Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - News & Info

[JungleSkip]

Possibly, but Disneyland has the advantage of forcing you into DCA to disperse some of the demand, HHN, unfortunately, doesn't have that option. Wednesdays-Thursdays have been ridiculously busy, so the lower-priced FFs have worked in spreading that demand away from Fridays/Saturdays, reservations won't really move the needle much.

Like I've brought up in the past, FFP should not be "Every weekday/+fridays/every day" of the event. Should be "10/20/30 visits over the event, with reservations required". Having unlimited visits partnered with being able to show up spur of the moment allows the "just hang out and clog up the walkways" and the "let's drop the kids off at HHN tonight to get them out of our hair" crowds to really muck things up.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Like I've brought up in the past, FFP should not be "Every weekday/+fridays/every day" of the event. Should be "10/20/30 visits over the event, with reservations required". Having unlimited visits partnered with being able to show up spur of the moment allows the "just hang out and clog up the walkways" and the "let's drop the kids off at HHN tonight to get them out of our hair" crowds to really muck things up.

Yes, it could work and I agree to an extent, but that would require a system that I don't even think Universal would want to (or can) implement. They still can't get mobile orders to work properly in the app.

I just think capacity improvements and modifying locations of some things should be considered (along with price increases) before they even touch some sort of reservation system that complicates the guest experience.

 

[Brian G.]

I also do think there's a way to do the "10/20/etc" option without the need for reservations.

Though I’m not a fan of the type, I can’t believe lifestylers make up that much of the crowd - but I’m an old fogey and freely admit I may be out of step on that.

If ROF went away but FFP remained at more or less the same price point, it wouldn’t be the end of the world - but I also don’t know how much it would help things. A more minor consideration - I don’t know how many guests stay at Uni for a week or more, but if you make it significantly more expensive to attend HHN multiple nights, the fact that Studios begins shutting down to day guests around 3:45 becomes much more vexing.

New York and Hollywood can still handle folks soaking in the atmosphere, at least for the first several hours of the event. The Central Park and San Fran zones, though, are a mess about an hour after the gates open and it’s probably time to move them or at least cut back on large set pieces.

I think it's enough of an issue to be addressed. Hell, I'm a local and I haven't had any luck seeing Nightmare Fuel (especially in Sept) because the show was at capacity the times I tried, even when I tried to get there early.

There are generally people that make an effort to see every show, every night. I ain't trying to yuck their yum, but just giving an example of the lifestylers.

 

[JungleSkip]

I also do think there's a way to do the "10/20/etc" option without the need for reservations.

Probably. I'd love to see them try that model next year just to see what the fruits of it end up being.

I think it's enough of an issue to be addressed. Hell, I'm a local and I haven't had any luck seeing Nightmare Fuel (especially in Sept) because the show was at capacity the times I tried, even when I tried to get there early.

There are generally people that make an effort to see every show, every night. I ain't trying to yuck their yum, but just giving an example of the lifestylers.

I do think when it comes to NF, the issue is there's nothing else like it at the event.

That being said, its fanbase is...devoted to say the least, and I'm not sure a show of a different sort elsewhere in the park would solve its problems.

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

I also do think there's a way to do the "10/20/etc" option without the need for reservations.



I think it's enough of an issue to be addressed. Hell, I'm a local and I haven't had any luck seeing Nightmare Fuel (especially in Sept) because the show was at capacity the times I tried, even when I tried to get there early.

There are generally people that make an effort to see every show, every night. I ain't trying to yuck their yum, but just giving an example of the lifestylers.

I enjoyed HNF, but I CANNOT imagine seeing multiple shows in one night, multiple times a week. Wow

Also, Brian, you have to see it! It's a great show and worth the wait. I will agree, thought, that determining when to line up is a crapshoot.

 

[Brian G.]

I enjoyed HNF, but I CANNOT imagine seeing multiple shows in one night, multiple times a week. Wow

Also, Brian, you have to see it! It's a great show and worth the wait. I will agree, thought, that determining when to line up is a crapshoot.

Definitely trying this week!

Probably. I'd love to see them try that model next year just to see what the fruits of it end up being.

I do think when it comes to NF, the issue is there's nothing else like it at the event.

