Halloween Horror Nights 2023 (USH) - News & Info

[Jerroddragon]

If every single person was GA, assuming the ticket was $80ish, not counting food or merch, that's roughly only $2M. Throw in RIP, Express, Food & Merch, my best guess is $3-4M at most.

With that perspective and knowing how many people it takes to run this event, that oddly doesn't seem like enough lol no wonder they are packing people in.

EA was packed when I went, not sure how many were there but The Last of Us closed it's line. So I think around 5000 guests+ have the EA pass as well

I always have seen rumors that HHN is when USH becomes profitable, so doubt even if this event had a good budget that they aren't making bank. 20ish dollar drinks and soda are basically Free money and every shop and food cart/restaurant when I was there Saturday was busy until at least midnight (thats when I left) so. I don't underestimate how much they are making from this event

Keep in mind, I don't actually mind the larger crowds. Bigger crowds should and now mean higher budgets. What I'm looking for is a better sense of crowd control and crowd dispersion. How can this be prevented while still holding a giant customer base? Reopen metro-sets? Keep Nintendo open? Raise prices? What do y'all think?

I would be ok with raises the prices if it ment less people but not just raising prices and not doing anything.

SNW tthis year should have been opened, I said it before and think it sucks they didn't keep it up until 11PM for everyone. It would have help spread people out and the land was staffed and so it's silly to have to staffed for the walk on MK ride, like if your having the space open then just let everyone in.
I also think SLOP should be open, since we aren't opening another ride next year, have SLOP open to eat people even if it only has 20-40 mins waits just once again have things open to get people more spread up.

Also while they won't do this, they could.....if they used the Metro for a Mini Maze and a show or the area where chucky is to do the same. Another Show could eat people up but the only place to put on is in the metro area or where Chucky is now

 

[HORRORable Commenter]

EA was packed when I went, not sure how many were there but The Last of Us closed it's line. So I think around 5000 guests+ have the EA pass as well

I always have seen rumors that HHN is when USH becomes profitable, so doubt even if this event had a good budget that they aren't making bank. 20ish dollar drinks and soda are basically Free money and every shop and food cart/restaurant when I was there Saturday was busy until at least midnight (thats when I left) so. I don't underestimate how much they are making from this event

I wonder why years that weren't dry began to gain greater budgets lol

 

[Jerroddragon]

SoCalpals are saying Stranger Things Eddie Guitar Sipper Cup are now on sale for 24 dollars at Universal Studios

 

[Freak]

Echoing the problems from the Orlando side - Hollywood's event also needs to fix crowd flow. They need to rework entry and think about opening the Metro lots. It's too big of an event and the current setup just isn't enough.

I completely agree, but the problem with the Metro lots is that they would have to literally pay money the studio division to be able to do that. While I think with the kind of demand they have now, I think it would be feasible. My concern is that the funds that would have gone into houses will get sucked up by handing the studio the money to put the houses on Metro.

But if they're able to pull it off without resorting to black wallz, then I'm all here for Metro sets. It's refreshing to finally have a big event that doesn't suffer (At least for the most part) from black wallz. I just hope they're able to use 747 if they do Metro again.

Also wouldn't hurt to have SNW next year. I think they can find a way to reroute the SS 16 queue to let the entrance open for HHN guests.

 

[Jake S]

speaking only for myself, but i'd happily trade some black walls for an event that is more pleasant to attend.

 

[Horror Lover]

The only problem I can see with Metro Sets is.. would people really want to walk all the way from H-Lot to Metro Sets on the same night?

 

[Jerroddragon]

The only problem I can see with Metro Sets is.. would people really want to walk all the way from H-Lot to Metro Sets on the same night?

Lol

That kinda solves a problem....can't have too many lines if people are unwilling to walk to all the houses...lol

speaking only for myself, but i'd happily trade some black walls for an event that is more pleasant to attend.

I agree but as we kinda talked about before, I think this is less about budget and more about how many people USH is willing to let in. If we open the Metro sets and add more houses but then they just let in 5+ thousand people it's kinda all for nothing.
I wish these events could be like Disney ticketed events where they cost an arm and a leg but everything has low lines (besides the meet and greets but those are because they have one actor trying to meet thousand of people)

 

[Freak]

speaking only for myself, but i'd happily trade some black walls for an event that is more pleasant to attend.

Try saying this on the Orlando threads. I dare you.

The only problem I can see with Metro Sets is.. would people really want to walk all the way from H-Lot to Metro Sets on the same night?

