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.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

"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.

I do think the "need" to get to the event earlier has resulted in HHN being busy from the very start. I remember the days of the event not feeling busy until 9PM. Operationally, this practice is far better than having guests rush in between a smaller timeframe like previous years.

On the bar/alcohol front, there are a lot more bar carts this year throughout the park and each major bar is now fully staffed with way more bartenders than prior years. Finnegan's surprisingly hasn't been difficult (have seen it quite empty pass 11 now) to visit, so maybe people are drinking but limiting themselves. It's hard to justify $15 for a canned beer or $20 for a mixed cocktail more than once a night. So maybe the combination of less drinking + better operations results in empty bars.

I really only saw the bars busy on the first week (as people love to acquire the souvenir cup) but it's been very easy to grab drinks lately.

 

[Jake S]

It's hard to justify $15 for a canned beer or $20 for a mixed cocktail more than once a night.

I wish you were right

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Fallout and Galkn are next to each other and still 30 minutes apart for opening. That's ridiculous!

I saw this happen, basically everyone lines up for Fallout cuz it opens at 515 but not everyone is through before Galkn opens at 545. Then once folks are through Fallout they go to Galkn and that lines gets super long as Fallout dries up. My pro tip would be to wait for Galkn then jump over to Fallout to minimize waits.

 

[HalfGlass]

Depends on what counts as "long" for Jason for you. I did El Artista S&S today getting in line around 5:40 (after getting out of WWE) and was out of there by 6:06. I did briefly consider going to Jason which was posted 35 when I walked by but had a hefty visible line outside the building. Ended up hitting Fallout + Galkn instead which I think was the right call since I walked on both in about ten minutes apiece.

Jason remained posted between 50-60 minutes for quite a while after that so I doubt I would have waited longer than about 50 had I hopped in line at that time. But 50 is still pretty long at that time of night.

Thanks for the feedback! Do you know what time the pen opens for Jason? Will probably just go straight there.

 

[Tereglith]

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.

I was pretty satisfied with my route last night - lined up for WWE around 4:45, out by 5:30. Went to Artista at 5:40, out by 6:05. Beelined behind MIB and did Fallout right as its wait time crashed to near zero about 6:15, then by the time I was out of there Galkn had also crashed to near zero and I was through that by 6:35. Four houses by 6:40 is not bad, the only problem is WWE is kind of a low-value house to start with because it has the lowest average waits throughout the night.

If you're willing to put the time in you could increase the value of this route by swapping WWE for FNAF - but it would take lining up right around 3 to be able to get out soon enough to hit Artista, which I don't care enough to do. You could also instead be one of the first people in line for Terrifier and still get out soon enough despite the 5:30 open, though I'd only want to do that on a cloudy day. But regardless of initial pick I agree that hitting the new tent houses in quick succession right around 6:15 is one of the highest value S&S opportunities.

Thanks for the feedback! Do you know what time the pen opens for Jason? Will probably just go straight there.

I assume it opens at 4 like the other headliners, but someone else would have to confirm.

 

[HalfGlass]

I really do struggle with the idea of lining up at 3 for a house that opens over two hours later. The whole purpose of S&S was to avoid lines that deep. Just brutal this year…

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I really do struggle with the idea of lining up at 3 for a house that opens over two hours later. The whole purpose of S&S was to avoid lines that deep. Just brutal this year…

It just doesn't make sense anymore. That Terrifier line is especially brutal in direct sunlight.

The event is pretty much jam-packed from the very beginning.

 

[kingcooger]

To confirm, the front gates open at 6:30pm, right?

I have some people who plan on meeting us in the park and I want to make sure they know how early to arrive

 

[ssirin88]

To confirm, the front gates open at 6:30pm, right?

I have some people who plan on meeting us in the park and I want to make sure they know how early to arrive

Yes the "official" starting time for everyone is 6:30pm.

S&S is definitely odd this year. I love the changes with the wristbands and not being corralled but without express, you kinda have no choice but to queue up right at 4pm or whatever if you want to do FNAF or Fallout. I do wonder how much will change once ROF ends in a couple of weeks.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Thanks for the feedback! Do you know what time the pen opens for Jason? Will probably just go straight there.

