HHN 28: Tips

[RJ MacReady]

Another thing about the finns sns for stranger things. At some point the lady will yell standing room only and that is when everyone gets up and you become a pack of sardines. Imo it’s all well worth it. Never had to buy express on my trip, just some time at Simpson’s and finns sns.

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

What time does the front gate open for GP? I would assume 6:30 but I could’ve sworn it opened at 6 last Saturday...

 

[Suprachica79]

What time does the front gate open for GP? I would assume 6:30 but I could’ve sworn it opened at 6 last Saturday...

Ticket says 6:30, rarely ever opens after 6:15.

 

[captainmoch]

Incredibly amateur question: why is it that the HHN site on desktop doesn't actually have an option for me to choose my date for the single night "Choose your date" option? It appears on mobile but not desktop which is a huge pain rn.

EDIT: Okay (after five minutes) it loaded, sorry about the dumb question but UO's site is a pain haha.

 

[eXo]

assuming one has the express pass, is it safe to assume that hitting stranger things later in the night will be around 30 min or so? Or are we talking even longer than that with the pass?

I'll be honest, all this waiting around next to Finnegans and jockeying for position to try and be one of the first in sounds incredibly stressful.

I've been considering doing things backwards and staying in Springfield, and then coming out and hitting Dead Exposure, Slaughter Sinema, and then Blumhouse. IIRC, two of these are tents, so I have some concern that light might ruin those a bit for me... but I also figured I could always use the regular line and then come back later and use express pass if I feel the light was an issue or if I feel like they are worth seeing again.

I had originally thought about trying to get a table at Finnegans around 3 or 3:30, but it sounds like that may be problematic. Outside Finnegans was a mess last time I went (2014). It was hot and people had no where to sit except for right on the cement.

The Hello Kitty area sounds like a miserable place to be.

We have tickets for 2 nights. We have express passes for one of those nights. Unfortunately the express passes are for a thursday night and the second night is a friday.... so I figure friday will be spent watching the academy of villians, enjoying scare zones, maybe hitting up a few rides / Diagon Alley, and then possibly seeing 2 or 3 of the houses again depending on wait times.

That said, the waiting pens thing is really stressing me out.

 

[JawsVictim]

assuming one has the express pass, is it safe to assume that hitting stranger things later in the night will be around 30 min or so? Or are we talking even longer than that with the pass?

I'll be honest, all this waiting around next to Finnegans and jockeying for position to try and be one of the first in sounds incredibly stressful.

I've been considering doing things backwards and staying in Springfield, and then coming out and hitting Dead Exposure, Slaughter Sinema, and then Blumhouse. IIRC, two of these are tents, so I have some concern that light might ruin those a bit for me... but I also figured I could always use the regular line and then come back later and use express pass if I feel the light was an issue or if I feel like they are worth seeing again.

I had originally thought about trying to get a table at Finnegans around 3 or 3:30, but it sounds like that may be problematic. Outside Finnegans was a mess last time I went (2014). It was hot and people had no where to sit except for right on the cement.

The Hello Kitty area sounds like a miserable place to be.

We have tickets for 2 nights. We have express passes for one of those nights. Unfortunately the express passes are for a thursday night and the second night is a friday.... so I figure friday will be spent watching the academy of villians, enjoying scare zones, maybe hitting up a few rides / Diagon Alley, and then possibly seeing 2 or 3 of the houses again depending on wait times.

That said, the waiting pens thing is really stressing me out.

Finn’s really isn’t stressful. Grab a coffee or beer around 4:45, enter by Transformers, and go to the barricade across from The Mummy next to the park. Hang out on a stoop or curb, and you’ll be heading to ST around 5:45 with little to no wait. After that, you can hit Poltergeist and Scary Tales with a 20 min wait before it gets packed.

If you want to hit Slaughter, TrT, Seeds, Dead Exposure, and Blumhouse all without express, definitely use Springfield.

