Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Tips & Tricks

[sparky]

We hit some fairly long express lines in the middle of the event hours. 30-40 minute waits, which was only slightly shorter than the posted wait times.

Ohh that would infuriate me. The express is expensive.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

And I can just hear the excuse. They dont guarantee a shorter wait. They market and sell a shorter wait, but no guarantee.

I think I saw at least a few automated tweets to people's complaints straight up say they guarantee half the wait or less, so if they try to dodge out of that they'll probably just end up in even hotter water.

 

[DestinationDoug]

The strange thing is, we literally had 0 wait in the Express line for Halloween. There wasn’t a single person in front of us in that line. We did Weeknd twice (once with Express, once with a disability pass which uses the Express line), and it was 10-15 minutes each time. Whereas less popular houses like Bugs, Blumhouse, and DoD we’re all 30-40 minutes, maybe slightly more.

I know it’s all about timing, but that was still pretty strange.

 

[Clive]

The strange thing is, we literally had 0 wait in the Express line for Halloween. There wasn’t a single person in front of us in that line. We did Weeknd twice (once with Express, once with a disability pass which uses the Express line), and it was 10-15 minutes each time. Whereas less popular houses like Bugs, Blumhouse, and DoD we’re all 30-40 minutes, maybe slightly more.

I know it’s all about timing, but that was still pretty strange.

I don’t think it’s strange. It means certain mazes are handling their express queues better than others.

 

[wutisgood]

I don’t think it’s strange. It means certain mazes are handling their express queues better than others.

What does handling mean? Letting every express in fast to shorten the express line or actually balancing the lines?

 

[Tobias]

What does handling mean? Letting every express in fast to shorten the express line or actually balancing the lines?

It's ultimately a proper balance from whoever is working the merge point. If they let too much of standby in and not enough of express, then Express continues to build and not make it through fast enough. I saw multiple reports of those in standby waiting less in line than those in Express, a good example is standby waited 10-15 minutes in Bugs, while Express waited 30 minutes. That's a problem.

 

[wutisgood]

It's ultimately a proper balance from whoever is working the merge point. If they let too much of standby in and not enough of express, then Express continues to build and not make it through fast enough. I saw multiple reports of those in standby waiting less in line than those in Express, a good example is standby waited 10-15 minutes in Bugs, while Express waited 30 minutes. That's a problem.

Oh ok I assumed it would be super obvious when the express was longer than the regular line. I have never seen that happen in my 7 years or so of going to the event. Yea that seems really ridiculous.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

And I can just hear the excuse. They dont guarantee a shorter wait. They market and sell a shorter wait, but no guarantee.

Express is advertised to reduce your wait by half.

Every year there are ops complaints because they're setting up brand new. Now this year we have one new house location and several new queue setups. Industrial Engineering is making adjustments this week I imagine.

 

[dxwwf3]

I noticed that standby wait times were quite a bit less than what I expected this weekend. I guess this explains it then. People pay too much for Express for this not to get adjusted before this week’s events.

 

[SeventyOne]

Now I know it's a little early as the first weekend isn't technically over yet, but I was curious what the verdict is for people who've been, Halloween s&s or Weeknd s&s?
Seems like both get busy right away and stay busy, so I'm curious if anyone's got any input as to which gives you a bigger advantage to getting the most done so far.

Richter's was dead Sunday v. the other two. Coke Freestyle and even seating. Knock out Blumhouse, be in position to still hit Bugs/Descendants at open after. Just a thought.

Any feedback on how the app wait times are compared to real time?
How are the express pass lines working out?

Wait times seem to skew toward under-reported.

Express has been a dumpster fire (my opinion, but backed up on Twitter by a lot of people associated with this site).

I think I saw at least a few automated tweets to people's complaints straight up say they guarantee half the wait or less, so if they try to dodge out of that they'll probably just end up in even hotter water.

Friday/Sunday often weren't even hitting that mark. I expect this is the #1 agenda item in tomorrow morning's 9 a..m meeting.

I noticed that standby wait times were quite a bit less than what I expected this weekend. I guess this explains it then. People pay too much for Express for this not to get adjusted before this week’s events.

Overselling Express probably an issue. As Joe mentioned, all new line set-ups, which has to complicate things. Huge number of RIP tours opening weekend stopped both lines periodically. And based on the crowd looking to get a card signed at virtually every queue, the Universal crack-down on handing out guest assistance cards like trick-or-treat candy has ended. I imagine this is a perfect storm of all these factors.

 

[ReelJustice]

And based on the crowd looking to get a card signed at virtually every queue, the Universal crack-down on handing out guest assistance cards like trick-or-treat candy has ended. I imagine this is a perfect storm of all these factors.

They need to figure out a way to streamline or modernize this process. It's especially bad on rainy nights (hah) when the card disintegrates and/or smudges.

 

[ssirin88]

Friday had some waits with Express that were longer than they should, but Saturday we saw the wait times being at least half of the posted times, and usually we waited even less than that. So your mileage may vary I guess

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I was absolutely shocked by how wait times were spread throughout the event. Honestly believed that the Weeknd would have been an easy 120+ min wait nightly, but it remained around 45-60. That's bound to change as we get more of the "general public" versus HHN fans in the coming weeks.

 

[Clive]

All I’ll I say is I will very frustrated if I end up waiting for 30-40 minutes for each maze with Express. That’s unacceptable except on the busiest of nights.

I’m going every night next week, so we’ll see.

 

[Fabrii]

It's also not heloing that teenagers are getting into express lines without having an express pass. Saw it atleadt 3x yesterday, looking for possibility to sneek in the line after the point of scanning

 

[sparky]

They need to figure out a way to streamline or modernize this process. It's especially bad on rainy nights (hah) when the card disintegrates and/or smudges.

The problem is more jerks who figured out what to say to get the card. Why pay for express or LL over at disney when the internet tells you what to say to get free access to express

 

[OrlandoGuy]

The problem is more jerks who figured out what to say to get the card. Why pay for express or LL over at disney when the internet tells you what to say to get free access to express

Well it’s also kind of expensive to enforce. One year their solution to limiting those passes was to strike Krohn’s (sp?) disease from the list of valid excuses by allowing customers (like someone in my group one year) to exit and re-enter every queue with a bathroom ticket—but that’s 10+ team members doing nothing but monitoring the queues to hand out these tickets and help people back in line. Then you gotta figure so many of the scammers ask for a manager when they get turned down, which holds up the lines (meaning, more booths needed to staff) and takes management away from more pressing tasks. At the end of the day, enforcing this results in 0 net revenue for Universal, and the worst case scenario is just letting lines get longer which, worst case scenario, may result in some fringe Express sales. I wouldn’t expect a Universal that’s nickel and diming people for parking fees to really care about solving the disability pass issue.

 

[Brian G.]

I wouldn’t expect a Universal that’s nickel and diming people for parking fees to really care about solving the disability pass issue.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

My man…I’m literally defending a hypothetical disability pass debacle from UO’s business perspective and this last sentence is your takeaway?

I’m gonna stand by the parking thing. I just made a post in another thread that I thought was this one. It’s not the charge, it’s the principle in the greater scheme of where UO is/has been as a company. Call me cheap, call me a hater, that’s fine…my dollars say otherwise so I’m willing to die on this hill.

 

[LikeMike]

Having checked opening weekend times on the app, it looked to me like Weeknd and Halloween are two most popular houses (averaging around 60-75 mins) which comes as no real surprise.

For those there is that accurate? Which other houses seemed to always maintain big numbers?