still a lot of non-plexiglass scares that get really up close and personal so I think it might just be a new tactic theyre trying out.

This is doubly true in H4, I think.

 

[rageofthegods]

H4 was honestly brilliant in the way it turned necessity into invention. Really hope the scares they came up with for this year become more commonplace in later years.

 

[DanTheMan]

I wrote a program that fetched and saved wait times every 15 minutes and posted as a line graph. The following graph is from Sunday, 9/12/21. Hopefully this helps give a visual representation of the wait times over the course of the night. If others find it helpful I'll try to run it during future nights and post updates.

Wait Time Source: https://api.themeparks.wiki/preview/parks/UniversalStudios/waittime

Sunday (9/12/21):

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I wrote a program that fetched and saved wait times every 15 minutes and posted as a line graph. The following graph is from Sunday, 9/12/21. Hopefully this helps give a visual representation of the wait times over the course of the night. If others find it helpful I'll try to run it during future nights and post updates.

Wait Time Source: https://api.themeparks.wiki/preview/parks/UniversalStudios/waittime

Sunday (9/12/21):View attachment 15300

This is awesome and very helpful. Kudos!

 

[chris.g]

I just realized... has anyone caught Jabbawockeez yet?

 

[zto8411]

I don’t think Exorcist should be anyone’s first stop. TCM is a better maze that seems to get similar (or worse) wait times. At least here in the early stretches, TCM should be your first stop with early entry.

Exorcist was my first stop because I didn’t want to go through TCM with a ton of light bleed at 5:30. Is that something that is noticeable or no?

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Exorcist was my first stop because I didn’t want to go through TCM with a ton of light bleed at 5:30. Is that something that is noticeable or no?

TCM suffers from light bleed pretty hard, but unless you wanna wait in a really really long line later, you kinda just have to put up with it since the sun doesnt even set till like 7:30.

 

[chris.g]

Going again tonight

 

[Rideguy70]

Same, but not for long... short and early visit