Halloween Horror Nights 2018 (USH) General Discussion
- Thread starter Brian G.
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- Sep 10, 2017
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- May 26, 2010
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It was bad.
Metro & Tram went down first - Poltergeist, Blumhouse, Purge. Trick r Treat and Monsters not long after.
Halloween, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, and rides managed to stay up the entire night. Tunnel and Scarezone 1 managed to keep operating in reduced forms.
I sincerely hope refunds were issued without issue. It sucked for everyone, but people deserved the full experience.
Metro & Tram went down first - Poltergeist, Blumhouse, Purge. Trick r Treat and Monsters not long after.
Halloween, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, and rides managed to stay up the entire night. Tunnel and Scarezone 1 managed to keep operating in reduced forms.
I sincerely hope refunds were issued without issue. It sucked for everyone, but people deserved the full experience.
Out of nowhere Southern California had a thunderstorm. Maybe that was the reason for the closures because the ticket states the event occurs in the rain. Thunderstorms though? I wonder what happened over at Fright Fest and Scary Farm!
I was actually there, but didn't arrive until about 9pm, and was told and seeing different things, so I don't know exactly where the truth lies... or maybe things closed after we left.
But in short, we arrived around 9:30. Even though it was raining, we were owed some FoL passes for HHN to use on a night of our choice, and we really wanted to use it on a Saturday night... and last night was the last Saturday night offered on the FFP. Of course, we had to get these FoL passes from GR (Guest Relations), and we knew it was bad when the line for GR snaked back to the entrance gates, turned around, and headed back down towards lockers. It was a mess, because then people started making their own "lines" to get into GR, and it wasn't clear which was a real line or not. And clearly, everyone around us was grumbling about how basically all the mazes were closed. The line was also crawling, it was worse than Conjuring at WB (lol).
So we decide to leave the line and catch the 10:15 Jabaookeez show to hope that both the GR line and the rain (and maybe crowds) would maybe calm down a bit. None of them did. At that point, UM and Tram were down for sure, but all the other mazes had basically 2+ hour wait times listed. Line for GR by then did look more organized, but was now at Feature Presentations.
Really, by then, we just didn't see any point in staying. We left without ever going to the lower or metro lots. By chance, we noticed the outside GR line was short, so we inquired there. She said they couldn't help us (said that part of the office doesn't give refunds or rain checks?), but to call GR on another day and mention it, and that they "were aware of the events tonight". All in all, it was a mess. But as of about 11pm, all the mazes aside from Tram and UM were at least listed as open. Whether they closed before or after that, I really don't know.
But it was even crazier to see that the park still seemed pretty mobbed even with the bad weather. That rain did virtually nothing to make people stay home.
But in short, we arrived around 9:30. Even though it was raining, we were owed some FoL passes for HHN to use on a night of our choice, and we really wanted to use it on a Saturday night... and last night was the last Saturday night offered on the FFP. Of course, we had to get these FoL passes from GR (Guest Relations), and we knew it was bad when the line for GR snaked back to the entrance gates, turned around, and headed back down towards lockers. It was a mess, because then people started making their own "lines" to get into GR, and it wasn't clear which was a real line or not. And clearly, everyone around us was grumbling about how basically all the mazes were closed. The line was also crawling, it was worse than Conjuring at WB (lol).
So we decide to leave the line and catch the 10:15 Jabaookeez show to hope that both the GR line and the rain (and maybe crowds) would maybe calm down a bit. None of them did. At that point, UM and Tram were down for sure, but all the other mazes had basically 2+ hour wait times listed. Line for GR by then did look more organized, but was now at Feature Presentations.
Really, by then, we just didn't see any point in staying. We left without ever going to the lower or metro lots. By chance, we noticed the outside GR line was short, so we inquired there. She said they couldn't help us (said that part of the office doesn't give refunds or rain checks?), but to call GR on another day and mention it, and that they "were aware of the events tonight". All in all, it was a mess. But as of about 11pm, all the mazes aside from Tram and UM were at least listed as open. Whether they closed before or after that, I really don't know.
But it was even crazier to see that the park still seemed pretty mobbed even with the bad weather. That rain did virtually nothing to make people stay home.
Just tweeted this...
Someone else replying to that tweet also posted a screen shot of the mazes as of midnight last night... looks like a lot closed after we left! My husband said on his twitter feed, he was hearing reports that the metro lot mazes were flooding, and that someone else was reporting they were stuck on the Terror Tram for over an hour.
Someone else replying to that tweet also posted a screen shot of the mazes as of midnight last night... looks like a lot closed after we left! My husband said on his twitter feed, he was hearing reports that the metro lot mazes were flooding, and that someone else was reporting they were stuck on the Terror Tram for over an hour.
Out of curiosity, I wonder if this may convince operations to have more than just mazes open for the event.
That would make sense, as Orlando had to reopen Simpsons last night due to how crowded it was. But in this circumstance, virtually nothing else was available for guests; outside of two of the mazes (and I assume showtimes for Jabbawockeez).
That would make sense, as Orlando had to reopen Simpsons last night due to how crowded it was. But in this circumstance, virtually nothing else was available for guests; outside of two of the mazes (and I assume showtimes for Jabbawockeez).
I really want to support Universal, but even I'm a bit irked they just said, "may have experienced delays". Frankly, that's a bit insulting to me. It wasn't just a "delay". Key attractions were flat out closed, there was a lot of chaos and confusion in general.
