Every year, thousands of horror fans descend on Universal Studios Florida for Halloween Horror Nights. The annual spooky tradition is in its 34th year and has been a staple of the theme park Halloween rotation; some even consider it the pinnacle when it comes to haunted houses and mazes. I’ve always been a fan of Halloween Horror Nights’ concept, but never attended myself; however, this year I was finally able to make the trip out to Orlando and experience HHN firsthand.
I went through all 10 of the haunted houses, ventured through the four scare zones, watched the Nightmare Fuel show, checked out the Haunt-O-Phonic lagoon show, and sampled many of the food items inspired by Halloween Horror Nights’ diverse selection of houses. It’s a lot for one night and in many ways was overwhelming, but for a first experience, Halloween Horror Nights did not disappoint.
Halloween Horror Nights Offers Thrilling And Chilling Experience For Avid Horror Fans
Halloween Horror Nights has so much to offer when it comes to diversity of experiences, and each has something unique to offer Halloween and horror fans. If nothing else, HHN is an opportunity to see Universal Creative get bloody, scary, and occasionally a little silly.
The Haunted Houses are the main event of Halloween Horror Nights, with a selection that typically includes a mixture of original creations and IP. For 2025, Universal has 10 Haunted Houses for fans to enjoy, 5 of which adapt popular films, TV series, and more. They are:
- Terrifier
- Five Nights at Freddy's
- Jason Universe
- WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks
- Fallout
- El Artista: A Spanish Haunting
- Dolls: Let's Play Dead
- Grave of Flesh
- Gálkn: Monsters of the North
- Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters
Obviously, Five Nights at Freddy’s and Terrifier are the marquee houses this year. FNAF has been an oft-requested house and Universal was pleased to finally be able to grant fans request thanks to the recent Blumhouse film adaptation. Blumhouse is a regular partner of Halloween Horror Nights, with houses based on the production company’s numerous horror properties like The Conjuring and The Black Phone. It’s a little loophole that Universal was able to take advantage of, and it’s a good thing they did because the Five Nights at Freddy’s House is incredible.
While not particularly scary, the FNAF house features animatronics created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which is worth the price of admission all on its own. Seeing Freddy Fazbear, Chica, and Foxy (among others) brought to life in this way is a sight to see, even as the design of the houses is meant to unnerve. Because of how the animatronics/puppets need to move, and presumably to keep everything safe, the jump scares in the house are minimal, but it’s still really cool to see in person.
Terrifier, on the other hand, is all about blood, guts, and any viscera you can imagine. Boasting the biggest body count that Halloween Horror Nights has ever included, the Terrifier house is bursting at the seems (literally) with gore. Art the Clown is relentless in the house, and the set pieces feature some of his most iconic kills. Mileage may vary in terms of how disturbing you find the house, but there’s no question that Universal was looking to push the envelope here. The house even culminates with a choice between a Dry Path or a Blood Bath (nicknamed the Wet Path), where guests can get soaked if they so choose.
From the gaming perspective, I was most excited to check out the Fallout house, which is based on the Amazon Prime series. While not particularly scary, the Fallout show brings to life iconic creatures from the world of Bethesda’s game, and the house draws inspiration from those same creations. Lucy does a lot of the jump scare work, popping out from boo holes left and right, but the real highlight of the Fallout house at HHN is the opportunity to see a few life-size Brotherhood of Steel armor suits and a few other monstrosities of the wasteland up close and personal. There’s even a fun tease for Fallout Season 2 in the house, if you make sure to keep your eyes peeled.
Friday the 13t h is a personal favorite among the slasher film franchises, so I was eager to see what HHN put together for its Jason Universe house. What’s cool about this house is it uses jump scares and boo holes to embody the relentless nature of Jason Voorhees – that he is around every corner. Almost every iteration of Jason is represented in the house with some good scares here and there, but it’s the finale of Jason Universe that pushes it over the top. It’s a celebration of Jason’s history and a barrage at the same time.
WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks was the house based on an IP that I was the least familiar with. I know a little bit about Bray Wyatt’s history with the WWE and can appreciate the tribute that this house represents. Wyatt was apparently a huge Halloween Horror Nights fan and would regularly attend the afterhours event. Knowing that makes the house, even as the Wyatt 6 are trying to scare, adds a little special element to the experience. The house does rely heavily on the characters of the Wyatt Sicks and Bray’s legacy for some cool visuals, but it’s the story behind the house that I felt made it stand out.
Halloween Horror Nights Also Surprises You With Some Amazing Yet Spooky Original Houses
While you may come to Halloween Horror Nights for the IP, Universal’s original houses are where things get the most creative. Without having to honor a brand or the storyline of a film/TV series, HHN takes things to some interesting places with its original houses. Similar to the IP-based houses, some were stronger than others, but El Artista: A Spanish Haunting, Grave of Flesh, and Galkn: Monsters of the North had some really impressive iconography.
