Each autumn Universal Studios Orlando becomes spook central when Halloween Horror Nights takes over most evenings. Join us for a look back at 2019's neon lit spooky carnival, where we took in 10 haunted houses, 5 scare zones, and 2 shows, across 8 terrifying filled nights.
This post was originally written in 2019. Contains content of a horror nature.
Ghostbusters
The headline house of HHN 2019, located in the largest soundstage right at the park entrance. The music of Ray Parker Jr. playing in the queue as your near the entrance. A Universal staff member continually dancing the same rhythm as he counts everyone in as they enter the house. The atmosphere is electric.
Enter and you’re in the New York Public Library. Ghosts roaming behind the shelves, books moving, the librarian ghost straight from the film whispering for you to be quiet. Through a dark corridor where ghosts may jump out at you and continue into the Ghostbusters HQ. Proton packs line up on the wall, Janine attempts to orchestrate the chaos of phones ringing, guests arriving and a peculiar pink goo that bubbles when there’s too much noise.
Next the Sedgewick hotel, a projected Slimer comes running at you down the hallway, reappearing in the flesh on your left as you turn the next corner. Proton packs being fired, Ghostbusters appearing, more and more Terror dogs jumping out at you. The Gatekeeper, the Keymaster, then Gozer. Each in their own even more expansive set.
Then finally, It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Forced perspective has you looking up at the massive head that turns from smiling to anger as it is slowly destroyed. A final celebration from Peter Venkman, covered in marshmellow.
And you’re out. Ray Parker Jr. playing again. A smile on your face. Your childhood relived.
Stranger Things
The second year that the Stranger Things property appears at Halloween Horror, this time moved to the second batch of houses if walking clockwise around the park. Unlike UK theme parks, Universal don’t reuse a haunted attraction - everything gets torn out and started again.
Which is a shame, because in 2018 the Stranger Things house was the most detailed and theatrical houses at the event. Whilst in 2019 it’s Stranger Things: Strobe Light.
Based on the second and briefly the third season, nearly every visit was underwhelming, despite trying to like the house. The strobe effects were so overused it was uncomfortable in there. The sets had a good design, but a lack of actors and an abundance of those strobe lights, meant nearly all the theatrics were gone.
There was a nice scene from the 3rd season featuring its monster - but it actually took me several visits to notice it somehow. Even though it literally filled the entire house. That’s just how underwhelmed I was with Stranger Things this year.
Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
A welcoming arctic blast, cooling you from the 30c Orlando evening, and you’re transported to the mountains of Canada. Hunters and loggers take refuge from the storm, but soon find they’re not alone on that mountain.
A log cabin, lit by candle light in the dead of night, appears welcoming. Its deceptive, inside a yeti is tearing apart one of its human inhabitants, whilst someone else with a shotgun attempts to chase it away. Through icey ravines, pushing through fur pelts that had been left out to dry before the storm. Then a 7ft yeti on your left, on your right, above you. Each charging at you from their hiding spot, formidable even after multiple runs through.
By far this was the best Universal original house this year. Fantastically themed, and with a terror that the actors could portray to great effect.
Jordan Peele’s Us
I went in not knowing a thing about this film.
I left not knowing much about this film.
It appears to feature a young woman with a pair of scissors, who can walk in very determined steps and side steps, almost slow dance like.
And some rabbits. There were a lot of rabbits in a room.
Edit from 2021: I saw the film not long after arriving home from HHN29, and found it a really enjoyable story. Didn't change my mind on the oddness of the house though.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Killer Klowns were a big part of my 2018 experience, when the IP premiered at HHN as a scare zone. Its catchy theme song playing over and over, with the playful, yet evil, klowns wandering the streets. This year they were promoted to their own house, set in the Shrek building, which captured the 1988 decidedly B-movie perfectly.
The klowns are designed to be intimidating through their ability to kill, and turn circus like content into something deadly. It was horror comedy before the likes of Stephen King’s IT popularised the more manic clown. So the house is just that: it’s bright, it’s bold, it has buttons you can press that may or may not squirt you with water. And ever so occasionally a Klown might just try to blast you with a lazer, knock your block off with a single boxing glove punch, or in some cases - just wave at you with their fingers and stare.
