Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - News & General Discussion

[Tereglith]

I dunno, isn’t the idea of a “Premium” night that you don’t have to employ a strategy? Otherwise you could just buy a (much cheaper!) Express pass for a regular night.

Yeah, afaict the niche this filled in the product lineup was 1) Influencer tax and 2) get to experience houses pulsed instead of conga line. If it was so crowded that pulsing wasn't happening then there's no reason for the average consumer to prefer PSN to express or an RIP tour, and if the influencers weren't happy/didn't get to experience everything because of long lines that seems like a lose-lose for both them and Universal. If they oversell it like this it really has no reason to exist.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Yeah, afaict the niche this filled in the product lineup was 1) Influencer tax and 2) get to experience houses pulsed instead of conga line. If it was so crowded that pulsing wasn't happening then there's no reason for the average consumer to prefer PSN to express or an RIP tour, and if the influencers weren't happy/didn't get to experience everything because of long lines that seems like a lose-lose for both them and Universal. If they oversell it like this it really has no reason to exist.

I got pulsed every run…

 

[ladiesman217]

I was watching wait times all throughout the night for Premium Night and I saw that, while there would be some moments where a house like FNAF, Terrifier, or Fallout would have a 40 to 60 minute wait, that line would usually die down pretty quick and fall towards 20 mins. All the houses stayed at a consistent wait time of 15 to 20 minutes most of the night with the occasional spike for whatever reason. Seems to me that these people were just going into whatever maze they came across, no matter the wait time because they could have easily just looked at the wait times and gone to another house that had a lower wait at that moment.

I also find it so funny that everyone thought this year's Premium Night was going to be dead just like last year's when that was never going to be the case. Last year's underperformed in terms of crowd levels so the event was just extremely dead in general. After that, everyone who didn't go in 2024 now wanted to go in 2025 so when EVERYONE wants to go, the outcome is going to be very different from the first year.

 

[LPCaptainDeath]

I was watching wait times all throughout the night for Premium Night and I saw that, while there would be some moments where a house like FNAF, Terrifier, or Fallout would have a 40 to 60 minute wait, that line would usually die down pretty quick and fall towards 20 mins. All the houses stayed at a consistent wait time of 15 to 20 minutes most of the night with the occasional spike for whatever reason. Seems to me that these people were just going into whatever maze they came across, no matter the wait time because they could have easily just looked at the wait times and gone to another house that had a lower wait at that moment.

I also find it so funny that everyone thought this year's Premium Night was going to be dead just like last year's when that was never going to be the case. Last year's underperformed in terms of crowd levels so the event was just extremely dead in general. After that, everyone who didn't go in 2024 now wanted to go in 2025 so when EVERYONE wants to go, the outcome is going to be very different from the first year.

 

[ladiesman217]

View attachment 27732

*sponsored by Oogie Boogie Bash*

 

[Galactus]

I got pulsed every run…

Maybe you had better luck than me and my group but we were properly pulsed for I think 2 or 3 of the houses. For half of the rest, they didn't even try to pulse and for the rest, I caught up to the conga line by the first room.

I was watching wait times all throughout the night for Premium Night and I saw that, while there would be some moments where a house like FNAF, Terrifier, or Fallout would have a 40 to 60 minute wait, that line would usually die down pretty quick and fall towards 20 mins. All the houses stayed at a consistent wait time of 15 to 20 minutes most of the night with the occasional spike for whatever reason. Seems to me that these people were just going into whatever maze they came across, no matter the wait time because they could have easily just looked at the wait times and gone to another house that had a lower wait at that moment.

I also find it so funny that everyone thought this year's Premium Night was going to be dead just like last year's when that was never going to be the case. Last year's underperformed in terms of crowd levels so the event was just extremely dead in general. After that, everyone who didn't go in 2024 now wanted to go in 2025 so when EVERYONE wants to go, the outcome is going to be very different from the first year.

IMO the lines were pretty underposted too for a lot of the originals especially. H&C was posted at a 20 but we waited at least 35. Dolls was similar. Grave was the only one that I noticed was consistently overposted (posted 10 but walk on). But agreed with your second paragraph definitely. Almost makes me want to go next year to see if there's a reaction the other way.

 

[Andor]

I was watching wait times all throughout the night for Premium Night and I saw that, while there would be some moments where a house like FNAF, Terrifier, or Fallout would have a 40 to 60 minute wait, that line would usually die down pretty quick and fall towards 20 mins. All the houses stayed at a consistent wait time of 15 to 20 minutes most of the night with the occasional spike for whatever reason. Seems to me that these people were just going into whatever maze they came across, no matter the wait time because they could have easily just looked at the wait times and gone to another house that had a lower wait at that moment.

I also find it so funny that everyone thought this year's Premium Night was going to be dead just like last year's when that was never going to be the case. Last year's underperformed in terms of crowd levels so the event was just extremely dead in general. After that, everyone who didn't go in 2024 now wanted to go in 2025 so when EVERYONE wants to go, the outcome is going to be very different from the first year.

as someone who was there watching the wait times to see what was lowest… the wait times posted were almost never accurate. Went to Hatchet and Chains when it said 20 min wait and waited 50 min. Went to FNAF when it said 20 min and watched it switched on the app while in line from 5 min (LOL) To 35 to 25. Waited about 40. So..

 

[rhino4evr]

Guess it’s time to start charging for express for premium night. lol

The feedback on Reddit is …rough. Hopefully Uni is listening.

