Reaaaally don't even want to dip my toe into this one, but here we go. I think this is a multi-faceted issue and one that fans don't have the full insight to properly discuss tbh.
1) For one, I think this is an issue that goes beyond HHN Orlando and beyond theme parks as a whole. We can discuss how this same capacity issue is starting to arise in HHN Hollywood, but we can take it one step further and look at tourism as a whole.
Wendover Productions on YouTube put out a phenomenal and in-depth video several months ago (
here) about the crowding issue national parks around the country have been seeing in recent years and how it's increasingly hard to find a real solution to the whole thing. The same discussion is actively being had in regards to the concert industry right now. It's increasingly hard to get tickets before they sell out and there's no easy fix unfortunately.
It was discussed during COVID that it was likely that we'd see a travel/entertainment boom once people could start participating in society again and we've reached that stage.
---
2) It's easy for fans on a theme park board to simply go "management bad because lines bad", but it's never that simple and it's hard to fully dive into the issue when the actual logistics behind operations year-to-year are known by very few on here.
The "exaggerated wait times" comment that keeps cycling around is one of those key examples. It's hard to seriously discuss the complexity of that topic when in the past week alone, several users have insisted that it's a conspiracy done intentionally to sell more express passes. It's also hard when it's pointed out as something that's "worse than usual" this year when I've had multiple house management members tell me that higher-ups are pushing them much, much harder than in past years to ensure that those wait times are as accurate as possible.
We also have had endless speculation on adding a show to this venue or that venue with absolute no knowledge on how doable those actually are. There were concerns brought up in the past about the logistics of making use of the Bourne building and Horror Make Up is actively used for a multitude of things from Media Events to RIP Tours and more. It's never as simple as "more, more, more".
We also delve into "sell outs" as if it's an exact science when the unfortunate truth is that there are a lot of predictions at play due to things such as multi-night passes, comps, TM tickets, etc. We judge the event's capacity based on these sold out nights and then end up discussing the fact that it feels less busy than non-sell outs half of the time. We get mad at the overflow of capacity, but then simultaneously judge the event when it sells out, but feels manageable. In a world where capacity is fixed, we likely would see more sell outs to ease the congestion of things inside the park.
---
3) The event is in a rough spot this year for a multitude of reasons. Kidzone construction messed with a sizeable chunk of regular event operations, the lagoon show was effectively destroyed, TLOU/ST combo is an
insane crowd draw, etc. A lot of things that will be short term issues fortunately.
---
4) Multi-night passes are absolutely a factor that has to change and to an extent, already has with the massive price increases. There are simply too many bodies in the park at this point and lines are going to have to start being drawn unfortunately.
---
5) Operationally, there are certainly a few simple fixes that can be made such as the addition of umbrellas in certain key locations, not forcing people to "fill in all the gaps" in S&S lines when said queues have already closed to any additional guests, etc.
The queue videos are an every year issue at this point for whatever reason where they don't start being added in some spots until nearly halfway through the event which is fairly baffling. The projector stand near DD didn't go up until like last weekend from what I noticed.
Food service would benefit greatly from more steps in the Minion Cafe esque direction in terms of operations.
---
Conclusion: I don't have the answers, but I also think this discussion brings
a lot of snap judgements and armchair engineering. Most of us don't know the inner-workings of the management teams, operational teams, or even the regular ole' house teams.
I'll end by saying it's funny that this discussion happens every single year and has for over 15 years now. These old comments all begged for more event nights (23 nights then, 48 now), more houses (8 then, 10 now), more hours (12 am non-peak/1 am peak to 2 am every single night now), etc. There were oddly familiar complaints such as "Universal has lost sight of what HHN is all about, and now all about $$$$" and "Gate opening is not good enough anymore, you should have sprung for the 10 dollar ticket to get into the "Stay and Scream" area."
Not to say that the event isn't facing a capacity issue, but it is to say that these issues aren't unique to current management and it's not as simple as "more, more, more". I'll probably avoid much more in this discussion, but those are my two cents.
