Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[Brian G.]

Like I said in my original post, only an IP at the caliber of Stranger Things would justify such an idea. This year is a well rounded lineup of IP popularity... so I wouldn't use such a scenario this year.

Spreading the event itself physically is still the top solution to reducing congestion in some areas and additional entertainment. This year is a balanced year (lineup wise) when it comes to IP popularity, and we should see more balanced wait-times. But for future years where there's 1 "top dog" IP like HHN 29 or HHN 32, I think it makes sense.

Well, 32 could've been an argument for TLOU or ST.

But that leads to another issue - casting. 29's ST house had significant casting issues, and now they would have to quadruple the number of roles needed.

Also, you're still losing a house location.

Ultimately, I don't think its an awful idea to have 1 IP house that people can easily experience thanks to increased capacity. Would help improve the idea that HHN is a great value and lessen the negativity that comes from some of the longer wait-times.

Sure, but just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it's a good solution.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Conceptually, your image contradicts itself. Splitting the line at all telegraphs that there’s two houses. Everyone will know there’s two houses at that point. That will also adds a transition point that slows progress.

Thats assuming the general public even cares. There are consistently two parallel lines going into houses as of now when you consider the Express lines, I don’t think “hey, they have a separate house” is a concern.

A single house build, and cast, will cost Universal seven figures in material and total man-hours. Doubling that investment in an IP in a way that doesn’t expand market value is not a shrewd business decision. The guests drawn to the IP and attending are already drawn to the IP and attending. Doubling the throughput of one house (in a risky, imprecise manner) doesn’t actually draw more people. It increases capacity but sacrifices the actual need for the increase. That’s why diversification is so important.

A tenth house that’s a consistent walk-on is the same amount of resources while doing nothing to alleviate congestion in places where guest spending can’t happen.

I will say, I agree that it would be difficult to pinpoint which house gets the hypothetical double treatment and from a physical space perspective may not be doable. But its definitely not the worst idea that’s been brought up here.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Well, 32 could've been an argument for TLOU or ST.

But that leads to another issue - casting. 29's ST house had significant casting issues, and now they would have to quadruple the number of roles needed.

Also, you're still losing a house location.

Casting will be an issue for any additional house they decide to do though no? If they have issues casting for a duplicate house, that same issue would arise with an 11th house, no?

If you have duplicate houses, you creatively design them so that both "converge" on critical scenes to also reduce staffing concerns. For Stranger Things in HHN 32, you could have "mirrored" the Eddie playing the guitar scene so both sides could have seen it at the same time. You could also have scare actors located at certain points where both sides of the houses come close to each other to scare both sides. So instead of hiring 2 full houses, you can probably get away with staffing the equivalent of 1.5 houses only.


Pardon the crude drawing.

Same with the facade, you can make a larger facade with 2 entries that end up splitting off guests through different doors, etc.

On the losing a house location, going back to HHN 32 as an example, you could split one soundstage in half like they always do and use that space for both versions of the house. Then, just add another house at another SS, like this year with SS25 and SS24 only hosting a house each this year.

Sure, but just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it's a good solution.

Hard to tell what's a great idea or not... just throwing out potential solutions to a problem HHN, IMO, needs to desperately solve.

 

[Brian G.]

Casting will be an issue for any additional house they decide to do though no? If they have issues casting for a duplicate house, that same issue would arise with an 11th house, no?

If you have duplicate houses, you creatively design them so that both "converge" on critical scenes to also reduce staffing concerns. For Stranger Things in HHN 32, you could have "mirrored" the Eddie playing the guitar scene so both sides could have seen it at the same time. You could also have scare actors located at certain points where both sides of the houses come close to each other to scare both sides. So instead of hiring 2 full houses, you can probably get away with staffing the equivalent of 1.5 houses only.

When you're casting for lookalikes with specific body frames and types, it further complicates an already prevalent issue for the event. Asking a Scareactor to "double-time" in a shared scene in an already a grueling position, won't help matters, either.

On the losing a house location, going back to HHN 32 as an example, you could split one soundstage in half like they always do and use that space for both versions of the house. Then, just add another house at another SS, like this year with SS25 and SS24 only hosting a house each this year.