That being said, its fanbase is...devoted to say the least, and I'm not sure a show of a different sort elsewhere in the park would solve its problems.

Maybe? IDK - there were the same type of fans for Bill & Ted and AoV. Probably not as feverish as NF, though.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

There are generally people that make an effort to see every show, every night. I ain't trying to yuck their yum, but just giving an example of the lifestylers.

That being said, its fanbase is...devoted to say the least, and I'm not sure a show of a different sort elsewhere in the park would solve its problems.

Maybe? IDK - there were the same type of fans for Bill & Ted and AoV. Probably not as feverish as NF, though.

HNF is great but that fanbase is probably more annoying than the unsupervised kids lol - nobody cares (and its very strange) that you know the names of the performers and shout it out during the show. B&T had its fanbase, but they weren't obnoxious.


I know this is getting annoying, but you wouldn't have a problem being able to catch HNF if people had another stage show to watch lol. I'd have to imagine that out of the 1.5K guests a show, a good chunk is there just cause its the only option.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Honestly, the streets outside of Vamp mainly due to its theme/idea, aren't congested too much with people just there milling around. The zone ops this year have been very active in telling people to keep moving and to not stop in the dead center of the zones.

I just think the event artificially congests itself by doing things that take away guest space (like the Exorcist queue at the music plaza, that's valuable space that can be used for seating/bar tables for the adjacent food booths), tries to cram way too much into the same area (placing 3 houses, tribute store, and a zone) all in the same corner of the park, or creates unnecessary bottlenecks by placing scare zone props in the dead center of zones (that random crate with Tinkerbell in Shipyard - poor stiltwalkers just stand to the side).

HHN is definitely undervalued in pricing, but they need to change a few things before they start actively trying to dissuade people from attending ala Disney... which figured out it was the wrong approach.

Streets for me are never crowded or full except for the potter area. And the fast and furious shipyard zone. Everything else isn't very crowded.
Oddfellow maybe, but not really.

Why? Is the event not tremendously profitable as it is? Is it losing money?

I don’t have any idea who is attending repeatedly “to be seen” - I highly suspect that number is insignificant to the overall crowd. I steadfastly reject the idea that it’s a good idea for theme parks to attempt to dictate how guests experience them. HHN in particular is an event that absolutely thrives on atmosphere - forcing guests to power through 10 houses robs it of much of its charm and will alienate a significant portion of the audience.

Before Universal begins excluding large portions of their audience, it would be great if they tried SOMETHING to expand the capacity of the event. It’s structure has been largely stagnant for years and this year (though I thought it was a great year overall), it ran with fewer shows and smaller scarezones then previous events. Perhaps the tremendously lucrative event could experiment and innovate a bit before slamming the gates on eager guests.

Some of The people I do see trying to be "seen" is a lot of girls in costumes. A bunch of them. Even much more this year, I noticed a lot.
Ive seen.... "sexy nurses, sexy nun, sexy bride, sexy Harley Quinn, Edward scissorhands, Lydia from bettlejuice, sexy Chucky, sexy Beetlejuice, sexy Freddy Kruger. Sexy demons, sexy ghostbuster", sexy pirate, etc etc.

Ive noticed the same girls on different nights, just walking around the park and not going into houses or rides, but instead making vids or taking pics around the park
(Im not criticizing or trying to knock anyone down, it's kinda cool. Feels like a Halloween party.)
I'm just saying that I definitely notice them going to hhn to walk around.

They are also some of the guests that see nightmare fuel every time I go to see it.
I recognize the same girls from previous times. (Even yesterday I saw some of them dressed like fairies or something. Full on fairy costume.)
The event is bringing a lot of Instagram style influencers and they dressed up in costumes. It's easy to notice. I'm not hating, but I see the change.
( HHN Hollywood is even allowing costumes now? I saw a headline about that)

I agreed with a post that laid out a wide and fairly imaginative range of ways to increase the event capacity, including (off the top of my head) utilizing the area in front of Blue Man, relocating the San Fran and Central Park scarezones, adding what amounts to a festival center, reconfiguring lines… a lot of great suggestions. I ignored the ROF suggestion because the overwhelming majority of the post was exactly the sort of capacity increasing ideas the event needs - and quite frankly I was happy to find common ground with you.

