Halloween Horror Nights 35 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[Imperius]

I'm sure this was mentioned earlier, but just took a look at the Easter Hollywood Spec Map and for their generic clowns zone it has 3 trashbags...and as we know, they used a trashbag for the Terrifyer house last year. The Orlando map doesn't have them. Was that ever discussed? I'm not on any of the Discord stuff.

I had a question that not sure if any insiders know the answer to. With the park no longer offering ANY physical tickets, do we know if they're going to implement facial recognition for the express queues (like they do at Epic)? If everybody has to get their phones out 10 times a night, it's going to be a fustercluck. Also, guess Universal doesn't need to stock 35+ types of lanyards at the bigger shops if there's now no longer any reason to buy one.

I’ve been using phone express for the last two years and noticed others also. Haven’t seen any slow down.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I'm sure this was mentioned earlier, but just took a look at the Easter Hollywood Spec Map and for their generic clowns zone it has 3 trashbags...and as we know, they used a trashbag for the Terrifyer house last year. The Orlando map doesn't have them. Was that ever discussed? I'm not on any of the Discord stuff.

I had a question that not sure if any insiders know the answer to. With the park no longer offering ANY physical tickets, do we know if they're going to implement facial recognition for the express queues (like they do at Epic)? If everybody has to get their phones out 10 times a night, it's going to be a fustercluck. Also, guess Universal doesn't need to stock 35+ types of lanyards at the bigger shops if there's now no longer any reason to buy one.

When did the "no physical tickets" thing start? We got physical tickets when we did unlimited express last year.

But to what @Imperius said - we've used phone express many times and it's totally fine. Typically if someone didn't have it ready the attendant just asked them to step aside.

 

[4hartthreat]

I'm hoping the no physical tickets isn't an actual thing either. It is so much easier to just have it in a lanyard. Plus, I've been buying my groups tickets and just getting them all printed and then handing them out. If I have to scan my phone for every single member of my party, that would get annoying. It would also limit our ability to separate.

 

[Imperius]

I'm hoping the no physical tickets isn't an actual thing either. It is so much easier to just have it in a lanyard. Plus, I've been buying my groups tickets and just getting them all printed and then handing them out. If I have to scan my phone for every single member of my party, that would get annoying. It would also limit our ability to separate.

Just send them pictures of theirs. It’s just a barcode.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Would it be better received if the Tribute Store(s) were spread out/tied to the different IPs this year while the Mummy queue is not in use this year?

Mummy exit didn't work, but what if IP A is featured at Rosie's shop, IP B is featured at the F&F exit shop (doubt it moves much merch), IP C at Villain-Con flex space, Hollywood tribute store, SF Candy Factory, and the generic HHN merch at the main studio store?

Not only does having multiple locations spread out crowds, but it's an easy way to get fans into the stores multiple times versus a single time.

 

[dxwwf3]

Would it be better received if the Tribute Store(s) were spread out/tied to the different IPs this year while the Mummy queue is not in use this year?

Mummy exit didn't work, but what if IP A is featured at Rosie's shop, IP B is featured at the F&F exit shop (doubt it moves much merch), IP C at Villain-Con flex space, Hollywood tribute store, SF Candy Factory, and the generic HHN merch at the main studio store?

Not only does having multiple locations spread out crowds, but it's an easy way to get fans into the stores multiple times versus a single time.

I don't really care what the answer is, but whatever they decide has to be better than last year. That was a quick walk in and walk out for me

 

[Stitch_101]

Would it be better received if the Tribute Store(s) were spread out/tied to the different IPs this year while the Mummy queue is not in use this year?

Mummy exit didn't work, but what if IP A is featured at Rosie's shop, IP B is featured at the F&F exit shop (doubt it moves much merch), IP C at Villain-Con flex space, Hollywood tribute store, SF Candy Factory, and the generic HHN merch at the main studio store?

Not only does having multiple locations spread out crowds, but it's an easy way to get fans into the stores multiple times versus a single time.

I don't hate this idea, but for most it would be a nonstarter. I personally don't see Universal putting the effort into highly theming so many locations in place of a singular, highly themed big Tribute Store we are accustomed too, in which case most wouldn't even call the locations Tribute Stores... They would just be standard themed Universal merch displays.

