The way I see it, there are two types of people: those who jump at the chance to go to Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, and those who are horrified by the very thought. For years, I fell into the latter camp. Despite having lived mere minutes from the theme park my whole life and being an annual passholder for years, I had somehow avoided making my way through the backlot full of mazes and jump scares come Halloween time.
But just over a week ago (because the beginning of September is now the unofficial start of Halloween season), I decided to face my fear of fear. My fiancé is obsessed with all things horror and Halloween, so the peer pressure is real. While I don’t love dressing up, I can appreciate creepy things and the aesthetics of Halloween. But there’s a line. For example, I’ve done the Haunted Hayride several times, but I only gave that a chance because when you’re being carted around behind a tractor, you can literally avert your eyes and hide your head if anyone tries to scare you. Mazes are a different story, and the idea of people jumping out at me, blocking my path and trailing me seemed, by design, nightmarish. So if you feel my pain—maybe you’re someone who loves Halloween but has avoided Horror Nights, or someone who gets dragged by your friends to scary events each fall—read on.
Walking through the entrance on opening night, I wanted to turn around and back out while I still could. I knew my scaredy-cat vibes were just the kind that attract scare actors to prey on. As we walked deeper into the upper lot, there was a stage show—a “Scaremony,” if you will—happening, teeming with clowns (of course) and pyrotechnics. After a bit of vamping, they all stormed the audience, including this guy below on stilts. The smell of gasoline from their prop chain saws flooded the air, and it was all a bit too much too soon—I turned on my heel and retreated into a gift shop full of Jack Skellington-reminiscent jack-o’-lantern merch and a meet-and-greet happening with HamiKuma, a fan-favorite zombie teddy bear character from Universal Studios Japan who’s made his way stateside, complete with accompanying creepy-cute merch.
One reason I said “yes” to this year’s edition of Horror Nights is because there were a few mazes I felt pretty good about braving. See, I have a spectrum for what scares me. True crime, carnival vibes and eerie folklore: okay. Anything with a creepy kid or old woman: a big no. So I was actually excited for the Five Nights at Freddy’s maze—I’d seen the movie, and as a millennial, I have a lot of nostalgic Chuck E. Cheese memories, so a dark twist on the franchise appealed to me. And Fallout, another video game adaptation, isn’t exactly horror in the traditional sense of the genre. Scarecrow, one of the mazes not based on a movie or film, also felt doable. Beyond those, and for the sake of this article, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone to try the Poltergeist and Jason Universe mazes and board the Terror Tram, which is a Blumhouse-themed take on the classic Studio Tour.
Now, I was lucky enough to have express access, which means I actually got to see everything I wanted in the confines of one night. I’ve heard gripes about the long lines preventing general admission ticketholders from doing more than one or two mazes (but I’ve also heard complaints about the express lines being almost as long on some nights). Another thing I had been warned about but wasn’t prepared for was how much walking was involved—downhill and uphill into the backlot and areas of the theme park I’d never ventured on foot before.
First up, I got in line for the Poltergeist maze. I haven’t seen the film—all I know is there’s a little girl saying “They’re hereeee” (who luckily to my surprise was played by a doll in the maze, not a scare actor)—but I mostly expected otherwise-inanimate objects to be animated, and that didn’t sound too scary. There were a few characters, a life-size clown doll and coffins holding what apparently were undead poltergeists who jumped out as you walked by. I will say that, though some might think this lessens the experience, I was grateful to be part of a long procession of people making my way through the maze, meaning I was able to see others experience the jump scares before me and therefore knew what to expect as the actors would resume their places and wait for the next victim. I was also relieved that most of the actors stayed on the sidelines—they might lunge forward or swipe at you, but they weren’t blocking your path or following you afterward. In fact, you’re just as likely to be scared by the park employees, who are stationed motionlessly in corners of the haunted houses.
After getting that first maze out of the way, I felt a bit emboldened. Next up: Five Nights at Freddy’s, which had by far the longest line: 180 minutes, but only 20 for express. I loved the vibes—you actually feel like you’re in a dilapidated pizza parlor—and there was some great puppeteering of the huge animatronic characters. But if you’re facing a three-hour wait, unless you’re a huge Freddy’s fan, I’d reclaim your time and head to the adjacent Scarecrow maze, which boasted a twangy, creepy original score by Slash, lots of actors with scythes and burlap sacks over their heads, some walking through hanging entrails (a haunted house classic) and, to top it all off, larger-than-life crow figures towering over you in a cornfield. I actually loved those guys—you can see a couple more of them in the upper lot (including one donning a top hat) stalking around a sign that says “Murder of Crowz.” I actually debated buying the $65 vinyl of the score, but instead opted for a visit to the Slash Bar, where an undead version of the guitarist greets you on stilts.
The other hot new IP of the year was Fallout. That seemed less like a haunted house in the usual sense and more like an immersive walk-through of the series (like a grown-up version of a storybook ride), which is more sci-fi than scary. You go from Vault 33 into the desert and forest of the wasteland, where actors dressed like Walton Goggins’ noseless ghoul pop up a couple times—thankfully I didn’t have to fight off any radroaches.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Terror Tram—and admittedly I haven’t seen any of the Blumhouse movies featured (The Purge, Insidious, M3GAN or Black Phone)—but none of the characters seemed too visually scary to me. Just a heads-up: The “tour” aspect is completely dropped—you’re basically watching trailers for upcoming Blumhouse releases the whole time you’re on the tram. Then it drops you in the middle of the backlot, where you walk through a zone that re-creates the franchises one by one, with speakers playing lines of dialogue on repeat till they get a bit maddening.
