Halloween Horror Nights 2020 Old Speculation Thread

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Wristbands will probably be long gone. I can see the new wristband being a color coded scan entry or something on a phone (once you've scanned your ticket for entry, maybe a "virtual wristband" pops up on the Universal app).
Imagine, "hold your phones up" instead of "holds your wrists up."

I wonder if they'll just ditch early entry entirely, since although something on the app sounds good in theory, they'd need to provide an alternative for those without phones, which is difficult without something physical they have to hand out.

 

[DTH]

Depending on capacity, I can't see them getting rid of Early Entry. UNLESS they're gonna sanitize stuff every hour or something.
As for phones, Disneyland doesn't seem to care for Rise of the Resistance. You can get in the physical ticket line, but those run out fast. Universal could do something similar but with the understand that uh... there are risks.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Depending on capacity, I can't see them getting rid of Early Entry. UNLESS they're gonna sanitize stuff every hour or something.
As for phones, Disneyland doesn't seem to care for Rise of the Resistance. You can get in the physical ticket line, but those run out fast. Universal could do something similar but with the understand that uh... there are risks.

True, I know Orlando also has kiosks for their virtual queues, and Hollywood is gonna have one for SLoP, so It's possible they might have a check in station that gives you a ticket or something without cast members needing to handle it, being sanitized between uses, kinda like a self check out station at a grocery store.
The thing with early entry I wonder about is the awful bottlenecking on the upper lot that doesnt really let up till Kung Fu Panda, maybe they'll start kicking guests out earlier so they can widen the entry, or start providing check in times for early entry so its not everyone coming in at once.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

In a way, I'm half tempted to wonder just how much the capacity of the event will be shrink-ed. Especially for Hollywood, and how size isn't a benefactor for them when it comes to it.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

In a way, I'm half tempted to wonder just how much the capacity of the event will be shrink-ed. Especially for Hollywood, and how size isn't a benefactor for them when it comes to it.

I'm gonna guess 50% depending on how bad things get, maybe less though since 50% is still a moderately busy night in terms of actually getting all the mazes done, people sometimes underestimate how big HHN's capacity really is.

 

[deadbydawn]

I'm gonna guess 50% depending on how bad things get, maybe less though since 50% is still a moderately busy night in terms of actually getting all the mazes done, people sometimes underestimate how big HHN's capacity really is.

Do we have an idea of what a normal night is number wise?

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Do we have an idea of what a normal night is number wise?

It varies year to year but if i had to guess from last year probably like 12k to 15k just from how the lines usually were on average, though i may not be the best to gauge

 

[DTH]

I remember one night I went after Halloween and a security guard said it was maybe 4K people that night. And that night had no lines all night.
I think realistically, that's how low it'll have to be, given how all the new measures will take extra time.
As to how Universal will recoup money from such low attendance, best bet would be maybe to close the most costly rides, charge a little extra (that is if we're getting the same amount of mazes), increase alcohol prices, absolutely no tram usage, way MORE nights -- maybe almost every night OR way more weekends from first week Sept to mid-Nov, extended hours -- imagine if they could get two ticket groups worth of people in the same day if they cycle people in and out in just a few hours which is unlikely but could work under the best operational circumstances (5 PM - 9 PM; 10 PM - 2 AM) , and then last but not least and the most likely result of all this, reservation only with absolutely no "just showing up to buy tickets,"

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

I remember one night I went after Halloween and a security guard said it was maybe 4K people that night. And that night had no lines all night.
I think realistically, that's how low it'll have to be, given how all the new measures will take extra time.
As to how Universal will recoup money from such low attendance, best bet would be maybe to close the most costly rides, charge a little extra (that is if we're getting the same amount of mazes), increase alcohol prices, absolutely no tram usage, way MORE nights -- maybe almost every night OR way more weekends from first week Sept to mid-Nov, extended hours -- imagine if they could get two ticket groups worth of people in the same day if they cycle people in and out in just a few hours which is unlikely but could work under the best operational circumstances (5 PM - 9 PM; 10 PM - 2 AM) , and then last but not least and the most likely result of all this, reservation only with absolutely no "just showing up to buy tickets,"

If I had to bet, in an attempt to recoop losses theyll probably close a few more rides than normal, maybe just leaving Mummy and JW, and if the rumors of us seeing scaled back or eliminated scare zones are true that could lower spending, since im sure it costs a lot to staff zones every night. I'm also a bit skeptical of us keeping the same maze count, but I don't really know what they'd lower it to, I personally expect 8 mazes at most 6 mazes lowest (not counting walking dead if it ends up being open)

 

[Wishmaster]

I wonder if they'll just ditch early entry entirely, since although something on the app sounds good in theory, they'd need to provide an alternative for those without phones, which is difficult without something physical they have to hand out.

