Old Vs New HHN

[UniversalRBLX]

Asking sincerely: What is "all the data," in your view?

The graph I show displays 1-day ticket/express pricing, # of event offerings included in your admission, change in multi-night prices and wait-time data changes since 2019.

First rule of working with data—it’s rarely definitive. You can make it say whateverrrrr you want.

Well aware, I have no interest in manipulating data to reflect a specific message. I'm simply presenting that HHN has increased pricing over the last few years now with no significant changes to capacity in order to accommodate modern day crowds.

Who said they want Premiere night to be multi-night experience?

Executives looking for incremental revenue growth? It's inevitable we see them (if successful) expand to offer additional nights if they find demand for it. Disney After Hours (pretty much a premium night) started off with 5-6 nights at MK only and is now offered at 3 parks with 50 nights total.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Well aware, I have no interest in manipulating data to reflect a specific message. I'm simply presenting that HHN has increased pricing over the last few years now with no significant changes to capacity in order to accommodate modern day crowds.

I didn’t think you were (I actually like your chart a lot). Just saying that using your exact same graph/data you could make the opposite case, that ticket prices have only outpaced inflation by about 7 percentage points while attendance continues increasing, so that HHN is actually doing a great job improving the guest experience without while remaining highly accessible. It’s all in your perspective.

ETA: I’ll throw in that to me “Old” HHN was less commercial, more gritty, and for a lot of people (around my age in my neighborhood growing up) the only reason to go to Universal. It was largely left alone post-Potter but once the Walking Dead well was tapped, the whole thing felt like a more natural, commercially-viable extension of the day parks.

On one hand, there has been unparalleled investment in the event now that Comcast sees the revenue potential it can have as a more accessible, IP-focused event. It’s a major party and hang-out spot which I’ve grown to enjoy. On the other hand, I miss the homegrown quality of some of the houses/zones, which used to have brutal gore, questionable themes, and a sort of “don’t tell mom and dad” quality to it.

Also can confirm liquor sales as we knew them stopped in 2017.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I didn’t think you were (I actually like your chart a lot). Just saying that using your exact same graph/data you could make the opposite case, that ticket prices have only outpaced inflation by about 7 percentage points while attendance continues increasing, so that HHN is actually doing too well at improving the guest experience. It’s all in your perspective.

Sure if you consider inflation the event hasn't increased prices dramatically, but I don't think that's any sort of metric that proves the guest experience has improved (hence why I included the 14% increase in wait-times & the fact that the # of offerings has stagnated). The quality of the event has always been great, but the experience has certainly been impacted by increased attendance and no movement capacity-wise.

Mind you, I visited 3-4 nights each week and spoke to many friends and guests who were enjoying themselves but found themselves disgruntled at how busy everything at the event was and how difficult it was to navigate crowds at times.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Sure if you consider inflation the event hasn't increased prices dramatically, but I don't think that's any sort of metric that proves the guest experience has improved (hence why I included the 14% increase in wait-times & the fact that the # of offerings has stagnated). The quality of the event has always been great, but the experience has certainly been impacted by increased attendance and no movement capacity-wise.

Mind you, I visited 3-4 nights each week and spoke to many friends and guests who were enjoying themselves but found themselves disgruntled at how busy everything at the event was and how difficult it was to navigate crowds at times.

Don’t you think ever-increasing attendance points to a positive guest experience? The success of new rides is attributed to YOY attendance gains. Movie quality (or at least commercial viability) is judged by box office. I don’t think HHN would be any different.

 

[Brian G.]

Sure if you consider inflation the event hasn't increased prices dramatically, but I don't think that's any sort of metric that proves the guest experience has improved (hence why I included the 14% increase in wait-times & the fact that the # of offerings has stagnated). The quality of the event has always been great, but the experience has certainly been impacted by increased attendance and no movement capacity-wise.

Mind you, I visited 3-4 nights each week and spoke to many friends and guests who were enjoying themselves but found themselves disgruntled at how busy everything at the event was and how difficult it was to navigate crowds at times.

