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Guest kiwisoup

eh, Diagon Alley is a double-edged sword in my opinion.

 

Sure, it'll be a people eater, but at the same time, how many people do you think are now going to attend because it's open? Safety codes have probably increased park capacity because of the opening, and I think the wait times will suffer because of it.

Sorry, but I think you're way off base. Capacity only matters if there's sell outs which very rarely happens. If people go just because Diagon Alley, they will spend more time in Diagon Alley than house lines or they will go during the day. I think a 9th house, and all of Diagon Alley being open will make house lines shorter. If you think otherwise, you're crazy.

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Can you still buy tours after HHN has started? and will the second week of september tours be sold out before a week or so?

You can definitely buy tours after HHN has started. I think the Saturdays will fill up quickest, but I think the September dates might not fill up that quick compared to the October ones. You can always call and see the availability/spots left on the tour for your date.

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Sorry, but I think you're way off base. Capacity only matters if there's sell outs which very rarely happens. If people go just because Diagon Alley, they will spend more time in Diagon Alley than house lines or they will go during the day. I think a 9th house, and all of Diagon Alley being open will make house lines shorter. If you think otherwise, you're crazy.

A 9th house and Diagon Alley increases the amount of tickets they can sell immensely. More to do means more people. You might not feel it on a Wednesday or Thursday, but I'd predict the lines during Hell Week and on peak nights will still be over 90 minutes.

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Can you still buy tours after HHN has started? and will the second week of september tours be sold out before a week or so?

Tours are already selling out. Sept 18th, 19th and 25th are sold out totally. The 24th and 27th only has one more tour group with spots open per tour (10:30 and 2:00). The 26th only has the morning tour left to book. 

The combo tour (doing both for a cheaper price) is really selling out. In Sept, the only date left is the 24th!

Keep in mind, the earlier tours through the first week of Oct. are slightly higher in price as well.  Starting Oct 7th, the combo tour drops $10 in price and the single tour drops $5 in price. 

Still, if you really want to do the tour, its best not to wait! It's normally not easy to get a last minute tour. You can cancel up to 48 hours before tour time (so I was told) so you can snag a last minute one but its not common!

Sorry, but I think you're way off base. Capacity only matters if there's sell outs which very rarely happens. If people go just because Diagon Alley, they will spend more time in Diagon Alley than house lines or they will go during the day. I think a 9th house, and all of Diagon Alley being open will make house lines shorter. If you think otherwise, you're crazy.

The thing is, with Diagon and a 9th house, capacity has gone up a ton! Totally made up numbers, but lets say last year with 8 houses and no Diagon, they could sell 20,000 tickets per night. This year with a 9th house and a massive land being open, they can sell 25,000 tickets before they reach capacity. That's theoretically 5,000 extra people that are not going to spend the entire night inside the 9th house and Diagon but will instead be roaming the park just like everybody else. 

Sure having these two things will help sometimes, but Diagon is not going to be the thing people rush to. Those extra 5,000 people will be rushing to the houses just like always. Crowds are going to be even bigger this year because of the fact that they can let more people into the park. I highly doubt people are going to attend the event just because Diagon is open. The only reason Diagon is even open is not because fans wanted it. It's because they needed to increase park capacity because they want to let more guest in. Universal is not keeping an entire land filled with shops staffed and an expensive ride to operate open because they were feeling nice. They did it because they can now sell a LOT more tickets to offset the cost. 

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when are you going? I leave the UK Oct 10th so I really need to k ow what houses etc are on what tours in time to book my tickets for the trip!

I'm doing the tours Oct 3rd.  For HHN22, the first time we did one tour, I remember saying something to the guide at the end when they ask for feedback with how they did and I asked if he was doing any afternoon tours the next few days that we were there, and his response was "We're sold out for the next few weeks". We always go the last week of Sept/first week of Oct so I would assume ALL tours sell out if the first 2 weeks sell out.

