I swear I'm not drying to be a dick, but I enjoy thought experiments like this
So lets say I'm a Seasonal Pass holder, which I am, and I'm allowed to do the Scream Early this year. But I also have a Rush of Fear + Express. I could, theoretically, do the stay and scream and get access to 3 houses at 2pm, then at 5:30/6:00 go back to the same as any non-passholder non-express attendee. And then 5 hours later, at 11pm, my $500+ add on express "kicks in". That's ridiculous.
How does that work? If the express line is what causes all the problems in the world and we want to avoid it , it would stand to reason that two things would happen. 1. The people that have express will still stand in regular lines starting at 6pm making the standby lines physically longer as while you don't have to merge with the express line, you have those same people in the regular line. 2. If aaaaaaaaall the express people, making the stand by lines unbearable start showing up at 11pm, the express lines are hours long starting at 11pm. Soooooo, you're paying $500+ (in my case) for the privilege to stand in longer lines later at night. Why would anybody buy an express pass? Why would Universal just flush all that express money down the toilets for the sake of alleviating crowds that they clearly haven't been concerned about at any time in the past.
I really don't see ANY logic to this argument at all. It's literally robbing the premium priced Paul, to pay the equally long queued waiting Mary.
"I swear I'm not drying to be a dick, but I enjoy thought experiments like this "
So do I, believe it or not. (
Certain fans here don't but that's their interpretation). Let's see if I can address some of the points in a
respectful way.
1.
"So lets say I'm a Seasonal Pass holder, which I am, and I'm allowed to do the Scream Early this year. But I also have a Rush of Fear + Express. I could, theoretically, do the stay and scream and get access to 3 houses at 2pm, then at 5:30/6:00 go back to the same as any non-passholder non-express attendee. And then 5 hours later, at 11pm, my $500+ add on express "kicks in". That's ridiculous."
You'll knock out 3 houses by the time the event starts at 6:30pm. It's hot, so you can take the time to have a hydration break (check out the food booths and grab drinks, ect.) for an hour. It's now 7:30pm. You can now check out the scarezones as it's getting darker at this point for an hr. It's now 8:30pm. You can monitor the wait times on the app and probably hit up the Sprung Tents 1-2 originals since originals usually have low wait times. Assume you spend 45 mins each at Tent 1 and 2, you've knocked out 5 houses by 10pm.
You now have 4 hours to complete the remaining 5 houses. And the Nightmare Fuel show. Easily doable with express after 10pm since the lines tend to be shorter. And keep in mind, you don't have to do ALL the houses/scarezones/shows EACH of the 18 nights you attend. You can, but you don't have to.
2.
"The people that have express will still stand in regular lines starting at 6pm making the standby lines physically longer as while you don't have to merge with the express line, you have those same people in the regular line."
Less people in express from 6:30 pm - 10:00pm means
improved merge ratios between holding up standby to let in express ticket holders.
So while standby lines might be "longer" the wait times might actually improve for standby since less express peeps are going to interrupt the flow/merge points with standby.
Jason Universe last year was a prime example of how express screwed with standby wait times with awful merge ratios.
3.
"Soooooo, you're paying $500+ (in my case) for the privilege to stand in longer lines later at night. Why would anybody buy an express pass?"
This is a fallacy. With a Rush of Fear pass, you're paying $500 to have express for 18 nights between 10pm-2am (4 hrs). Let's break down the cost: that would be $500/18 nights for a
theoretical cost of $27.78 to have 1/2 of the event with express pass. A bargain, especially if you attend 18 nights. Lets say you only attend 9 nights, $500/9 nights for a
theoretical cost of $55.56 for 1/2 of the event with express pass. Meanwhile express passes cost about $200 per night.
You're literally saving up to $150 per night.
4.
"Why would Universal just flush all that express money down the toilets for the sake of alleviating crowds that they clearly haven't been concerned about at any time in the past."
Because single night ticket holders that purchase single night express/non-private RIP/Private RIP (people like me) are more profitable and use less capacity than the multi-night ticket holders. Universal Orlando calls HHN their "13th" month because they drive that much additional revenue from the event.
Single night express tickets ALONE cover the base costs/investments Universal puts into each HHN event year. In single night, I drop over $6,000 between my Private RIP tour + admission tickets.
5.
"I really don't see ANY logic to this argument at all. It's literally robbing the premium priced Paul, to pay the equally long queued waiting Mary."
It's ok not to see eye-to-eye. HHN 32 proved that Universal over-sold express passes and decided that the multi-night tickets would be the lowest hanging fruit to axe while driving revenue and their golden goose: single night express ticket holders.
I hope this was respectful enough, genuinely do.