We seem to be not taking into account Universal not only starting earlier, and adding dates, but also - increasing operating hours in the last few years, too. Like people keep saying, there’s just too many layers. This isn’t a 1+1=2 deal.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Don’t you think ever-increasing attendance points to a positive guest experience? The success of new rides is attributed to YOY attendance gains. Movie quality (or at least commercial viability) is judged by box office. I don’t think HHN would be any different.

Increased attendance does not relate to the guest experience (reference the discourse of attending Disney Parks nowadays compared to 10 years ago). Airlines are squeezing in as much seats as they can into planes, but that's not improving the experience at all. Eventually there's a breaking point where consumers choose to go elsewhere, or stop going.

We seem to be not taking into account Universal not only starting earlier, and adding dates, but also - increasing operating hours in the last few years, too. Like people keep saying, there’s just too many layers. This isn’t a 1+1=2 deal.

In the name of simplicity, I avoided including that. Yes, the event has increased the number of dates and hours, but that's still not enough to handle modern-day crowds. I'm thankful Universal has decided to now run the event 5 days a week until 2AM, but that still isn't enough to accommodate everyone.

 

[Legacy]

In the name of simplicity, I avoided including that. Yes, the event has increased the number of dates and hours, but that's still not enough to handle modern-day crowds. I'm thankful Universal has decided to now run the event 5 days a week until 2AM, but that still isn't enough to accommodate everyone.

Except it is, because they’re not selling out every night. Or even the majority of nights.

The flaw in your hypothesis is that wait times are not a direct correlation to anything. Different houses can inflate wait times, as popularity, queue layout, even the direction of a scare can increase wait times. Weather can increase wait times. And wait times don’t take into account overall capacity of the event (which varies throughout your graph due to shows) or other guess experiences. It is one small factor of a total experience which is purely subjective. Whether polling, you can’t ascribe a qualitative assessment to it. And you’re not polling.

You can’t take a financial metric and ignore inflation, as that matters. You can’t take admission costs and not baseline it against the total number of opportunities to use that admission. Your graph looks good, but it’s taking the only two metrics you have access to (which aren’t directly related) and saying “this proves my point.” As they say - Lies. Damn lies. And Statistics.

And back to Premiere night, it’s pretty obvious management isn’t viewing the event as a guest-centric opportunity because they’re doing it before opening weekend. If they wanted it be a push for more guests, they would have already scheduled it after opening weekend.

 

[Mad Dog]

The plus of HHN now being so crowded and financially successful is that it drastically increases the profit for the resort. That, bottom line,
allows for overall improvements in the resort. The popularity also helps to capture youthful demographics as long term Universal theme park customers. The negative is that it's too crowded for the likes of older people like me, that enjoyed a less busy HHN, but that doesn't really matter since we're not the target demographic. But I'm not hardcore HHN anyway, so I just vacation at a different time of year. I'm glad to see it doing so well. It could probably use another show, or two though, like they used to have, to help capacity.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Except it is, because they’re not selling out every night. Or even the majority of nights.

The flaw in your hypothesis is that wait times are not a direct correlation to anything. Different houses can inflate wait times, as popularity, queue layout, even the direction of a scare can increase wait times. Weather can increase wait times. And wait times don’t take into account overall capacity of the event (which varies throughout your graph due to shows) or other guess experiences. It is one small factor of a total experience which is purely subjective. Whether polling, you can’t ascribe a qualitative assessment to it. And you’re not polling.

You can’t take a financial metric and ignore inflation, as that matters. You can’t take admission costs and not baseline it against the total number of opportunities to use that admission. Your graph looks good, but it’s taking the only two metrics you have access to (which aren’t directly related) and saying “this proves my point.” As they say - Lies. Damn lies. And Statistics.

Well aware Universal inflates waits (as I've mentioned countless times last year during the event). I only included avg. wait-time in my chart because it's the only metric I can show that has data to prove, without using personal anecdotal evidence, that the event has increased in popularity & attendance since HHN 28. I mentioned last year that the event has to figure out how to increase capacity outside the haunted houses since multiple original houses will see low waits early/later in the event day (hence my comment of an additional stage show to the event being needed).

