Halloween Horror Nights 2018 (USH) General Discussion

[k_peek_2000]

My honest worry is that maybe Hollywood just won't have the money to do some of Aiello's ideas, so they'll have to cut one way or cut the other. It could be a huge mess.

Right, and that's why Orlando's event would take an initial hit. However I believe this would only effect UOR with the shared IP mazes. There would be nothing stopping him from going all out on the Orlando exclusive original houses and scare zones. Another thing to consider would be that since USH and Orlando would be sharing resources each maze would be cheaper to produce.

This is all just theory and hypotheticals. For all we know Murdy will stay forever.

 

[Wesker69]

Unless the houses on both coasts are exactly the same, which would make trips to Orlando obsolete which isn’t what they want.

IF that was even remotely true, they wouldn't be cloning almost every ride/attraction at both parks. And besides, even if the houses were the same... they'd still be different due to the locations here vs there.

 

[Freak]

Right, and that's why Orlando's event would take an initial hit. However I believe this would only effect UOR with the shared IP mazes. There would be nothing stopping him from going all out on the Orlando exclusive original houses and scare zones. Another thing to consider would be that since USH and Orlando would be sharing resources each maze would be cheaper to produce.

This is all just theory and hypotheticals. For all we know Murdy will stay forever.

I’m really surprised they haven’t shared plans for the IPs already. It would certainly save on R&D costs.

I don’t see Murdy staying any longer with him being in Ireland. I could see Orlando design the IP houses and have the CD for Hollywood make tweaks and design the other mazes.

 

[chris.g]

Also of note for anyone yet to go - they're purposely inflating wait times for Stranger Things to help even out the crowds, so don't be too intimidated.

 

[foodstampsFTW]

I’d say they’re doing it for all the houses, I had multiple instances last night were the posted time wasn’t even close to the actual wait.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

I’d say they’re doing it for all the houses, I had multiple instances last night were the posted time wasn’t even close to the actual wait.

Early in the night it said Poltergeist was a 20 minute wait but I went through twice only waiting a total of maybe 4 minutes, then Blumhouse said 55 minutes and took less than 30

 

[ush.hacker]

So much better than Hell-o-Ween

 

[Brian Yee]

How early would I have to arrive for front row at the opening ceremony?

 

[Wesker69]

Also of note for anyone yet to go - they're purposely inflating wait times for Stranger Things to help even out the crowds, so don't be too intimidated.

I’d say they’re doing it for all the houses, I had multiple instances last night were the posted time wasn’t even close to the actual wait.

^not completely true. The problem is more along the lines of them not accurately keeping up with waittimes. They're not going to inflate a waittime just for the sake of inflating it unless its towards the end of the night & the queue isn't fully visible.

Halloween tonight had a huge back up with their queue resulting in the line stretching all the way past A.S.S. and Starbucks, basically into the TrT scarezone. I have no idea what hell was up with that crap, but it was annoying because it was ONLY 7:30... So trust me, the waittimes are not always an over inflated lie, just not kept up-to-date as they have been in the past.

 

[DTH]

Just got back. Really enjoyed the event. Only 1 maze is BAD. And one maze I'd say is a bit below average and VERY disappointing. Everything else is fighting for number 1. Terror Tram is LITERALLY the same as 2016, just with different costumed characters and maybe sound design -- annoyed nobody mentioned that haha. I'm very surprised with my own final rankings, I'll try to have my review up soon.

 

[Rideguy70]

^^I don't know... as of about 8pm last night, wait times for UM were listed at 55 minutes for at least a good half hour or more, and the queue in the plaza was never more than half full (took about 20 min). They had plenty of time to adjust it. Not to mention the fact that they listed Purge as having a 2+ hour wait at about 7:30pm, and it was also listed than long for at least an hour. While I didn't wait in that line, it did look long... but I don't know about 2 hours long.

So wait times are being inflated. The only question is, is it intentional, laziness, or is it still too early to work out all the kinks of their wait times system? Personally, I think it's a mix of all three.

 

[Rideguy70]

I don't really want to talk mazes, there's enough reviews out there already and I didn't get to do them all last night, but I would like to mention:

• It's great to finally have all 4 escalators working for HHN
• I overheard team members complaining about the lack of crowd control going to the lower lot for early entry, while day guests are trying to exit, especially through Springfield (sure enough, the path was not divided, nor were any team members directing anything--it was a mess, hopefully this gets sorted out later)
• While they're not really to my taste, I'm glad they're adding specialty food items (I still can't believe they turn a hamburger over and call it theming, haha)
• I love they finally put tables and chairs on the Metro sets!!! So needed for so long. If they were there last year, I don't remember them.
• I think Early Entry is becoming the victim of it's own success. Those Metro set mazes are absolutely mobbed for those two hours. Does anyone remember that they started doing that because NO ONE was going down there for the first hour or two? Yeah, not so much anymore. I almost feel they should just officially open the event at 6pm, to get some of those lower lot/metro set crowds back to the upper lot and spread them out a bit more. Yes, there'd be a lot of light bleed in mazes, but it's nearly getting out of hand down there.
• Too many people are taking pics in the Holidayz in Hell, causing massive backups.
  
