Halloween Horror Nights 35 (UO) - Speculation & Rumors

[Captain Spaulding]

Well this makes the value for single express significantly more lol.

If this leads to shorter standby then that’s a positive. Having the express queues backed up in September was a bad look

 

[Parkscope Joe]

It sucks to see somethng taken away that you had good times with, especially if it introduces anxiety into your life.

Absolutely, on top of that, you also have to look at it from a perspective of feedback in general. This very much may not be a gain in finances thing, but a gain in experience which would result eventually in financial gain. The negative reactions upfront may be really bad from some people who really want to have the express with the tickets, but if it makes the overall experience better where it does actually feel like this spending $250 on express is worth it because the houses are all a five minute wait if even that, and then people in the regular standby lines aren’t waiting as long of a line as typical, then just the experience for the guest alone makes it a vastly good move. So I think it’s probably important to not even look at it from a financial perspective, but just look at it from a guest experience perspective and seeing that it potentially could just be a really really good experience for the guests.

Happier crowds are going to spend more because they’re happy.

Really want to emphaize this one. It seems that the #1 complaints on IU are always about lines at HHN and Express lines in particular when it gets flooded with guests. This is one of the ways they're trying to spread out crowds more and reduce lines.

Went back and looked, $458 for a ROF Express in 2022, $564 in 2023. $650 in 2024. Could get a full weekend planned out for us out of town folks, really was a cheat code to do Horror and a good amount of it. Get to see every house multiple times, get good runs in, etc. To do that same weekend, 4 days, ala carte, $1454. what a wild, wild change of the times. What was our annual trip, has now taken a massive hit for the future. charlie brown sad walk.gif.

(emphasis mine)

One of the underdiscussed parts here is how many folks, including me, saw this as a ridiculously good deal and a "cheat". I think there's an underdiscussed aspect when discussing Disney removing the ability of locals to use Disney Springs to resort hop for free... I MEAN Frequent Fear Passes with Express.

 

[HHNSK]

My hang up on this (I’m an Ultimate FFP buyer so I can access the occasional Saturday, but I never buy express) is that I’m not sure we know if it benefits the average guest yet. They could theoretically sell more single night express that just re-clog those lines I would think, plus I’m not sure if this means we should expect drastically limited / more expensive options for the passes that exclude express.

This is the big question. If the lines and crowds are more manageable I think this will be a lot easier to digest.

I’m curious if they will offer some form of multi night express option, but highly skeptical. My suspicion is they know they will sell enough single night express to both new and long time guests to easily cover whatever they lose from the loss of the FFP + express guests.

 

[CozzaFrenzy]

I only lurk here but figured I would throw my hat in the ring on this FFP + Express conversation.

I've personally been attending this event since 2002. My partner and I have been attending the event together for the last decade. We used to be locals but have moved out of state and we now make two separate trips per year for HHN. Once for opening weekend and once for the final week. Usually totaling around 10 nights. We have always purchased the FFP + Express because it makes the most sense for us and the event is truly less enjoyable waiting in standby lines. We're getting older and just can't do those lines anymore.

This change basically makes it so that our costs have more than tripled if we went to make the same trips we do every year. Realistically we are going to scale down our two trips, with 10 nights spread across both, to one trip for three nights total. This is such a massive bummer that I cannot put into words. We budget and plan for these trips literally all year. Our whole year revolves around planning for this event. For Universal to announce this change this late in the game is honestly a huge slap in the face to loyal customers like us. Individual night express passes have already increased significantly since they went on sale this year.

So now this ends with us going 7 nights less than we planned for. Universal is losing out on 7 hotel room nights from us, with 7 days of food and drinks at the resort, including at the day parks. Probably two lost tickets to Epic Universe now as well.

This leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth as someone who has loved this event for years. And on an anniversary year no less. They should have made this announcement months ago. This shows a complete lack of regard or respect for their longtime customers. This truly may be our last year attending.

 

[hunnylvr]

Universal's really twisting the knife though. Not only are they doing this but judging by how things are going, I'll bet Ozzy is probably like the last thing to get announced. In that sense this season must have been pure torture. xD (For the record, I'm also looking forward to the Ozzy house.)

I literally just said I'm not buying ANY tickets or Express until Ozzy is officially announced. I would be homicidal if I dropped the FOUR GRAND this is going to cost me only to find this was a big fat rumor all along.

 

[tim.amesquita89]

do we have any theories on the potential theme for new york scarezone

 

[Brian G.]

Universal Orlando has confirmed that it has discontinued all Frequent Fear with Express Pass options for Halloween Horror Nights 35, ending the long-running option that allowed guests to pair Express access with multi-night tickets.

Universal Orlando Discontinues Express Pass Option for Halloween Horror Nights 35 Frequent Fear and Rush of Fear Passes

Universal Orlando has confirmed that it has discontinued all Frequent Fear with Express Pass options for Halloween Horror Nights 35, ending the long-running option that allowed guests to pair Express access with multi-night tickets. In a statement, Universal said: "As we continue to evaluate our o

www.insideuniversal.net

 

[Kichkinet85]

do we have any theories on the potential theme for new york scarezone

Clowns

 

[mccgavin]

I get the concern, but I would not immediately assume this is the case. So far, Universal has been pretty conservative with its implementation of Express Now, primarily with existing unused Express capacity. Notably, it has not been used for Hagrid's since it removed Express, despite the insistence by many that it would.

 

[RedRightDan]

One of the underdiscussed parts here is how many folks, including me, saw this as a ridiculously good deal and a "cheat"

This exactly.

There’s a crowd problem. There’s a small but mighty ticket option that is helping contribute to that problem.

It was too good of a value and no longer fit with the original intention.

