Halloween Horror Nights 26 Discussion

[foodstampsFTW]

OK. You're right. I just made that up with no backing behind it.

You said it not me.

I don't understand how announcing houses for a Halloween event would be insensitive a month and a half since the tragedy, and then add in the fact they've already announced one since that happened. I think it has to do with them wanting to announce the 2 ips left first and they are shares, and Hollywood already said there next announcement was an exclusive. You guys just had to wait on us.

 

[Legacy]

You said it not me.

I don't understand how announcing houses for a Halloween event would be insensitive a month and a half since the tragedy, and then add in the fact they've already announced one since that happened. I think it has to do with them wanting to announce the 2 ips left first and they are shares, and Hollywood already said there next announcement was an exclusive. You guys just had to wait on us.

I'll vouch for his comment. I've heard similar.

I swear, so many fans get riled up when three weeks in July go by with nothing. It wasn't so long ago there were no announcements until the last week of August.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

In an question, how big has the Stages been for RTU in the past?

 

[JoeCamel]

I think Jack's stage had four supports so this is larger.

 

[sjago13]

It looks about the same size as the one last year. Going back to some old videos the stage last year came out to the lane marker. Also last years stage had 6 supports as well, the stage is split in half for backstage stuff.

 

[Brian G.]

I'll vouch too.

Keep in mind, Universal PR also had a busy summer with Kong's roll-out, Volcano Bay's full announcement, Sapphire Falls, and playing catch up with HHN announcements after their 2 week moratorium.

 

[s8film40]

Stage looks exactly the same to me. Someone also commented last year that the stage isn't something that Universal rents but rather they own it.

Here's the stage last year:

 

[JoeCamel]

My mistake

 

[Badgeking]

Now with the stage going up, I am ready to start seeing some street construction! Still a ways out for that I think but if the rumor is true and we are getting 6 full scarezones this year, it's going to have to start somewhat soon. 48 days before employee preview night! Will be here real quick!

 

[Brian G.]

I did a thing



I'm sure you've noticed we've really started doing more videos and plan to do more like this - including more outside of HHN - but please let us know what you wanna see next in regard to HHN history or countdowns.

 

[Cole]

Yeah if Hollywood doesn't become chance....the land? Then something is wrong. Overall this year is looking better and better every time something new happens. Keep it coming!!!

 

[ThNdIzNiR]

I swear, so many fans get riled up when three weeks in July go by with nothing. It wasn't so long ago there were no announcements until the last week of August.

I'll quote you from earlier...
"That's the difference with a "mystery box" house at HHN. Universal actively markets for new attendees. They need IPs to draw in people who normally wouldn't attend and a "Mystery House" would actively work against the idea of educating your market to drive attendance. A casual theme park going isn't going to spend a thousand dollars on a vacation to see a "mystery attraction." It's too much risk.

Universal HAS to announce all their houses."

Announcing everything the last week of August makes little to no sense and I'm assuming that is why they do things differently now. If they want to draw in people from out of town they really should announce things in advance. We're almost in August now and they still are holding out on announcing 2 ips that would help market the event.

 

[pat_naughty05]

I did a thing



I'm sure you've noticed we've really started doing more videos and plan to do more like this - including more outside of HHN - but please let us know what you wanna see next in regard to HHN history or countdowns.

I'm a fan. Do more things.

The other two HHN franchises that seem like a lock for one of these are Body Collectors and Psychoscareapy. So... get to it!

 

[Brian G.]

I'll quote you from earlier...
"That's the difference with a "mystery box" house at HHN. Universal actively markets for new attendees. They need IPs to draw in people who normally wouldn't attend and a "Mystery House" would actively work against the idea of educating your market to drive attendance. A casual theme park going isn't going to spend a thousand dollars on a vacation to see a "mystery attraction." It's too much risk.

Universal HAS to announce all their houses."

Announcing everything the last week of August makes little to no sense and I'm assuming that is why they do things differently now. If they want to draw in people from out of town they really should announce things in advance. We're almost in August now and they still are holding out on announcing 2 ips that would help market the event.

Nothing is out of the ordinary right now. Final reveals have always taken place middle-to-late August (late August happened when the event started in 20's of Sept though).

For 24, Halloween was the last house announced and it wasn't released til mid-August.

So, we're still on schedule.

I'm a fan. Do more things.

The other two HHN franchises that seem like a lock for one of these are Body Collectors and Psychoscareapy. So... get to it!

Aye... :thumbsup:

 

[DannyPowers]

Announcing everything the last week of August makes little to no sense and I'm assuming that is why they do things differently now. If they want to draw in people from out of town they really should announce things in advance. We're almost in August now and they still are holding out on announcing 2 ips that would help market the event.

I understand that they have reasons for everything, and they're always going to go by their own timeline.

That being said, I really don't understand the reason to wait so long to announce the full event.

They could announce everything on 9/14 and still get a ton of FL residents because they don't have to plan.

But, I feel that they have to be leaving some money on the table by not giving people an entire view of the event more than a month before opening.

People from out of town have to plan a vacation and book hotel, travel, car rental, etc. I'm sure that there are families that are interested in the event that are debating about going, and they're just not convinced by TWD, Chainsaw, or Halloween.

Again, I'm sure there are reasons, I just wish I could wrap my head around it better.

