Halloween Horror Nights 34 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[CaretakerBajaBlast]

The hardest of the hardcore were audibly down on last year. Just speculation on my part. By any metric, the streets and icons were lackluster. And quite frankly, it was all over the place. Couple that with rising costs across the board. Recipe for disaster.

I felt like I was getting ripped off left and right. Let my AP lapse and haven’t booked a trip for this year.

I told this story recently, but I did not invest in my usual Frequent Fear Plus with express this year due to last year’s event. I know it doesn’t matter to the bean counters, but when I paid over $900 for my pass and I went just enough to reach my break even, I couldn’t justify throwing that chunk of change at them again. Last year was a startling decline in quality compared to the previous, and that year was already showing declining returns in the streets.

I’m not a Scarezone guy, and I’ll maybe spend 6 hours in the zones total over the event (usually attending between 15-20 nights). But their effect on the mood and effectiveness of the event can’t be understated- they are essential to the feel of everything.

I compared last year to a bad movie in a beloved franchise: it really tanks your enjoyment and excitement going forward. They seem to be on the right path, but they have a lot to make up for before I’m fully back on the HHN train. Some of it is getting older and more jaded, I’m sure. But I know last year really shook a lot of people up.

 

[Tereglith]

I just don’t see how we get “good” zones back without crowds majorly dropping off to pre-2012 levels. There’s only so much Universal can do to make a good street (outside of NY) when the arteries of the park are constantly clogged.

I only started attending in 2021 so I never experienced "the good old days" but I felt like last year's zones were a pronounced drop-off even from the other years I've experienced. I haven't yet been to an event where every scare zone was good (31 and 32 are close but Conjure the Dark and Zodiac didn't do it for me, respectively). But 33 was the first one I've been to where none of them were very good.

SF and Central Park are obviously constrained by the crowd issue but I've seen them work okay (Shipyard, Scarecrow). Hollywood isn't really congested at all because there's no house portals anywhere near it anymore, so it should be able to work just as well as NY. I've only seen it live up to its full potential with Deadly Unrest but I'm very hopeful for Masquerade.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I felt like I was getting ripped off left and right. Let my AP lapse and haven’t booked a trip for this year.

Is that the only reason?

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

I’m all in on these zones being the best in recent years. I would even say that though it’s still early, Cat lady may end up being the best Central Park zone I’ve seen.

 

[RGMick77]

There is a review thread on here from last year’s event and l remember the sentiment was a lot of “this year felt off” and “I left feeling unsatisfied”.

I have to imagine the surveys Universal got back had a lot of similar responses.

While there were good things about last year, it just didn’t rise to the level of quality we know Universal is capable of. And that’s a big problem when the prices for almost everything have gotten so much more expensive in such a short time.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

While 2024 is on the low end of years I've attended - i still place it above 2016 in my rankings.

 

[Legacy]

While 2024 is on the low end of years I've attended - i still place it above 2016 in my rankings.

And, largely, I think it’s important to point out that some years, for whatever reason, they just don’t *click.* And it has nothing to really do with the IPs, or the designs, or the direction, or the performances. Sometimes, HHN is greater than the sum of its parts. Sometimes, it’s less. Trying to pinpoint a specific reason (or person) as to “why XX year was a bad year” is futile.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Here's your Wanta Fanta booth.

 

[Killer Klown]

While 2024 is on the low end of years I've attended - i still place it above 2016 in my rankings.

Even though 2016 had the masterpiece that was Krampus?

 

[Lucky Planet]

There is a review thread on here from last year’s event and l remember the sentiment was a lot of “this year felt off” and “I left feeling unsatisfied”.

I have to imagine the surveys Universal got back had a lot of similar responses.

While there were good things about last year, it just didn’t rise to the level of quality we know Universal is capable of. And that’s a big problem when the prices for almost everything have gotten so much more expensive in such a short time.

and I wonder if sales for merch were down. or something like that.
maybe it had nothing to do with surveys but maybe people weren't buying stuff.
and even on Twitter and insta I saw some complaints about last year. the online engagement was off. people weren't as hyped up.

While 2024 is on the low end of years I've attended - i still place it above 2016 in my rankings.

And, largely, I think it’s important to point out that some years, for whatever reason, they just don’t *click.* And it has nothing to really do with the IPs, or the designs, or the direction, or the performances. Sometimes, HHN is greater than the sum of its parts. Sometimes, it’s less. Trying to pinpoint a specific reason (or person) as to “why XX year was a bad year” is futile.

yeah 2012 will still be the all time "worst" year for me overall. I still had some good moments. but I remember feeling so let down. and it wasn't just one bad house or one bad element in the streets, but the whole thing overall felt very off. the hordes, some of them were cool but some of them were pretty not good.
from my first year in 2006, 2012 was when I felt a drop . I don't know if it was a new team or something.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

and I wonder if sales for merch were down. or something like that.
maybe it had nothing to do with surveys but maybe people weren't buying stuff.
and even on Twitter and insta I saw some complaints about last year. the online engagement was off. people weren't as hyped up.

I didn't LOVE the merch, but I did like the Insidious long sleeve. It was nice to have an HHN shirt to wear in Cold NY that wasn't a sweatshirt for once. I also like that they are experimenting with different colors t-shirts than just black. Not all work, but I appreciate the effort there.
Now I wish they would get back to cool 3D coffee mugs instead of those paste on plane sticker looking ones that fade in the dishwasher.

 

[Tobias]

yeah 2012 will still be the all time "worst" year for me overall. I still had some good moments. but I remember feeling so let down. and it wasn't just one bad house or one bad element in the streets, but the whole thing overall felt very off. the hordes, some of them were cool but some of them were pretty not good.
from my first year in 2006, 2012 was when I felt a drop . I don't know if it was a new team or something.

At its core, 2012 was one of those off-years, because you had a house lineup which seemed fine on paper, but ultimately didn't deliver. And it doesn't help it's right off the heels of 2011 which is considered one of the better years with a stellar house line-up, and that made all the faults of 2012 stand out all the worse. In many ways, we had the same experience with 2023 and 2024. While 2024 was nowhere near as bad as 2012, it still felt like a downgrade compared to 2023 which was a very good year across the board.