HHN Never again...

[sarahluvsdisney]

Hi all,

I have just returned from HHN on Sat eve 30th Oct.
I do not think I have evr experienced such a dsorganised event or such rude staff in all my life.
Dont get me wrong - I have a 2 year annual pass to both parks and love it but Sat evening has made me dcide that I will not be renewing my pass again.
Does anyone have the tel # or an email address where I can voice my concerns for the HHN ??
Many thanks

Sarah,

 

[Motherfletcher]

Sorry to hear you had a bad time. Please try not to judge USO/IOA from HHN alone. Most of the HHN employees are part time for that event only. HHN can get pretty wild and hard on employees as well as guests.
Voice your concerns here and see what they say:
guestservices@universalorlando.com <mailto:guestservices@UniversalOrlando.com>
Contact Guest Services at (407) 224-4233, or write:
Universal Orlando Resort
1000 Universal Studios Plaza
Orlando, Florida 32819-7610

 

[lovetheparks]

ITA with MotherFletcher, HHN is a whole separate entity. Sat nights are also by far the most crowded. As a HHN veteran of many years, I won't even go on Sat anymore.

I do hope you get someone to address your concerns.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

You should try to go earlier in the month next time or on a different night. I went on the 10th which was a Sunday and then again on the 23rd which was a Saturday and I enjoyed myself alot better the first time I went. It was just way too crowded to even walk the second time around. I don't even think I saw a line under 2 hours on that night. I was just a guest and I was stressed out. I can only imagine how all those people could make the staff working it stressed out too.

 

[phamton]

Saturday night was sold out and also had the most crowds of any other night, add alcohol to the mix and rude guests and, of course, some of the employees weren't sprinkling pixie dust.

Here are some examples of what some employees (very close to me) put up with:
thrown up on, slapped, yelled at and threatened when told a guest to stow items in locker, obscene gestures and being cursed out by a guest because they were told they couldn't line jump, cleaning up urine and semen (yes, you read that right) in the queue, a broken bottle of vodka right at car load that shut down ride for an hour and made guests even angrier at the employees for making them wait, breaking up fights in line between guests, offered bribes to skip the line, punched in the chest by a guest, a couple having sex in a dark queue. All through this, the employees had to keep a professional attitude and try to help the other guests enjoy themselves.

I would say avoid HHN or at least go on a non-peak night and leave before the drunks get out of control. Universal employees are some of the best you will ever meet. I've been treated better by them than by WDW castmembers.

 

[sarahluvsdisney]

Phamton,
Thankyou for replying to my post and thankyou to the others too.
If this is true that cast members were indeed being slapped,yelled at and being thrown up on etc then maybe Universal should not sell alcohol at this event.
Please dont get me wrong, I am not against alcohol or people having a great time, I went to the event in a great frame of mind intending to have a few drinks myself.
However I did see underage people drinking and throwing up everywhere, in fact the lady in front of me had been thrown up on. Maybe the event should be only 21 or above??
I saw quite a few kids at the event say 8-10 year olds,not something I would want to take my kids too.
I do believe that things maybe would not have been as bad if they had not of had such large numbers there. One cast member told me there was in excess of 30,000 people in the park!!!
All in all this is not an event I would return too,however I am a fan of universal and am annual pass holder at both parks.
This is just my opinion.

Sarah.

 

[phamton]

Oh, those things did happen. It is really sad how people can't drink responsibly. I think the houses and all events were very well done by Universal. It was just the few rowdy, drunk guests that ruined it for many. Universal had several security guards and police officers stationed at each ride and house and unruly guests were thrown out and some were arrested. I'm not sure how they could stop some of these actions. It was like South Padre island on Spring break. I thought the employees handled the bad situations very well but I can assure you that HHN was very stressful for them.

I hate to see HHN turn into a free-for-all. I stayed away on non-peak nights and had a great time. I'm not sure I could handle going on a peak night. I'm sorry you experienced rudeness. I think many employees were under a lot of pressure.

 

[Motherfletcher]

My last drink was Spring Break on South Padre Island a little over 21 years ago. I've come to realize since then that if alcohol causes problems then alcohol is the problem. Couldn't HHN be done without alcohol?

 

[pathubia]

I couldnt believe the way booze was promoted at HHN. There were portable bars set up everywhere!!!

Patty

 

[phamton]

I would have no problem with the no booze rule because I don't drink at all.
I saw some of the same problems one year at Epcot during the food and wine festival.

Another wild night is grad nights and no alcohol is sold then. I may just be that most of the guests are college age at HHN.

 

[lovetheparks]

I can't see Universal ever doing away with the booze, they make far too much $$. I would not mind seeing the nights capped off for attendance. We enjoy a few drinks every year but never in excess (think this year I had a whopping 3 over the 6 hours we were there) and would enjoy the event just as much without but I just don't see them loosing that profit.

**Edited to say maybe they could start having 21+ nights and I agree there we way to many small children there this year.