 

[Kichkinet85]

Really want to emphaize this one. It seems that the #1 complaints on IU are always about lines at HHN and Express lines in particular when it gets flooded with guests. This is one of the ways they're trying to spread out crowds more and reduce lines.

I'm glad you brought this up. It is crazy to me how every year people complain about the lines, express lines especially. On here or in any other HHN group, even while waiting in line. And when Uni actually does something to help the lines (express lines overall, express and stand by merge) people complain and say it's the worst decision. Uni can't win.

When they limited FFP w/express people said that was unfair (Yes, they could have done better and gave us a heads up) and that caused fans to go on the site early on and wait for the exact moment they dropped. Which was met with this is annoying and if you didn't get lucky and get it was also meet with negativity and people would say just don't sell them at all.

 

[Staggz]

This exactly.

There’s a crowd problem. There’s a small but mighty ticket option that is helping contribute to that problem.

It was too good of a value and no longer fit with the original intention.

HHN used to be a very different experience. Even as frequent as 2021, I specifically remember a time when stand by lines were just atrocious. I got multi night with express for the first time on my honeymoon in 2023 and it was indeed a cheat code for the way the event was going. That being said, last year in October we unexpectedly went a few nights without it and already with the limitations put onto it, our stand by experience was vastly different. We had as much fun and non-irritating lines as we did with express. It’s just not needed like it used to be.

There was really 3 options here, right? Make them much less restricted, making the express and stand by lines longer and more grueling, keep them limited and make it disappointing for people who couldn’t get it and still back up the queues, or get rid of them and make express and standby move more quickly.

I see a lot on FB and other places saying universal just wants to sell out of express every night and while I agree they’d see that as a net positive, I don’t see that being the ultimate goal here. Ultimately if I were universal, I’d limit the amount of single night express even more as well. If you’re offering it for $200+ a person, make it worth it, and keep everyone happy.

 

[Tereglith]

I would love to have access to the behind the scenes data to see how Pareto-y the express usage was. What % of all express slots were going to FFPE holders who visited every weekend or every night, vs. what % of Express revenue was driven by those passes? My guess is that the former was a lot higher than the latter, which means that there was a huge amount of consumer surplus going to the buyers of these passes. Hopefully ops is able to spread that consumer surplus around to everyone, nightly express-users and standby plebs alike, and make the event feel less constipated overall.

It sucks to lose it if you're one of the small core of people who was luxuriating in that consumer surplus... but I've always been a standby pleb so I am nothing but happy about this news.

 

[Tbad556]

At the end of the day, I'm sorry, but it's more important that a regular guest can see all 10 houses during their visit than a FFP user gets to express their way through their 10th run of the year. It's gotten harder and harder to suggest to people that they can fit every house in in one night over the past several years due to express bloat. I'm sorry that the cool perk doesn't exist anymore and I truly do miss the good ol' days of HHN pricing way back when, but it was the logical choice at this stage of HHN crowds/fandom and I applaud Universal for seemingly (unless they really pivot hard on single day express) doing right by the average guest (even though that is not me).

I also greatly encourage people to use that money they'll be saving to go see other haunts! There are so many underrated haunts both in Orlando and throughout the country that deserve love. /soapbox

 

[Jerroddragon]

At the end of the day, I'm sorry, but it's more important that a regular guest can see all 10 houses during their visit than a FFP user gets to express their way through their 10th run of the year. It's gotten harder and harder to suggest to people that they can fit every house in in one night over the past several years due to express bloat. I'm sorry that the cool perk doesn't exist anymore and I truly do miss the good ol' days of HHN pricing way back when, but it was the logical choice and I applaud Universal for it.

What if they just sell more express tickets a night?

This is the one thing I've seen people worried about

I agree if wait times are down this sound like mostly a win but if its just another way to make money then sucks for locals

 

[maxairmike]

To put into perspective the issue raised by @Parkscope Joe and pair it with value proposition mentioned by @Captain Spaulding for a multi-night Express option, this should show how severely underpriced (IMO) the passes w/Express still were even last year.

For RoF w/Express last year getting you 18 nights and the idea of multi-night Express being let’s say $80/night, we’ll go with a nightly cost of $90. That means a RoF with a still heavily discounted Express value “should be” $1,620 vs the $690 it was. Getting something for 1/10 of its list price is absolutely insane. Even if you want to go with only about double the cost of the nightly Express value, it “should be” $1,080. That’s keeping the approx. $10/night base admission cost and a $50/night Express price. Scale that up across each of the pass tiers and yeah, the prices “should have” been far higher while still providing an insane value considering the list price of Express.

I do think a multi-night pass and/or standalone Express option in the same kind of structure as a normal vacation package is a good idea for non-local (former) FFP buyers, and maybe this change in multi-night passes eventually leads to that.

 

[Tbad556]

What if they just sell more express tickets a night?

This is the one thing I've seen people worried about

I agree if wait times are down this sound like mostly a win but if its just another way to make money then sucks for locals

Caught me mid-edit. If they decide to both make FFP holders angry AND continue to bloat express pissing off the average guest, that would be a wild decision lol. Won't put it past them until I see it in action though.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Echoing the sentiments of @Parkscope Joe - it was a cheat code. And Universal likely had to weight the option of "keep it and raise it to an astronomical price or get rid of it" - and decided that it was best to pull the plug.

Imagine this - a single day ticket plus express for Epic Universe is $350. But a ticket is introduced that gets you into the park 40 times with express for only $1200. That'd be insane, right?

 

[Freak]

You guys upset that you will no longer get to attend for multiple nights with no express?

***Laughs in HHN Hollywood***

I was born by long lines.....MOLDED by them!

 

[Captain Spaulding]

So should they get rid of the Free Hotel Express "Cheat" too? 1 night stay, 2 days of express for 5 people.