 

[eXo]

I appreciate the reply. Reading the past few pages makes it seem like you have to get there super early, you have to stake out a place on a certain side of the pen, you have to pump up your air jordan's and get ready for a 100 meter dash, etc...

 

[Joe]

assuming one has the express pass, is it safe to assume that hitting stranger things later in the night will be around 30 min or so? Or are we talking even longer than that with the pass?

I'll be honest, all this waiting around next to Finnegans and jockeying for position to try and be one of the first in sounds incredibly stressful.

I've been considering doing things backwards and staying in Springfield, and then coming out and hitting Dead Exposure, Slaughter Sinema, and then Blumhouse. IIRC, two of these are tents, so I have some concern that light might ruin those a bit for me... but I also figured I could always use the regular line and then come back later and use express pass if I feel the light was an issue or if I feel like they are worth seeing again.

I had originally thought about trying to get a table at Finnegans around 3 or 3:30, but it sounds like that may be problematic. Outside Finnegans was a mess last time I went (2014). It was hot and people had no where to sit except for right on the cement.

The Hello Kitty area sounds like a miserable place to be.

We have tickets for 2 nights. We have express passes for one of those nights. Unfortunately the express passes are for a thursday night and the second night is a friday.... so I figure friday will be spent watching the academy of villians, enjoying scare zones, maybe hitting up a few rides / Diagon Alley, and then possibly seeing 2 or 3 of the houses again depending on wait times.

That said, the waiting pens thing is really stressing me out.

Officially Express cuts your wait in half. In actuality I find the wait to be 5-20 minutes, max.

 

[JoeCamel]

I appreciate the reply. Reading the past few pages makes it seem like you have to get there super early, you have to stake out a place on a certain side of the pen, you have to pump up your air jordan's and get ready for a 100 meter dash, etc...

As long as you are aware of what needs to be done and which house to hit first and second it is not too bad. Other years have been much wilder but they have a pretty good system for the release. BTW, there is no 100 yard dash. It is a controlled fast walk.

 

[captainmoch]

Alright, I'm finally going this Thursday! Any advice in terms of lines, crowd flow throughout the night, etc. on Thursday nights? For reference, the houses I want to try out most are Stranger Things, Poltergeist, Trick R' Treat, and Carnival Graveyard.

 

[JawsVictim]

Alright, I'm finally going this Thursday! Any advice in terms of lines, crowd flow throughout the night, etc. on Thursday nights? For reference, the houses I want to try out most are Stranger Things, Poltergeist, Trick R' Treat, and Carnival Graveyard.

Welp from he sounds of things, it sounds like a crap shoot! Likely gonna be very busy. Are you doing Stay and Scream? Do you have express?

 

[captainmoch]

Welp from he sounds of things, it sounds like a crap shoot! Likely gonna be very busy. Are you doing Stay and Scream? Do you have express?

Unfortunately not doing Stay & Scream or Express, as my friends and I are on a budget. I'm just curious if there's been any notable crowd patterns on Thursdays that we could use to our advantage, you know?

 

[JawsVictim]

Unfortunately not doing Stay & Scream or Express, as my friends and I are on a budget. I'm just curious if there's been any notable crowd patterns on Thursdays that we could use to our advantage, you know?

Nope, nothing in particular on Thursdays. Best advice is to get to the gates early.

Once you enter, head straight for Trick or Treat. I’d say absolutely do TrT> SoEx > Dead Exposure > Slaughter. You should be able to get that done within the first two hours.

Next, book it to Carnival. Then pick ST or Poltergeist and settle in for a long wait. Hit the other one afterward.

I’d also recommend going through Scary Tales if you get the chance.

 

[captainmoch]

Nope, nothing in particular on Thursdays. Best advice is to get to the gates early.

Once you enter, head straight for Trick or Treat. I’d say absolutely do TrT> SoEx > Dead Exposure > Slaughter. You should be able to get that done within the first two hours.

