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Universal Studios Hollywood (USH) Discussion Thread


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Ok, USH experts, what is the recommended order of attach for USH? Potter first, or still the tram first?

 

The tram itself is 45 minutes (excluding wait), so it takes a big chunk of your time. If you do it early in the morning, the park will fill up as you ride, and you will exit the tram to big lines everywhere. In my opinion, later in the day is better. Just make sure you pay attention to when the last tram departs, because the last call for trams is long before the park closes. Whatever you do, make sure you do NOT take the front or back cars of the tram. Closer toward the middle car the better. Far right side of tram has best view of Jaws and Fast/Furious. Far left side has best view of Flash Flood and picture cars. I'd choose far right side if possible. You do not need to stay where they stick you. You can ask for the middle tram or you can simply walk to that area and stay there. Watch how people load and you will understand. The reason you want to avoid front/back cars is that in the giant theaters (Kong and Fast/Furious) the screen is really distorted for those cars. Front car misses most effects in Earthquake. Every single tram tour is different. They change on the fly based on what is going on in backlot. You may see different videos, take different routes, and even skip some attractions.

 

All of USH major attractions have single rider lines (Forbidden Journey, Jurassic park, Transformers, Mummy). Those lines can be significantly shorter than standby and sometimes even shorter than VIP... Forbidden Journey eats single rider lines quickly. That also means all of the attractions in the lower lot have single rider options. So assuming you are willing to take advantage of single rider lines, do the lower lot (JP, Mummy, Transformers) whenever you feel like it. Plan for the lower lot to take up to 2 hours.

 

The wait for Walking Dead will fluctuate during the day, but is very often 5-10 minutes. It is a people eater. The attraction is also ridiculously short. Go as slow as you can to take it in.

 

USH wait times include the mandatory pre-show. Attractions with pre-shows are: Shrek, Simpsons, Despicable me (two pre-shows). So they will always have a built in wait time.

 

USH Olivanders has two show rooms. Even so, the line can move pretty slow. Make sure you hit this early.

 

Three Broomsticks has THE best food in the park. Period. Hard to go wrong with any dish. I have tried Bangers & Mash, Fish & chips, Roasted Chicken - all are excellent. Portions are very large. For what you get, they are not charging nearly as much as they could. Food line for this is long between 11:30-2:00. If there is a line out the door, don't bother. Queue in the door can be 0 min to 15 min.

 

Trip planning greatly depends on what shows you want to hit (Waterworld, Special Effects, Animal show) and how important older rides that have duplicates in Orlando are to you (Shrek, Simpsons, JP). USH Mummy is shorter than USO, and by all accounts not as good as Orlando's.

 

USH Potterland is smaller than USO Hogwarts. If you've been to USO, there is really nothing new to see in this variant. The Hipofgriff is a bit better in USH, and Forbidden Journey is 3D. I've been on both and I don't think 3D really adds anything.

 

Must-see if you have been to USO but not USH:

Backlot Tram Tour - NOTE: closes up to 90 minutes before park closes

Walking Dead - NOTE: always closes long before park closes!

Waterworld - based on very old movie, but easily best stunt show at any US theme park. Endangered - may close to become site of Diagon Alley

 

USH exactly identical to Orlando:

Despicable Me - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider

Transformers (has Single Rider line) - ALWAYS use this

Shrek

Simpsons - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider

 

Substantially identical to Orlando:

Mummy (has Single Rider line)

Potterland

Hippogriff - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider

Forbidden Journey (has Single Rider line)

Jurassic Park (has Single Rider line)

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That's great information. I'll be there tomorrow and will definitely use this!

 

If you will be there tomorrow, you should not experience much of a crowd at all. Will pretty much be a ghost town till maybe 2:00. Park closes at 6, though, so be aware of when TWD and tram closes.

 

The tram has a new "Night time" version. They are a bit different but not substantially. If you are a park geek, might want to do both. On days when they close the park before night, they usually have last hour of tram be the night time version. So tomorrow they might have last tram depart at 5:45 and the night time tram be 4:45 onward. Check the schedules and ask.

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Ok, USH experts, what is the recommended order of attach for USH? Potter first, or still the tram first?

