HHN holding area

[monique]

Hi everyone,
Someone on here must have done it before, gone to Universal during the day and waiting in the holding area for HHN ...

I've purchased HHN tickets (BOGOF) and the only reason I've bought them is because our 14 year old is a massive Stranger Things fan. We all agree that as we are not horror movie fans, we don't care much for all the other houses as we will have no idea what they are about etc. So we are literally just there because of Stranger Things and to soak up the atmosphere from the scare zones and seeing all the decorations. We decided express passes for the houses was pointless (for reason mentioned before) but we are all happy to get to the park for a day visit (obviously buying a day ticket for that) do some normal rides (hoping we will get on any) and than go to one of these holding zones for the evening. Who's done this before? How long are you in the holding zone for and is it worthwhile? Do I show my HHN ticket when we first go into the park or do we do this when we go to the holding zone? We have been to Florida 8 times but never at Halloween. The plan is to do HHN on the 23rd of October... would love some feedback from people that have done the same. Thank you in advance

[Lell]

We have done HHN a few times. If you want to do Stranger Things and its the same as last year, you will head to Finnegans holding area. We always head there sharp and have a meal whilst waiting. They will let people in the holding areas out before letting the general public in. You will just show your HHN ticket when you go into the holding area. Everyone else is herded out of the park.

[JediMuM]

as lell says .. we do finnigans holding area every year and a couple of hello kitty ones thrown in for a mix .. defo the way to do it .. even with FF+ with express .. we like to visit at least 5-6 times per year and still do holding areas to get a once round our faves before we use the express.

you need to get to finnigans early if you want to get into the bar .. nevermind a seat though lol x

[Shooby doo]

They will start clearing the park at 5:00pm, at that point head to one of the holding areas, if you want to eat then best reserve something as you won't get a walk up at Finnegin's for example. Depending on how quickly they clear the park will depend on what time you are released, generally somewhere between 6:00-6:30, not all houses will be open at this stage, they use this as a sort of crowd control it's also worth mentioning that these early Houses are worth going back to once it's dark. Likewise with the scare zones as they take on a whole different vibe once it's dark.
SD

[Floridaagogo]

We head into the holding area about 4.30,grab a drink then head towards the front of the holding area

[monique]

Thank you so much for the replies. Very useful to know these things! Greatly appreciated... I now have a plan in place so that’s brilliant!

[loves2plan]

We're planning on booking the RIP tour, so will be need to go to the holding area too?

[Floridaagogo]

No you won’t,think tours depart about 8ish x

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

No you won’t,think tours depart about 8ish x

See more...

Thank you

[Johngela13]

It’s also worth noting that you don’t necessarily need to know the back stories of the houses in order to enjoy them. Some of them are ‘original’ houses and not based on movie frnachaises. Last year there was man-eating shrubbery, zombies etc. These houses made me ‘jump’ more than the more famous ones. That said, stranger Things was great although we still queued for 40 mins after a hasty release from the holding pen. We were managing 5 or 6 houses a night without queuing.

It is seriously good fun and even though we looked like a relatively boring middle aged couple, I got chased by a chain saw wielding killer person