I'm lucky to attend the event each year multiple nights, and each year I hear growing frustration from crowds. I've been called out on this forum for just using anecdotal evidence when I criticize Universal, so I've worked on getting data to defend my comments.

I enjoy this back and forth discussion, but please don't think I have some sort of quota against Universal. I'm simply trying to discuss an issue that, in my opinion, isn't being sorted out the way it should be. I'll eat my words when things change.

And back to Premiere night, it’s pretty obvious management isn’t viewing the event as a guest-centric opportunity because they’re doing it before opening weekend. If they wanted it be a push for more guests, they would have already scheduled it after opening weekend.

It's Universal's first attempt at a premium offering, I don't expect them to run more nights this year. I'd imagine, just like any corporate decision making, they'll look at its success and weigh their options next year for a similar offering post-opening week if they deem it successful.

The plus of HHN now being so crowded and financially successful is that it drastically increases the profit for the resort. That, bottom line,
allows for improvements in the resort. The popularity also helps to capture youthful demographics as long term Universal theme park customers. The negative is that it's too crowded for the likes of older people like me, that enjoyed a less busy HHN, but that doesn't really matter since we're not the target demographic. But I'm not hardcore HHN anyway, so I just vacation at a different time of year. I'm glad to see it doing so well. It could probably use another show, or two though, like they used to have, to help capacity.

I'm happy as well that HHN has "broken" into mainstream popularity, but there's a a middle ground that can provide additional profit for $CMCSA and still work on improving the guest experience.

 

[MrBlonde]

I liked seeing the chart with the data but I was seriously curious about inflation and how much that eroded since HHN 24 was 10 years ago (and my first event!).

So I used the CPI calculator from June of 2014, when tickets were generally available to June of 2024 to try to be consistent.

The chart showed a 32% increase which pretty much exactly matches CPI according to the BLS. I wasn’t hoping for that result but interesting none the less.

Express definitely should be growing faster as the event gets bigger and the demand grows, but the event has grown. I remember how it was only the park but now there’s times when I want to spend extra time in the hotels because they do up the bars and last year had a bar crawl. It’s great seeing this grow organically as the resort does its best to give us all a fun spooky time.

 

[Legacy]

I liked seeing the chart with the data but I was seriously curious about inflation and how much that eroded since HHN 24 was 10 years ago (and my first event!).

So I used the CPI calculator from June of 2014, when tickets were generally available to June of 2024 to try to be consistent.

The chart showed a 32% increase which pretty much exactly matches CPI according to the BLS. I wasn’t hoping for that result but interesting none the less.

Express definitely should be growing faster as the event gets bigger and the demand grows, but the event has grown. I remember how it was only the park but now there’s times when I want to spend extra time in the hotels because they do up the bars and last year had a bar crawl. It’s great seeing this grow organically as the resort does its best to give us all a fun spooky time.

And this is why the inflation aspect is so important. Suddenly, the argument that ticket prices have increased without “improving the experience” is completely negated because admission prices haven’t increased when accounting for inflation. That means Universal is offering MORE for the value of admission.

The increased percentage to the cost of Express, which is a luxury, is irrelevant as it’s not required to attend the event.

 

[Brian G.]

Well aware Universal inflates waits (as I've mentioned countless times last year during the event). I only included avg. wait-time in my chart because it's the only metric I can show that has data to prove, without using personal anecdotal evidence, that the event has increased in popularity & attendance since HHN 28. I mentioned last year that the event has to figure out how to increase capacity outside the haunted houses since multiple original houses will see low waits early/later in the event day (hence my comment of an additional stage show to the event being needed).

I'm lucky to attend the event each year multiple nights, and each year I hear growing frustration from crowds. I've been called out on this forum for just using anecdotal evidence when I criticize Universal, so I've worked on getting data to defend my comments.

I enjoy this back and forth discussion, but please don't think I have some sort of quota against Universal. I'm simply trying to discuss an issue that, in my opinion, isn't being sorted out the way it should be. I'll eat my words when things change.

It's Universal's first attempt at a premium offering, I don't expect them to run more nights this year. I'd imagine, just like any corporate decision making, they'll look at its success and weigh their options next year for a similar offering post-opening week if they deem it successful.


