Especially with Rip Ride Rock-It leaving mid-event, this park needs to be prepped to deal with the crowds that will no doubt arrive this year. 11-12 houses is a good idea, but the event needs variety too. That was my big problem with last year's event. Outside of simply running through all 10 houses, there was just nothing else to do really. It got boring substantially quicker than previous events.
I really don't think it's out of the question for them to offer:
- An HHN-specific Lagoon Show
- More variety in Zone show moments
- Random Streetmosphere like the M3gan horde, or the chainsaw gangs.
- Icons or other characters in queue lines or randomly across the event a la Jack during HHN30
- Transformers (The absence of this ride honestly hurt the event a ton for me. I didn't think it would, but it's a solid, non-coaster thrill attraction to do usually for less than 20-30 minutes. A wonderful palate cleanser after a number of houses. Sorely missed.)
They've done all of this and more in the past. Losing HRRR as a guest eater is going to be really terrible for the event imo. A second stage show or extra rides like E.T. or Fallon would be preferred but are probably off the table. I also think the experience of queuing, watching, and exiting HNF is an absolute and literal Nightmare, requiring a significant amount of time out of your night and a long time spent jam-packed in a humid, warm, and loud environment.
Fixing any of these issues will help a ton, but all of them combined would really lead to an immeasurable improvement imo.