Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[OrlandoGuy]

I think you're confusing aesthetics with substance here.

We all know crowds have exploded, and when folks want to explain why certain elements fans enjoyed have disappeared, they're very quick to talk about how the event has "outgrown" them. At the same time, there seems to be a reluctance to acknowledge that Uni really hasn't tried to significantly expand capacity for several years even as the crowds grow. I'd question how meaningful an impact the increased "food festival" element, the main innovation of the last 8 or 9 years, has had on crowd issues. Other then that, structural changes have been minimal. I don't buy that positive changes addressing the issue are impossible; Universal is a huge corporation with many ingenious designers and planners and this is their trademark event - and it prints money. There are options (and no, raising prices to extortianate levels is not the smartest or even the most lucrative, its just the laziest).

I don’t think I’m confusing aesthetics with substance lol…I’m just not sure that there’s much that trumps aesthetics in terms of how to innovate a theme park Halloween event? Most stuff in a theme park is defined/differentiated by aesthetics…that’s how UOR is able to make an international destination out of two Scoop rides, two 360 tunnel rides, four launched roller coasters, etc.

Just talking solely operations…I dont know what really you would expect from them. The more stuff you add, the more capacity you can fit, and crowds are still going to feel proportionately the same. Maybe raising prices is lazy, but there’s definitely a middle ground between where they’re at now and “extortionate”…in fact I’d say HHN is the only thing in Orlando that may be underpriced.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

My friend…

I don't believe my statement changed at all throughout this discussion - you specifically called me out for saying that HHN has no effort... I never said that. I don't think its unfair to call out the event for lacking effort in some areas.

 

[Brian G.]

I don't believe my statement changed at all throughout this discussion - you specifically called me out for saying that HHN has no effort... I never said that. I don't think its unfair to call out the event for lacking effort in some areas.

I was making a general statement. C'mon, you knew what I getting at... Still, my point stands - there's a difference between not liking the effort and "lack of effort/no effort".

I don’t think I’m confusing aesthetics with substance lol…I’m just not sure that there’s much that trumps aesthetics in terms of how to innovate a theme park Halloween event? Most stuff in a theme park is defined/differentiated by aesthetics…that’s how UOR is able to make an international destination out of two Scoop rides, two 360 tunnel rides, four launched roller coasters, etc.

Just talking solely operations…I dont know what really you would expect from them. The more stuff you add, the more capacity you can fit, and crowds are still going to feel proportionately the same. Maybe raising prices is lazy, but there’s definitely a middle ground between where they’re at now and “extortionate”…in fact I’d say HHN is the only thing in Orlando that may be underpriced.

I think a lot of people don't realize that adding an 11th house doesn't spread capacity as easily as they think. Adding stuff around the CityWalk, Islands, and the hotels is an attempt to spread out the chaos across the whole Resort instead of one confined area of USF.

 

[Tbad556]

Just talking solely operations…I dont know what really you would expect from them.

I will add (because again, both sides have valid points here and probably agree more with each other than they think) last year's operations had complaints from many (including staff on here). The hurricane situation was not dealt with well honestly between things like how they brought back staff & how they forced people to pay extra if they wanted to change to a "higher-priced date".

There were also issues with food queues, express line changes, etc.

However, it was also the first year with a new head of operations for the parks and that's bound to come with hiccups. It also brought some positives to operations such as the in-house cameras to protect scareactors from abuse.

 

[Brian G.]

I will add (because again, both sides have valid points here and probably agree more with each other than they think) last year's operations had complaints from many (including staff on here). The hurricane situation was not dealt with well honestly between things like how they brought back staff & how they forced people to pay extra if they wanted to change to a "higher-priced date".

There were also issues with food queues, express line changes, etc.

However, it was also the first year with a new head of operations for the parks and that's bound to come with hiccups. It also brought some positives to operations such as the in-house cameras to protect scareactors from abuse.

Yea - don't get me wrong, the event isn't perfect, which is why I don't want them to add to the house total until they can get Ops for their current setup to run more efficiently.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I will add (because again, both sides have valid points here and probably agree more with each other than they think) last year's operations had complaints from many (including staff on here). The hurricane situation was not dealt with well honestly between things like how they brought back staff & how they forced people to pay extra if they wanted to change to a "higher-priced date".

There were also issues with food queues, express line changes, etc.

However, it was also the first year with a new head of operations for the parks and that's bound to come with hiccups. It also brought some positives to operations such as the in-house cameras to protect scareactors from abuse.

I give them props for finally installing cameras, but I still don't get why they struggle year to year with some of the more basic ops like queue management.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I don't mean to be coarse, but a little tough love: How in the world do some of you keep convincing yourselves that Scooby-Doo, a children's cartoon, could someday come to the event when that is not even a remote possibility?

I think it was brought up in jest as a "humorous house" along with Gremlins. I haven't seen it mentioned in about 2 pages now, so there ya go

My question - where is this "festival center" that was mentioned in USF?

 

[Casper Gutman]

Yea - don't get me wrong, the event isn't perfect, which is why I don't want them to add to the house total until they can get Ops for their current setup to run more efficiently.

I haven't seen anyone in this particular discussion advocating for an 11th house. Someday that might be necessary, but right now I'd argue more innovative and possibly adventurous solutions are necessary. Spreading guests around the resort is an interesting tactic, but its going to take a LOT more then the current hotel offerings - and Coconut, while wonderful, lacks the size or broad appeal to make a real dent.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

My question - where is this "festival center" that was mentioned in USF?

