Effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Entertainment & Tourism Industry

[Clive]

Forgive me if this is naive or obvious, but since it hasn't been specifically mentioned - should Patrick's position being eliminated from Universal concern us regarding HHN? I am ready for/accepting whatever decision they make, but I was curious.

Not this year.

 

[Grabnar]

Forgive me if this is naive or obvious, but since it hasn't been specifically mentioned - should Patrick's position being eliminated from Universal concern us regarding HHN? I am ready for/accepting whatever decision they make, but I was curious.

Just a guess, but probably not for this year (plenty of other reasons to be concerned about it). I'm inclined to say "probably" for next year, but there's so many moving parts regarding economic recovery and tourism picking back up that I honestly don't know. Given how FUBAR everything is right now I think we may even see some houses reused / very slightly changed for next year's event just to save costs.

 

[MrBlonde]

Just a guess, but probably not for this year (plenty of other reasons to be concerned about it). I'm inclined to say "probably" for next year, but there's so many moving parts regarding economic recovery and tourism picking back up that I honestly don't know. Given how FUBAR everything is right now I think we may even see some houses reused / very slightly changed for next year's event just to save costs.

I'm assuming (which doesn't mean much these days) that there's people within the company to help keep things moving along. If half of the houses are originals, they in theory could be kept up year over year (or rebuilt and save on the design cost/time). If the IPs are allowed to be kept to the next year in a year when they're going to have attendance fall off a cliff year over year, it could be a win/win for those who can't make it this year due to restrictions and for Universal to save $ when they need to.

With Epic Universe being delayed, I wonder if Mike Aiello will be helping out for next year. (sorry to being too much a stretch looking ahead, but just a guess given he's still on the payroll it seems.)

 

[Grabnar]

With Epic Universe being delayed, I wonder if Mike Aiello will be helping out for next year. (sorry to being too much a stretch looking ahead, but just a guess given he's still on the payroll it seems.)

That was one of my first assumptions when they laid off Patrick, tbh. It implies to me that they're looking at at least a year delay in EU work, potentially longer.

 

[Tbad556]

 

[Scott W.]

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm assuming (which doesn't mean much these days) that there's people within the company to help keep things moving along. If half of the houses are originals, they in theory could be kept up year over year (or rebuilt and save on the design cost/time). If the IPs are allowed to be kept to the next year in a year when they're going to have attendance fall off a cliff year over year, it could be a win/win for those who can't make it this year due to restrictions and for Universal to save $ when they need to.

With Epic Universe being delayed, I wonder if Mike Aiello will be helping out for next year. (sorry to being too much a stretch looking ahead, but just a guess given he's still on the payroll it seems.)

My guess is, if attendance is as far in the gutter as I expect it to be this year, most if not all houses and concepts are reused next year, maybe with some "remix" elements to freshen it up for anyone that actually travels in for this year. And if there are really no shows next year, I'd expect them to be added next year.

 

[Mad Dog]

Interesting that the UK is giving people financial incentives to go and eat at restaurants/pubs, while many areas in the US are closing them down due to restaurant's/bars seemingly being the main cause of increased cases.....This might get ugly.

 

[Grabnar]

Blumhouse & Universal Move ‘Halloween Kills’, ‘Forever Purge’ & More To Later Release Dates

Universal is moving a group of Blumhouse titles deeper into the theatrical release calendar including Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends, and The Forever Purge as well as MGM's Candyman.

deadline.com

 

[Scott W.]

Interesting that the UK is giving people financial incentives to go and eat at restaurants/pubs, while many areas in the US are closing them down due to restaurant's/bars seemingly being the main cause of increased cases.....This might get ugly.

There's some tension brewing in Scotland with the English coming up for trips since we seem to be well ahead of them in controlling this. The pubs opened their beer gardens on Monday and it's been a bit of a mess so far. I'm hoping it's not going to hit the fan but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Mad Dog]

There's some tension brewing in Scotland with the English coming up for trips since we seem to be well ahead of them in controlling this. The pubs opened their beer gardens on Monday and it's been a bit of a mess so far. I'm hoping it's not going to hit the fan but I'm not holding my breath.

You need to roll out Robert Bruce and Braveheart to stop them at the border.

 

[Jamesh22]

Interesting that the UK is giving people financial incentives to go and eat at restaurants/pubs, while many areas in the US are closing them down due to restaurant's/bars seemingly being the main cause of increased cases.....This might get ugly.

Yeah but we had a 3 month lockdown first, something the US seems to have failed to do. (Still a concern though - agreed)

There's some tension brewing in Scotland with the English coming up for trips since we seem to be well ahead of them in controlling this. The pubs opened their beer gardens on Monday and it's been a bit of a mess so far. I'm hoping it's not going to hit the fan but I'm not holding my breath.

You can take our lands but you can never take our freedom - to come up there and make you sick from Covid

Sturgeon has done a much better job than Boris, makes me want to move (as going back to Cali doesn't feel too safe right now either)

 

[Legacy]

Forgive me if this is naive or obvious, but since it hasn't been specifically mentioned - should Patrick's position being eliminated from Universal concern us regarding HHN? I am ready for/accepting whatever decision they make, but I was curious.

