Universal Orlando announces expanded Halloween Horror Nights starting August 2024

Apr 04, 2024 in "Universal Orlando Resort"

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Halloween Horror Nights

Posted: Thursday April 4, 2024 9:45am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Universal Orlando will host its annual Halloween Horror Nights, offering its earliest-ever start on 48 nights from August 30 through November 3, 2024.

Halloween Horror Nights

2024 Halloween Horror Nights Event dates: August 30-31; September 1, 4-8, 11-15, 18-22, 25-29; October 2-6, 9-13, 16-20, 23-27, 30-31; November 1-3.

Pricing begins at $82.99 per person, plus tax, and rises to $129.99 based on date.

The event promises to deliver 10 new haunted houses inspired by cinematic masterpieces and original stories alongside five scare zones populated by hundreds of creatures. Additionally, visitors can enjoy live entertainment, themed food and beverages, merchandise, and select attractions at Universal Studios Florida.

This year, a chilling new collection of horrifying experiences await guests, including 10 all-new movie-quality haunted houses inspired by cinematic greats and eerie original stories created by the twisted minds of Universal’s Entertainment team, and five scare zones filled with hundreds of menacing creatures who will reign the streets of Universal Studios Florida. And in between the screams, guests can enjoy an energetic live show, fuel up for the next round of scares with sinfully delicious food and beverage inspired by the event’s haunts, shop the latest merchandise at the highly-themed Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store, and enjoy some of Universal Studios Florida’s most exciting attractions.

Single-night event tickets and Express Passes for Halloween Horror Nights are available for purchase now. Guests can also stay, scream and save up to $200 (based on a seven-night stay) with a special vacation package that includes one-night admission to the event and accommodations at a Universal hotel located just minutes from the haunts. This package also includes admission to all three Universal Orlando theme parks to enjoy some of the most innovative rides and attractions ever created during the day, before facing the chills of Halloween Horror Nights at night. Plus, hotel guests receive exclusive benefits including access to a dedicated Halloween Horror Nights gate for faster entry into the event, Early Park Admission to the theme parks during the day, complimentary resort transportation, and more. Savings vary based on length of stay and this package is available for purchase now through November 2 for use from August 30 to November 3.

Halloween Horror Nights upgrades are also available for purchase now, including the guided, nighttime R.I.P. Tour experience where guests receive priority V.I.P. access to the haunted houses; and the Behind the Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour that offers a glimpse into how the scares are brought to life via a daytime, lights-on journey through select haunted houses. For guests who can’t wait to peek at what’s in-store this year, there’s also a limited, three-house Behind The Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour available for purchase for select days starting August 11.

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Rob5622 days ago

I've heard about the stooge scare actor. With the storyline they set up for the house I was surprised it wasn't something they brought back for Chupacabra the other year. (A village luring tourists in specifically to kidnap and sacrifice them) That big plaza in the middle just seems like it was perfectly designed for a victim to be dragged out of the conga line. As for my thoughts on this year.... I'm a relative newbie for HHN. I live out of state, so my trip is an extended weekend where I go 3-5 nights. My first year was 2019. (I also got to go through the first Stranger Things house when they opened it up to day guests for that one day in Nov 2018, which convinced me to come back for the full event next year) This year, like last year, was fine but is going to be a generally forgettable year. Yes, there were definitely some highlights, but my gauge on whether it's a good year or not is whether there are houses that I am truly sad I will never be able to go through again. The first Yeti house, Chupacabra, Puppet Theater, the Monsters in Egypt, Hill House, Killer Klowns, Realm of the Pumpkin, Graveyard Games, the Icons house from HHN 30. I'm gutted that I'll never be able to see those again. It might just be because our first year (HHN29) was an extremely strong year and it set my mental bar so high. But I think it goes beyond that. Perhaps now that Epic is finishing up they can turn their attention back to HHN and improve for next year. -Rob

