Halloween Horror Nights 2025 (USH) - Speculation & Rumors

[Wesker69]

I’d take another Monsters house any day of the week over WWE.

You're not thinking bigger....

"WWE: Universal Monster Smackdown Scaremania" (music by Slash featuring Figur3)

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I didn't say someone is accidentally going to end up at the wrong destination to see Scarecrow. (Not that that would necessarily matter, since it'll be at both...)

I'm pointing out that any announcements about Scarecrow in Hollywood and articles about Horror Unleashed (which will naturally prominently feature Scarecrow) are inevitably going to compete with each other if you're basically anywhere other than Los Angeles or Las Vegas. Search engine geotargeting tends to not be as precise or smart as I think you're suggesting unless you explicitly use geotargeted keywords (i.e. Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood).

Horror Unleashed doesn't even have Vegas as part of its official name. They do appear to be realizing the issue here, as I just checked -- the meta title now refers to the destination as "Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas."

A simple fix here, as @Jake S alluded to, would be to give either version of Scarecrow a different subtitle. Maybe Hollywood will get a different subtitle, which would help alleviate some (though not all) concerns.

Disclosure: I work in SEO.

I work in digital marketing too, but even if I didn’t, I still know geotargeting works extremely well from experience and is more or less the default way results are created. I’ve never added “in Los Angeles” to my searches and I get LA locations literally every single time I search for something.

If you really wanna get in the weeds, I also don’t think “Scarecrow” and related terms will have as much search volume “haunted house Vegas” or “horror nights universal” or whatever else. You don’t need extra SEO; people will be able to figure this stuff out, plus they also have influencers and PR and a lot of other ways to spell this out for people.

My main point, though, is Universal is not going to fret over duplicate properties in Vegas and Hollywood. So much of spec this year has been “well they can’t because Vegas” and as I’ve been saying this whole times, they’re not worried about Vegas cannibalizing Hollywood HHN, and I think we just need to get off that line of thinking. They’re focused on building a brand and they clearly think Scarecrow helps them with that brand. This is the same reason I remain confident UCM is coming to HHN.

I used this analogy before, but — there’s an In-n-Out in Hollywood and an In-n-Out in Vegas. The people who run In-n-Out aren’t worried that both restaurants having the same menu will somehow hurt business for either. (And they certainly aren’t amending the menu so it says “Double Double: Las Vegas version” for SEO haha.)

 

[Viator]

I used this analogy before, but — there’s an In-n-Out in Hollywood and an In-n-Out in Vegas. The people who run In-n-Out aren’t worried that both restaurants having the same menu will somehow hurt business for either. (And they certainly aren’t amending the menu so it says “Double Double: Las Vegas version” for SEO haha.)

I feel like there's a difference between a fast food corporation who sees constant foot-traffic due to the allure and appeal of In-N-Out, and that of a massive multibillion dollar corporation wanting to have the first in a mainline flagship "Year-Round" experience.

You could make a case that UM is not the only IP at Horror Unleashed; but I think what matters is more to the scale and scope of what Horror Unleashed will be doing, is going to cater to different tastes in comparison to that of the HHN GP at large. One is an attraction that is meant to stick around and be active for years and years to come. The other is a rotating "seasonal" event that needs to keep up and change with the markets more willingly to be able to allow other dice to fall.

 

[Wesker69]

willingly to be able to allow other dice to fall.

He said dice! Casino house confirmed!

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I feel like there's a difference between a fast food corporation who sees constant foot-traffic due to the allure and appeal of In-N-Out, and that of a massive multibillion dollar corporation wanting to have the first in a mainline flagship "Year-Round" experience.

This presumes anyone who’s going to Hollywood HHN is also automatically going to UHU (and vice versa), and is therefor disincentivized by having repeat experiences, but that’s just not the case. There will definitely be some overlap, for sure. Probably everyone here haha.

But you confirmed what I’m saying in your own point. Someone visiting Vegas from Idaho this fall isn’t going to say “Well, we can’t go to this Horror Unleashed thing because they got the same houses over in Hollywood, which is a completely different place from where we currently are” lol.

 

[HydraGen2299]

Hopefully scarecrow gets merch this year

 

[bdubsCEO]

Hopefully the merch this year is better across the board. Still kinda mad they designed that awesome Ghostbusters graphic and only put it on the back of a $100 bomber jacket you can’t really wear out of the house.

 

[Wesker69]

Hopefully the merch this year is better across the board. Still kinda mad they designed that awesome Ghostbusters graphic and only put it on the back of a $100 bomber jacket you can’t really wear out of the house.

View attachment 26072

Could've sworn i saw it on other merch. But there was so much Ghostbusters merch that it all blended together in my brain now

 

[HydraGen2299]

Could've sworn i saw it on other merch. But there was so much Ghostbusters merch that it all blended together in my brain now

Yeah it was on other merch that arrived a few weeks into the event but nothing was as sick as the bomber jacket

 

[DTH]

I don’t know what its prospects are this year but Sinners would be a GREAT freakin maze.

