Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Ticket Prices...Talk about Frightening
Universal Orlando: Just checked out the prices for HHN 2005.Viewer discretion is advised.
Ok guys, what is up with this "tiered" pricing structure for tickets to HHN based on what night you go? It's less on a Friday than a Saturday.The Express Passes costs are almost doubled on Saturdays as opposed to weekdays (which I can almost understand).Then, to add insult to injury,even the Coke coupons decrease in discounts from $20 on Sun-Thurs to $13 on Fri to $3 on Saturdays. What's that all about?Yes, it is only at IOA (perish the thought).Sorry, but this screams corporate greed.Remember when FL residents who used the Coke coupons got the SAME disounts regardless of what night they went?It's not like some of us are flying first class and others are going coach.It's the same experience each night. I suppose they know many of us will come up off the cake to do this,so it's time to be greedy and capitalize on it.How sad.Some good news though, annual passholders can get a wicked discount on the first two nights of the event and if you get the Frequent Fear Pass it includes those first two nights.Otherwise,it's a sad state of affairs. Am I just being cynical or just honest?
From Some Girl
Posted August 8, 2005 at 11:56 AM
I agree that the ticket prices are ridiculous. At the same time Universal knows that we will pay it. I have a question about the HHN web page. When you click on the book at the right on the top it takes you to a picture of a room. Is it just me or is a little more of the picture on the wall to the right revealed each day? I could totally be wrong on this but I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed.
It's not totally greed. The attendance is too big for the event, therefore they are laddering the discounts to entice people to come on other days. They don't need to give discounts on Fri and Sat because they will be at capacity anyway.
Well, that's an interesting theory. I still call it greed because if USF didn't need to give out discounts they would not have done it for so many years.That's why I am so surprised at the prices.We have gotten $20 off our tickets for several years now and have always gone on a Saturday, so that capacity logic does not fly with me.However,we will probably go on the first Saturday night since I now have an annual pass and I can get my tickets for $25.I suppose Universal values its own event less on opening weekend so we are going to take advantage of it.
Yeah, this will be the first year we go on a night other than Saturday just so we can save $10 on the express passes, but at the prices this year we're going to try and save anywhere we can. Thank god I live here now and we don't have to spring for a hotel room anymore. Yeesh.
Well, Joe, I called to get some pricing info because I have the annual pass and I was told that annual passholders would not get a discount on the express passes. I dont know if they ever did, but something would be nice.I am looking at roughly $175-$200 just for the night when you factor in the tickets,a split on hotel,gas,food,etc.When you do the math,it's more expensive per day than the trip I just took to Las Vegas. Kinda sad, huh?
I would have to concur with Mark. While this pricing structure looks "greedy," it acts as a good deterrant. The better discounts on weeknights will move some of the unbearable crowds off the weekends. HHN has really outgrown itself, and until Universal can find a larger venue for the event, they have to do something to control attendance. I have heard nothing but horror (no pun intended) stories about going to the event on the last week, and even with the Express Pass guests were still not able to experience every attraction. By putting the price out of reach for the casual guests, Universal is artificially thinning out the crowds. Fans of the event should be cheering this move, not complaining.
Russell, you brought up a good point and I have often wondered about it.We have always gone closer to the middle of October or near the end of the month.From everything I have read and heard, the attendance is always much higher near this time.What's the reason for that?We always go around that time because we usually have a large group and everyone can't seem to get together until then.But I did have the chance to go twice in one year and it did seem that the event was more "organized" I guess you would say by the latter part of the month than it was when we went after the first week.I can't say for sure if there were fewer people because it seemed just as crowded each time.Also, and just as an aside to this, does anyone know why annual passholders have to order tickets by phone to get their discounts. I called Universal to find out exactly what ticket prices would be since I have the pass and I asked why I could not order online and still get my discount.I was told passholders had to order tickets by phone and that was the only option I had.I guess the logic is lost on me as to why those of us who have annual passes have to deal with being put on hold for the next available representative while anyone else just gets to use the online ticket booth. If coke coupons can be redeemed online, why can't my annual pass have the same benefit?I thought Universal would have made it easier for us.
