HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS

A Night of Frights at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando: A Woods of Terror Journey

 

Halloween Horror nights at Universal Studios Orlando has long been a staple for

thrill seekers and horror fanatics. As the Woods of Terror team descended upon

Orlando to experience this year's Terrors firsthand. This year 10 haunted houses

5 original and 5 IP's (Intellectual Properties), 4 Scare Zones, 2 Street Experiences

2 shows, and the infamous Tribute Store, we braved it all. Here's a Behind the screams look at our terrifying adventure through one of the most iconic Halloween events in the country. Did I mention rain... yes, it's opening weekend and we enjoyed HHN in the rain, that is the only way to experience HHN. 

 

Let's start this adventure off with the tickets we had for this event this year. After

hearing and seeing what the Premium Scream Night lines and event was last year, we

decided to get tickets for PSN. This is a limited ticketed event for HHN. Not only do

you get access to HHN full event before it is fully open to the public, you get free

food ( so you can try our all the themed food options ) and  drinks from all of the food

stalls in the park to being pulsed in the house (HHN is normally just conga lines

the entire night, most haunts pulse the audience the attractions). After seeing last

years 5 min wait times this was our must get tickets for this year. The initial

ticket price for this night is $350 starting and before the event sold out if was $100

more as Universal hiked up the price closer to the event. So yes definitely worth the

price of admission with all the perks but I advise you to get them when they go on sale.

 

This year theme is of a conservatory and its throughout the entire event all stemming

from the El Artista: A Spanish haunting 1 of the haunted houses we will discuss later.

The vines and roots as well as the Gargoyles start you off in the Origins of Horror

Scare zone. At the beginning of the night the opening Scaremoines happen here where you will hear El Artista talk about the conservatory and the gothic nature of this event. Each part of the conservatory you walk past you will find carvings of each IP house for the event. This zone really sets the mood for this year's event with the HHN sign glowing a much different color then the normal red. As from the first couple of weekends the sign has gone from the new blue color to a eerie green.

 

The next scare Zone that brings back a certain Buzzcon or its old name Bzzcon its the

Mutations: Toxic Twenties. We travel back to the 1920's in this little neighborhood where a Bzzcon truck with radioactive cargo crashes into a mobster getaway car sending the city into toxic pandemonium. This zone has that bright green toxic sludge all over the place especially all over the town folk. As you walk through the mutated town folk will attack you from all areas. Now some town folks have not fully turned and are trying to help you get away from the mutants that are roaming the streets. The crash scene alone has multiple audio track for different characters that can be on the truck and this shows that HHN is stepping up its game when it comes to not using just one track and sound

for the same gag.

 

Masquerade: Dance with Death, this next Scare Zone puts you right in the middle of a Masquerade ball with some very blood thirsty vampires lurk behind some ornate disguises. HHN has always made vampires look like vampires ( it's not black eyeshadow with teeth that is not a vampire). Each vampire looked unique in their own way. The big chandelier crashed to the stage really lights up this area and sets the mood for all the chaos that is around you on the smaller stages. There is a reason the stage props are covered during the day the set design and prop teams put out some

amazing work that the actors get to use to feed on.

 

The Cat lady of Crooked Lane....... Brought to you in part by Last year's Slaughter Sinema 2 haunted house. There has been a lot of excitement for this Scare Zone. Not only is there a house on a stage at the end of the lane, we got the lighted pumpkins back in the trees. This is by far my favorite Scare Zone. From the

little gauntlet on the side of Zone you can walk through with some crazy cats the story is posted as you walk down going towards the house. Not only is it a mini show for the Cat lady at her house, you will see the kids in different transformations into cats. Its a great homage to the plastic masks and costumes we use to where trick or treating during Halloween.

 

   

On to the 10 Houses that we got to experience. I will begin by saying that this year's 10 haunts once you go through them to me is very hard to rate them as so many have such elaborate sets and great casts. HHN knows how to typecast roles in all throughout their event and it shows. I do wish more haunts would learn this attribute. Let's continue our journey and start with Five Nights at Freddy's In one of the sound stages. This was an interesting house to go through as it had the help

of Jim Henson's Creature Shop ( the ones that created the animatronic suits and puppets for the movie). Walking into the Pizzaria was crazy seeing Freddy and Friends on the stage in full song mode and truly feeling like you ware in the

movie. This was just a fun house to walk through. The actors that worked the animatronics after the main stage did a good job making the puppets come to life. The fandom will be the reason this house will have long line for the entire season.

