★ TABLE OF CONTENTS ★
- 00:34 Introduction
- 01:00 News
- 09:02 Touring Universal Studios Florida
- 23:32 Resources
- 25:32 Closing
🔥 TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST🔥
- News
- Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift updates
- fireworks announcement
- Stranger Things 5 officially coming to HHN
- Simpsons & HHN speculation
- Touring Universal Studios Florida
- Online Resources to help in touring
Show Length: 26:51
🔴 *** Follow Along ***
✅ Podcast website: https://uofanatic.com ✅ Podcast email: Podcast@UOFanatic.com ✅ X: UOFanaticPod ✅ Linktr.ee: LINK ✅ Apple Podcasts: UO Fanatic Podcast ✅ Spotify: UO Fanatic Podcast ✅ Amazon Music: UO Fanatic Podcast ✅ iHeart: UO Fanatic Podcast ✅ YouTube: UO Fanatic Podcast
News
Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift, spike is not 100% in place but the supports are and the Universal Orlando skyline is forever changed. It will of course be personal opinion, but I kind of like the idea and think it will bring some excitement and kinetic energy to CityWalk that they probably intended with Rip Ride Rocket.
We have heard the rumors and followed along with people Like Alicia Stella telling us the potential and of course Bio Reconstruct showing us photographic evidence of the work they were doing out back for permanent fire work launching. Now its all coming together and I am even more excited for my late August trip.
And if that isn’t enough, we have been getting some sneak peeks at testing from Adventuring with Annie sharing with us on YouTube.
The Clock Is Ticking. Are You Ready to Face Vecna? Horror Nights Orlando on X sent out a tweet announcing Stranger things 5 as a haunted house at this years HHN event. “A Stranger Things 5 haunted house is coming to Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights. Join the Hawkins gang for one last adventure as you try to survive an army of Demogorgons, slay the Mind Flayer and defeat Vecna once and for all.”
There is definitely mixed feelings in the HHN community about this but I am going to let you know my bias right up front. I love it. I love stranger things, and I love that we are getting to finish the series off with a bang and even on an anniversary year. I recognize the last couple of iterations of the property were not the top echelon of attractions, but I have to believe they are going to send of this behemoth property in a deserving manner. If that isn’t enough, we still have the swirling rumors that the lagoon show could be Stranger things themed as well. Inject it all into my veins. I have recently been hearing that it could be themed around a WSQK “the squawk”. I am really really excited, and now that the house is official, I hope the lagoon show rumor is true as well.
I will say, one thing the community does seem in full alignment on is that the preview merchandise is some of the worst we’ve ever seen. It just didn’t look finished honestly but I’m not much of a merch person anyways so it was easy for me to move on quickly from that.
Uhhhhh… did The Simpsons show runner just leak the IP coming to Halloween Horror Nights the next two years??? 👀
The people behind the simpsons are saying there are big plans on the horizon for the Simpsons and Halloween Horror Nights for both 2026 and 2027. They did point out the bigger thing is looking like 2027. I know they were probably referencing Universal Studios Hollywood, but this is the sort of deal that typically is done on both coasts. Its pretty exciting, but also reign it in a little bit because we have heard zero rumors about this and it seems like it would be hard to keep that under wraps, especially after this public statement. We shall see. Oh, and he seemed pretty comfy talking about that relationship with Universal. Maybe more evidence that a contract renewal isn’t out of the question? Yes, I have my tinfoil hat on.
This new house picks up 15 years later from Holidays of Horror’s conclusion, where H.R. Bloodengutz has been incarcerated in the Carey Penitentiary since. Now, “he has finally broken out of prison on Halloween Day. He has returned to the WKNB television studio to present a Halloween marathon of straight-to-TV Halloween films that were his favorites that he never got to showcase back when he was working 15 years prior.”
“Since he’s escaping straight from prison and returning to the derelict studio, he tries to piece together his former look as much as he can, but there’s a fun little twist to how he looks this go around. And he’s older because we were able to work with the original actor who played Bloodengutz in 2011, to reprise his role,” Paradoa notes. “So, we’re getting an authentic, older version of the character in this new haunted house that is being played by the original actor, which again, our fans are going to love.”
What can fans expect with his appearance this time?
H.R. Bloodengutz will host one demented Halloween marathon. “What I’ll say about that without giving too much away is that there are seven movies that we’re presenting as scenes in the haunted house; seven movies that are a part of the marathon. Some of those movies are callbacks to HHN’s past.”
