^They have had Despicable Me open in the past, for a couple of years, I think... and essentially, no one went on it. And that was when the ride was new.
I don't know if they have the rights to it, but I've said before a few times it'd be awesome if they showed key clips from The Tingler in Dreamworks Theater, and use those chairs! Or even something akin to the Exorcist Experience WB did in Horror Made Here.
I don't think the quality of the mazes has really gone down as the quantity has gone up. We were still complaining about black walls just as much when there were fewer mazes. And I imagine they were trying to see if crowd would spread out a bit more by having two additional mazes open all night rather than one attraction the closed early (Terror Tram). To me, it's still just as crowded, so it'll be interesting to see how Universal execs deal with that for next year.
Personally, as much as I usually don't watch, they really need to expand the entertainment. Jabawokees is not enough, especially since they're not even horror/halloween themed at all. The band/DJ on the lower lot is a good start, but they need full shows. Knott's is really the model here, and even SFMM/Fright Fest has more entertainment options that HHN does. They could easily put in: a magician, hypnotist, improv show, screen film clips or horror shorts in the Animal Actors stage. Even offer an upcharge VR experience on the upper Jurassic Cafe deck, where the RIP photo ops are now. Also, a small show/entertainment in the metrolot wouldn't be bad either. I'm recalling for the WB Horror Made Here, they had a small make up effect demonstration show in a very small space, so HHN could do similar inside one of the metrolot facades. And Horror Made Here had a small horror Drag show where they did scenes from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? which could've been easily been expanded... just to throw out ideas. Drag is so mainstream now, and Universal isn't afraid of it... they've had men in drag play women in the New York windows. And anyone remember those years when HHN did excerpts of Rocky Horror in the T23D space? I actually enjoyed that.
The gore being tamed down is an interesting point, I hadn't thought of that, but I do feel it is a reflection of the current trends in horror movies. In a way, Blumhouse is to blame/credit. They've really created a renaissance in horror among mainstream audiences, but they are relatively gore-free when compared to the torture porn trend of Saw, Hostel, and the like.