Guide to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida
Halloween Horror Nights is a hard-ticket event held at Universal Studios Florida in September & October. This guide covers dates & ticket prices, tips for maximizing your time at HHN, whether it’s worth the money, haunted house info, and photos from our experiences attending Orlando’s event.
This year, Halloween Horror Nights will be held on select nights through October 31. The after hours party runs from 6:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. on most nights. For most of its run, Halloween Horror Nights is held Wednesday through Sunday. Only Mondays and Tuesdays are safe from the carnage!
Single night tickets, multi-night passes, and Express Pass are all sold for Halloween Horror Nights. Prices for HHN vary dramatically, starting at around $75 if purchased in advance online (which you absolutely should do, as prices can be $50 more expensive day of at the gates). This may seem steep, but it’s cheaper than Walt Disney World’s Halloween parties–plus, multi-night HHN passes are considerably more affordable per visit.
Halloween Horror Nights is not included in normal daytime park admission, meaning if you only buy a regular ticket to Universal Studios Florida, you will have to leave once HHN starts (so plan accordingly if you don’t want to do HHN and visit on a day it is not happening).
In addition to single night tickets and multi-night passes, there are also hotel packages that include general admission tickets and admission to Halloween Horror Nights. Beyond that, there are a bunch of add-on options, from dining packages to R.I.P. (get it?!) tours.
In terms of Halloween Horror Nights dates, here’s every night the event will be held:
- September 2-4, 7-11, 15-18, 21-25, 28-30
- October 1-2, 5-9, 11-16, 19-24, 26-31
If at all possible, we recommend avoiding Friday and Saturday nights. Not only are these more popular, but they’re more expensive. More on this in the strategy section below.
You should also be aware that multiple night passes typically offer considerably more bang for buck. Here are the details for HHN 31 passes:
- Rush of Fear Pass ($129.99): Valid for admission the first four weeks of the event (September 2-4, 7-11, 15-18, and 21-25), but no dates in October. Rush of Fear with Express Pass costs $429.99.
- Frequent Fear Pass ($179.99): Valid for admission for every event night Sunday through Thursday plus the first weekend of the event. Frequent Fear with Express Pass costs $509.99.
- Frequent Fear Plus Pass ($219.99): Valid for admission every event night Sunday through Friday plus the first and last Saturday event nights. Frequent Fear Plus with Express Pass costs $599.99.
- Ultimate Frequent Fear Pass ($329.99): Valid for admission every night of the event. Ultimate Frequent Fear Pass with Express Pass costs $819.99.
What follows is general information for the Halloween Horror Nights, strategy, tips, etc. based upon our experiences doing HHN over the years. Let’s cover some basic info…
Halloween Horror Nights Info
First, let’s start with what it is. Basically, Halloween Horror Nights is Universal’s “version” of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party over in Magic Kingdom. Except, instead of family-friendly fun trick-or-treating wearing costumes with Mickey and his pals, a parade, and fireworks, it has none of those things. (In fact, costumes are not even allowed.) Instead, there’s a much more gory and frightening vibe. It really is so scary.
In other words, once you get past the “Halloween” theme that the two events that the two events share, they have literally nothing in common. Halloween Horror Nights is aimed squarely at adults who want the bejesus scared out of them, with an edgy, almost explicit vibe that caters to the young ‘bro’ set (more on this later). To reiterate: it is definitely not for kids. (The good news, if you have kids, is that there are virtually no signs of the event in the park during the day, so it’s “safe” to visit then.)
Universal Orlando does not offer any kid-friendly Halloween events. Halloween Horror Nights takes place in Universal Studios Florida, not in Islands of Adventure. If you don’t want your fall visit to Universal Orlando Resort to be impacted by Halloween Horror Nights, it’s as simple as visiting Universal Studios Florida on a Monday or Tuesday (or Wednesday if the event is not happening then), and visiting Islands of Adventure any night of the week.
HHN 31 Haunted Houses
The primary draw of Halloween Horror Nights is the walk-through haunted house “mazes.” There are typically around 10 mazes, half of which are based on horror franchises. The others are usually original creations, unique to HHN.
