Best Way to Conquer USH HHN?

[cruise]

So I've read a couple of trip reports on here and have seen a variety of ways that people cover the park in one night. Last year I planned poorly and ended up spending the last two and a half hours of my night in two 70 minute lines, so my question is simple, what is the best way to cover all the mazes in one night so as to minimize waiting?

I'll be heading to the event on Sunday the 16th so I know it will be crowded. I know there are a variety of strategies (lower lot first v. upper lot first etc.) and I am very curious to hear your thoughts on which mazes fill up faster/which get longer lines earlier/which lines have the longest overall waits so I can plan accordingly. For example, from personal experience I have observed that the wait time for the maze in the Wild West Stunt Area is always much shorter than posted for some reason so I tend to leave it till later in the night. Any tips as to what order to do the mazes in are appreciated. Please share your thoughts!

One last thing, while I am perfectly content to pass on rides as I do them all the time, the group I will be with may want to hit the lower lot thrill rides if I can't convince them otherwise(I'm praying I can)... so plans both with and without those ride are appreciated, THANKS!

[JerrodDRagon]

I have gone the last 2 years.......the first year I went we did lower lot first and then the upper lot to me its a waste of time....its takes sooo long to go to the lower lot that by the time your done most mazes are getting 40 mins + lines.

Last year I went 4 times to the event and we hit them like this
House of 1,000 corpses first
Then Jason (the Thing mazes this year)
Then Freddy (La Lornia...cant spell it)
Then we went down to do Saw (Hostel)
From there I would do Alice Cooper Maze
If the lines are short then do the Mummy or Jurassic Park
Then move back up.....and do the Tram or Bill and Teds
Then wait for the Wolfman Mazes to be less than 30 mins and go on it.....and your done


You should have 3 hours to do what ever you want...like go on a favorite maze or two and if you want go on a ride or two (Simpsons, JP, etc) or see Bill and Teds again...its up to you.


I'll be doing this Friday so I'll tell you how we did on time (my group is going to be 9 people sooo yeah if we can do it fast any group can)

[SoCalbma]

I have to agreed with JerrondDRogan on this. I did the exact same things he did for the last 5 years.

I only had one worst Halloween Horror Night experience and it was in 2009. We did Jason first and then Chucky in the House of Horror building. We waited for almost an hour in there by the time we were done for Chucky the line for all the mazes were upward of 70+ min.

From now on I will never ever consider doing anything that takes the place of House of Horror in the future. I will only do this maze as the last maze of the night.

One advice is to get there early before it opens, once the rope drop, try to rush yourself to any of the mazes on the upper lot that is not House of Horror.

I always make sure I watch Bill and Ted's show.

---------- Post added 09-27-2011 at 11:27 PM ----------

Last year I went 4 times to the event and we hit them like this

I heard that they no longer doing the frequent pass (I forgot the name) this year. If I live close enough, I would jump on this deal immediately.

[JerrodDRagon]

^they had a limited deal this year that sold out in 6 hours.....it had 7 days you could go to and it was like 70 bucks.....not a bad deal for me (since I having a parking pass) but I was only going to do it if my friends would and I could not get a hold of them on time so....I did not get the passes this year

But I will next year if they offer them

[dth316]

Actually, that pass sold out in an hour haha

ANYWAY, back on subject. From 07 - 09, I did things a specific way but in 10 and 11, I switched it up just to see if it's any better. Honestly, it doesn't matter as long as you follow some simple guidelines: don't be late, don't stop to eat before 9, do HoH after 12 & see the last showing of Bill and Ted (if at all possible, see the one that's after park hours -- this year, they didn't have that option so far). I'll take you through a step by step guideline of each year and how I did things. Each year, I got through every new maze, ride and saw the Bill and Ted show (except when noted).

In 07, my first year, I got to the park at 10 PM. Yes, VERY LATE. The park was closing at 12 since it was a weekday, Halloween night. I did Terror Tram first, not much of a wait. By then, it was pretty much 11 and all the lines for NoES and F13 were about 40 minutes but I heard TCM was amazing, so I hit that on the lower lot instead with a 70 minute wait. Luckily, they expanded park hours to 1. So I hit TCM, went back up, did NOES and F13 then saw the Bill and Ted show within one hour. I did NOT do the House of Horrors since that didn't interest me since I believe it was the same as the day time attraction still. Also, due to the time limitations of being late, I didn't get to do any rides.

In 08, I knew to get there on time and how to plan a little better. But heck, my plan was pretty much the same and at this point, the game plan was tradition although we hit The Simpsons first just to get it out of the way with a short line. Terror Tram, TCM, lower lot rides, NOES and F13 last. Once again, didn't bother with HoH since it was just throwing the Strangers in there. Hit Bill and Ted at the last show after park hours.

09 is where I started to take HoH more seriously since it seemed like they were putting more effort. But my gameplan was the same, like I said, hitting the Terror Tram first was tradition. Plus back then, it actually told the story of the event so I thought it was important to understand what was going on or why everything was happening at the park (they've since made Terror Tram now it's own, kinda separate experience). So Terror Tram, Saw, lower lot rides, MBV, Halloween, Chucky's Playhouse with Bill and Ted last.

10 I changed it up a bit. The TT was no longer apart of the central story. So I did the "hit an upper lot maze on the way down to the lower lot" method. HOTC, ran down to Saw, did the lower lot rides, the Simpsons, did the Terror Tram, NOES, F13 and Vampyre with Bill and Ted last. Worked out perfectly.

