So I’m mad cause my group agreed to go early to do EE but of course we’re running super late and I’m probably barely gonna make the 7:00 opening. What’s a good emergency game plan to salvage the night?
Plan 1 - Leave your friends behind.
Plan 2 - If you don't wanna be THAT guy that does Plan 1, just pick 2 or 3 mazes your group doesn't mind skipping. Stranger Things and Corpses are consistently on the lower end of rankings, even with people that haven't seen the 2010-2011 one of Corpses and fans of ST. Other lower ranking mazes are Pandora and Ghostbusters. They're both love 'em or hate 'em. Creepshow and FMTW are both usually in the middle, so I'd recommend those. Do not miss Us or Killer Klowns, as those are everyone's top. Skip Jabba and dinner, you have no choice now. Limit your groups snack and bathroom breaks. This is harsh treatment but they screwed you over by being late in the first place. Also harsh on yourself, as we all gotta eat, but you wanna see as many mazes as possible, right?!
In addition to Plan 2, never wait around for "what next?" Just have the plan ready and have everyone start walking. If people need a bathroom break, just have them meet you at the line so someone can be a placeholder so at least SOME time can be shaved off the wait time, instead of waiting around for everyone to finish their bathroom break.
Plan 3 - (looking at the time, hoping you see this before than) Get the Express pass that goes on sale at 11 PM. I don't know the price, but last year it was usually an extra $20-50, depending on the night.
Plan 4 - Divide and conquer. I tried this and it didn't work because line times were drastically wrong. But in theory, it should work amazingly well. Have half your group go wait in one long line. The other half goes off and waits in a much shorter line. They return after doing the maze and then you guys switch off, re-converging back in the really long line so you can all enjoy. It's two mazes down in the time for one really long maze's wait time. (Example: Wait in the 2 hour US line, but have people go off and do the Holidayz in Hell line that's only 35 minutes, then switch -- in theory, everyone should be back with about 20-30 minutes to spare before finally reaching the front of the US line). This ultimately saves you one less maze to do and can gain you time to hit one extra maze. Remember, you can get into a maze as long as you're there one second before closing, so always have in mind what your home stretch will be, and plan accordingly to make that run for it.