Halloween Horror Nights 30 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors (2021)

[RevFreako]

Nobody is really talking about how early the event is starting now

HHN starting on my B-Day weekend was a dream of mine back in the day

I hope they keep pushing it earlier honestly lol

I don't. The houses are falling apart by the end of the run as it is.

 

[londonwerecat]

I emailed Uni about the UTH tours and got a canned “HHN is currently happening” response, so I’m not optimistic about it returning this year.

I don't see how you got a negative feeling from that. That's literally just their generic response when they don't have all the info released yet. It's nothing to worry about at the moment.

 

[kingcooger]

Nobody is really talking about how early the event is starting now

HHN starting on my B-Day weekend was a dream of mine back in the day

I hope they keep pushing it earlier honestly lol

I haven’t been talking about it because I am waiting to see ticket options

An early start this year could be read a few different ways

1) they are planning for reduced capacity, so they are opening for more dates in anticipation

2) they are keeping their options open in case they have to run reduced capacity by having lots of dates on the calendar

3) they are being aggressive

As I recall, they opened the first weekend in September for HHN 29 and for HHN 30 the original announced dates were the second weekend in September of 2020. Those dates were announced BEFORE the pandemic became a factor.

At the time, I recall the speculation was that they saw little demand for that first weekend of September

Now, suddenly, that first weekend is a thing again

Is it them hedging their bets?

Is it them expecting a tourism boom once shots are more widely available?

Is it both?

 

[reeseyNG]

1) they are planning for reduced capacity, so they are opening for more dates in anticipation

It’s this one.

I don't. The houses are falling apart by the end of the run as it is.

Pretty sure they’d put a lot more work and resources towards house upkeep with a longer schedule like this.

 

[RevFreako]

Pretty sure they’d put a lot more work and resources towards house upkeep with a longer schedule like this.

Not a lot they can do about cast attrition though.

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

Nobody is really talking about how early the event is starting now

HHN starting on my B-Day weekend was a dream of mine back in the day

I hope they keep pushing it earlier honestly lol

HHN XC is tentatively scheduled to begin on Black Friday, 2080. But, you didn't hear that from me.

 

[Morganxrose]

HHN XC is tentatively scheduled to begin on Black Friday, 2080. But, you didn't hear that from me.

I heard it’s actually canceled due to the predicted Budweiser virus

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

For anyone that went and missed the Instagram leaks, I will make you feel better and tell you that you didn't miss much at all.
Don't go digging for it in places you shouldn't be, it's not worth it at all.

 

[Rikku]

As mentioned I expect FFP to return with some alterations I am just curious as also mentioned how it will work with reduced capacity. Will FFP work just like APs and if the park is at capacity you can't get in with a FFP? I think I only recall one time I went to HHN and it was actually sold out and got in with FFP no problem. Just curious how we expect that potentially to work....

I mean are we expecting park capacity increases later this year?

 

[JJ591]

I hope they keep pushing it earlier honestly lol

I don't - it's already a swampy inferno early Sept - any earlier and people would literally melt in line.

HHN XC is tentatively scheduled to begin on Black Friday, 2080. But, you didn't hear that from me.

Is that the one where they're on a spaceship 500 years in the future???

I mean are we expecting park capacity increases later this year?

Yes, but doubt they will reach 100% capacity this year. But with the massive influx of vaccines and the fact that daily cases are going down in Florida already, I expect they will absolutely bump park capacity sometime before summer as long as this trend continues.

 

[WAJAS]

Lot's of new faces from the past year in this thread. Welcome to IU everyone!

I didn't realize this until I saw the discussion about moderation, which I feel happens every 2 years or so now. It's like clockwork.

 

[Neo]

I haven’t been talking about it because I am waiting to see ticket options

An early start this year could be read a few different ways

1) they are planning for reduced capacity, so they are opening for more dates in anticipation

2) they are keeping their options open in case they have to run reduced capacity by having lots of dates on the calendar

3) they are being aggressive

Number 0 or 0.5 should be: They want to make up for lost revenue from 2020.

More nights means more money. Yes, there are multi day tickets that won't make so much of a difference each night for admission, but parking has to be 100% profit (I know APs are exempt), alcohol is like 80% profit, food is like 70% profit, and merch has to be 50% profit given how much it's marked up. The more opportunities people have to spend money on all them, the better.

