By the way how has the weather been for the event. Has it been hot during the day? Humid or rainy at night?
The most obvious effect of the modern cell phone (and accompanying social media) has been the rise of the selfie, which has impacted what scare-zones even are. But another clear effect is what we might call "Trader Sam's Syndrome"--you know, the bar that had 5-hour waits the day it opened, but is now often just half-full. Simply put, people who follow theme parks on social media feel the need to be first.
I'm wondering how much of that affected the crowd last night. Because that was the worst pre-October crowd I've ever seen (friend who's gone since '98 agreed). If this is the new normal, then a 9th house and Diagon aren't enough. But if things calm down a bit next weekend, probably unfair to judge the event off of last night.
Interesting to hear Purge had metal music blaring. I don't remember the movie having a metal soundtrack?
The best way to describe the house is as loud and obnoxious The Purge scare zone had similar metal music blasting last year (if memory serves me right).
(Note: obnoxious is in a good way, at least from my perspective.)
Ahh, I didn't know such a page existed or that we weren't talking spoilers in here. I specifically haven't been reading HHN stuff to avoid spoilers so I wouldn't know....Theres a bit of spoilers in that, you might want to move that to the HHN25 Reviews page? (Got it right this time!)
What I noticed a lot of the time tonight was that the listed times were accurate about 50% of the time, the other 50%, we would go in to M&M with it saying 30 for instance... we waited about an hour. Every time something like that happened, I noticed the wait time sign was changed to almost exactly what we waited when we got out (it said 55 mins at M&M when we got out of line).Unexpectedly went up tonight (and then drove home). Three hours each way, been a long time since I've done a 'what the heck, let's run up to Orlando, have some fun, then head home.
Decided to go ahead and get Express this year, we went in after general opening, but we're certainly in the park before 6:30. Just wanted to somewhat answer the question of the accuracy of the wait times. The sign for M&M said 20 minutes when we came in, so we jumped in the regular line...I'm sure it is really tough for them to guesstimated how quickly the line fills in after opening, but we ended up waiting at least 45 minutes. In hind site, we should have just used Express and got through it, but no worries and we are very furtunate they we plan on going multiple nights.
I think most houses had posted times in the 45 to 60 minute range as we got to them and I bet they were more accurate than our first house (we used Express the rest of the night), invidious was posted at 80 minutes when we got there and I think was highest posted time I saw tonight.
They are really more like a temporary building then a tent. Sunlight doesn't get in anymore so than it does in the soundstages or parade building and yes they are air conditioned.I am sure of it. I would wait until after dark. Do they air condition those things? I would think that would cost them a mint to do so.
So I see people talking about checking house wait times on the app. Is this the normal universal studios app, or is it a special horror nights app?
I was one of the people she was talking to yesterday. She also mentioned interstellar terror. But yeah she said there should have been 3 to 4 more rooms. She also said that there are more walkers in this year's house than last year. I counted 32 on a cast change. I forget how many there were last year.While waiting at Lucy for S&S I overheard a team member talking to guests about the event. They mentioned how M&Mstarts of great but falls apart near the end with the christmas stuff and a long empty walk toward the exit and the team member explained there were supposed to be several more show scenes including Poe. Apparently when they pulled the plug on Scream, all the remaining budget went to altering that house into the Purge and M&M was left hanging.
I don't remember if this has been discussed or if it is true but thought it was worth adding to the thread.
Sjago, what time did they let you? Should be there Thursday at Lucy's for S&S. Also around what time do they start scanning tickets?