That's assuming those locations are available. Remember, the SSs do get used regularly outside of HHN. You can't just wave a magic wand at things.

 

[ssirin88]

You can't just wave a magic wand at things.

Then why are they $85?!

 

[UniversalRBLX]

When you're casting for lookalikes with specific body frames and types, it further complicates an already prevalent issue for the event. Asking a Scareactor to "double-time" in a shared scene in an already a grueling position, won't help matters, either.

Like my layout shows, the scare actor will act as they normally would do for 1 house, but observed by both sets of guests at the same time. It's a creative way to increase capacity while limiting operational challenges. Not every house concept or IP can work with this, but its certainly doable.

That's assuming those locations are available. Remember, the SSs do get used regularly outside of HHN. You can't just wave a magic wand at things.

You know I just used SS25 as an example, as a reference from this year's event. There's a few others places you can stick a house at for the event. You can setup a tent behind Trollercoaster, another new sprung or two by MIB, etc.

Not suggesting any of this is easy, but the event needs to modify its approach on how they handle today's guests and I think this is just one solution out of many.

 

[Brian G.]

Like my layout shows, the scare actor will act as they normally would do for 1 house, but observed by both sets of guests at the same time. It's a creative way to increase capacity while limiting operational challenges. Not every house concept or IP can work with this, but its certainly doable.

This is big "Tell me you don't know about the grind of Scareactors without telling me..." energy,

You know I just used SS25 as an example, as a reference from this year's event. There's a few others places you can stick a house at for the event. You can setup a tent behind Trollercoaster, another new sprung or two by MIB, etc.

Not suggesting any of this is easy, but the event needs to modify its approach on how they handle today's guests and I think this is just one solution out of many.

But you're also amplifying a problem that they don't perceive as one. If so, we'd be talking about an 11th house this year. They're also using SS25 because they need to use one half of SS24 due to Rockit's deconstruction.

Again, I understand the idea, but there are too many hurdles to make it a good solution.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The only thing they have to duplicate is the amount of places that sell pizza fries. If they ever get rid of pizza fries, we riot at dawn.

The stand over by DreamWorks was quite last year (outside the first night) since there was nothing significant back there to draw guests.

This is big "Tell me you don't know about the grind of Scareactors without telling me..." energy,

Not sure where you are getting this from? The same actor, with the same role and level of performance, is simply being observed by two conga lines at the same time instead of 1 conga line.

Please don't assume that I don't know what scare actors go through each and every night. I see and hear what guests do to them. Nowhere in my post do I ask for scare actors to do more than what they're currently being asked to do? What I said was that with creative house design, you can utilize some of the actors to be in scenes that are observed by both guests at the same time, without ruining the house's overall storyline.

 

[Chumpieboy]

Ditching the blinky cups would be silly. As much it is to buy and fill thosie things? no way.

Yeah. Did I miss something where’s there a reason or a rumor why they would not have these this year?

 

[Brian G.]

The stand over by DreamWorks was quite last year (outside the first night) since there was nothing significant back there to draw guests.


Not sure where you are getting this from? The same actor, with the same role and level of performance, is simply being observed by two conga lines at the same time instead of 1 conga line.

Please don't assume that I don't know what scare actors go through each and every night. I see and hear what guests do to them. Nowhere in my post do I ask for scare actors to do more than what they're currently being asked to do? What I said was that with creative house design, you can utilize some of the actors to be in scenes that are observed by both guests at the same time, without ruining the house's overall storyline.

OK fine, despite the fact that I don't think that specific idea is a good one, that still doesn't solve all the other issues that have been listed.

Yeah. Did I miss something where’s there a reason or a rumor why they would not have these this year?

Some batteries allegedly had leak issues.

 

[Clive]

The stand over by DreamWorks was quite last year (outside the first night) since there was nothing significant back there to draw guests.


Not sure where you are getting this from? The same actor, with the same role and level of performance, is simply being observed by two conga lines at the same time instead of 1 conga line.

