Universal Orlando Resort has finally released the dates for Halloween Horror Nights 2024. The event starts on August 30th, which is earlier than ever! Since we're less than five months from my favorite Universal event, I thought I'd take this opportunity to give everyone an overview of what to expect.
What is Halloween Horror Nights?
Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) began at Universal Orlando Resort in 1991, originally under the name "Fright Nights" at Universal Studios Florida. At one point, Universal Orlando expanded the event from only Universal Studios Florida to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Although this didn't last long, it was appreciated for a change of scenery. Now-days, Halloween Horror Nights takes place at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Studios Japan. Any fan of horror or Universal Studios knows of HHN, so the event grew into something spectacular over time, with Forbes estimating an average nightly attendance of 30,000-35,000 in the Orlando park alone.
Halloween Horror Nights has a lot of backstory featuring lore and event "icons." Some you may have heard of include Dr.Oddfellow, Jack the Clown, and Lady Luck. There's no way I can fit all the lore and intertwined stories into this post, so I encourage you to do some research if you're interested. If it's something people really want, I can make a more in depth post on that too!
What Should I Expect at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando?
Universal's Halloween Horror Nights consists of haunted houses, scare zones, and a stage show. The event keeps growing every year, so each year expect to see something bigger and better! At the 2023 event in Orlando, there were ten haunted houses, five scare zones, and one stage show.
The haunted houses are to die for (haha, see what I did there)! You can tell Universal Creative truly gives it everything they've got year after year. If you're curious about what goes into the creation and production of these houses, I encourage you to watch this roundtable discussion with some of the directors of the event. It's long, but totally worth the time if you're a big HHN fan. These houses are definitely more than what you're used to if you're accustomed to your hometown's halloween events. These are essentially small shows that you are getting the opportunity to walk through. The scare zones are sections of the walking paths through the parks that are turned into areas with scare actors and decor. These are also my favorite part of the event! Lastly, the stage show. The event used to feature Bill and Ted, from Universal's Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures. The past two years, the stage show shifted gears to feature Halloween Nightmare Fuel featuring dancing, acrobatics, and pyrotechnics.
You should also expect some really, really good food. Don't skip out on it, please! The food is usually themed to the scare zone or haunted house that's close by. For example, I ate the "Left Behind Ravioli" from The Last of Us. There was "Surfer Boy Pizza" from Stranger Things. As always, some staple food items are the "Twisted Taters" and "Pizza Fries." There are alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks too, but truthfully I just stick to the food since there is so much to try.
This event is scary. I don't mean "oh no, someone is chasing me and my heart rate went up by ten" scary. I mean "parental guidance advised and if you're under 13 years old consider not coming" scary (literally, the advisory is in big bolded letters on the website). Some events offer buttons or necklaces that can mark someone to tell the scare actors to stay away. Halloween Horror Nights does not offer this. If you walk through those gates, you're fair game, regardless of how old or young you are. At my first attendance of HHN in 2021, I watched a group of five scare actors surround a small child on the ground to scare her while she just screamed on the pavement. Parents, you know your kids best. If you don't think they can handle it, maybe keep them away from the event. The main goal is to be scared, and the actors are really good at their jobs.
Tips and Tricks For A Great Halloween Horror Nights Experience
Buy your tickets in advance. The event sells out and select nights, like weekends or the nights closest to Halloween, can sell out weeks or months ahead of time. Don't expect to walk up to the gate and be able to purchase a ticket. This can happen, but the event can also reach capacity. Plan ahead.
Your regular daytime tickets and passes will not work at the event. Halloween Horror Nights is separately ticketed, so please review your tickets. You can purchase event tickets, express passes, stay and scream passes, and tours online. Please read through them all to decide what works best for what you want.
Plan to get there early and stay there late. The weekends are usually the most crowded, with weeknights being less crowded.
If you want to get as much done as possible, I highly recommend purchasing the Halloween Horror Nights Express Pass. This puts you in the express line for each house once for the date selected, and in line for the open rides once as well. This is not an Express Unlimited pass! In 2023, I was able to complete all ten houses, all five scare zones, and the stage show. We also had time to ride some of the open rides (and I think everyone should have the opportunity to ride Revenge of the Mummy at 1:30am). We had the HHN Express Pass and we used our UOAP to gain access to the event early with Stay and Scream. However, we were not resting a lot. We took some time for food or snacks, but otherwise we were booking it and we left 30 minutes before the event closed. We still waited in some long lines. If you don't have the express pass, expect to wait in longer lines. I've seen houses with wait times over two hours.
You can have food and drink in the house lines up until you enter the houses. Grab a snack before you enter the queue.
The event is outdoors. Most of the waiting will be outdoors. The scare zones are all outdoors. Please be prepared for weather. Your tickets are nonrefundable and the event will not be closing for rain. (Depending on how heavy the rain is, there may not be scare actors outside in the scare zones, but they will still be in the houses.)
Prepare to walk a lot. If you think Universal Studios Florida is big, it's so much bigger once you get backstage where you'll be walking to get to the houses. Last year, I walked 13.1 miles at HHN. Wear sturdy and comfortable shoes and clothes.
Expect crowds. I have seen pictures and videos of people in shoulder-to-shoulder crowds at the event, but both times I've been I have been lucky enough to have a busy, but not overly crowded experience. It'll be busy, but you can still navigate the park. If you're with a group, take a group photo of your entire group together before you enter the park, head to toe. If someone gets lots, the event is full of team members and security who can help you find someone, but they will need a description.
I always say this, but use the Universal Orlando app. It will have the wait times for houses during the event, and an interactive map!
Interact with the scare actors, inside and outside the houses. Their reactions may surprise you!
Have you attended Halloween Horror Nights, either in Orlando or at another location? Let me know in the comments, and let me know if there is any more information you'd like to learn about Halloween Horror Nights! And remember, Never Go Alone.
Comments