I'm happy as well that HHN has "broken" into mainstream popularity, but there's a a middle ground that can provide additional profit for $CMCSA and still work on improving the guest experience.

Ultimately, the problem with the discussion is your, to be frank, stubbornness - which is why I kept advising to drop it.

You've only known an event with 10 houses. The people who've been trying to help you understand have known an event with 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and now 10 houses. We've known an event when FFP only offered 13 nights, or a time when Rush of Fear never existed. A time when we were lucky when 1 house had an awesome facade. The point is there has been precedent. This isn't the first time someone has suggested adding capacity will help crowds.

In the past, when there were only 9 houses, people believed that adding a 10th would solve many of the issues. Now, after 5 more events, we're discussing adding an 11th, maybe 12th? We've seen events where they add a show, a house, and increase prices and offerings - and the issue is always the same with crowds. This is the first time that UO has not only made efforts to charge the premium offerings a premium price but has put a cap on tickets.

We're not opposed to adding more experiences like shows, houses, or zones, but it's not a simple fix as @Legacy has tried to explain.

Now in regards to your graph - it only shows a rising price, but the issue is more complex. Yes, the data is simplified per your admission, but the solution isn't simple either. It requires a detailed, nuanced analysis. Simply put, there isn't enough information available to us. How many attendees are for one night vs. frequent fear passes? Which FFP tier has the most visitors? Do people buy express passes in the park or beforehand? These are all factors that can contribute to an accurate assessment.

You are clearly intelligent, so I don't want you to feel like this is all about a "dumb kid who doesn't know what he's talking about"; but when a group of experienced veterans is attempting to explain the realities of the situation to you, it's best to be more receptive instead of sticking to your position and becoming more entrenched.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Ultimately, the problem with the discussion is your, to be frank, stubbornness - which is why I kept advising to drop it.

You've only known an event with 10 houses. The people who've been trying to help you understand have known an event with 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and now 10 houses. We've known an event when FFP only offered 13 nights, or a time when Rush of Fear never existed. A time when we were lucky when 1 house had an awesome facade. The point is there has been precedent. This isn't the first time someone has suggested adding capacity will help crowds.

I've been attending the event every year since 23, and following it for a few years prior to that. I've personally seen the event grow from 8 to 10 houses as a result of increased crowds due to the popularity of the Walking Dead, and the domino effect its caused of getting very popular IPs into the event. I used HHN 28 as a reference point to compare it to the most recent HHN as it is the most comparable with the number/quality of offerings.

Yes capacity isn't the sole issue to alleviate crowds, there are lots of pieces Universal still needs to address (like F&B ops). I'm not expecting crowds to vanish, but Universal isn't doing much to alleviate congestion by putting a food booth in the middle of an already crowded walkway (e.g. Chucky across F&F last year).

Stubborn? Nope. Cynic, sure. I don't think I've been stubborn when someone brings up information/insider operational knowledge. I've never purposely ignored any information provided by insiders that challenge my comments. (When Legacy mentioned how the lack of restroom capacity limits capacity at HHN, I simply provided the solution to open up the bathrooms at SS33 & BMG to accommodate increased demand. When he mentioned how we couldn't use the Hollywood area for a queue/house entrance, I provided a realistic solution with measurements.)

In the past, when there were only 9 houses, people believed that adding a 10th would solve many of the issues. Now, after 5 more events, we're discussing adding an 11th, maybe 12th? We've seen events where they add a show, a house, and increase prices and offerings - and the issue is always the same with crowds. This is the first time that UO has not only made efforts to charge the premium offerings a premium price but has put a cap on tickets.

We're not opposed to adding more experiences like shows, houses, or zones, but it's not a simple fix as @Legacy has tried to explain.

Like I've mentioned for the past 1-2 years now, yes it's not just as simple as adding an additional house (I've mentioned in the past how original houses tend to be walk-ons for a good chunk of the event's operating hours, so I've avoided that discussion entirely, hence my emphasis on additional entertainment) and have provided realistic solutions in the past (like festival centers w/ additional restroom capacity). I'm happy Universal has actually artificially capped express, it was much needed, but there are other issues to address.

