Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - News & Info

[Mad Dog]

On this Sept. overcrowding issue, I have to give Universal management credit for reacting quickly to the extreme overcrowding of September which seemed to have translated into a lesser guest experience for many. Their quick turn around on ticket policy seems, by the responses I've read here, to have returned the 2023 October HHN guest experience to a more normalized pleasing experience.......As I said previously, it'll be interesting for Universal to look at their guest per spend numbers in Sept. compared to their guest per spend numbers for October. They should have that info available to them internally. That may well influence the decisions they make for 2024 HHN. If the guest per spend numbers are significantly better for Oct., that would probably indicate they had too many teenage social media hangouts crowding the parks in Sept. and not spending much. That might trigger a change in ticketing. ...Conversely, if the numbers end up nearly identical for both months, then they just might stay with their regular ticket system.

 

[Andromeda]

We went last night and it wasn't crowded. The most relaxed HHN I've attended..lol. 1st house we did was Stranger Things at 25 mins. Didn't buy express. Did all 10 houses, Nightmare fuel, Saw the death eaters, rode MIB, and got food. Left the park around 1:15.

 

[Grabnar]

So thinking about crowds and stuff to do,
The death eaters were basically a complete success from what I can see.
Everyone seemed to love them and it got pretty good crowds in that area ....

How impossible would a death eaters haunted house be? It wouldn't need to be gory at all, it would fit well with the event, and it would probably be very successful....is that just impossible?

Given that they cannot advertise as part of Halloween Horror Nights at all, my guess is pretty impossible.

I'd like to see a dementor projection/drone show, though. Would be neat.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Given that they cannot advertise as part of Halloween Horror Nights at all, my guess is pretty impossible.

I'd like to see a dementor projection/drone show, though. Would be neat.

Is that actually confirmed? For the longest time we thought they couldn't have Potter involved with HHN at all until this year.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Was discussing this last night, somewhat surprised myself. FF+ always had Saturday, I suppose still a chance it gets added to FF. Based on the past two nights, I suspect Oct 31 is the last night in 2024.

It was still decently busy last night, doubt they don't push it to Saturday unless a good chunk of guests were Frequent Fear holders.

Absolutely, and even this week is a little strange. The timing of everything is convenient to point at RoF as being the root cause for everything after but ... I would say it's very unlikely that's the primary factor.

Just looking at data from thrill-data you can pinpoint quite easily a decrease in waits when RoF ended. I think the best solution is to

October was calmer, but it wasn't empty, it was still very busy.

Wait-times are bad, but they're not that bad honestly. They're being heavily exaggerated (DD/Yeti at 45, always ends up 25ish or so). Bloodmoon is typically an actual 15-20 at most. I think HHN just needs to move things like food/bars out to areas not previously utilized (like Peacock bar & Twisted Taters at Kidzone) and expand the idea throughout.

 

[SeventyOne]

That's what I don't quite get - if RoF were the issue I don't know why every year wouldn't be like this.

If HHN had quit selling FF on September 28, 2022, maybe October 2022 would've have dropped like this year. We just don't have that data to compare. We can draw two broad trends from this year tho:

1) Most fans want the cheapest multi-night option they can buy. Probably that needs to include opening weekend so they can be "first" on social media, but we can't test that--we can only say that they don't care about October/Halloween.

2) Casual guests no longer see value in a single-night ticket. I see two possible explanations for that. Either the general public isn't as interested in this year's IPs as we thought--seems unlikely based on TV ratings--or the crowds in previous years have ruined the experience so many times guests have given up on it. It's basically a preference wave--very subtle build-up until it hits all at once.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

If HHN had quit selling FF on September 28, 2022, maybe October 2022 would've have dropped like this year. We just don't have that data to compare. We can draw two broad trends from this year tho:

1) Most fans want the cheapest multi-night option they can buy. Probably that needs to include opening weekend so they can be "first" on social media, but we can't test that--we can only say that they don't care about October/Halloween.

2) Casual guests no longer see value in a single-night ticket. I see two possible explanations for that. Either the general public isn't as interested in this year's IPs as we thought--seems unlikely based on TV ratings--or the crowds in previous years have ruined the experience so many times guests have given up on it. It's basically a preference wave--very subtle build-up until it hits all at once.

