Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - News & Info | Page 42 | Inside Universal Forums

Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - News & Info

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My wife and I were there Sunday night. Last year was my only other year going to HHN and the crowd then compared to Sunday night was definitely different. This year was packed. I still had a good time, but the wait times and general crowd levels everywhere were much more noticeable. We were initially going to be attending HHN at the end of September, so this trip was a make-up trip from the hurricane.

Yeah the only difference I see from last year is the parking change ( taking away 10 pm parking)
I think uni is gonna have to figure out what to do with FFP and parking .

What day of the week did u go last year
 
Is it an anomaly though? They could've held HHN tonight if they had enough cast to run the event and probably would've been just as much if not more packed.

I went yesterday expecting it to be mildly busy Monday, but nothing crazy. Boy was I wrong. And it's not even like the houses were all that good yesterday. Sooooo many holes, but the average guest didn't seem to care. I worry the GSATs from yesterday will have been great and someone upstairs is gonna see that and then ask why they normally cast so many people if guests are satisfied at this level, and tbh, yesterday was probably their most profitable day of the run.

Being intentionally vague here, the anomaly is in what caused that night in particular to be so busy. It was a weird one, weird enough to where I can't imagine anyone in the top floor is going to make any decisions based off of it.
 
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Surprised they didn't try to open Simpsons these past few weekends. Even MIB/Transformers had decent waits some recent nights.

Yeah That's a good point. It might have helped a little bit. And without the usual chainsaws in that area, the ride would have helped to brighten that area.
( Well at least I don't remember the chainsaws being here )
 
Yeah That's a good point. It might have helped a little bit. And without the usual chainsaws in that area, the ride would have helped to brighten that area.
( Well at least I don't remember the chainsaws being here )
I saw chainsaws one night two weekends ago.
 
For being 1 am it's kinda packed.... Streets were pretty full. More than usual. My beloved midnight hours too crowded lol. Some lines kinda long for this hour
Really not what I'm used to seeing.
 
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I can definitely say my experience with express both times this year has been fine. The Weeknd had a 120 min wait and we waited at most like 5 min? (Not counting the walk there of course).

The problem is inconsistency -- I had a similar experience at Bugs, posted 45 I think, regular line wrapped around MiB, but it was a walk-on for me. (TBH, these old legs could've used a rest after that 10-miute power walk.) Later on, Pier posted at 50, four Express swichbacks fully filled after the scan. Why was one virtually no line, the other the full 25 minutes?

Busiest night of the event so far this year from what I’ve been told. Insane.

Tardy to the party but still trying to process this after the tiny Tuesday night crowd a week earlier. Were TM friends & family passes suddenly honored? Was there a UCF Night promotion or something similar? Even with the big crowds this year, this seems atypical.

This is the first year where I truly feel like they need to finally take the next step to an 11th house. Ideally a show in animal actors would be nice, too.

I'd take a show (of a decent length) over a house. Weak houses tend to underperform, and as was mentioned above, shows with a cult following do amazing repeat business.
 
I'd take a show (of a decent length) over a house. Weak houses tend to underperform, and as was mentioned above, shows with a cult following do amazing repeat business.
Move Nightmare Fuel to Animal Actors and do a Beetlejuice show or something in Fear Factor. Something to that effect would be my preferred way to go about it. It gives you both a magic based/special skills act and a more comedic/satirical act, along with a show on the water as well to pull crowds off of the walkways.

Tardy to the party but still trying to process this after the tiny Tuesday night crowd a week earlier. Were TM friends & family passes suddenly honored? Was there a UCF Night promotion or something similar? Even with the big crowds this year, this seems atypical.
This was the last night eligible for TM's to go to the event and also a night that comp tickets were honored. It also doesn't help that the event was understaffed in all departments.
 
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Move Nightmare Fuel to Animal Actors and do a Beetlejuice show or something in Fear Factor. Something to that effect would be my preferred way to go about it. It gives you both a magic based/special skills act and a more comedic/satirical act, along with a show on the water as well to pull crowds off of the walkways.


This was the last night eligible for TM's to go to the event and also a night that comp tickets were honored. It also doesn't help that the event was understaffed in all departments.
I’m wary of using the AA stage - it’s located in a crowded area, is already used during the event by stay and scream, and I question whether the stage is suitable. I also think Nightmare Fuel’s novelty and usefulness to the event may have worn off.

I’d run a more adult, gorier, still-improv-heavy version of the Make Up Show with some unique-to-the-event segments. I’d also put a Beetlejuice show in the Blue Man theater and try to leave room for improv in that show as well - let Beetle and some of the other characters bounce off the audience. Fear Factor can hold the requisite “sexy people dancing” show, whatever that’s called.

Street performances would be nice theoretically but would likely cause terrible crowding. I’d love to find a way to make Diagon a bigger draw during the event, so some HP-themed street performances back there might work, if they’re permitted.

After EU opens and backstage facilities shift to the new campus, I’d love to see Uni significantly expand the Studios - some new attractions, of course, but also some new spaces (an extended NY? An entire new city-land behind NY and SF?) that can be used to spread out the growing crowd.
 
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Hellblock horror even proves this. That line never gets too crazy,

Hellblock Horror moved up in my list because the line was always so short I ended up doing it every single visit. Call it Stockholm Syndrome or an acquired taste but it somehow moved from a low to mid/upper ranking

Questions for you professionals out there - the Universal Monsters house casts have been outstanding every year. Is that blind luck or is HHN singlehandedly hard-carrying the Classic Monsters universe on purpose by putting in experienced/intense actors.
 
Hellblock Horror moved up in my list because the line was always so short I ended up doing it every single visit. Call it Stockholm Syndrome or an acquired taste but it somehow moved from a low to mid/upper ranking

Questions for you professionals out there - the Universal Monsters house casts have been outstanding every year. Is that blind luck or is HHN singlehandedly hard-carrying the Classic Monsters universe on purpose by putting in experienced/intense actors.

The energy in hellblock (for me) is stronger than Pier or blumhouse or bugs,
I'm just taking about cast energy. I really always have a great time. The actors are pretty great. I also love the shirt line lol.