 

Welcome to the Vaults of Fallout. This Ip was based off the show more than the games. This was located in one of the sprung tents. which normally you can tell by how quick you get through the house but this year all the houses in the

sprung tent seemed to me as if they were in one of the sound stages. Seeing the ghoul face to face multiple times was great. They really do encompass the feel of the show. Even got to see a friend act in this house and no I can't tell You where they were,  just know it's a great spot you won't see coming. I walked out of this house wanting to see more which is a very good thing.

 

It's time for your funeral, where things are about to go from bad to worse. The Grave of Flesh located in one of the sound stages. This is an interpretation of what might just happen when you are buried and enter the underworld. I was excited about this attraction as one of my friends worked on the construction of this maze as well as one other maze. I will say this before going through this house make sure you listen to the podcast that Universal did for the Original houses it will help with the story line. The flesh eaters were great some you see then all of a sudden they pop out right

next to you. The view of the underworld in this house was very unique and abstract which is what they were going for and they nailed it.

 

Not only did Slaughter Sinema 2 brought us a Scare Zone, it also brought us the next house. Hatchet and Chains Demon Bounty Hunters. This old western town all hell is breaking loose. Red-hot lava demons are trying to possess everyone, melting

everything in their path. Your only hop is Hatchet and Chains with their mystical weapons. I really enjoy it when they take small portions of any of the Slaughter Sinema houses to create a full house from them. You start off right in the front

where you meet the old lady that summoned these demons to this western town. There are some scenes in here where they really did a great job portraying the demons trying to take over a train. The black light effect on the demons was great seeing the lava portions of them. Those Demons really want to possess your meat bag skin.

 

Dolls: let's play dead is the other house a friend of mine worked on and it really does make you feel like you have become doll-sized. You'll be haunted by burnt fashion dolls, toys the little girl Layla melded together and see the undead horrors

of her dollhouse that you are now in. I did get to meet Layla as a character later in the night at the character photo spots. Layla is cast on video screens and in the audio track telling her creations to attack everyone. There are 3 spots in this attraction

that have guest activated triggers, so find the red blinky button and push it. My 2 favorite spots are in the doll bedroom where this yarn-like creature is suspended in the air. The other spot is this 5 to 6 headed doll actor that did an amazing job as if it was just heads on a box and then decided to get up and scare the group such a great spot with the actor and costume.

 

Back to the IP houses and let's talk about Jason Univ13rs. Oh, my did this house not disappoint at all as long as you go through it at night. was it disappointing during the day no just the one spot that is outside with Jason's mom kind of takes you out of the atmosphere of the house. With that being said going through the gauntlet of all the different Jason even the bag head killer ( his mom in the first one) is the reason

house is just about full of Jason's you can get ... outside of no Jason 10..... I do love cyber Jason. This house is in the Fast and Furious que area. The Hollywood version of this attraction is a little better with the camp counselors and the camp part of the house but it can't compare to the gauntlet Orlando has. The timing on the scares were on point and being able to walk through the new mask was a great touch.

 

Galkin: Monsters of the North, this original concept house was done so well with set design and storytelling. I know not too many have seen the original wicker man but they had the burning wicker man in this house and it had to been 16 feet tall so well done. Even when you walk into this Sprung tent you see Tapestries turning showing you parts of the story of Galkin. The scare actors ranged from hordes of monsters to what was left of the town folk and it had the perfect mix of both. The large wolves were a great touch in the certain scenes of the house.

 

El Artista: A Spanish Haunting. Now we shall talk about the Icon of this event and his house. As some interviews have been said that HHN Icons are way different then back in the old Icon days. The old Icon days they were plastered all over the place in marketing and media now not so much but the Icons of now have a certain way of just being the reason the event is the way its themed. This Haunted house from the ground up in the sound stage is immaculate. You not only get a perfect ghost story with the house like rose red from Stephen King but you see the artist loose his mind to this house room by room. I don't want to give too much away but the actor when we went through the scare actor that was the statue was very unique and one of a kind in the reset and from the videos of other content creators that have posted the house each person that has been in that spot the reset is perfect. Between seeing the peppers ghost gags to seeing monster faces in the pages this to me has the same feeling as when I went through the scream house back in 2002 which was the icon house for the Caretaker. The Amount of detail and scents in this attraction

really sums it to the attraction for this event.

