Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - News & Info

[Frank Drackman]

I was still thinking that customers are looking for the best deals. I have always felt that SUN and WED are the busiest nights (when I only went in SEPT w/ RoF) This seemed to be happening in OCT (which I only have a small amount of experience w/ b4 this year) Anyway, FRI was slow, SAT was slower (imho) -- but tonight felt the same as SAT, maybe even a bit slower.

I know this is a fan site, but I tend to look at things more from a business angle. This make me surprised that folks think the answer is to remove RoF. The pass is only good for around three weeks, based on available days, it is the most expensive of the passes (more $ per night for UNI). This year in SEPT they sold out of many first shipments of merchandise, in OCT, they over discounts on merch the closer we get to the end of the event -- seems to me that SEPT was pretty good, not sure they would be upset about it. There was certainly one weekend I went this SEPT that was busier than any HHN I had been to, but fortunately, I am able to go other nights, heck, i still have not been to TLOU nor nightmare fuel, but I still have time....

 

[Mad Dog]

One thing they'll probably look at after this is over, is spending per guest in Sept. as opposed to spending per guest in October. Also guest satisfaction surveys. They'll have all those internal numbers, and that'll probably determine whether they adjust the various forms of multi night tickets for 2024 HHN.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Meanwhile, HOS Tampa was a total s--- show last night. Took over an hour just to park and that was with doing some F&F-style maneuvers (family). Once inside, the ride and house times were all upwards of 100 minutes. Never seen a night at HOS like that EVER.

It wouldn't surprise me if people just shift from HHN to HOS once Rush of Fear expires. Due to my work schedule, I had to plan my Halloween weekend later than normal to the last weekend of Sept/first day of Oct. HOS was the busiest I had ever seen it at both parks while HHN was the quietest.

Not sure if that's the kind of business strategy Universal wants going forward.

 

[Casper Gutman]

There seems to be an odd tendency here to try and define the “correct” way to attend HHN - specifically, to condemn folks who just want to “hang out” at the event rather then power through ten houses. Most nights, I fall into that “hang out” group, doing a couple houses early and then just soaking in the atmosphere. I’m not sure why that method of enjoying the event needs to be sacrificed - it feels very akin to Disney’s war on guests who prefer relaxed spontaneity in favor of the hard-charging ride collectors.

This and recent years have demonstrated the demand for the event. To a certain extent you can shuffle that demand, alter guest behavior, or even cut out some guests entirely by raising prices and altering ticket types. The guest desire to attend the event remains, however, and you’re shifting the costs of the events overcrowding and failure to evolve entirely onto consumers. At some point the event itself will have to change to accommodate the demand, and that’s a much preferable solution to placing the entire burden on guests.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Yeah I got there at midnight and most houses were like 20 minutes or less.
Oddfellow was 10 min. Darkest Deal 5 min
Yeti had zero line after 1 am. Dragons, no line

Really smooth night.
But te potter area was very packed. Very full

 

[TheCodeMan95]

There seems to be an odd tendency here to try and define the “correct” way to attend HHN - specifically, to condemn folks who just want to “hang out” at the event rather then power through ten houses. Most nights, I fall into that “hang out” group, doing a couple houses early and then just soaking in the atmosphere. I’m not sure why that method of enjoying the event needs to be sacrificed - it feels very akin to Disney’s war on guests who prefer relaxed spontaneity in favor of the hard-charging ride collectors.

This and recent years have demonstrated the demand for the event. To a certain extent you can shuffle that demand, alter guest behavior, or even cut out some guests entirely by raising prices and altering ticket prices. The guest desire to attend the event remains, however, and you’re shifting the costs of the events overcrowding and failure to evolve entirely onto consumers. At some point the event itself will have to change to accommodate the demand, and that’s a much preferable solution to placing the entire burden on guests.

Yeah and quite honestly if the "majority" of people are there to hangout, the wait times for houses wouldn't be insane the way they are.

And in all honesty, like has been mentioned, there's really no incentive for Universal to get rid of RoF. I'm sure they're perfectly fine with September being busy, Brings more people in during arguably the slowest time of year for park days.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

There seems to be an odd tendency here to try and define the “correct” way to attend HHN - specifically, to condemn folks who just want to “hang out” at the event rather then power through ten houses. Most nights, I fall into that “hang out” group, doing a couple houses early and then just soaking in the atmosphere. I’m not sure why that method of enjoying the event needs to be sacrificed - it feels very akin to Disney’s war on guests who prefer relaxed spontaneity in favor of the hard-charging ride collectors.

This and recent years have demonstrated the demand for the event. To a certain extent you can shuffle that demand, alter guest behavior, or even cut out some guests entirely by raising prices and altering ticket types. The guest desire to attend the event remains, however, and you’re shifting the costs of the events overcrowding and failure to evolve entirely onto consumers. At some point the event itself will have to change to accommodate the demand, and that’s a much preferable solution to placing the entire burden on guests.

