We’re LIVE From the First Night of Universal’s 32nd Halloween Horror Nights!
Cue the scary music! The Halloween season has officially arrived at Universal Orlando.
Photo: Universal
It’s time for the 32nd annual Halloween Horror Nights held at Universal Studios Florida, full of serious scares and spooky entertainment. This event is NOT for the faint-hearted and we’re there to take in all the scary fun, so follow along with us to check it out!
Halloween Horror Nights Dates
Halloween Horror Nights is held at Universal Studios Florida on select nights between September 1st and November 4th. This event is not recommended for children under the age of 13, and note that this is not a costume party — costumes and costume masks are not allowed.
Photo: Universal
SIngle-night tickets cost between $79.99 and $124.99 depending on the date, and there are several extra cost add-on options available, including the Halloween Horror Nights Express Pass, Rush of Fear Pass, Frequent Fear Pass, Frequent Fear Plus Pass, and Ultimate Frequent Fear Pass. There are also hotel and ticket packages available as well as private tour options.
Event Hours & Info
Halloween Horror Nights takes place from 6:30PM to 2AM, and Universal recommends getting to the park at least an hour before the start of the event. (We’ll get more into that below.)
Note that you can bring one sealed bottle of water through security and into the event.
Halloween Horror Nights
If you have daytime park admission or a Universal Annual Pass, you don’t have to leave the park! Instead, you can stay in the Stay & Scream Area until the Halloween Horror Nights event begins at 6:30PM.
Stay & Scream Area
And here’s the map of the event!
Photo: Universal
Arriving at Universal Studios
We arrived around 4PM ET, and as you can see below…a lot of people had the same plan.
We would definitely recommend getting to Universal early to allow yourself time to find parking, which was already challenging over 2.5 hours before the event began.
Lots of crowds here for opening night at HHN🖤🫣#HHN32 #universalstudios #universalorlando @UniversalORL pic.twitter.com/Ekjzez4lEW
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
Crowds were already forming, and there were also some warning signs.
Consider us warned. Let’s do this thing folks! 😈👻✨@HorrorNightsORL @UniversalORL #Universal #HHN32 pic.twitter.com/sWnXFwT2vT
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
Here’s a closer look!
Halloween Horror Nights Warning Sign
Unfortunately, a downpour happened shortly after we got there, and many people (including us) ran for shelter!
According to Universal, Halloween Horror Nights occur in rain or shine — so we found some cover and waited out the rain.
Well that escalated quickly ☔️ #HHN32 #universalstudios #universalflorida @UniversalORL pic.twitter.com/ZXJz1Pejku
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
After waiting a bit in the Stay & Scream Area, we got in line for our first house. See below for more!
Houses
There are ten haunted houses with different themes, and we decided to visit a select few of them. The houses can have long wait times and queues with elaborate sets, so they’re a bigger experience than the Scare Zones.
Note that you can’t take pictures or record videos inside the houses, but you can get photos of the house exteriors and the queues.
In line for Haunted Houses!
Each Haunted House has an estimated wait time posted outside the queue, with warnings and important information about how to walk through the house.
The Darkest Deal queue
At the very beginning of the night, The Last of Us was at a 45-minute wait and Darkest Deal was at a 10-minute wait.
Last of Us is currently at 45 minutes and Darkest Deal is at 10 minutes just after official opening 😈 pic.twitter.com/y9cZTEZL8s
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
We first stopped by The Last of Us: Step Into the World of The Last of Us, which was all about the video games and HBO series, including the infamous Clickers, Hunters, and more.
The Last of Us
Stranger Things 4: Try to Escape the Curse of Vecna seemed to be one of the most popular houses. When we first visited it, the wait time was 50 minutes. After we exited the house, it was 115 minutes! Read our review here.
This may be one house you want to visit early in the night.
Stranger Things 4 House
Scare Zones
There are five different themed Scare Zones, which are essentially more casual scary areas in contrast with the haunted houses. These spots are scattered around outside and tend to be a faster experience than the houses. You CAN film and take photos of Scare Zones.
We were really impressed with Vamp ’69: Summer of Blood. This zone was basically 1960s festival “hippies” who turned into vampires, and it was more detailed than other Scare Zones we’ve experienced in the past!
Vamp ’69 Scare Zone
We also checked out Dr. Oddfellow’s Collection of Horror…
Spotted Dr. oddfellow at the entrance to HHN!😈✨ @HorrorNightsORL @UniversalORL #UniversalHorror #HHN32 #Halloweenhorrornights pic.twitter.com/818kmGB4Hf
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 2, 2023
…Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror…
Jungle of Doom Scare Zone #jungleofdoom #scarezone #HHN32 #hhn @UniversalORL pic.twitter.com/d483cZXEst
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 2, 2023
…and Dark Zodiac.
Dark Zodiac
Note that with the rainy weather, not all Scare Zones (or even Universal as a whole) were fully functional.
Live Entertainment & Characters
There’s also live entertainment to enjoy! The Nightmare Fuel Revenge Dream show includes pyro and aerial performances.
Nightmare Fuel Revenge Dream
There were four performance showtimes available during our visit, 8PM, 9:30PM, 11PM, and 12:30AM.
Nightmare Fuel Revenge Dream
For the first time, Death Eaters can be found roaming around Diagon Alley in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They also performed a stage show!
Death Eaters
Food
We stopped by 57 Scare Eats n’ Treats for a few items, like this PIZZA SKULL! Are you kidding? You can read our full review here.
The PIZZA SKULL!🍕🍕🍕
We HAD to grab this fun pizza filled skill over at 57 scare! Grab one this season for #HalloweenHorrorNights! @HorrorNightsORL @UniversalORL pic.twitter.com/2OmatYO9s6
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
Exclusive Merchandise
We’ve already shown you the Halloween merchandise available at the Tribute Store, and Halloween Horror Nights merch includes items like the Freestyle Cup.
Halloween Horror Nights Freestyle Cup
We also had to get the Blinky Cup!
Stay tuned for more merchandise throughout the night!
This year’s souvenir HHN blinky cup🖤 #blinkycup #HHN2023 #hhn32 pic.twitter.com/qY4xSoFiMV
— UniversalParksBlog (@UniversalParks_) September 1, 2023
We will update this post throughout the night, so stay tuned to Universal Parks Blog!
Thanks for visiting UniversalParksBlog.com! Want to go to Universal? For a FREE quote on your next Universal vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from Let’s Adventure Travel will be in touch soon!
