Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - News & Info

[Legacy]

Yeah, are we forgetting the number of holes in the houses right now?

Still relatively new to HHN, what do we mean by holes?

I don’t even want to think about casting an 11th house. Way too many variables in that. However, even that isn’t as simple as finding “40 scareactors.” It’s hiring those scareactors, plus an Assistant Stage Manager, a house tech, wardrobe coordinator, makeup artist, security, PLUS figuring out what daytime departments any Ops team members needed to run the house (and the queue) will get pulled from.

Because that’s complicated calculus. The Ops team is pulled from daytime operations. What would be the impact on daytime operations if they start cutting into the bone of their work force?

The Army has an adage - “it takes 10 soldiers to support a single infantry soldier.” HHN is similar.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Casting holes I think. Meaning spots that should be populated by a character are not.

FWIW, been attending every night so far, and as far I've seen casting holes have been much better this year than last year (which was bad).

 

[lurkylurkerton22]

I really liked 25’s music. Someone had posted a playlist on YouTube a few years ago, not complete, but close. I never could find the song I was looking for, which actually wasn’t really a song, but more of a sample of talking? It was reminiscent of the song from frankenhooker- the scene where the prostitutes smoke crack and explode. I explicitly remember I thought I heard-play Russian roulette?

 

[qwerty]

I've seen alot of people complaining about the crowds this year, here and on reddit...and I'm genuinely wondering if it's really that bad compared to previous years? Considering I haven't seen a sold out night yet? Last year I went to HHN on 2 sold out nights, a Friday and Saturday, and we still did 7 houses on Friday and 6 on Saturday (early October, No express, early hotel entry), which I'm pretty satisfied with. Is there something different about this year?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I've seen alot of people complaining about the crowds this year, here and on reddit...and I'm genuinely wondering if it's really that bad compared to previous years? Considering I haven't seen a sold out night yet? Last year I went to HHN on 2 sold out nights, a Friday and Saturday, and we still did 7 houses on Friday and 6 on Saturday (early October, No express, early hotel entry), which I'm pretty satisfied with. Is there something different about this year?

I went on a few sold out nights last year, and this year it’s felt about the same several nights.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I've seen alot of people complaining about the crowds this year, here and on reddit...and I'm genuinely wondering if it's really that bad compared to previous years? Considering I haven't seen a sold out night yet? Last year I went to HHN on 2 sold out nights, a Friday and Saturday, and we still did 7 houses on Friday and 6 on Saturday (early October, No express, early hotel entry), which I'm pretty satisfied with. Is there something different about this year?

I think the difference is that these crowds are happening in SEPT. IMHO, I have not seen crowds like these this early into the event. I have been able to see a lot (w/o Express) -- the ways things feel different to me -- well MiB had a 45 minute wait, HRRR had a 90 minute wait, Diagon Alley was mobbed, it was hard to walk around -- there was this pizza truck on one side of the street with the line going all the way across the street to Jimmy Fallon leaving no way around right near the entrance to Stranger Things.

I also think folks are using the APP and are chasing wait times -- I would see a house show 40 minutes and the very next update would be 70 minutes, if you are not right there when a low time hits, it seems to almost double in time by the time you get there.

 

[MrRoamer]

If you want to get a sense if HHN’s infrastructure can support more houses, don’t look at locations—look at lines. Specifically, look at lines for food and restrooms.

Like I said, an eleventh house (or adding rides) only increases capacity. If we look at generally (not accurate but conceptual), a new house increases capacity somewhere between 3-5,000 people. So… do they have enough toilets for that? Can they make/vend enough food and drinks for that increase? Can the gates support an extra 800 people showing up for opening?

Based on the stories from the last couple of years, I don’t think it can.

There are operational issues, sure (always has been), but there are also very real, physical limitations to what the park can do. I’ve been a proponent for creating a courtyard carnival behind the soundstages. But that requires port-a-Johns. Because adding a house isn’t just “10+1=11”. It’s “10+12=11.”

Great clarity and detail here thanks! I was focused only on the House lines themselves since they aren't selling out and the streets haven't been too crowded.

I totally agree that if they are adding capacity at a park level there is no way they have what they need to support it.

 

[Jake S]

I've seen alot of people complaining about the crowds this year, here and on reddit...and I'm genuinely wondering if it's really that bad compared to previous years? Considering I haven't seen a sold out night yet? Last year I went to HHN on 2 sold out nights, a Friday and Saturday, and we still did 7 houses on Friday and 6 on Saturday (early October, No express, early hotel entry), which I'm pretty satisfied with. Is there something different about this year?

this is by no means perfect methodology, but according to thrill-data the average wait this year is 54 minutes. last year it was 49 — and we haven't hit October yet. the difference is even more pronounced in hollywood.

 

[Heisenberg]

I don’t think they are limiting attendance by declaring the night sold out like the last two years.

