Universal Resort’s annual Halloween Horror Nights opened on Aug. 29 with 10 new houses opening this year, including “Terrifier” and “Jason Un1iv3rse.”
Halloween Horror Nights is a special hours event hosted in the Universal Studios park. The location of the event is conveniently located to suit guests for park hopping, dining reservations, or staying at a Universal resort.
The event starts at 6:30p.m until 2:00a.m. daily, with tickets costing around $100, depending on the selected dates. This fee does not include food, express passes, or multi-passes.
With a hefty price tag on a limited time event, customers worry about the value of your purchase. But Universal provides quality, entertainment and theming that could make this purchase worthwhile.
Each house is themed to their respective stories. Each guest enters into long, continuous hallways decorated to the context of the outlining horror stories, such as abandoned farms, opened graves or even public restrooms.
Meanwhile, scare actors roam scaring guests dressed as characters for each house, getting loud, frightened screams out of most. The theming of these houses are done with meticulous detail and order, with easter eggs for anyone able to keep their eyes open!
Scare Zones are also scattered throughout the park for guests to walk through. These zones have specific themes, but focus mainly on the scare actors walking through them. Many Universal rides, such as “Revenge of the Mummy” and “Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts” remain open for guests to ride anytime.
That being said, lines are a consistent hassle. Some guests have to wait almost three hours to enter houses. Food is typically an issue for guests as well. Costs are high at sit down restaurants and themed food booths provide little options.
This year, guests were particularly content with the chosen themes for the houses and their execution.
“The Terrifier house was the best house this year, the actors were at the top of their game. They were dressed in extremely realistic gory costumes, popping out from left and right,” UM student Lia Rollheiser said.
Personally, I believe this has been one of the best years in a while. I have been coming since 2016 and the theming this year blew me away.
Halloween Horror Nights provides a thrilling adventure for everyone to enjoy. It has recuperated immensely in quality and production since COVID-19 to mark one of their best years yet. It is an exciting event during Halloween season that every Floridian must check out.
Rating: 8/10