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Halloween Horror Nights 28 General Discussion

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Yeah, had my first HHN28 visit and second overall HHN experience today and... the crowds killed it. In the span of five hours my group only got two houses and two rides done. We hit Trick R' Treat and Stranger Things, but didn't have the time or energy to do another 90 minute long wait for Poultergeist. The zones were super weak this year as well, imo. After enjoying last year I was hoping to make a tradition of HHN, but if crowds continue to grow like this, hard pass.
I don’t believe you?
 
So I was thinking. A lot of people are suggesting expanding the event offerings in order to decrease the house waits and have fewer crowds in the scare zones, so they can more easily fully experience the event. Here is a problem with that. By expanding the event, house waits do go down, but the number of houses needed to complete HHN increases. Unless they expand the hours of HHN, changing the size of the event won't make it any easier or harder to fully experience it. That will always depend on the number of people entering the park, which UOR will always try to maximize. We are getting close to the point where the crowds are so large that there will not be any way to fully experience the event in 1 night
 
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We are getting close to the point where the crowds are so large that there will not be any way to fully experience the event in 1 night

I've always felt this was the case since going in 2004 that's why I always get FFP. Not because of crowds but because there's just so much content they include each year. Houses, SZ, Shows, Rides.
 
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This is starting to sound similar to those complaining about crowd levels at MK....This is the type of problem that Disney & Universal wish for....That said, I'm sure Universal will come up with a few twists of the event so that the crowding issues are alleviated to a degree.
 
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Yeah, had my first HHN28 visit and second overall HHN experience today and... the crowds killed it. In the span of five hours my group only got two houses and two rides done. We hit Trick R' Treat and Stranger Things, but didn't have the time or energy to do another 90 minute long wait for Poultergeist. The zones were super weak this year as well, imo. After enjoying last year I was hoping to make a tradition of HHN, but if crowds continue to grow like this, hard pass.

This is an unacceptable experience and something UOR should be working to address this immediately and for next year.

So I was thinking. A lot of people are suggesting expanding the event offerings in order to decrease the house waits and have fewer crowds in the scare zones, so they can more easily fully experience the event. Here is a problem with that. By expanding the event, house waits do go down, but the number of houses needed to complete HHN increases. Unless they expand the hours of HHN, changing the size of the event won't make it any easier or harder to fully experience it. That will always depend on the number of people entering the park, which UOR will always try to maximize. We are getting close to the point where the crowds are so large that there will not be any way to fully experience the event in 1 night

This is why I suggest “doing every house” shouldn’t be the standard for the event. There will be so many houses that doing them all won’t be possible but it should be possible to hit the ones that stand out (IPs, etc).
 
This is why I suggest “doing every house” shouldn’t be the standard for the event. There will be so many houses that doing them all won’t be possible but it should be possible to hit the ones that stand out (IPs, etc).
I've thought back and forth about whether or not doing every house in a night should be a guarantee or not. The way I see it, in it's current state, I think that doing every house each night is encouraged/implied (just the nature of hard ticket events imho). The way I see it I think that a couple of ways to fix this are:

1. Treat the event like Margi Gras and make it every day/night. They could also use a system like Six Flags (of all places) where the outdoor stuff is included with admission but the Houses are an upcharge. They could then sell different ticket packages to accommodate different guests (all purpose, IP houses only, etc.). Essentially make the event as customizable as possible.

2. Take a page from HHN Osaka and open the houses during the daytime before the event officially starts. People who want to only spend one day then have way more time to do houses and there isnt a mad dash at night. The houses are self contained enough to prevent people who don't want horror to get up in arms.

Just a couple ideas. No idea if they'd work/are possible, but armchairs are the best chairs so hey.
 
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Yeah, had my first HHN28 visit and second overall HHN experience today and... the crowds killed it. In the span of five hours my group only got two houses and two rides done. We hit Trick R' Treat and Stranger Things, but didn't have the time or energy to do another 90 minute long wait for Poultergeist. The zones were super weak this year as well, imo. After enjoying last year I was hoping to make a tradition of HHN, but if crowds continue to grow like this, hard pass.

