HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

[DannyLand]

I need help on planning my nite there Sept 28.
I never went and I need a plan to see all 6 mazes, terror tram, the Bill n Ted Show, and Transformers. I'm on a budget only paying general admission.,
Please give me your best advice on seeing mostly everything there in one night.

[aashee]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Get there right away. Being earlier in the season, seeing all mazes is a lot more doable. I'd go to the lowet lot right away and there won't be much of a line for those mazes. Look ahead of time and see which ones are a "must do" for you. That was you won't wait until the end to save the best for last. I'm hearing Transformers has a very long line, I'd put that as a maybe because that will always be open.

Let us know how you fare!

[woxel1]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Sorry to be a bummer but it's incredibly difficult to do everything in one night on just a General Admission ticket. But if you wanna try... get there early and go straight to the lower lot and ride Transformers first (the line can go up to three hours!). Silent Hill is also down there and as the night goes on will post post the longest wait for a maze. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is also worth checking out. Back on the upper level I'd get into line for the Walking Dead maze (which was my favorite purely for scares). After that, the rest is up to you.

Essentially get the mazes with the biggest waits out of the way early enough so you can catch the shows and tram later (and be aware that the tram rides stop well before the park closes).

[sir clinksalot]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

I agree with the above. Without the Front of the Line pass there is no way you are going to be able to do all the mazes, terror tram, Bill and Ted AND Transformers in one night.

Your absolute best bet is to do this:

When the event starts, head downstairs and go through Silent Hill first. The exit for that is right near Transformers. Ride Transformers. There is a single rider line too.

Then do TX Chainsaw. Skip Jurassic Park.

Head upstairs and do Terror Tram first then the rest of the mazes up there. You will likely end up waiting an hour for each (except House of Horrors).

[niklj]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Going for the first time in five years, but forgot what time was the best to arrive by. Any suggestions? I'm thinking around 5-5:30?

[dth316]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

This is very doable if you pace yourself right. I did all the mazes, Terror Tram and Bill and Ted on opening night. We had an hour to spare just waiting for B&T. We actually could've left the entire event an hour early but one of the lines took longer than expected. With that said, when I went to the lower lot, Transformers was still only a 20 minute line and I could've easily included it in, but since we did it earlier in the day during regular hours, we skipped it. Here's what I did, with one alteration in the beginning:
- Arrive EARLY. If you want to be at the front of the opening scaramonies, be there at 5:30 at the latest. 6:30 if you don't mind being somewhere in the back. Either way, you should get to your first maze by 7:05.
- Hit either Alice Cooper or Walking Dead first. These 2 mazes get the longest lines on the upper lot. When I went, I did La Llorona first since we did it last year already, but that was my only mistake since that line didn't get nearly as long as the other 2. I would've gladly waited 40 minutes for LL if it meant I didn't have to wait 80 for AC & WD. Technically, you can do BOTH right now with a 10 minute wait at the most for your second maze, but I personally like to space out my mazes but this is totally up to your preference and if you want to take a risk of Transformers getting a longer line. So small recap: Alice Cooper or Walking Dead first; SKIP LL and Universal Monster Remix for now.
- Run to the lower lot and immediately turn left at the bottom of the escalators and get in line for Silent Hill. If you're doing this fast enough, it should merely be 7:10 - 7:15. Once you're out, at the most, it'll be 7:20. Since this is still within the first hour, Transformers will only have a 15 - 30 minute line. Lucky for you, the entrance to Transformers is directly by the exit of Silent Hill. Small recap: Silent Hill then Transformers immediately after.
- After Transformers, hit TCM. If Transformers was a 30 minute wait, it should still be before 8 and TCM should still have a 5 - 15 minute line. Once you're out, the exit will lead you directly in front of the Mummy. Choose to ride at your own risk. If it's less than 10 minutes, I say do it. If not, move on and go back up the escalators. JP is a walk on for the first hour also, so if that's your cup of tea, feel free. But don't do both the Mummy and JP, or you'll set yourself back quite a bit -- choose one if you feel you must then get back on schedule. Small recap: TCM after Transformers, possibly the Mummy or JP and then head back to the upper lot.
- At this point, take a moment to realize that it's barely 8:30 and you've done 3 (maybe even 4) mazes and a ride (or 2). That's half the mazes and a ride in less than an hour and a half. But don't get too cocky! Head to Terror Tram or La Llorona. Some people say Terror Tram stays with a short line all night or more towards midnight (near when the attraction closes) so it probably doesn't matter which one you do at this point. Personally, I like to do the Terror Tram after the lower lot. Then right after, turn left and go to La Llorona. If you do La Llorona first, you'll have to back track toward Terror Tram. It's not that big of a distance but I personally hate backtracking. Small recap: Terror Tram & La Llorona, in whatever order you prefer.
- After those two, if you followed my route of La Llorona second, you should be back in the Klownz scarezone with two options: UMR to the left or forward toward Toyz to do either Alice Cooper or TWD (whichever one you didn't do earlier). If UMR has less than a 10 minute wait, go for it. As you exit UMR, do the maze you didn't do earlier. Small recap: UMR then either Alice Cooper or Walking Dead.
- At this point, you've done every maze, Transformers and Terror Tram. If you were lucky, the time is 12ish. If you're unlucky, at the most, it should be 1ish. This also depends if you ate somewhere in between all this. Either way, Bill and Ted has shows playing in the middle of each of those hours. Small recap: Head to Bill and Ted and wait for either show.

