- May 26, 2010
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Wouldnt it be more efficient to make ffp a weekday pass? Giving them Wednesday and thursday only? Leaving the 3 day weekend to single night tickets?
Also, can you explain number 3 a little bit more?
What are scare zone gauntlets?
How did hollywood did it?
I mean originally, Frequent Fear Pass was only for Sunday-Thursday event dates. The program has slowly expanded to include the more inclusive Plus option (Fridays) and now I guess an Ultimate pass that includes all nights. My pitch would be to do away with that and instead structure tickets around the event's primary, most lucrative audience: vacationers. That's the primary difference between the HHN of today and the HHN of the 2000s; before it was a locals event that propped up failing parks, but now it's an additional, powerful muscle of a healthy vacation resort. People travel from out-of-state (and even out-of-country) to attend: it sells hotel rooms.
Universal should be targeting those people more than anyone. They're spending the most. The easiest way to do that is through a "weekend pass," one good for the week's entire slate of event dates. It has an evolving price tag based on what week we're talking about (mid to late October is going to cost more than the second weekend of September). You can still have a Frequent Fear Pass for locals, but price it more aggressively and return to Sunday-Thursday. If we must have a Plus or Ultimate pass, double the price. Rush of Fear can stay (though should also see price increases), as it's basically the proof of concept for the weekend passes and helps prop up week 2 and 3.
Basically, in Hollywood, a third of the event is relegated off of daytime park real estate - it's located in the literal Metro Sets of the backlot. Guests travel "out of park" near Transformers through a Tunnel (where an infamously lackluster scare zone exists) and then through what's referred to as either "Scare Zone 3" or "The Gauntlet;" it's a one-way zone packed with actors and scenic, with some even comparing it to a full maze/house in terms of quality. This year, it's Holidayz in Hell; last year, it was Urban Inferno. Both had the highest guest satisfaction scores of any haunt attraction in their respective years.
Once through those zones, guests enter a large section of the Metro Sets that has been retrofitted exclusively for Horror Nights use. Contained here are the entrances, queues, and real estate for three mazes, a food truck court, restrooms, mobile gift shop carts, and midway games. When guests are ready to leave, they depart the way they came and once again pass through the Tunnel.
My pitch would be to adapt the concept to the plot behind Men in Black/near Kid Zone, with entrances to both Sprung Tents and Parade Buildings contained within. Have guests enter via KidZone and/or Men in Black and travel through a scare zone before hitting an assembled hub with the aforementioned entrances. This way, experiencing those mazes is more efficient - you exit back into the hub and can queue up for one of the other three available without having to do that GIANT lap each time you experience a back-of-park maze.