I feel like the zones this year were an overall improvement over last year.

Trick 'r Treat > Killer Klowns > Chucky = Twisted Tradition > Festival of the Deadliest (and that's only because I enjoyed the strippers) > Vamp '85 = Invasion = The Purge > Harvest >>>> Altars of Horror
 
I feel like the zones this year were an overall improvement over last year.

Trick 'r Treat > Killer Klowns > Chucky = Twisted Tradition > Festival of the Deadliest (and that's only because I enjoyed the strippers) > Vamp '85 = Invasion = The Purge > Harvest >>>> Altars of Horror
I was mostly let down by Vamp 85. That's such a great concept but something about it felt barren. The music and costumes were great, but in terms of aesthetic and involvement, it felt a bit short.

To focus on positives of my experience, however, the Stranger Things house was great and Trick R' Treat was fun as well. Twisted Tradition and Chucky were both pretty alright scarezones, too.
 
Does anyone know what the capacity is roughly in comparison to Studios' capacity during the day?

I'm assuming it's a lot less due to the number of rides that aren't open but obviously that's countered by the houses. Long shot but if anyone has the info that would be cool to know.
 
This is an unacceptable experience and something UOR should be working to address this immediately and for next year.



This is why I suggest “doing every house” shouldn’t be the standard for the event. There will be so many houses that doing them all won’t be possible but it should be possible to hit the ones that stand out (IPs, etc).

This is why every single year you have people in here and on fb asking what the best houses are and what to skip.
Theres usually people answering on what to do and what to skip.
Because it sucks to do 3-4 houses a night and they were all bad, people will get angry and not come back


I've thought back and forth about whether or not doing every house in a night should be a guarantee or not. The way I see it, in it's current state, I think that doing every house each night is encouraged/implied (just the nature of hard ticket events imho). The way I see it I think that a couple of ways to fix this are:

1. Treat the event like Margi Gras and make it every day/night. They could also use a system like Six Flags (of all places) where the outdoor stuff is included with admission but the Houses are an upcharge. They could then sell different ticket packages to accommodate different guests (all purpose, IP houses only, etc.). Essentially make the event as customizable as possible.

2. Take a page from HHN Osaka and open the houses during the daytime before the event officially starts. People who want to only spend one day then have way more time to do houses and there isnt a mad dash at night. The houses are self contained enough to prevent people who don't want horror to get up in arms.

Just a couple ideas. No idea if they'd work/are possible, but armchairs are the best chairs so hey.

What they also do in japan is that you have to get a ticket for entrance to a specific house.
It is free, not an extra cost, but it is first come first served.
So u have to plan on what to see that day and make the line to get the ticket for the house amd it gives you a specific time to come back
It kind of works like a fast pass and it is limited, so it becomes more organized. You still have to wait, but they wont let u in the queue without your house ticket. It makes people have to be quicker and be faster to get it.
Also theres no repeating and no line cutting. You do the house once and you are done for that day.
 
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This is why every single year you have people in here and on fb asking what the best houses are and what to skip.
Theres usually people answering on what to do and what to skip.
Because it sucks to do 3-4 houses a night and they were all bad, people will get angry and not come back




What they also do in japan is that you have to get a ticket for entrance to a specific house.
It is free, not an extra cost, but it is first come first served.
So u have to plan on what to see that day and make the line to get the ticket for the house amd it gives you a specific time to come back
It kind of works like a fast pass and it is limited, so it becomes more organized. You still have to wait, but they wont let u in the queue without your house ticket. It makes people have to be quicker and be faster to get it.
Also theres no repeating and no line cutting. You do the house once and you are done for that day.

Cough Blumhouse and H4 (well ok the latter has its fans, I’m aware).
 
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