I can confirm number 1 - this was the first year we bought RoF, because it just simply isn't worth it to buy FF as an out of towner.

 

[FaceBagman]

From my standpoint, which is probably an outlier, I love my vacation tradition.

I fly down for about 7-10 days during Halloween week, stay at Cabana, do whatever FF pass suits that best to ensure I go every night I can with no Express or any kind of tour. Barely ever do Scream Early anymore either. It’s the only vacation I take all year, I save up on a tight budget, and can enjoy my Halloween without feeling any pressure or stress to do everything at once.

 

[DannyPowers]

Wait-times are bad, but they're not that bad honestly. They're being heavily exaggerated (DD/Yeti at 45, always ends up 25ish or so). Bloodmoon is typically an actual 15-20 at most.

This is a huge problem to me and they really need to figure out how to keep more accurate wait times throughout the night.

It also adds to the perception of how crowded the event is. If three or four houses are at an actual 20-30min wait, but EVERYTHING is showing 45-60 or higher? That keeps the crowds in the streets or headed out the door.

 

[Legacy]

Is that actually confirmed? For the longest time we thought they couldn't have Potter involved with HHN at all until this year.

Not “we.” A lot of people thought it. Others had be saying for years Universal could but hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

 

[Mad Dog]

This is a huge problem to me and they really need to figure out how to keep more accurate wait times throughout the night.

It also adds to the perception of how crowded the event is. If three or four houses are at an actual 20-30min wait, but EVERYTHING is showing 45-60 or higher? That keeps the crowds in the streets or headed out the door.

It may be intentional. Wait times during normal Universal theme park hours also generally overstimate with the posted wait times. Disney does it too. Touring Plans publishes a breakdown every week. WDW actual waits are usually only 60 to 65% of the posted times.

 

[Tbad556]

Not “we.” A lot of people thought it. Others had be saying for years Universal could but hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

As seen in 2022, 2021, 2019 (and again), 2018, 2017, and 2016 (and again).

 

[GA-MBIT]

It may be intentional. Wait times during normal Universal theme park hours also generally overstimate with the posted wait times. Disney does it too. Touring Plans publishes a breakdown every week. WDW actual waits are usually only 60 to 65% of the posted times.

Which is frankly the responsible thing to do. Gives Operations, Scareactors, and standard guest flow a grace period to make mistakes, to block the conga line, etc without the actual wait time exceeding the listed wait time.

If TLoU is listed at 120 and is really a 50 or 60, or Yeti listed at 45 when it's really a 25, the average guest either doesn't notice or counts it as a fun bonus. The other way around is a massive problem for guest experience.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Given that they cannot advertise as part of Halloween Horror Nights at all, my guess is pretty impossible.

I'd like to see a dementor projection/drone show, though. Would be neat.

Is that actually confirmed? For the longest time we thought they couldn't have Potter involved with HHN at all until this year.

This year the death eaters basically had like 3 mini shows in the street ( outside of their main exit show in the stage) and people really liked everything they did. They had a sort of mini show in the dark alley where they argued with each other, they had a wand duel with 4 guests in another area, ( where the death eaters could activate smoke effects in that area)

Maybe not a full hhn house, but it feels like the death eaters could be used for something bigger, a bigger kind of experience. A longer show, or using video projections on the walls or something. A proper scarezone with props outside the entrance of diagon or something,
(Just their small wand duels with guests had people running to see it, )
Everyone seemed to really love them.
Universal would definitely benefit from doing something bigger

 

[HHN Maddux]

HA!

I'm terrified by the implications here (in a good way!).

 

[Brian G.]

 

[Ahmanet]

House announcement tomorrow?

Or did only Chucky get that treatment since it was an all time great house ...

 

[GA-MBIT]

If we get one, it's gotta be FNaF, but I'm not confident we will.

 

[00_Themeparkfan_00]

I'm 50/50. I hope we get one, but if not, then I guess we wait till next Spring.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

Don't think we're getting an announcement tomorrow. Last year was just lined up perfectly for it.