 

[Kichkinet85]

 

[Jerroddragon]

An HHN postcast dropped for Orlando houses

 

[DeliciousOatmeal]

I just posted my full review in the review thread, but I wanted to share some thoughts on Premium Night here too.

I dunno, isn’t the idea of a “Premium” night that you don’t have to employ a strategy? Otherwise you could just buy a (much cheaper!) Express pass for a regular night.

This essentially sums up where I think most of the negative feedback (including my own) is coming from. All things considered, I had a great night. I had the exact same kind of night that I would have had with Express on a normal night, and that’s the problem — I should have had a BETTER night than that for the price I paid.

I’m usually the type to do days of research and create a wait time spreadsheet to optimize my route through the park, but this time I figured no planning would be necessary since it would be a “premium” experience. For the first couple of hours, the north side of the park was showing 5 minute waits. If I had been planning better I’d have started there and likely would have had a much, much better experience. However, I wanted to start with Terrifier since I had heard it closed early during TM previews. Huge mistake. I got stuck right in the middle of the crowd and somehow managed to hit the peak wait times at every single house, it seemed. I tried to move on to the houses with the lowest wait times, but by the time I got to each one, either the wait time had significantly gone up or the wait time was simply wrong. I usually waited 5-10 minutes longer than what was posted. Times fluctuated so wildly and unpredictably throughout the night that it was hard to course correct.

I’d love to hear from someone who started the night at the tent houses. Was your experience better?

 

[amar831]

I just posted my full review in the review thread, but I wanted to share some thoughts on Premium Night here too.

This essentially sums up where I think most of the negative feedback (including my own) is coming from. All things considered, I had a great night. I had the exact same kind of night that I would have had with Express on a normal night, and that’s the problem — I should have had a BETTER night than that for the price I paid.

I’m usually the type to do days of research and create a wait time spreadsheet to optimize my route through the park, but this time I figured no planning would be necessary since it would be a “premium” experience. For the first couple of hours, the north side of the park was showing 5 minute waits. If I had been planning better I’d have started there and likely would have had a much, much better experience. However, I wanted to start with Terrifier since I had heard it closed early during TM previews. Huge mistake. I got stuck right in the middle of the crowd and somehow managed to hit the peak wait times at every single house, it seemed. I tried to move on to the houses with the lowest wait times, but by the time I got to each one, either the wait time had significantly gone up or the wait time was simply wrong. I usually waited 5-10 minutes longer than what was posted. Times fluctuated so wildly and unpredictably throughout the night that it was hard to course correct.

I’d love to hear from someone who started the night at the tent houses. Was your experience better?

Didn’t to the stay and scream, but first house line I went in to was hatchet and chains, walked out immediately after seeing how long the line actually was. After going through dolls, galkn, and fallout, we realized the lines were there to stay. Premium scream did not feel premium.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I just posted my full review in the review thread, but I wanted to share some thoughts on Premium Night here too.

This essentially sums up where I think most of the negative feedback (including my own) is coming from. All things considered, I had a great night. I had the exact same kind of night that I would have had with Express on a normal night, and that’s the problem — I should have had a BETTER night than that for the price I paid.

I’m usually the type to do days of research and create a wait time spreadsheet to optimize my route through the park, but this time I figured no planning would be necessary since it would be a “premium” experience. For the first couple of hours, the north side of the park was showing 5 minute waits. If I had been planning better I’d have started there and likely would have had a much, much better experience. However, I wanted to start with Terrifier since I had heard it closed early during TM previews. Huge mistake. I got stuck right in the middle of the crowd and somehow managed to hit the peak wait times at every single house, it seemed. I tried to move on to the houses with the lowest wait times, but by the time I got to each one, either the wait time had significantly gone up or the wait time was simply wrong. I usually waited 5-10 minutes longer than what was posted. Times fluctuated so wildly and unpredictably throughout the night that it was hard to course correct.

I’d love to hear from someone who started the night at the tent houses. Was your experience better?

It is hard for me to compare Premium Night to another night as I tend not to commando the night. My wife was not feeling all that up to it so we did not push a lot in.

I can say with certainty that the queues were shorter than that of Team Member pre-view night. On TM night, there were at lest three houses ranging 55 to 75 minutes while PS night seemed in the 40 range. I did not wait in any food lines at TM night but they looked longer than what I experienced on Premium night -- I certainly had to wait on food as it was handed out faster than they could make it anyway, the food aspect alone makes it tough to put a value on.

The queues I did wait on did not bother me much as the lines did not stop as often nor for as long as they do (as a stand by user) on a typical night. I tend not to mind queues if they flow. YES the pulsing causes a slow down. My party of two was sent alone each time -- sure, often the group behind us would catch up to us, sometimes we would catch up to the party ahead -- i think this is people and not ops -- I cannot help it if you want to rush through the house while we wanted to take each scene in but yes, things can turn back into a conga line if folks do not like to pace themselves.

To answer the question, I think starting in the back would have helped. We went in the park before 5 PM and got wrist bands. We went to queue up at FNAF when the time came around -- we started to hear there was a delay and we decided to bail on FNAF -- we saw that Terrifier was also delayed so we bailed and headed to the back -- we went through Fallout and Galkin with no wait -- my wife needed a break at this point -- we could have gotten more done and would be up on things.

The storm had an impact -- I mean my wife and I spent at least an hour, maybe closer to two just hanging/eating while riding the storm out, it certainly took a couple hours from the event for us.

I'll admit we only went through four houses, but I think that was more on us than on the event -- we did see Art help folks in a store which was a rather neat thing to see and that was very very low key with no one around and was certainly a rather unique/special moment that stands out.