ORLANDO, FL — I wouldn’t consider myself a horror fan, but after five years of covering Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights (HHN), it’s become one of my favorite fall traditions.
My first foray in 2022, I was so nervous that I only braved one haunted house and scampered out of open-air scare zones before night fell.
I still hide behind friends in haunted houses and startle when scareactors catch me off guard, but the more I’ve learned about what it takes to create and execute the fan-favorite event year after year, the more I’ve been able to set aside my own fears and appreciate the artistry and immersive entertainment.
Whether you’re a scaredy-cat or adrenaline junkie, here are five must- dos to help you enjoy HHN at Universal Orlando Resort.
1. Look beyond intellectual property
Every year, horror fans get excited about the familiar faces and franchises being represented at the event, which is held at both Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood.
This year, the “Sinners” house has been particularly popular on both coasts, with its dashing Michael B. Jordan look-alikes sparking social media notoriety.
As a “Stranger Things” fan, I also enjoyed the “Stranger Things” house and clapped for every scareactor, including demogorgons and Vecna.
However, Universal Orlando in particular is known for its original haunted houses, dreamed up by its creative team a year and a half in advance.
“Our event started with original content. The very first house 35 years ago was Dungeon of Terror, and it was an original story,” explained Lora Sauls, assistant director of Creative Development and Show Direction, Entertainment Art & Design at Universal Orlando Resort. "We like to say now that our intellectual properties bring people in … but once they’re here, they love intellectual properties, but they also learn to love our original content stories because it’s different.”
Two of my favorite houses this year are original: H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!, which is more silly than spooky, and Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, which has jaw-dropping decor and deep HHN lore. Both houses feature characters from past houses, with new stories and details. For instance, this year is the first time guests see Jack as a human without makeup before he becomes Jack the Clown.
There are so many rich details in each house. If you’re scared, keep your eyes low to the ground so you don’t come face to face with scareactors jumping out of blind spots. I like to wait until after they’ve jumped out to get a closer look at them and their surroundings.
2. Don’t rush through scare zones
There are five open-air scare zones scattered across Universal Studios Florida during the event.
My favorites this year are Downtown Clowntown, which butts up against Killer Klowns from Outer Space for what feels like an extended scare zone, and Sideshow of Decay, which brings back memorable characters from Halloween Horror Nights past – only they don’t look quite the same.
“They are resurrected and decayed,” Sauls said. “They’re different than the last time we saw them.”
The scareactors in these scare zones always look amazing in movie-quality costumes and makeup. And as I learned firsthand transforming into a vampire for last year's event, they are essentially improv acting all night, which is fun to interact with.
If you’re scared, you can watch from the safety of nearby sidewalks, which scareactors generally steer clear of.
You can also people watch the chainsaw horde near Springfield, U.S.A., zombie carhops at Mel’s Die-In, Deaths Eaters in the the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley, and a live DJ and dancers in the San Francisco area’s Club Horror.
3. Watch the shows
“Stranger Things” fans won’t want to miss this year’s lagoon show, which runs six times each event night, pending weather, and for the first time is focused on a single intellectual property. It’s a love letter to the entire Netflix series told through projections, lighting effects, dancing fountains and instantly identifiable songs.
“People are really looking at this as one more chance to say goodbye to some of these characters,” said Jason Horne, assistant director of Entertainment Creative Development at the resort. “And the truth is, in a 12-minute show to encapsulate all five seasons, you’re not going to get everything in, so it really was like creating a beat list of like, what are the things we’ve got to do, what are the things that are going to play well with our audience and what’s going to make for an exciting moment our here on the lagoon?”
The best views are toward the middle of the lagoon, facing the San Francisco area, which also gets projection mapping. You’ll want to arrive a little early not only for a good spot, but to listen to the preshow: a six-minute broadcast from “Stranger Things’” WSQK radio.
You should also plan to line up early for the event’s popular live stage show, Nightmare Fuel: Bloor Noir, which is also performed multiple times nightly.
The storyline and acts vary year to year, but typically feature the Fuel Girls – a troupe of fire and pyro performers from the United Kingdom – as well as aerialists, dancers, illusionists and this year, trampoline artists in a racy, Las Vegas style spectacle.
“There is a darker, more adult theme to it that I think a lot of our demographic appreciates, but I think in a tasteful way,” Horne said. It always plays to packed houses.
4. Share snacks
Food has become a mainstay of the Halloween Horror Nights, with dozens of creative dishes and drinks created around the event’s theming each year.
“We’re always trying to step it up, the overall experience and the food experience in particular,” said Chef Jens Dahlmann, vice president of Culinary Operations at the resort. “We lean into the gory at times, but still, when it comes down to it, it’s all about great, craveable, delicious food.”
Dahlmann is particularly proud of the dishes at the Sinners food booth, like Chow’s Southern BBQ Eggrolls, which are stuffed with BBQ pulled pork and cabbage, and reflect the unique relationship between the Mississippi Delta’s African American andAsian American communities, which are captured in the film.
My favorite dish this year was the Rigatoni Ritual Pie at Louie’s Italian Restaurant. It’s a massive slice of garlic butter cheese pizza topped with baked rigatoni, sausage slices, vodka sauce and pesto for $14.99. I liked it even better than the spaghetti-topped Five Nights at Freddy’s version from last year.
I also enjoyed the Death by Cheesestick, which debuted last year and has been the top-selling item across both year’s events. The handbreaded mozzerella stick is served with spicy marinara sauce and like the pizza, is big enough to share. It costs $12.99 and is available at the Death Tank Food kiosk in the park’s New York area.
Dahlmann acknowledges theme park pricing isn’t cheap, but said, “What we can control is the quality and the portion of the food … and everything is fresh prepared.”
Much of the food starts out at Universal’s state-of-the-art Production Kitchen, which USA TODAY previously visited near Universal Epic Universe, and is then finished on site. “We’re still making our own breads and trying to do as much in house from scratch as we can, even at this high volume,” Dahlmann added.
5. Stroll through the Tribute Store
Several times a year, Universal Orlando creates a limited-time immersive retail experience called the Tribute Store. Each installment gets an original storyline, and while it is ultimately a pop-up shop, its clever design and detailed theming make it feel more like a walk-through attraction.
This year’s HHN Tribute Store is themed to a sideshow run by the Curator, an original character introduced in a previous Tribute Store.
“This is his sideshow,” said Greg Duffy, assistant manager of Creative for Creative Merchandising at the resort. “It’s kind of a collection of weird things from our world, from other worlds, from across time.”
Walking through, guests see all sorts of oddities like a haunted puppet show with shadows that move even when the puppets don’t and a mirror that appears to show spirits, who are really members of the small but mighty team that creates the Tribute Stores.
“This is a store that you have to kind of go through two or three times ‘cause there’s even Easter eggs to itself,” Duffy said.
The same could be said of the entire event. Go through any scare zone or haunted house again and you’ll notice something different. That’s partly why so many Horror Nights fans like to visit on multiple nights.
Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights through Nov. 2 at both Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood.
The reporter on this story received access from Universal Orlando Resort. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 things you must do at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights
