HHN without express pass (26th Sept - 10th Oct) - possible?

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by Claudette

Well I just looked at a few youtube vlogs and there is mention of lines 90 minutes and 3 hours long. I don't think I will bother, but if I were, yes I would get an express pass.

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We're only doing 1 night and want to get the full experience, albeit not the queuing part, and express passes may only cut queues by half from what I've read, so you could still have a 45-90 minute queue per house. So we have bought the RIP tour. It's expensive, but every review I've read has said it's well worth it. No queuing and guaranteed to get everything done

[Russ448]

Originally Posted by pegasus928

This is one heck of a sweeping statement and I would take this with a pinch of salt.
I agree that it is possible to do it over two nights, but what if you can only go on a Friday and Saturday? You would be lucky to get half the houses done on both nights let alone all. If you go on what is deemed a peak night you will see a huge difference in wait times, and will likely be over an hour per house, and more than 3 hours for the popular ones.
It also comes down to how you want to spend your time. If you are happy stood in a queue for 5-6 hours of the night then you will probably get a lot of houses done. But in doing this you will miss out on enjoying the scare zones and shows and the essence of what HHN is about.
1 or 2 nights and I would get an EP. More than that and Stay and Scream will work well.

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Only passing on how it was for us. Over the 2 nights we managed all 10 houses plus the show and had plenty time walking about the scare zones.

[Gav]

Originally Posted by loves2plan

We're only doing 1 night and want to get the full experience, albeit not the queuing part, and express passes may only cut queues by half from what I've read, so you could still have a 45-90 minute queue per house. So we have bought the RIP tour. It's expensive, but every review I've read has said it's well worth it. No queuing and guaranteed to get everything done

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That’s what I’m doing this year. Last time I went we got express passes for one night and got EVERYTHING done, including going on the rides, however this year I have to go it alone and as I know I only have one night I want to make sure I get it all done - plus it’s getting busier each year. Roll on 19 Sept!

[twogoto]

Thanks everyone, last time we enjoyed the scare zones & people watching more than anything else - I know we'll be going repeatedly throughout the 2 weeks so we might just try and do it with the holding pens. If we're feeling flush before we go then we'll snap up some express passes if they're still available, as we did enjoy them for skipping ride queues too!

[Safyre]

We went last year with express passes, and still only went in Stranger Things once. That house was a 3 hour queue most of the time we were there, and will probably be the same. Even express only halves the wait time, and we still had a long wait for it.

Only you can answer it really, but for us it was pointless not getting the express passes, because we wouldn't wait in repeated queues of over half an hour for each house (based off previous years, a quiet house was 30 minutes + but the busy ones were hours) we even spent a while one night sitting in the bakery at the entrance watching the wait time board which never went under 100 minutes for any of the houses.

We're getting rush of fear tickets, and will go 7 or 8 times, but getting the express option so we dont need to rush everything into one night, or stay till the very end every night. It was cheaper than adding on individual express passes.

[pegasus928]

Originally Posted by aj26392

Thanks everyone, last time we enjoyed the scare zones & people watching more than anything else - I know we'll be going repeatedly throughout the 2 weeks so we might just try and do it with the holding pens. If we're feeling flush before we go then we'll snap up some express passes if they're still available, as we did enjoy them for skipping ride queues too!

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If you're planning on staying late one night the express passes generally go on sale after 10pm (although it could be 11pm - check with a CM) which will give you a couple of hours when it is usually a bit quieter to hit the houses hard.

[Slowwinger]

Originally Posted by pegasus928

If you're planning on staying late one night the express passes generally go on sale after 10pm (although it could be 11pm - check with a CM) which will give you a couple of hours when it is usually a bit quieter to hit the houses hard.

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Are they discounted after 10pm?

[pegasus928]

Originally Posted by Slowwinger

Are they discounted after 10pm?

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Normally yes. They have been every year we have been, but thats not to say they will be this year of course.

[Griff_389]

We went mid September in 2017, and had no major problems with queues. Yes, some were longer than others, but from going in at opening and staying not far off closing, we did pretty much every house.
We didn’t get to see any shows, but we didn’t mind too much.
Perhaps it’s got busier last year, or just gets busier later into Sept and Oct, but we don’t plan on express passes again when we go this September.

[Gav]

It really does depend on what each person is looking to get out of it and how much time you have/the number of people/budget etc.

I think it has cost me around £240 for my RIP tour which I thought, although expensive is potentially good value for money.

The event ticket is £70 (approx) for everyone, whereas the if I didn't do the RIP tour, I would get an express pass, which for my night would work out at about £85.

It has still cost me an extra £85, however I also have to factor in that the RIP includes free valet parking. Even if I used normal parking, this would be an extra £20, therefore for an extra £60 it means I don't have to wait in any lines whatsoever (unless i go back to experience houses again) and get something to eat beforehand.

It doesn't seem like a bad deal.

It's easy when I am going it alone though, whereas if you are going as a family of 3/4 it's a big cost.