It’s that time again, Universal Orlando Resorts Halloween Horror Nights is near! I can already smell the fog & hear the people screaming. The event runs from September 2nd to October 31st, if you still needs tickets you can get them here. You can also grab your Express Passes, Multi-night tickers, Tours & Scareactor dinning, that’s right it’s back this year!
HHN31 tagline is “Never Go Alone”, now some people are annoyed that they are reusing this tagline. If I’m honest I felt like last year’s tagline was “30 Years 30 Fears”, truly it doesn’t matter but some people like to have something to complain about. Like last year when dropping the houses HHN made teasers trailers. With each teaser we got a movie character, the first we’re introduced to is “The Snacker”. While leaving the movies the Snacker is attacked when the Mummy, Dracula & the Wolfman tear through the movie posters outside the theater. On May 17th Universals Monsters: Legends Collide was announced, you can watch the trailer here. Guests will be caught in the middle of a fight between the 3 monsters as they fight over the magical amulet that can break their curses.
The second house announcement we got came on June 8th, and we are introduced to “The Skeptic. While at home watching a scary movie the power goes out and we see The Shape in the hallway. But this isn’t any shape it’s The Shape, Michael Myers the Boogeyman. You can check out the teaser for the house here, now to my surprise it isn’t based off the new Blumhouse movies but the original ’78 version. I was hoping that we might see the 2018 version of the movie at the event but with them going back to where it all started means that we won’t have to walkthrough the terribly awful Halloween Kills movie. If I would have had to hear “Halloween dies tonight” every time I went through a house, I would have lost it. In the years that we have gone we have only experience one other Halloween house and that was at HHN28 when they did Halloween 4the Return of Michael Myers. I will say that was a fun house, not the scariest but it was enjoyable. I feel like this will be comparable to Texas Chainsaw Massacre at last year’s event, was it a super scary house no but it was fun and felt like you had stepped into the movie. You can never go wrong with a classic and I can’t wait to step foot into the Myers house.
The third house announcement came on June 23rd and is a 2 for one house, gracing the event with its presents again, The Horrors of Blumhouse. This year featuring Freaky and The Black Phone. Following the same format as the others we are introduced to “The Cringe Couple”. While walking through a parking garage a couple is chased by The Butcher from Freaky, they try to get into an elevator but when the doors open The Graber from The Black phone is waiting for them. I am trying not to judge too soon but I find this an odd pairing, I wish they would have let either of these titles stand-alone but regardless I will hold off until we actually get to experience it.
On Friday July 22nd we got another teaser GIF of a girl in a bathroom taking a selfie (you can see it here) , We would have to wait until July 26th to get the house announcement. But before we got the house announcement, they dropped multi-night tickets for the event as well as Scareactors Dinning to the website. Now I will say I was very surprised to see Scareactor Dinning come back, mostly because the restaurant that they used to have it at The Monsters Café was closed a couple months back. This year it will be held at Louie’s Italian Restaurant which is located in the New York area of the park. You can find the multi-night tickets as well as the Scareactor Dinning experience here.
If you are not familiar with the Scareactors Dinning Experience, it is an add on ticket, you must have a ticket for that night of HHN as well. Guests will enjoy a themed dinner buffet while Scareactors running around and interacting with guests while they eat. You can take photos with them as well as get a digital download of a photo taken while there. Tickets are $54.99+ tax, we have never done it but I have seen videos and it looks like a good time.
Now to the house, we are introduced to “The Selfie Queen”. We knew this house was coming, a few months back The Weekend tweeted about YouTube pulling one of his videos and he much said that it wasn’t too much for HHN. The Weekend: After Hours Nightmare will be the last house that is shared on both coasts. Even though I am not well versed in The Weekends work from what I have seen and from the teaser they dropped I do feel like this house will be very creepy. If you would like to read about the concept of the house you can do so here. This article from Entertainment Weekly dropped right before the trailer, it almost seems like they had to announce the house because of this article being posted but I’m not mad about it. And if you are like me and not as well versed on The Weekend this YouTube video is a compilation is the storyline of the house.
As mentioned all four of the previous mentioned houses will be at Universal Orlando as well as Universal Hollywood. I look forward to seeing the walkthrough videos because even though both coasts share these houses, they won’t be identical, which is nice because there are some people who will go to both events. Moving forward the houses we talk about will only be at HHN Universal Orlando.
This year the Original Concept houses outnumber the Intellectual Property (IP) houses. On August 16thHHN dropped another video, this one longer than the four previous videos. It had the four people we previously mentioned and then it introduced the rest of the “Scream Squad”. We see a group of friends attending HHN but they are all slowly separated and run into a character from one of the houses or scarezones, you can check it out here. Let’s take a closer look at the 6 OG houses.
The first one is at the top of my list, Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake. Guests will enter a New England fishing village and come face to face with undead fishermen. This house got the Trick ‘r Treatment, going from a scarezone to a house. At HHN26 Dead Man’s Wharf was a scarezone in the San Francisco area of the park. Snowy or water houses are usually really pretty and you can guarantee that this house will be blasting the A/C, which is a nice break from those hot Florida nights.
Spirit of the Coven is set in a 1920s speakeasy, I am interested to see how this house turns out. In the description they describe the witches as flappers and that is a new take on witches for me. Now this next house already makes my skin crawl and we haven’t even seen anything from it yet. Bugs Eatin Alive”, bugs why did it have to be bugs! The description of the house is a bit confusing to; guests will be “touring a 1950s house of the future”. I don’t really know that means but I doubt I’ll be able to focus on that detail too much as we are walking through it. Universal released a podcast talking with some of the creative team behind HHN and while they were describing this house I was screaming “nope, don’t like that” repeatedly in my car as I listened. You can find the podcast where ever you listen, it’s the Discover Universal Podcast and it is an official podcast from Universal Orlando.
