Halloween Horror Nights 30 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors (2021)

[Verdicoshna]

Not trying to rain on the HHN parade I truly am hoping we can have a full event this year, but if the event was going to be limited/not a regular scheduled event I would honestly rather wait another year to get a full force HHN 30. Maybe we see a few houses open like this past year but for some reason I can't see a regular HHN happening with 50% or even 75% capacity. Maybe I am wrong but even from a financial standpoint how much would they make from a limited capacity and a possibility of that capacity not being hit every night? This truly seems like the best year of houses in a while and it would be a shame not to capitalize on it at the full potential.

 

[Neo]

Not trying to rain on the HHN parade I truly am hoping we can have a full event this year, but if the event was going to be limited/not a regular scheduled event I would honestly rather wait another year to get a full force HHN 30. Maybe we see a few houses open like this past year but for some reason I can't see a regular HHN happening with 50% or even 75% capacity. Maybe I am wrong but even from a financial standpoint how much would they make from a limited capacity and a possibility of that capacity not being hit every night? This truly seems like the best year of houses in a while and it would be a shame not to capitalize on it at the full potential.

There are some financials I'm not smart enough to understand. They're releasing movies like Tenent and Wonderwoman 1984 when theaters are mostly closed because it's too expensive to "sit" on the property for too long. I'm guessing there's some incentive for Universal as well. Not only did they build and now have to maintain those houses, but there are surely contract negotiations for IPs that were for 2020 and were extended for 2021 for a substantial price. If they put it off again, they'll be generating ZERO revenue on those costs from 2 years ago while extending the licensing agreements out another year plus paying for another year of upkeep and space unusable for anything else. So at some point, getting a 50% return on investment is better than getting -25% return by having to extend everything else another year.

That sucks for fans, but for a business, you can only throw so much money at a lost cause before you have to cut bait and make as much lemonade out of those lemons as you can. Recoup what you can, write it off, and start fresh when the world is back to normal.

 

[Legacy]

There are some financials I'm not smart enough to understand. They're releasing movies like Tenent and Wonderwoman 1984 when theaters are mostly closed because it's too expensive to "sit" on the property for too long. I'm guessing there's some incentive for Universal as well. Not only did they build and now have to maintain those houses, but there are surely contract negotiations for IPs that were for 2020 and were extended for 2021 for a substantial price. If they put it off again, they'll be generating ZERO revenue on those costs from 2 years ago while extending the licensing agreements out another year plus paying for another year of upkeep and space unusable for anything else. So at some point, getting a 50% return on investment is better than getting -25% return by having to extend everything else another year.

That sucks for fans, but for a business, you can only throw so much money at a lost cause before you have to cut bait and make as much lemonade out of those lemons as you can. Recoup what you can, write it off, and start fresh when the world is back to normal.

“Maintaining” a house is just leaving it sit. And, rumor is, there were no additional fees for the extended contracts because extenuating circumstances meant the IPs weren’t used. An extension fee would have required an initial use (BJ is a weird outlier in that it was used but wasn’t supposed to be). So, there isn’t a continued “loss.” The loss comes when a house isn’t used at all. Demolishing and rebuilding would cause the loss.

Movies are different because production and release schedules are set so far out. A two year delay on a tent-pole release affects dozens of releases two-three-four years out. There’s also contracts with talent that results in payments based on sales, so delaying release means people don’t get paid. They’re apples and oranges.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I think at this point, it will be possible to run HHN safely with at least 25% capacity. Things will obviously need to be re-worked, but I think they proved that they can safely run houses during this time.

Might get in trouble if we continue down this road though. Lol.

I've been wondering if they'd make any slight changes to Brides or Tooth Fairy while doing repairs.

 

[Neo]

Movies are different because production and release schedules are set so far out. A two year delay on a tent-pole release affects dozens of releases two-three-four years out. There’s also contracts with talent that results in payments based on sales, so delaying release means people don’t get paid. They’re apples and oranges.

Right. Movie studios also borrow money, or sell debt, to finance them because the interest rate is so low when they release the movies so quickly and recoup the money so there's that. Then you have stuff like the new James Bond movie that is spending MILLIONS re-shooting scenes involving Nokia phones because part of their product placement deals are to show off the latest technology companies have to offer and what they shot is out of date. Those reshoots are on MGM and not Nokia (at least I think it's Nokia...though I thought they were bought out by Google...so I could be wrong).

Regarding the back end for talent, that's all being renogiated with the whole HBO Max day and date release thing killing the whole "share of the profits" thing when the box office is such a small piece of the pie and no films are being profitable on box office alone right now. Hard to share profits when there aren't any on paper.

Definitely apples and oranges...but figured one entertainment property was a good analogy for another and would explain why Uni might elect to go ahead with the event in "less favorable" conditions. There's still a shelf life to the houses and the IPs and at some point, you just have to go with what you have.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

Not trying to rain on the HHN parade I truly am hoping we can have a full event this year, but if the event was going to be limited/not a regular scheduled event I would honestly rather wait another year to get a full force HHN 30. Maybe we see a few houses open like this past year but for some reason I can't see a regular HHN happening with 50% or even 75% capacity. Maybe I am wrong but even from a financial standpoint how much would they make from a limited capacity and a possibility of that capacity not being hit every night? This truly seems like the best year of houses in a while and it would be a shame not to capitalize on it at the full potential.