HNF at 30 was quite easy to watch, at 31 you had to show up a few minutes before, at 32 they had to setup a proper queue and arrive half an hour early. When you are starting to setup a proper queue in order to even get into a massive theater with 1.5-1.6K in capacity, demand has surpassed supply. Yes, it's not as easy as saying "let's do xyz here", but there are solutions that are more than plausible.

Now in regards to your graph - it only shows a rising price, but the issue is more complex. Yes, the data is simplified per your admission, but the solution isn't simple either. It requires a detailed, nuanced analysis. Simply put, there isn't enough information available to us. How many attendees are for one night vs. frequent fear passes? Which FFP tier has the most visitors? Do people buy express passes in the park or beforehand? These are all factors that can contribute to an accurate assessment.

You are clearly intelligent, so I don't want you to feel like this is all about a "dumb kid who doesn't know what he's talking about."; but when a group of experienced veterans is attempting to explain the realities of the situation to you, it's best to be more receptive instead of sticking to your position and becoming more entrenched.

Like I mentioned earlier, I avoided complicating the graph, and I agree that it requires far more detail. I tried to generalize/simplify the best way I could to keep discussion at a high level versus getting into the minute details that tend to turn off people from the discussion.

I appreciate what you and Legacy provide to this forum, and you have far more years of HHN experience than me, but I think 10 years of my own experience is a decent amount to understand HHN and crowd dynamics. I was there when you could easily do all houses (w/ repeats), Bill & Ted, and rides each night on Fridays/Saturdays... a task that has become very difficult to do today.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Like I've mentioned for the past 1-2 years now, yes it's not just as simple as adding an additional house (I've mentioned in the past how original houses tend to be walk-ons for a good chunk of the event's operating hours, so I've avoided that discussion entirely, hence my emphasis on additional entertainment) and have provided realistic solutions in the past (like festival centers w/ additional restroom capacity). I'm happy Universal has actually artificially capped express, it was much needed, but there are other issues to address.

HNF at 30 was quite easy to watch, at 31 you had to show up a few minutes before, at 32 they had to setup a proper queue and arrive half an hour early. When you are starting to setup a proper queue in order to even get into a massive theater with 1.5-1.6K in capacity, demand has surpassed supply. Yes, it's not as easy as saying "let's do xyz here", but there are solutions that are more than plausible.

Here’s the inherent flaw in your analysis, though. You’re using two highly-contextual factors to come up with a blanket statement about something as subjective and broad as “the guest experience.” If your argument is that there’s a need for more shows, better food outlets, etc. then your data should show some sort of spike in another, more specific metric correlating with years with more shows, more food options, etc.

Take the wait times for houses (do they have that on that Thrill Data page?) and stack them up against one another on years when there are more extracurriculars to see if the average queue time actually does decrease with more entertainment. If you really wanted to get fancy with what’s reasonably available to you, you could quantify some qualitative social media data over the years and compare sentiment on years when you thought they were headed in the right direction (bumping up to 10 houses) vs. the wrong one (evidently last year). That would point to what you’re trying to get at.

Right now your making jumps that are too big to conclusions too specific based on the factors you’ve displayed.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Here’s the inherent flaw in your analysis, though. You’re using two highly-contextual factors to come up with a blanket statement about something as subjective and broad as “the guest experience.” If your argument is that there’s a need for more shows, better food outlets, etc. then your data should show some sort of spike in another, more specific metric correlating with years with more shows, more food options, etc.

Take the wait times for houses (do they have that on that Thrill Data page?) and stack them up against one another on years when there are more extracurriculars to see if the average queue time actually does decrease with more entertainment. If you really wanted to get fancy with what’s reasonably available to you, you could quantify some qualitative social media data over the years and compare sentiment on years when you thought they were headed in the right direction (bumping up to 10 houses) vs. the wrong one (evidently last year). That would point to what you’re trying to get at.

Right now your making jumps that are too big to conclusions too specific based on the factors you’ve displayed.

Appreciate your feedback, but the issue is that there isn't much data publicly available to work with that can provide additional support. If I had additional data, I'd use it. I'm not purposefully ignoring data that counters my argument.