Please don't assume that I don't know what scare actors go through each and every night. I see and hear what guests do to them. Nowhere in my post do I ask for scare actors to do more than what they're currently being asked to do? What I said was that with creative house design, you can utilize some of the actors to be in scenes that are observed by both guests at the same time, without ruining the house's overall storyline.

That would only work if the actor isn't actively scaring anyone and only exists to be observed as part of a broader show scene. You can only build your house around one or two of those moments, and even then, they tend to be underwhelming (see: Eddie fights the bats in Stranger Things 4). Otherwise, Brian is absolutely right.

You can't keep inviting these debates (or conversations, or whatever you'd like to call them) and then get upset when people point out you are not acting off of complete information.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

That would only work if the actor isn't actively scaring anyone and only exists to be observed as part of a broader show scene. You can only build your house around one or two of those moments, and even then, they tend to be underwhelming (see: Eddie fights the bats in Stranger Things 4). Otherwise, Brian is absolutely right.

HHN has leaned towards having more show scenes with an actor performing a more action-oriented role versus a scare, so these scenes would primarily be story/impressive set design scenes, not for scares. Which is why this concept would only work for houses like ST.

You can't keep inviting these debates (or conversations, or whatever you'd like to call them) and then get upset when people point out you are not acting off of complete information.

Where do I come off as upset outside of when I was called out for not knowing what SAs go through (did not like that at all, and am very disappointed)? I agreed with Brian that the top practical solution is still to spread out crowds by spreading out the event. Where did I become upset with people challenging my idea? What information am I missing? I was simply having a back and forth on why I think this idea could be a scenario to alleviate HHN's capacity issue and answering back to issues they called out.

 

[Clive]

HHN has leaned towards having more show scenes with an actor performing a more action-oriented role versus a scare, so these scenes would primarily be story/impressive set design scenes, not for scares. Which is why this concept would only work for houses like ST.


Where do I come off as upset outside of when I was called out for not knowing what SAs go through (did not like that at all, and am very disappointed)? I agreed with Brian that the top practical solution is still to spread out crowds by spreading out the event. Where did I become upset with people challenging my idea? What information am I missing? I was simply having a back and forth on why I think this idea could be a scenario to alleviate HHN's capacity issue and answering back to issues they called out.

I am begging you to just accept that this wouldn't work. The passion is great, I'm all for pitching unconventional solutions, but this one just would not pan out. Multiple people have explained why.

You come off as upset in the posts where your word choice and tone clearly read as your being upset, including this one. If you haven't been a scare actor, you frankly don't know what scare actors go through. It's not a slight, it's just the truth. Even the event's designers frequently make decisions that reflect the reality that they have never been scare actors and don't realize what they're asking someone to do.

 

[TheAlaskanBullworm]

I am begging you to just accept that this wouldn't work. The passion is great, I'm all for pitching unconventional solutions, but this one just would not pan out. Multiple people have explained why.

You come off as upset in the posts where your word choice and tone clearly read as your being upset, including this one. If you haven't been a scare actor, you frankly don't know what scare actors go through. It's not a slight, it's just the truth. Even the event's designers frequently make decisions that reflect the reality that they have never been scare actors and don't realize what they're asking someone to do.

Just to piggyback the designers having never done the job bit as a former scareactor. Worst example(and I’m sure there are worse) I’ve done was in Hill House being the crawling basement ghost. It was part of a rotation so you weren’t doing it all night but the rotations in that spot were rough. Granted I wasn’t 20 but we were given some not great knee pads and then a couple of floor mats on the ground. All equated to what felt like 1in of flattened cushion on top of parade building floor to do scares every 5-10 depending how you were holding up

Will say it looked better than the Hollywood version of the same scare though

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I am begging you to just accept that this wouldn't work. The passion is great, I'm all for pitching unconventional solutions, but this one just would not pan out. Multiple people have explained why.

You come off as upset in the posts where your word choice and tone clearly read as your being upset, including this one. If you haven't been a scare actor, you frankly don't know what scare actors go through. It's not a slight, it's just the truth. Even the event's designers frequently make decisions that reflect the reality that they have never been scare actors and don't realize what they're asking someone to do.