From Matt G
Posted August 30, 2005 at 10:10 AM
Question about the florida discount: Do you need to show Florida ID at the gate, or is it just when you purchase the tickets? I will be staying with relatives... can they buy me a FL resident ticket to use when I go with them, or will that not work?
Did you folks ever think that maybe UO is tired of carrying your butts from HNN to HNN every year. Last time I was there I saw a bunch of Goth want-to be's. It looked like every derilict, basement-dwelling punk who still sponges off Mom and Dad was in line for HHN. Too bad if Mom and Dad won't pay the extra bucks this year to send HHN. Maybe you should pawn your Game Cube and skip a couple of piercings to pay for HHN's this year.
UO may of finally realized that you little acne kings don't have any cash and don't bring anything of value to the table. I can afford the price of HHN and plan on spending mucho bucko deneros at the onsite hotels, retraunts and inside the parks.
Did you ever think that there's people other then yourself who would like to attend HHN? For the goth types, HHN is right up their alley. As long as they aren't causing trouble, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to attend.
The real problem is the adults who drink tons of beer, get wasted, and harass monsters.
Sorry man. Just kidding. The thread just seemed to need some input to get things spiced up a bit. I'm a Goth at heart, I just don't dress the part.
I really hope everyone that wants to go to HHN can afford it. It's a great time and the diversity of people there make it even better.
No harm, no foul?
Randy
No problem man. I'm very into the whole Halloween thing too and also don't dress the part. Although I love a good horror movie/haunted house.
To answer your question, Matt, we have never had to produce ID to get into the park.I am a Florida resident, so it's no big deal for me, but with HHN especially, they have so many people coming in it would not serve the park well at all to make everyone show identification.Maybe if you buy your tickets at the park you would have to, but everytime we get them online they never ask us at the gate.
Hi guys, womder if you could give me a little advice.
My girlfriend and I are travelling over to Florida for 2 weeks on 17th Sept and as luck would have it, our last day, the 30th, a day we'd planned to visit one of the Unviersal parks anyway, turns out to be the first night of HHN. So obviously we wanna go, it sounds great! We've attended similar events at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park over here (specially constructed houses filled with actors) and they've been amazing so we're so excited about this one because you guys across the pond put our parks to shame!
We've been debating whether to get our tickets online before we leave.
We plan on visiting IOA during the day and then HHN in the evening of the 30th and we'll be getting fastpasses too. From my understanding the cheapest way to do it would be do just buy our tickets for the day when we get there and then upgrade with the "Stay and Scream" thing on the day. Yesterday we agreed to do it this way but I'm having second thoughts as I'm worried that HHN for that night will sell out and we will end up missing out for the sake of saving $20 or so.
What would you seasoned pro's advise us to do?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Sure, it would be great to have tickets in hand for the day you get there.However,I don't know that the event has ever "sold out" on it's opening weekend, which is probably why the tickets are going for such a low price.However, that could be a motivating force and many tickets could sell for that day.In my estimation, it's always best to have them ahead of time.It's a once a year event, so is saving $20 really worth it?
Probably not!
Cheers for the advice shock absorber, much appreciated.
to everyone who reads this and thinks they are going to get their money worth. i have been a fl. resident and annual pass holder for almost a decade (that makes me old, i know) but i am young at heart and i enjoyed this a lot more years ago. this year the best bet is to go on a thursday or the one wed. they are offering. and get a express pass, it is well worth the money. for the last couple of years i have waited in ridiculous lines( for everything) and not had much fun. my advice from a veteran is if you want to do everything,...get there early and beat the crowds. if your under age and you want to hang out with your friends...then go when ever... but the 21 and over crowd should hed my warning...the crowds will be there no matter what day you go. go to universal early, drink at a local bar( happy hours are far and few to find, the inside of islands and universal have one between 3-5... well worth it if you are a pass holder)once you get inside ,...after an hour or two ,..things get crazy... see you all there.