The coolest part was getting up close to the Bates Motel—Insidious characters were hiding in the rooms and jumping out of the doorways—and the Psycho House, where a dapper Norman Bates was waiting to take photos with those waiting in the long line for a photo op. But a couple of relentless scare actors right at the end decided to pick on me—two founding fathers wielding baseball bats à la The Purge: Election Year who ganged up on me and blocked my path. Clearly I was an easy target.
But by far the scariest attraction of the night was Jason Universe. Celebrating 45 years of the Friday the 13th franchise lead, the maze gives you a front-row seat to the hockey-mask-wearing slasher’s vengeance tour through the summer camp, cabin and forest. But while actors only reach out toward you in the other mazes, here there were Jasons at every turn, playing out violent vignettes with real actors—decapitating someone, attacking a girl in a VW bug—and he would clock you and fully come after you. This is the maze that got the most unbridled screams from me—and even a couple from my fiancé. As he put it, the maze has exactly the effect the Friday the 13th films are going for, yet it was somehow better and scarier than all of them.
One haunted house I didn’t even consider? Terrifier (I have my limits). But that being said, either way you will find yourself face-to-face with a scowling Art the Clown at least once during your night—when you walk between mazes or around the lower lot, there are multiple actors playing the demonic clown who’s become the face of horror at this year’s event. But while there are tons of scare actors, they seem to be mostly in the mazes—there are far fewer in the open-air scare zones. With that in mind, it makes sense that Universal Studios Orlando’s new offering this year—the Deathly Afraid Necklace—hasn’t made its West Coast debut yet. A $20 light-up badge you wear around your neck, it lets Florida visitors fly under the radar in the scare zones, though it doesn’t work in the haunted houses, where you’ll encounter the bulk of the scares. The introduction of the necklace has been applauded by some, especially those with medical conditions or crippling anxiety who would otherwise have to skip Horror Nights, and criticized by others, who argue it makes the event less scary and stifles the scare actors. We’ll have to see if the add-on makes its L.A. debut next year. In the meantime, here are five tips that helped me during my visit as a HHN virgin.
5 Tips for Surviving Halloween Horror Nights
- Celebrate Día de Muertos. Right when you enter, the Chainsaw Clownz scare zone can be overwhelming, but once you make it past the Chainsaw Man marquee (where a scary anime short screens in the place of Kung Fu Panda Adventure), duck into Universal Plaza for some gently spooky Day of the Dead vibes. You can order a margarita and sway to Mexican folk music. The only characters you’ll encounter here are skeletal calacas on stilts—and they’re not going to jump out at you.
- Hang out in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Honestly, whenever I go to Universal, I find myself wanting to spend all my time (and ideally live) in the Wizarding World’s immersive Hogsmeade village. This was especially true the other night. While I do wish there was some Halloween Harry Potter programming (Death Eaters and dementors seem like prime Horror Nights material), as it was, the themed land was mellow and a nice reprieve from the craziness outside its confines. Keeping with the gently spooky vibes, the dark mark—the sign of Voldemort’s followers—was projected onto Hogwarts castle.
- Take advantage of the shorter wait times for rides. While lines for the haunted houses ranged from 45 to 180 minutes while I was there, the theme park’s rides had the shortest wait times I’d ever seen. From Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey to Jurassic World, attractions you might usually wait an hour-plus to board were only advertising a five-minute wait. (Though access to Super Nintendo World is limited to those with express or day/night tickets.) So if you can’t deal with the mazes, break off from your party and get a more traditional type of thrill.
- Hide behind someone bigger than you. So you decided to brave a maze. Might I suggest absolutely not walking in by yourself, and certainly not as the leader of a pack? Swallow your pride and duck behind whoever in your party is bigger and braver than you.
- Don’t show your fear. After witnessing about a hundred screams and flinches, my fiancé suggested I try standing my ground when the next clown stormed my way. Easier said than done, but I did manage to do it once. It’s like with a bully—it’s just not as fun to pick on you if they don’t get a rise out of you. And knowing the actors aren’t allowed to touch you helps.
I know, I know, it’s a theme park and controlled environment, and I wasn’t really in any danger, but I actually felt pretty accomplished and brave by the time we closed out the park at 1am. I have to admit that there’s something invigorating about choosing to be scared and making it out the other side. We excitedly talked about the experience for the next few days, and I could see Horror Nights becoming an annual part of our Halloween celebrations.
When is Halloween Horror Nights?
Halloween Horror Nights starts at 7pm, after the theme park’s regular hours, and runs till 1am or 2am depending on the night. It takes place Thursdays through Saturdays in September, then Wednesdays through Saturdays until November 2.
How much do tickets cost?
General admission tickets start at $77 and go to $107, but if you’re serious about fitting in all the scares you can, you can try your luck in the fast lane with express tickets, which run between $259 and $359. And if money is no object, the R.I.P. Tour tickets get you free valet, a VIP trolley, dinner and pretty much immediate access to all haunted houses for $449 to $599 (many dates are actually already sold out for this option, so clearly it’s worth it to a lot of people).