Universal Orlando announced Thursday its full slate of annual events and experiences set for 2026, including Mardi Gras, Volcano Bay Nights, holidays at the park and Halloween Horror Nights.
Halloween Horror Nights this year celebrates a 35th birthday that’ll kick off Aug. 28 and run through Nov. 1. It’s set to run on select nights, which will be announced at a later date, Universal says.
The park has also yet to begin to tease haunted house and scare zone themes. Last year’s widely well-received 10 franchise-based and original houses included Five Nights at Freddy’s; WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks; Terrifier; Jason Universe; Fallout; Hatchets and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters; Dolls: Let’s Play Dead; Grave of Flesh; Gálkn: Monsters of the North; and El Artista: A Spanish Haunting.
Also announced for 2026 was Universal’s Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval, set to return Feb. 7 through April 4. Expect sky-high parade floats, live music performances and plenty of New Orleans-themed eats.
The park says its still new(ish) Volcano Bay Nights will return this year, although exact dates have yet to be shared. The nighttime waterpark event was first launched in early 2025 and came back again in the fall. It offered guests access to the limited-capacity park at night, with character meet-and-greets, live entertainment and treats.
Holidays at Universal Orlando kick off just days after HHN on Nov. 14 and will run through Jan. 3. The park will see the return of annual traditions like Christmas in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Grinchmas, and Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s. There will also be a slate of New Year’s Eve festivities at the parks and Universal CityWalk, which will be announced in the coming months.
Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights Credit: by Seth Kubersky
Spooky season has sneaked up on Orlando once again, as signified by the annual arrival of Universal Studios Florida’s Halloween Horror Nights. For HHN’s 34th installment, the creative team led by Mike Aiello and Lora Sauls have pulled out all the stops, delivering what I feel is the event’s strongest installment this decade.
I was especially impressed by the scarezones — particularly the Roaring ’20s toxic mutants in New York, the Cat Lady mini-show outside Animal Actors, and Hollywood’s vampire masquerade ball — which were markedly more menacing and story-focused than the selfie-zones of recent years.
The latest Nightmare Fuel pyrotechnic dance show also continues its upward evolution with a satisfying sequel to last year’s cursed circus storyline, as first-time director Charles Gray (picking up the baton from Jason Horne) punches up the pacing, tightening the integration of illusions and explosive choreography. And although I was unable to watch the new Haunt-o-Phonic fountain show, the brief glimpse I caught looked ghoulishly delightful.
However, most guests go to HHN for their world-famous haunted houses, and this year’s lineup of 10 terrifying mazes will present a dilemma for all but the deep-pocketed. The offerings are mostly solid, and several are spectacular, with only a few relative duds this time around. But if the posted standby wait times on opening weekend are anything to go by, my traditional goal of completing every house and show in one night without Express access may have finally become impossible to accomplish.
The cat appears to be out of the bag on my former “secret weapon” of Stay & Scream, with queues now opening at 4 p.m. and some exceeding two hours before the evening officially begins.
Even Express isn’t a panacea anymore, as it reduces your wait by roughly half but doesn’t eliminate it, and new longer pathways to and from the soundstages (necessitated by the demolition of Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket) mean even old hands at HHN will have difficulty formulating an efficient route this year. The ideal solution — assuming you can afford it — is an RIP tour, like the one I was hosted on during the opening-night media event. Thanks to our tour guide, Billie Jane, who is an award-winning local playwright-performer when she isn’t escorting VIPs at Universal, we were easily able to squeeze in all 10 mazes (plus extras) before the 2 a.m. closing.
If you aren’t fortunate enough to get front-of-the-line privileges and are forced by long queues to pick and choose which houses to line up for, here are my totally subjective rankings of all 10, based on how many minutes I’d personally be willing to wait for another run-through.
Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights Credit: by Seth Kubersky
Be aware that your mileage will undoubtedly vary, because I base my preferences on things like the ambition and execution of the scenic artistry and special effects, the creativity and clarity of the theme, and the placement and pacing of the performers. I don’t judge how “scary” a house is, because years of working backstage have blunted my startle response, and I can no longer get spooked with a conga line of shuffling guests around me.
Terrifier (worth 75 minutes)
The gallons of gore that literally drenched me in this house should force any fanboys complaining that HHN has gone “family-friendly” to STFU. I enjoyed walking through the three Terrifier films far more than watching them, thanks in large part to this cast’s expert mimicry of Art the Clown’s mime mannerisms.
