It’s been a long time since we last stepped foot on Universal Orlando Resort property, 7 years to be exact. Year after year, planning on making it out to the massively popular Halloween Horror Nights. And after many failed attempts, we finally made it. It was surreal, in fact we both said it didn’t feel real until we stepped foot inside one of the parks. Even then, our experience felt like a dream…even the nightmarish experiences of Halloween Horror Nights. We had so much fan traversing the scares and couldn’t wait to talk about it once we made it back home!

It wen’t by so fast, but thankfully we had two full nights to soak in the scares at this years HHN. In this breakdown, we’ll give you our house rankings and thoughts on the event as a whole from a West Coast perspective.

YOU CAN ALSO LISTEN TO OUR FULL PODCAST EPISODE REVIEWING HHN33 HERE

SCARE ZONES & ENTERTAINMENT

ENTER THE BLUMHOUSE

Escape a terrifying gauntlet of Blumhouse characters. From sinister sadists from The Purge and Black Phone to M3GAN dancing into your nightmares, you’ve never known horror like this.

This scare zone is located within the San Fransisco area of Universal Studios Florida and really serves as a vehicle to showcase all of the famous characters from Blumhouse films. We enjoyed this zone for the simple fact that it housed many characters that we really enjoyed seeing in their respective films.

Unfortunately, some of the characters are bound to stages which inherently makes the zone feel less populated than the other. But this might be for a good reason. Major Sweets Candy Factory lets out right into Enter The Blumhouse and you have crowds leaving Nightmare Fuel coming from the other direction. So having scare actors on stages might help with overcrowding of the smaller thoroughfare. Although stuck on stages, those characters did have triggers to scare those who got a bit too close. I think, because there are so many different characters from so many different films, there isn’t really a particular style. But that doesn’t bother us simply for the variety of scares in this zone. Each character has a specific personality and within that comes a specific style of scare. This lends a bit of unpredictability which we love.

DUALITY OF FEAR

As soon as you enter the gates of Halloween Horror Nights, you must choose a path: follow SINIST3R, the manifestation of visceral horror. Or follow SURR3AL,the incarnation of unearthly terror.

This zone is located at the entrance of Universal Studios Florida and is your entry to HHN. Very much like it’s Hollywood counterpart, you must venture though crazed chainsaw wielding monsters. This is also the home to the two iconic characters of this years event, SINIST3R and SURR3AL.

Aside from making us feel right at home in Florida with all of the chainsaws, we enjoyed the “live mic” aspect to SINIST3R and SURR3AL. Greeting or sometimes harassing guests as they traverse the zone. This gives the zone a bit more personality and unpredictability. It’s not often you get a personalized experience with a monster at HHN. It’s also nice to see both SINIST3R and SURR3AL pose for photos as well. It’s the best greeting guests can get as they enter the event…a very HHN style greeting at that!

DEMON QUEENS

Get caught in an otherworldly hellscape ripped from the darkest corners of your mind. Four merciless queens loyal to SURR3AL rule, surrounded by hordes of fanatical followers.

This zone is located within the Hollywood area of Universal Studios Florida and is the home of SURR3AL. This zone came so dang close to being our favorite. The music, the style, highly populated and the character designs were just all top notch.

It’s the type of monster that isn’t overtly scary, but just gets under your skin and gives you the creeps. Which sometimes is much worse than all out scares. If you’re left thinking about it hours after you leave, we think that constitutes a win. Additionally, there were “show moments” where 3 other major characters on a float almost controlled the minion monsters. Causing them to writhe in pain. It completely threw us off when it happened. In all honesty, we just left this zone smiling from ear to ear because of it’s haunting tone and otherworldly monsters floating on the fog.

SWAMP OF THE DEAD

In backwaters Louisiana, you unwittingly wander onto private property, where you’re swamped by zombies borne from the bodies of other trespassers who were killed and dumped in a nearby bog.

This zone is located within the Central Park area of Universal Studios Florida. While this zone is small and condensed, it packs a punch. Although these are zombies, they are fast and vicious. It’s also the only zone that truly packed itself full of fog to the point where you couldn’t see anything in front of you. In fact, this image of the gator below was the only picture that we were able to capture that was clear! While some of the other zones have the ability to be “instagramable” this is purely about the scares.