Next, book it to Carnival. Then pick ST or Poltergeist and settle in for a long wait. Hit the other one afterward.

I’d also recommend going through Scary Tales if you get the chance.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[JoeCamel]

Nope, nothing in particular on Thursdays. Best advice is to get to the gates early.

Once you enter, head straight for Trick or Treat. I’d say absolutely do TrT> SoEx > Dead Exposure > Slaughter. You should be able to get that done within the first two hours.

Next, book it to Carnival. Then pick ST or Poltergeist and settle in for a long wait. Hit the other one afterward.

I’d also recommend going through Scary Tales if you get the chance.

You left out Blumhouse???

 

[IHateJumpScares]

posted this in the general thread but people may find it useful here.

We were literally the first people into the Finn's holding area and we arrived at 4. They held is for about 5-10 minutes then let us in. There were about 30-40 people there by the time they let us in.

We did stranger things with about a 5 minute wait (waiting for the house to open, 4 college girls cut us, plus a tour got placed in front of us), scary tales with 5-10 mins, stopped for some quick food because my daughter was traumatized after scary tales, poltergeist with about a 20 minute wait, maybe less, then seeds with Express leading to about a 20 minute wait (posted 45), then slaughter cinema with about a 20 minute non express wait.

We didn't do any more houses because my daughter was saturated and exhausted at that point after doing the parks all day, and the rest of the night was AOV, food, and the all the scare zones.

We did NOT need the express, a total waste for us, and if we didn't have to stop 2 houses in for recovery time the original plan would have worked perfectly (Finn's S&S, ST, Scary Tales, polt, carnival graveyard, seeds, slaughter, trick or treat, and ending with dead exposure).

It appeared to be a very, very solid plan, even though we abandoned it.

 

[captainmoch]

Question: One of my (adult) friends going to HHN with me tomorrow doesn't currently have their driver's licence with them... so they don't currently have a photo I.D. to bring. Is it required for every group member to show I.D. to pick up the tickets, or just one?

 

[IHateJumpScares]

Question: One of my (adult) friends going to HHN with me tomorrow doesn't currently have their driver's licence with them... so they don't currently have a photo I.D. to bring. Is it required for every group member to show I.D. to pick up the tickets, or just one?

I think it depends on if the tickets are linked to a name or not. Ours were linked to a name at first, and they messed up and were both linked to my daughter. I called and they made them nameless over the phone. I printed mine from the guest services inside the park, just because I was lazy and wanted a person in case something happened.

If the tix aren't assigned to a specific name, I think all you need is the confirmation number and your credit card used to purchase. At guest services all they wanted was my confirmation number and my license, since I bought both tix.

 

[Justin Bossert]

We are headed to HHN for this Thursday and Friday, doing the stay and scream with no express passes. Since Thursday will be less busy, we plan to knock out the houses closer to the front and then stay in the Springfield holding area Friday to get the others toward the back.

I do have one question though; I see lots of posts about staying in the Finnegan's pens to get to Stranger Things early(that's our goal), but not much mention of Hello Kitty. Why is that? Is it just because Finnegan's offers an opportunity for food and drinks prior to lining up, while Hello Kitty area is boring, or does Finnegan's let out quicker than the Hello Kitty area?

 

[JoeCamel]

We are headed to HHN for this Thursday and Friday, doing the stay and scream with no express passes. Since Thursday will be less busy, we plan to knock out the houses closer to the front and then stay in the Springfield holding area Friday to get the others toward the back.

I do have one question though; I see lots of posts about staying in the Finnegan's pens to get to Stranger Things early(that's our goal), but not much mention of Hello Kitty. Why is that? Is it just because Finnegan's offers an opportunity for food and drinks prior to lining up, while Hello Kitty area is boring, or does Finnegan's let out quicker than the Hello Kitty area?

Hello Kitty is more of an overflow area. Your original plan is sound, use it.