Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - News & Info

[Vyrus]

I think this year has quite a few interesting problems that need to be discussed, identified, and solved. But to say this year has nothing that stands out is nuts - Pier is absolutely one of the best houses the event has EVER seen and easily towers above Seeds and Scarecrow, both of which I felt were hyped quite a bit beyond their actual worth by the fan community. The scare zones were also excellent, but not to the incredible extent of Pier.

Pier was an incredibly themed house with some absolutely stunning set design, but was severely lacking in the scares department. I would put Wicked Growth well above Pier in the overall category because it had a lot of innovation (bridge) and some excellent scares.

Pier is another Carnival Graveyard IMHO.

 

[Darko]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I freaking loved Carnival Graveyard and it’s one of my husband’s personal favorites (some other’s being Trick ‘r Treat, The Fallen, and of course Dead Man’s Pier). That being said, The Wicked Growth was one of the coolest houses ever in my opinion. I also adored Puppet Theatre.

I still think the houses this year were good to great. But they definitely felt very different. Don’t know if it was experimentation or some other factor. Possibly all the changes behind the scenes when it comes to A&D.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Pier was an incredibly themed house with some absolutely stunning set design, but was severely lacking in the scares department. I would put Wicked Growth well above Pier in the overall category because it had a lot of innovation (bridge) and some excellent scares.

Pier is another Carnival Graveyard IMHO.

Pier was going for something much more unique and difficult then jump scares - an overwhelming mood of unease and melancholy, which it achieved wonderfully through the use of incredible sets and well-placed scareactors. More people saying “boo” would have been detrimental to the house.

Guests attend HHN for different reasons. I go for sets, mood, wit, and humor. If Pier doesn’t rank very high on your all-time list, I suspect you want something out of the event that doesn’t interest me much.

 

[Bort]

I like the idea of potential different entry points based on tickets, but how do you clean out those with an earlier ticket window.

Honestly thinking through it some more, I think Stay & Scream may be part of the big issue, and I don't think it really benefits Universal (other than the ticket for it no idea how many of those actually are sold). When you're stuck in the pens you really can't do too much, unless things have changed since the last time I did it years ago. I never saw anyone in any of the shops or buying anything, you just get your little spot and sit there to melt in the sun except back when Finn's was the place to be.

Once its time, they completely flood ops in random directions. I guess it does move people to the back of the park faster, but they could certainly find different ways to manage that by using Diagon Alley or an entrance from Suess.

I didn’t mean to imply kicking people out after 4 hours. That was just a rough estimate on how long the generic guest spends before leaving. Those who enjoy intense foot pain would still be free to go 6pm-2am if they wanted.

I’m just advocating for some kind of late-night ticket that could be a little cheaper than a standard one, as a way to reduce the crowds during peak hours. Even if it can knock off 10 mins of wait time across each house during that 8-12 window (and instead add it to the walk-ons that occur after midnight), that would be a great success for guest satisfaction, at least in my opinion.

 

[Casper Gutman]

My mad idea - after Epic opens, make HHN a two park event at both Studios and IOA, but keep the events separate - separate gates, separate admission, etc. Each park gets 7 houses and 3 or 4 scarezones. Prices to each parks event are 20% cheaper then they were prior to the change - a stealth price increase for Uni, since content is being cut by about 30%. Uni benefits even more by being able to sell park-hoppers and increasing the incentive for multi-day stays.

 

[Darko]

Pier was going for something much more unique and difficult then jump scares - an overwhelming mood of unease and melancholy, which it achieved wonderfully through the use of incredible sets and well-placed scareactors. More people saying “boo” would have been detrimental to the house.

Guests attend HHN for different reasons. I go for sets, mood, wit, and humor. If Pier doesn’t rank very high on your all-time list, I suspect you want something out of the event that doesn’t interest me much.

Nice, my reasons for going are the same as yours. I could care less about how scary or intense a house is, I want mood, atmosphere and great scenic/sets.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I think it's interesting to see all of the talk about lines/crowds being worse this year with no discussion including the impact from TMs no longer rushing guests through the houses :look:

mmmmhhhmmmmmmmmmm

But I feel there was way more complaining and consternation around pushing in-house ops vs the lines being long.