In true horror host fashion, “You’re going to get to see him in video format in between each of those movies, and he’s going to essentially usher you into the next movie.” H.R. Bloodengutz will also introduce the house itself and its backstory in queue line videos, too, like the original 2011 haunt, “where H.R. Bloodengutz told the story of each of the movies that he was presenting, and then his own story. We’re doing a queue line video for our guests, outside of this haunted house, where they’re going to get to see H.R. Bloodengutz in this new role, telling this new story, and preparing us for the Halloween Frightacular. Again, that is in collaboration with the original man himself, so we’re very excited for our fans to experience that.
From Michael Aiello on twitter: @Michael_Aiello Never could have guessed back in 2011 when I wrote the original treatment we’d be here today 14 years later…. #HHN35
Was one of the first comedy/horror houses we had done and spawned from my love of creature-feature hosts… his holiday marathon takeover has been talked about to this day and so happy this team is bringing and all new “take-over” to the masses!
From Ramone Paradoa on twitter: @RamonParadoa – As a longtime HHN fan, it has been an absolute dream to work as the Show Director & Writer of this experience! Expanding upon the lore of this beloved HHN classic has undoubtedly been some of the most fun I’ve had in this role. A true passion project for all involved!
Touring Universal Studios Florida
Last episode we covered the entirety of Universal Studios Florida in regards to its layout, attractions and dining. Now it makes sense to take that next step and talk about the challenges of touring the park.
Unless its prime spring break, Christmas or New Years, I want you to know that you can probably accomplish Universal Studios Florida in a day without much planning. This definitely is not Disney World and you can just show up, and have fun, imagine that.
Basic plan
Most times of the year, you can leverage a pretty simple strategy: Arrive early and hit the most popular rides. This is solid advice and any plan worth anything is going to start this way. I would strongly recommend the mid day, busiest and hottest time of the day, take in the shows and other entertainment offerings where you are only waiting for a show time rather than standing in line for x amount of time. Get off your feet in some air conditioning and refuel your body for the evening push and finishing off all the rides remaining on your list. While it can be as simple as that, I know what most of us are like these days and nobody wants to leave their precious and expensive vacation time to chance. So that is why we are also going to dig in deep. But remember, the structure really is that simple. Keep that in your pocket in case weather or attraction down time hinders your touring plan and you need to pivot. This is your plan B and you don’t have to panic because lets be honest, nothing ever goes 100 percent according to plan.
Early Entry matters
If you are staying on property and this park happens to be using early entry, take advantage of that extra hour. Its not only the least busy hour of the day, the following hour is still going to be light in comparison to the remainder of the day. This gives you a couple of hours head start on a typical guest enjoying the park on any given day. This is your biggest advantage.
Touring plan
First things first.
Since we live in a world of optimization, I will lay out a plan for you. Step 1 depends on whether or not you are experiencing early entry or not, so just skip step 1 if you aren’t. So assuming you are doing early entry, I would definitely recommend you getting to the back of the park and experiencing Harry Potter and the escape from Gringotts. At early entry, you will definitely see the shortest times of the day. Let’s face it, the best way to experience the top tier of attractions is with a short wait. Another great thing is being able to ride it twice, and that might be your goal here. The wait times in the first 2 hours are probably likely to be two thirds lower than the peak of the day, which is likely to be between noon and four. The wait time, will also start to trail off at the end of the day, not quite as low as that first 2 hours, but should be manageable. As you hear me spitting out numbers such as this attraction historically has an average wait of 44 minutes. I want you to recognize that I am getting these numbers from Thrill-Data.com. I will talk about that more towards the end of the episode. As I am preparing this episode, it is currently a 15 minute wait, and it is Saturday morning at 10:45am. As you can see, the early bird truly does catch the worm.
For the second attraction, I apologize for your own good, but if you must grab a hot butterbeer and make your way all the way back to the front of the park and jump on Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. If this is your first attraction, I promise this still makes sense. This attraction may be a C tier attraction, but if you want to experience it has two issues that can make it difficult. The first issue is because it’s the first attraction people come upon, they just simply get in line. I know I’m telling you the same thing, but that is just because in the first hour, there just aren’t enough people to make that a terrible idea. The second problem the attraction has is a slow loading process, combined with a time investment of pre-show through the end of the attraction is about 20 to 25 minutes. Once again, I am telling you to get in that line early, especially if it’s still early entry, you probably will have a few more minutes after to get moving towards your next attraction before the gates officially open. The historical average wait time for the attraction is 34 minutes, but the data is so skewed because of the short wait in the morning. Here is what the day will look like for this attraction, the first hour, probably less than 20 minute wait. Then it will shoot up to about an hour or more for the next 4 or 5 hours, before normalizing somewhere around 40 minutes for the remainder of the day. Just think of the crowd flow of entering a Themepark over the course of the day, and you can pretty much predict this rides outcome. As I mentioned before at the time of putting this together, its currently already 45 minutes, whereas 15 minutes ago it was at 30. This attraction will math hard, I promise you that.