I can even give USH some benefit for not knowing mazes were going to flood... sometimes you just don't know until you get a rain (though having uncovered portions without a back up plan does not seem wise--but it's possible even covered sections ended up leaking unexpectedly). Even so, GR should have been more prepared with a rain closure policy for this situation. If the ticket says, "open rain or shine", it's implied the attractions will remain open. When it says "rain or shine", but the main attractions close because of the rain, that's a very different story.
On a side note, if mazes really did flood, I hope there wasn't any damage to them.
I can even give USH some benefit for not knowing mazes were going to flood... sometimes you just don't know until you get a rain (though having uncovered portions without a back up plan does not seem wise--but it's possible even covered sections ended up leaking unexpectedly). Even so, GR should have been more prepared with a rain closure policy for this situation. If the ticket says, "open rain or shine", it's implied the attractions will remain open. When it says "rain or shine", but the main attractions close because of the rain, that's a very different story.
On a side note, if mazes really did flood, I hope there wasn't any damage to them.
- Feb 15, 2012
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Honest question, how much does it rain in LA during this time of year? If this is a freak incident then I'm not too worried.
In fairness Orlando had a few weeks of crowds to justify and adjust schedules to open Simpsons. I think more attractions should be open and the fact Simpsons wasn't since day one is total garbage but when people's work schedules and lives are in play USF can't just request them to come into work with no notice.
Again, I come back to my first question: how often does it rain at this time of year in LA? If this was a freak storm then what could they do to prepare? "Oh there might be a huge storm tonight lets call in more Guest Relations TMs"?
This is similar to last year when HHN Orlando had a massive power outage a week after the hurricane. Parade building and tent houses, MiB, and Simpsons were down with emergency lighting on. They issued refunds to everyone who asked but what can Universal say beyond "experiencing delays"?
In fairness Orlando had a few weeks of crowds to justify and adjust schedules to open Simpsons. I think more attractions should be open and the fact Simpsons wasn't since day one is total garbage but when people's work schedules and lives are in play USF can't just request them to come into work with no notice.
Again, I come back to my first question: how often does it rain at this time of year in LA? If this was a freak storm then what could they do to prepare? "Oh there might be a huge storm tonight lets call in more Guest Relations TMs"?
This is similar to last year when HHN Orlando had a massive power outage a week after the hurricane. Parade building and tent houses, MiB, and Simpsons were down with emergency lighting on. They issued refunds to everyone who asked but what can Universal say beyond "experiencing delays"?
- Oct 9, 2016
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It seemed like it must have been pretty chaotic behind the scenes too, constant staff rushing around, opening and closing mazes as flooding came and went, not to mention a massive explosion of people coming in around 10 ish, it was probably the worst possible night for them to be unprepared
- Oct 9, 2016
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Also, sorry to double post, but does anyone know if November 4th is on Frequent Fear? If they didnt include it it would be a massive bummer to not get to go to closing night with the pass
I don't seem to recall it being too common... I do remember vividly last year, there was not a single day in October that went below 90 degrees. So at best, it's been a while.
To answer your questions, no, they didn't have to call in extra GR for a freak storm (though they could've tried, and any that were available sure would've helped). What should have already been in place, though, was a thought out plan ahead of time (before HHN even starts!) that covers what to do in case of rain, power outages, or any other unforseen closures:
- Organizing a queue for GR
- A plan of how to handle the situation quickly (refunds or rainchecks), and an attempt to move through guests as quickly as possible.
- There were still team members available at the Tower and the outdoor GR that could've been called in as back up. For instance, they could've sent all guests who would be willing to settle with a rain check to go to the Tower and pick them up, while other guests with different complaints or unsatisfied with that could've stayed at GR. Heck, the tower sits right in front of a huge queue area for UM that was sitting totally unused since the maze was down. They could've funneled guests into that queue for a quick raincheck. I don't if people would've been "happy", per se, but they'd probably be a lot less upset than they are now.
As I already said, if they say the event is "rain or shine", that implies they're prepared for rain and that all mazes would remain open in the rain (possible pass for Terror Tram). Clearly, that did not happen.
- Feb 15, 2012
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Fair points, it does seem they were caught flat footed and didn't think this through. I still think "delays" is fine as that means things could open up again, while closures mean the house is closed for the day. Even Orlando uses Delayed for any issues.
- May 26, 2010
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So to be clear, no maze to my knowledge reopened after they originally went down. Operations TRIED to get them back open - as hard as they could. Actors were sheltered and on standby. The Metro mazes were probably never going to reopen, as to my understanding those areas are designated rain basins and almost immediately flooded.
"Delays" is a joke. Half of the event was closed and never reopened. I WILL say I'm glad they didn't attempt to continue the mazes through the rain - that would have been dramatically unsafe and miserable for everyone. Hopefully, everyone who emails is comp'd a day.
"Delays" is a joke. Half of the event was closed and never reopened. I WILL say I'm glad they didn't attempt to continue the mazes through the rain - that would have been dramatically unsafe and miserable for everyone. Hopefully, everyone who emails is comp'd a day.
- Oct 9, 2016
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Blumhouse and Purge temporarily reopened around midnight, but both flooded and closed again within maybe 20 minutes and never opened again
- Oct 9, 2016
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I would guess there wasn't a lot besides maybe to the outer walls, and maybe mildew in the carpets
I wouldn’t worry too much about their black walls suffering much water damage. They can always paint over any of it.