Booked mine for Sat so I'll go to HHN Thur and Fri night, do the tours to see everything with the lights on, then go Sat and Sun again.  That's REALLY the way to do it.  Go to the event first (obviously) so as to not spoil the scares, but then go back and do them after as it really changes the houses...you notice sooooo much more.  Plus, you're looking for stuff you saw with the lights on and are distracted and the scareactors take notice and scare the bejesus out of you since it's obvious your mind is wandering :)  

 

Edited by Oysterhead00
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The park map has been updated to fix all the entrance/exit errors. Unfortunately AWIL had the correct entrance location and is getting the music plaza as the queue. 

The exit for RUN is "near Disaster! entrance". At least its not way over by MIB but it still seems weird. If this is the real map that the public is getting and not just for Employee Preview, guests will not know where Disaster's entrance is since it is totally gone. Also, the whole front of the building is boarded up with construction walls. A small part of me really wants to see them use the old Disaster pre-show areas as part of the house with the last scene having guests pass through the subway train and exit where the ride normally would. This is the only chance they have to do this and I hope they take advantage of it (plus explains why it closed before HHN is over. Its not like they can destroy the building until HHN is over anyway).

Alice enters and exits at Mel's.

Walking dead now exits by Animal Actors.

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Guest kiwisoup

Tours are already selling out. Sept 18th, 19th and 25th are sold out totally. The 24th and 27th only has one more tour group with spots open per tour (10:30 and 2:00). The 26th only has the morning tour left to book. 

The combo tour (doing both for a cheaper price) is really selling out. In Sept, the only date left is the 24th!

Keep in mind, the earlier tours through the first week of Oct. are slightly higher in price as well.  Starting Oct 7th, the combo tour drops $10 in price and the single tour drops $5 in price. 

Still, if you really want to do the tour, its best not to wait! It's normally not easy to get a last minute tour. You can cancel up to 48 hours before tour time (so I was told) so you can snag a last minute one but its not common!

The thing is, with Diagon and a 9th house, capacity has gone up a ton! Totally made up numbers, but lets say last year with 8 houses and no Diagon, they could sell 20,000 tickets per night. This year with a 9th house and a massive land being open, they can sell 25,000 tickets before they reach capacity. That's theoretically 5,000 extra people that are not going to spend the entire night inside the 9th house and Diagon but will instead be roaming the park just like everybody else. 

Sure having these two things will help sometimes, but Diagon is not going to be the thing people rush to. Those extra 5,000 people will be rushing to the houses just like always. Crowds are going to be even bigger this year because of the fact that they can let more people into the park. I highly doubt people are going to attend the event just because Diagon is open. The only reason Diagon is even open is not because fans wanted it. It's because they needed to increase park capacity because they want to let more guest in. Universal is not keeping an entire land filled with shops staffed and an expensive ride to operate open because they were feeling nice. They did it because they can now sell a LOT more tickets to offset the cost. 

You guys are acting like sell out nights are a common occurrence...they happen like once or twice a year, don't they? I don't see why anyone would assume they would utilize that larger capacity more than rare instances.

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The park map has been updated to fix all the entrance/exit errors. Unfortunately AWIL had the correct entrance location and is getting the music plaza as the queue. 

The exit for RUN is "near Disaster! entrance". At least its not way over by MIB but it still seems weird. If this is the real map that the public is getting and not just for Employee Preview, guests will not know where Disaster's entrance is since it is totally gone. Also, the whole front of the building is boarded up with construction walls. A small part of me really wants to see them use the old Disaster pre-show areas as part of the house with the last scene having guests pass through the subway train and exit where the ride normally would. This is the only chance they have to do this and I hope they take advantage of it (plus explains why it closed before HHN is over. Its not like they can destroy the building until HHN is over anyway).

Alice enters and exits at Mel's.

Walking dead now exits by Animal Actors.

I updated on the individual house topics.

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You guys are acting like sell out nights are a common occurrence...they happen like once or twice a year, don't they? I don't see why anyone would assume they would utilize that larger capacity more than rare instances.

I think with this year being a big anniversary, having an Icon back and some very solid marketing taking place, they are expecting this year to be the most crowded yet. Every year it keeps getting more crowded and maybe last year it was really close to reaching capacity almost nightly so they have to do something. Time will tell I guess. 

