Halloween Horror Nights

Get Ready for Universal’s Halloween Horror Extravaganza!

Yes, it’s only July, and yes, it’s WAY too early to be thinking about Halloween events. But it’s NOT too soon to be buying your tickets, and here’s why:

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights programme is one of the single biggest seasonal events in Orlando, and easily one of the most popular. It has reached a level somewhere between cult status and omnipresence, and everything to do with it is lapped up by its fans.

What that means is that HHN tickets are being snapped up in record numbers, with some weekends likely to sell out and even week-day nights proving more popular than ever.

It’s a mind-boggling prospect for a park as big as Universal Studios, which can really pack ’em in during peak periods, but the 31-year heritage of this annual fright-fest has become a true international celebration of ghouls, ghosts and grisly goings-on, hence ever greater crowds.

What IS Halloween Horror Nights?

OK, let’s give you with the basics first. HHN is a separately-ticketed evening event that happens after regular park closing on select nights from September 2 to October 31. It takes place mostly in the various sound stages and support buildings behind the main Universal Studios areas – where all the Haunted Houses are – but it also has various Scare Zones and stages within the park.

During normal park hours, you will see the array of set-ups and stages, but they will not be inhabited or animated in any way at all. There IS a day-time tour you can take to walk through the various Haunted Houses with the lights on, but you also need to buy a separate ticket for it.

The Houses and Scare Zones are all themed, some to well-known horror franchises and themes, such as Stranger Things and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and others to unique Universal creations that often feature vampires, werewolves, zombies and other notable monsters. The Houses are like indoor one-way mazes, where you go through single file; the Scare Zones are outdoor areas where mysterious creatures lurk amid fog and other special effects!

In all areas, they are occupied by any number of scare-actors in suitable horror makeup and effects, and their makeup is convincing. Really, really convincing.

Who is Halloween Horror Nights designed for?

This leads to the key issue – this is NOT a family event. Universal strongly advises it is not recommended for children under 13, and parents should note that stipulation seriously. Universal WILL sell you tickets for your young children if you insist, but the scare-actors LOVE to see children in the park after dark, and they WILL pick on them.

We vividly remember a HHN event about five years ago when a scare-actor came up behind a family with a 12 or 13-year-old and made the poor kid practically jump out of his skin. With the child suitably distressed, the scare-actor, still in character, growled, “Nice parenting, Dad.”

The lesson of this story being that even if you think your kids are horror-movie fans and ready for the big scares, they’re not!

We’ve seen grown men run screaming from the roaming chainsaw guys who can creep up behind you if you’re not paying attention and suddenly rip their (fake) chainsaws into life. It’s almost a Universal rite of passage.

Having said all that, this IS a lot of fun, if you go in with the right mind. It attracts a lot of couples and groups of friends, and the overall quality of the Haunted Houses and Scare Zones is absolutely Grade A terrific.

Attention to detail is superb and, in many cases, it is like walking into the movies themselves. Horror film fans – this IS for you.

What to see and do at Halloween Horror Nights

We already know this year’s event will consist of 10 Haunted Houses, five Scare Zones, two live shows and an assortment of themed food and drink (including a lot of adult beverages. Alcohol is quite prominent throughout the park for HHN).

Most of the main rides and attractions are also open, so it’s the ideal time to take a spin on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit in the dark, experience Revenge of the Mummy without the usual long queues, and see if you can beat your score on Men in Black: Alien Attack.

There is also the inevitable array of event merchandise, including the suitably ghoulish Tribute Store, which is also open during the day and well worth stopping by to see, with four themed rooms offering photo ops and treats.

So far this year, we already know three of the ten Houses, and Universal clearly has some scare-ific experiences in store!

The three are:

Universal Monsters: Legends Collide –

This will feature a collection of Universal’s legendary film monsters, with the likes of the Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy combining for the first time to create an epic battle between evil and more evil.

Halloween-

The classic movie scream-athon is back, with the 1978 character of Michael Myers returning to wreak more havoc as he dons his signature mask once again and aims to rule over this new domain.

The Horrors of Blumhouse –

Get ready for a true horror double-feature as the Blumhouse film factory pairs two new features together for maximum shock effect, first showcasing the serial killer from Freaky and then upping the slasher ante with The Grabber from the terrifying The Black Phone.

Top tips for Halloween Horror Nights

If that is the current picture for this year’s epic scare extravaganza, you’ll also want to know a couple of tactics to get the best value from your ticket.

Hopefully you’ve already noticed the fact that weekends, and more specifically, Friday and Saturday, are peak periods at HHN. If you can avoid those two days, you should find the queues are distinctly shorter on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday each week.

And make no mistake – this event creates some l-o-n-g lines at each Haunted House, up to two hours at times during those peak days.

It opens at 6.30pm and runs until 1 or 2am (yes, really late!), so it pays to arrive half an hour early (there will be a queue just to get in the park) to be ready to visit as many of the Houses as you can once the event opens.

Don’t stop for the Houses near the front of the park, either. Head straight to the back (the World Expo and Kidzone sections of Universal Studios), too, as more people will stop for the first one they see. That means you may not see long queues for the first hour or so, and can get at least three or four Houses under your belt early on.

Then, if you have the stamina, you will find that the crowds really thin out in the last hour or so, and you can enjoy either any Houses you missed or your favourites from early on for a second time.

You can also save the live shows for the middle part of the evening when the crowds at the Haunted Houses are heaviest.

In summary…

So, if you’re in town this September or October and you’re keen on a fright night or two, now is the time to get your tickets. You have been warned!

To grab your HHN tickets, be sure to see our Attraction Ticket Page here:

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