• Wait-Time data (from my knowledge) has only been available publicly via Thrill-Data since 2019
• While I would love to analyze social media on HHN, that's too much of a task I'm not ready to commit time to. But from my observation, it was quite clear that HHN had reached a boiling point amongst guests. (Universal basically confirms it this year with increased express pass pricing and capping sales).

While I agree that I'm missing data that can be useful, it's been said on this thread over and over again how difficult it has become to navigate HHN which inspired me to provide this information in a simplified graph. You can say I'm jumping to conclusions, but I personally don't believe so as I've tried my best to provide evidence to defend my statements. Last year the outrage on Twitter/YouTube regarding HHN crowds really grew. You don't have to agree with my statements, I'm just trying my best to defend my argument.

If anybody else has additional (public) data that can support or disprove my claims, please do.

Serious question that I'd love for people (specifically Legacy & Brian) to answer: if HHN can't add additional shows to existing theaters... is there no other solution outside increasing prices? We know HHN won't expand to IOA (an unrealistic fan dream), so are we stuck with just increased prices YoY? Not trying to stir an argument, just really interested in understanding why there's been pushback on expanding the event's offerings. It seems like any solution outside pricing is knocked down.

 

[Brian G.]

Serious question that I'd love for people (specifically Legacy & Brian) to answer: if HHN can't add additional shows to existing theaters... is there no other solution outside increasing prices? We know HHN won't expand to IOA (an unrealistic fan dream), so are we stuck with just increased prices YoY? Not trying to stir an argument, just really interested in understanding why there's been pushback on expanding the event's offerings. It seems like any solution outside pricing is knocked down.

Easiest fix is returning the lagoon show - which I would expect next year.

Other than that, where do you put it outside the Minions flexspace? They've already had to account for the loss of 2 long-term venues in the Parade buildings due to actually using them; and that's the problem with any additional location. The event is pretty much using USF to its maximum capacity.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Easiest fix is returning the lagoon show - which I would expect next year.

Other than that, where do you put it outside the Minions flexspace? They've already had to account for the loss of 2 long-term venues in the Parade buildings due to actually using them; and that's the problem with any additional location. The event is pretty much using USF to its maximum capacity.

Is there any scenario in the future where they could actually use the BMG theater? I know it would require moving Grinchmas, but who knows what could happen there.

 

[Tbad556]

Serious question that I'd love for people (specifically Legacy & Brian) to answer: if HHN can't add additional shows to existing theaters... is there no other solution outside increasing prices? We know HHN won't expand to IOA (an unrealistic fan dream), so are we stuck with just increased prices YoY? Not trying to stir an argument, just really interested in understanding why there's been pushback on expanding the event's offerings. It seems like any solution outside pricing is knocked down.

It depends on where you draw the line with "expanded offerings". Personally, I feel like there's been a large shift in the last decade. The event went from being a place that sold one event shirt and not much else to a merch machine. It went from 8 houses to 10. It wildly expanded beyond the park gates with offerings. It attempted multiple upcharges. And so on.

2015 - Tribute Store is added (long-term addition)
2016 - Separately ticketed house is added (short-term addition)
2018 - Expands from 8 houses to 10 houses (long-term addition)
2020 - Scarecrow Stalk/Lil Boo Scavenger Hunts added (long-term addition)
2021 - Multiple hotel offerings added (long-term additions), first year to truly theme and expand the food offerings iirc (long-term addition)
2022 - First year to run every single event night until 2 AM (long-term addition), Dead Coconut Club added (long-term addition), All Hallows Eve added (long-term addition)
2023 - Blumhouse Photo Experience added (short-term addition), Taste of Terror added (long-term addition?), Peacock Bar added (long-term addition?), Death Eaters Encounter added (long-term addition?)
2024 - HHN starts in August for the first time ever (long-term addition?), Premium Scream Night offered for the first time ever (long-term addition?)

I'd imagine, like Brian said, that 2025 will bring about the return of the lagoon show as well. The above is definitely missing things and also intentionally excludes more ops side things like the new tents this year, the improved queues for flooding, etc. Cutting express down from FFP should make improvements as already noted, upcharges like the Premium Scream Night should both improve ops with expanded rehearsal time and hopefully spread out crowds a bit more. Etc.