I think I’ve been very consistent about loathing the idea of theme parks discouraging spontaneity and attempting to dictate guests behavior - it’s why I shifted from vacationing at Disney to vacationing at Universal.

I honestly don’t know what you’re insinuating, but if you want to accuse me of something, feel free to do so.

Something very easy, very simple and quick that universal can do is live music performances
Not a big famous band.
But a local band dressed like zombies or skeletons that would play music. Either a cover band or play famous songs in a metal remix or creepy remix version.
Have them play on a stage with some dancers dressed like ghouls or demons. Have 2 dancers on each corner, ( 4 dancers)
Like death drums but on a stage. Have them play 4 times a night.
Easy.
-Have a stage with music instruments.
Have places for dancers. Have the band dressed like monsters. Play music. No fireworks or anything. No stunts,
Just a regular monster band. Playing the monster mash and stuff. Easy. Simple. Entertaining

 

[Casper Gutman]

HNF is great but that fanbase is probably more annoying than the unsupervised kids lol - nobody cares (and its very strange) that you know the names of the performers and shout it out during the show. B&T had its fanbase, but they weren't obnoxious.


I know this is getting annoying, but you wouldn't have a problem being able to catch HNF if people had another stage show to watch lol. I'd have to imagine that out of the 1.5K guests a show, a good chunk is there just cause its the only option.

I saw NF for the first time this year after skipping their previous performances and… um… anyone who wants it can have my seat in future years. The show is SO earnest. I find it hard to imagine watching it a second time, let alone more than that. The event really needs a comedy show for balance. In any case, may those who enjoy it continue to enjoy it and may it continue to play to packed houses.

 

[DannyPowers]

But a local band dressed like zombies or skeletons that would play music. Either a cover band or play famous songs in a metal remix or creepy remix version.
Have them play on a stage with some dancers dressed like ghouls or demons. Have 2 dancers on each corner, ( 4 dancers)
Like death drums but on a stage. Have them play 4 times a night.

Sounds like the perfect addition to a "festival type" area along with plenty of seating, bars/food stands, and some photo ops.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I saw NF for the first time this year after skipping their previous performances and… um… anyone who wants it can have my seat in future years. The show is SO earnest. I find it hard to imagine watching it a second time, let alone more than that. The event really needs a comedy show for balance. In any case, may those who enjoy it continue to enjoy it and may it continue to play to packed houses.

Only problem I see with comedy shows is when someone finds it offensive. Which literally happened more than once.
But maybe a comedy musical? ( have the actors sing)
They could always try to bring evil dead musical or a funny horror musical like that.

Sounds like the perfect addition to a "festival type" area along with plenty of seating, bars/food stands, and some photo ops.

It just sounds so obvious and easy.
And I got the idea from noticing the live cover band playing on citywalk at night ( they play 80s rock hits)
Use the stage on the exorcist queue ( so you already have the venue. ) get a local band. Play 80s hits,
everything is literally there

 

[JungleSkip]

Only problem I see with comedy shows is when someone finds it offensive. Which literally happened more than once.

I say this as someone who has no problem with what the show depicts and thinks it's absolutely not a problem...but I don't think NF is free from the "potentially offending" category either.

It just sounds so obvious and easy.
And I got the idea from noticing the live cover band playing on citywalk at night ( they play 80s rock hits)
Use the stage on the exorcist queue ( so you already have the venue. ) get a local band. Play 80s hits,
everything is literally there

Where do you put all the queue then?

The problem is there isn't space for a lot of this stuff.

 

[Speed]

Wouldn't be surprised if people were just done with HHN for a while after previous years. If I wasn't a theme park fan, I don't know how many years in a row I could wait in 45+ minute lines all night as a part of my vacation. On top of that if I were going to try and go get tickets this season to see both FFP and Express sold out for the majority of the event, I would probably start looking at other alternatives.

A good majority of my social media feeds in September were more videos showcasing the lines at HHN, instead of the event itself which I've never seen before with multiple having 50-75k likes each and tons of discussion from people outside of theme park forums saying that it was basically the whole experience for them.

 

[Imperius]

Comedy musical show idea, Schmigadoon Halloween town

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I think the idea of the 10/20/30 model would work well, even without reservations.