Yeah that's going to be a lot of walking, but you have to walk a lot in Orlando. They make people walk all the way from the area between the Nightmare Fuel Stage and MIB all the way down to the sprung tents. If you don't know how far that is, look it up on Google maps. It is a loooooong walk. At least in Hollywood you have escalators to help you.

But on the subject of Metro sets, if they actually do it, I would love to see them use the actual NY street for a large-scale scarezone. We need a big one so bad in Hollywood and it would open up a lot of breathing room for the event.

 

[KlownzNskullZ]

Try saying this on the Orlando threads. I dare you.

Yeah that's going to be a lot of walking, but you have to walk a lot in Orlando. They make people walk all the way from the area between the Nightmare Fuel Stage and MIB all the way down to the sprung tents. If you don't know how far that is, look it up on Google maps. It is a loooooong walk. At least in Hollywood you have escalators to help you.

But on the subject of Metro sets, if they actually do it, I would love to see them use the actual NY street for a large-scale scarezone. We need a big one so bad in Hollywood and it would open up a lot of breathing room for the event.

If the writers strike goes into next hhn season they will be available!

Also yes universal does just let as many people as they can in

 

[SailwiththeTide]

The only problem I can see with Metro Sets is.. would people really want to walk all the way from H-Lot to Metro Sets on the same night?

They should rent out some of the Warner Brother back lot and make people walk to there.

 

[Jake S]

Try saying this on the Orlando threads. I dare you.

I've been going to Horror Nights since 2007 and hadn't even heard the term "black walls" as a pejorative until joining this board six months ago lmao.

I agree but as we kinda talked about before, I think this is less about budget and more about how many people USH is willing to let in. If we open the Metro sets and add more houses but then they just let in 5+ thousand people it's kinda all for nothing.
I wish these events could be like Disney ticketed events where they cost an arm and a leg but everything has low lines (besides the meet and greets but those are because they have one actor trying to meet thousand of people)

agreed! I'm not convinced opening up the metro sets will "solve" any problems, but if it did — I'd happily take a couple repeats every year in exchange.

 

[DTH]

Opening up Metro just raises capacity. It increases the problem. Do y'all not remember how long lines were back then? It really wasn't that long ago haha

I find the biggest problem to be Curious George lot sets. You have to walk all that way (granted, not far) and there's little to do over there, but the walk feels like you should spend time there. All those people cram to an area and there's only 2 mazes. It creates a weird jam. But the Metro sets had food, a scarezone, three mazes, snacks, more space to walk and tables to sit at.

If we got Metro back, I'd eliminate Curious George again. We don't need 11 mazes plus a Terror Tram. Yes, it'd be a lot of fun, akin to KSF days of yesteryear, but budget would suffer.

Soundstages or not, doesn't matter, honestly the only maze that felt grand in scale to warrant a soundstage is AVP and that was almost 10 years ago.

But I did prefer the Metro times. Back then, the event felt like it was escalating to something. The scale was just reaching a level that felt so epic in scope. I'd love for it to be back and give Curious George some time off for awhile, recoup some budget for the next 3-4 years, then finally rethink going back to Curious George to see if we can add more mazes to the event as a whole or if we need to get rid of the Terror Tram, or if the event can sustain itself having both. Because 2019 sure was rough with 10 mazes, adding a Terror Tram on top of that would be the most exhausting night ever. I'm down for it, but get ready for a lot of complaints from people.

 

[Freak]

Opening up Metro just raises capacity. It increases the problem. Do y'all not remember how long lines were back then? It really wasn't that long ago haha

I find the biggest problem to be Curious George lot sets. You have to walk all that way (granted, not far) and there's little to do over there, but the walk feels like you should spend time there. All those people cram to an area and there's only 2 mazes. It creates a weird jam. But the Metro sets had food, a scarezone, three mazes, snacks, more space to walk and tables to sit at.

If we got Metro back, I'd eliminate Curious George again. We don't need 11 mazes plus a Terror Tram. Yes, it'd be a lot of fun, akin to KSF days of yesteryear, but budget would suffer.

Soundstages or not, doesn't matter, honestly the only maze that felt grand in scale to warrant a soundstage is AVP and that was almost 10 years ago.

But I did prefer the Metro times. Back then, the event felt like it was escalating to something. The scale was just reaching a level that felt so epic in scope. I'd love for it to be back and give Curious George some time off for awhile, recoup some budget for the next 3-4 years, then finally rethink going back to Curious George to see if we can add more mazes to the event as a whole or if we need to get rid of the Terror Tram, or if the event can sustain itself having both. Because 2019 sure was rough with 10 mazes, adding a Terror Tram on top of that would be the most exhausting night ever. I'm down for it, but get ready for a lot of complaints from people.

