So I went to the event yesterday. This is my 13th year going to the event; at this point, it's part of my annual ritual, one I look forward to every year. This year, however, was also my first year finally being able to go to the event in Orlando, which I thought was fantastic, and I talked about it in the Orlando thread
here if anyone is interested on my thoughts!
Anyway, having been gone opening weekend for our event to be at Orlando's, and being generally busy last weekend, this was my weekend to finally go. In years past, we've always tried to go Thursdays or Sundays to avoid the Friday/Saturday crowds, which has always worked, and utilizing Early Entry just became second nature, where the routine worked almost flawlessly (IE starting at the lower lot/backlot mazes first, etc.) down to a science. It was never a problem until last year, which I talked about in the 2021 thread
here; that night turned out to be my least favorite night going to the event. Ever. And a
lot of it was due to the Express issue we all know well now.
Got into the park around 3, hung out for a bit, then went and were literally almost the first people in line for The Weeknd at around 4:20ish. Thought, "Sweet, we're gonna be able to blow through this no problem." Nope. By the time we were in the soundstage, so close I could reach and touch the facade, the Express line was full and out of the soundstage as well, and once the maze opened shortly after 6:00... They just let the Express people go. And go. And go. Someone even asked the line operator why we weren't being allowed in and the guy said, straight up, "You're in for a long wait," which is just... appalling. It wasn't until someone in Express came through with a drink they hadn't finished, arguing with the line op, that we were even allowed to go in just because of the unexpected holdup, otherwise we could've been waiting who knows how long.
After that, we hopped over to Klowns for what ended up being a 20-25ish minute wait (mainly because The Weeknd was still being piled up on) and then we hit up Monsters. By the time we were done, it was already pushing 7:30 (again, which is wild, because you used to be able to do a bunch of mazes before the event even "started.") We went upstairs and Terror Tram had a 10 minute wait and Scarecrow had a 45 minute wait, so we made a judgment call to do Scarecrow knowing how bad it's been getting. By the time we got there, it had jumped to 55 minutes, but overall the wait ended up being just under 40. (Awesome maze, though!)
From there, it was just downhill, however. Got out, Halloween was at 70 minutes (and we skipped it having done it in Orlando and wanting to do stuff like La Llorona or the Tram first). But by the time we had passed through Wizarding World, Terror Tram was at 80-90 minutes, La Llorona was at 75, Blumhouse was at 65, and so on, with stuff like The Weeknd at a flat 120 minutes. We were already getting disheartened, not wanting to wait after being spoiled by Orlando never having these issues on any of the five nights we went, so we ate real quick to recover some energy before committing to a lengthy stand, but by the time we were done, La Llorona was at 95 minutes, Halloween had hit 120, etc. The shortest wait was the Hotel at 55, so we went and did it, thought it was okay but nothing special, and by the time we're done, it's 10:00/10:15.
La Llorona at that point was 115 minutes long. The Tram was still an hour and a half. Across the board, everything else was between 80 to 140 minutes long. Even Jurassic, which has been part of my HHN ritual from the beginning, was at an hour wait. And having flashbacks to last year, of waiting over an hour and a half at Halloween 4 despite a 50-minute posted wait time at midnight, all while Express was poured in, we both stopped, looked at each other, and said, "Let's just go." In all my years, this was the first time I've ever straight up left early on "my first night," and I left just bummed, not entirely because we didn't get everything done (at least we can come back with our FFP) but just because the event just doesn't feel the same anymore. And even when we were leaving, passing by the security checkpoints outside the park, a bunch of cops were there arresting three people, and suddenly I felt like I was at Dark Harbor again. And when I checked the app from home at midnight and 1:00, none of the waits had really gone down; stuff was still posting 120+ minute waits.
As for the mazes themselves, I thought The Weeknd was slightly better than Orlando's. I loved Klowns the first time it was at the event, but it felt so disappointing this time; the entire carnival section at the end was 90% black walls and lifeless. Monsters was neat, especially near the end, but the first half was just devoid of scares because actors weren't there, and having been blown away by Orlando's version, I just came out underwhelmed. Scarecrow, oddly enough, was really cool, and I loved the crow room, but then it was tempered by Hotel, which, again, just felt... off. The one maze I was looking most forward to, La Llorona - which was one of my favorite mazes of the event ever the first time we'd had it - we didn't even do, as I said, so I'm hoping to give it a shot next time, but overall, of what we did do, I just wasn't wowed. (Admittedly, though, I did like the presence of the Death Eaters, but even then, I was like, "That's it?")
And like last year, the amount of people I saw treating others (and staff) like garbage was just insane. So couple all that - people being awful, mazes underwhelming - with things like lack of shows, scare zones might as well being nonexistent now, awful crowding, and, of course, this horrible,
HORRIBLE Express issue, I'm worried I'm falling out of love with the Hollywood event. (I also may be crazy, but it felt like there were more rowdy preteens/teens here than ever before, perhaps because places like Knott's are cracking down?) So many corners have been cut over the years, so many concessions made for complainers, like the death of B&T or Chucky/the Purge barker, and so on that it's gone from a fun experience to one of pure frustration, which is sad, because going to Orlando's event this year was like night and day, especially in terms of how much
better they manage the Express/standby situation.
All in all, something needs to change. I know it won't, but I'm tired of feeling disillusioned by the event. Early Entry doesn't even feel like it matters anymore, and even if they just disallowed Express from being used until 7 when the event actually starts, that'd at least be
something that could help, but Universal's making that paper, so it clearly won't ever change. Oh well... At least we braced for it this year after last year's experience, but I can't say I'm still not disappointed.