Here’s a link to download the event map. Universal Orlando
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Let the planning begin!
Thanks! I am bookmarking the page !
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I’m going with 3 other people on September 14th (the first night) and none of us have ever been before. We’ll be starting with the Stranger Things house and will have access to the holding areas. I plan on getting us to a holding area at 4 pm.
Stranger Things is in the front sound stage (location A) so Hello Kitty seems to be the best holding area location wise. However, both Touring Plans and Orlando Informer refer to it as an overflow area for Finnegan’s. They also say that Finnegan’s gets the “first crack at the sound stages.”
Should we go for Finnegan’s instead of Hello Kitty? I do like the idea of avoiding the Finnegan’s crowds, but getting a jump on the crowds is our number 1 priority.
Additionally, that night should have a pass holder event which will give the pass holders early access to 3 houses. We will have 3 APs between us (each AP gets a guest) and would be qualified for this. However, they usually use Springfield holding area for the pass holder event and while we would get access to houses in that area as early as 5:30 pm, this would put us at a disadvantage for the sound stages.
I welcome any thoughts and opinions on where we should start and whether the pass holder event is worth it for us given that ST is our priority. Thanks!
I’m not making any hard and fast plans until OI updates their 2018 touring plan which should be soon. I followed it in 2015 and it worked perfectly! Didn’t in 2016 and it was not as effective. Last year we chose to do the RIP tour. Just looking at the map it still looks like Hello Kitty would be a good place to stage for Stranger Things. Touring Plans also does an excellent plan. Have fun and be sure to give us some feedback! We go on the third and fourth of OCT. Not sure if we will EP again this year but it’s a life saver when really busy and “blogger” night will be!!!
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Does OI update their touring plan prior to the first night? I figured they used their experience from night one to build it and then update it as the season goes on. I expect to make mistakes with our touring plan since there won’t be insider info on the event available yet.
I don’t think we will be buying EP. I’m going with my younger sister (8 years younger) and her 2 friends all in their early 20s. We are at Universal for 3 days mainly for Harry Potter and just happened to be there the first HHN weekend. We’re going to HHN mainly out of curiosity. I don’t think everyone is going to want to do all the houses. 3 of us love Stranger Things, but only my sister is a horror fan. If we do ST plus 2 or 3 other houses, the night will be a success. We may be happy just doing the ST house and spend the evening exploring scare zones and people watching. My sister is not a night owl; she may crash early in the evening. We’re staying onsite so easy to leave and go to bed when done. Last year at Mickey’s Halloween Party in DL she was ready to leave by 9:30 pm before the fireworks and that was a $110 ticket. She gets her HHN ticket for “free” since she bought a Premier Annual passport.
I’m also wondering when we should purchase tickets. 3 of us will have APs so we can technically purchase discounted tickets for all of us. However, we are not able to purchase AP discounted tickets until the day we arrive which is the day before HHN. All we have right now are the purchase confirmation numbers for our passes. We won’t have the physical passes until Thursday, September 13 when we arrive. I’ll be activating and using mine on Thursday; the others arrive Thursday pm and will, hopefully, have enough time to activate theirs.
OI said single night event tickets don’t sell out until the day of the even; they recommend purchasing it 48 hours in advance. Since we are going during the peak of hurricane season our travel plans could easily be impacted by a hurricane (we are flying in from out of state). I’d like to wait until our travel week at least to buy a ticket.The question is can we wait until we arrive and activate our passes to buy tickets? Is this too risky? The regular (no-AP) online price for our night is $79; the AP discounted price is $66.
There’s a lot to unpackage here! Let me eat this elephant one bite at a time. OI will do a best guess before the first night and then adjust accordingly based on what they see.
Will an AP purchase link let you “buy” the tickets and then show your UOAP to verify when you actually pick up the tickets? I’m not a UOAP holder as my military discounts usually cover my needs.
I’m not sure how many bloggers will be there and does that effect ticket availability. Just a guess that it will be at capacity the first night.
Yeah, I put too much exposition in the post and in prose format too (not even bullet points). Sorry about that.
I tired this on the website, but you need a “Passholder Visual ID Number” which is on the physical pass (ticket purchase confirmation number did not work).
I should try calling the AP ticket phone line to see if i can purchase in advance. I don’t think it will, but it is worth a call.
I just called them. You need the physical pass to purchase discounted tickets. They need the pass ID number which is only issued with the physical ticket.
Actually, we had originally ruled out going to HHN on our trip for this reason. My sister thought her complimentary ticket would not be valid on the first weekend when we were there. TP’s website said that the opening weekend brings out “all the HHN fans”.
So I did a bit of research and discovered the complimentary AP pass is valid during opening weekend. I also found out the following items which indicate that it will not be the busiest night definitely still moderately busy). Plus, now that I have started planning, I feel the need to go and have Fear of Missing Out (this is how they get you).
- Express Passes are $89.99 the second lowest pricing of the season ($79.99 is as low as they go)
- OI lists September 14 as a “Medium Crowded” night out of 3 tiers of crowds (Least, Medium, Most)
- OI does not September 14 (or any of the opening weekend nights) as the busy nights to avoid
- The first 2 weekends are typically designated for AP events because Universal wants AP to go early in the season and not clog up the lines when everyone is “paying top dollars”
- Rush of Fear (cheapest multiday pass) is valid for all of opening weekend
Actually, buying a Rush of Fear in advance (even without the AP discount), might be the best deal for us. For about $25 more than just Friday night, we’d get to go back on Saturday. This would be much cheaper than buying a single nigh AP ($66) + EP ($90).
I’ll see what the rest of the group wants to do.
Our group consensus is to just do a regular single night admission ticket for Friday, September 14 (no Express). 3 out of the 4 of us (including myself) are mainly doing HHN out of curiosity. The one actual horror movie fan (my sister) gets her ticket for free via her AP and isn’t concerned with haunted house throughput. We don’t want to eat into valuable park time by doing a second night (1 person in my group has never even visited UOR before) or more than double the event cost by purchasing EPs. I will do my best to put together a touring plan and have warned everyone that we might only get to 2 haunted houses. If lines become prohibitive, we will just explore scare zones and maybe try some food and beverage specialties.
I’ll send out a report based on our experience!
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I can tell you that I went last year on a Sunday in October. I was determined to do maybe 3 houses and anything else would be a bonus. We were in USF when it closed, in the holding area at Finnegan’s. By starting with a major house in the front as soon as they released us, heading to the back for two minor houses and then waiting a bit for two other big houses, we were able to do five houses, see the show, walk through all the scare zones several times, ride Gringotts and explore Diagon Alley and leave before it was over. I have faith you will have a successful night!
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