Who said they have to add houses? (Which I agree they shouldn’t add any more.) Even better who said we can’t have both? You can still have two houses on the upper lot (TWDA and Parisian), two at CG, two in the lower lot (Both sound stages), and two in Metro. Perfectly balanced as all things should be.

If you really want to give the event a little more breath room, do what I mentioned above, and then have a house in the Frankenstein parking structure and use Parisian for a show (Chucky again? A small freak show?) Now we can have two proper scarezones in that side of the park again and would pull people back to Minions to do a house.

 

[DTH]

Who said they have to add houses? (Which I agree they shouldn’t add any more.) Even better who said we can’t have both? You can still have two houses on the upper lot (TWDA and Parisian), two at CG, two in the lower lot (Both sound stages), and two in Metro. Perfectly balanced as all things should be.

If you really want to give the event a little more breath room, do what I mentioned above, and then have a house in the Frankenstein parking structure and use Parisian for a show (Chucky again? A small freak show?) Now we can have two proper scarezones in that side of the park again and would pull people back to Minions to do a house.

From a business-sense, that seems like a lot of space to use for little benefit. The more space reserved, the more staff to maintain it, extra bathrooms to install, more vendors, etc.. Maze budget stays the same, but everything else balloons. I know what ya mean, perfect world, but logistically that's more money for no reason.

 

[HORRORable Commenter]

Who said they have to add houses? (Which I agree they shouldn’t add any more.) Even better who said we can’t have both? You can still have two houses on the upper lot (TWDA and Parisian), two at CG, two in the lower lot (Both sound stages), and two in Metro. Perfectly balanced as all things should be.

If you really want to give the event a little more breath room, do what I mentioned above, and then have a house in the Frankenstein parking structure and use Parisian for a show (Chucky again? A small freak show?) Now we can have two proper scarezones in that side of the park again and would pull people back to Minions to do a house.

I don't hate this because imagine if the mummy extended queue venue was a scare zone gauntlet that led into the tunnel? Enter where the facade for clowns 3d was, and direct crowd control, so you can't go to the Backlot by making a right at transformers. That could be really rad!

 

[Freak]

I don't hate this because imagine if the mummy extended queue venue was a scare zone gauntlet that led into the tunnel? Enter where the facade for clowns 3d was, and direct crowd control, so you can't go to the Backlot by making a right at transformers. That could be really rad!

If I was the one calling the shots here, my grand plan would be have a house in 29, but you would enter where you would for Holidayz right now and the overflow zig-zags would occupy where Holidayz is now. Stage 22 would be in the same location and queue setup. The Mummy venue would be reserved for through traffic for people leaving Metro. If you would want to go to Metro, you would go where you did before. Leaving, you would be sent through the Mummy venue. With overflow now not blocking the entrance to SNW anymore, now the land can be open to take people in.

 

[HORRORable Commenter]

If I was the one calling the shots here, my grand plan would be have a house in 29, but you would enter where you would for Holidayz right now and the overflow zig-zags would occupy where Holidayz is now. Stage 22 would be in the same location and queue setup. The Mummy venue would be reserved for through traffic for people leaving Metro. If you would want to go to Metro, you would go where you did before. Leaving, you would be sent through the Mummy venue. With overflow now not blocking the entrance to SNW anymore, now the land can be open to take people in.

I like that a lot too! It also isn't open to regular guest, so as small as it is, it could be decorated more significantly as a zone.

 

[SailwiththeTide]

Saw Tony Baxter in line for Evil Dead

 

[Horror Lover]

Saw Tony Baxter in line for Evil Dead

So cool!! I know he's a big KSF fan and he was spotted at HHN Orlando last year.. I wonder if this is his first time at HHN Hollywood or if he's been there before..

 

[Freak]

Universal Shuts Down Half of Theme Park, Guests Removed Immediately

Halloween Horror Nights had a major shut down last night after multiple houses closed down half of the theme park.

insidethemagic.net

This seems to be happening more frequently. Apparently half of the houses shut down due to reaching capacity. Everyone’s experience was forcibly cut in half while paying full price.

This really sucks for the general guests. Overcrowding is getting wildly out of control this year and this is simply out of pure greed. Sadly it looks like USH is isnt going to give a rats rear and will double down on overselling because it’s making them much money.

I also realized that we are probably seeing a lot more teenagers this year die to Knott’s chaperone policy.