We loved the overall tone and massive amounts of fog, we just wished we had more of it. Maybe even extending the props past the main pathway through Central Park could help make this zone feel much bigger than it is.

TORTURE FAIRE

Come one, come all, to SINIST3R’s renaissance faire with the devious theme of medieval torture. Brave the gloriously gory homemade torture devices ‘til you’re put out of your misery.

This zone calls New York home within Universal Studios Florida. This scare zone takes the cake for being our favorite zone of the entire event. Many different characters with distinctive personalities and a killer sound design helped develop a style and tone that we fell in love with instantly. The soundscape of this zone was so distinctive and recognizable, almost becoming a character on it’s own.

There were so many little moments to catch from not only the roaming monsters but those upon the various stages. The King and Queen of the realm were putting someone within an iron maiden and the Jester was torturing someone within a brazen bull…all while laughing. Honestly, it just left us smiling and giggling. There is something about how much delight these characters found in putting people through medieval torture that we found to be incredibly fun.

We have to give a massive shoutout to all the monsters in all the scare zones for fully embodying their characters. This helps bring the zones to life and creates a better overall experience for guests like us!

NIGHTMARE FUEL: NOCTURNAL CIRCUS

Step right up to a dark circus, a new nightmare that carries with it a sinister curse. Get trapped in a thrilling spectacle of pyro and aerialists to the beat of pulse pounding rock rhythms.

I don’t think either of us have seen a show like this before. This dance and magic show is truly an adrenaline shot through the eyes! There was so much happening that we constantly found ourselves scanning the stage and still feeling like we couldn’t catch all the amazing things happening.

We are massive fans of shows that are able to leave your jaws on the floor and this is probably the best example of this that we’ve ever seen. We can only hope we see this come to HHN West soon. Additionally, what seemed to be the RIP Tour Guides got the show started! They were the “hype men” for the show and got the crowd ready; dancing and singing to the songs leading up to the show. This was so much fun for us because it was the last thing we expected. They were so good at it that it made us think “are they the dance crew disguised as RIP Tour Guides?”, which is the best compliment we could give.

HOUSES

Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines

Get caught in an epic battle as Saskia Van Helsing and the Bride of Frankenstein go up against Dracula’s daughter and her monstrous mavens.

For us, the Universal Monsters are the be-all and end-all of monsters. They hold an important place in many peoples hearts. Seeing them get the spotlight at HHN over the past few years has been amazing. But I think Eternal Bloodlines doesn’t do the monsters or the past houses any justice. Like many of the houses, the sets were incredible! But the heavy storyline was just a bit too convoluted to follow while traversing the house. Additionally, if you happen to go though the house and miss a couple of the characters, it makes the story that much harder to follow. And I think unfortunately this is what happened for us during our exprience. We went through the house a few times and each time there were missing characters and our scares happened in front or behind us.

On a brighter side, this maze was one of the more claustrophobic houses at HHN in our opinion. So some of these scares will be right in your face if you get that timing right. Additionally, it was the only house to our recollection that had a scare come from above. Which really threw us for a loop!

The Museum: Deadly Exhibits

A folklore museum’s newest exhibit, The Rotting Stone, has released an evil spirit that decays everything. And it’s coming for you.

As we said while at the event, this felt like the HHN version of Night at the Museum and it works pretty well in terms of being a simple concept. But it seems to be having the opposite problem to Universal Monsters. While that house left confused at the detailed story, this house was too vague. We wanted to know so much more information regarding the other worldly happenings within the museum. I do think this is a product of missing a lot of the scares during our experience as well. Some of the trigger noises also had dialogue that we thought would help the enjoyment of the experience but because we missed many of the scares, we never had a chance to hear them. While the experience as a whole was somewhat forgettable, we did find the character design and ideas of bringing a museum to life to be really fun.

Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America

¡Ten cuidado! With La Muerte as your guide, try to survive the night with three terrifying legends: Tlahuelpuchi, La Lechuza and El Silbón.

This maze came from HHN Hollywood and we are very familiar with it. It was one of our favorite mazes from that year in Hollywood and there was a lot of pressure to uphold the hype. I think Orlando met the challenge and created an experience that wasn’t only familiar to us, but completely unique and fun. In fact, the aspect of a monster which eats babies is incredibly disturbing and really got under our skin. So this was one of the houses with a much darker tone in our opinion. The sound design and sets within this house stood out to us and really helped establish Monstruos’ personality. We did notice the facade for Monstruos to be a bit smaller than the other houses at HHN, but we found it fitting for the premise and stories being told within the house. As a west coast HHN fan, it was nice seeing our original getting some attention in Orlando.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

An ancient artifact has released a chilling new entity, Garraka. He’ll stop you cold. Only the Ghostbusters can keep you from getting iced.