Agree, the event is very popular, especially just to hang out, but not to the point where they need to actively begin to prevent people from coming. Figure out the capacity issues and congestion in some areas and they should be fine. And depending on what IPs are available to them next year, they might not want to take an extreme approach if next year is an "off year" regarding IPs.

 

[SeventyOne]

WDW has been ridiculously busy the past 2 weeks, so it doesn't seem like the economy is impacting attendance in Orlando as much either.

Meanwhile, HOS Tampa was a total s--- show last night. Took over an hour just to park and that was with doing some F&F-style maneuvers (family). Once inside, the ride and house times were all upwards of 100 minutes. Never seen a night at HOS like that EVER.

These anecdotes just point to the preference wave having already hit (which is horrible news for Universal, very difficult to reverse that perception). Even with A-list IPs the casual fans are skipping the event--probably because they don't perceive value (i.e. # of experiences) for the price. The multi-night guests hid that fact.

There seems to be an odd tendency here to try and define the “correct” way to attend HHN - specifically, to condemn folks who just want to “hang out” at the event rather then power through ten houses.

You can still "hang out," but if you want the event to survive, you'll need to pay more than $10 a night. This is strictly a business analysis.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Agree, the event is very popular, especially just to hang out, but not to the point where they need to actively begin to prevent people from coming. Figure out the capacity issues and congestion in some areas and they should be fine. And depending on what IPs are available to them next year, they might not want to take an extreme approach if next year is an "off year" regarding IPs.

I agree, I think the big ticket changes will depend on what the lineup is for that year. If we have another original-heavy year like 31, they may want to hold onto the current ticket structure.

 

[Brian G.]

You can still "hang out," but if you want the event to survive, you'll need to pay more than $10 a night. This is strictly a business analysis.

Re-posting to agree.

"Unfortunately, HHN is at the point where it can't be a daily hang-out spot. If you want to have that luxury, truly make it a luxury and have them pay for the first-level FFP."

There's a fine line between taking in the event at a slow pace and just loafing around "to be seen".

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Honestly, the streets outside of Vamp mainly due to its theme/idea, aren't congested too much with people just there milling around. The zone ops this year have been very active in telling people to keep moving and to not stop in the dead center of the zones.

I just think the event artificially congests itself by doing things that take away guest space (like the Exorcist queue at the music plaza, that's valuable space that can be used for seating/bar tables for the adjacent food booths), tries to cram way too much into the same area (placing 3 houses, tribute store, and a zone) all in the same corner of the park, or creates unnecessary bottlenecks by placing scare zone props in the dead center of zones (that random crate with Tinkerbell in Shipyard - poor stiltwalkers just stand to the side).

HHN is definitely undervalued in pricing, but they need to change a few things before they start actively trying to dissuade people from attending ala Disney... which figured out it was the wrong approach.

 

[Casper Gutman]

You can still "hang out," but if you want the event to survive, you'll need to pay more than $10 a night. This is strictly a business analysis.

Why? Is the event not tremendously profitable as it is? Is it losing money?

I don’t have any idea who is attending repeatedly “to be seen” - I highly suspect that number is insignificant to the overall crowd. I steadfastly reject the idea that it’s a good idea for theme parks to attempt to dictate how guests experience them. HHN in particular is an event that absolutely thrives on atmosphere - forcing guests to power through 10 houses robs it of much of its charm and will alienate a significant portion of the audience.

Before Universal begins excluding large portions of their audience, it would be great if they tried SOMETHING to expand the capacity of the event. It’s structure has been largely stagnant for years and this year (though I thought it was a great year overall), it ran with fewer shows and smaller scarezones then previous events. Perhaps the tremendously lucrative event could experiment and innovate a bit before slamming the gates on eager guests.

 

[Mad Dog]

Re-posting to agree.

"Unfortunately, HHN is at the point where it can't be a daily hang-out spot. If you want to have that luxury, truly make it a luxury and have them pay for the first-level FFP."

There's a fine line between taking in the event at a slow pace and just loafing around "to be seen".

Yes. As an outside observer at this point in time, I have no chips in the game, though I've probably been to 6 or 7 HHN nights in the past, over three different years. We're really not horror fans, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and ambiance of the event. The too heavy crowds, that were overly rowdy, that we attended in the last one basically turned us off to coming back, even in our very casual mode. I like fun, but I don't care to be pushed and bumped into all night ...we'd do three or four houses with early entry and enjoyed the shows (2 at that time) and scare zones. From what I've read about September HHN 32, no way would I go. And we're people who spend 10 to 14 nights on site at Universal at a clip, so we spend a lot of money.....I believe the last year we went was 2018.

 

[Brian G.]

Why? Is the event not tremendously profitable as it is? Is it losing money?

I don’t have any idea who is attending repeatedly “to be seen” - I highly suspect that number is insignificant to the overall crowd. I steadfastly reject the idea that it’s a good idea for theme parks to attempt to dictate how guests experience them. HHN in particular is an event that absolutely thrives on atmosphere - forcing guests to power through 10 houses robs it of much of its charm and will alienate a significant portion of the audience.