 

The tram itself is 45 minutes (excluding wait)...

 

...Substantially identical to Orlando:

Mummy (has Single Rider line)

Potterland

Hippogriff - SOMETIMES they direct you into Gate A line if you are single rider

Forbidden Journey (has Single Rider line)

Jurassic Park (has Single Rider line)

 

Sorry didn't feel the need to quote ALL of that! But, I will be making my first trip to USH for HHN with a after 2pm combo ticket. Do most of these same tips apply? I will be there on a Thursday evening.

 

Thanks!

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I would argue that USH and USO Mummy attractions are not really that similar. In fact, they are quite different. It's pretty much universally thought that USO's Mummy is much, much better.

 

That said, ours, while inferior, does have some perks, and is substantially different enough that I'd ride it even if I have done USO's. Just way, way lower your expectations.

 

I also find Single Rider is pretty infrequent on Simpsons and Despicable Me (quite rare, in my experience... they only tend to do it if the lines are very long), but the Single Rider on Hippogriff is nearly always available. Just ask at Gate A, I've never had them turn me away.

 

I do agree that Three Broomsticks is the best food in the park, but the food at Krusty is also quite good for a burger.

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Ok, USH experts, what is the recommended order of attach for USH? Potter first, or still the tram first?

 

I will be making my first trip to USH for HHN with a after 2pm combo ticket. Do most of these same tips apply? I will be there on a Thursday evening.

 

Thanks!

 

I would first recommend following John Murdy on Twitter (@horrornights). He is the HHN director and offers lots of good advice for HHN newbies and especially for those entering the park early (which you will be doing by default).

 

I cannot really speak as to how weekday crowds would look like on an HHN day. If it is not crowded during the day all advice should be valid. You need to be especially aware of last call for daytime tram and the daytime early closure of WD. If Walking Dead is a short line, I would hit it. We have heard rumors that HHN WD will have additional scareactors, but in my opinion, the attraction is a yawn. I cannot see what additional actors would add. As it stands, the thing seems like half the length of a normal HHN maze. A lot fewer rooms, just bigger ones.

 

Your ticket will let you into HHN early. They will corral you for about 30 minutes somewhere inside the park. I would guess it is at the new plaza. The reality is they will also be letting other HHN guests into the park as well at the same time. So this perk is not exclusive to you, but you should have a slight head start on them. No rides will be open at this time. You will be guided to the lower lot, where 2-3 HHN mazes will be open up to an hour before HHN officially starts. If you do those 2-3 mazes, HHN will be open by then and you COULD do JP, Mummy, and Transformers while you are down there. Of course this will eat into your HHN evening a bit.

 

 

So in my opinion a good battle plan is:

Enter turnstyles AT 2pm (no later) and try to do as much stuff in upper lot as you can (using single rider lines) and the tram. Get these out of the way:

Daytime Tram, Potter rides, Simpsons, Shrek, Despicable Me, TWD. Quite possible you will not be able to do one of these in the time allotted. Again, do NOT get stuck on the tram when people are heading to lower lot early. Likewise, do NOT get stuck in a Potter queue. I say this because daytime park will still be bleeding off queues even when HHN people start entering park early. If you decide to do Terror Tram instead of daytime tram, you will miss some tram attractions. But if you do daytime tram it will eat 25% of your 2PM-6PM time. Up to you.

 

Once you are ushered into lower lot, take advantage of the early entry into houses. Hit the three rides down there. And do the backlot mazes. To be perfectly honest, I do not know all of the mazes this year. This is the first year I have purposely avoided finding out so I can be surprised for once. When I heard about Exorcist, I stopped looking at social media for HHN. I assume the majority of mazes will be accessible through the lower lot and backlot, so for HHN you will probably spend a good deal of your time here. Take advantage of the hour or two you will have in this uncrowded part of the park. Check the wait times often to monitor Terror Tram and whatever mazes are in upper lot. Head upstairs when you feel like it and close out your night.

 

HHN crowd patterns are pretty consistent:

When general public gets into HHN, TWD will have very long wait time, as will any other mazes in upper lot. Potter will have long wait also.

