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CityWalk and Downtown Disney are the same type of thing. DD has the Raglan Road Irish bar, Citywalk has Pat O'Brien's (a a very faithful recreation of the one in New Orleans.) Downtown Disney is bigger, but CityWalk is going to have what you need - a nightclub, a comedy club, karaoke, Emeril's restaurant, Margaritaville. Both entities are overpriced tourist traps.March 2nd, you should avoid Spring Breakers by and large. I think they start to flood in the weekend of the 9th, and then the next two weekends will be the biggest.
My kids enjoyed the Sinbad show but I wouldnt say its a must see
My best guess would be pretty busy the weekend/week prior to Thanksgiving and a total zoo from Thanksgiving Day through that ensuing Sunday.
Which week in April? April 14-19 will be packed to the rafters regardless of day of week, but there will be some windows of opportunity elsewhere in April.
According to Touring Plans, who rate crowd levels 1 (empty) to 10 (full)...Mardi Gras Concert on the 19th will draw max crowd levels. 9.8 at Studios, 9.1 at Islands of Adventure.
Thanks for the info.
yeah we had the extra hours... my sister hooked us up with the royal Pacific? Hotel for 50 bucks...full express pass and walk to the park anyway. Hit the gat at 730... they opened around 750.... Cloudy day. Hit everything in that section before regular park opening.... waited like 5 minutes for the ride[icon] said:
will try to post pic later
Universal has Revenge of the Mummy, Rip Ride Rockit, the Transformers 3-D simulator, and the rest of the rides are meh. To be fair, I like Men In Black Alien Attack, but only because I'm hyper-competitive and like rides that keep score so I can taunt young children after I kick their ###es. 3 1/2 really good attraction. Simpsons ride is OK, amusing but not really all that great. Maybe after they get the new Harry Potter expansion up, it might overtake I of A, but....wadegarrett said:
you would fit right in with belljr clan on the score rides... my wife took a picture to prove she beat my daughter and I on the toy story one....
my only loss to her 
Took the family there two weeks ago for Halloween! The expansion is top-notch - from Diagon Alley, to the Hogswart Train to the Hogsmeade Ride. Definitely worth the extra dough as far as I'm concerned.
The wife and I do it every year. What do you want to know?
Is HHN set up in both parks, or just one? Do the parks close at a certain time for HHN and then reopen for those with HHN tickets? What's the difference between houses and scare zones? Not much basic info. provided on the official web site at his point in time.
Universal Studios only, it's not in Islands of Adventure currently. The park does close at a certain time and then re-open for those with HHN tickets. If you have both a regular daily park admission and a HHN ticket, you can stay in the park, they corral you into a few designated waiting areas. That's the way to go if you can swing it because they'll release you before they open the main gate to HHN-only ticketholders, so you can knock out a house or two before the madding crowds descend. This is key these days because even on what they consider off-nights, you'll be waiting 90 minutes to get into a house by mid-evening. I recommend posting up about an hour before US closes at Finnegan's. They have seats, beer, A/C, and decent food - four things you won't have if you're stuck waiting an hour outdoors.roarlions said:
It was at both parks once that I remember. Now it is only at Universal Studios. Yes the park will close and then reopen for HHN (usually 6pm). Houses are like an attraction, you wait in a really really really long line and walk through a house where a bunch of people jump out and scare you. Picture the house as a huge group of people doing the Conga Line through it. It's a conveyor belt, they get you in and out pretty quick. The scare zones are just areas in the park they have set up and decorated for people to scare you. It's pretty much the normal sidewalks but they have a designated area where it's decorated and people scare you as you walk to other attractions. Also make sure you get there right when the gates open, it's actually best to be there about 20 minutes before it opens. Do that and you can jump on 3 or 4 houses and rides before the lines fill up. Mark the houses or rides you really want to do before hand and go there first. Harry Potter ride is probably the first thing you should go to. After about 20 minutes the wait time will be over an hour. PM me if you want any other info. Have fun.roarlions said:
Last year, they didn't even have the new Potter expansion open to the public during HHN. If they do this year, it will be a godsend because it will siphon some of the traffic away from the houses, so you might have a fighting chance. Last year, I went on a Sunday night in September (lowest admission price of the season) and within an hour of arrival was staring at 90-100 minute waits for pretty much every house. I think I saw 4 or 5 of the 8 and just said to hell with it. Even the non-HHN attractions like Transformers 3D had 45-60 minute waits. They really need to spread it over two parks again, I went 6 or 7 years in a row but after last year, swore it off until they do 2 parks again. I may actually make the extra hour drive and go to Howl-O-Cream at BG this year instead.
Also, I can't stress the bolded enough. You can even make reservations at Finnegan's on opentable for the time period between park closing and early entry to HHN, but you'd better do it MONTHS ahead of time because those in the know will snap those tables up in the bat of an eyelash as soon as they're available. If you can get one, you can grab a beer and a bite while sitting in air conditioned comfort while the unwashed sit and roast in the Florida late day sun. Then, later when all those people are getting a late dinner, you're free to see the attraction(s) you paid for.
If the Express passes don't put a severe dent in your budget, do it. You won't regret it. Even the Express lines are long during HHN, without them, they're almost unbearable. Some people don't mind as much, for me, waiting 90 minutes in line to walk through a house for 3-5 minutes is nuts.
Took our trip to Universal Orlando last week and had a great time. Wanted to say thanks again to those who recommended Finnegan's on the afternoon before we did HHN. We got a reservation for 3:15, had late lunch/early dinner, and hung out at our table until 5:30. Went outside into the holding area and were released around 5:45. Had HHN express passes and knocked off our first 2 houses by 6:30, finished the next 2 houses by 7:30. My wife only wanted to do those 4 houses so I we watched the show featuring Jack, the master of ceremonies for this year, and then I did another house on my own. Don't think we waited more than about 15 minutes at any of the houses we went to thanks to the express passes. Hung around for a while at various scare zones and then headed back to Portofino Bay Hotel around 10:15, after a long day.
The way you did it is literally the only way to really enjoy it any more. Without early entry and express passes, you spend the entire night standing on line and have next to no chance of visiting all 8 (?) houses. 10-15 years ago, I had annual passes to IoA and US and could go to the park during the day on a Sunday, have dinner at Finnegan's, get the early entry and go through all 8 houses by 9:00-10:00, even without the Express pass. 10-15 minute waits tops. Now, forget that plan. You need a regular US ticket, HHN ticket, and Express pass to get to all the houses in one night, so you're looking at $250-$300 a person all in not counting parking, food, beverages, etc. F---that noise. I can take a 3-day cruise to the Bahamas over a weekend for the same money as spending 1 day at Universal.
It's such a well done attraction. I've never attended a Halloween event that's even in the same league.
The year before they had the Purge in the streets instead of a house (and I hope they go back to that next year as the house was the weakest one of all). It was really amazing.
We just went this spring and you can definately do both parks in one day with the Express Pass. We bought the Express Pass and it saved a ton of time in lines and was well worth it imo. We bought our tickets online I believe.
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