HHN Not Happening

[Tom Morrow]

I hate to complain about this, but I do question the logic of limiting this to *A* weekend when the weekends are already borderline dangerous with their crowd levels. It does say that this is a test, and I want to experience it, but based on how weekends at Uni have been, especially Labor Day weekend, I won't be anywhere near UOR during this first run.

 

[DCBaker]

Registration will open at 12pm on Wednesday, September 16.

 

[JT3000]

Only Premier? What are "preferred" AP holders, chopped liver? I'm definitely not showing up on the weekend, so hopefully that's just for the test run.

 

[Jon81uk]

Halloween events are happening in the Netherlands. But haunted houses are either with 1 person going alone, or per household/group with social distance between them. The biggest event ended up calling itself the "VIP (very important prey)" edition due to a lower capacity. Make it a selling point

Theme parks in the UK are going ahead with Halloween events as well. The walkthrough mazes are expected to be low capacity and one household at a time too. The scare mazes are an upcharge on top of park admission usually anyway. They are also doing some open air, no actor scare zones. But many guests visit just to do the coasters in the dark.

Scarefest: Halloween Events 2024 | Alton Towers

Join our 2024 Halloween event: Scarefest at Alton Towers for thrilling fun! Enjoy scare mazes, live shows & spooky attractions for families & horror fans.

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I assume they are putting actors behind screens or similar, I can't see how else it could easily work.

 

[Markiewong]

Theme parks in the UK are going ahead with Halloween events as well. The walkthrough mazes are expected to be low capacity and one household at a time too. The scare mazes are an upcharge on top of park admission usually anyway. They are also doing some open air, no actor scare zones. But many guests visit just to do the coasters in the dark.

Scarefest: Halloween Events 2024 | Alton Towers

Join our 2024 Halloween event: Scarefest at Alton Towers for thrilling fun! Enjoy scare mazes, live shows & spooky attractions for families & horror fans.

www.altontowers.com

I assume they are putting actors behind screens or similar, I can't see how else it could easily work.

The park that I mentioned just announced they are going to transform one of their haunted houses into a restaurant. Tables are for 2 people with social distancing inbetween, scare actors will be walking inbetween the tables. Set menu including unlimited drinks. Pretty cool, they are really using the current situation to create something special and different.

 

[JoeCamel]

The park that I mentioned just announced they are going to transform one of their haunted houses into a restaurant. Tables are for 2 people with social distancing inbetween, scare actors will be walking inbetween the tables. Set menu including unlimited drinks. Pretty cool, they are really using the current situation to create something special and different.

That is how character dining for HHN is done at Monster's cafe in Universal. This was before covid so they would space the tables more.

 

[Tom Morrow]

As I anticipated, both parks are at capacity (Universal's laughably dangerously high limited version of it), and by all accounts the place looks like a nightmare once again just like Labor Day weekend. They know darn well this isn't going to be for this weekend only, and it was severely irresponsible for them to tell the public that it was.

 

[Thelazer]

They know darn well this isn't going to be for this weekend only, and it was severely irresponsible for them to tell the public that it was.

They honestly don't care anymore.... er let me rephrase that.. the panic level back of house (to keep there jobs..)
has reached the point that discussions are not made with rational thought in mind.

Those who could help in those discussions were let go months back.
(boy talk about we VALUE our team members eh?.. that went out the window right quick!)

Doing these "limited" @ capacity weekends, mixing in non HNN fans with HHN fans VS select HHN only nights makes ZERO difference in RISK LEVEL about THE VIRUS. Let me say that again, there is NO RISK DIFFERENCE between what they are attemping to do now VS what a normal HHN would have exposed guest and cast to.

The proper move was to go forward with HHN as normally presented (with a staff reduction in the houses and streets to align with projected nightly attendances by advanced ticket sales (with an allowance for walk ups.)

If that means a house with no scare actors, that's what it means (the audience would have understood it)

Also the adjustment of theater shows for social distance seating (or remove them and relay on a lower cost "fountain" type show without pryo, presented more often each night and shorter in duration, again easily done)

I would have assumed the "Leaders" at Universal Orlando would have fought Burbank harder on this (and some other decisions made recently) but I guess they to have gotten scared.

I for one, really thought that HHN could have been presented as "Model" to other area theme-parks on how to bring back there special ticketed events, really something to celebrate among Orlando's tourist and employment industry.

Sad

 

[Tom Morrow]

Well said. Their huge lapse in handling of covid is a shame because they were doing a fantastic job when they re-opened originally. Better than Disney. Now it seems Disney are the only theme parks that are open that are still fully enforcing their covid procedures.

 

[Bob Harlem]

Well said. Their huge lapse in handling of covid is a shame because they were doing a fantastic job when they re-opened originally. Better than Disney. Now it seems Disney are the only theme parks that are open that are still fully enforcing their covid procedures.

It went fine yesterday, and worked pretty well. They are limiting capacity and enforcing stuff quite well. The biggest difference they are just giving folks slightly more value while Disney is taking it away.

 

[Tom Morrow]

It went fine yesterday, and worked pretty well. They are limiting capacity and enforcing stuff quite well. The biggest difference they are just giving folks slightly more value while Disney is taking it away.

I find more value in covid-Disney than covid-Universal due to the much more limited capacity and the fact that Disney isn't running Fastpass, making every line a breeze, while Universal is still running Express Pass.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

8,000 vlogger videos from yesterday, but not one decent video of the Bride of Frankenstein house from what I can tell.