I think this is a manageable schedule. In a group of 1 or 2, definitely. 3 to 5, there might be some set backs. 6 - 10, it's REALLY pushing it but it's possible if everyone is on the same exact page and knows the plan. Anymore than 10, I say forget about it and you probably won't even get half the mazes done unless you go army sergeant on them.

Another tip: another benefit of going early is to get all the people in your group who are shoppers into the merch store directly outside the entrance of the park. All the merch inside is everything they sell inside, so if you're there early enough, they can buy everything they want and put it all back in the car and return in time to be let in the park.

One last thing: every minute counts. If you arrive late, even if it's just 7:15, you might end up missing something. Coming at 8, you're definitely going to at least miss Transformers and maybe Bill & Ted.

Pick your priorities at the beginning of the night so you know what's okay to miss just in case something happens.

Read my trip report/review to see what I did specifically at what times and how long I waited for them. This was opening night and media held up things up a bit so your lines should be a tad shorter. But give it a look over so you can see that it is indeed VERY possible.

[BlAcKoUt510]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

It's possible to be able hit them all. I did it last year and was fine.Make sure you get there at least a half and hour before opening. Once it opens I suggest going to Alice first due to that venue always having long lines. After that, do The Walking Dead & then hit the lower lot, do Transformers, & hit Silent Hill & Texas Chainsaw. They should have low lines for the first few hours.

After we decided to eat. Then went on Terror Tram (due to it closing a bit earlier), then hit La Llorona, which will have a long line. Universal Monster Remix last. Catch the last showing of Bill & Ted which is at park closing so it doesn't interfere with your maze time. Depending on how things go, you should be able to hit everything or you might have to cut a maze.

[DannyLand]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

hmm. it turns out none of my friends can go due to money or busy schedules. and i cant go alone (too scared)

so if anyone plans going and wants to take me, let me know.

[JerrodDRagon]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

I agree with the above. Without the Front of the Line pass there is no way you are going to be able to do all the mazes, terror tram, Bill and Ted AND Transformers in one night.

Your absolute best bet is to do this:

When the event starts, head downstairs and go through Silent Hill first. The exit for that is right near Transformers. Ride Transformers. There is a single rider line too.

Then do TX Chainsaw. Skip Jurassic Park.

Head upstairs and do Terror Tram first then the rest of the mazes up there. You will likely end up waiting an hour for each (except House of Horrors).

what? Yes you can

Get there BEFORE it opens....once you can enter the park and they let you walk around...go to Alice Cooper....Walking Dead..La Loronia....then move down stairs and get on the two mazes down there and Transformers......then go on the Terror Tram...Bill and Ted and lastly Monster Remix....and you'll still have at least 2 hours to do more..if you choose to

[SoCalbma]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

The event SOLD Out on Friday 9/28.

I went on Friday and can say that you can DEFINITELY do everything in the park. Here's a warning, if you don't get there during the rope drop expect not to do everything in the park.

Here's a simple summary of what I did:

I got to the park at around 5pm. Went over to CityWalk ate at Panda Express instead of eating inside. The only food I got inside was chili cheese fries as snack.

For those who wants to ride Transformers first, there were a lines located next to Gibson Amphitheater. I believed that they got to go down to the lower lot first at around 6:40 in a huge group.

The rope drop began at about 6:48 and at 6:52 that was when is officially opened.

I filmed a little bit before heading to my first maze. That first maze was Alice Cooper. Once I finished that I headed to Walking Dead and waited for no more than 10 minutes. After the Walking Dead, I headed over to La Llorona and waited no more than 15 minutes.

