Halloween Horror Nights, also known by its initials of HHN and its original name of Fright Nights, is an annual event at numerous Universal Studios theme parks. Universal Orlando Resort was the first of Universal Parks and Resorts' locations to hold the event during its first year of operation in 1991, though it later came to other parks including Universal Studios Hollywood in 1997, Universal Studios Singapore in 2011, and Universal Studios Japan in 2012. At Universal Orlando Resort, HHN has primarily been held at Universal Studios Florida, though for a few years in the early 2000s, the event was held at Islands of Adventure either entirely, or alongside Universal Studios Florida. The event generally features temporary attractions with a horror theme located in various sections of the park. Attractions generally include themed mazes, scare zones, and shows.
Like the year-round attractions at the resort, many of the attractions for Halloween Horror Nights are based on iconic titles of pop culture, many of which are not owned by Universal or its associated companies. The event changes each year, although several characters and franchises from previous years have returned in subsequent incarnations of the event.
A major feature of the event is the Icons, which are usually original characters created specifically for the event that are said to be the headliner for that year. These icons include Jack the Clown, The Usher, The Director, The Caretaker, and Bloody Mary. Licensed characters such as Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface usually serve as sub-icons, despite their status as horror icons.
Background[]
Halloween Horror Nights initially started out with a few mazes similar to other Halloween events at theme parks around the world, but the number of houses has increased immensely in the years that have followed.
In addition to haunted mazes, certain areas of the park are also rethemed to scare zones. Unlike mazes, scare zones are similar to mazes as they are also themed to either an original idea or a horror title, either one of Universal's own or a licensed title. However, mazes are more closed and only allow guests to enter certain areas, and scare actors will usually be hiding, waiting to scare guests. On the other hand, scare zones inhabit a section of the park and feature background theming, with the scare actors wandering around the area, where they either intimidate those who make eye contact, or startle those unaware of their presence.
Licensed events such as a 2017 scare zone based on the 2007 film Trick 'r Treat feature nods to the respective source material. In this case, one example is where an actor portraying school principal Steve Wilkins from the film will occasionally sit next to a figure of Charlie, a student who was attempting to steal candy from him. Charlie can be heard coughing occasionally, to which Wilkins stands next to him and asks what's wrong. The Charlie figure then begins to vomit water, indicating he has been poisoned. The scare actor portraying Wilkins then tells the watching guests to always check their candy on Halloween.
The event initially begins on weekends in September, and grows to also include Wednesdays and Thursdays as Halloween approaches. Extra days in November following Halloween if they occur during the same week are also included as opportunities to attend the event.
History[]
Halloween Horror Nights originally debuted as Fright Nights during Universal Studios Florida's first year of operation in 1991. At the time, there was only one maze called The Dungeon of Terror, but over time, other mazes began to appear in later years, specifically those based on Universal's films such as Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Several attractions were also rethemed with a horror theme for the event.
As of 2022, Halloween Horror Nights has operated at Universal Orlando Resort for over 30 years, and in addition to original themes and characters exclusive to the event, has featured a number of Universal's horror films as themes including the Universal Monsters, the Child's Play/Chucky franchise, The Thing, and An American Werewolf in London, the latter of which is also featured in a segment of the year-round Universal's Horror Make-Up Show.
In addition to Universal's own collection of horror movies, Universal has also used licensed characters for the events. Dozens of horror franchises such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, The Walking Dead, Saw, The Shining, Ash VS The Evil Dead, and even video games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have been featured in the event.
In 2018, Universal Studios Florida hosted Halloween Horror Nights 28, with the hit Netflix series Stranger Things headlining as one of the licensed themes for the event. Other properties licensed for the event included Poltegeist as a maze and Killer Klowns From Outer Space as a scare zone in the New York section of the park. Returning franchises included Trick 'r Treat, which is now a maze instead of a scarezone as was the case in 2017. The Halloween franchise also returned with a maze based on Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, possibly to promote the 2018 film without concern of spoiling the film before its release. Chucky of the Child's Play franchise was also featured in the Revenge of Chucky scarezone in the Hollywood section of the park. The final returning franchise was The Purge, which was represented via the prequel film The First Purge as half of The Horrors of Blumhouse, sharing the house with Happy Death Day.
Trivia[]
- Although similar mazes with the same name have returned especially in early years of the event, An American Werewolf in London has been the only maze from a previous year that returned in an identical form. It first appeared in HHN 23 in 2013, and returned for HHN 25 in 2015.
- Interestingly, a maze based on Alien VS Predator was present for HHN 24 in 2014, despite The Walt Disney Company also having a license to the Alien franchise for The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World, after discovering they still held the license from a scrapped attraction idea that became The Extra-TERROR-Restrial Alien Encounter.
- It's worth noting that scare actors in scare zones simultaneously perform meet-and-greets with guests in addition to scaring, as they will allow guests to take pictures either of, or with them.