Before Universal begins excluding large portions of their audience, it would be great if they tried SOMETHING to expand the capacity of the event. It’s structure has been largely stagnant for years and this year (though I thought it was a great year overall), it ran with fewer shows and smaller scarezones then previous events. Perhaps the tremendously lucrative event could experiment and innovate a bit before slamming the gates on eager guests.

A few weeks ago you agreed with my post which included cutting ROF and now we're arguing it...

Something smells funny about this...

 

[Allison]

Personally I’ve become less and less of a fan of the hang out crowd at HHN, and I think it’s because it does exactly that—crowds.

 

[Casper Gutman]

A few weeks ago you agreed with my post which included cutting ROF and now we're arguing it...

Something smells funny about this...

I agreed with a post that laid out a wide and fairly imaginative range of ways to increase the event capacity, including (off the top of my head) utilizing the area in front of Blue Man, relocating the San Fran and Central Park scarezones, adding what amounts to a festival center, reconfiguring lines… a lot of great suggestions. I ignored the ROF suggestion because the overwhelming majority of the post was exactly the sort of capacity increasing ideas the event needs - and quite frankly I was happy to find common ground with you.

I think I’ve been very consistent about loathing the idea of theme parks discouraging spontaneity and attempting to dictate guests behavior - it’s why I shifted from vacationing at Disney to vacationing at Universal.

I honestly don’t know what you’re insinuating, but if you want to accuse me of something, feel free to do so.

 

[Jake S]

HHN is definitely undervalued in pricing, but they need to change a few things before they start actively trying to dissuade people from attending ala Disney... which figured out it was the wrong approach.

Personally, I think this approach has worked pretty well at Disneyland where there are more locals in the mix. I think there are parallels to be drawn to what (may be) happening with Horror Nights in Orlando.

 

[Brian G.]

I agreed with a post that laid out a wide and fairly imaginative range of ways to increase the event capacity, including (off the top of my head) utilizing the area in front of Blue Man, relocating the San Fran and Central Park scarezones, adding what amounts to a festival center, reconfiguring lines… a lot of great suggestions. I ignored the ROF suggestion because the overwhelming majority of the post was exactly the sort of capacity increasing ideas the event needs - and quite frankly I was happy to find common ground with you.

I think I’ve been very consistent about loathing the idea of theme parks discouraging spontaneity and attempting to dictate guests behavior - it’s why I shifted from vacationing at Disney to vacationing at Universal.

I honestly don’t know what you’re insinuating, but if you want to accuse me of something, feel free to do so.

Oh no accusing. You clarified your stance - I just wanted to make sure we weren't arguing for the sake of arguing.

I don't think cutting ROF comes close to dictating guest behavior. It just now makes them opt for the FFP instead if they want to go. We all agree that while tickets may be more expensive than in years past, it's still undervalued; and to clarify "to be seen" = lifestylers.

Unfortunately, we've hit a point in the event where it can't be treated like you're going to a public park and loiter around. RBLX did point out that Ops has made an effort to make sure no one stops in zones - but I don't think that's an entirely fair handling either.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Oh no accusing. You clarified your stance - I just wanted to make sure we weren't arguing for the sake of arguing.

I don't think cutting ROF comes close to dictating guest behavior. It just now makes them opt for the FFP instead if they want to go. We all agree that while tickets may be more expensive than in years past, it's still undervalued; and to clarify "to be seen" = lifestylers.

Unfortunately, we've hit a point in the event where it can't be treated like you're going to a public park and loiter around. RBLX did point out that Ops has made an effort to make sure no one stops in zones - but I don't think that's an entirely fair handling either.

Though I’m not a fan of the type, I can’t believe lifestylers make up that much of the crowd - but I’m an old fogey and freely admit I may be out of step on that.

If ROF went away but FFP remained at more or less the same price point, it wouldn’t be the end of the world - but I also don’t know how much it would help things. A more minor consideration - I don’t know how many guests stay at Uni for a week or more, but if you make it significantly more expensive to attend HHN multiple nights, the fact that Studios begins shutting down to day guests around 3:45 becomes much more vexing.

New York and Hollywood can still handle folks soaking in the atmosphere, at least for the first several hours of the event. The Central Park and San Fran zones, though, are a mess about an hour after the gates open and it’s probably time to move them or at least cut back on large set pieces.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Personally, I think this approach has worked pretty well at Disneyland where there are more locals in the mix. I think there are parallels to be drawn to what (may be) happening with Horror Nights in Orlando.

Possibly, but Disneyland has the advantage of forcing you into DCA to disperse some of the demand, HHN, unfortunately, doesn't have that option. Wednesdays-Thursdays have been ridiculously busy, so the lower-priced FFs have worked in spreading that demand away from Fridays/Saturdays, reservations won't really move the needle much.

Personally I’ve become less and less of a fan of the hang out crowd at HHN, and I think it’s because it does exactly that—crowds.

It hasn't been too bad. The fans/influencers tend to congregate around Oddfellow, Vamp, and Nightmare Fuel, not bad at all. Depending on which fits best, a themed bar at the Villain-Con space or F&F queue would be great after the success of the Peacock bar.