For your 3rd attraction, getting into New York, and jumping on Transformers: The Ride-3D. Somewhere around now the park is open to everyone and this is most likely the longest wait in the New York area, which honestly for you at this point, should be a breeze still. You should be a step or two ahead of everyone else now. Historical average wait is 27 minutes, and you should be ahead of that. This attraction is close enough to the front of the park and being a popular attraction, this was a great early victory. Between 10 and 11 this will go from about 5 minutes to 25 or 30 minutes easy. It will have a slow retreat once the highest wait occurs, so it isn’t really worth putting it off for later. As you are heading back into the interior of New York for your next attraction, take a peek at the line for the Transformers meet & greet if its something that has your interest. If its not quick and easy or possibly is to early still, insert that into the afternoon show break coming up later, which is the most likely scenario here, I just want you to be armed with the knowledge and take a look in case it all works out easy.
For Attraction number four, I am recommending you experience Revenge of the Mummy. While researching and reviewing wait times in preparation for this episode I did notice a lot of touring plans put this ahead of Transformers, but the math also showed me that would be a mistake. This attraction should have a slightly lower wait than Transformers, and as I mentioned that transformers line is going to grow and grow quickly. I expect you will save at least 10 minutes with this switch up. Revenge of the mummy has a historical wait of 31 minutes if you are keeping score.
At this point, I am recommending you move on from New York despite not knocking off Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon. This attraction no matter the current wait time can serve us better later. For now, I am saying move on. If you are going the next couple of months, on your way to Men In Black, you could say goodbye to Fast and Furious Supercharged, or not. This could be the 5th attraction. The historical wait for this one is 20 minutes, or as I like to say, 20 minutes to much, but if you want to be a completist, by all means get this done now.
For attraction 6, its all about the Universe and you. MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack has a historical wait of 19 minutes. This can be a fun one, especially for competitive families, so as long as you are seeing waits that line up with the average, feel free to experience it a second time as well. As lunch time rolls around, your waits are levelling off now at the highs for the day so your not going to hurt your experience if a second ride is in the cards and this wait still looks good. By the way, yes I know I walked you past Diagon Alley, and that is because we have later plans.
Attraction 7 lands you in Springfield USA: Home of the Simpsons. Now I would recommend getting a bite to eat before or after the Simpsons Ride. It is a motion simulator attraction, so you hopefully know what works for you, some people do better on an empty stomache and some do better on a full stomache. The good news is the wait should be the wait at this point without much fluctuation. Historically that’s about a 25 minute wait, so realistically your probably looking at a little more than that depending on the crowd level of the day. Get a Duff beer and let me correct something I failed to share with you last episode. Bumble Bee’s taco truck is a hidden in plan site gem. Yeah its not really hidden out in the open right there, but the food level here is surprisingly good.
According to Touring Plans.com the average Disney World guest experiences 9 to 10 attractions a day, and you’ve got 7 done before lunch. You are winning.
Attraction 8, I am giving you a flex option here. E.T. Adventure, it’s a pleasant queue after a meal in that its air conditioned and feels like a comfy forest camping trip. The scents, all of it, very calming. So take a look at the app and the wait time and decide, do I move this to after the shows that are on deck or should we do it now. Its your move, I can give you some data points to make this choice easier. Historically, the average wait is 24 minutes. Another data point is that this ride once open tends to be very consistent, not a lot of peaks and valleys in wait times. So what you see is a good chance of what you will see later. So if good air conditioning in a peaceful environment with pleasant smells is something your in the mood for after your meal, just get it done. Otherwise, come back to this after we get through our upcoming show journey.
The next round of attractions you need to look at the show times and work this out on your own. The important thing to remember is we are now in the time of the day where everything is as long a wait as it probably will get all day. This is why we are pivoting now to these shows. They have either the capacity to handle us, thus no real wait other than the start time, or they are walk up diversions. So lets just run through them with the understanding you need to manage time at this point. Get snack’s and beverages to help pass time while waiting for shows.
#9 The Bourne Stuntacular. Typically the show times are as follows: 11:15am, 12pm, 1pm, 1:45pm, 3pm, 3:45pm, 4:45pm and 5:30pm. Double check your app, they can change these times at any time of their choosing, this is just typically what is going on today.
You’re #10 attraction, The Horror Make Up Show is not currently open, so depending on when your visit is, this one may not matter.
