Gunfight at the Wild West Stadium

This evening, while waiting for the early showing of this year’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure during Halloween Horror Nights, I pondered… In the old Wild West Stadium at Universal Studios Florida, which show has had more performances: The original Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show, its successor – Fear Factor Live, or the HHN annual tribute to pop culture – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. So here’s my very unscientifically scientific analysis (and yes, that's a play on the line from Rocky Horror - you're quite observant):

The Champion: The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show

Opened: July 4, 1991
Closed: September 1, 2003

Traditionally, WWWWest was closed during September & October each year for Bill & Ted’s. So, assume 4 shows per day, 10 months per year, for 12 years.

4 x 30 x 10 x 12 = 14,400 performances

The Upstart: Fear Factor Live

Opened: June 3, 2005

While Fear Factor Live still exists, it has been a seasonal show since February 2009 – only operating during Spring Break, Summer rush, and over the Holidays. So, we’ll have to take that into account.

2005-2009: Again assuming 4 shows per day, 10 months per year for just over 3 1/2 years.

4 x 30 x 10 x 3.5 = 4,200 performances

2009-Present: As stated, the show now operates seasonally. We’ll say that the show runs for 10 weeks per year for the last 2 years.

4 x 7 x 10 x 2 = 560 performances

So, the estimate for FFL is 4,760 performances.

The Underdog: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure

Opened: HHN II (2001)

By far, the hardest to figure out. The number of HHN event nights has changed over the years, and Bill & Ted’s held at the Toon Lagoon Stage in Island's of Adventure for HHN XII until HHN XVI. So we’ll break it down by year, again assuming 4 shows per night.

HHN II (5 nights): 4 x 5 = 20
HHN III (5 nights): 4 x 5 = 20
HHN IV (5 nights): 4 x 5 = 20
HHN V (12 nights): 4 x 12 = 48
HHN VI (15 nights): 4 x 15 = 60
HHN VII (18 nights): 4 x 18 = 72
HHN VIII (19 nights): 4 x 19 = 76
HHN IX (19 nights): 4 x 19 = 76
HHN X (19 nights): 4 x 19 = 76
HHN XI (19 nights): 4 x 19 = 76
HHN XVI (19 nights): 4 x 19 = 76
HHN XVII (22 nights): 4 x 22 = 88
HHN XVIII (23 nights): 4 x 23 = 92
HHN XIX (23 nights): 4 x 23 = 92
HHN XX (24 nights): 4 x 24 = 96
HHN XXI (25 nights): 4 x 25 = 100

Add them up and you get 1,088 performances.

Results

While I figured that WWWWest would win hands-down in this analysis, I really thought that Bill & Ted’s would be closer or even ahead of Fear Factor Live considering FF’s brief run. But the early years of HHN, with just a few nights each year, dampened B&T’s numbers. While I realize that each of the three shows had days where there were more performances and some days with less, considering the disparity in the data it’s unlikely there would be any change.

Our Winner: The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show