The giant inflatable KlownZilla filling the final room, rounded this great house off.
Universal Monsters
Covering an expansive ensemble of characters from the Universal Classic Monsters, this creepy house begins entering a stone mausoleum, with statues for each of the monsters lining the path as you enter. The large imposing Frankenstein’s monster statue standing out as perhaps a foreshadowing of what was to come.
With each monster given a couple of rooms, you wound your way through rooms for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolfman and perhaps the Invisible Man.
A lot happens in a short amount of time, but it is perhaps the Frankenstein’s monster character that for me was the most memorable. Built to be what felt like over 7ft, and broad to match, this character was used in a couple of places to come charging at you. Including from behind a stage curtain, just as you think you’re safe leaving the house.
Squeel.
Graveyard Games
Along with Universal Monsters, this house is in a backstage location that requires an approximately 1 km walk from queue entrance, to the point where the attraction exit brings you back into the park. So after such a trek, you really hope that the house will be great.
It begins, at least after 7pm when the sun goes down, with the projection of a social media page on the side of the show building. Listing eerie goings on near the local graveyard, I believe guests could interact with it by sending their own messages. The tone is that some teenagers are going to get up to no good at the graveyard.
Inside the show building was another spooky night time set, with the occasional rain effect. It also included a rarity for Universal, an actor who would get into your face and interact with you directly beyond jumping out at you. Armed with a spray can, he occasionally squirted water at guests and called them losers, as they passed him and into the graffiti ridden graveyard.
This house was creepy. It used the Universal trick of placing so many well made up mannequins in places, that you were never entirely sure what could be an actor stood right next to you, or what was simply a prop. Some of the scare scenes the actors could trigger included: turning the lights off down an entire hallway, jumping out as one of the statues; appearing out of the base of a statue; and triggering an effect were rows of doll heads all moved.
It was a great creepy house. I just wished it didn’t have such a long walk, because I had to skip it a few nights from exhaustion.
Depths of Fear
A deep-sea mining company has dug too deep, to feed the greed for things we don’t need. This time they unearthed a deadly parasitic humanoid creature that is determined to kill all of the crew onboard.
Between infected crew, the large sea creatures themselves, and the ship quickly imploding, the intensity of the disaster grows as you continue through the house. Constant sirens sound, with the countdown warning until hull loss playing repeatedly, reducing in each room. The infected crew appear from behind panels, lesions and growths across their face. Electric sparks trigger from the destruction caused by the fight with the creatures.
Finally a wet-suit clad woman with a harpoon suggests rescue is on its way, with a cheesy 1970’s style character. Escape happens, but not before a few more encounters with the sea creatures.
Nightingales Blood Pit
Enter the backstage of an Ancient Rome gladiator arena. It’s cramped, it’s busy, it’s brutal. Gladiators, fresh from a victory, or perhaps preparing for victory, kill tied up people in-front of you. Others appear down on ropes from the area above.
Everywhere is blood, or bits of body.
Plus I was jump scared - by a lion swinging down at me - twice.
Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses
The crazy house of HHN. I have no idea of the story, but it began with a character portraying a stereotypical vision of Uncle Sam, telling me in an over enthusiastic and overly strong southern accent, all about his love of fried chicken. It ended with the same character, this time telling me something else, perhaps to come back soon, as he popped out from behind a curtain.
In the middle, all kinds of crazy death and destruction, fuelled by the sounds of loud music.
I honestly have no idea what went on in there - but it was fun!
Academy of Villains: Altered States
Edit from 2021: Since completing its show, serious allegations arose about the behaviour and conduct of some senior staff members from Academy of Villains. Whilst I have not kept up with any ongoing events, it is my understanding that it is unlikely Academy of Villains will return to Halloween Horror Nights. The following was written not long after experiencing the event, and the praise given should be seen as directed entirely at those performers and behind the scenes team who worked incredibly hard, acted appropriately and may well have been exposed to actions raised in the allegations.
Halloween Horror Nights stadium show sees the Academy of Villains dance company return to Universal for their 4th year with an all new show. This time based on a scientist who is attempting to cure his cities evil, but who inadvertently draws out a Hyde like character from himself. This 20 minute dance and acrobatic show was my highlight of this year’s Halloween Horror.