 

[Nick]

Is there any scenario in the future where they could actually use the BMG theater? I know it would require moving Grinchmas, but who knows what could happen there.

BMG is practically perfect for Grinchmas. If you was to use another SS for HHN, SS19 *might* be a possibility if they ever need it. But they do actually film stuff in those stages every once in awhile so the stages aren’t always available.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Easiest fix is returning the lagoon show - which I would expect next year.

Other than that, where do you put it outside the Minions flexspace? They've already had to account for the loss of 2 long-term venues in the Parade buildings due to actually using them; and that's the problem with any additional location. The event is pretty much using USF to its maximum capacity.

Some of these do require the movement of temporary trailers, but not an impossible task. I'm sure there will be pushback on some of these, but 2 of them are currently deserted while the others only have trailers sitting on them.

• Old Hard Rock entrance behind Trollercoaster (19K+ Sq. Ft. available) - use DreamWorks/ET for queue space.
• Storage/Trailer space behind DreamWorks Imagination Celebration/Animal Actors (13K+ Sq. Ft. available)
• Trailers behind NY Façade (6K+ Sq. Ft. available) - currently occupied by trailers, I'd imagine those can be moved if needed.
• Staging area behind Seuss Landing - Using the BMG/Minion Gate for entry, it's a shockingly smaller walk than the parade building walk.
• While encroaching a little into theme park expansion, there's more than enough space available adjacent to where they added the two new sprung tents for an additional two tents + queue. A lot of space is now available for staging at the south campus, so there's less reliance on this space for storage.

Not even including the decently sized parking lot adjacent to the soundstages, about 6 additional venue locations. Image below shows you just how much space they can work with. Anything with an x is enough space that can house a house without getting in the way of daytime ops. *I placed a placeholder space for Pokemon just to make this speculation more realistic.

Spoiler: Potential Locations Visual

It depends on where you draw the line with "expanded offerings". Personally, I feel like there's been a large shift in the last decade. The event went from being a place that sold one event shirt and not much else to a merch machine. It went from 8 houses to 10. It wildly expanded beyond the park gates with offerings. It attempted multiple upcharges. And so on.

2015 - Tribute Store is added (long-term addition)
2016 - Separately ticketed house is added (short-term addition)
2018 - Expands from 8 houses to 10 houses (long-term addition)
2020 - Scarecrow Stalk/Lil Boo Scavenger Hunts added (long-term addition)
2021 - Multiple hotel offerings added (long-term additions), first year to truly theme and expand the food offerings iirc (long-term addition)
2022 - First year to run every single event night until 2 AM (long-term addition), Dead Coconut Club added (long-term addition), All Hallows Eve added (long-term addition)
2023 - Blumhouse Photo Experience added (short-term addition), Taste of Terror added (long-term addition?), Peacock Bar added (long-term addition?), Death Eaters Encounter added (long-term addition?)
2024 - HHN starts in August for the first time ever (long-term addition?), Premium Scream Night offered for the first time ever (long-term addition?)

I'd imagine, like Brian said, that 2025 will bring about the return of the lagoon show as well. The above is definitely missing things and also intentionally excludes more ops side things like the new tents this year, the improved queues for flooding, etc. Cutting express down from FFP should make improvements as already noted, upcharges like the Premium Scream Night should both improve ops with expanded rehearsal time and hopefully spread out crowds a bit more. Etc.

Outside the 8 to 10 house expansion, which actually started in 2007 where it jumped from 7 to 8, then to 9 at HHN 25 and then 10 for HHN 28, none of these additions listed have added significant capacity. Don't get me wrong, I love the tribute stores, but even that has reached its capacity during the event.

The new tents are replacements, those are not moving the needle when it comes to capacity. While limiting express from Frequent Fear passes is a benefit, the event will still be crowded. While too early to determine, if you were willing to drop good $ on FF+Express and weren't able to, there's a good chance you're still attending the event one way or the other. The capacity impact from the Premium Scream Night is minimal.