When those lines get too long, people will split with most going to Terror Tram and the rest to lower lot.

So lower lot tends to be the last area to fill up.

When people stop entering the park, TWD lines will subside. Hard to say if they will ever be small for HHN. Terror Tram will probably never be below 20 min.

Whatever maze they have in the Parisian streets will become less crowded as the evening goes on.

Lower lot will spike around 9 PM and will remain high for rest of evening.

During HHN, the rides are not necessarily less of a wait than daytime.

Be aware of the Jabbawockeez showtimes; when those shows let out, there is a rush for Potter, Simpsons, lower Lot, and Terror Tram.

If Waterworld has shows, there will be a rush for Potter and TWD when it lets out.

 

Definitely hit Waterworld if you have not seen it before.

Jabowackeez is a crappy, crappy show. If you miss it, you miss nothing. However, if you are a member of a violent street gang, did not complete middle school, and/or have diminished mental capacity you may enjoy it.

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Probably been asked over and over and over, but was wondering how friendly the Forbidden Journey cars are for bigger dudes?

 

Good question! USH does NOT have any Big Boy seats on their version of the ride. Really surprising since they were added by necessity in Florida. Not only is there a test seat outside the ride, they may pull "suspect" people aside just before final part of the queue to be test fitted in a seat in front of everyone else in line. It must be humiliating for them, and it's bad form for Universal.

 

I think the main reason they do this is that Potter is continuously moving and loading must be completed within about 30 seconds. Now here's the crazy part- at most other parks, employees will give restraints a good push to help people fit. At the USH Forbidden Journey, they will NOT push the restraints into place. The rider must pull them to the fully engaged position. So someone who is having trouble with that second "click" may end up stopping the ride. The last few times I visited, I saw from the queue this happening multiple times. Employees yelling at people to "sit back and pull hard". Anyone else witness this? Half the time I rode, there was one or two stops mid ride.

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I would argue that USH and USO Mummy attractions are not really that similar. In fact, they are quite different. It's pretty much universally thought that USO's Mummy is much, much better.

 

That said, ours, while inferior, does have some perks, and is substantially different enough that I'd ride it even if I have done USO's. Just way, way lower your expectations.

 

Well said. The storyline is substantially different at the two parks, and that's probably the one area where USH is better, because the whole Brendan Fraiser thing is just incomprehensible.

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Halloween Horror Nights 2016 - Opening Day Review

 

On Friday, Sept. 16, Theme Park Review was invited to the Opening Night of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights! For many, *this* season is the “most wonderful time of the year”, as the theme park industry continues to capitalize on the continued popularity of the horror genre.

 

Halloween Horror Nights continues to reign as a premier Halloween event in Southern California. We heard many comments from folks as we waited for the event to being, that this year’s maze lineups looked to be of the strongest the event has ever seen.

 

(For you pictures-only kind of folks, skip below to the photos.)

 

The maze line up:

The Exorcist – Join in Regan MacNeil’s possession, and run in terror as you attempt to escape the horrific battle between innocence and evil. Our thoughts: This maze boasted the longest wait of the night. Buzz outside of the maze was high, as fans were excited about the prospect of seeing some pretty awesome moments brought to life. A levitating Regan is seen going up and down the entry stairs, and we wind through different rooms before seeing Regan in her bedroom with the Priest. Some of the effect were really well done, but the pacing of the maze fell a bit flat. We go through her bedroom several times as if we are seeing the story progress, but the rooms between Regan’s bedrooms were plain “palate cleansers”.

 

American Horror Story – Three chapters from three different AHS seasons are brought to life: Seasons 1, 4, and 5. Our thoughts: Fans of the show, especially those who have seen the first 5 seasons will really enjoy this maze. Admittedly, I have only seen the 5th season and am going to follow along with the (just starting) 6th season. Focusing on the 3rd Chapter, “Hotel”, the architecture of the Hotel Cortez is perfectly brought to life with the iconic characters and voice overs straight from the series are used to give context to what you are seeing. A very enjoyable maze!