Our next original house is Fiesta De Chupacabras, if you are unfamiliar with the Chupacabra it is a cryptid that drinks the blood of animals, it translates to goat sucker. Depending on where you are located the description varies, according to the HHN description guest are visiting a Latin American village were a fiesta is being held to celebrate the chupacabras. According to the internet in Latin America it is described as a reptilian alien like creature. Can you escape the fiesta before the chupacabras get you?
Hellblock Horrors is our next house, the description of this house makes me think of the scene in Cabin in The Woods where Dana and Marty see all the different monsters in their holding cells. Guests enter a prison holding “savage inmates and monstrous creatures”. Will you get out before they break free of their cells? The last original house is Descendants of Destruction. While traveling through the subway of New York, mutated creatures have taken up residence and they are looking for their next meal and it may just be you and your scream squad if you’re not careful.
This is a strong year for originals and I am very excited for them! Many of my favorite houses have been the originals; Slaughter Sinema, Carnival Graveyard, Dead Waters, Wicked Growth just to name a few. The creative team has a lot more free range when it comes to the originals so I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with.
On to the scarezones, again these are all original concepts. Sometimes the scarezones are based on Ips but not this year. Going counterclockwise around the park because I want to save the best for last in my opinion (as of right now, this might change after the event). Up first to the right if the Today Show Café in the Hollywood Blvd section we have Graveyard Deadly Unrest. Tread lightly as you make your way through Nettlewood Cemetery, spirits of those laid to rest awaken on All Hallows Eve. Can you make it out or will you be trapped for all eternity?
Guests will then come upon Scarecrow: Cursed Soil, this scarezone is a continuation from a house that was at HHN21 Scarecrow the Reaping. Located in the Central Park area of the park, make your way through an abandoned farm where scarecrows have come to life and looking to harvest any who they come across. I am excited to see this scarezone in person, usually this is one of the pretty areas when it comes to scarezone. Continuing around the park to the San Francisco area, we have Conjure the Dark. A sorceress is conjuring creatures from the dark dimension to feed on unlucky guests.
In the New York area Sweet Revenge, arriving at The Bicentennial Hometown Fall Halloween Festival Parade, sponsored by the candy company Major Sweets. Think of this as a horror Willy Wonka, candy from Major Sweets has started to turn the children of the town into killers. Listening to the Discover Universal Podcast the creative team says that they reached out to the company that makes the Universal Mardi Gras floats, throughout the scarezone will be parade floats from the Halloween Festival Parade.
The final scarezone is located in the Plaza od the Stars at the front of the park and its Horrors of Halloween. Like Scarecrow: Cursed Soil this scarezone is also based off of a house, Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin. The Pumpkin Lord has returned! This character from last year was amazing, he is Halloween. The Pumpkin Lord is summoning terrifying creatures to terrorize unsuspecting guests. The carved pumpkin from the façade of last year’s house are back along with fan favorite Lil Boo! Lil Boo became an unofficial icon last year and Universal heard the people and how much they loved this little pumpkin that they brought him back and put him on some the merch for the event.
This brings us to the shows, the Nightmare Fuel team is back with a new show. Located in the old Fear Factor stage, this show is full of pyro, dancing and aerial work. We enjoyed last years show it was different than anything we had previously seen. It is also a nice break from all the walking you will be doing around the event. The second show is the lagoon show. This year it’s Ghoulish! A Halloween Tale. The description says it’s a ghost tale. Using fog, fountains and laser effects the show is projected onto a water screen over the Universal Lagoon. Usually, the show is about 10-15 minutes long, you will have to stand compared to the other show but I still say check it out. We’ve enjoyed the past shows the past 2 years and look forward to checking this one out. It seems like this year it will be more of a story whereas the Marathon of Mayhem shows mostly showed scenes from the IPs that were at the event that year.
The last two things to mention are the Cabana Bay themed bar and the merch. Like last year when Cabana Bay turned the Swizzle Lounge into the Icons bar and had the Jack’d Up Experience that are once again going to offer a spooky good time. This year they are offering Universal Monsters Gallery of Legends. There will be a Universal Monsters themed photo gallery experience, Universal Monsters Gallery of Legends. Now this part is exclusive to Universal Orlando Hotel guests (you will have to show a Universal Resort hotel key). But anyone can check out the Swizzle Lounge, last year they had themed decorations and specialty cocktail drinks. This will be open daily from 5pm-12am. I say if you have a chance and can check it out, I highly recommend it, we had a nice time to hanging out at the bar and trying the different drinks. If you are staying at one of the Universal Orlando Resorts, head up stairs and next to the Galaxy Bowling there is an immersive photo ops set up. This will be open daily from 2pm-10pm but again you must be staying at one of the resorts and be able to show a room key. The merch this year is great! It has a vintage Halloween feel. If you don’t want to wait to get your merch you can find some of it on the Universal website. You might have to keep checking because it does sell out, but don’t fret you can contact customer services and if you provide the skew number and size, they can ship it to you if it is in the park. If you are in the parks, you kind find it at the 5 and Dime at Universal and The All Hallows Eve Boutique in Islands of Adventure. The HHN Tribute store should be opening up any day now and there will a good selection there as well.
All and all I’m very excited for the event, I love the traditional Halloween feel. I especially love the original concepts! Don’t get me wrong I like the IPs but I can’t wait to see what the creative team has cooked up this year. We look forward to this event each year and we’re so close I can practically smell the fog. Keep an eye on our social media channels, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.
Credit for all the pictures used for the Houses and Scarezone goes to Universal Orlando Resort. Cover photo by me.
The Halloween Corner 