The month of October has sadly come to an end, and with that brings time to reflect on this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Orlando Resort. This year’s edition was another amazing time, and we were lucky enough to spend three nights getting spooked at HHN. For a full recap of our time in Orlando, checkout the video below:
Our visit took place the penultimate week of this year’s edition of Horror Nights, as we spent the second to last Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights of October at HHN. This year we opted for the Frequent Fear Plus + Express ticket, which got us access to the event each night of October (minus Saturday). We’ve learned in years past that the Express pass is absolutely essential, with some haunted house queues easily surpassing ninety+ minutes.
I’ll get into my individual house reviews below, but overall I thought this year’s event was solid. It was a bit of a bummer to still have certain COVID restrictions in place (masks on in houses, plexiglass in front of most scareactors, etc.), but we definitely made the most of our three evenings at HHN. We were able to do each house at least twice, both shows (HHN Nightmares x2), and of course indulged in a fair amount of food and beverages. Not to mention all the available attractions we were able to ride with minimal waits.
The atmosphere for this edition of HHN was a bit subdued compared to year’s past, and although there were some good moments within each scarezone, overall I thought they were relatively weak. I’ll get into those ranks below as well but sadly they just didn’t do it for me this year. Granted, we don’t particularly go for the scarezones anyways, but there have been a few cool ones in years past but overall this years’ missed the mark for me.
Additionally, I think a lot of the houses suffered due to the aforementioned COVID restrictions. I totally understand that a huge production like HHN has to adhere to certain health and safety protocols, but other nearby haunts in the area operated much differently (SeaWorld & BG Tampa’s edition’s of Howl-O-Scream) in terms of these protocols. I will give them the benefit of the doubt though, as I know the HHN employees put their heart and soul into it no matter what the circumstances. Unfortunately for this season, it did take away from the scare factor.
My two winner’s from this year’s event were the 1) huge array of food options that they offered, and 2) the Halloween Nightmares stage show. In terms of food, my top three selections from this year’s event were:
- Confetti Battered Oreos
- Twisted Tater
- Buffalo Hot Chicken Sandwich
We tried a variety of the other items as well, but these were for sure the standout selections for me. In terms of the Oreos, both times I had them they were warm, gooey, soft, and incredibly delicious. I am a sucker for Oreos so this ranking makes sense, but damn these things were incredible. The Twisted Tater on the other hand has been a staple of HHN for some time now. I have tried these in the past only to be terribly disappointed, but this year’s crew was churning out some soft, fresh, and downright tasty taters–they were for sure the sleeper hit of the event. Finally, the buff chicken sandwich was another welcome addition. The helping was generous, the chicken was tender and tasty, and it was just a great snack for my fiance and I to share. My only wish is that we could’ve tried the other flavors as well (BBQ and Bahn Mi).
Finally (before I get into the houses), I have to drop a huge plug for the Horror Nights Nightmares crew. They brought the energy each and every show, and we were absolutely blown away by their stunts and pyrotechnics. This was a very welcome addition to the HHN lineup, and I hope they bring this production back for years to come. The soundtrack was fire–just as the rest of the performance. It was a perfect fit for HHN, and if the crowds were any indication, I’m hopeful they punched their ticket to return for (at least) a second year.
If you want to take a look at how I initially ranked each house, take a look at the below hype video:
And with that, here’s a look at my rankings and reviews from each of the houses from Halloween Horror Nights 30:
10 – Welcome to Scarey
This maze was the biggest disappointment of the year for me, as I initially had it at #2 on my pre-season hype list. I just did not understand the story here. It was very hard to follow, the scares were not great, and there was just no cohesion throughout. The facade did a decent job of setting the stage, but the rest of the maze was just lackluster. On top of all of that, it was one of the shorter houses of this year’s event. All in all, a swing and a miss for me.
9 – Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
This was one of the three houses we were able to experience from the the year prior. HHN30 was originally set to take place the year of 2020, but unfortunately the pandemic had other plans, and the event wound up being postponed for a year. Since Universal was already in the final planning stages when last year’s event was cancelled, they eventually decided to open two houses (Universal Monsters and Tooth Fairy) to daytime guests for the fall season, with a third (Beetlejuice) opening the last weekend of October.
So even though this was not a bad house by any means, it just wasn’t as entertaining to me as the other “new” houses I hadn’t seen just yet. I did really appreciate the storyline, and some of the sets and costume designs were fantastic. I just don’t really think the tooth fairy is that scary of a premise, and unfortunately this house was the heaviest user of the plexiglass which gave away a good amount of scares.
8 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This was another house that was slightly underwhelming. After a rewatch of the original TCM, we were excited to experience this one but it just didn’t live up to the hype of its namesake. I do feel like we got extremely unlucky with some of our run-throughs, as the second and third laps through this house were missing notable scares. This franchise also suffers from the same issue that the Halloween houses do, as there are only so many things you can do with Leatherface and a chainsaw (similar to Michael and his blade). The scares just get slightly redundant by the end of it.