From Dave J
Posted October 17, 2005 at 4:59 PM
I live in upstate NY and airfare, shuttle transportation, a 5 day pass at Universal, one night at HHN, Express Pass, & a $20 meal voucher for a few restaraunts is only $380 through the Universal Site. Can't complain about that. We are going Friday night, and if we want to go Sat we can just upgrade to a Frequent Fear Pass for $15.
Last year was my first time there and I had a blast, can't wait to go again!
How can you upgrade to a Frequent Fear Pass for Saturday when they are only valid Sun-Thurs.
Never Again...
This was my first HHN. I went on Oct. 27. I entered at 6:45 and got one ride on Spider Man ( wait time 10 minutes ). After that the park was WALL TO WALL people and average wait times were in excess of 1 hour although the signs in the park said 15-30 minutes. The body collector was 2 HOURS! We got to got in ONE HAUNTED HOUSE - the Demon Cantina. We did not buy the FAST PASS and will not ever buy one - it's a bribe to get to the head of the line and most people in the regular line we getting more and more pissed. Our tickets were $27 ( I have a yearly pass and got the discount ).
I think they just allow way too many people in the park to enjoy it. Even with a Fast Pass you've still got to dodge the drunks going from house to house.
Well, Tom, it's for all of those reasons that we DO get an Express Pass.And I really don't care who gets pissed off in the regular lines when we only wait 1-3 minutes (if that) while all the other idiots wait for 2 hours.We shelled out the bucks in advance for express passes, so too bad to anyone not smart enough to buy one. Your first mistake was arriving at 645. You should have been there by 6, they were probably already letting people in. Furthermore, sounds like the first thing you did was hit Spiderman. If you have an annual pass, why bother with rides that you can do any time of the year?Hit the houses first, then do whatever you can after that.We went on the 22nd and within the first hour had knocked out three houses and one ride without even using our express pass.When you consider that HHN had 7 houses and the express pass was roughly $40 the night we went, that averages to less than $6 per house (its even less when you factor in all the rides you can use it for, too).That's a small price to pay.Express Passes are basically a one-night insurance policy that pretty much guarantees you will get to do everything in the park at least once.It's well worth it.After so many years of waiting in those ridiculous lines, we would not even imagine going without an express pass.If you wanna play, you gotta pay. It's as simple as that. And as far as dealing with drunks: HHN is not the only time that park sells alcohol. They sell it all day every day.There are bars in the park, and they have kiosks set up during the summer to sell beer. Yeah, they push it more at HHN, but it's not like that's the only time they do.
I have never been to HHN before. I hail from MA and was unprepared and uninformed which led to a disasterous evening. I purchased the 2 day/2park tickets three months in advance along with my fast passes. The Universal CSR I spoke with did not inform me that the fast pass I was purchasing for Universal would not help me with HHN. I bought the fast pass for Universal on the 27th and informed the CSR I was planning to attend HHN that same evening. She told me it wouldn't be a problem since the Horror event took place in both parks. I ended up standing in line for over an hour for a lame haunted house that took five minutes to walk through. After having a couple of beers and having been in line for 45 minutes I asked a security guard if I could go relieve myself and come back to join my boyfriend in line. He would not let me do so. The next half hour was painful. Needless to say, we did not attend any of the other houses, for the lines were all over an hour wait. At least we got some coaster riding in. Universal really needs to utilize both parks, limit the amount of fast passes they give out for HHN, and limit the amount of people they let in.
I'm also the idiot that wore a costume(did not read my ticket and assumed many people dressed up for the event). Any of you that went on the 27th would know me as the french maid with a Ghost Buster's shirt on. I am greatful that they allowed me in after I covered up with the Ghost Buster's shirt. (But having to remove a wig I spent a half hour pinning to my head was not exactly fun - but I guess that's my own fault, I was ignorant, not having attended this event before)
Then I get home and receive an e-mail about a costume contest on the 31st! I nearly threw my monitor out the window. Talk about bad timing on my part.
But really, who wants to wait in line over an hour per haunted house? They can't give everyone a fast pass. They need more events besides the houses and to utilize all the space they own.
I would love to go back since I missed every good part of HHN - like shock man says - buy fast pass - and way in advance!
This discussion has been archived, and is not accepting additional responses.