The core HHN team was Charles, Patrick, and Blake. Charles was identified as the “creative lead” for the event’s development after Mike left, and both he and Patrick focused on house development. Blake focuses on street development. Jason, the creative lead and ”co-head” of A&D, has also assisted with house development in the past, and a couple of the assistant show directors have as well.

So, you have:

Department head with house development experience
Event lead who develops houses
Street developer
House developer

Who gets laid off?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I just want to remind people that Patrick is, ya know, a real person with a life and responsibilities and we should not reduce him down to "what will happen to HHN". Keep that in mind.

That said, and I recognize this is an unpopular thing to say around here, dominoes are falling, and we ignore them at our peril.

HHN is a bunch of outdoor queues to walk through an indoor queue. Disney is reopening this week with a bunch of indoor queues. So what exactly are we ignoring? Stating a haunt convention is canceled and so HHN could be is the same as saying a random convention at OCCC has any impact. Sure these things show a trend in the convention and tourism industry but it's WAY more likely that things like closing shows, closing indoor attractions, closing restaurants, and more would impact HHN than a convention.

 

[Frank Drackman]

There's some tension brewing in Scotland with the English coming up for trips since we seem to be well ahead of them in controlling this. The pubs opened their beer gardens on Monday and it's been a bit of a mess so far. I'm hoping it's not going to hit the fan but I'm not holding my breath.

When we were in south east FL and the beaches opened in the SW and the county north of Palm Beach county, well, folks from the three 'shut down more as problem counties...or 4 w/ Monroe, so the folks that were tied of being home w/ the kids for the summer...who had their cruises, their disney trips, their whatever...they loaded up the cars and drove to where FL was open...many of those places closed...FL then started griping at GA when their politicians from southern GA caught the thing, they went to their FL winter homes to duck and cover I mean shelter in place.

 

[Tbad556]

HHN is a bunch of outdoor queues to walk through an indoor queue. Disney is reopening this week with a bunch of indoor queues. So what exactly are we ignoring? Stating a haunt convention is canceled and so HHN could be is the same as saying a random convention at OCCC has any impact. Sure these things show a trend in the convention and tourism industry but it's WAY more likely that things like closing shows, closing indoor attractions, closing restaurants, and more would impact HHN than a convention.

It's about as unessential as it gets right now though. How bad do things need to get before it's justifiable to be upset that the theme parks are operating? At this rate, it'll easily be 20k+ daily cases by the time HHN rolls around. Disney's & Universal's reopenings are just as much of an issue. Back when things were first beginning and far lower in cases, it was "stay inside unless absolutely needed". Now it's just a free-for-all because roller coasters are essential? I just don't get it. It doesn't matter that it's not the primary cause of cases, it's still a problem and the stuff I've heard about behind the scenes operations at Uni drives me crazy with how irresponsible it is. We're essentially leading the world in cases and the lax nature of things here is a joke:

 

[Scott W.]

It's about as unessential as it gets right now though. How bad do things need to get before it's justifiable to be upset that the theme parks are operating? At this rate, it'll easily be 20k+ daily cases by the time HHN rolls around. Disney's & Universal's reopenings are just as much of an issue. Back when things were first beginning and far lower in cases, it was "stay inside unless absolutely needed". Now it's just a free-for-all because roller coasters are essential? I just don't get it. It doesn't matter that it's not the primary cause of cases, it's still a problem and the stuff I've heard about behind the scenes operations at Uni drives me crazy with how irresponsible it is. We're essentially leading the world in cases and the lax nature of things here is a joke:

The general consensus I get from people visiting the parks is that they feel safer there than any where else in Florida.

Makes me think of this. Universal being the pool.

 

[Clive]

It's about as unessential as it gets right now though. How bad do things need to get before it's justifiable to be upset that the theme parks are operating? At this rate, it'll easily be 20k+ daily cases by the time HHN rolls around. Disney's & Universal's reopenings are just as much of an issue. Back when things were first beginning and far lower in cases, it was "stay inside unless absolutely needed". Now it's just a free-for-all because roller coasters are essential? I just don't get it. It doesn't matter that it's not the primary cause of cases, it's still a problem and the stuff I've heard about behind the scenes operations at Uni drives me crazy with how irresponsible it is. We're essentially leading the world in cases and the lax nature of things here is a joke:

I think people are just accepting this is going to happen because it is clear there is no real plan in place, and, without one, these places cannot afford to stay closed until a vaccine/strong antiviral arrives.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I think people are just accepting this is going to happen because it is clear there is no real plan in place, and, without one, these places cannot afford to stay closed until a vaccine/strong antiviral arrives.

This.

Plus all my statements are not "this is essential" I'm talking about pure cause and effect. Haunt convention is canceled does not mean HHN will be.

 

[Tbad556]

I think people are just accepting this is going to happen because it is clear there is no real plan in place, and, without one, these places cannot afford to stay closed until a vaccine/strong antiviral arrives.

So, essentially just throw our hands in the air and return to life as usual?