We went again on Wednesday October 19. We were on our way to stay and scream tonight and got T Boned by some jerk turning left onto our road during heavy traffic who simply didn't see us. Sigh. We are ok but the car got scraped up. So no HHN tonight. Maybe we'll go on Sunday.
We had wanted to get in line at stay and scream for Halloween. However, we were a bit late and didn't arrive until 4:15 and at that point Halloween already had a giant queue. We talked to the people in the front and they said the official queue started at 4.
Instead, we walked around a bit then met a friend and got in line for Hellblock's stay and scream. We were in line way earlier than we needed to be, we got in at 4:45. We were held outside the queue building until around 5 and then moved inside to wait until the house opened at 5:15. We were in within the minute.
Next we joined the stay and scream line for Coven at 5:22. The line started right at 5:30 and we were inside at 5:41.
It is possible to join the Halloween line at this point before the main gate crowd comes in, but you're still going to have a long wait. If I have to do a long wait I'd rather do that during regular party time and not during the coveted stay and scream extra time. So either be in line right at 4 for Halloween or just save the wait til later at night.
We got some food (lil boo buns and pizza skulls) and hovered at the gate to be released to the rest of the park. Almost exactly at 6 pm the gate opened and we power walked to the Weeknd. We were in line at 6:02 but it wasn't like the other night where we just walked in. Not sure if the house had opened late or if there were just more people, but we got into the house at 6:19.
We could see the line for Monsters as we exited Weeknd and we decided it was longer than we'd like so we took off for the back of the park.
At 6:34 we entered the line for Bug. We were in at 6:49. There was a lot of standing still and not moving for this one as they let hordes of Express in. I wonder if their ratio was a bit off at that time.
We could see the line for Destruction as we left Bug and it was really long so we got some more food and drinks and headed back to Monsters to wait. We got in line at 7:13 and were in at 7:48.
At that point most lines were advertised as over 60 minutes and we decided to head out around 8:30.
Couple random observations: crowds still haven't let up and it's pretty busy. Merch is still holding strong at full price other than one or two things. Lil Boo baseball hats were back in stock. The weather was actually kind of chilly and delightful. I still think this isn't the best year, but I am getting very attached to a couple houses and the graveyard scare zone.
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For express pass is the best strategy to do stay and scream for Halloween? Is there a seperate stay and scream line for express pass?
I'll be their Wednesday and trying to make a plan. My only thing is I want to do the Weekend after hours when it's dark. Initially I was going to start their.
Some nights just work out perfectly....
We attended Sunday Oct 23 and I'd say we got pretty close to the perfect stay and scream.
We wanted to finally try for Halloween at stay and scream. The goal was to get in line at 4, however, traffic always sucks coming from our house and so we were late.
4:24 pm in line for stay and scream Halloween. We were in the first of the secondary queue line that stretches along the tribute store side. After we got our spot I got a turkey bun and the African lentil and potato sambusa coffin, both delicious. Also get a cake pop which was also really good.
They started to load us by degrees into the actual Halloween queue and that was very organized. The house opened at almost exactly 5:15 and we were inside at 5:30. Really, not bad.
We considered doing Coven, but I think the house opened late because it was 5:35 and their line still hadn't been loaded into the house queue, so instead we got in line for Dead Man's Pier at 5:36. The house opened up at 5:56 and we were in at 5:59. Hauntingly beautiful, as always. Though a couple notable scare actors were missing.
We could see Chupacabra's line right before we went into Dead Man's and saw it was very small, so we immediately got in line for Chuppy at 6:04. We walked right in with no wait at 6:07. We really enjoyed this walk through and decided to go around again. So we got in line at 6:13 and were in with a very short wait at 6:18. I think they had the smells of this house pumped up to 11.
We headed to Monsters next and we were in line at 6:31. Surprisingly, we walked right up and were in the house at 6:35. As we exited we saw that the Weeknd had a super short wait too. I was tempted to do Monsters again because I love it, but decided that we should try for the Weeknd. It got a bit longer in the time it took us to get there, We were in line at 6:44 and into the house at 7:04.
We could see the Monsters line was a lot longer as we left the Weeknd, so we moved on.
In line for Destruction at 7:18 and into the house at 7:25. This house is definitely growing on me.
We had one more house we wanted to do so got in line for Bug at 7:34. Took a bit longer than we'd like and we were in at 8:04. Bug is a very frustrating house to wait in the standby, it feels like they constantly move express through and barely shuffle any standby in. Ratio just seems worse than all the other houses.
At this point we felt super accomplished. In roughly 3 hours we did 8 houses. Halloween, Dead Man's, Chuppy x2, Monsters, Weeknd, Destruction and Bugs. We don't like Blumhouse so didn't care we missed it, and we've also done Coven and Hellblock a lot, especially for houses that aren't our favorites.
It was kind of weird, I don't think the dance show was running that night. They had all the floodlights on inside and sounded like they were working on something. I didn't see any times for the show in the app either. Wonder what is going on.
So we did the final goal of the night, which was to head to IOA to see the Dementors. We made it to Hogsmeade around 8:30 and the Dementors came out soon after. They are pretty fierce and fantastic. We were also able to catch the end of the castle show and then head out.
We're not doing any more HHN until the very earliest Oct 28. Excited to close out the event!
Delicious dessert:
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And dessert I got at the Today cafe last time we did HHN. Made me question all my life decisions that led to this point. Did not enjoy it very much, cannot recommend.
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I can relate. I was just screaming and hiding but my sons were appreciating details and storytelling…laughing at their scary mom too…The comment about no story has brought up something that I think may offer one point that could explain such differing reviews
lack of story means nothing to me in a house I would know if a house had a story if the storybook hit me over the head. Lol I barely notice anything. I’m just concerned with getting out alive. I didn’t even realize the ending changed in monsters. and obviously I scare very easily so it doesn’t take much there either. I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who doesn’t do houses for stories. So those of us are probably all very happy due to the overall quality
if that makes sense
Is there a chance HHN will be open 11/1? I overheard a parking attendant tell a guest that 6 pm free parking won’t start until Wednesday due to HHN and when I checked HHN website 11/1 is on the calendar but says tickets are unavailable
Thank you that makes sense!I can't say with 100% certainty but I feel we would have heard something by now if that was the case. Even if it was a rumor, they would have had to have asked the cast by now and I'm sure someone would have leaked it.