This will be my last post on the subject, clearing up for transparency. My tone was not meant to be upset, just having a discussion on a alternative to how currently HHN operates. I'm obviously going to respond back to issues people have with an idea I bring up to better understand why they don't agree.

I have never been a SA, but I've heard stories and have seen incidents occur right in front of me. Heck, I developed a bond with an SA one year after they experienced an incident a few years back that I witnessed.

I will never know what a SA goes through, but calling me out as being inconsiderate of SAs irritated me.

 

[Clive]

This will be my last post on the subject, clearing up for transparency. My tone was not meant to be upset, just having a discussion on a alternative to how currently HHN operates. I'm obviously going to respond back to issues people have with an idea I bring up to better understand why they don't agree.

I have never been a SA, but I've heard stories and have seen incidents occur right in front of me. Heck, I developed a bond with an SA one year after they experienced an incident a few years back that I witnessed.

I will never know what a SA goes through, but calling me out as being inconsiderate of SAs irritated me.

Your idea does not take into account what scare actors go through in addition to not being practical or solving the issues being discussed. I was a scare actor for several years. I can say this with absolute confidence.

 

[Brian G.]

This will be my last post on the subject, clearing up for transparency. My tone was not meant to be upset, just having a discussion on a alternative to how currently HHN operates. I'm obviously going to respond back to issues people have with an idea I bring up to better understand why they don't agree.

I have never been a SA, but I've heard stories and have seen incidents occur right in front of me. Heck, I developed a bond with an SA one year after they experienced an incident a few years back that I witnessed.

I will never know what a SA goes through, but calling me out as being inconsiderate of SAs irritated me.

To clarify - I know you weren't advocating for something unsafe for the scareactors. I meant "grind" as in hard work and the toll it takes on their bodies.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Your idea does not take into account what scare actors go through in addition to not being practical or solving the issues being discussed. I was a scare actor for several years. I can say this with absolute confidence.

To clarify - I know you weren't advocating for something unsafe for the scareactors. I meant "grind" as in hard work and the toll it takes on their bodies.

If you go back to what I originally said, the actor's role is unchanged. They are essentially acting the same role they would do anyway, but being observed by two conga lines instead. They are still doing the same thing they would do if it were 1 conga line. In my example of Stranger Things, the same Eddie SA will do the same thing he did, the difference is that two conga lines diverge into his scene, view the same set of action but on opposite sides, before splitting away from each other again. Not asking them to do double the work. Same work, gain the benefit of two observers.

FYI - I've mentioned in past discussions that HHN needs to find a way to hire more SAs (or something else entirely) in order to alleviate the workload. It's evident that there's a drop off later on in the event with empty boo holes, resulting in a negative experience for later guests.

 

[Clive]

If you go back to what I originally said, the actor's role is unchanged. They are essentially acting the same role they would do anyway, but being observed by two conga lines instead. They are still doing the same thing they would do if it were 1 conga line. In my example of Stranger Things, the same Eddie SA will do the same thing he did, the difference is that two conga lines diverge into his scene, view the same set of action but on opposite sides, before splitting away from each other again. Not asking them to do double the work. Same work, gain the benefit of two observers.

FYI - I've mentioned in past discussions that HHN needs to find a way to hire more SAs (or something else entirely) in order to alleviate the workload. It's evident that there's a drop off later on in the event with empty boo holes, resulting in a negative experience for later guests.

This isn't a productive conversation if I'm telling you that it will not work, based on information that you do not have, and you just refuse to listen.

To literally quote myself here:

That would only work if the actor isn't actively scaring anyone and only exists to be observed as part of a broader show scene. You can only build your house around one or two of those moments, and even then, they tend to be underwhelming (see: Eddie fights the bats in Stranger Things 4). Otherwise, Brian is absolutely right.

You can't keep inviting these debates (or conversations, or whatever you'd like to call them) and then get upset when people point out you are not acting off of complete information.

Your idea isn't practical because it could only work in extremely limited circumstances, and even then, maybe only one or two beats in a house. Furthermore, these types of scenes were generally considered underwhelming. The juice is not worth the squeeze.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

This feels like really trying hard to grasp for a new, "unique" solution to the problem, rather than looking for something more conventional.