 

[Badgeking]

I'll quote you from earlier...
"That's the difference with a "mystery box" house at HHN. Universal actively markets for new attendees. They need IPs to draw in people who normally wouldn't attend and a "Mystery House" would actively work against the idea of educating your market to drive attendance. A casual theme park going isn't going to spend a thousand dollars on a vacation to see a "mystery attraction." It's too much risk.

Universal HAS to announce all their houses."

Announcing everything the last week of August makes little to no sense and I'm assuming that is why they do things differently now. If they want to draw in people from out of town they really should announce things in advance. We're almost in August now and they still are holding out on announcing 2 ips that would help market the event.

I agree with you. This event draws in a lot of people from out of state and people need time to plan for a big vacation like this. I know I started planning my upcoming trip a week after I got home from last years HHN but it's the biggest trip I have ever done (18 nights) so I had a lot of different moving parts I needed to figure. For people that really like a certain IP and want to check it out at HHN, they need to announce it with enough time for those people to get time off work and get everything booked to check it out. Waiting until the end of August was leaving to little time. Granted, the event didn't start until almost October back then but still.

Ideally, they need to have EVERYTHING announced 1 month before opening night. So, if we don't get something this week, they need to do the last two IP's the following two weeks and then everything else on Tuesday the 16th.

On a side note, am I the only one that thinks it's hilarious that both Orlando and Hollywood do not mention anything about TWD on their HHN websites unless you really go looking for it?

 

[ThNdIzNiR]

^^^^^ "People from out of town have to plan a vacation and book hotel, travel, car rental, etc. I'm sure that there are families that are interested in the event that are debating about going, and they're just not convinced by TWD, Chainsaw, or Halloween.

Again, I'm sure there are reasons, I just wish I could wrap my head around it better."


"On a side note, am I the only one that thinks it's hilarious that both Orlando and Hollywood do not mention anything about TWD on their HHN websites unless you really go looking for it?

I don't understand the rationale behind waiting until under a month either. I do understand them spreading out the announcements to get people to talk about it more beforehand, but why hold out on ips that could very well convince out of towners to attend.

Well Hollywood at least did a fair bit of advertising for the attraction before it opened. Maybe they just assume that people will know it's open during HHN?"

As far as Orlando distancing itself from one of the most popular shows on tv, I did find that amusing. I guess they're possibly concerned that some people might consider it a 5x repeat and they'd rather not promote it as much (or possibly because of AHS?). It does look a little bad though if they do end up getting the permanent attraction.

 

[Legacy]

Okay, the mystery box discussion was based around not announcing something until opening night/employee preview. While it's fun to quote who you're discussing things with to prove your own point, remember that context outside of words is still vital. Even in the context of this discussion, two weeks prior to opening is still announcing the IPs. Additionally, the context of my most recent post being discussed (talking about reveals the last week of August), is regards to fans being impatient. Because fans are impatient.

The Universal timeline for announcing HHN is actually kinda brilliant, but only when you look at it as a non-fan. Most Americans don't actually start thinking about or planning Halloween until late September or October. That's why all those Halloween stores open in late September and October. So, Universal waits to announce everything until the traditional media cycle (roughly two weeks, though it has shortened in recent years) butts up with the general public's interest in Halloween. Announcing classic or expected IPs earlier in the summer baits the market that is already propensed to go (haunt fans). Announcing big IPs early (before most people care) limits the impact. Making a huge announcement right when people are starting to plan the season actually drives their planning for them when it's relevant and exciting.

Universal knows what it's doing, but it's a corporation that is much more interested in driving the non-fans than the fans. And their system works.

 

[s8film40]

I'll quote you from earlier...
"That's the difference with a "mystery box" house at HHN. Universal actively markets for new attendees. They need IPs to draw in people who normally wouldn't attend and a "Mystery House" would actively work against the idea of educating your market to drive attendance. A casual theme park going isn't going to spend a thousand dollars on a vacation to see a "mystery attraction." It's too much risk.

Universal HAS to announce all their houses."

Announcing everything the last week of August makes little to no sense and I'm assuming that is why they do things differently now. If they want to draw in people from out of town they really should announce things in advance. We're almost in August now and they still are holding out on announcing 2 ips that would help market the event.

The marketing message is strongest when it first gets announced. If that's too early people will forget about it by the time the event comes around. A few weeks to a month out is really good timing for getting everything out there. Announcing the big IP houses leading up to the full announcement helps to keep the fans talking about it without blowing all the marketing too early.

 

[ThNdIzNiR]

Most Americans don't actually start thinking about or planning Halloween until late September or October. Making a huge announcement right when people are starting to plan the season actually drives their planning for them when it's relevant and exciting.

So you're under the impression that most people traveling across the country book their trips to HHN in September? You can't possibly believe that. If their marketing is only targeting locals then the way they do it now makes sense. Waiting until a month or less isn't really helping bring in people from out of state. Announcing 2 weeks before is not really that different than waiting until opening night for those who need to plan in advance. What is the difference? From a planning perspective, the 2 weeks out definitely would be the same as the "mystery box". Even if they announced all the ips early, it's not like they can't continue to promote those houses the whole time leading up to the event for all those who aren't paying attention (especially locals). Really the event is probably big enough now that they should be advertising year round to some extent.