For example, a pricing structure of say..
1 night - $90
Up to 5 nights - $200
Up to 10 nights - $300
etc, etc.

No reservations required, you just have 5/10/etc nights for the season that you can attend - and once they're done, they're done.

 

[Mad Dog]

I think the idea of the 10/20/30 model would work well, even without reservations.

For example, a pricing structure of say..
1 night - $90
Up to 5 nights - $200
Up to 10 nights - $300
etc, etc.

No reservations required, you just have 5/10/etc nights for the season that you can attend - and once they're done, they're done.

Yes, kind of what I've always thought. No reservations. Reservations are turn offs to most people. With the caveat that those multi night prices need to be higher than those amounts. Those numbers are way too inexpensive.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Yes, kind of what I've always thought. No reservations. Reservations are turn offs to most people. With the caveat that those multi night prices need to be higher than those amounts. Those numbers are way too inexpensive.

Yeah those numbers were just spitballing lol.

But really, those prices are more per night than the current RoF/FFP, right?

 

[Mad Dog]

Yeah those numbers were just spitballing lol.

But really, those prices are more per night than the current RoF/FFP, right?

daily breakdown, probably, in the cases of those who go 'real often' ......Costs more to go to a movie for those that go a lot.......Long ago I was in the bar/restaurant business. The saying was always, 'if your prices are too low, you'll attract the wrong clientele'.

 

[SeventyOne]

Re-posting to agree.

"Unfortunately, HHN is at the point where it can't be a daily hang-out spot. If you want to have that luxury, truly make it a luxury and have them pay for the first-level FFP."

There's a fine line between taking in the event at a slow pace and just loafing around "to be seen".

Personally I’ve become less and less of a fan of the hang out crowd at HHN, and I think it’s because it does exactly that—crowds.

At a certain point you hit "The Adventurers Club" effect. For years AdvClub had a small number of mostly CPs who would come in and nurse a $3 Coke for the night enjoying the shows. Not a big deal when it's two or three of them. But eventually word got around in the days of message boards/proto social media and it became "the place" in WDW ... and soon half the seats were taken up by CPs who got in free nursing a $3 Coke, and stepping on the actors' lines to show they're part of the show too (how will anyone know what a huge Haunted Mansion fan you are if you don't spiel along with Thurl?). That crowd taking up that much space deterred the casual PI guest who spent $25 on a cover charge and would've run up a $50 - $100 bar tab from staying too long.

Admittedly it's a delicate balance -- you want those early influencers to drive crowds. But once it becomes the equivalent of Rocky Horror (perhaps a better analogy than "hanging out"), it deters the real money guests from attending.

I think the idea of the 10/20/30 model would work well, even without reservations.

For example, a pricing structure of say..
1 night - $90
Up to 5 nights - $200
Up to 10 nights - $300
etc, etc.

No reservations required, you just have 5/10/etc nights for the season that you can attend - and once they're done, they're done.

Problem is most theme park guests want to go the same nights: opening weekend, Sundays, nights school is out the next day. So more days end up blacked out at the last minute, maybe even an hour into the event itself--and now guests feel entitled because at the time they bought a ticket they thought was going to work that night. maybe even paid to park--and Universal has less data to predict staffing needs. Some random Wednesday in October is going to end up with more staff than guests.

Remember the FF and RoF were originally designed to drive traffic to slow nights. They just worked way too well.

Also this would be really confusing for consumers. Having had to explain the current system to newbies, it's convoluted enough.

 

[JungleSkip]

Also this would be really confusing for consumers. Having had to explain the current system to newbies, it's convoluted enough.

I do not agree that “You get X number of nights at the event” is more confusing than telling someone who booked a hotel Wednesday to Monday for the event in October “Okay if you only want to go Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, get this ticket. If you want Friday to get this one. And if you want Saturday as well you have to buy this pass for ever single night of the event. Oh and express? Lol that’s gonna cost you your first born. And you’ll absolutely need it because our crowds are out of control.”

I could see keeping the existing structure around…IF you also add length of stay passes for people actually staying at the resort. So much of HHN’s ticketing practices are focused on getting as many locals through the door as often as possible, and feel like a remnant (as does so much of UOR’s operations in general) from a time when the place was on life support. They don’t reflect the thriving tourist hub it current is.