 

Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield – An all-new maze inspired by the second film in the classic “Halloween: horror franchise. Our thoughts: USH more often than not has a maze featuring Michael Myers. Although Michael Myers can be seen in almost every room in the maze (sadly, some are mistakenly visible at the same time), I want to focus on one of the most inventive and original ideas I have seen from more than the 100+ mazes I have seen over the past few years. The final scene has you walking through what looks like the inside of an uncarved pumpkin with a dreamland like music track playing. The texture used to create this visual is the simple stretching of cheesecloth, exactly what Knott’s uses to create the patches of spider webs on their building exteriors. For this room, the cheesecloth was drastically thickened and dipped in what looked like orange paint with a thickener to create a gourd-like texture. The smell of pumpkin also filled the air, creating one of the most simple “wow, I have *never* seen this before!” moments I have had for mazes. Although it is a simple and somewhat silly room, it is so rare to have those wow moments because props and gags are recycled and repurposed every year industry wide.

 

Freddy vs. Jason – Inspired by the 2003 film which brought together two of the biggest horror icons. Our thoughts: Simply, and enjoyable maze with these two killers. Although the film had an outcome for “who wins” and we saw the finale with that same outcome, other visitors were reporting that they saw a different outcome when they went through. Either folks are mistaken, or the finale changes a bit throughout the night. Let us know who “won” when you went through!

 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers – Guests are pit against Leatherface and his brother ChopTop. Our thoughts: The opening room is rich in detail, but the rest of the maze was sadly forgettable. It didn’t help that all of the talent triggers happened after we walked out of each room. It happens.

 

Krampus – The terrifying dark Christmas legend is manifested into a maze based on the Christmas-themed horror film. Our thought: Our favorite maze of the night! I am admittedly a holiday Grinch, and although the last thing I want to see is more holiday decorations, the blend between Halloween and Christmas makes for excellent storytelling and leaving room for so many holiday things to go awry. Beautifully themed, with haunting holiday music playing Krampus is seen throughout a family home, with you as the main target. Very enjoyable!

 

 

The Walking Dead– This year round maze stays open for HHN, and helps absorb the crowds in the upper lot.

 

Eli Roth presents Terror Tram – Hollywood Harry, a “has-been” Clown and some of his minions who live in the rolling Hollywood Hills come out to play with folks who are venturing through. Our thoughts: Although the footprint is the same as in past years, our experience somehow felt shorter that in the past. The clown theme was fun and different, making use of the bright colors in this area of the Backlot. Although, as I am writing this, I am now realizing that the iconic backgrounds of the Bates Motel, and War of the Worlds set are virtually ignored and not used. (I recall only a clown attacking a victim next to the back of an open ambulance in the WotW set. Again, new and bright, but didn’t make use of the awesome background as much as they could have.

 

The Scare Zone line up:

Unlike past years, it was *so nice* to not have The Walking Dead everywhere. Of all the types of Halloween “monsters”, the Zombie has the lowest energy and relies heavily on the least effective scare tactic “the stare”. This year, all four scare zones were themed to The Purge: Election Year. It was interesting to see this change from separately themed scare zones to just one theme. Our thoughts: It worked, and it didn’t work. It worked because it is based off of high-energy characters in a bizarre version of America. It was fun and fresh at the beginning of the night, but by the end of the night people were a bit numb to it because they saw it everywhere they went. I would love to see them keep this type of set up and enhance each area even more to make them each feel a bit more unique.

 

The Jabbawoceez perform six times a night in the Special Effect Stage Theater on the upper lot. Our thoughts: With a show concurrently running in Las Vegas, we were expecting to see six or eight dancers in the show. We were shocked to see at least 13 dancers in this 25-minute show. They did a great job with their performance, integrating lasers and storytelling into their act. It’s certainly worth a watch.

 

Final thoughts: We LOVE Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights! It’s always fun to see what Creative Director John Murdy and his team come up with each year for horror fans. We caution everyone who goes that although they hit it out of the park creatively, operationally it can be a very trying experience. Wait times for the most popular mazes had posted wait times of 150 minutes. We firmly believe that in order to enjoy this event and to see all its offerings, waiting in lines of that length are not the way to go. The only way to see everything is to purchase a Gate A pass. We used Gate A passes for our visit, and although the Gate A lines actually took up to 15 minutes to get into some of the mazes, it pales into comparison of the stand-by lines. Again, get your Gate A pass and enjoy your visit!