I did all 3 mazes in the upper lot and it was not 8pm yet.

I then proceeded to the lower lot. From there, I did Texas chainsaw, and then Silent Hill. After that, I decided not to ride any rides since I've been on it during regular operating hours. But, my brother and his friends did all the rides in the lower lot before 9:30.

I watched the 9:15 Bill and Ted's. Once that was over, I just walked around the park taken in all the sights and sounds of people screaming etc. The next 2 attractions we did was the Terror Tram and Universal remix after that we then walked around once more before catching the last Bill and Ted's of the night at 1:35pm.

REMEMBER: After 8:30, the lines for everything was well over 85 minutes long except for Universal Remix.

[TSTLSOOM]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

The event SOLD Out on Friday 9/28.

I went on Friday and can say that you can DEFINITELY do everything in the park. Here's a warning, if you don't get there during the rope drop expect not to do everything in the park.

Here's my simple summary of what I did:

I got to the park at around 5pm. Went over to CityWalk ate at Panda Express instead of eating inside. The only food I got inside was chili cheese fries as snack.

For those who wants to ride Transformers first, there were a lines located next to Gibson Amphitheater. I believed that they got to go down to the lower lot first at around 6:40 in a huge group.

The rope drop began at about 6:48 and at 6:52 that's when is officially opened.

I filmed a little bit before heading to my first maze. That first maze was Alice Cooper. Once I finished that I headed to Walking Dead and waited for no more than 10 minutes. After the Walking Dead, I headed over to La Llorona and waited no more than 15 minutes.

I did all 3 mazes in the upper lot and it was not 8pm yet.

I then proceeded to the lower lot. From there, I did Texas chainsaw, and then Silent Hill. After that, I decided not to ride any rides since I've been on it during regular operating hours. But, my brother and his friends did all the rides in the lower lot before 9:30.

I watched the 9:15 Bill and Ted's. Once that was over, I just walked around the park taken in all the sights and sounds of people screaming etc. The next 2 attractions we did was the Terror Tram and Universal remix after that we then walked around once more before catching the last Bill and Ted's of the night at 1:35pm.

REMEMBER: After 8:30, the lines for everything was well over 85 minutes long except for Universal Remix.

this sounds perfect. i was telling people to do the lower lot since they had that early entry, but your idea is way better.

[madmonkeygirl]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Because of Transformers and them taking people down to the lower lot first that plan off attack is actually a great he. By 8:30 lines downstairs were NOT that bad. I believe both mazes downstairs Silent Hill and Texas Chainsaw were about 35 minutes. I went last night on 9/29 with Front of Line passes. We had everything done by 11:30pm and that was NOT rushing it at all.

[niklj]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

This is very doable if you pace yourself right. I did all the mazes, Terror Tram and Bill and Ted on opening night. We had an hour to spare just waiting for B&T. We actually could've left the entire event an hour early but one of the lines took longer than expected. With that said, when I went to the lower lot, Transformers was still only a 20 minute line and I could've easily included it in, but since we did it earlier in the day during regular hours, we skipped it. Here's what I did, with one alteration in the beginning:

Just want to say that I followed your plan to the T when I went last Sunday 10/7 (except Transformers was down the whole time we were in the lower lot so we didn't get to go on that) and it worked out perfectly. Got there at around 4:44 and was among the first in security line and then among the first in line to the turnstiles. Alice and Silent Hill were pretty much walk-ons, and then by about 7:30 things started slowing down near TCM (about 15 minutes). The Terror Tram line was about 90 minutes by 8:30 I think (they really need to think of a better way to queue the thing because the way it congests before it gets to the stairway is horrible) and then afterwards, by around 10 or 11 the lines for Walking Dead/La Llorna were about 45-50 min. and UMR was about 15 minutes. With this plan my friend and I were able to hit all the mazes, ride the Mummy, and end the night with Bill and Ted, stress-free. Thanks!

BTW, this really is not a kid-friendly event. Even the line for the Terror Tram is not kid-friendly. Saw a lot of kids, though. Also USH needs to find a better way of getting the people out of the park faster. Maybe they should've released some monsters on them And just a reminder, NO LIQUIDS PERIOD are allowed into the park, not even unopened water bottles. It was pretty fun chugging that bottle before the security guards let us in haha.

And I'll never understand the people who buy a ticket just to point out all the monsters and show off how "not scared" they are. If you are behind one of those people, let other people pass and get between you because I guarantee they will suck the fun out of your experience. Also, if you are stuck behind people that are frequently too scared to proceed (to the point where the guards have to yell "PLEASE MOVE ON"), also let other people pass you.