Not to start a Covid talk but for all, we know next year might not be normal? People might not just give up masks overnight when they have been using them for over a year to protect them from germs? People might not want scarezone actors right up in your face or super close to you? It's sucky to think this way but the truth is who knows if we will ever experience "normal" again for quite a while. There is no reason to delay an event when things are normal when you don't know if that will ever happen again...

 

[Rikku]

And sorry to jump on this bandwagon already but if the event does run at what 25%-50% or whatever number lesser than, what would happen to Frequent Fear and also Express Passes? Would virtual queues be the main way to go?

 

[Clive]

Guys... It's too soon to start thinking about the operational changes. We just don't know yet.

Please keep the discussion on content.

 

[Tobias]

One thing I am hearing...so far.........is that the budget for this year will mostly be used to make killer zones.

This is something I've been curious about. So with 9 houses already built, that's quite a bit of time to work on 1 lone house and all the zones. Due to the unique situation, is there a chance the zones are gonna' be a tad upgraded compared to the past couple years? An if something like SuperStar isn't running around the time, would A&D take the chance to put in more "permanent" structures onto the streets that they haven't been able to for a while?

*An this is assuming they'll be doing the zones they initially had planned for last year.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Considering the recent announcement of the government purchasing additional vaccines, enough to vaccinate 300 Million residents (90%) by July, HHN is looking good.

 

[shiekra38]

This is something I've been curious about. So with 9 houses already built, that's quite a bit of time to work on 1 lone house and all the zones. Due to the unique situation, is there a chance the zones are gonna' be a tad upgraded compared to the past couple years? An if something like SuperStar isn't running around the time, would A&D take the chance to put in more "permanent" structures onto the streets that they haven't been able to for a while?

*An this is assuming they'll be doing the zones they initially had planned for last year.

This is an interesting thing I never thought about

I'm not so sure SuperStar would be returning for a while (minus in front of Mels) this could be an interesting option

The only concern I have for scarezones is spacing

 

[kingcooger]

The only concern I have for scarezones is spacing

Spacing in what sense?

As in making sure guests/actors are not too close together?

 

[Living Dead Dude]

Not technically zones but a Change I would love to see is the chainsaw hordes. Why not add a theming to them (ex. Body collectors, mouthbrooders) rather then just generic chainsaw people! I’d love to see popular houses not represented in the anniversary year this year to get a sorta mini zone or something

 

[kingcooger]

Not technically zones but a Change I would love to see is the chainsaw hordes. Why not add a theming to them (ex. Body collectors, mouthbrooders) rather then just generic chainsaw people! I’d love to see popular houses not represented in the anniversary year this year to get a sorta mini zone or something

We have had clownsaws on more than one occasion and cheersaws as well.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

We have had clownsaws on more than one occasion and cheersaws as well.

I think we had prison saws too lol. I meant more of only one chainsaw zone and other monsters in others!

 

[shiekra38]

Spacing in what sense?

As in making sure guests/actors are not too close together?

Yes

 

[kingcooger]

I think we had prison saws too lol. I meant more of only one chainsaw zone and other monsters in others!

I don’t mind saws in multiple zones IF they work from a character or thematic standpoint

Example:

At HHN 25 we had clownsaws in Springfield and Eddie with a chainsaw in Icons. That’s fine.

At HHN 25 we also had Lady Luck with a chainsaw in Icons. That’s not fine.

 

[Neo]

If they aren't doing the daytime parade by the time HHN is really gearing up to start, I hope they are allowed to have some of the more elaborate scarezones of the past where they can leave the sets out in in the streets 24/7. I used to like the scare zones more than the houses back in those days.

EDIT: If the day parade is back and the streets have to remain relatively clear, I'd LOVE for them to have Killer Klowns Parade for HHN. My first year going was HHN14 and the parade was a blast. Having the Killer Klowns doing the procession down mainstreet from the movie with the vaccum machine and clowns with bubble guns and caccoons and stuff walking around the "floats" would be amazing. Have the icecream truck and a few more vehicles and it would just be perfect. Everybody loved the zone. Most people at least liked the house. Having them do a parade would be perfect.

 

[hhn28andbeyond]

If they aren't doing the daytime parade by the time HHN is really gearing up to start, I hope they are allowed to have some of the more elaborate scarezones of the past where they can leave the sets out in in the streets 24/7. I used to like the scare zones more than the houses back in those days.

EDIT: If the day parade is back and the streets have to remain relatively clear, I'd LOVE for them to have Killer Klowns Parade for HHN. My first year going was HHN14 and the parade was a blast. Having the Killer Klowns doing the procession down mainstreet from the movie with the vaccum machine and clowns with bubble guns and caccoons and stuff walking around the "floats" would be amazing. Have the icecream truck and a few more vehicles and it would just be perfect. Everybody loved the zone. Most people at least liked the house. Having them do a parade would be perfect.

I feel like a parade is kind of off the table for HHN for a long while. Even if the more elaborate sets are put away during the day, they’re usually brought back out during the holding period between 5 and 6:00 (Runway in Vanity Ball, cars in pretty much every zone that has them). If all of that gets sacrificed, they still have a large amount of crowds to deal with. This event has grown huge in the past years, and pushing a bunch of teens trying to be funny and drunk adults would be a pain in the back, even more with COVID restrictions.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Interesting (slightly related) tidbit regarding zones:

My first trip to Uni was 2016. Every year there's been some type of large props/permanent structures/set dressing for zones. I never went to Uni while HHN wasn't going until 2020. So it was the first time I actually saw the park without any scare zone sets, and it was kinda weird.

But bouncing off of that - what permanent structures have they had in the past that would have been affected by the parade?