 

Halloween Horror Nights run on:

 

September 23, 24, 29, 30 October 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 November 4 and 5.

 

The event begins nightly at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.

 

Ticket Information: http://www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com/hollywood - Advance purchase is highly recommended as event nights will sell out!

 

A big "thank you" to our Media Host Gail for inviting us to attend! We wish USH a great Halloween season and we look forward to covering future USH events!

 

 

And now, we invite you to join us as we take you through Halloween Horror Nights! (Check back for partial maze videos soon!)

Photos by Daniel Barsky

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Welcome to HHN 2016!

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Theme Park Review is on the blood-red carpet!

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Fancy.

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Creative Director John Murdy.

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A great strategy to cover as much ground as possible at start of the event is to head to the Lower Lot where a ton of mazes can be found.

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Starting off at The Exorcist. Hello Mr. Priest, please save our souls!

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Doin' his magic.

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"Penn and Teller have nothing on me!"

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Devil child!

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Next up is American Horror Story!

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That's not very nice of him...

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Chapter 4: Freak Show.

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Beautifully themed!

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Chapter 5: Hotel. The Mattress demon seen here.

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Next maze is Halloween.

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You can't catch the Boogieman!

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Such an awesome and unique ending!

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Freddy vs. Jason

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Who will win? Freddy or Jason?

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Krampus!

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One of the best Scare Actors we have ever seen, this ice delivery guy outside the Krampus maze entertains guests as the wait!

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That is definitely NOT Santa.

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Walking Dead year-round maze.

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Eli Roth presents Tram Tour. Here is Hollywood Harry!

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We were there as Eli walked through his own maze!

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Nice bright theming new for the Backlot area.

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Here is the entrance to one of the Purge scare zones.

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Nice little scenes here and there.

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The chainsaw folks are always entertaining. Perfect strobe-lit moment!

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Be sure to catch the Jabbawockeez in the Upper lot!

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Thank you again to USH for having us! We hope you can make it out to their event!

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Edited by robbalvey
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The terror tram route is slightly shorter...it doesn't go all the way up the hill anymore. The cheesecloth maze was finally retired and replaced with shipping containers with clown vignettes...I thought that was an upgrade. I loved the firefighter clowns on the War of the Worlds portion as well. One thing I wish they'd do again is the very first year when the director was the icon, they had him throwing a body into a woodchipper as a final vignette as your tram was heading back to the unload area. Wish they'd do that again!

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One thing I wish they'd do again is the very first year when the director was the icon, they had him throwing a body into a woodchipper as a final vignette as your tram was heading back to the unload area. Wish they'd do that again!

 

Agreed! It was such a gross but effective visual!

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Awesome TR!!! I don't like scare mazes, as the most I'll comfortably do is the Walking Dead maze. This was just a question I had, since Spiderman is such a top rated ride, and Transformers seems to get Eh reviews (and I just rode it a couple day ago and I agree), how hard do you think it would be to turn Transformer's into Spidey. Just a question I had, again, awesome TR!

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Awesome TR!!! I don't like scare mazes, as the most I'll comfortably do is the Walking Dead maze. This was just a question I had, since Spiderman is such a top rated ride, and Transformers seems to get Eh reviews (and I just rode it a couple day ago and I agree), how hard do you think it would be to turn Transformer's into Spidey. Just a question I had, again, awesome TR!

 

Impossible. Disney owns the theme park rights to Marvel everywhere but East of the Mississippi River and Japan. Universal Hollywood will never get a Spider-Man ride.

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Thanks for the excellent coverage! Saw on the news that both nights sold out last weekend. Crowds are just huge when that happens. The Gate A sells out quickly before normal admission. I wouldn't attend the event at all without the Gate A pass. I did see they added a Gate A day/night combo ticket, considering that possibility.

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A couple of pages ago, I posted what turned out to be a pretty inaccurate plan of attack for HHN Hollywood. This year, a good deal has changed, so please consider the following if you want to do everything in one night:

 

Although the park has more HHN-type attractions this year, the following are closed for HHN: All of Potter (not even a sip of Butterbeer during HHN), Despicable Me, Super Silly Fun Land, Waterworld, Shrek. Some of these have never been open for HHN, but some are new to the list. Bottom line is that these people-eaters being closed make for longer lines.