Here’s the lineup of Halloween Horror Nights houses:
The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare – Enter the macabre mind of musician The Weeknd in this haunted house as he stalks you through the surreal nightmare of his After Hours music.
Hellblock Horror – Enter a prison whose savage inmates are monstrous creatures. If they break free from their cells, it’s a death sentence for everyone.
Horrors of Blumhouse – Enter the worlds of two horror masterpieces from Blumhouse as you face the most terrifying moments of Freaky and The Black Phone.
Spirits of the Coven – A coven of beautiful flapper witches will lure you into their 1920s speakeasy, reveal their haggish true form and turn your scream squad into a witch’s brew. They’ll be cackling; you’ll be screaming.
Halloween – Come face to face with Michael Myers and go back to where it all began. Step into terrifying moments from the 1978 horror classic, Halloween.
Universal Monsters: Legends Collide – You’re about to get caught in the middle of an epic battle between The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy, together for the first time ever.
Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake – In a New England fishing village, undead fishermen emerge from the waves to seek their revenge. You and your scream squad may have escaped their hooks in the scare zone. Now they’ll reel you in and drag you under.
Bugs: Eaten Alive – While touring a 1950s home of the future, you’ll be surrounded by the slime of bugs everywhere as hordes of many-legged terrors descend upon you and your scream squad. You’ll be dropping like flies.
Descendants of Destruction – Careful not to leave any of your scream squad behind as you descend the subway tunnels of a deserted New York. Lurking in the dark are hungry mutants looking to feast on the last remnants of humanity.
Fiesta de Chupacabras – Visit a Latin American village where the legend of the creature Chupacabras is celebrated with a colorful fiesta. And the streets are lined with the crimson blood of tourists like you and your amigos.
Each haunted house is an elaborately-designed indoors walk-through (they’re referred to as mazes, but this is a misnomer since there’s only one way to go, and you cannot possibly get lost), lasting about 3-5 minutes. A constant trickle of guests is sent through, so you’re never alone in the dark. The houses are usually set up beyond the normal bounds of the theme park (slightly backstage) in sound stages or in unused queue area. Photography is not allowed inside the houses.
Beyond the intricate design–which really is quite impressive for temporary structures–the haunted houses rely heavily on actors seemingly come out of nowhere to startle guests. Additionally, there are sound & lighting effects, music, narrow passages & tight corners, air bursts, mirror effects, and gruesome details to achieve an eerie and suspenseful experience. Basically, these are traditional haunted houses, but with lavish budgets and locations drawn from popular horror franchises.
HHN Scare Zones
There are also 5 scare zones filled with hordes of ‘scare-actors. For Halloween Horror Nights 31, the scare zones are as follows:
Horrors of Halloween – The Pumpkin Lord, the spirit of Halloween, has taken over this year’s event, summoning hordes of fiendish creatures. Terror has taken root.
Scarecrow: Cursed Soil – At an abandoned farm, scarecrows have risen from the crust of the earth to hunt you and seek revenge. They’ll harvest your screams.
Sweet Revenge – The sweets from Major Sweets’ candy company have turned children into crazed killers. This Halloween’s all trick, no treat and total mayhem.
Graveyard: Deadly Unrest – On All Hallow’s Eve, a dark storm descends upon a cemetery and awakens long-dead spirits. No one living can escape them
Conjure the Dark – On the first All Hallow’s Eve, an evil sorceress called forth monstrosities from dark dimensions. Now your blood will fuel them.
Some of these scare zones are narrowly-themed with a very specific horror motif, while others are more open-ended with a range of mutants. These are great places to just wander around and see the monsters/scare-actors interact with guests. Great for people-watching.
As smartphone cameras have improved and social media has risen in popularity, scare zones have become more of ‘selfie spots.’ This is unfortunate, although some scareactors still attempt to terrify unwitting guests rather than stopping for photos.
HHN Entertainment
In addition to these houses/mazes, there’s other entertainment including stage shows that change from year to year. We found that both of these show can be hit or miss, but there are enough ‘hits’ that they’re worth watching. The latest show is Halloween Nightmare Fuel. The crowd went wild for this, and we were generally impressed by the performers–especially the pyro performers. The story, to the extent there is one, is meh.