 

[sjago13]

Not to jinx anything, knowing on Fridays there is usually a rush around 8-9 but where is everyone? Kids went last night because cheaper? Everyone over at petrified Forrest? It's crazy how light tonight has been so far.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Not to jinx anything, knowing on Fridays there is usually a rush around 8-9 but where is everyone? Kids went last night because cheaper? Everyone over at petrified Forrest? It's crazy how light tonight has been so far.

The passes have dropped off.

 

[Brian G.]

A few possible ideas.

Drop RoF entirely, or at least change Rush of Fear to only the first 2 weekends.

Drop the Flex Pricing dependent on the timeframe. Make it one price throughout the event with maybe a $20-40 bump for Saturday.

 

[moistowlette1989]

My mad idea - after Epic opens, make HHN a two park event at both Studios and IOA, but keep the events separate - separate gates, separate admission, etc. Each park gets 7 houses and 3 or 4 scarezones. Prices to each parks event are 20% cheaper then they were prior to the change - a stealth price increase for Uni, since content is being cut by about 30%. Uni benefits even more by being able to sell park-hoppers and increasing the incentive for multi-day stays.

IOA can never hold HHN. When it did, there was open space to put houses. There isn't space anymore.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

A few possible ideas.

Drop RoF entirely, or at least change Rush of Fear to only the first 2 weekends.

Drop the Flex Pricing dependent on the timeframe. Make it one price throughout the event with maybe a $20-40 bump for Saturday.

I think whatever it is Universal has the data and we don't. They want as many people as possible to buy tickets, merchandise, and food.

 

[Frank Drackman]

A few possible ideas.

Drop RoF entirely, or at least change Rush of Fear to only the first 2 weekends.

Drop the Flex Pricing dependent on the timeframe. Make it one price throughout the event with maybe a $20-40 bump for Saturday.

I imagine a change in flex pricing could move some crowds (say from Sunday to Saturday), but I still do not get why folks point to RoF. I believe RoF includes two Saturdays that FF+ does not in SEPT otherwise, for SEPT, they are the same pass.

I feel I am trying to look at this from a business point of view and I know (from staying on site) that RoF does bring in hotel guest. Now if RoF is such a problem, why have I found the two SAT that RoF includes (that FF+ does not) tend to be the slowest days that I have attended over the years (including this year when I went the SAT after the hurricane.

Anyway, I feel they really need some kind of multi day pass as I feel there is no way folks can take it all in by only attending one night, now that there are 10 houses along with the cost of tickets, it seems a lot of folks only going one day chose to go RIP to ensure they can get a show and all the houses.

The complaints I see on here has been complaints about the express wait where some how they are not supposed to wait more than 5 minutes.

One other thing to consider about this year is that international visitors are just now starting to come back.

Not to jinx anything, knowing on Fridays there is usually a rush around 8-9 but where is everyone? Kids went last night because cheaper? Everyone over at petrified Forrest? It's crazy how light tonight has been so far.

just curious if that lasted past 9PM?

 

[dxwwf3]

just curious if that lasted past 9PM?

Just from following the app at home, it did pick up quite a bit last night, but the wait times were way lower before 8-9pm than they were for my trip last week.

 

[Casper Gutman]

IOA can never hold HHN. When it did, there was open space to put houses. There isn't space anymore.

I’ve seen this said by knowledgeable people, so I’m inclined to believe it, but it confuses me because it seems like many of the facilities used for houses still exist. The sound stages, of course, are still accessible, just as they are from the Studios. I am not aware of any construction in Seuss or Forbidden that would make it more difficult to utilize those spaces. As far as I know the Carnage warehouse still stands, as accessible as ever. Likewise, Poseiden and Popeye are still as available as they were in 2003. The JP Visitor Center and Triceratops Trail are out, of course, but Thunder Falls might still be possible unless the surrounding alterations for Kong and the like have limited the space too much. With Carnage, Popeye, Poseiden, and possibly Thunder, it seems like finding space for seven houses in IOA and seven in the Studios would be doable with no more utilization of the soundstages then occurred this year (or, if Falls is out, the placement of one additional house in a soundstage). All of this, of course, is only considering spaces that have been used for houses in the past and not exploring any new possibilities.

