Ideas to Fix Capacity Issues

[DTH316]

As you may know, HHNH has some slight capacity issues. The last couple of years, there's only been one show and the Terror Tram to alleviate crowds from the queues of mazes and rides. Shows eat into the budget, so maybe that's not the answer? But what if budget isn't an issue, how do we fix the show problem?

Thursdays and Sunday nights after Terror Tram closure also creates a big problem: all the guests are jammed into the park. On a normal night, Terror Tram closes around midnight, which by this time, some of the crowds have thinned. However, 9 PM is still arrival time for some guests meaning things get very compact, not just in the queues but in the walkways.

I've come up with a few ways to fix the problem. Feel free to come up with your own ideas as well. Universal, if you somehow stumble across this, please use some of these ideas! We're here to help you!

1) Holding areas for shows

- Some may say Shrek and T2 show buildings don't have enough queue area to get people into the shows. But who said they had to be where the actual buildings are? For Shrek, crowds wanting to see whatever show is in there could be held in the Waterworld switchbacks area. Indicate this on the map and with people holding signs by Waterworld and by the entrance to the Shrek building. It's not a far walk from Waterworld to Shrek, so there shouldn't be too many problems with line cutting or people getting... lost.

- Same thing can be done with T2. Have show attendees wait in the Court of Miracles area where Insult Emporium used to be. Plenty of space in there and an even smaller distance between the holding area and the show area. Switchbacks could be made in there, if need be, but I think having those who come early go all the way toward the front of wherever they're going to exit the Court from. Pretty much like the pre-show room situation. Shrek may be the harder one to accomplish but it's definitely doable and T2, it's almost like no excuse as to why that's not being done... unless there's like... fire codes I don't know about, but considering since the maze is there during the day time too, I don't see the problem.

2) Re-routing queues & exits

- T2 and Shrek buildings fall victim to queues being in the way of entering the show areas. But really, it's just the exit that's the problem. The T2 maze files people out directly in front of the T2 show building entrance. So how about....... not? There's plenty of room to have people line into the pre-show room of T2. Just don't make the show... have a pre-show! Just literally make that the queue area to wait and see the show. Play some funny clips on the screens for all I care, but a pre-show isn't needed. Where do early arrivals go? On... the... ramp? It's not the biggest ramp in the world, by all means, but it could be filled with early arrivals. Extras can be held off to the side by where the grill is... there could be a few switchbacks there, even. And with extra shows going on, and with lots of people still in mazes or rides, early arrivals for whatever's in the T2 building wouldn't even be that big of a problem.

- Shrek, here's a bit of a rerouting idea: have show crowds enter through the usual maze exit and have people exiting the maze exit through the usual maze FOL route & left side exit of the building. The villain popping out from behind the curtain is a great gag and all, but I think we can sacrifice this so we can stuff people into an area to reduce wait times. As for FOL holders, the switchbacks can be modified easily.

3) Fill up dead venues

- Animal Actors & Waterworld stages just sits dead every night and its a shame. Those places could fill in so many people. So maybe the animals can't sleep with a loud show going on. And the neighbors complain of Waterworld's loud effects. How about earlier shows in the night for both? I know for a fact that the Animal Actors stage has regular showings up until 9 PM on late summer nights. Same with Waterworld. And which time does the Terror Tram close their queue? 9! And this is done to get everyone out by 10 - 11 PM, which is when the neighbors want peace and quiet. Okay, so try this: start your Animal Actors show at 9 and be out of there by 9:20. Start your Waterworld show at 9:30 and be out of there by 10. Obviously there'd be a show or two beforehand but these 9 o'clock slots are the important part. 10 o'clock is a real problem because than EEEEEVERYONE is filed into the park by than, but at least it lowers the crowds by a good margin for an extra hour. And what about the employees who came to help run a show for only 2 performances? Send them to another show venue.

4) Dance zones

- I know, I'm not crazy about them either but other people are. The automatic assumption here though is alcohol is needed to make this fun. However, I think as long as there's an adequete DJ on hand, it could pull in a hundred people or so every thirty minutes. That's 100 people not in front of you in line! Where would this take place though? We've seen this in front of The Simpsons... but it looks odd there, if ya ask me. I've also seen this in front of the Terror Tram entrance and there's just not enough space. So if you're not going to have the Animal Actors show, how about put the DJ in front of it? There's quite some space there, as long as it's not too loud for animals still. Don't wanna use the Court of Miracles for insults, holding areas or dining? Ah, space there as well! Might ruin the ambience for the two scarezones over there, so... what's nice and out of the way? Maybe even enclosed? T2 pre-show! Too small? I don't think so, but fine. Shrek pre-show! Too much noise bleeding into the maze? K... out front of Waterworld! Ain't jack goin' on over there anyway. Space needed for people to come through for the Gibson?........ well crap, I guess we can just stick with the Simpsons... just relocate the DJ more toward the wall/cliff instead of smack dab in front of the escalators. Jeez.