There’s also the excellent lagoon show Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory, which features water fountains, film projections, lighting, and projection-mapping. It is also very, very loud. (I know I might sound old there, but we’ve seen several other guests plugging their ears during this.)
As far as attractions go, this is actually quite a huge slate. Numerous rides are also open (all with minimal waits); we do not recommend doing them. You cannot possibly see and do all of the Halloween entertainment without a good plan of attack for Halloween Horror Nights.
Halloween Horror Nights Tips
Over the last several years, we’ve gained a lot of experience with Halloween Horror Nights. It helped that the first year we did HHN, we visited with a friend in Operations at Universal Orlando who was basically an HHN-ninja, and we gleaned quite a bit from that experience. Additionally, many of the same principles that apply in terms of crowds, etc., to MNSSHP also apply to Halloween Horror Nights.
First, if at all possible, you want to attend on the least busy night you can. This means as early in the season as possible, and avoiding Fridays and Saturdays. Going on a weeknight in September will be the best option because locals have work the next morning and Halloween isn’t yet on people’s minds.
Arrive with a full stomach before Halloween Horror Nights starts. You don’t want to waste time eating once the event starts, as lines are shortest at the outset of the night, and time is valuable. You’ll also want something to soak up the booze, if you plan on drinking.
Speaking of booze, it’s expensive, so you might want to responsibly pregame if you’re going to go that route. We cannot emphasize the “responsibly” part of that enough, as we’ve been told that Universal security regularly turns away guests who show up to the event too drunk.
Speaking of security, they’re everywhere. Plain clothes and uniformed, and Orlando police have a significant presence. Halloween Horror Nights has a reputation as a raucous event, and that’s definitely deserved. That does not mean you have carte blanche to act like a drunken buffoon. I’m not sure this qualifies as a “tip” but one important thing to remember is that just because you’re in a theme park doesn’t mean you can’t be arrested or kicked out. Even in fantasy land, drunk & disorderly conduct can still get you thrown in the drunk tank.
In terms of touring plans and strategy, we highly recommend doing Halloween Horror Nights on the same night as you attend Universal Studios Florida. This is because you’ll have a 15-minute head start on the houses before HHN-only guests. It might not seem like much, but that first 15 minutes is critical to avoiding lines.
To take advantage of this, you head to HHN check-in areas in Universal Studios Florida around 5 p.m. Then, you head to one of the holding areas, getting in line by around 5:15 p.m. (We recommend grabbing beer and the glorious Brain Freezin’ D’oh-Nut Sundaes above in Springfield and then headed to that holding area.) At around 5:45 p.m., you’re released. If you’re at the front of one of these holding areas, you’ll exit your first house before 6 p.m.
By contrast, guests at the very front of the line outside the turnstiles will enter the park at around 6 p.m. (official start time of HHN is 6:30 p.m.) and those front of line guests have probably waited a good 90 minutes for that position. They won’t arrive at their first house until 6:10 p.m. Guests who arrive at 6 p.m. are farther back in line to get in won’t hit a house until maybe 6:30 p.m. By 6:30 p.m., you’ll be on house #3 or #4.
You can start in Springfield or the front of the park, which is better all depends upon where the popular IP houses are located. Although houses at the front of the park lure guests as they enter, these popular IPs located deeper in the park are bigger draws, so we opted to knock them out first. We completed 3 houses in short order, and were onto house #4 before 6:30–still ahead of the crowds.
Following this, we had a dilemma: head deeper into the park and knock out a couple of less-popular houses with no waits, or head forward and experience houses at the front with moderate waits. We opted for the former strategy, with the idea in mind that we would hit those houses, and then do other entertainment for a while.
We would then do the front of park houses after midnight, towards the end of the event when the hordes started stumbling home. This strategy worked flawlessly, and we recommend it. Our longest wait of the night ended up being 45 minutes. Otherwise, I don’t think we waited more than 10-15 minutes for anything.
Alternatively, if you’re going a busy night or just don’t want to hassle with strategy, the HHN Express Pass is available for purchase (it is not included with hotel stays) for $100+ per person. That’s a lot of money, but it might be worth it if you only have one night for HHN and you’re going on a night when waits might peak at 120 minutes for a single house.