Tom Morrow8 days ago

I only went twice this year, don't think I'll go a 3rd time. House rankings and thoughts: 1. A Quiet Place - felt this was the most immersive and atmospheric which is what I care about most since nothing really scares or startles me in these houses anymore. Loved how they managed to make it feel quiet while still technically having a lot of sound. 2. Insidious - definitely the most intense house this year. 3. Goblin's Feast - To me, original houses are best when they have a simple and straightforward setting and story. This one nailed it. 4. Major Sweets - Felt the most like old school HHN houses with lots of physical movement to create scares and a raw feeling to it. 5. Slaughter Sinema 2 - Lots of fun, just like the first one. 6. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire - I haven't seen either of these new films but this had some really impressive sets. 7. Monstrous - Not terrible but too similar to Chupacabra from a few years ago. (I thought the remaining 3 houses were pretty terrible) 8. Eternal Bloodlines 9. Museum: Deadly Exhibit 10. Triplets of Terror All three of these lacked a clear and concise story, setting, premise, and were just completely forgettable. My friend took all the house tours and explained Eternal Bloodlines to me as well as Triplets of Terror and it still barely made sense. Eternal Bloodlines might have the most needlessly complex backstory of any house ever. I think this is the first of my fourteen HHN seasons where three whole houses seemed downright bad to me. Other thoughts: - I think the massive queues set up for the two new tents is kinda awful. The lanes between the ropes for the switchbacks are too narrow and too long. I can normally handle crowds just fine but this felt a little too compact and overwhelming. - I think I witnessed more people vaping, smoking, taking weed hits etc than I ever have before. - Please adopt some sort of chaperone rule. Way too many g*d d**m teenagers. - The event really needs a second show to eat crowds, perhaps even a third. Also, losing Simpsons and Transformers as available attractions doesn't help either. - Express passes didn't seem to be super over-sold this year, so that's a plus. - The additional food stands set up everywhere was a nice touch. I'll probably have more later.

JoeCamel11 days ago

Spine Rip, The Bone Chandelier and so many others are staples the fans look for. Spine Rip has appeared more often than HHN Bear I think She surprised me, pulled into line right in front of me and woosh she got ripped out, I hadn't seen anything like that before. Nice gimmick

mergatroid11 days ago

One of the best gimmicks for me a few years back was in the Insidious house if I remember correctly. We were at the entrance and the team member asked us to wait a moment. When we were let in a girl was stood just inside and said "Do you mind if I go round with you guys, my boyfriend has gone ahead". I felt all macho thinking "Ooh she's looking at me to protect her" and said "Of course, no problem". As we took the first turn she said "Ooh I see him" and ran ahead only for a scare actor to jump out, stab her pulling part of her t-shirt off (I assume Velcro or similar?) to reveal a huge blood splatter. She was then dragged back into the boo hole with him. I remember thinking what a great effect, only seen by a handful of guests I suppose but felt really different and clever.

Tom Morrow11 days ago

I'd be curious if anyone has a rundown of scareactor guidelines and how they have changed / been limited over the years. Horror Makeup would be a good one for the event - do a modified version of the show that's more risque than normal (and it already kind of is risque). Just had a thought - its probably a lot of work for simulators, but they could try doing modified versions of some of the attractions for HHN the way Disney does for a few for MNSSHP. It's also a shame that they cut Transformers as an offering this year. HHN needs all the capacity it can get to spread out crowds because spending 90% of your night in backstage barricade queues isn't actually all that fun. I actually like this. It provides a break from the jump scare scareactors. HHN's house design has always had an over-reliance on jump scare scareactors. These days it seems even more limited, where they largely just jump out of their boo hole for a second and retreat. A scene that stands out to me from years ago, I don't even remember the house, but you'd walk into a room and one scareactor was huddled over another scare actor "lying on a table", and suddenly he'd rip her spine out and shove it in your face. I'm not even super into gore or anything but stuff like that has stood out to me way more than boo hole after boo hole.

Andrew2512 days ago

Completely understand that HHN has modified their event over the years to accommodate scare actor safety, but there's a difference between placing a boo hole an additional 1-2 feet away from guests, and 8-10 feet away. Triplets suffers from this with lots of scares far away from guests... but Insidious is the complete opposite with holes right there next to guests. I don't think it's an issue across the event, so it seems like its tied specifically to a design choice for some of the houses. What's amazing is that you have 3 massive abandoned theaters (Animal Actors, Horror Makeup, and Bourne) & an additional 3 potential areas for smaller acts (Rockit Plaza*, Blues Brothers & Mel's Drive-In stage). *You would need to relocate the queue located here. While HHN still does intense houses (Insidious, Darkest Deal, etc.), they've leaned more on story and tend to include a lot more actors in a "story position" versus an active scare position, which I think hurts the intensity of some houses. But that's a creative choice that can be easily remedied.