 

[rageofthegods]

Sinners and Weapons both seem like they'd make great mazes, although remains to be seen with the latter.

On the subject of WB though, my crackpot suggestion would be a Final Destination show.

 

[Viator]

I don’t know what its prospects are this year but Sinners would be a GREAT freakin maze.

I wonder if Universal watches the box office on Sinners for it potentially in 2026. Kind of like what I imagine Fallout was--when Amazon had records broken for them with it.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Hopefully the merch this year is better across the board. Still kinda mad they designed that awesome Ghostbusters graphic and only put it on the back of a $100 bomber jacket you can’t really wear out of the house.

View attachment 26072

Why can't you wear it?

 

[Kichkinet85]

Why can't you wear it?

Bc it’s HOT!

 

[Jerroddragon]

I guess I would need to wear it but its like 60 degrees in southern CA....perfect weather for it

 

[Ridesandstuff]

Hopefully scarecrow gets merch this year

Tbh maybe that was one of the motivations to bring it back this year. If theres merch in production for the maze in Vegas then it can be sold in Hollywood this year as well.

 

[Clive]

I work in digital marketing too, but even if I didn’t, I still know geotargeting works extremely well from experience and is more or less the default way results are created. I’ve never added “in Los Angeles” to my searches and I get LA locations literally every single time I search for something.

If you really wanna get in the weeds, I also don’t think “Scarecrow” and related terms will have as much search volume “haunted house Vegas” or “horror nights universal” or whatever else. You don’t need extra SEO; people will be able to figure this stuff out, plus they also have influencers and PR and a lot of other ways to spell this out for people.

My main point, though, is Universal is not going to fret over duplicate properties in Vegas and Hollywood. So much of spec this year has been “well they can’t because Vegas” and as I’ve been saying this whole times, they’re not worried about Vegas cannibalizing Hollywood HHN, and I think we just need to get off that line of thinking. They’re focused on building a brand and they clearly think Scarecrow helps them with that brand. This is the same reason I remain confident UCM is coming to HHN.

I used this analogy before, but — there’s an In-n-Out in Hollywood and an In-n-Out in Vegas. The people who run In-n-Out aren’t worried that both restaurants having the same menu will somehow hurt business for either. (And they certainly aren’t amending the menu so it says “Double Double: Las Vegas version” for SEO haha.)

I guess I've just had a very different experience working with search products and SEO generally, especially in recent years (and even more post-"AI summaries"). Search is simply not as precise or frankly as good as it used to be in large part due to Google breaking its own products in pursuit of profit.

I'm not trying to argue that Vegas will cannibalize Hollywood's event or vice versa. All I'm saying is that you're going to get a wave of articles/videos/press releases etc that promote Scarecrow as part of the Horror Unleashed lineup in the weeks before and after it opens in August. That'll include a wave of POVs and posts from influencers specifically covering Scarecrow. Those'll be coming out around the same time that Universal Hollywood is either literally announcing Scarecrow (depending on how announcements are positioned) or preparing to open their event, which will come with the same pre-event buzz and media blitz. There will be overlap, and that can lead to both consumer confusion (more than I think you're anticipating - it's a problem bigger than Scarecrow but also potentially exacerbated by its apparent inclusion in Hollywood this year) and SEO messiness. I agree that the search volume on "Scarecrow haunted house" or "Scarecrow horror nights" isn't going to be especially high in any scenario, but searching "Horror Nights haunted houses" and getting press releases and articles for Scarecrow in both Vegas and Los Angeles isn't ideal. You're convinced people will work this out, and many will, but we've seen time and time again that people not as plugged in as we are do not read closely and make all sorts of asinine decisiona.

And while I see what you're getting at, I don't think your In n Out analogy really works because 1) these restaurants all tend to share the same menu and 2) there are hundreds of locations versus Universal's (eventual) four stateside locations. Consumers don't engage with these venues in the same way, at all.

EDITING TO CLARIFY: I also don't think this is going to cause massive disruptions or derail either offering. I'm saying it introduces complications and potential headaches for SEO/general marketing reasons. Guessing that the event's creative team decided to go with Scarecrow for cost savings without a lot for how it would/will affect marketing, and now those marketing departments will just have to deal with it.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I guess I've just had a very different experience working with search products and SEO generally, especially in recent years (and even more post-"AI summaries"). Search is simply not as precise or frankly as good as it used to be in large part due to Google breaking its own products in pursuit of profit.

