HHN passes with express have been a "Buy once, Cry once" for Locals, It's spendy, but it unlocks a hobby for almost a quarter of the year.
I just know personally if I'm spending the same amount of cash for a handful of nights with express versus the season, I'm surely not going to spend as much on merch, food, and alcohol in that time frame. I can normally try all the food and drink because I'm there over a dozen times in a season, and that revenue adds up.
I can't hit the F&B booths, the shows, and the houses while also waiting in a standby line most the night. the "HHN Math" of it starts to fall apart for idiots like me. This also doesn't factor in the issues of express potential sell-out nights for a group of attendees that would typically have access to the entire event run. I'm an impulse attendee because I can typically go whenever that impulse hits. I just foresee alot more people like me *NOT* blowing a bunch of money over time at the event due to the potential ticket constraints and limited number of nights compared to seasons past.
Fully understand, as a local, I contribute to whatever problem Universal is trying to mitigate, but I don't think the golden handcuffs are as tight around Universal's wrist as people like to make it out to be.
Feel free to flame me, but i feel like we gotta kill express completely and just do StandBy with RIP tours cutting in if this is the path we're walking down...Operationally it would be smoother atleast?
Appreciate the discussion, and none of this will matter soon! (Woe is me, my hobby is too popular, thanks for attending my TedTalk.)