JT300012 days ago

Gore is something that's highly dependent on the theme. A lot of themes just don't require obscene amounts of gore to pull off, but I think they're still perfectly willing to go that route when it's called for. Just look at the NY scare zone, which is plenty gory. It's also likely that desensitization is playing a large role here. You're less likely to notice a gory display when you've been seeing something similar for years on end. The main thing that's been toned down is the scares, both in the houses and the scare zones. Part of this is due to actors using the more timid "boo & skadoo" tactic for their own safety; they try to make their scares as brief as possible and don't linger like they used to, significantly cutting down on the potential for intense, in-your-face scares. They've of course made other changes in the more distant past for TM & guest safety, such as axing the actors' ability to touch you. But I think it might also just come down to Universal making a concerted effort to tone down the event's intensity. They're in this weird spot where they want to cast as large a net as possible without upsetting anyone, despite "upsetting people" essentially being the whole idea.

Tom Morrow12 days ago

Yeah, there needs to be a second big show. Not doing the lagoon show is weird because it's another big people-eater. Also cutting Transformers from the attraction lineup is an odd choice. This year only Mummy, Rockit, Gringotts, and MIB were available attractions. Transformers is the only other one that makes sense, but still. With the crowds this event attractions, any added options are helpful. Another thing I'm unsure of being just overexposure to the event for me or if it's actually been toned down - the intensity of the houses. Without a doubt, the scare zones are a joke now compared to what they used to be. They're scarcely decorated and are mostly just social media photo ops. But the houses used to be gorier and more of like an onslaught to your senses, yes? Most of the houses this year I felt "this could maybe operate during the day" whereas years ago they felt like they definitely could only operate during the event.

Animaniac93-9813 days ago

I'm with those who want more entertainment. I know they're the main draw, but I'd like something else to do besides waiting in long lines for houses. And I think something should be done with the San Francisco scare zone to make it easier to walk through. Between crowds and the sets, it's too narrow a path IMO. There should be a walkway around it or something for those who just want to get to the other side.

My95cobras13 days ago

With fastpass, we got everything done in 3.5 hours…. great houses insidious slughter sinema 2 (let’s hear it for nefertitty) very good houses universal monsters goblins feast ghost busters (the nostalgia makes it a great one for me, but I’m VERY biased) meh museum terrible major sweets triplets quiet place monsterous we were able to do everything, eat, drink and see all the shows, including playing with the death eaters for a long time and were out of there at midnight with 24k steps and 11 plus miles done.

JT300013 days ago

I suspect newer HHN guests have no idea what all we've lost over the years simply due to guests being unable to behave (or more recently, walk ten feet without the urge to take a selfie.)

JoeCamel13 days ago

You do understand that is for the protection of the scareactors, too bad people can't be nice people

JT300013 days ago

I do feel HHN has regressed this year, but only because the last few years had been particularly strong, at least in terms of house design, so I don't think we've experienced a downward trend in that regard, at least not yet. There aren't any amazing houses this year, but there aren't any bad ones either, so at least there's that. The scare zones have unfortunately been pitiful for longer than I dare remember, basically ever since the Superstar Parade forced them to seek more temporary solutions, leading to less immersive environments. It also doesn't help that they refuse to use the Minion land for some reason. I wouldn't even call that thing at the entrance a scare zone. HHN desperately needs more shows, but we've been saying this for ages and they don't seem in any hurry to deliver. The more interactive nature of HOS is nice, if you're into that. It feels significantly less scripted than HHN, which can also potentially lead to bigger scares. And unlike HHN being obviously too popular for its own good, HOS still has crowd levels that make you wonder how they manage to break even, much less make a profit... until you see just how cheaply built the houses are. I'm not exaggerating when I say at least one of the houses at SeaWorld's HOS felt like it could have been built by a random person in their garage. They have a looooooooong way to go if they ever want to compete with Universal's showmanship, but given the overall state of SeaWorld as a whole, they probably don't. Speaking of showmanship, having the exact same show every year isn't going to cut it either. It's bad enough they repeat houses, given that there's only five.

Andrew2513 days ago

I agree - I am an avid fan of HHN, and this year I felt forced to visit with my UFF pass. The houses are still being built with great quality, but they've leaned too much to story backgrounds. I also think a few houses this year suffer structurally with boo holes being built way too far for actors to come out right next to you. My main concern regarding HHN is the lack of additional capacity to spread guests around. They need more stage shows and entertainment. The quality of the zones this year (except for NY & Swamp) is quite embarrassing. The unifying theme (or lack of) is just a mess of a different aesthetics. While Howl o Screams has a few great things going for it, the entire thing is nowhere near HHN's level.