If Texas is 100% open with no mask requirements now, Florida can't be far behind (not making fun of Texans or Floridians or saying it's a bad or good idea). And as everybody has already said, it's way too early to predict what's going to happen in the fall. The as yet undiscovered Belgium Variant might be sweeping the planet and we might be 100% locked down.

So at this point, I think their decisions are based on full occupancy and business as usual and trying to recoup as much lost revenue as possible and if they have to adapt later, so be it, they'll figure it out much easier than before as they already have a working strategy for the daytime parks and surely have some contingency plans for HHN already planned. Plans ranging from 75% to 50% to 25% to cancelled. Shutting down the event at any time. The rumored 4-hours park time per ticket to allow for maximum occupancy, but a lower pecentage at any given time. I'm sure they have every option we've thought of and others we haven't. Maybe open Hagrids and Velocicoaster after 7 or 8pm (whatever time IOA closes) for people to get virtual queues for where they have to walk all the way over and then wait in a smaller line reducing congestion in the Studios streets. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst behind the scenes.

 

[Tbad556]

Maybe I'm absolutely crazy and overly optimistic, but I'm not expecting COVID to have much of an impact on the event this year at this point (for US citizens at least) :shrug:

 

[PlatinumFate]

Maybe I'm absolutely crazy, but I'm not expecting COVID to have much of an impact on the event this year at this point (for US citizens at least) :shrug:

If they keep getting vaccines out at the rate they’re currently going, I agree to a sorts. I still think we’ll have masks at the event and other major changes, especially to scarezones, but if a majority of our population is vaccinated, I could see them doing away with the plexiglass maybe (though that may be wishful thinking). But honestly, I’m just being cautiously optimistic about it, we don’t know how bad this virus will be come September and we don’t know how Universal will react.

 

[Tbad556]

If they keep getting vaccines out at the rate they’re currently going, I agree to a sorts. I still think we’ll have masks at the event and other major changes, especially to scarezones, but if a majority of our population is vaccinated, I could see them doing away with the plexiglass maybe (though that may be wishful thinking). But honestly, I’m just being cautiously optimistic about it, we don’t know how bad this virus will be come September and we don’t know how Universal will react.

I definitely wouldn't be surprised at masks or smaller precautions like that. I just think the thread may be a tad overly cautious at this point with things like FFP and RIP Tours. VIP tours are already offered in the parks at this stage in the pandemic. I don't see why September/October would suddenly be more risky. We're on pace to hit herd immunity between May & July in the country. The common ETA for big concerts is roughly September right now. I just don't see things moving at a snail's pace for theme parks that barely shut down in the first place.

 

[PlatinumFate]

I definitely wouldn't be surprised at masks or smaller precautions like that. I just think the thread may be a tad overly cautious at this point with things like FFP and RIP Tours. VIP tours are already offered in the parks at this stage in the pandemic. I don't see why September/October would suddenly be more risky. We're on pace to hit herd immunity between May & July in the country. The common ETA for big concerts is roughly September right now. I just don't see things moving at a snail's pace for theme parks that barely shut down in the first place.

I see that. Most of us probably think it’ll be better by then, we’re just hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. Like I said, cautious optimism about this event seems to be the current common mindset.

 

[Tbad556]

I see that. Most of us probably think it’ll be better by then, we’re just hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. Like I said, cautious optimism about this event seems to be the current common mindset.

Oh absolutely. Not dragging anyone for it by any means. Just willing to be an optimistic outlier in the thread to spice things up

 

[dxwwf3]

Maybe I'm absolutely crazy and overly optimistic, but I'm not expecting COVID to have much of an impact on the event this year at this point (for US citizens at least) :shrug:

I agree with you. If things keep going the way they are, there could be no restrictions by that point. I’m thinking the most likely thing would be guests use masks inside the houses, but other than that, it’s normal. But we will see. I think the restrictions guessing game is the real speculation for this year. So many different combinations and possibilities of how this could shake out.

 

[londonwerecat]

offtopic, but if they do scareactor dining, which characters do you think we will see/who would you like to appear at scareactor dining?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

We’ll be wearing masks through the fall. I believe we will see social distancing and masks in lines still and for alcohol they’ll have specialty areas (think beer gardens) to drink and purchase but you can’t walk around with them.