Aside from the houses, we spent the middle of the evening walking the scare zones and watching the two stage shows. If you’re into photography, the scare zones are a great option, and I’d recommend trying for photos at dusk while there’s still a bit of light. The scare-actors will ham it up for photos to some degree, but they are still moving, making nighttime photos of them a challenge. (I wish I focused more on photography, as the event has great potential for that–if you have the patience.)
That’s really it in the way of strategy. With the plan described above, we were able to walk-through each of the houses one time, see both stage shows, and spend around an hour (collectively) in the scare zones by staying until the bitter end. We did not eat during the event and restroom usage was minimal.
With that said, I still felt like we had insufficient time at Halloween Horror Nights. I wanted to spend more time in the scare zones to people watch, and also hit a couple of the houses a second time to explore all of the details. Although the houses are the main draw in terms of wait times, I found the eerie vibe of the event to be a bigger draw, and would not have minded a second night to slow down and take in the ambiance.
Halloween Horror Nights Review
Let’s pick up on that note about ambiance and get the bad out of the way. You might recall my ‘bro’ comment above. That’s because there is an undeniable frat-bro vibe to Halloween Horror Nights. (Some might take that a step further and contend the event is misogynistic and sexist.)
From my perspective, it’s more a case of the former than the latter, but I’m also a man who has never experienced the negative side of sexism firsthand. There were a couple instances of one-dimensional ‘sex object’ female characters in Halloween Horror Nights, but other than that, I didn’t notice anything overt.
To me, guests are the bigger issue than the event itself. This has been something of an elephant in the room, but it boiled over as reports of scare-actors being groped were made public. It remains to be seen what measures Universal will take to address the atmosphere of HHN, or if there’s really anything that can be done. Certainly, the free flow of alcohol doesn’t help, but it’s also true that alcohol alone isn’t a kiss that turns princes into douchey frogs.
Nor is this to say that everyone who attends or enjoys Halloween Horror Nights is a douchey frat bro. While the audience is decidedly different from Disney’s Halloween events, by and large, the event is not douchey nor are its attendees.
I enjoy Halloween Horror Nights and enjoy most elements of the event enough to make it an annual draw. Just as I don’t have issue conceding (what I view as) Disney’s flaws, I don’t have a problem confronting the same with Halloween Horror Nights. I don’t think there is any way of skirting the issue: HHN draws an audience that skews towards the raucous side. I mean, it’s no Insane Clown Posse concert, but it’s an adult-oriented Halloween event…what do you expect?
I mention this so you know what you’re getting yourself into. This isn’t in the same ballpark–or league…or sport–as Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Each are good on their own respective merits, but there’s little to no Venn overlap.
There is a lot to enjoy about Halloween Horror Nights, and its problems (I think) are relatively minor as compared to its strengths. The big strength, I think, is the design of the mazes/houses. These can be hit or miss, but the best of them do an amazing job re-creating environments from films, or just creating environments from the ground up.
The biggest misses for me in terms of the houses were those based on modern IP–including those I recognize. In recent years, the Walking Dead and Stranger Things houses have been among the worst in this regard, resting on their laurels with recognizable visuals from the film. The problem was that beyond the “oh, I recognize that from my favorite [not for me, but maybe for someone] TV series!” moments, the whole thing was dull and monotonous.
I’d hazard a guess that opinions on the houses will vary based largely on personal preference, but as a whole, the designs are really well done. Hard to believe some of these are temporary.
The scare zones were also very well done, particularly the icons one that featured stages with brief shows throughout the night. My personal preference is more towards the narrowly focused scare zones with a single concept than the ‘vague collection’ ones, but both work. These were a lot of fun to visit and revisit.
Criticism aside, I had an absolute blast at Halloween Horror Nights last year, and plan to attend again in 2023. If you enjoy horror films or the adult side of Halloween and don’t have kids in tow, I highly recommend dedicating an evening to Halloween Horror Nights. If I were a local, I’d probably opt for a lower level Annual Pass and attend 2-3 nights.
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Your Thoughts
Have you attended a Halloween Horror Nights event? What did you think of it? Any tips of your own to add? Does HHN interest you, or are you more a MNSSHP kind of person? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of Halloween Horror Nights? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Nice post! We are going to Universal in September with a 4 years old kid and we really want to joing HN. There is any place in the park that we could stay that is not scary? What would be your advice? Thanks!