 

[Neo]

When did the "no physical tickets" thing start? We got physical tickets when we did unlimited express last year.

My friend flew down with their kid for spring break this week, said they tried to get physical tickets at Cabana Bay and then at the main ticket office when leaving one night and were told they no longer provide physical tickets. You can print out your own QR Code from the email if you want. For HHN, it's been getting harder and harder each year to get them printed as they seemed to be dragging their feet as we always insist on getting them for ease of use and souvenirs to stay in our lanyards, but he said they outright refused this week.

Maybe he's exaggerating and something is being lost in translation from text messages.

 

[srbmarc]

When I booked my R.I.P. Tour a few weeks ago, I also bought Express passes for the following night and since they were all on the same order, it set the delivery method to "VIP Tours" for everything. So I'm not even sure how to claim those Express passes. They don't appear in my app wallet so I assumed I could just go to guest services and have them printed for me.

Last year we had digital Express so we just made the barcodes our phone lock screen photos to make it easier and it worked really well.

 

[hunnylvr]

I'm sure this was mentioned earlier, but just took a look at the Easter Hollywood Spec Map and for their generic clowns zone it has 3 trashbags...and as we know, they used a trashbag for the Terrifyer house last year. The Orlando map doesn't have them. Was that ever discussed? I'm not on any of the Discord stuff.

I had a question that not sure if any insiders know the answer to. With the park no longer offering ANY physical tickets, do we know if they're going to implement facial recognition for the express queues (like they do at Epic)? If everybody has to get their phones out 10 times a night, it's going to be a fustercluck. Also, guess Universal doesn't need to stock 35+ types of lanyards at the bigger shops if there's now no longer any reason to buy one.

Wait, what now? They won't have ANY physical tickets anymore? That sucks. I throw all mine into a scrapbook at the end of the season. Also, wearing my lanyard is pretty much like a uniform after doing it for decades. I will be lost without it. Further, I think this will only delay things in Express lines since waiting for every person to take out their phone and find their pass seems to be a drag. If the pass is hanging around your neck, that process goes much faster.

 

[Spooky_Bitz]

Wait, what now? They won't have ANY physical tickets anymore? That sucks. I throw all mine into a scrapbook at the end of the season. Also, wearing my lanyard is pretty much like a uniform after doing it for decades. I will be lost without it. Further, I think this will only delay things in Express lines since waiting for every person to take out their phone and find their pass seems to be a drag. If the pass is hanging around your neck, that process goes much faster.

Agreed. I love collecting the physical tickets every year. I also really liked collecting the maps but it sucks those were discontinued

 

[TheCodeMan95]

My friend flew down with their kid for spring break this week, said they tried to get physical tickets at Cabana Bay and then at the main ticket office when leaving one night and were told they no longer provide physical tickets. You can print out your own QR Code from the email if you want. For HHN, it's been getting harder and harder each year to get them printed as they seemed to be dragging their feet as we always insist on getting them for ease of use and souvenirs to stay in our lanyards, but he said they outright refused this week.

Maybe he's exaggerating and something is being lost in translation from text messages.

Interesting! Curious to see if more people report the same.

Wait, what now? They won't have ANY physical tickets anymore? That sucks. I throw all mine into a scrapbook at the end of the season. Also, wearing my lanyard is pretty much like a uniform after doing it for decades. I will be lost without it. Further, I think this will only delay things in Express lines since waiting for every person to take out their phone and find their pass seems to be a drag. If the pass is hanging around your neck, that process goes much faster.

Luckily we have physical APs, so the lanyard will at least remain for that lol. But honestly like I mentioned above, I've never noticed an issue with Express passes slowing things down on phones. We always have them screenshotted and ready to go at all times.


As far as the Tribute stores - I think it would be cool to maybe have 2 "dueling" stores for Jack and Oddfellow this year. But I'll be happy if they can just return to the normal location.

 

[Clive]

We had no trouble getting physical tickets in November at Stella Nova's vacation planning desk, for whatever that's worth. I don't think tickets should be purely digital, especially for an event like Horror Nights, because your phone can and will die. It shouldn't be on the guest to have a charging block or something.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

We had no trouble getting physical tickets in November at Stella Nova's vacation planning desk, for whatever that's worth. I don't think tickets should be purely digital, especially for an event like Horror Nights, because your phone can and will die. It shouldn't be on the guest to have a charging block or something.