Ghostbusters is such a fun and dorky romp. While the scares were fairly mild, we didn’t mind when we were coming face to face with our favorite characters from the many different films. Even at times finding ourselves cheering for the different spirits and monsters. I think this house in particular has the unfortunate position of being right next door to Insidious. We will talk about Insidious later, but that house has SO MANY scares that when you go into Ghostbusters it feels lacking in scares even though it’s about average. To be fair, any house next to Insidious is going to feel that way. But add in the fact that the house feels more comedic than scary and many might see Ghostbusters as lacking as a whole. After having experienced the house multiple times, Ghostbusters isn’t lacking in the slightest. It’s the light hearted house the event needs to feel well rounded. And these types of houses are essential to creating a better overall experience for guests.

Now we are getting into the nitty gritty of our rankings. From here on out, we had to get so detailed in why certain houses got ranked in specific spots.

A Quiet Place

Make a sound and you won’t last long. Monstrous creatures will hunt you down as the world of the first two films comes to terrifying life.

This house did something that I would have said was impossible before experiencing it…they made scenes completely quiet. We were shocked at how well it worked and it set up the perfect sense of dread at the beginning of the house. Not only that, but they took away another sense…sight! It really made you feel like if you made any noise, you’d be dead! Additionally, the very first scare of this house got us so bad! It’s completely pitch dark and quiet…only to have a massive monster pop out from the wall! I was so mad that I got scared, but also so happy I got scared. We never get scared anymore and AQP was able to give us something we rarely receive…a racing heartbeat. As the house experience goes on, it becomes less quiet and more of a typical house experience. There were some really impressive creature puppets and animatronics through the experience that helps place guests right in the middle of the films.

Triplets of Terror

You’re invited to the Barmy triplets’ birthday celebration. But their kind of party involves recreating the murders of their entire family.

With Triplets of Terror, we loved the story and how absolutely gory it all is. It’s gory to the point of hilarity! We found ourselves giggling at the sign that says “Happy Birthday” spelled out in someones intestines. Additionally, we love the scares in this house. Mainly because of the fantastic trigger noises for the 3 titular characters. The trigger noises added to the experience by helping establish specific characteristics to the 3 killers and helping them stand out respectively. Everyone we encountered ended up having their favorite of the 3, which is probably not how Universal saw it happening. The scares are also right in your face even with the house not feeling totally claustrophobic. Which I must give massive props to the cast for not only getting in guests faces, but also bringing a certain level of physicality to each character. It also felt like there were so many scare in this house as well. I’m not 100% sure to convey exactly how this house made us feel. There is something about the trigger noises and overall sound design that had us completely dorking out. The distinctive personalities and well thought out approach to the characters felt very cinematic at times.

For the record, the bunny character is by far our favorite. Her overly animated way of breathing worked perfectly for the house and each scare actor playing these 3 characters completely embodied them. We loved every second of it.

Major Sweets Candy Factor

You’re chaperoning a field trip to a candy factory when the free samples transform the kids into candy-coated killers.

This felt like an old school haunted house in the best of ways. Major Sweets mixes scares with some extremely claustrophobic environments and fantastic sets. There is a very specific tone to this house that rides the line of cartoonish in the best of ways. There’s something so delightful about seeing kids completely bastardized by the very candy they want so bad. We are also suckers for any theme that can be perceived as “traditionally halloween” and this house falls within that category. Often times, haunted houses are focused on the latest popular characters from film and television. But we find the original houses totally refreshing in Orlando because they were able to flesh out these unknown characters and create something iconic to the event. At HHN ther’s an opportunity to embrace the absurdity of Halloween while also servicing the major IP’s. For what it’s worth, we’ll take at tour through Major Sweets Candy Factory any day!

Goblin’s Feast

Enter a goblin village, where a feast is being prepared for goblins, orcs, hobgoblins and witches. And you’re the main course.