This year, I figured I'd try the "lower lot" first method since there were two mazes down there to hit. So we did Jurassic Park, WTMN, Mummy, Hostel, The Simpsons, Terror Tram, La Llorona, The Wolfman and then The Thing, with Bill and Ted last. If Bill and Ted were after hours like usual, we would've had time to do HOTC but nobody cared since we all didn't care too much for it last year.

So all the "methods" work, it's just a matter of how you pace yourself. Those first 2 hours of hitting stuff is crucial. So what should you do this year, specifically, if you wanna hit everything, including rides AND HOTC AND Bill and Ted?

Hit La Llorona first. It gets the longest line on the upper lot. If HotC is open and it's still within the first 20 minutes of the night and the line is no longer than 10 minutes, do that too. Once you're done, it should not even be 7:40 yet. Continue down to the lower lot, and I mean rush down there. Lines started around 8 because people are starting to catch on. Hit Hostel first. People don't know where the line for WTMN starts so it takes a bit longer for it to get long. Then hit WTMN. If there's no line for JP and The Mummy, why not? Run back up, hit the Simpsons. It should have a 20 minute line at the most at this point. Then hit the Terror Tram, this year, the line gets very long for it since it's Scream. At this time, it should be a little passed 9 and all the lines are starting to fill up. I'd then suggest to hit The Thing. As someone said, the line for that is always a bit shorter than it says for some reason. It'll be around 10 or 10:30 now. Might as well either hit the Wolfman or see Bill and Ted. Bill and Ted it if you don't wait wait for Wolfman. Then hit Wolfman on your way out when it no longer has a line. Sit around, do some repeats if you like. Eat. Whatever. Hopefully your group sticks together and understands the game plan and is willing to rush with you. My friends like to stop and take pictures along the way or randomly slow down so things are a bit difficult for me but I still have no problem getting everything we wanted done.

Break a leg!

[cruise]

Thanks for the tips, and let me know how the Friday trip goes with crowds JerrodDRagon, hopefully you'll come back with some tips I can use!

It sounds like popular mazes on the upper lot and then the lower lot is the way to go so I may give your plan a try dth316 depending on what else I hear so thanks!

Additionally, I'm always curious to hear what the crowd flow is like at certain mazes and over the whole park so if anyone else goes in the future please share!

[JerrodDRagon]

^I'll have a trip report this Saturday so look out for that...it will have wait times throughout the night and more info

[BlAcKoUt510]

^I'll have a trip report this Saturday so look out for that...it will have wait times throughout the night and more info

Yay I'm excited. Certainly will be a helpful tr too since I'm going next Saturday.

[dth316]

I have the times I got in line and how long the lines were and such in a TR I wrote up about Opening Night. Should be helpful.

But honestly, this year, all the mazes are popular (except Wolfman at the end of the night).
Once it hit about 10 PM, pretty much everything had a 50 - 70 min wait, including HOTC and Alice Cooper, which both had a 75 minute wait and are on totally different ends of the park. Terror Tram at it's highest point was 45, which was when I went on it. I hear things were cooled down the night after though but the deeper into the event, the more crowded it gets so who knows...

[JerrodDRagon]

Ok I am here to tell you that you should do my way of doing.....House of 1,000....The Thing, La Llorona, then Alice Cooper and Hostel...then the Tram....then either Bill and Ted or go on Wolfman (but the later you wait for this maze the shorter the line gets)

If you go to the down stairs area you can ONLY get two mazes done....and by the time you get back up the other mazes are at like 15-30 mins......BUT the bottom mazes are still only 5 mins if you do the top mazes first.

I had EVERYTHING done (along with riding JP) by 10:30 and with no real lines (and yes I also saw Bill and Ted)

[dth316]

But that also depends on how fast your group is, when you eat, if you ride the Simpsons and when you arrive to the park, etc.. Jerrod's method would be best if you're with dedicated people who get there on time. If ya arrive around 8 or so, I'd probably recommend the lower lot method but if you've done that, then you've already made a mistake!

[JerrodDRagon]

^ohh yeah you need a organized group to get to do my method but I'm just telling everyone what is the fastest way if you get there on time.........I'm one of those people would not even brother coming at 8PM I cant stand in line for things I know I could go on faster....so I would go on a day I can get to the event/park when it opens.

As for the Simpsons we could have done it at 11 but we did not want to wait 30 mins for it.....next year we will do my same plan but when we get to the lower lot do transformers too since it will be new to my friends

[F!an]

Has anyone considered the VIP Experience (previously known as the RIP Experience) as a way to conquer HHN? The package includes admission, valet parking, unlimited FOL for everything, back lot tour and food/beverages (2 alcoholic drinks if you're 21 and unlimited soda if you're not) in the private Vampire Blood Lounge located in the courtyard area near T2:3D. I know price may be an issue for some but it's another option. Prices are $169 and $189 depending on the night.

[JerrodDRagon]

My friends and I were talking about doing this when we all have "real" jobs its sooooo worth it for the price you'll be able to walk onto mazes all night the extra tour and what not....its pretty cool

[dth316]

I hear the tour takes up so much time that you end up only being able to do all the mazes once anyway. I believe the tour is around 4 hours, which sounds crazy considering you don't go through all the areas of the backlot and a regular studio tour is an hour at most. What could you be doing down there for an extra 3 hours in the dark and not going to ALL of the sets? I also think the tour ends with the Terror Tram and that could be up to a 20 minute experience so perhaps that's included in the 4 hour time (this is also considering that your tour doesn't start at 7 exactly, sometimes even passed 8, if I'm not mistaken).