 

The house that will also be a long wait this year if you don't have express, is Terrifier. This house is the movie on steroids. Between the amazing job the Scare actors did to the scenes that well really have a unique smell to them. Yes, to me the only way to see this house is to go down the Wet path at the end. I will say it sucked I was not able to see a friend of mine act in this house as we got there during the shift change. I will say this anytime you are there and see shift change give these actors a huge round of applause. For the amount of people they interact with each night for over

a month is insane. Let's talk about how great each Art is in this house they are fully interactive with the guest it is great even one of them clapped along with me at the clown cafe scene. Ending the house with some Ice nine kills was not expected at all so great to hear that song as you walk out of the house. With this house being in a sound stage it is well needed. Seeing Art high up in the air directing you to the better wet path had us excited to see how we were going to get wet in this house.

 

To me I saved the best for last. I am a wrestling fan and Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Sicks has been some of my favorite characters in the WWE over the past

few years. The story telling of Bray Wyatt will forever be one of a kind. Seeing this house in the sound stage and knowing that Michal Aiello and the

Team at HHN that worked on this house are huge WWE fans. I knew from the interviews how much of a passion project this was for them. It did not disappoint.

From the Scare Actors costumes, to the typecasting of the characters created by Bray and his Brother Bo Dallas is top tier.  You start into what is the wrestling part of

when the Wyatt Sicks debuted when they attacked staff and Chad Gable in the back stage area of what is known as Gorilla Position. The amount of easter eggs like lockers with wrestlers' names on it to the undertaker's urn. You then see the Firefly funhouse with a huge surprise lurking behind the door. Once start to go through

a very unique tunnel of TVs with a bunch of footage from the WWE you are met in the middle with the Fiend (Bray Wyatt's alter ego) and uncle howdy ( Bo Dallas'

alter ego) at the same time. You do journey through the minds of the other members of the Wyatt Sicks, Mercy the buzzard, Huskus the Pig, Ramblin, Rabbit, and

Abby the Witch. Lastly you go to that swamp cabin of Bray Wyatt and the homage to a wrestler that will stand with time. The ending was perfectly done.

 

Now that I am done with the houses the last part of HHN is the Experiences, Shows, Tribue Store and THE FOOD!!! This year we got back the Lagoon show called Haunt - o -phonic A ghoulish journey. Plenty of water effects with the lagoon now up and operational, and a lot of Halloween music with great effects. Its nice to have this

back for HHN. It is one of the shows you can take a break from the houses and scare zones. The other show Nightmare Fuel Circus of Decay is the go-to break away from the houses and scare zones. This is high energy story telling of the sequel of last year's show. With a new director we got to see the finish of the story and was it a finish. AS an audio and lighting engineer it is always great to see the lighting and pyro for this show as well as a constant great soundtrack. Instead of a 5th Scare zone HHN went with 2 Street Experiences, one called Club Horror where the music was bumping all night long with some dancers on stage. The other Experience was Mel's Die-in Zombies and this was one of the Experiences a lot of people were excited for as they normally don't have anything at mel's except for the sign lit up in DIE-IN instead of Drive-in. Roller skating zombie hops were great with the old 50's style zombie look. This year Tribute store to me seemed a bit off It was not in its spot it's been in for the past few years and to me seemed a bit of a letdown with the theming if you compare it to the past couple years. The merch this year is great love the stained-glass IP stand and the shirts of all the houses including the originals was a great for this event. Yes I picked a few shirts while there especially the first in the fog shirt for premium scream night. Lastly in this review I would like to touch base on the food that is themed to the event. I enjoyed arts cookie daisy glasses, the very lard mozzarella stick ( was very spicy) was enjoyable. The Rad bag drink was a unique flavor that wasn't too bad at all. It was nice to actually try the food out this time since we haven't in the past couple of trips.

 

My overall view of this event this year holds true to the fact it is difficult to really do a rating of these houses to create a top ten. HHN has again out did themselves with what they do best, Storytelling, Haunt emersion, Set design, lighting and overall typecasting of characters. Now are there a few things to improve on, yes there are. This year to me and a few that I talk to seem like marketing is just not there for the event and we do miss the awesome commercials and announcements. It is what we as HHN fans get us hyped for the event each year and it has gone way downhill. I get it with Epic opening this year ( Monsters unchained is so underrated yes, we rode it like 6 times) We miss the full HHN website with all the cool features. Yes us HHN die hard fans want our year round HHN Behind the scene show, We do

enjoy our announced Icons in the marketing.  Now if you are going to this event for the first time there are plenty of videos online that will help you with what to have and how to go through this event. If you don't know much about the Original houses there are multiple podcasts on the Halloween horror nights YouTube page going over each house and scare zone. Overall I give this event a 9.8 this year as to me marketing dropped a ball and so did the tribute store not really having its story line pronounced better.