Another house with some absolutely stunning sets, Goblin’s Feast lures guests in with it’s crazy premise and knocks them down with some truly great scares. Additionally, this was the first time I’ve seen projections used to portray characters that are larger than life which we found really impressive. It really made us feel small when seeing glimpses of these giants though holes in the ceiling of the sets. And when you’re busy looking up, the goblins scare the hell out of you. The house design felt so well thought out and calculated which allowed for some great scares. The gorgeous sets are also fairly large as well, completely encasing guests in the experience. This was another fairly claustrophobic house at the event which created a large sense of anticipation. We also loved the character designs of the different goblins within the house. Visually, it was able to give you an idea of the “hierarchy” of the goblins that lived within this fantasy style village. Anytime a house is able to visually convey detailed concepts, we will instantly fall in love. Who knew that being on the menu for hungry goblins would be so much fun!

Slaughter Cinema 2

It’s time for another horror movie marathon at the Carey Drive-in! Scream through scenes from creature features, grindhouse gore and more.

Fun, campy, and self aware; Slaughter Cinema 2 lures guests into a false sense of security only to scare the living daylights of out of them. Even thought the scares weren’t as inventive as other houses at the event, it doesn’t make a big difference for us. The overall tone for us makes up for the scares. While tone of the house is rather silly, having different fake films allows it to take on different personalities during the experience. Some scenes being much darker or gorier than others. If it hasn’t been abundantly clear, we love experiences that are able to live in a world of duality. Much like Ghostbusters, this helps the event have contrast and makes it feel much more well rounded. It’s houses like Slaughter Cinema that do much of the heavier lifting in our opinion. We found ourselves laughing and cheering for the different scenes. And when a house is able to get you smiling, that’s a win in our book.

Insidious: The Further

Enter The Further as demons try to ensnare you. The Red-Faced Demon will lure you into his lair. KeyFace will unlock your fears. And more.

This was by far the scariest house we experienced at HHN 33 and probably the scariest house we’ve experienced in a very long time. Because this house is a “greatest hits” of the Insidious films, there really aren’t any major scenes that are used only to convey story. There’s no wasted space and every square inch of this house is dedicated to scares. Additionally, the house design for Insidious is so smart. There are many spots where monsters are able to scare in 2 or 3 different locations. Making it feel like the amount of scares have doubled compared to other houses at the event. The sound design for this house was absolutely stellar. Utilizing the different noises from the films that are effective. This was the only house at the event that we went through 3 times and still got scared in the same spot each and every time. It’s a hallway of tall red curtains which made our hearts race. We anticipated the scare, we knew it was coming, but we never truly knew from where! This really created a level of tension that we’ve not experienced in a long time. Additionally, the Lipstick Faced Demon at the end of the house caused us to have a fairly visceral reaction. Something about his animated breathing felt animalistic and created a certain level of fear within us that felt much more real than anything we’ve experienced in any other house. He acted like he was getting some sort of pleasure out of terrorizing us and that concept alone is terrifying. To us, Insidious succeeds on almost every single level. Fantastic cast, creepy sound design, dark sets and plentiful in scares. We will be left thinking about this house for years to come!

OVERALL

Halloween Horror Nights 33 was a total adrenaline rush from beginning to end. With a well balanced mix of intellectual properties, original houses, incredible scares, and absolute hilarity; HHN 33 walks this fine line between pure terror and delight. We said this back in 2017, but HHN in Orlando feels like a massive Halloween party that we want to be in attendance for. With plenty of halloween inspired food and drink options, there is more than just the scares.

It’s interesting, when people hear the name…HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS. They probably think of screaming, scares, and absolute terror. Which is great for those looking to get the snot scared out of them! But in fact, after having spent two nights in the fog of HHN, it’s so much more. It’s funny, entertaining, absurd, and above all else…it has heart. The unadulterated passion from the folks who bring this living horror film to life can be felt in the very fiber of this event. From the RIP Tour Guides in the Nightmare Fuel show, to the scare zone casts, to the maze casts, and even to the TM’s working food and beverage carts. Every single person plays a role in the success of this event and during our trip, everyone was running at 100%. We were incredibly impressed with our experiences at HHN that it simply left us asking the same question over and over again…when can we come back?

Thank you Universal Orlando Resort for having us out to experience HHN in 2024, we’ve made life long memories.

If you want to visit Universal Orlando Resorts Halloween Horror Nights, CLICK HERE