Hope everyone has a bloody good time like we did!

[madmonkeygirl]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Yay I'm glad you were able to do everything except Transformers. That's why unfortunately as expensive it is to go to Horror Nights with the lines all conga style and either people who act matcho pointing out things etc or too scared to move on we have fund other haunts much cheaper with excellent line control making the experience even more frightful because you NEVER see anyone else the whole time you are there. Unfortunately Horror Nights is getting to the point we have scaled back our visits this year and most definitey next due to the better quality of more haunt choices out there.

[jcruise86]

If this sold out on a September night, then Universal will and should raise prices next year.

We went to Universal during the day on Saturday, Oct. 13, and the crowd to get in to Horror Nights looked appropriately nightmarish.

I'm really impressed by all of the suggestions on this tread. SoCalbma--good post, and dth316, your list of suggestions was EPIC! I bet many many micechatters heading to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights will have much better evenings because all of you took to the time to write these posts! On behalf of them, THANK YOU!

[Vorig]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

I was tracking the wait time for last Sunday, and they're totally crazy after the terror tram closes at 9:30. The mazes get absolutely flooded with people who didn't make it onto the tram. I'm going this Sunday and plan to hit the tram very first thing, and then hit up as many lower lot mazes as possible. It will probably be 8-8:15. So given that I don't want to go on any rides, I could go alice cooper or walking dead. What do you all propose as a plan of attack to hit all the mazes in the night given that the tram closes early on Thurs/Sun. I'm not interested in any of the rides.
Here's last weekend's wait times:

7:00: monster 20, Texas 10, Silent 10, Cooper 10, W.Dead 20, Llorna 10, TRAM 20
7:30: monster 15, Texas 10, Silent 10, Cooper 10, W.Dead 20, Llorna 10, TRAM 40
8:00 monster 25, Texas 15, Silent 25, Cooper 20, W.Dead 35, Llorna 35, TRAM 70
9:00 monster 15, Texas 45, Silent 45, Cooper 45, W.Dead 45, Llorna 60, TRAM 45
10:00 monster 15, Texas 50, Silent 70, Cooper 60, W.Dead 75, Llorna 60, TRAM n/a

[dth316]

Re: HHN Hollywood First Timer HELP!

Just want to say that I followed your plan to the T when I went last Sunday 10/7 (except Transformers was down the whole time we were in the lower lot so we didn't get to go on that) and it worked out perfectly. Got there at around 4:44 and was among the first in security line and then among the first in line to the turnstiles. Alice and Silent Hill were pretty much walk-ons, and then by about 7:30 things started slowing down near TCM (about 15 minutes). The Terror Tram line was about 90 minutes by 8:30 I think (they really need to think of a better way to queue the thing because the way it congests before it gets to the stairway is horrible) and then afterwards, by around 10 or 11 the lines for Walking Dead/La Llorna were about 45-50 min. and UMR was about 15 minutes. With this plan my friend and I were able to hit all the mazes, ride the Mummy, and end the night with Bill and Ted, stress-free. Thanks!

I'm glad you got everything done with my advice! That makes it so worth it to have written everything out. However, I actually would've advised something a little different for a Sunday or Thursday. For days where the Terror Tram closes early, I'd recommend doing that first to avoid hitting a line for it later, and THEN run down to the lower lot and continue the schedule as normal from there. Too bad about Transformers though.

I'm really impressed by all of the suggestions on this tread. SoCalbma--good post, and dth316, your list of suggestions was EPIC! I bet many many micechatters heading to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights will have much better evenings because all of you took to the time to write these posts! On behalf of them, THANK YOU!

If I could help or enhance at least one person's night with my tips/advice/tricks, writing those lists are worth it! Sometimes I write out those long lists and people don't follow them and they end up saying they had a bad time. First thing I always ask is, "did you follow the directions?" They then ofcourse say, "pretty much but we got there at around 8 and we did this one ride twice" and I'm already thinking, "say no more! First thing you messed up on was getting there at 8 and if that wasn't bad enough, wasting time on a ride not only once but twice!" But the people that DO follow the advice (or the people who go with me and never have gone before but I promise to get them on everything) thank me a whole lot at the end of the night! HHN is my favorite Halloween event and I just hate it when people say they don't like it because they only got 3 mazes done, crowds suck, "you NEED a FOTL pass to get everything done." All there really is to it is: get there on time and run to the back of the park first and don't dilly dally.

There's only 9 nights of HHN left so I hope everyone continues to have a great time!