Universal doesn't like giving OT, but they give it when it is needed. This is one of those situations.Scare Actors have to be asked if they’re willing to extend past their out time. Tonight, not enough of them wanted to. They closed the house because most scenes would be without a scare actor. Either way the guests are going to get mad. The solution? Make their shifts longer, but most weeks are already five days so that means each performer will be getting scheduled forced overtime on weeks with 2am close. That’s not going to happen.
They're dealing with a HUGE IP and if Netflix or the Duffer Brothers aren't happy with how Universal has handled this year, they stand to lose the property for next year, which we all know would be one of Universal's biggest nightmare's. I'm sure there's certain stipulations that could allow Netflix out of the contract if they feel the property wasn't treated with respect.
I know it's not what the cast is going to want and it's not what Universal wants, but forced OT for a 6 week period is peanuts compared to how valuable the Stranger Things IP is to them for HHN.
One of two things will happen: They will either schedule longer and just swallow the OT that they would have to pay, OR Event Ops could close entry into the queue one hour prior to park closure. That would help get the line down and would be an easy way to do it without having to extend schedules and Pay OT. So I think the latter is obviously more likely. It could end up being something else though.