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The event has continued to grow in attendance exponentially since 2012. The event has always gotten more crowded year after year, save a few between 04-10 due to the economic drought; but once TWD and other big IPs started becoming the main draw every year, it brought in a steady flow of even more fans. This year, you've got the most houses in history, TWD (which is as big of a draw as ever, despite it being the 4th incarnation), the 2 biggest horror icons of all time (up for debate, but that's my opinion), the most successful house of the IP-centric years, the most popular mainstream horror franchise that's already being billed as a terrifying house even when incomplete, and the most popular scarezone of the IP-centric years coming back as a house. That right there is a HUGE range of big fan groups. Couple that with strong word of mouth from people who've gone the past few years or more, and this year's going to drag in more people than ever before. Will it sell out every night? No. Will it sell out at all? There's a chance during the last week before October, but with the added capacity, even with a larger attendance rate, I can't see them capping off tickets (even if they should).

 

Now the rest, including Jack, will not be the focus of attention for 90% of the attendants. Jack is the most recognizable icon of HHN history, and he's a clown, so people who have been going since at least 2010 will know who he is, so that will get their attention, but I'm willing to bet that most of the people who will attend have no idea who he is. But they'll see he's on a lot of the merch, is the main marketing point, has a house, and has a show. This will let everyone know he's a big deal, and will in turn make M&M a big draw as well, especially if it's as amazing as they're touting it to be.

 

Alice is a well known IP, and is 3D, so that will make it more desirable, but it's location has me concerned. It's hidden behind Mel's down a street next to no one uses. I have a feeling a lot of people won't even know it's there, but once Jack's show ends after every performance, I can see the line filling up, much like Insidious will after B&T, since it's right there. Body Collectors has been used quite a bit so it's recognizable and will draw some longer attendees and all of us of course, but I think the main thing that will drive this line up is strictly based on location. The exit for it and FvJ runs parallel with the entrance for BC, and for everyone exiting FvJ, a lot will just waltz right into BC's line without thinking or even checking the wait time. That's the only reason a house like Dracula Untold got to 160min waits last year, otherwise that line would've been a LOT shorter, had the entrance not run parallel to AvP's exit.

 

Now RUN is the tricky one. Virtually no one attending will have any idea it's returning from the past, and even less will know the significance of Hellgate. If this house turns out very strong, I can see it having low wait times at the beginning, then once word of mouth gets out, wait times will rise. Otherwise, I doubt this house ever sees a 90 min wait throughout the entire event.

My predictions for max waits throughout the event: Insidious: 150(only because it's right next to B&T, and that crowd destroys tent 2's line every year, regardless of the house), FvJ/TWD/M&M: 120, Purge/AWiL/BC: 90, Alice/RUN: 75

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My predictions for waits at their highest in different night tiers:

TWD: 120 minutes off-peak, 140 moderate, 180 peak

FVJ and Insidious: 90 off-peak, 140 moderate, 180 peak

M&M and Purge: 60 off-peak, 120 moderate, 150 peak

AWIL, Body Collectors, Asylum, and Run: 40 off-peak, 90 moderate, 120 peak

 

The originals in the last tier could change depending on word of mouth.

Edited by Dead Inside
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I doubt we see 180min waits this year. For instance, look at the difference between 2012 and 2013, when they added a house and attendance shot up again. 2012 saw 90-200min waits for all 7 houses every night of the event. 2012 only saw up to 130-140min waits on the worst of nights, where as non peak nights only saw 75-90min waits for all houses. 

I'm not saying wait times will go down that much again, but adding the house plus Diagon being open will prevent lines from reaching 180. 150 I'm sure will happen, but only the worst of nights, and probably only Insidious due to location. Lines should be much more manageable this time around.

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My predictions for waits at their highest in different night tiers:

TWD: 120 minutes off-peak, 140 moderate, 180 peak

FVJ and Insidious: 90 off-peak, 140 moderate, 180 peak

M&M and Purge: 60 off-peak, 120 moderate, 150 peak

AWIL, Body Collectors, Asylum, and Run: 40 off-peak, 90 moderate, 120 peak

 

The originals in the last tier could change depending on word of mouth.

I feel like AWIL and M&M will be higher than that. Jack is everywhere! People are going to want to go into his house. AWIL is being promoted as the house that was "so popular they had to bring it back" so that is going to make people want to see what all the hype is about. I keep seeing a lot of people say that this will be their first or 2nd year attending. Heck, this is only my 2nd year attending! A lot of people missed out on the house two years ago and the event just keeps getting more popular. 