Might be:
-assuming Frequent Fear price increase would dissuade locals
-filling staffing shortages in food locations
-offsetting lower 2023 attendance and revenue for the resort

 

[DannyPowers]

-assuming Frequent Fear price increase would dissuade locals

That didn't work and IMHO that's where a lot of the complaints are coming from.
I do think this year is proving that some adjustments need to be done with FFPs.

I feel like they need to take a serious look at the FFP w/Express. It's way too good of a deal for locals, and not quite good enough of a deal for out of towners.

Plus, let's be honest, that's where most of the issues with Express seem to be stemming from this year. When a giant chunk of your attendance is all getting in the Express line, the stand-by line is going to move a lot quicker.

 

[Speed]

Darkest Deal/Oddfellow exit got a little modified by pushing the gate back diagonally where the 2 merge, don’t see it helping but it’ll merge people easier

Edit; I know it won’t matter past tonight, but when 3 houses are down the entire night it’s just a slap in the face to inflate the others as much as some of these are right now.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Darkest Deal/Oddfellow exit got a little modified by pushing the gate back diagonally where the 2 merge, don’t see it helping but it’ll merge people easier

Edit; I know it won’t matter past tonight, but when 3 houses are down the entire night it’s just a slap in the face to inflate the others as much as some of these are right now.

Was there tonight, exponentially better than it was before.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

If you want to get a sense if HHN’s infrastructure can support more houses, don’t look at locations—look at lines. Specifically, look at lines for food and restrooms.

Like I said, an eleventh house (or adding rides) only increases capacity. If we look at generally (not accurate but conceptual), a new house increases capacity somewhere between 3-5,000 people. So… do they have enough toilets for that? Can they make/vend enough food and drinks for that increase? Can the gates support an extra 800 people showing up for opening?

Based on the stories from the last couple of years, I don’t think it can.

There are operational issues, sure (always has been), but there are also very real, physical limitations to what the park can do. I’ve been a proponent for creating a courtyard carnival behind the soundstages. But that requires port-a-Johns. Because adding a house isn’t just “10+1=11”. It’s “10+12=11.”

This is conceptually correct only based on an assumption that Universal is required to increase their capacity every time they add something (like a reverse fire code). There’s a middle ground along the lines of adding more attractions while keeping capacity the same and offsetting the CAPEX/OPEX of that new attraction not with higher guest count, but with more expensive tickets.

 

[kingcooger]

I feel like they need to take a serious look at the FFP w/Express. It's way too good of a deal for locals, and not quite good enough of a deal for out of towners.

This has been one of my biggest things too. Hollywood doesn’t offer it with their passes, and most other haunts that have multi night tickets don’t either.

Plus, making it a single night add on would make it better for out of towners who decide to purchase Express as now you have less FFP w/ Express people clogging the lines.

When everyone has Express, no one does.

 

[Tbad556]

We've got our first official sell out of the season after last night's disaster lol.

 

[Clive]

We've got our first official sell out of the season after last night's disaster lol.

Yeah I get the Twitter crowd wants to act sanctimonious about folks demanding refunds, but four of the event’s ten houses - including one of its main headliners - were down for a majority of the night. Several queues were dumped with no guest recovery. It wasn’t good.

 

[DannyPowers]

I wonder if they're taking a hard look at guest feedback beyond last night, and we might be seeing more "sell outs" in the next month and a half.

 

[Captain Tragedy]

Imo, remove RoF pass completely and increase prices other passes by at least 50%. The infrastructure/staffing just isn’t there for more houses or going to a 2 park event. You need to start pricing more people out if your caps on attendance are too high.

 

[Tbad556]

Yeah I get the Twitter crowd wants to act sanctimonious about folks demanding refunds, but four of the event’s ten houses - including one of its main headliners - were down for a majority of the night. Several queues were dumped with no guest recovery. It wasn’t good.

Glad I'm no longer around those crowds because that's ridiculous. Though, I'm skimming the Discord now and it appears rain checks for tonight were offered at guest services which would definitely factor into the sell out tonight if true.

 

[Captain Tragedy]

Yeah I get the Twitter crowd wants to act sanctimonious about folks demanding refunds, but four of the event’s ten houses - including one of its main headliners - were down for a majority of the night. Several queues were dumped with no guest recovery. It wasn’t good.

Was here last night. We dipped at 10. Got darkest deal, oddfellow, exorcist and dueling dragons before rain became too much. Didn’t complain or anything because that was just a crazy Orlando rainstorm Universal has no control over. Sucks if that was a persons only night. We’re here thru Monday tho so we weren’t too tilted.

I wonder if they're taking a hard look at guest feedback beyond last night, and we might be seeing more "sell outs" in the next month and a half.

I hope so. They need to cap attendance lower if they won’t drastically increase ticket prices.