Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - News & Info

[DudleyRaa]

free parking at midnight now, i wonder if enough people emailed universal about it if it would change.
i dont really understand this change or why it happened,
i know they can sell more parking but they miss out on people dining at 10 or buying stuff.

I can't believe it. A few years ago free parking started at 8pm, then at 10pm and now at 12pm, really?

 

[ultimateforce]

Ever wonder when enough is enough?

 

[sjago13]

The crowds were rough last night and saw a lot of rude people and people being jackasses. Saw a dude piss drunk fall to the ground before entering the black phone portion of blumhouse and someone having to pick them up and hold them though the house... Also a lot of phones in houses and lights on in scarezones and ops really didn't seem to be doing much. Its opening nights pains and stuff but a lot of the ops people do seem new as ops were all over the place. But it was beyond packed last night so I can't be mad about it, just hope it improves.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Ever wonder when enough is enough?

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I've never seen people be so rude to HHN employees before. I saw with my own eyes a house attendant with tears in her eyes. I regret not stepping into a situation last night but I may have actually gotten in a fight with the person so it's probably best I didn't.

Another reason why the parking charge makes no sense. It’s not going to stop the riff raff from coming to the event if they have tickets.

 

[Speed]

Wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t get maps until the Hellblock Horror/Spirits error is fixed

 

[SeventyOne]

RANDOM OPENING NIGHT OBSERVATIONS

• Last night felt like a typical Friday -- started fairly slow but got insane by 9. Apparently no one knows no longer free parking at 8.
• Notably fewer adolescents (and younger) than past few years. Handful of pre-teens but rare enough they stand out again. I can only assume that's the lack of a friendly IP.
• Fewer costumes/bounds than 2021 or 2020. Again, a handful, but probably no more than 10 beyond little black dress and cat ears level. #1 themed attire was new or vintage HHN t-shirts, followed by B&T t-shirts, then maybe The Weeknd? But Abel a distant third. Despite snarky Twitter predictions, only 2 Hellfire Club shirts (and 1 "Eddie Munson" shirt). Not sure if ST fans stayed away or just didn't feel a need to represent without a house.
• Raised walkways back by the tents are a welcome gift from the HHN gods.
• Other than Main Street USA (thanks to Minion construction), the zones were easier to walk thru. Even SF!
• Food lines were insane. Drink lines were a little better but not great. Do not come to HHN hungry.
• See CityWalk thread, but Dead Coconut Club is a kitschy blast.

 

[Freak]

I am forever grateful they have made raised walkways for the tent queues. I got dumped on last year for Puppet Theater and had to walk around with soaked shoes all night. Not fun.

 

[sjago13]

I am forever grateful they have made raised walkways for the tent queues. I got dumped on last year for Puppet Theater and had to walk around with soaked shoes all night. Not fun.

And even for the weekend, not making us walk in the street gutters is a huge step up and am glad someone decided to make this move as it feels more put together and safer.

 

[Tbad556]

RANDOM OPENING NIGHT OBSERVATIONS

• Last night felt like a typical Friday -- started fairly slow but got insane by 9. Apparently no one knows no longer free parking at 8.
• Notably fewer adolescents (and younger) than past few years. Handful of pre-teens but rare enough they stand out again. I can only assume that's the lack of a friendly IP.
• Fewer costumes/bounds than 2021 or 2020. Again, a handful, but probably no more than 10 beyond little black dress and cat ears level. #1 themed attire was new or vintage HHN t-shirts, followed by B&T t-shirts, then maybe The Weeknd? But Abel a distant third. Despite snarky Twitter predictions, only 2 Hellfire Club shirts (and 1 "Eddie Munson" shirt). Not sure if ST fans stayed away or just didn't feel a need to represent without a house.
• Raised walkways back by the tents are a welcome gift from the HHN gods.
• Other than Main Street USA (thanks to Minion construction), the zones were easier to walk thru. Even SF!
• Food lines were insane. Drink lines were a little better but not great. Do not come to HHN hungry.
• See CityWalk thread, but Dead Coconut Club is a kitschy blast.

I will chime in and add:

• I did see a ton of the younger crowd and an even larger number of Hellfire Club shirts last night so YMMV
• Didn't even think about the costumes/bounds in the moment, but you're spot on here.
• Bless those new walkways. I know we dodged the rain last night, but they're still an absolute gift after last year

 

[IHateJumpScares]

I'm the least qualified person to answer...but since I'm full of myself and nobody else will:

That holding Penn is unique since they have a "general" stay and scream and a real queue.

You should be allowed to hang out at the bar as long as you want, but once the event starts, you'll have to join the end of that line to join that house.

If you want "First Of The Night" access to a house, you'll need to get in that specific line ASAP (instead of hanging out at the bar) to get your spot.

We are “rope drop” dysfunctional people, so we have stay and screamed at the front of the line. Positives are that you get in the house so fast and you are entering house 2 before most have entered house 1.