 

This year was the first ever where Opening Night was sold out. That is a daunting fact. The crowds were so thick, that you need to be prepared to NOT do everything in one night. I am convinced of that. I'm also thinking that Thursdays will end up sold out, too. In past years many Thursdays sold out. My other reason for believing this is that they are STILL selling the 15-night HHN season pass online. In years past, they sold only a couple hundred of these through a special link. Now they are offering them as regular tickets. That means they plan on selling ALOT. It could also mean that few are biting, but I don't buy it for a minute...

 

They are no longer offering FOTL as an add-on to your ticket. FOTL now is exclusively available with built in admission.

 

If you really want to see all of HHN in one night, FOTL is the ONLY WAY. Buy it soon, because they are actually beginning to sell out online. Sep 24 is already sold out.

 

In years past, I would have said that being first in the gate for HHN would allow you to hit everything. Not anymore. Past gameplans no longer work.

 

Here is the way things work:

If you have a day/night combo, you have the right kind of ticket. As people are exiting for the day, go to Guest Services or to the tallest building at the central plaza. There they will give you a wristband. Once you have this, Immediately head to lower lot. Get to lower lot no later than 5:30

 

If you ONLY have an HHN ticket, get through security and into the RIGHT MOST gate line no later than 5:00. They will start letting HHN people into the park early. This will be through a gate even to the right of the right-hand turnstyles. You will essentially be entering next to Waterworld. Remember, do NOT queue up for a turnstyle at the front gate. You are going into a special early entry entrance. Ask for help if you need to. The line will be LONG, so the earlier the better. They will scan you and give you a wristband. Head down to lower lot immediately.

 

If you are in the park for daytime admission (i.e. have a season pass) and you purchased a separate HHN ticket, you are treated like garbage. You are going to need to EXIT the park, go through security AGAIN and re-enter for HHN. God help you if you won a big plush toy, because they won't let you in with it. So, exit the park around 4:45, go through security again, and follow the advice in the previous paragraph. Once you get your wristband, head to the lower lot.

 

So now everyone is in the lower lot and it is about 5:30. Freaking event doesn't officially start for 90 minutes, so you are good to go, right? Pfffft!

 

HHN opens Exorcist at 6:00 on the dot, but they let people in line around 5:45. Halloween maze does not open until 7:00.

At the queue entrance for Exorcist, you have the option to skip Exorcist and instead walk to the backlot for AHS, Krampus, and FvJ. One or two of those mazes opens at 6:30. They are all open by 7:00.

 

So here is the reality of the situation - what I experienced Sat 9/17 (which was also a sold-out night). I arrived at Exorcist at 5:30. Queue for Exorcist opened at 5:45 and I was the TENTH person into the maze. Entered the house at 6:03 and exited at 6:07. Walked back to the queue entrance, and saw the Exorcist already had a 45 minute wait built up. And HHN had not even officially opened!!

 

Walked to backlot (15 minute trek) and by the time I got there, Krampus was at 20 min wait, AHS was 30 min, and FvJ was 60 min!! Mind you, it was only 6:25pm. HHN still not open!

 

Went into Krampus and when I got out, FvJ was 120 minutes, Krampus was 40 min and AHS was 70 min.

 

At this point, HHN was opening for real, and it was about to get really bad. So I decided to hit AHS. Wait was indeed about 70 min. By he time I got out, FvJ was up to 140 min.

 

Sadly, they did not have a wait time posting for all houses in the backlot. According to the app, Halloween was 140 min, TWD was 45 min, TCM was 90 min, and Exorcist was 140 min. Good luck with cell reception in backlot or lower lot. T-mobile doesn't work at all, and AT&T has very bad reception. I was able to get something to work by forcing my phone onto 4G, as everyone was sucking up LTE.

 

Terror Tram had 40 min wait posted. Went there and the line moved FAST. You never stop walking - just a long queue. Real wait time was about 20 min. Kind of a shame, since the Terror Tram queue videos are GREAT! For the record, this is the best TT in the past 7 years. While shorter than any other year, it had a feel of 2006, which was best year of all.

