HHN (even with EP) - Worth it?

Hi!

I have plans to go for the first time to HHN on this year september (with express pass), but i read some not so good things!

First is that even with EP the lines are huge. This really makes me in doubt, since the very first purpose of EP is exactly cut the lines.

In tbe second place: i read that, once you are inside the houses, the crowds are so big that you can not even get scared, since you see whats happening with the people in front of you.

And, last, and because of big crowds too, when you are inside the house, it goes really fast (like a pressure to move foward soon) that you cannot see the details and everything. Well, this would be really disapointing, since everyone says that Universal makes a really god job on the houses.

Can you help me with these things?

Thank you!

Ok, first I’m not a horror person. So while I may get into the spirit, I would not spend lots of time doing horror things. In the houses, things do jump out at you (but cannot touch you), and eventually, that would get old for me if I did this repetitively. They do keep a steady pace, but if you wanted to slow a couple steps from the person in front, you could. I had one person run ahead afraid in one of the houses, then I got lost in a mirror maze. The creepiest moment for me. You can sometimes see ahead to what’s coming. And there are times when the scareactors seem to get the person in front of you each time (or you in another house). Most of the houses are dark, but I think I was able to “see” what I wanted to. Just try a slower pace.

I went for the first time this last year with a RIP tour, which I did think was totally worth it. I was planning one trip, one night, no repeats. With the RIP tour there are no lines. You start at a heavy snack area with option to buy alcoholic drinks. We then accomplished every house and the last showing of the Bill n Ted show (not returning this year). We walked right in the doors to the houses. Instead of lines, we had pit stops at private potties/bars (off limits to other guests) where you could buy more alcohol. Remember, you cannot carry open containers into the houses (for scareactors safety I suppose) so they had to be consumed by the time you entered the next house. At the end, I watched a little of the dance show, and we were taken back for dessert. Really, you are paying for no lines and snacks enough to count as dinner. And a personal escort.

I also utilized early entry before my scheduled RIP tour out of one of the holding pins and saw two houses before my scheduled tour. This was faster moving line (though lots of people) as express passes weren’t really being used so much at that point, and there was still a 15-20min wait for the houses. But I did get to see two houses w/in an hour and be at my RIP tour for snacks. I would strongly recommend the early entry whether you have the express pass or not.

I would have utilized the AP entry, but that didn’t happen on the night that I was going.

I enjoyed the experience, and would probably have not enjoyed standing in the long lines. I will not return, mostly because I like to do new things. HHN was definitely one of the more immersive haunted house experiences I have done, and the houses were well done. I also enjoyed the scare zones walking around.

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I am a huge haunted house buff. For over 20 years, I have gone and searched out good haunted houses in and around my home state. I have had the exact same questions as you for a couple years before I finally bit the bullet and went to HHN last year. Here was my experience.

I did not buy Express Passes or any kind of tour, as I was paying for both myself and my sister and the cost was too high. We went on a Monday night at the end of October. We were in the park before it closed for the day, so we were able to be in one of the holding areas before the event started. This was absolutely critical to our success. As soon as they released us, we went right to one of the most popular houses and went through it. We then went to some of the smaller houses that opened early on and were in very short lines. We then doubled back to a busier house and waited a while. We did another small house and another bigger house. Grand total, we waited about three hours for the five houses that we saw. To me, this was not a bad wait.

The lines were a continuous cattle call through the houses, but for most of the houses, I still found myself getting scared. The houses were very dark, so you really couldn’t see far enough in front of you to have all of the surprises ruined. Also, all of the actors who spoke appeared to have microphones on them, which made their voices and yelling louder than usual and that alone was scary. One of the houses didn’t really seem to be scary at all, but I don’t think I would have been scared even if there wasn’t a line in that one.

I saw one show and it was so-so. The scare zones were amazing and my biggest scare of the night came from walking through one. The theming is incredible.

Honestly, even as a serious haunted house/horror buff, this event is probably one and done for me. I am not local and, while the event was good, I would rather plan a vacation around longer park hours.

I hope that helps!

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Well…i cant thank you enough for the attention!

I read all very carefully and probably will attend the event with the RIP tour, since i dont even know when i will be able to come back.

Thank you

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When in September are you visiting? Second and third HHN weekend in September are usually not that bad in terms of waits.

Hello!

I’be in Orlando from 8 to 20!

An RIP tour is an excellent way to get everything done in one night. Some of your concerns are valid. The scareactors have to “reset” after a jump scare or a certain performance so depending on where you are in line you may see them move out of view or miss them completely. Also they do move you through at a good clip so missing details are inevitable. This will be our fourth year to HHN. This year we will do a frequent fear so we can do multiple nights. The plan is RIP the first night then two more nights without EP to hit the houses we either liked or missed the highlights. UOAP discounts for HHN are pretty good.

The first two years we had express pass and had no trouble seeing every house, scarezone and shows. This was mid to late September. Waits we’re runtinely about a a twenty minutes on average. Last year we did RIP and now we’re are hooked on it.

My suggestion is it’s cheaper and more relaxed to do Frequent Fear/Rush of Fear over several days than to spring lots of money on a RIP tour. You can hit all the houses and several of them a few times.