Guess I'll just wait for SoCalAttractions360.

 

[JT3000]

As I anticipated, both parks are at capacity (Universal's laughably dangerously high limited version of it), and by all accounts the place looks like a nightmare once again just like Labor Day weekend. They know darn well this isn't going to be for this weekend only, and it was severely irresponsible for them to tell the public that it was.

They never said it would only be for this weekend. They explicitly referred to it as a test.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Every available Universal resort hotel room was sold out for Fri. and Sat. nights. Both parks reached capacity early on Sat. but neither of them hit capacity on Sun. (The rain helped with that).

The biggest complaint at GS was that the VL reached capacity in 2 mins. But with Hagrid's and RotR doing the same for a year they can deal with it. And on Sat. they released more VL spots about 4pm. And about 7pm they went to Stand-by. Sun. was manageable all day (rain). The second biggest complaint was long lines for food. Mostly because of under staffing.

The "test" seems to have been a resounding success. I expect them to announce a named event in the next day or two.

And hire back some staff at least part time. And possibly reopen one of their shuttered hotels.

 

[BlackCauldron]

Well said. Their huge lapse in handling of covid is a shame because they were doing a fantastic job when they re-opened originally. Better than Disney. Now it seems Disney are the only theme parks that are open that are still fully enforcing their covid procedures.

Happend to be at both parks on Saturday. It was the last day of our three day Universal stay. And it was dangerously crowded. Many walkways were so jammed you were elbow to elbow with people (note - Thursday and Friday were both fine, except for the two Potter areas, which are always pinch points). Capacity was so high that it took 30 minutes to even get on Mummy using the Express line.

In 5 minutes, I saw more people walking around with masks pulled down than I did during my entire 10 day stay at Disney earlier in my trip.
Social distancing markers in the queues not being followed - had to tell several people to kindly back up and stop breathing down my neck.
There were no cast members ANYWHERE, both in the common public areas or in the queues, to enforce the rules. People walking around vaping, smoking in non-designated areas, walking around with food and drink in hand, mask pulled down, and one party smoking weed off in the corner by Ripsaw. The general feel of the park on Saturday was that it was a local's personal playground and they were going to do whatever they felt like doing.

We finally threw in the towel and left around 2PM because we just didn't feel safe. It was similar to the feel of HS that prior Monday, but the difference is that HS had all of the crowds absorbed into queues (walkways were mostly empty), and at Universal the crowds were quite literally everywhere.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Happend to be at both parks on Saturday. It was the last day of our three day Universal stay. And it was dangerously crowded. Many walkways were so jammed you were elbow to elbow with people (note - Thursday and Friday were both fine, except for the two Potter areas, which are always pinch points). Capacity was so high that it took 30 minutes to even get on Mummy using the Express line.

In 5 minutes, I saw more people walking around with masks pulled down than I did during my entire 10 day stay at Disney earlier in my trip.
Social distancing markers in the queues not being followed - had to tell several people to kindly back up and stop breathing down my neck.
There were no cast members ANYWHERE, both in the common public areas or in the queues, to enforce the rules. People walking around vaping, smoking in non-designated areas, walking around with food and drink in hand, mask pulled down, and one party smoking weed off in the corner by Ripsaw. The general feel of the park on Saturday was that it was a local's personal playground and they were going to do whatever they felt like doing.

We finally threw in the towel and left around 2PM because we just didn't feel safe. It was similar to the feel of HS that prior Monday, but the difference is that HS had all of the crowds absorbed into queues (walkways were mostly empty), and at Universal the crowds were quite literally everywhere.

That was my last weekend experience too - as in not last weekend but the last time I went on a weekend. I can imagine how much worse it would be with the trashy crowds that HHN draws in.

 

[BlackCauldron]

That was my last weekend experience too - as in not last weekend but the last time I went on a weekend. I can imagine how much worse it would be with the trashy crowds that HHN draws in.

The pool at Royal Pacific was just as bad on Saturday. We left the parks around 2, thinking we would just relax in a mostly empty pool since everyone would be at the parks. Boy were we wrong. It was jam packed. Chairs were not distanced, nor were they disinfected between parties. It was so crowded that it was impossible to distance in the pool itself. And then, as you say, there was the "trashy" crowd bringing their beers and margaritas into the pool, SPILLING THEM in the pool, and nothing was ever said by the staff. Major disappointment for a "deluxe" level hotel.

This was all in stark contrast to our stay at Portofino last year, which was exceptional, and our stay at AKL earlier in the week. If you didn't look at the calendar, you would have sworn it was peak summer season at Universal on Saturday.

 

[Bob Harlem]

 

[thelookingglass]

Universal's COVID procedures are basically just lip service on weekends now. It's sad and kind of scary. Even if the employees attempt to enforce the rules, it means f--- all when:

1. There are too many people in the park, way more than Universal promised they would limit, making social distancing impossible in many areas.
2. The weekend trash that Universal pulls in combined with the trash that HHN pulls in means a sea of sketchy people doing whatever they want.

Very happy to see that they came to their senses are and are offering these event every day. No way would I attempt it on a weekend.

 

[JoeCamel]

Very happy to see that they came to their senses are and are offering these event every day. No way would I attempt it on a weekend.

OK, I get the bashing, the event was mobbed and that was expected so should have been staffed for.

The expansion of the offerings will prevent that happening in the future. This was a one off that may turn out badly if there is spread traced to it but let's see what happens this weekend. This was billed as a "test".