 

Because I have an HHN 15-night season pass, I then decided to leave and revisit another day. I went to HHN the first two nights and BETWEEN them was able to see everything except Halloween. I refused to stand in any line that was longer than 70 minutes when I had a pass for 15 nights. I will try on an upcoming Thursday but if it's equally crowded, I will not go again until Nov 2nd and 3rd.

 

Here is what you can honestly expect for house wait time patterns:

Exorcist - will have 2hr+ waits all night. Only chance of no wait is to be in the queue at 5:45

TCM - will have enormous waits from 7PM until about 10:30 as people entering event taper off. Because TCM is located at park entrance, most GP will tend to hit it first. So this one will have good wait times at the end of the evening.

TWD - People-eater and unchanged from daytime attraction. 10 min waits will happen much of the night. Pulse of people will be seen each time Jabbocrapeez lets out.

Terror Tram - 20-40 min most of the night. Just be aware of closing time.

Halloween - Will be extremely long all night. Maybe save for last thing to do before heading back up? Remember there are FIVE houses between lower lot and backlot.

Backlot houses are a bit different this year. No Soundstage this year. And queues are staggered - exit of one house "leads to" queue of the next. You can choose not to queue for next house, but entrances are far apart. The "flow" is for Krampus to be first, then FvJ, then AHS.

Krampus - always shortest of the lines of backlot houses. People don't seem to be into the theme compared to FvJ and AHS.

AHS - expect VERY long waits all night. Probably will never be < 90 min.

FvJ - expect massive waits all night. Probably will never be < 90 min.

 

The rides:

Jurassic Park - 40 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 10 min

Mummy - 40-60 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 15 min

Transformers - 10-20 min waits most of the time. Single rider will be more like 5 min.

Simpsons - 30 min waits all night except then Jabbasuckfest lets out, when it gets slammed to 60 min.

 

It is a good HHN year. While I hate IP houses, they did a very good job for the most part. Even the repeat houses don't feel too repeated. I have not been in Halloween yet, so I cannot fully say for sure on that one.

Exorcist was OUTSTANDING. Who woulda thunk it? They really pulled it off nicely. It perfected what they tried at Dead Exposure at HHN Orlando.

AHS was quite long and very good. Yes, an actual long maze for HHN Hollywood.

FvJ was nothing like Orlando's version (which was better). Was also on the long side.

Krampus was....interesting. I had no idea the movie was comedy-horror. As such, what they presented was unexpected and a bit confusing. Check @HorrorNights for the nightly password to give to the delivery man outside the house. Prize is really nice. Bring a 1qt ziplock bag with you to protect it or get small bag from store in upper lot first. WARNING - they run out of prizes by 7:30. Might want to hit Krampus first when you get to backlot!

TCM was most like a rehash of what we saw many times before. Only thing really new was appearance of Chop Top and Dayton, because it was based on the original movie. Even so, same old same old. Seriously, this house was totally not necessary, and I will probably feel the same about Halloween.

TWD was same as daytime version.

Terror Tram - they shook things up this year, with a mini-maze at Bates Motel and just before WOTW. Keep expectations low and you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

And the scarezones this year.... All of them Purge.... While I am a bit over it, make sure to hit the Gauntlet in the central plaza. It is actually a fairly large maze. A shame that you could experience a queue for a scarezone, but that is the reality this year.

 

 

Seriously, get the FOTL if it is available. If you do not, you will NOT get into everything. The year will only get busier, so I think counting on a "slow Thursday' is wishful thinking.

 

I would definitely make sure to see Exorcist, AHS, Terror Tram, and the Purge Gauntlet.

Because this is HHN Hollywood, you will probably get a chance to see Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and Michael Meyers many times again in upcoming years, so don't feel too bad if you miss them.

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For those living under a rock, and didnt know this already.. and for those that are like "TL;DR", here ya go.

 

Seriously, get the FOTL if it is available. If you do not, you will NOT get into everything. The year will only get busier, so I think counting on a "slow Thursday' is wishful thinking.
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