Hello everyone, my wife and I will attend HHN on September 11th (Sunday)
This is this only one we will be doing. Can someone give me their opinion on buying express pass or not?
Thanks!
Hey Antoine,
When my family attended HHN, we only had one night for the event (also in September) and we bought the Express Pass. It was well worth it. We were able to do 8/10 houses that night. We only missed the last two because our kids quit on us. We were in the park early in a holding area, so we were released to go to the houses a little earlier than the official opening time.
I’ve attended HHN twice in the past, once in Orlando and once in LA. I bought the express pass both times and was very glad I did on each occasion. Even on less busy nights, you will find yourself rushed to try and get through all the mazes without an express pass. But both times, I also rode all the available rides, saw all of the featured shows and went through every maze and scare zone with plenty of time to spare (eat snacks, but drinks, etc.), never feeling rushed. I am also returning in this September, and yes, I bought the express pass again. Have fun!
As I’m sure others have mentioned, here are a few things to keep in mind:
(1) They sell express passes at a discounted rate as the night goes on in the park. The deeper into the night you get the cheaper they are, but they can sell out. The strategy here is to wait and see if you think you’ll need them and buy accordingly.
(2) The Scream Early option allows you early entry into the park from 3-5pm so you’re in prime spot when the event opens and can get to a more popular house earlier before crowds/lines form. If you’re planning to go to Universal that day, you *technically* don’t need to buy the Scream Early ticket.
(3) The event runs until 2am and they allow you to get into line right up until that point. So you can get in a lot of houses at the end and even do more popular houses later in the evening as long as you’re in line by 2am.
I am assuming the lagoon show is only performed once per night. Is the other show performed multiple times? Any advice on how best to plan on fitting those shows into a full night?
Hi thank you for your tips of Halloween nights!
I have a question we are a party of 6 but one is a boy (7 years old) we are planning to go separately in two groups for the little one don’t enter to the park and go in different dates…
We don’t have too much time to go and stay what is your recommendation but express pass or RIP we don’t have idea the difference between this options
Thank you in advance and have a great day!
I can tell you that if you’re going for one night the express pass is a better option. The only difference I believe is free valet parking, a lanyard, and a tour guide who leads you around to the front of each maze. All you really want in the front of the line which comes with express pass and is cheaper.
This is a few months late, but if you have it in the budget, I would definitely recommend a RIP tour. The guides are fountains of knowledge and will give you all sorts of backstory about each house. Some years (this may change depending on the year), there has been a lounge for RIP tour guests which is a nice, quick break. I have done the RIP tour where we have gotten through every house and show, then had time to redo our couple favorites or go on some rides.
The Express Pass IS a great option, but you will still end up in a line (much shorter line, no doubt) at various houses.
Very informative, nice post, thanks for sharing
I loved Bride of Frankenstein! It was campy and nonsensical just like the film. I did Hollywood’s version, obviously, but I am assuming they are the same and had those big “storybook” page walls so that you could follow the narrative a bit, even though the scare-actors do all they can to make you pee your pants instead. Who needs reading when there is micturition to be accomplished. It was really fun, my favorite of the mazes. Perhaps Orlando’s was different, though. My other favorites were Hill House, Walking Dead, and Exorcist, although I am a little upset they didn’t include some of my favorites of Pazuzu’s lines from the film, such as what Father Karras’s mother is getting up to in hell.
Entirely off topic question, Tom, since I know you love that sort of thing, but was the Fried Chicken and Brisket Grilled Cheese Sandwich at River Belle Terrace overly spicy for you? Granted, I thought mine was delicious because I love me some hot chicken (bowels don’t exactly like it the next day), but this was SHOCKINGLY hot for a theme park sandwich. Like hotter than medium heat buffalo wings. My lunch companion couldn’t finish half a sandwich, and the couple next to us sent theirs back after taking one bite each. Ordinarily, I would just assume they were from Hemet or something, but no, they really had a point here, this heat level was not for everyone, regardless of zip code or northern border country of origin. Since all the reviews I’ve seen haven’t mentioned the heat, I’m just going to assume someone got a little ambitious with the cayenne in that day’s batch of sauce or something. Just curious.