Negatives:
- Houses often seem sparsely staffed at the very start. The houses we see first nearly always are way better later when we see additional actors we did not know were missing.
- people always try to join at the last minute and cut everyone, run past everyone, etc when the gate opens
- you burn a good hour hanging out and playing cards or whatever in the sun (or rain).

 

[Freak]

I've read reports on here of a lot of troublemakers showing up on opening night. Heard there were some younger people causing trouble. Well I found out that Playlist Live in Orlando is happening right now, the same time as opening weekend. Might explain some of the trouble going on.

 

[Brian G.]

I've read reports on here of a lot of troublemakers showing up on opening night. Heard there were some younger people causing trouble. Well I found out that Playlist Live in Orlando is happening right now, the same time as opening weekend. Might explain some of the trouble going on.

Damn youths.

 

[GAcoaster]

Damn youths.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I've read reports on here of a lot of troublemakers showing up on opening night. Heard there were some younger people causing trouble. Well I found out that Playlist Live in Orlando is happening right now, the same time as opening weekend. Might explain some of the trouble going on.

so getting rid of 10 PM parking did...

Lol

 

[Vyrus]

Has anyone done this years Scareactor Dining? What are your thoughts? Is the food good? And ultimately is it worth it?

Never done it before and bought tickets.

 

[Neo]

so getting rid of 10 PM parking did...

Their accountants would say otherwise...it's increasing their profit margin.

 

[GAcoaster]

The whole charging for parking is really just to be a deterrent to "bad elements" just showing up on CityWalk. If they have to spend money to do it, they probably won't and they'll go somewhere else that isn't Universal.

I remember when I was 21 and worked in a nightclub and the manager explained that the clientele you get when it's free admission is not the clientele you want. The nights where there was no cover brought out the dregs. The nights with a cover brought the better crowds (who spent more money and tipped better).

If you REALLY want to go to Universal for HHN that badly between the hours of 10-12 and the parking fee is stopping you, I have questions. If you're that big a fan I assume you have multi-night passes or you're spending a lot of money for just a couple of hours. And if you have a mutli-night ticket I'd guess you have an annual pass that gets you complimentary parking anyway, The few people who this will effect are people they don't want or need. They're the people that are causing issues in the parking garages.

 

[Brian G.]

The whole charging for parking is really just to be a deterrent to "bad elements" just showing up on CityWalk. If they have to spend money to do it, they probably won't and they'll go somewhere else that isn't Universal.

I remember when I was 21 and worked in a nightclub and the manager explained that the clientele you get when it's free admission is not the clientele you want. The nights where there was no cover brought out the dregs. The nights with a cover brought the better crowds (who spent more money and tipped better).

If you REALLY want to go to Universal for HHN that badly between the hours of 10-12 and the parking fee is stopping you, I have questions. If you're that big a fan I assume you have multi-night passes or you're spending a lot of money for just a couple of hours. And if you have a mutli-night ticket I'd guess you have an annual pass that gets you complimentary parking anyway, The few people who this will effect are people they don't want or need. They're the people that are causing issues in the parking garages.

and just to add on - after 9, you can't be in CityWalk if you're under 21 without an event ticket.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

The whole charging for parking is really just to be a deterrent to "bad elements" just showing up on CityWalk. If they have to spend money to do it, they probably won't and they'll go somewhere else that isn't Universal.

I remember when I was 21 and worked in a nightclub and the manager explained that the clientele you get when it's free admission is not the clientele you want. The nights where there was no cover brought out the dregs. The nights with a cover brought the better crowds (who spent more money and tipped better).

If you REALLY want to go to Universal for HHN that badly between the hours of 10-12 and the parking fee is stopping you, I have questions. If you're that big a fan I assume you have multi-night passes or you're spending a lot of money for just a couple of hours. And if you have a mutli-night ticket I'd guess you have an annual pass that gets you complimentary parking anyway, The few people who this will effect are people they don't want or need. They're the people that are causing issues in the parking garages.

You’re talking to a group of people that went nuts over a $15 Lightning Lane (an optional add-on). The problem is the parking fee isn’t stopping anybody—I’m gonna pay the $27 a pop because at the end of the day I’ll probably only go three or four times and it’s not that much money over the course of two months. But on the other side of the spectrum you have people that probably won’t know any better…they’ll pay too because they’ll already be at the front of the car line with their tickets and aren’t going to turn around.

So who exactly have you stopped from coming? Teens that want to just go to Citywalk to cause trouble? Okay fine, but why wasn’t this enforced before HHN? Is it being enforced non-HHN nights? Will it be enforced after HHN?

Again, at the end of the day it’s <$30 a night and the passes (and arguably one-night tickets) are still a relative steal. But it sets a bad principle after UO went through a sort of…renaissance? (for lack of a better word) in making transparent adjustments to improve the guest experience, especially for locals. It’s a bad step IMO.