5) Fastpass redirection system

"Oooooh, yaaaay, Silent Hill, here I come -- 2 hour wait?! Oh, what's this? A front of the line pass to come back in 2 hours instead of waiting in line? Perfect! And what's this? Visit Jurassic Cafe or Panda Express with 15% off?! Totally gonna use that! Free ponchos for Jurassic Park? I would go on that ride if I didn't get wet, so this is perfect!" Or what about those who enter a line longer than an hour get a front of the line pass for Jurassic Park, The Mummy or The Simpsons? It would really spread people out! Instead of hitting a maze next, they're spending their time on an attraction. There's other ways to make this work, similar to the way they relocate people from heading into Carsland after they grab a FP, they give them another FP that's good to use right away so they won't fill up the land as soon as the park opens.

What are some of your ideas?

[Mr.HHN]

I think if they keep Transformers open that might eat away some crouds. Also they can have King Kong express again.

[Ridesandstuff]

^they can't have kong kong anymore, unless they found another place to put the trams since the jurassic park queue is a maze location now. I kind of wish they'd found another way though.

[DTH316]

King Kong Express could be the Spanish Studio Tour queue. It's kinda small but I'm sure they can work it out.

[Ridesandstuff]

Hope so, id realty like for them to bring it back. I'm probably the minority but I think it fits fine with HHN.

[horror lover]

Bring in a new show...

[Mr.HHN]

King Kong express could go good in the spanish queue. I would really like it back also sometimes ive thought of this but I dont think it would work because of TT and the neighbors but they could have the whole studio tour at night which would make it creepier but again we cant because of TT and the annoying neighbors.

[Hauntfan]

Why don't they open King Kong express once the Terror Tram closes. Use the regular studio tour line and it would solve the problem of people being out on the streets after 9 PM. Just have King Kong Express open at 9:30, so they have time to get ready, and it would be a people eater.

[DTH316]

^ Genius idea Hauntfan. Hell, they could do King Kong AND Jaws. I've never seen Jaws at night so I would personally take that trip.

Plus it would make our joke all the more better :-P

Only problem is people would complain on regular nights that there's no Skull Island & Amity Island Express

[Trevler]

1 minor correction. The 'court of miricales' is actually called Parisian Courtyard. The actual Court of Miricales is on the backlot in little Europe. Also, they used that area for the VIP lounge last year and since it was quite successful I'm sure they will bring that back. I also don't think it's big enough to hold T2s capicity.

[Ridesandstuff]

^ Genius idea Hauntfan. Hell, they could do King Kong AND Jaws. I've never seen Jaws at night so I would personally take that trip.

Plus it would make our joke all the more better :-P

Only problem is people would complain on regular nights that there's no Skull Island & Amity Island Express

Maybe even the jurassic park part too?

[DTH316]

Ohhh, I was walking through it a week or so ago and I saw a few plaques that all said "Court of Miracles" haha I was thinking it was odd since it was already on the backlot but then I figured, "eh, it's a theme park." And it doesn't necessarily have to remain within the courtyard, I was thinking it could stretch back toward Mel's Diner (passed Chucky's patio area), which about doubles the amount of people.

I'm sure they can relocate the VIP area... there's so much under utilized space during HHN.

[Ridesandstuff]

Maybe they can open up the flintstone game area, and put some magic shows or sideshows there.

[electro_killer]

Not to mention Transformers is now open. That will def eat up some of the crowds.

[DTH316]

^ Hopefully.

And I think they keep Flinstones open just for the sake of having games around since it brings in a lot of money. And putting anything too permanent there would ruin daytime cash flow also. So I don't think we'll ever see the Flinstones area be utilized for HHN.

[Freak]

I don't know how I missed this thread. Funny that the last post was made before HHN even started this year!

As we all have seen this year, there were waaaaay too many people this year. It's apparent that they oversold the tickets this year. Lines should never be 2+ hours for a haunted house...ever. You have no idea how many GP I know of that have gone and hated the event just because they spent their entire time waiting in line for one house.

It's no wonder the lines were so awful is because, just by the park is laid out, that's the only place the people can go! Just the lines! Here's what they need to do to improve capacity:

1) Add shows. With Bill and Ted, there needs to be at least two shows. They need to have one in the WaterWorld arena since that one can eat up the post amount of people. What they should do is have Bill and Ted in WaterWorld (I'd love to see them do this like they did in 2000) and have a Beetlejuice show of some sort in the SES theater. I don't think having Bill and Ted in WaterWorld will be an issue since they will have the sound walls up now.

2) Have Despicable Me open during HHN. This should help with the crowds a tad. I thought Transformers would REALLY help with the crowds this year, but I guess they used that as an excuse to oversell the tickets.

3) Pretty obvious, but a seventh house. I have no idea where on earth they would put it, but they could have the Terror Tram switch to the lower lot and have two houses in the Tram plaza. If budget will be an issue, they should make a "cheap" house that focuses more on the lighting like Dead Exposure or even the In-Between from Orlando's event.

[DTH316]

I thought i'd revive this thread in hopes that the powers that be will actually take some of our ideas in to consideration this year!

Edited July 5, 2013 by DTH316