We just got back from a trip to Universal yesterday with a large group, and 6 of us did HHN last Thursday the 23rd – none of us had ever done it before, and we had fun. We did exactly what Tom suggests – stayed all day at US and got in line at 4:30 to be among the first into the HHN stuff. We were able to do 5 houses and most of the scare zones – none of which were remotely scary, but fun nonetheless. Some of the unique HHN desserts are excellent too.
Worth noting, on HHN days, the only time that Monsters Cafe is open is during HHN – we didn’t realize this so I’m glad we hit it during the party, we really like that place. Also, one issue that is brought up above, the scare actors certainly get into your personal space – the main scaredy-cat in our group was startled many times, much to our amusement. But the issue of social distancing during HHN is completely obliterated.
Overall it was fun, I’m glad we did it at least this one time.
We are considering a visit to Universal Orlando on a mid Sept weekend strictly for Harry Potter. Crowds seem low and we want to take advantage. We have no interest in HHN which means we lose some evening hours. Is this worth doing or are crowds likely to surge in weekends for this event anyway?
(We were originally planning weekend after Thanksgiving with longer days, deluxe resort, and Express Passes, and are now reconsidering to maybe avoid some of the crowds).
Appreciate any thoughts you can provide!
We were supposed to go in 2020, but after everything got canceled due to covid, we are now going this year. This will be our 3rd time going to HHN and we love it! We get the express pass (worth every penny) and are able to get through all 10 houses and even some rides in the one visit. It is however very tiring, with lots of walking and standing. Some of the houses in the back of the park are a very long walk just to get to the queue. I suggest NOT visiting the park during the day. Sleep in late and relax by the pool all day and save all your energy for HHN. It’s fun but exhausting! We are a bit older group in our 40’s – 60’s but manage to make it through the night in one piece. We never had problems with the other guest. Yes, there are lots of local teens on date night, and 20 somethings who can’t handle their alcoholic “slushy”, but the majority are the same people that go to Disney who are on vacation having fun. Someone asked about rides. Yes, many of the rides are open (Gringotts, Mummy, MIB, Hollywood rip rocket, and some others). Wait times are low since most people are doing the houses, and if you have express pass for the night, it includes the rides too so you can pretty much just walk on. We are also doing Boo Bash for the (hopefully) low wait times and low crowds. I can’t tolerate MK during the day now that I don’t have little ones anyone. I wonder how HHN will be this year though. I doubt it will be set up the same as it was pre-covid. I am hoping it is lower capacity and that the houses will not push the conga line of crowds through. I also doubt the scare-actors will be getting 2 inches from your face as in the past years due to social distancing etc. Any info on that, Tom? Thanks for all the great info!
There have been rumors that they’ll be using plexiglass barriers between scareactors and guests, but nothing official. I’m not “connected” when it comes to HHN, so there’s rumors are all indirect. I have no clue whatsoever.
Question for Tom or anyone: If you’re not into HHN but want to experience other attractions at US on those nights, are they open and available? (We have 2-park tickets for T-Fr Sept. 14-17 and aren’t excited about not being able to do any US attractions for 3 of those 4 nights, but we could potentially add on a HHN admission if that would allow us to enter the park at least one of those nights.)
There is no Oogie Boogie Bash or Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. It’s After Hours Boo Bash. Like a watered down Mickey Not so scary Halloween Party with very little entertainment or food.
I’m only going to one night of USH HHN, some time in September, after Oogie Boogie Bash, which makes me bouncing around from maze to maze yelling “WHAT IN CARNATION?!” to every jumping shadow all the more enjoyable to my enemies who might want to own me online. I have the coveted Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt All-Access though, so sadly, my escapades will only be enjoyed by a 909 contingent. Not looking forward to the 310 bros.