 

[Mad Dog]

I reiterate past comments....Universal has a vast number of tourists paying big bucks for their vacations that have little or no interest in HHN. IOA is needed as it is to fulfill their vacation wants. Not everyone is a
HHN hard core fan. The Universal of 20 some years ago had a much smaller attendance and only a handful of hotel rooms. Not only are the staging logistics at IOA difficult for HHN, but the park is critical in providing
non HHN entertainment for those many thousands of high spending tourists staying on site and those traveling from off site hotels.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I reiterate past comments....Universal has a vast number of tourists paying big bucks for their vacations that have little or no interest in HHN. IOA is needed as it is to fulfill their vacation wants. Not everyone is a
HHN hard core fan. The Universal of 20 some years ago had a much smaller attendance and only a handful of hotel rooms. Not only are the staging logistics at IOA difficult for HHN, but the park is critical in providing
non HHN entertainment for those many thousands of high spending tourists staying on site and those traveling from off site hotels.

Oh, I understand completely - I often am one of those non-HHN tourists! That’s why I stipulated that Epic would have to be open before the plan I was suggesting could be instituted.

I am very reluctant to advocate any plan that sees dramatic price increases or the elimination of fan-friendly ticket options. Comcast is no more inherently virtuous then Disney, and once the corporate culture starts to see that guests will stomach skyrocketing prices or comes to believe that loyal fans are unnecessary or even undesirable, that’s not something that can be easily reversed. I’ve resigned myself to the reality that someday, Universal will become as bad as Disney, but I’d like to stave that day off for as long as possible.

 

[Mad Dog]

Oh, I understand completely - I often am one of those non-HHN tourists! That’s why I stipulated that Epic would have to be open before the plan I was suggesting could be instituted.

I am very reluctant to advocate any plan that sees dramatic price increases or the elimination of fan-friendly ticket options. Comcast is no more inherently virtuous then Disney, and once the corporate culture starts to see that guests will stomach skyrocketing prices or comes to believe that loyal fans are unnecessary or even undesirable, that’s not something that can be easily reversed. I’ve resigned myself to the reality that someday, Universal will become as bad as Disney, but I’d like to stave that day off for as long as possible.

Yes. HHN is significantly less expensive, and has way more offerings to boot, than the Disney family oriented Halloween event. I'm just guessing, but I would venture that the predominant very young adult attended HHN Universal event
makes up for a lot of that fairly inexpensive HHN ticket(s) with a clientele that spends a helluva lot on alcohol and Express Pass upgrades. So, that may be the trade off that makes it work for Universal. And I wouldn't read too much into the
uncomfortable crowds for the past two years since that may be, in large part, just a reflection of the post covid spree that's crowded the Universal parks for most every day of the past year or so. Next year, with an impending economic slowdown,
and less stimulus money left in bank accounts, might change the equation.....and I agree that Comcast is probably no less virtuous. Proof of the pudding is the skyrocketing on site hotel rates in 2022, especially Deluxe hotels. But, I'm guessing those prices might retreat by summer of 2023 as demand drops. ...Bottom line, in business, it's almost always if the economics work. The only thing differerance is if a company has a short term strategy or a long term strategy. That will often make
a price difference. At this point in time I think Comcast is still playing the long game, which is generally better for consumers than short term profit strategies like Disney's.

 

[sjago13]

just curious if that lasted past 9PM?

Just from following the app at home, it did pick up quite a bit last night, but the wait times were way lower before 8-9pm than they were for my trip last week.

Before 830ish it was the emptiest I've seen this year, didn't go hurricane Friday. But yeah it got super packed after that though. But a super light stay and scream just made me wonder how many people buy the regular ff vs the ff+ because Sunday and Wednesday were both packed and from what I saw online Thursday was as well. I guess the gp crowd that comes Friday shows up after work hence the 8-9ish slam. I'm guessing the heavier stay and scream other nights are regular ff people.

 

[Darko]

If I remember correctly Carnage Warehouse couldn’t be used for a house anymore anyways as it’s a critical storage location for Uni now.

Either way, I don’t know what they’re gonna do at this point nor do I think they care. Regardless of how much we complain about the crowds, we still give them money and attend anyway. I know I’m still going to.

I also don’t think they’ll ever move it over to Epic Universe either as HHN at this point is so synonymous with Studios. That and the soundstages and sprung tents already being there.