It's not about doing as many houses as possible, it's about not standing in line all night. I feel like people who say you don't need Express have never experienced how much less insufferable the event is with it.
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HHN 2024
- Thread starter Rob562
- Start date
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
I visit nearly 3-4 days each week during the event, well aware how busy the event is.
My perspective comes from if your able to attend multiple nights, you can easily either rope drop or close the event and do enough run through the houses that make express unnecessary. While it's become difficult to do all houses in one-night, by night 2 you could easily do them all.
If you don't want to stand in line all night, my strategy has always been to stay & scream and/or knock out as many houses as you can prior to 7:30-8 once the event gets really busy. From there, take your time to enjoy the zones/shows/f&b before going back into house runs closer to midnight.
WDWFREAK53
Well-Known Member
We are doing two nights (Sat and Sun) and opting to not do Express. We will be doing Stay and Scream.
I'd like to do all of the houses at least once, take in the show, grab a bite/drink, and not do much (if any) rides.
Is this feasible to do? I'm taking my daughter and her friend and I'm trying to keep the costs down as much as I can for her friend so we decided against Express.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Should be easily able to (will appear tough, but it's doable).
Stay & Scream in New York, and then make your way through the Soundstage houses as they open up. Eventually, they'll open up the gates when the rest of the park opens so you can make your way over to the back of the park to hit the tent houses, you will still be ahead of the masses at the gate.
Once waits/crowds get too much, you can relax and roam the zones, eat at the F&B locations and watch Nightmare Fuel if you are interested. If you are able to power through until 2AM, you can then run through a lot of the original houses at the end of the night during the last hour or two.
HHN's "rush hour" is 7:30PM to 12AM, use this time to eat, watch HNF, sit down and admire the zones (watch people get scared) and check out some of the rides if your interested.
The bigger IP houses (Ghostbusters & Insidious this year) will be busy until park close, but waits should be lower (and will be exaggerated on the sign) at close, so do whichever you didn't stay & scream for. The next day, prioritize your favorites and any houses you didn't do.
WDWFREAK53
Well-Known Member
We don't have anything planned on day 2 so going until 2AM on Saturday won't be a problem (Plus, we're not doing the parks during the day).
My daughter's friend is a huge HP fan and she'll never get to USF any other time so that "rush hour" sounds like a good time to check out Diagon.
I know that they have unique food items for HHN but will the shops be open in Diagon or just the ride and Deatheaters?
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Diagon is best experienced during HHN (at night it's incredible) since its less crowded (though it gets a bit busy some nights). Most shops and all dining venues were open last year, so I'd imagine it'll be the same this year.
Make sure to get on Gringotts before 11PM though, it closes early for maintenance. Best option for a traditional quick service is Leaky Cauldron. Doesn't get horribly crowded like the other options at the park, and far better quality.
WDWFREAK53
Well-Known Member
Awesome info. Thank you!
Not everyone has the ability to do S&S or stay there until the end of the night, hoping the waits let up. As a former AP holder who took advantage of it numerous times, I know how useful S&S could be (at least in the days before half of the park's capacity started showing up for it), but I have no way of getting into the park before everything has at least a 40 minute wait anymore. S&S is in fact a big part of the problem for the common folk waiting outside the gates. If you really want to limit something, limit access to that.
I used to be able to enter when the gates open and head to the back of the park, enjoying multiple houses without even having to use my Express. Completely impossible now. I might as well have arrived two or three hours into the event.
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Andrew25
Well-Known Member
While true, you can still enjoy a few of the houses at the back with low waits even if your coming from outside.
If you limit access to S&S, you'll just move those folks to the gate, causing even further back ups at the front. From an ops perspective, Universal prefers that a good chunk of guests are already inside the park so they don't have to worry about pushing people in through the front gates.
If you're not doing a park during the day, you've bought Scream Early tickets for that day, correct? It'll be the only way to do Stay & Scream without daytime park admission. (The SE ticket gets you in the park gates starting at 3pm)
As for food, I second the other poster's suggestion of Leaky Cauldron. It's often quiet and fairly empty throughout the night. A second option in the front end of the park is Minions Cafe. We were pleasantly surprised by the food quality and fast service last year during HHN. (We went twice) You may have to wait a couple minutes to be shown to a table, but once there the mobile ordering process is easy, and they bring your food right to your table. It's nice to get off your feet.
-Rob
WDWFREAK53
Well-Known Member
Yes, we purchased the Scream Early as well as the single-night.
Catch up and grab drinks?
My95cobras
Well-Known Member
Let’s hear about it LnG’s.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Meh
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
The houses are pretty good, I am HHN “stan” but Universal’s poor Ops continues to agitate me. I buy the Frequent Fear pass every year but am growing increasingly frustrated in their lack of proper crowd management and the absurd wait times for all F&B offerings. I fear that opening day of Epic will be AWFUL.
With the lack of FFP Express this year, I'll let you know when I've gotten through all of them, I estimate about a month from now.
I may or may not be exaggerating.
This stunt has done nothing to relieve the stand-by lines, I can tell you that much with certainty.
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The usual mix of good, enjoyable, eh, and meh.
Also we loved the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Smores.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
The house quality has not faltered much in the last decade or so. The actual issue is their refusal to deviate from the formula. HHN veterans know exactly what to expect from HHN house design. They refuse to change this event up at all because it's such a huge moneymaker, but it really has become quite homogenized. I would literally rather pay for a night where I can walk through the houses in show conditions without any performers at my own pace just so I can admire the set design, which is where the event still really shines.
Hate, hate, HATE the fact that the event has become a babysitting service for what seems like ALL of central Florida's teenagers. It gets worse every year in this regard. This used to feel like an event for adults, but now it just feels like a big social media meetup for teens. I know some of that is that I've gotten older and also been to so many of these, but I know that can't be all of it.
Hate, hate, HATE the fact that the event has become a babysitting service for what seems like ALL of central Florida's teenagers. It gets worse every year in this regard. This used to feel like an event for adults, but now it just feels like a big social media meetup for teens. I know some of that is that I've gotten older and also been to so many of these, but I know that can't be all of it.
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
I’m an HHN veteran and this has really sunk in this year for me. Almost none of the houses really “get” me when it’s comes to scares.