Universal bringing year-round horror attraction to Chicago

I thought that they might have seen how the Vegas one went before committing to another.

From the article - "The new venue will mark the second location for the popular Universal Horror Unleashed brand" .

How popular is that brand? Is it already used somewhere in a park or other operating attraction?

That's what I was thinking, as well. If it doesn't exist yet, how is it popular?

It’s being billed as Halloween Horror Nights year round, and they will be using some well known IPs and the Vegas one will even feature a bar themed to Jack the Clown, the most well known icon of HHN. I expect them to lean into that association (ie from the twisted minds who make Halloween Horror Nights.). In Vegas HHN is a very well known thanks to its proximity to USH, Chicago is a bit more of a stretch and was surprised that was their second location.

Thanks for the detail. I am interested to see how the Vegas attraction goes. Granted, I end up there for work more than I do for fun, but depending on the price point, I just can't see myself making the effort to go.

The Orlando park does the best haunted houses I’ve been in. You feel like you are in the movies, with these attractions being year round I expect even more impressive sets, the question will be if they staff (and keep the staff) to fully populate those mazes.

Chicago is an actor’s town, and it attracts lots of people looking for work.

Issue with staffing won’t be availability of theater people, it’s whether the traffic supports the staffing necessary to fully populate the attraction.

the HHN events, and most Haunts in general are hugely popular. However, they work because they can scale: multiple houses, scare zones, atmospherics, etc. Vegas has had a tough time making a go of single maze LBE spaces in the past. While the Universal brand is well known in the Horror genre, making a successful LBE space is a tough proposition. Vegas is the most logical choice outside of the seasonal Haunt spaces. They will have a hard time getting sufficient numbers on a consistent basis. Vegas is already suffering significant tourism decline (most of it their own making, so eff them), but I’m afraid Universal may be landing at about the worst possible time since Covid.

Chicago, even across from a casino, could be a much harder sell.

I don't imagine they decided to do this without significant market research.

And from what I was told by someone on the project, they will run with minimal staffing all of the time. Unlike the park version of mazes, these will rely heavily on animatronics over actors, and be designed with a layout that allows one actor to work multiple rooms as a group walks through, thus greatly reducing the amount of performers you need.

Then that’s even more distressing. if you ever did the year round Walking Dead attraction at USH you’ll know what that means.

Eager to see how this plays out.

Jeff:

I don't imagine they decided to do this without significant market research

The same company who just built a park in Florida that is touted as being beautiful at night yet isn’t open past sunset during the summer?

or who built arguably the most expensive theme park ride to date with e-stop sensors that activate if your feet aren’t touching the floor of the ride vehicle?

that company?

Yeah, no one is interested in visiting their parks.

Not what I said, and not the point I was making, and you know it.

Vegas is suffering month over month declines for the last several months (May is the latest released info). 4th of July seems to have been slightly soft compared to last year, and late summer (July-Aug) bookings are horribly SOFT. There is significant discounting (waived resort fees and Free Parking on the Strip) at many resorts for the remainder of the summer. This is the FIRST time that hotels are waiving resort fees AND parking. Layoffs are happening all over the Strip and Downtown.

I'm saying it's going to be a tough environment for Universal to open Horror Unleashed. Yes, spooky season will be quickly upon them but the first weeks are going to be weak. If they skimp on the labor AND if that is noticeable to the hardcore guests who will be the first to experience it, word will spread and they could face real issues in trying to expand this idea to other locations.

I have my doubts on the Chicago location. Bally's is having significant cash issues (see lack of movement on a Ballpark for the "Sacramento" A's on the former Tropicana site), and I have serious doubts that their Chicago property will be done in time, or if at all, by them. Edited for clarity: [Universal Piggybacking their Chicago Horror Unleashed location to someone else's disaster (Bally’s casino construction)is something that their market research probably didn't contemplate.]

I don't know it. I can't read your mind, nor do I understand your flavor of sarcasm, or how you connect operation of a park in Orlando to a haunt in Chicago. I understand even less what Bally's has to do with anything.

The original context was Universal expanding Horror Unleashed (“HU”) to Chicago. There were comments questioning the potential success of year round Horror based LBE, especially in non-traditional tourist hotspots. The first of these for Universal opens in a month in Las Vegas, a definite tourist hotspot.

The Chicago location is planned across the street from an under construction, casino development being built by Bally’s in Chicago. There is more than enough anecdotal reporting that Bally’s is cash constrained, and that the successful completion of the Chicago project is at risk. Universal, with their market research you referenced, made a good selection in pairing their Chicago LBE to an in-town location that SHOULD get good foot traffic from the casino, once it gets built. However, there is significant risk that the current Chicago project can be completed at all, and certainly not in the current timeline. A delay that puts UH opening in front of the casino could be detrimental, as the intended foot traffic from the casino won’t be there.