Attraction 11, Animal Actors on location. Typically this runs at 11:15am, 12:30pm, 1:45pm, 3:45pm and 5:00pm. Another thing worth mentioning, pay attention as some of the shows, this one in fact, has less shows running than most of the others.
There are some additional smaller scale shows that I think are worth your while, and these include, the Blues Brothers in New York and the Beat Builders, on the corner between New York and San Francisco. Before your trip, make sure you use the app to watch and learn about what events you are interested and this is where those fit into your touring plan. You can leave Celestina Warbeck out of those plans only because we will be ending the night in Diagon Alley, as one should.
Once you have completed your shows, it is time to finish off the attractions. Illuminations Villain-Con Minion Blast will be your twelfth attraction. This will probably be the shortest wait of any attraction in the park, in fact, you probably could enjoy this a couple of times if you wish unless you have some unusual waits ahead. Thrill data tells us the average wait time for this attraction is 9 minutes. The only bump this attraction typically gets, is one at gate open. Its up front where people tend to just fall into line.
Just further down the road, Race through New York starring Jimmy Fallon. This attraction is an outlier, even if there is a wait, you get a color coded ticket and wait for it to be called. In the meantime, they have entertainment and a museum like exhibit all about the history of the Tonight Show. The average historic wait for the attraction is 16 minutes, but honestly, don’t worry about that part, just go experience the exhibits and enjoy the entertainment. That is now 13 attractions experienced, plus some smaller but wonderful show experiences.
As evening approaches, we want to do what in my opinion is what you should do. Spend your evening at the Wizarding World in Diagon Alley. If crowds were light and you have plenty of time left before park close, go ahead and eat. If its closer and you just have these few things left, push ahead and eat at CityWalk or your hotel after the park closes. Although IF CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular is showing, you should see it, the good news is that show starts at closing time usually and while you wont get the best view, you can still get a decent view walking up late in the back. Anyway, definitely worth a mention there, but now lets continue on here at the water front to attraction 14, The Knight Bus. Chat with the conductor and a shrunken head, get your photo and while you are there, take a peak at the window at 12 Grimmauld place.
Attraction 15, look to the app to see any times Celestina Warbeck may have left and adjust the order of your next couple of moves. The tales of Beetle the Bard do show opposite Celestina, and if you have never seen it and time is still available by all means. I am personally biased to Celestina for sure here.
Attraction 16, Ollivander’s wand shop for a wonderful wand experience and finish out with Diagon Alley shopping through the various locations in Diagon Alley. Which in itself is Attraction 17. Ollivander’s shouldn’t be hard to accomplish. Its historical wait average is 8 minutes. If it’s a little busy, do some shopping first and peek at the mobile app to see if its changed. It’s definitely worth some waiting for, it will impress adults and children alike.
Attraction 18, either, Cinesational or get back in line at Gringotts for a re-ride as the park is coming to a close.
If you are staying at one of the 3 hotels with express pass benefits, (Portofino, Hard rock or Royal Pacific) this can be even easier and no back tracking. Take it all in with whatever order you wish. You could also of course throw money at the problem and purchase Express Pass as well. But if you want to be thrifty and get the most value, this plan should definitely get you there.
Resources
I also wanted to mention some resources that can help you dig in and get to the next level of preparation with a few sites that I personally feel comfortable in recommending that I have used myself and have no affiliation with me whatsoever.
Touring Plans
Touring plans is the OG of crowd calendars and touring plans. Touring plans has some free resources, but I would encourage people who love to plan to subscribe to the Universal Orlando subscription for a mere $13.97 for a year. They have touring plans such as I walked you through today, they have the ability to customize your touring plans and even their own mobile app, Lines, with current and future wait times for every attraction on your phone. They also have crowd calendars showing crowd predictions for each park each day and are constantly improving their data. These experts are some of the people behind the successful Unofficial Guides series of books that every theme park nerd reads cover to cover.
Orlando Informer
Orlando informer offers a lot of guides and information and also some of the services that the Touring Plans.com provides. I would tell you it’s a little more simple and scaled back, but its also 100% free. I typically use in conjunction. They also offer wonderful OI meetups, paid exclusive park events that I am sure I will cover on the podcast at some point in detail.
Thrill data
Thrill-data.com is a website dedicated to collecting data on theme parks, including Universal Orlando parks. They offer a lot of free services that are absolutely amazing. Historical data on attractions and wait times and a lot more. They also have a lot of paid services as well that I am not familiar with, but with all they offer and the quality of those offerings, I would encourage anyone interested in investing in those services if you are interested in them. The historical wait times I referenced for all attractions in this episode came from that website.