They better keep early entry or else all standard ticket buyers will be pissed! That’s the only way to get through the night. One of my biggest issues with Hollywood last year was they only made Early Entry an hour last year. It should stay at two hours that way you can hit up every maze on the lower lot before everybody enters.
The biggest issue was doubling the capacity. I went on a Sunday and couldn’t get through all the mazes because of that. The worst section was where US was located in addition to Pandora’s Box location. I am happy about limited capacity in that regard.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

They better keep early entry or else all standard ticket buyers will be pissed! That’s the only way to get through the night. One of my biggest issues with Hollywood last year was they only made Early Entry an hour last year. It should stay at two hours that way you can hit up every maze on the lower lot before everybody enters.
The biggest issue was doubling the capacity. I went on a Sunday and couldn’t get through all the mazes because of that. The worst section was where US was located in addition to Pandora’s Box location. I am happy about limited capacity in that regard.

I don't think they actually doubled capacity, i think it was just more crowded then usual since 2017 and 2018 were calm by comparison most nights, bumping the maze count up made it near impossible to get everything done in one night too. I feel like even if we were cut down 3 or so mazes halfing the capacity would make it a lot easier to cut early entry and still be able to get everything done.

 

[Wishmaster]

I don't think they actually doubled capacity, i think it was just more crowded then usual since 2017 and 2018 were calm by comparison most nights, bumping the maze count up made it near impossible to get everything done in one night too. I feel like even if we were cut down 3 or so mazes halfing the capacity would make it a lot easier to cut early entry and still be able to get everything done.

See the crazy thing is even with 2017/2018, I was able to use EE to get through all of the mazes and leave by midnight. I really do believe the combination of more capacity plus another maze made it really difficult.
I’m expecting this year to be a max 8 mazes excluding TWD. Limited capacity will really help this year.

 

[highdefrex]

If I had to bet, in an attempt to recoop losses theyll probably close a few more rides than normal, maybe just leaving Mummy and JW, and if the rumors of us seeing scaled back or eliminated scare zones are true that could lower spending, since im sure it costs a lot to staff zones every night. I'm also a bit skeptical of us keeping the same maze count, but I don't really know what they'd lower it to, I personally expect 8 mazes at most 6 mazes lowest (not counting walking dead if it ends up being open)

I wonder, too, if - as part of recouping - they’ll really be pushing food and drink sales during the event more than ever before. If they set up a butterbeer cart outside WW, for instance, that’d undoubtedly generate a lot more sales from people who wouldn’t otherwise drop the money on, say, overpriced water bottles or alcohol at the event. Even if not, I’d imagine we’d see more food/drink stands made visible than usual.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

I wonder, too, if - as part of recouping - they’ll really be pushing food and drink sales during the event more than ever before. If they set up a butterbeer cart outside WW, for instance, that’d undoubtedly generate a lot more sales from people who wouldn’t otherwise drop the money on, say, overpriced water bottles or alcohol at the event. Even if not, I’d imagine we’d see more food/drink stands made visible than usual.

very well could be, maybe even more alcohol than usual since even though its 12 bucks for one drink, since theres nowhere cheaper in citywalk theres always a massive line for alcohol even on slow nights. The only issue with that I can think of is it would be incredibly hard to control distancing in that line, and it would be hard to convince semi intoxicated people to maintain distancing at all. Maybe they'll just bump up the selection of gimicky food items and squeeze extra revenue out of vloggers.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Are the outside Mini mazes pretty cheap to run? If they are would be cool if they just made like 4 of those in the lower lot and then 3 main mazes and the walking dead maze.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Are the outside Mini mazes pretty cheap to run? If they are would be cool if they just made like 4 of those in the lower lot and then 3 main mazes and the walking dead maze.

if I had to guess they cost around the same as a regular scarezone, if anything the standard maze format is probably better this year because at least the actors being in one position allows for some amount of distance, which isnt easy in a zone or gauntlet

 

[KlownzNskullZ]

Someone posted earlier about how many guests would be in the park, I normal summer day for universal is usually like 40k guests, that’s like when lines for FJ were 3+ hours. I think horror nights isn’t 40K but definitely around the 20k to 30k on crazy weekends (especially now that’s it’s super popular compared to 10 years ago) I would see it being busy at 10-15k guests but not packed like it usually is. This event is still 3 months away. Hopefully they will have figured out a cool way to social distance inside the mazes. They are definitely going forward with it and maybe they would even extend the HHN run? Would be a good idea to spread the crowds out.

 

[zto8411]

I think horror nights isn’t 40K but definitely around the 20k to 30k on crazy weekends (especially now that’s it’s super popular compared to 10 years ago) I would see it being busy at 10-15k guests but not packed like it usually is.

yes 20K I think would be the average. When I was a scare actor last year they would always give us a estimate at start of shift.

 

[ChaseTuff]

Hollywood V3...

 

[Wishmaster]

Hollywood V3...

7 mazes entirely?! F*** man. I wanted at least 1-2 more mazes added