 

[spewey]

Yeah, I couldn't believe how many of those beer stands there were at the parks last year for "Grinchmas". I also couldn't believe the all-day happy hours at most bars. Fortunately - or so it seems - there's more of a family atmosphere during this season, as opposed to HHN.

And as far as U/S and booze goes - remember, the place used to be owned by - and IOA was built under the auspices of - Seagram's, the world's largest distillery ...

 

[T-10X]

I'm sorry you had a bad time Saturday, every singal employee was up to there neck in crap(in some cases litterally) the crowds were INSANE, I twisted my ankle on my way to lunch and it was the size of a base ball and I couldn't go home early because the crowds. During HHN we are pretty much told do what it takes to take control. I try my hardest to be nice and joke around with guest, but after be shoved into a little pole, a barricade, a table, other guest, slapped, cursed out, bribbed($100), spat on, jumped down my throat, and almost pick pocketed, you can only be nice for so long. Saturday night that all happend in a matter of 3 hours and this is working a merch cart. I am one of the employees who will either be nice and out going or bland when upset, I was full blown ticked off at the end of the night and yelled at many guest. I am sorry if you ran into and this happend to you, I (if you will) reached my breaking point, as did almost off the employees. Saturday was the busiest night, it got to one point where they had to close down Fright Yard to gain control. I am sorry for your bad time and if I was a part of that then I beg for forgivness. I hope that you come back to HHN next year early in the month and on a weekday to have it be perfect. Please give Universal another shot, we are all human and we all were over worked.

 

[F-L-A]

Maybe the event should be only 21 or above??

That better not have been a serious recommendation. You don't make us pay for the drunkerds.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience. This was our first year for HHN and we had a great time! We went on Sunday the 24th and Thursday the 28th. It was crowded both nights but we didn't have any problems with drunks and all of the staff we encountered were very friendly and helpful. We don't drink so really didn't pay any attention to the beer stands, really didn't notice too many people that were drunk, except when we were leaving there were some on City Walk that were wasted. One kid got kicked out of Disorientorium while we were going through, not sure what he had done, but that's the only "bad" thing we saw go on. We thought Universal did a wonderful job and hope to make it a tradition.

 

[ChisJo]

I don't know if this would even work, but an idea could be that you are only allowed "x" amount of drink tickets and these have to be purchased with ticket, no tickets are sold in parks. Also, ID has to be provided to pick up tickets. I know this would not fly, but it is a thought. Also, if anyone appears to be intoxicated at all (I work around alcohol, and I sure can tell when someone even has a remote buzz), they should not be allowed in the parks, at all, no ifs ands or buts. Additionally, I know that children learn by what they see. If a child is witnessing the necessity to have alcohol at an event such as this, maybe they will get the wrong message. Also, cap the attendance into the parks. Once you reach so many people, cut off attendance - also maybe they should monitor the amount of tickets sold more closely.
As for the people having sex in dark queue's, I don't know what to suggest except maybe use more lighting (eg: emergency lights) to help prevent this.
Also, maybe if fewer drinks were sold, USF would not have to worry about so much security, especially if they also monitored the amount of people getting into the park.
Sorry you had such a horrible time. That didn't sound like something I would have really wanted to be at either. In fact, the poor staff probably dealt with abuse and were getting paid poorly for that treatment (no one deserves to be physically assaulted).
I hope that USO does do something for you. But please, don't let this taint your thoughts of renewing your annual pass. The park is not normally like that.
Jo

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

I went on off-peak nights which included October 10th, 14th, 24th, and 31st. The 14th turned out to be more like a peak-night (not sure why), but even so, it wasn't a Friday or Saturday. I had a GREAT time each time I went. Definitely try going on a non-peak night...especially earlier in the month. It makes a huge different (there was a big enough difference between the 10th and the 24th, for instance).

Sorry to hear some of the things Universal employees had to deal with. Imagine sitting by a group of drunk guys at the Bill and Ted show? Ai ai ai...I got more embarrassed by THEIR comments than the jokes in the show!!

 

[h20jag]

To the OP-
Don't feel bad 'bout not doing HHN again. Found it's not really our cup-of-tea either. (who really needs a bunch of pseudo-badguys jumping out at ya)

Love the visuals of HHN, just too many wanna-be actors "trying" to be scary. All they can accomplish is making you slosh your drink.

 

[Prince Eric1]

I commented on this after last years. I don't think that if they are going to jump out and scare people or such, that they should even serve alcohol. Yes, I know they make a lot of money, but it creates an unsafe and unruly environment for the employees and patrons. I'm not anti drinking or anything like that, but if you can't go someplace and go a few hours without getting bombed then stay home. Also, if you show up intox, no admittance. Just my opinion.

 

[highlander447]

Perhaps they should restrict the drinks to 2 per ticket that would allow money to be made and show responsible attitude as well
we just returned from the spanish park and i found the crowds heavy at the weekend but in good spirits and they had plenty of alchol there as well