I'm not trying to argue that Vegas will cannibalize Hollywood's event or vice versa. All I'm saying is that you're going to get a wave of articles/videos/press releases etc that promote Scarecrow as part of the Horror Unleashed lineup in the weeks before and after it opens in August. That'll include a wave of POVs and posts from influencers specifically covering Scarecrow. Those'll be coming out around the same time that Universal Hollywood is either literally announcing Scarecrow (depending on how announcements are positioned) or preparing to open their event, which will come with the same pre-event buzz and media blitz. There will be overlap, and that can lead to both consumer confusion (more than I think you're anticipating - it's a problem bigger than Scarecrow but also potentially exacerbated by its apparent inclusion in Hollywood this year) and SEO messiness. I agree that the search volume on "Scarecrow haunted house" or "Scarecrow horror nights" isn't going to be especially high in any scenario, but searching "Horror Nights haunted houses" and getting press releases and articles for Scarecrow in both Vegas and Los Angeles isn't ideal. You're convinced people will work this out, and many will, but we've seen time and time again that people not as plugged in as we are do not read closely and make all sorts of asinine decisiona.

And while I see what you're getting at, I don't think your In n Out analogy really works because 1) these restaurants all tend to share the same menu and 2) there are hundreds of locations versus Universal's (eventual) four stateside locations. Consumers don't engage with these venues in the same way, at all.

I mean, I don't really see the point in arguing any of this because you're clearly wrong -- and I'm 1000000% not trying to be mean or rude or snarky by saying that, it's just the company is moving forward with having a Scarecrow house at UHU and Scarecrow house at Hollywood HHN, and there's no way they haven't taken everything you're saying into consideration.

The In-n-Out analogy works precisely for the reason you said -- all In-n-Out restaurants share the same menu; having duplicate items does not hurt their business or prevent them from having Hollywood and Vegas locations. Here's an even more specific example of the same argument: Restaurant Guy Savoy is a Parisian restaurant that some argue is the best on the planet. They opened a second one in Vegas, and the menus share certain dishes. Do you think people respond to that with "Well, now I don't wanna go because this Vegas menu isn't completely unique" or "Well, now I'm confused which restaurant is which, are we going to this place or the other place?"

Or replace restaurants with theater. There are Blue Man Group performances in multiple cities. They vary slightly, but not by much. People still go. Las Vegas is all about being able to do anything at anytime. The Canadian snowbirds who visit Vegas in February and like spooky stuff aren't gonna be annoyed or confused by Scarecrow having been at HHN -- an event that happened months prior in a completely different place.

I get your concern. Like, you still have people not understanding that the Wizarding World is a land within a theme park, not an entire theme park unto itself. But they would not be moving forward with any of these plans if these issues you're describing were significant in any way.

 

[Clive]

I mean, I don't really see the point in arguing any of this because you're clearly wrong -- and I'm 1000000% not trying to be mean or rude or snarky by saying that, it's just the company is moving forward with having a Scarecrow house at UHU and Scarecrow house at Hollywood HHN, and there's no way they haven't taken everything you're saying into consideration.

The In-n-Out analogy works precisely for the reason you said -- all In-n-Out restaurants share the same menu; having duplicate items does not hurt their business or prevent them from having Hollywood and Vegas locations. Here's an even more specific example of the same argument: Restaurant Guy Savoy is a Parisian restaurant that some argue is the best on the planet. They opened a second one in Vegas, and the menus share certain dishes. Do you think people respond to that with "Well, now I don't wanna go because this Vegas menu isn't completely unique" or "Well, now I'm confused which restaurant is which, are we going to this place or the other place?"

Las Vegas is all about being able to do anything at anytime. The Canadian snowbirds who visit Vegas in February and like spooky stuff aren't gonna be annoyed or confused by Scarecrow having been at HHN -- an event that happened months prior in a completely different place.

I get your concern. Like, you still have people not understanding that the Wizarding World is a land within a theme park, not an entire theme park unto itself. But they would not be moving forward with any of these plans if these issues you're describing were significant in any way.

I don't mean to be rude or snarky, either, but you are giving these notoriously dysfunctional corporations far too much credit.

Your restaurant analogy, while well-intentioned, also doesn't actually map onto what we're discussing here, and I've already explained why. Having the same items on the menu of two restaurant is not the same thing as having two distinct experiences that share a name and theme at two separate location-based entertainment experiences. Consumers do not engage with restaurants and themed entertainment in the same way.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I don't mean to be rude or snarky, either, but you are giving these notoriously dysfunctional corporations far too much credit.

Your restaurant analogy, while well-intentioned, also doesn't actually map onto what we're discussing here, and I've already explained why. Having the same items on the menu of two restaurant is not the same thing as having two distinct experiences that share a name and theme at two separate location-based entertainment experiences. Consumers do not engage with restaurants and themed entertainment in the same way.

Maybe I'm giving them too much credit -- or maybe you're just refusing to concede that a company with a hundreds of billions in yearly revenue might actually be competent? Idk.

And I'm not saying people engage with restaurants and themed entertainment in the same way lmao. I'm saying it's not uncommon for anything to share commonalities and still be successful when it all sits under the same exact brand. Swap In-n-Out for Blue Man Group or Jabbawockeez or Cirque or literally anything else of that variety. Having multiple iterations of these things in various cities across the world has not proved detrimental. It's been the exact opposite, in fact.

I can not imagine believing this after living on this earth for more than 5 minutes.

Yes they're all idiots and us, the people on the message board, are the real geniuses.