Tonight was a huge difference from when I went on the 10th. We got in 15-20 minutes before standard early entry thanks to our APs, staff gave us wristbands, and we ended up right near the front of The Exorcist line. We breezed through mostly everything — all six mazes, Jurassic World, Forbidden Journey, ate at Leatherface’s, a drink at the plaza, and even saw the Jabawockeez show because we figured “Screw it” — and were good to go by 10:15/10:30ish (skipping Terror Tram and TWD).
I wanted to redo TCM under the cover of night, but by the time we’d wrapped up, so to speak, the crowds had really settled in, and most of the wait times for the heavy hitters were between 70-100 minutes, so we ended up taking off, but far more content with our experience than the first time.
I will say, though, the crowd still sucked, especially once it started picking up. Universal employees were pretty on point about calling out masks, but I can’t begin to count how many times I’d see people flip off an employee once their back was turned and take off their mask again (and I even heard some lady call a female employee a “stupid bitch” for simply doing her job, so that’s wonderful). Even worse, when in line for H4, a group of eight was behind us, only one wearing a mask, and one of the women sneezed so absurdly loud that everyone around looked… and we felt her debris on our arms. And then right after that, the same group started smoking cigarettes in line, followed by a couple of joints with “IDGAF” commentary to let us all know how badass they are, followed by a mass coughing fit that had everyone not part of their group rolling their eyes.
If there’s one constant, it’s always that people suck, but even still, tonight was a far more pleasant experience!
Also, side note, but am I crazy: What is it with people behind you in mazes who stay right up on you, to the point they’re practically kissing the back of your neck or feeling like they’re trying to forcibly walk side by side with you rather than staying with their own group? I don’t think we went through a single maze tonight where I couldn’t even turn a corner without someone behind me trying to seize the split second in an attempt to wedge their entire body into a few inch gap between my arm and a wall for no discernible reason. Really weird, and sometimes the same thing even happens in the queue lines; one person from a larger group behind us will suddenly fall into step with us instead of stay behind us like somehow they’re going to get past us, if that makes sense. Maybe it’s just me, but even disregarding social distancing, it’s something I’ve noticed always seems to happen at HHN. Strange!