There is none, but for several years multiple individuals on here, including myself, have brought up the idea of creating dedicated areas with food/bars/theming that are away from the main pathways to help spread out crowds a bit.

 

[Casper Gutman]

There is none, but for several years multiple individuals on here, including myself, have brought up the idea of creating dedicated areas with food/bars/theming that are away from the main pathways to help spread out crowds a bit.

Honestly, the Shrek space and/or MIB tent would be perfect for this sort of thing if you could move a maze. Convenient to the general flow of traffic but out of the main bulk of the crowd. You wouldn't really want to use the soundstages, not least because you'd want someplace very visible and easy to access that could draw people in.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Honestly, the Shrek space and/or MIB tent would be perfect for this sort of thing if you could move a maze. Convenient to the general flow of traffic but out of the main bulk of the crowd. You wouldn't really want to use the soundstages, not least because you'd want someplace very visible and easy to access that could draw people in.

Yup, there are a couple of places similar that could house something like this, I always thought the MIB tent was a pretty good location for one as well.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

There is none, but for several years multiple individuals on here, including myself, have brought up the idea of creating dedicated areas with food/bars/theming that are away from the main pathways to help spread out crowds a bit.

Ah, I mentioned that I would love to see them do something like this in a soundstage.

 

[SeventyOne]

I mean there’s only so much they can do to “grow” the event. They utilize about as much space as possible. I’m still a proponent for raising prices to help control crowds but that’s a different discussion.

There's questions of logistics that need to be addressed. Parking and Security seem to be near their breaking point on busy nights, especially with IoA more popular and staying open past 5. Past couple events Universal hasn't been able to feed guests with any sort of efficiency. And there's only so much space for houses and queues. These are not problems an 11th house or a 20-minute-long "megahouse" are going to solve. The fact they've held at 10 houses for so long implies Universal knows this.

(And yes, the only cure is higher prices, but let's see where they end up this year.)

Going since 2001, and other than IPs/overall quality of houses, the event looks the same to me. The biggest changes I've seen are the transition of zones from scares to selfies -- a change forced in real time by the culture -- and the tribute store, which adds a slight amount of capacity. Everything else is just more of what I saw 20 years ago.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

There's questions of logistics that need to be addressed. Parking and Security seem to be near their breaking point on busy nights, especially with IoA more popular and staying open past 5. Past couple events Universal hasn't been able to feed guests with any sort of efficiency. And there's only so much space for houses and queues. These are not problems an 11th house or a 20-minute-long "megahouse" are going to solve. The fact they've held at 10 houses for so long implies Universal knows this.

(And yes, the only cure is higher prices, but let's see where they end up this year.)

Going since 2001, and other than IPs/overall quality of houses, the event looks the same to me. The biggest changes I've seen are the transition of zones from scares to selfies -- a change forced in real time by the culture -- and the tribute store, which adds a slight amount of capacity. Everything else is just more of what I saw 20 years ago.

This is a better way of saying what I was speaking to earlier today.

However, there are a handful of realistic options I would like for them to attempt before they start jacking up prices like expanding entertainment options.

 

[moistowlette1989]

I saw someone mention above that they thought the scarezones needed "refreshing" or something - but, did you go last year? We had a whole barn built in a scarezone, a crashed parade that kinda tied in the into the tribute store and an overall theme. What more are you looking for for a refresh?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I saw someone mention above that they thought the scarezones needed "refreshing" or something - but, did you go last year? We had a whole barn built in a scarezone, a crashed parade that kinda tied in the into the tribute store and an overall theme. What more are you looking for for a refresh?

Graveyard & Sweet Revenge were great, but they need to innovate with the Central Park/Avenue of the Stars/San Francisco zones. Those zones, unfortunately, suffer from being either a selfie zone or too crowded for actors to actually do anything.

 

[SeventyOne]

However, there are a handful of realistic options I would like for them to attempt before they start jacking up prices like expanding entertainment options.

I like the idea of that, but in 20 events, I've probably seen 25ish different shows (and that's grouping all Bill & Teds as one). Maybe 5 were crowd-pleasers that could fill a huge venue most showings. Which is actually a solid hit rate, but everyone wants another B&T or Terra Queen or Nightmare Fuel, no one remembers The Enigma or Ten Penny Circus or Death Drums or the globes or the car-eating dinosaur robot...

 

[moistowlette1989]

I like the idea of that, but in 20 events, I've probably seen 25ish different shows (and that's grouping all Bill & Teds as one). Maybe 5 were crowd-pleasers that could fill a huge venue most showings. Which is actually a solid hit rate, but everyone wants another B&T or Terra Queen or Nightmare Fuel, no one remembers The Enigma or Ten Penny Circus or Death Drums or the globes or the car-eating dinosaur robot...

Don't knock robosaurus! lol

 

[TheCodeMan95]

This could especially become iffy this year if we don't get a lagoon show.

 

[Killer Klown]

I don't mean to be coarse, but a little tough love: How in the world do some of you keep convincing yourselves that Scooby-Doo, a children's cartoon, could someday come to the event when that is not even a remote possibility?

The same way that I convinced myself that the super obscure band/artist I like that wear black and have a spooky looking logo are destined for a house!