• A minor point that may be only me, but it was still a pain... since I have a FFP and will be reusing the ticket a lot, I cut out the bar code out and put it in a lanyard to make it easy to carry. But when I tried to meet some friends in line for Early Entry, team members told me they needed to see the WHOLE ticket, including the fine print... which I didn't have (nor did we have it on our phone because we purchased it so long ago, it had been deleted from our email). So we had to wait and get the ticket reprinted at Guest Relations. But nowhere on the ticket does it say it needed to be whole to get in... if it had, I would have never cut it in the first place. I just figured they'd scan the bar code and know I had early entry. So that was a pain. Don't cut up your ticket, kids. :/
• After so many years of attending, it's funny to spot all the reused props. Looking at you especially, Holidayz in Hell--but I don't really blame them, and they did make them work, so it was more amusing than a real complaint.

 

[DTH]

Absolutely right about the back up in Holidayz in Hell just because people are stopping to take pictures at every - single - segment. It was driving me crazy.

I also want to note that I think it would be best to stick to the original game plan of doing the backlot first. Here's a bit about my experience. I did Stranger Things first and had maybe a 20 minute wait once the maze itself opened. Went to the backlot and everything was slammed to about 50 minutes or more. I left there around 7:30'ish, when usually I'd be out by 6. Then, everything else I hit for the rest of the night was completely slammed as well, except for UCM for some reason (30 minutes). But TrT was listed as 60 minutes, and Terror Tram and Halloween were listed as 90 minutes and weren't very far off from that. At most, I'm used to waiting 20 minutes for everything and maybe ONE maze where I wait 50-70ish minutes. Usually I'm ahead of the crowd, but here I felt I was mostly with it.

So I highly suggest, do the backlot, do TrT, Tram, upper lot mazes, then return to do Stranger Things right before the park closes to get the shortest wait for that. Not to mention, even though it's in a soundstage, there is a TON of lightbleed that entire maze since there's hardly any roofs. I may even suggest to wait to do TrT for later as well, because like last year, after 12 AM, that maze has a 15 minute or less line. It might be counter productive to go up to the upper lot right at the opening swarms at 7 PM though, so I can't say that'd be the best route to take, but it may be worth trying. But if you skip Stranger Things at first, and you're done with the backlot by 6-6:30, TrT around that time should maybe be 30-45 and won't be that bad of a wait.

Just some thoughts! Alright, time to work on my review.

 

[torr4nce]

Hey, all. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. This will be my third year (second with express) at the event and I wanted to maximize my experience as much as humanly possible, so I thought I had a way of doing it. I figured I could do early entry as soon as it opens, hit Stranger Things, all three backlot mazes, and Trick ‘r Treat, then do Mummy and Transformers (all without express). Keep in mind the people in my group aren’t locals so we like to squeeze in rides when we can. After that, we would head up and, assuming the event has already officially started by then, ride Simpsons, hit Walking Dead, Halloween 4, and Universal Monsters (again, without using express), catch a showing of Jabbawockeez, hit Terror Tram (without express but only if the wait is tolerable), then repeating the whole process using express this time (except for Jabbawockeez). Am I crazy for thinking I can pull this off? Please feel free to give suggestions.

 

[foodstampsFTW]

There’s no reason on planet earth why you should do Terror Tram twice, so don’t. Otherwise you should be fine.

 

[k_peek_2000]

Honestly, if you've done Terror Tram once, you never have to do it again lol

 

[Brian Yee]

Can anyone tell me how early I should arrive to be in the front row for the opening ceremony?

 

[hhnlover]

so since the event has opened, what things would you change or fix in the houses this year?

 

[MKTA29]

Does anyone know what type of food they serve for the RIP buffet?

 

[Wesker69]

Can anyone tell me how early I should arrive to be in the front row for the opening ceremony?

Yea, its called watch it on youtube instead of wasting valuable maze time.

The opening scareamony is literally only a thing to act as a buffer in regards to the masses coming through the gates when they event officially opens- aka: the people who didn't get to the park BEFORE 6pm to do "early entry". While the scareactors are great at what they do, it is not worth "seeing" in person unless you have the FFP & can afford to NOT get a head start on your HHN adventure.