I'm worried about next year. Disaster will be gone so there goes a house location. Twister, if all the rumors are true, will be shutting down before the year is done so there goes a portion of a queue. I feel like going back down to 8 houses is not an option any more and trying to make a spot for one of the queues with Twister gone is going to be a pain since they are so cramped for space in that section with 4 houses as it is. Either a third and fourth sprung tent need to be built (they have the land for it by the other two tents if you looks on google maps) or they might be forced into using IoA again. I feel like IoA is a better option to spread out the crowds more but they HAVE to fill both parks up. From what I have heard, when the event was in both parks there was a ton of dead space. Put 5 houses in each park and 3-4 scarezones in each park.

It seems to me that they have been working towards this. They tested out the whole "everyplace is a scarezone" so they could gauge feedback and people didn't like it. They slowly started bringing back scarezones and increasing the number of actors in each one and now know that scarezones are a requirement for the event. When the event was still small, they experimented with using IoA to see how crowd flow would work. They tried a couple different options for a few years to see what worked best. Once they tried the different models they went back to one park because the crowd size didn't require that much space, but at least they learned what worked so when the time came, they knew what would be successful instead of going in blind. This year they got permission to keep HP open which will be a test to see how that works out. If it works, they won't have to use the bridge in IoA and can let guests through Hogsmeade. I even feel like AWIL is a test to gauge how people feel about bringing a house back. They could do 10 houses next year and put 4 new ones in each park and one "reused" house per park. Also feel like the Jack show is a test to see how a "big" stage show is received again. It's been years since we had a big show like this (rocky horror I don't consider "big") and if people like it, they could keep B&T in the current location and use the Toon Lagoon theater for another big show. I feel like by the time the 30th anniversary rolls around, we will be in both parks for sure...possibly as soon as next year depending on how crowds go this year. 

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For the love of Murphy... Can we get Z Nation to replace TWD next year?

Agreed, but honestly I just don't want to have zombies anymore for the next few years. From 2010 to now, there's been 5 zombie houses, and depending on what you count the Walking Dead streets as, about 6-7 zombie scarezones, unless you just count TWD Streets as one. 

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I'm worried about next year. Disaster will be gone so there goes a house location. Twister, if all the rumors are true, will be shutting down before the year is done so there goes a portion of a queue. I feel like going back down to 8 houses is not an option any more and trying to make a spot for one of the queues with Twister gone is going to be a pain since they are so cramped for space in that section with 4 houses as it is. Either a third and fourth sprung tent need to be built (they have the land for it by the other two tents if you looks on google maps) or they might be forced into using IoA again. I feel like IoA is a better option to spread out the crowds more but they HAVE to fill both parks up.

To address the IOA part of this, don't expect that to happen.  From what I have been told (and I realize plans change) corporate wants to keep the event Studios only and has made a provision that any new attractions be built around the event staying only in the Studios.  Just because they are working on Twister does not mean they cannot keep the queue space there as we do not know what the plans for that attraction entail yet.  As far as where to put the ninth house, MIB queue was originally the spot this year until it got changed to the Shrek theater.  Therefore, losing Disaster probably means we are going to have house nine in the MIB queue space.

I wish I could agree with the sentiment that going down from nine is not an option, but everyone said that about the eight house count and look what happened in 2012.  I seriously doubt we would go below nine houses, but everything is an option as long as they keep making money off of the event.

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Don't know if there's already been posted a picture of the billboard at night, but just in case there hasn't........here's one! Here's for all the people who don't live close by and can't see it in person. 

image.jpg

Oh man, I cannot wait to get off my 10 hour flight and see this driving to my hotel, love spotting the billboard on our way in! 12 days till I arrive and 18 for HHN, so excited! 

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I'm not sure what the busy "hell week" times are, since I'm not local.  But last year I went on the 18th and was able to hit every house at least twice with enough time to drink in between.  So the crowds are fine as long as you work with it smartly.  This year I'm going on the 10th and 11th: anyone know if the crowds around that time are expected to be horrible?

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