Originally Posted by
Mfarquar
However, (not to be a broken record or bossy - I promise, last time I will say it) I STRONGLY recommend that you do not leave the park. The lines outside the park get quite long, especially since everyone must go through metal detectors. You'll then be dealing with the lines for the first few houses (sometimes they stagger house opening times, so even if you work the houses counter-clockwise, you still may have to wait 20 minutes for the first on the opposite side of the park to open).
However, if you're also getting Express Passes, this will not be so much of a problem. In my experience, this event is exponentially more crowded then MNSSHP because there are less nights that this event is open (it starts later in the season) and is a huge hit with locals and die hard fans. The crowd levels will depend on the night you're going, but even on opening night (one of the less crowded evenings), we have seen at least one or two houses at any given time with over an hour wait. Having a jump on the crowd has really helped us in the past and helped us avoid any major long lines so that we can see almost everything.