I've done Jason twice as part of S&S, the 1st time the queue opened at 5:40, the most recent time it opened at 5:20 -- each time the house opened at 6 starting w/ the express queue.....

 

[Rhian]

The hub-style entryway for the houses probably isn’t helping wait times. Everyone’s walking up and if a line looks like it has a long wait the entrance the another is right there, so there’s little "walk time" as there was last year which helped spread the crowds. The exits also dumping people nearby also means they can jump straight into other lines there instead of time being absorbed by traveling from one area to another.

It’s difficult to say for sure but lack of HRRR seems to have made a notable difference too, and the other rides don’t appear to have the same draw to pull guests away from the house queues.

Hopefully next year progress will be made enough so house entrances and exits can be spread out again.

 

[Legacy]

The hub-style entryway for the houses probably isn’t helping wait times. Everyone’s walking up and if a line looks like it has a long wait the entrance the another is right there, so there’s little "walk time" as there was last year which helped spread the crowds. The exits also dumping people nearby also means they can jump straight into other lines there instead of time being absorbed by traveling from one area to another.

It’s difficult to say for sure but lack of HRRR seems to have made a notable difference too, and the other rides don’t appear to have the same draw to pull guests away from the house queues.

Hopefully next year progress will be made enough so house entrances and exits can be spread out again.

I expect next year to have a very similar set-up.

 

[Rhian]

I expect next year to have a very similar set-up.

I have similar thoughts. Depends on how construction has progressed by that point, I’m hoping there will be more room to work with.

 

[HalfGlass]

I've done Jason twice as part of S&S, the 1st time the queue opened at 5:40, the most recent time it opened at 5:20 -- each time the house opened at 6 starting w/ the express queue.....

Thanks Frank! What time would you recommend showing up then? Do people start lining up for it before the queue opens?

 

[Frank Drackman]

Thanks Frank! What time would you recommend showing up then? Do people start lining up for it before the queue opens?

on the more recent visit, there were folks lining up (maybe why it opened earlier not sure) -- we do sort of play by ear, went and got food and drinks then headed near the area --since we saw a pre-line, we got in it

 

[RedHerring]

In case it will help anyone I wanted to share my Stay and Scream experience from last Friday 9/12.

I wanted to arrive earlier but we didn't make it into the Terrifier queue until 5 pm. The house opened a few minutes before 6. We moved pretty quickly and were a queue line away but then Express started to show up in droves and we slowed a lot.

It started to rain, which might have affected the next part of our experience.

We were in the house at about 6 pm on the dot, once out we were headed to WWE. As we passed FNAF the wait time was listed as 45 but we could see inside the warehouse and it was basically empty so we decided to chance it. We were in line at 6:07 and at the door by 6:25 pm. I think we got super lucky and I'm not sure if this will ever happen again. The TM we talked to at the entrance said they worked on getting their queue through the house very quickly.

Next up we went to WWE and were in line at 6:34 and at the door at 6:45 pm.

Headed to the back of the park and hit the crowds at this point. In line for Galkn at 7:07 and at the door at 7:43. We were going to get food at this point but the Fallout line had massively dropped so we got in line at 7:48 and were at the door at 8:10.

At that point all the queues were around an hour so we got food, looked at scare zones and ended the night getting in line for Hatchet and Chains at 10:47 pm and were at the door at 11:37 pm.

Lines were all still long (around an hour) at this point so we headed out.

We're local but this was only the second time we'd made it to HHN this year. We still need to do Jason, El Artista and Dolls.

I do agree that Stay and Scream doesn't seem as great as in past years. We could typically get the strat down so we could roll through 5-6 houses in under two hours. I don't think that's gonna happen this year.

I'm even starting to question the value of a pass without express added on. I know being a local is very different than being someone who is coming for only a night or two on a trip, but I'm having a rough time figuring out when we can come that we won't have roughly hour long waits for each house.