I went to HHN in Orlando with my mom in September 2019. We were really excited for our first visit to this event as we are truly a Halloween-oriented family. Haunted houses, hay rides, you name it. We were already staying at Universal for a few days so added on a weeknight (I believe Wednesday) ticket to HHN thinking that would be the least crowded. We also bought Express passes for this event to limit wait times. What’s interesting is throughout our few park days it was essentially a ghost town. We didn’t have Express passes for the park days and didn’t need them; it was a very low-crowds time and pleasant. But all bets were off for HHN. On the event night, we arrived to US early in the morning and mistakenly stayed all day until the event started. We had planned to go to US for a few hours and then go back to our resort and nap and recharge but time got away from us and as it neared closer to 5pm we realized we should just stay so we could go to the holding area for people already in the park. We chose a holding area close to the Stranger Things house as I was so excited about it. When they let us line up, we were at the very front but probably would have been anyways since we were using the Express pass line. I agree with Tom that we got through 3 or so houses before most people were let in and lined up. This was nice but my experience quickly went downhill. While going through all the houses we were crammed with people in front and behind us so it was hard to experience the house. Further, the US staff were placed all throughout the houses and constantly were saying things like “Please keep moving.” I understand that the crowds are high and they don’t want people to mosy along aimlessly but it really took away from the experience. I have frequented many haunts in my time and have never been so distracted by staff interrupting the moment. I felt super rushed all night. We did get through all the houses with minimal waits due to having Express passes (which were a good buy because the crowds were insane, which surprised me considering it was Wednesday night in September), but it really felt like we were just trying to beat the clock and were not able to take in the experience. The scare zones and such were neat. We also were very tired considering we spent a full day in the heat at the park prior to the event starting. I was just more disappointed than I expected to be as I had assumed this would be the highlight of our trip. If I go again (not sure), I would arrive to the park in the afternoon and relax beforehand. But I wonder if others feel similarly about being very rushed and interrupted in the houses. (And to be clear, I am not a slow walker and was not trying to milk the time. It just was different than other haunted houses where there are ebbs and flows as you go that add to the scare factor. And very limited staff out of character).
Hey Tom!
I know this is a loaded question but what’s the likelihood you think that they will bring back “after hours” this fall? Thanks Tom
This is a HUGE blow for them. I wasn’t surprised either, but could tell they were trying to make it work.
Well. I am now thoroughly convinced I will NEVER go to this event. I’m a horrid chicken. I cannot even watch the horror film genre (except for Jurassic Park– and is that even really a horror movie?). Anyway, the combination of blood, guts, and abundance of booze puts this event squarely on my never-to-attend list! Thanks for the heads up 🙂
Hey, Tom! Have you had the chance to check out Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood yet? Based on your experience in Orlando, how do you think it would differ in the multi-level Hollywood park?
I went a couple times in my early 30s and enjoyed it, c. 2003, but I have just as much interest in it now in my early 40s as I do in horror movies, which is zero. I do remember being a bit put off by sine behaviors even back then, but then that’s hard to avoid anywhere. I also remember having a hard time with the strobe lights which seemed to be everywhere.
I have similar thoughts. Up in Ohio Cedar Point does Halloweekends and the evenings feature scare zones and haunted houses (presumably, lower quality than Universal’s). I wasn’t a big fan in my 20’s and now have no interest at all.
My wife and I will be down there in October staying on property and I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not we will attend. To be honest I love the whole horror nights atmosphere but don’t care much for the houses. I’ve never been a horror fan can’t remember the last horror movie I watched and don’t know if it’s a way to spend our evening. We did HHN when we were in college in gasp 2002 so I know we don’t fit in with the crowd you described now, not that I ever did.
I’ve gone to HHN each year since 2000 and will continue to go for the foreseeable future. It is also the only time I visit Universal Studios. The houses are almost always well done but I’d like them to stop relying so much on IPs and go for original content like they use to (The Walking Dead needs to go away).
It has also gotten to a point where the “fast pass” is a necessity as crowds have become a big issue. It use to be the longest wait time was maybe 90 minutes on a busy night but now that seems to be the norm. They also use to have breaks in the line of the houses so each scene could reset before the next group walked through but that isn’t the case anymore and I think that is a detriment.
They’ve also gotten cheap on the memorabilia that they sell and the light up drink glasses. Just little things like that have started to trend downward each year while prices and crowds trend up.
Overall its a great event but there are some things that could be tweaked to make it amazing each year.