El Artista was the most beautiful house of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights, offering some disturbing imagery mixed in with intricate architecture. Grave of the Flesh kicks things off with creepy vibes and then gets funky and weird. Dolls: Let's Play Dead imagines that you have been shrunken down to the size of a toy and are forced to contend with an owner who doesn't play nice. And Galkn had some incredibly cool puppetry work, with a sense of scale that topped the night. I came away most impressed with the originality on display in these houses and though they didn’t have the brand recognition, they were ultimately some of my favorites. Obviously, HHN attendees are going to head straight for Terrifier or FNAF because of the long waits, but I wouldn’t ignore the original houses – most of them were excellent.
Getting to and from the various groupings of houses takes you through the various Scare zones of Halloween Horror Nights, which are like open-air haunted houses. Each of the Scare Zones has its own narrative, with wandering scare actors looking to sneak up on unsuspecting guests. There are typically a few installations peppered throughout the Scare Zones, but mostly it’s about trying to find the scare actors amongst the bunch and trying not to get jump scared.
My favorite of the bunch was the Cat Lady of Crooked Lane, which told the story of an elderly woman who turned Trick ‘R Treaters into cats to fuel her immortality. Watching as helpless “kid” actors eventually became more cat-like the further you walked through the Scare Zone was unnerving (and a little funny).
While the IP-based houses are great, it's important that you don't miss out on the spectacular original houses.
Outside of the scare-focused experiences that are the haunted houses and Scare Zones, HHN also has two Halloween-esque shows to enjoy. Nightmare Fuel is an assault on the senses with an ungodly amount of pyrotechnics, tight dance choreography, a thumping soundtrack, and a little bit of stage production. It’s by no means scary, but the performers put on an excellent show that dazzles and excites with some really impressive stunt work.
Haunt-O-Phonic: A Ghoulish Journey is a water projection experience in the Studio Lagoon featuring some recognizable tunes and some spooky needle drops. Visually, it’s similar to a lot of the water shows you can see at a theme park, but with a Halloween twist. If you are into Halloween iconography, it’s a nice respite from the relentless barrage of scares.
And, of course, there’s the food. Universal had a sampling of the dishes available during Halloween Horror Nights 34 for us to try. Theme Park food for these types of seasonal events is my favorite thing; I love seeing how the culinary creations tie back to the season or the theme of the night.
For HHN 34, there was food themed after all of the IP houses, with some really clever dishes. Fallout had these “deviled eggs” that were actually dessert that I struggled to wrap my mind around. Texturally, it was exactly like biting into a deviled egg, except the flavor profile was sweet. At first, I didn’t know what to make of it, but eventually I came around to loving them.
Other highlights included the Five Nights at Freddy’s cupcake, which was massive and so intricately designed. FNAF fans are going to go crazy for it, and its combination of Raspberry and Cannoli filling was delicious. Also from the Fallout booth, I loved the Cram Tots, which were oversized tater tots with a spice-glazed Spam on them. The Jason booth had a riff on S’mores that combined chocolate bread with marshmallows that was surprisingly tasty. And I was a big fan of the Birria Ramen that had some Flamin’ Hot Cheetos mixed in.
Theme Park food can get a little weird and for Halloween Horror Nights, the chefs can embrace that weirdness. Still, they need the food to taste good, and I was surprised by how, in addition to being very Instagram-friendly, delicious so many of the dishes were.
I’ve admired Halloween Horror Nights from afar, but getting to experience it in Orlando first-hand helped hammer home how much the spooky season means to me. Being around folks who, whether they are trepidatious or not, want to go into these haunted houses and see the creativity on display is such a unique experience that I won’t soon forget. I loved seeing how these popular IPs are brought to life, and then how the creative teams build scares and gags around those properties.
Yes, there were plenty of moments where a scare actor jumped out of nowhere and “got” me, but I had the most fun taking in all of the details in each house – seeing the Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronic or looking up and seeing the underside of a grave plot in Grave of Flesh. You can enjoy tons of really good food, pick up some fun merch, and take in a show or two, but the houses are the focal point of the event, and I had a blast experiencing them firsthand. And I was extremely surprised by how well done the original houses were, in many cases delivering my favorite moments from the night.
As an HHN newbie, I don’t think it’s fair to give a ranking or tips on how to efficiently get through the houses, but I will say that this is the pinnacle Halloween experience if you count down the days until the first Spirit opens and the candy corn bags start appearing on grocery store aisles. I knew I would love Halloween Horror Nights, but I was surprised by just how much fun I had.
Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights until November 2nd at Universal Studios Florida. The Best War Games was provided travel, lodging, and VIP access as part of this coverage.