Having watched it 3 times during my stay, its songs and some of the dances are still firmly lodged in my mind. Whilst videos don’t do it justice, they provide perhaps the best way to describe it. Just remember that everything in that stadium is loud. Very, very loud. And that adds a huge amount of energy that the video will lack.
Halloween Marathon of Mayhem
Making use of their now settled in new fountain system in the central lake, Halloween Marathon of Mayhem was a loud, colourful show. Using the fountains, projections on the fountains and projections on the buildings opposite, it brought to life several of the houses at the event this year, including Ghostbusters, Stranger Things, Killer Klowns from Outer Space and the Universal Classic Monsters. Each show had a slight HHN 1980's style twist to the imagery, with things like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man alternating from full form to being outlined blue and purple.
A great fun little show that you could just turn up and watch.
Scare Zone: Anarch-cade
Neon chainsaws. Neon scare actors. Neon nun-chuck wielding stilt walkers. Giant neon arcade machines. And if the weather was right, a neon lit smoke ceiling across the whole thing.
The scare zone directly after entering the park has only a small space to play with, but this year they managed to use it to great effect to give the event its neon 1980s styling.
Scare Zone: Zombieland 2
When the highlight of something is the portaloos, you know something has gone a bit wrong. Granted in this case the set of three portaloos contained a zombie and a watery surprise in the middle door for anyone who was bravely stupid to open it.
The rest was roaming zombies, with an occasional set piece using the large drop tower set. Sadly it was the same fairly boring set piece. Character sets of a horn in one building drawing all the zombies to them. The character then shoots some, then runs from that building to the drop tower set, where they fight two zombies with ease, and a third with difficulty, leading to the final zombie tripping and landing on a strength test machine and the character saying “What do you think, zombie kill of the week?” via pre-recorded audio and hitting the strength test with a carnival hammer.
I notably said character above, rather than the name of a specific character because there were at least 3 different characters that did this scene. And they all said the same thing.
But I did get to see a random encounter with an actor and zombie performing pirouettes to a ballet sound track that occasionally played. That was fun.
Scare Zone: Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe
From a distance this looked spectacular. Large signage - flames. Up close, not so much.
Positioned in an extremely busy bottleneck, there was practically no space so stopping and taking anything in was nearly impossible. A scene involving an electric chair seemed to break after my second visit, leaving the actor that would have been applying the voltage to another actor just standing around, looking a little lost. Whilst the female essentially pole dancers positioned on stages well above head height, ranged with enthusiasm from over the top dancing, to barely moving and a face that had an expression I can only describe as “what am I doing with my life?”.
A couple of the larger biker type actors were fun. But sadly the crowd bottleneck made their ability to do anything a little impossible.
Scare Zone: Vikings Undead
The Wicker Man rose and apparently moved to Universal to help theme this scare zone.
With a Celtic styled soundtrack similar to Wicker Man, and familiar symbolism, it felt that I was back at Alton Towers. Only a much warmer Alton Towers. And an Alton Towers with a much larger entertainments budget - even for a single scare zone.
Scare Zone: Vanity Ball
Turn yourself into something beautiful, with one of the surgeons at the vanity ball.
Despite being the most theatrical of all the scare zones, this long scare zone never had a crowd. In fact on most days it was deserted, with maybe only 10 guests in the expansive zone. At either end of the zone were operating theatres, which would regularly obtain a wandering patient and perform surgery to make them beautiful - or perhaps to make someone else beautiful - usually by removing a somewhat vital part of the anatomy, such as their face.
Through the middle was the main Vanity Ball catwalk, with a compere talking with the crowd and the beautiful people, parading them down the catwalk at various times.
A fun area, but like a few of the scare zones, seemed a little lacking in repeatability sadly.
So overall I love Halloween Horror Nights, and it's still one giant Halloween party. I just kind of felt that this years event didn't quite hit as much as last years. None of the scare zones really drew me in for long, whereas last year I spent hours in some of them. Whilst several of the houses were somewhat forgettable, although still extremely well made. My biggest memory from this years event is the Academy of Villains show, and I was glad I could see that multiple times on this trip.