Yeah, when we were there in September at both Stella Nova AND Cabana Bay, we got unlimited express tickets printed.

Funny enough - our normal express was digital, but when we upgraded they said we HAD to have physical tickets for the unlimited.

 

[WryNewsie]

I just don't find something like Fortnitemares or Dead By Daylight all that appealing in a Horror Nights context. These are both properties that either heavily rely on outside IP or cliched, tropey original concepts. What does Horror Nights need the middleman for? It can already do both of these things without paying someone a licensing fee. Now... do I buy that there are people who have strong enough affinity for these two brands that they'd be happy to see them at an event they already like? Sure. But it doesn't make much sense to me.

See, my opinion is closer to Jake's on Fortnightmares. Dead by Daylight I'm a little more tolerant of just because it at least has original characters that have fleshed out, interesting backstories (even if a couple are extremely derivative of certain IP characters). Still not a property I'd be overly excited for, but compared to Fortnitemares.....

Because they’ve done the hard work! See: Fallout with Amazon as a middleman.

See, I think this is where people get twisted up about what Fortnitemares would mean. Yes, Amazon helped bring a beloved franchise by adapting it into a new medium that became popular enough for Universal to seek to license it.

That's not the case with Fortnitemares. Very few people are excited because they want to see whatever bland original characters Epic created for the game. They're excited because they think it's a backdoor way for HHN to get Ghostface and all these other licensed IP skins Epic has added to the game. To meet expectations, Universal would literally be paying to license the game setting, then turning around and paying more licensing fees to various rights holders for likenesses/names/performance assuming they're even attainable.

 

[Jake S]

See, I think this is where people get twisted up about what Fortnitemares would mean. Yes, Amazon helped bring a beloved franchise by adapting it into a new medium that became popular enough for Universal to seek to license it.

That's not the case with Fortnitemares. Very few people are excited because they want to see whatever bland original characters Epic created for the game. They're excited because they think it's a backdoor way for HHN to get Ghostface and all these other licensed IP skins Epic has added to the game. To meet expectations, Universal would literally be paying to license the game setting, then turning around and paying more licensing fees to various rights holders for likenesses/names/performance assuming they're even attainable.

Right, this is basically my take. If this is a way to get all of those hard-to-negotiate IPs into a scare zone and Universal only has to pay a fee to Epic to do it? Fair enough! But I'm skeptical that's what's happening here.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

That's not the case with Fortnitemares. Very few people are excited because they want to see whatever bland original characters Epic created for the game. They're excited because they think it's a backdoor way for HHN to get Ghostface and all these other licensed IP skins Epic has added to the game. To meet expectations, Universal would literally be paying to license the game setting, then turning around and paying more licensing fees to various rights holders for likenesses/names/performance assuming they're even attainable.

But it is a way to get it when in the past it’s been tricky or out right turned down.

 

[Pixarfan96]

I'm sure this was mentioned earlier, but just took a look at the Easter Hollywood Spec Map and for their generic clowns zone it has 3 trashbags...and as we know, they used a trashbag for the Terrifyer house last year. The Orlando map doesn't have them. Was that ever discussed? I'm not on any of the Discord stuff.

I had a question that not sure if any insiders know the answer to. With the park no longer offering ANY physical tickets, do we know if they're going to implement facial recognition for the express queues (like they do at Epic)? If everybody has to get their phones out 10 times a night, it's going to be a fustercluck. Also, guess Universal doesn't need to stock 35+ types of lanyards at the bigger shops if there's now no longer any reason to buy one.

I still strongly believe we will get that mega Clown IP crossover zone with Art and Killer Klowns; that rumor is REALLY starting to have more weight to it (thank god, lol).

I also think the reason those I.P.s only showed up on the Hollywood map, and not Florida’s is:

1.) To differentiate the “Terrifier” Tram with the KKFOS House for Hollywood.

2.) It would have been very difficult to squeeze those 2 icons with the generic clown one on the spec map, so they just left the icon as it is to get the basic idea across.