Okay, feeling a little better now, hahahaha- I'm just so excited to go and was really worried about not being able to make all the houses, I'm actually pretty hyped for the entire lineup this year and would hate to miss the chance to do one of them!
I'm honestly way less concerned about the show (shows?) than I am about the houses. That tip about ST closing early is good to know- I thought the lines for the houses all stayed open till the park closed, but I guess that makes sense. Do you have any idea how early it might close? I was considering leaving one of the big houses for the end of the night since once you're in the queue you're good to go regardless of how late it is, and I thought lines might be shorter than in the middle of the event- but I don't want to leave something big for the end only to find out it's already closed!
To my knowledge, it's the first time that's happened in the history of the event so there's not much precedent to go by. I believe I got there at 1:20 for a 2AM closing and was turned around. You are correct in that all lines are open until closing every night (so 1:59AM & 59 sec. for a 2AM closing), only the Stranger Things house had early line closings last year. If you start seeing the line go higher than 4 hours opening night and not go down, I'd plan on hitting it earlier than expected. I always save the back house circuit for last since its so easy to hit one after another (the exit lines go straight into the starting lines, 3 houses in a row). That's also how I start the night, but that's also doing S&S in Simpsons so we're already back there.