Went ahead and expanded the concept of Festival Areas elsewhere throughout the event. I'll be using last year's event as an example. I also take into consideration the future of USF. This means, Rockit's replacement is open and accessible through New York, Springfield is taken over and expended onto the older sprung tent area, and the Fast and Furious replacement is open and well received enough to generate some demand during HHN (requiring the relocation of a house here).
Essentially 4 festival areas around USF that expand the park's footprint and helps provide additional capacity for walking space and dining. Each of these will be themed with variations of the main event's theme or adjacent scare zone. Similar to Howl o Scream's bars, they will allow guests to relax and enjoy smaller entertainment acts in an themed environment. At the entrance of each festival center, marquees with the houses available will be listed along with their posted waits. Here, DAS users will have the opportunity to receive a return time versus going to the individual house portal.
A) Music Plaza - returns the music plaza area for guest use versus queue space (moved to SS alleyways). The stage will contain entertainment and the entire viewing area will feature additional seating and F&B booths (replace the ones in NY across the Transformers bar). This area could have been themed to Sinister & Surreal with lighting and photo op areas.
B) New York Festival Area - using the SS33 special event area. This one's a tough sell taking it away from special events, but I think it can be done. Could be themed to the overall event. Whether or not they use SS33, they will likely have to redo the way HHN utilizes this area with the Rockit replacement's entrance located here. Too congested already, and a new coaster here will add further stress to the area.
C) MIB Festival Area - located behind MIB, a new HHN area is created that reduces the bottleneck congestion between the London-MIB corridor. This will not only allow additional F&B capacity to be added, but reduce congestion caused by Nightmare Fuel. Can only happen if they expand the MIB Back of House access gate to the right of the restrooms. I'd try to make this area themed to "generic" Halloween so it can be reused each year. If this backstage area is designated for HHN use solely from now on, I'd plant trees to help provide shade as that asphalt can be very hot. HNF will utilize the MIB extended queue and Diagon gate extended queue to reduce crowds bleeding outside.
D) DreamWorks (specifically the area below and in front of Animal Actors), this will help spread guests back here unlike last year's event. Pizza Fries stand last year was relatively empty throughout the event. The theme of the Central Park zone can be "expanded" here. So imagine a swamp-themed bar/lounge.
This map assumes Springfield replacement requires the build of two new tents to replace older sprung tents & Rip Ride Rockit's proposed replacement. I also went ahead and relocated the F&F tent as I'd like the HHN team to have a decent venue space that isn't too cramped and whatever replaces Supercharged is well received and allowed to open during HHN.
Stay & Scream
As for Stay & Scream, the event's popularity has made Stay & Scream a more sought-after option. Over the years, Universal has attempted to fix crowding, but I still think it's a bit messy and can strain park ops a bit. With that said, I looked to see if there were alternatives available that would reduce the need to close significant areas of the park.
*This assumes the Rockit coaster replacement is complete and Pokemon/Old Sprung Tents can't be used.
New York Stay & Scream
A1) Entrance at the old Rockit entrance
A2) Event ticket scanners & queue located at the Soundstage Queue from Monstrous
A3) Crossover to NY Holding pen. Area is significantly reduced to still accommodate the ability to visit Finnegan's. Assuming festival center is a thing at SS33, that will open up to allow guests to stay away from the sun. Even if they don't want to add food & beverage here, and assuming no special event that night, they should use this area as holding pens/queues to avoid guests being in the sun/inclement weather.
Access to houses 3,4, and 5.
San Francisco Stay & Scream
B1) Entrance at Richter's
B2) Event ticket scanners
B3) Crossover into holding areas
Access to tents 6 & 7.
DreamWorks Stay & Scream
C1) Entrance at Crepe
C2) Ticket scanners
C3) Crossover to Animal Actors & Pizza Fries at DreamWorks Cafe
Access to House 9 with queue located inside the Imagination Celebration queue/theater for shelter.
One last change I'd make to the event operationally is to pre-load guests waiting at the front gate into the highlighted green area below. Hotel guests will be prioritized to enter this area first, before they fill up with non-resort guests.