The sets in this house were fantastic though, and I really appreciated being able to walk through some of the scenes from the film we watched a few nights prior. I’m a huge fan of the TCM series in general, but I think this franchise has run its course (for the near future) at HHN.
7 – Beetlejuice
This was another house we were lucky enough to experience in fall of 2020, and I absolutely loved it. I was able to wakeup the morning of Sunday, November 1st to secure two virtual queues, and sadly these two run throughs in 2020 were better than the encore we received in 2021. Since it was only open for all of two days last year, I think the 2020 version of the house was much better staffed and the energy was much higher. You could tell the scareactors were taking it to the next level, and it literally seemed like there were characters everywhere you looked. So I think it’s slightly unfair to compare to this years run, when the house was missing noticeable scares and just didn’t live up to the hype that everyone gave it last season. I still enjoyed it, but after seeing the houses potential, it was another miss for us unfortunately.
6 – Puppet Theater: Captive Audience
This house was good but not great. I am terrified of dolls and puppets, so this house had the makings to be one of the scariest of the year. I really thought Universal would’ve blown it out of the water with this theme, but for whatever reason they didn’t capitalize on this fantastic original idea. The facade was excellent, and it really set the stage nicely. There were a few great scares throughout, but I was still slightly underwhelmed. I had high hopes for this house but unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. Not a whole lot more to say here, it just wasn’t super memorable.
5 – Case Files: Unearthed
This storyline of this maze was by far the best of this year’s haunt. Although it was somewhat intricate, it was still relatively easy to follow, and I absolutely love how Universal was able to weave in some classic park lore with the characters in this house. The scares were creative and varied, and the whole house just had that original HHN feel that some of the others were sadly missing. Being in the second Shrek theater, this location typically lends itself to shorter houses, but I think since the storyline of this house was so good, it didn’t feel short in the slightest. This is the direction that Universal needs to continue with their original houses, and I hope we see this level of detail in the storytelling going forward.
4 – Universal Monster’s: Bride of Frankenstein’s Revenge
The last of the three houses we were able to experience from 2020, who doesn’t love a lineup of classic monsters? Unless you’re doing something severely wrong, you really can’t screw up with this O.G. cast of characters. The opening facade of this house was absolutely incredible, and it did a fantastic job of setting the macabre stage for the remainder of the walk-through. I think I had the best scare of the year in this house as well, in the final scene where the bride brings the monster back to life. This house really just embodies all that Universal brings to the table in the Halloween department, and I’d be okay with the monsters sticking around for the next few seasons.
3 – The Haunting of Hill House
One of the best original series’ we’ve seen on Netflix, I was hyped for this house, and I was psyched that it lived up to my lofty expectations. The sets in this house were spot on, and the facade was one of the best I’ve seen in recent years. Universal really nailed the creepy ambiance, and even though the house had a good amount of scares, it just felt uncomfortable being in Hill House. It truly seemed like the bent neck lady was lurking around every corner. The creative team really did justice to this fantastic series, and even though a lot of people had this as their top house, the next two I have listed were just a tiny bit better.
2 – Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin
I believe Wicked Growth actually ended up winning house of the year, and rightfully so, as I thought these last two I have left really could be interchangeable. This house was long as hell, had an incredible storyline, and just flowed perfectly all the way through. The sets were grand and the costume design was out of this world–all culminating in an epic final scene. I had this as my most anticipated house of the year, and if it weren’t for one last maze surprising me and sneaking its way in to the top spot, Wicked Growth would’ve been my favorite house as well.
1 – Halloween Horror Nights Icons
So of course after visiting HHN for the last 5 years running, I knew a good deal about the Horror Nights icons, but other than experiencing Chance in 2015, I never really had a personal connection to any of them. This all changed after experiencing the Icons house three times this year. I was blown away by this maze, and although the overall premise was simple, I thought Universal knocked it out of the park with this one. The individual tributes to each icon were incredible, and it was easy to follow the changes in story. The finale was the best of the season by a long shot. After a gauntlet of scares from every icon, the final “ruler” of the house was different with each run-through, providing a varying experience each time. I thought I was getting sick of the icons after the last few seasons, but this house left me longing for more.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for reading and following along our journey from this year’s Halloween Horror Nights! We had a great three nights at the park and cannot wait for next year’s event. We are hoping the creative team ramps the intensity and overall scare factor up a bit, but nonetheless we will always keep coming back for the overall experience and ambiance. It won’t be too long before we start getting announcements for HHN31, and in our minds, September ’22 can’t come soon enough. Thanks for another epic Halloween season Universal! We’ll see ya next year.
– Walker
Texas-Ranger Travels 