Five Nights at Freddy’s (worth 70 minutes)
The Easter egg-filled re-creation of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria is note-perfect, from the crying child to the Springtrap mask. Unfortunately, the impressive movie-accurate animatronics and full-sized articulated puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop are mostly rooted in place, which somewhat mutes their menace.
El Artista: A Spanish Haunting (60 minutes)
I’m a sucker for a grand facade, and this Gothic manor (which inspired this year’s overall aesthetic) is one of Universal’s most jaw-dropping. Once inside, overhead aerial stunts, multiple Pepper’s ghosts and every other trick in the book are employed in telling a refreshingly original tale from director Ramón Paradoa that evokes Goya and Gaudí with a Faustian twist.
Dolls: Let’s Play Dead (worth 50 minutes)
If Disney ever put a haunted house based on Toy Story’s Sid and Finding Nemo’s Darla inside the queue of Hollywood Studios’ Midway Mania, it might look like this. Guest-activated buttons, a playful sense of scale and imaginative environments (like the inside of an Easy-Bake Oven) make this the most entertaining house.
WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks (worth 45 minutes)
I stopped following professional wrestling when WWF became WWE, so add an extra 15 minutes if you’re already a fan. As a newcomer, I was unexpectedly engaged by the variety and viciousness of the characters and the verisimilitude of the backstage environments.
Gálkn: Monsters of the North (worth 40 minutes)
Wicker Man and Midsommar have nothing on this revenge-driven romp through a pseudo-Nordic village being ravaged by horned horrors. The best part is the “belly of the beast” finale, which features some of the event’s most relentless scareactors.
Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters (worth 30 minutes)
Old West-inspired haunts are usually winners, and this Slaughter Sinema spinoff starts strong with an actor-driven entrance and unique lava lighting. I also loved the ending’s speeding train effects and blow-off monster, but the creature designs and plot seemed somewhat muddled in the middle.
Grave of Flesh (worth 20 minutes)
The towering graveyard facade makes a fabulous first impression, but it goes downhill fast with repetitive dirt walls and a grab-bag of monster designs. The brief M.C. Escher-esque interlude in the middle only reminded me how badly I want HHN to have a Hellraiser II house.
Fallout (worth 15 minutes)
As a Fallout fan from the prehistoric era of Wasteland on my Apple IIc through to the Amazon series, this house was a shocking disappointment. The initial Vault architecture is impressive, and all the fan-service props (like Pip-Boys and Jolt Cola dispensers) are in place. But Lucy dominates too many scenes, miming to comically repetitive audio cues, while Maximus and especially the Ghoul are given shamefully short shrift before the anticlimactic ending.
Jason Universe (worth 10 minutes)
I’m sure to get flamed for this take. The folks around me praised this maze’s scare factor, but the return of Jason Voorhees to HHN missed the mark for me. If too many cooks spoil the soup, then too many Jasons — mostly mid-series hockey-mask incarnations, no sign of X’s cyber-version — popping in and out of boo-holes, without any of his iconic kills or environments beyond repetitive wooded campgrounds, ultimately bored me.
The gates of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood have opened, and this year’s event has some of the theme park’s biggest debuts. Between Terrifier and Five Nights at Freddy’s, the headliner haunted houses really pack a punch, with the terror titan-led Jason Universe house, based on the Friday the 13th franchise, also helping to power a killer season start.
But that’s not to say there were some lows; surprisingly, HHN’s anticipated Fallout offering fell short of expectations. Some repeat houses managed to hold enough excitement, but the West Coast event—which is smaller than the version mounted by Halloween Horror Nights Orlando—might prove to create uneven experiences for park guests who can’t shell out the extra dough for express passes.
Express tickets were provided by Universal for media to be able to review all the houses, and that’s a key takeaway from the start: as theme park insiders, it was clear to us that it might be near impossible to visit all the houses if you do general event admission. If you’re locked in to that price point, always be sure to prioritize 3-4 houses and one entertainment offering—between the Blumhouse-themed Terror Tram, the stunt show The Purge: Dangerous Waters, or the Chainsaw Man short film screening. If you really want to do everything in one night, upgrading to express may be your best bet.
I do have one pro tip from attending in past years: the express pass will sometimes be offered at 50% off near the end of the night and you can buy in to race through all the houses in the last few hours of the event. I’ve done it myself. You can only take advantage if you’re already in the park when the signs go up at the ticket upgrade stations, so keep an eye out for that.
As an LA local, I’ve also simply spread it out by buying a multi-night ticket (such as the “Frequent Fear” pass) and going once a week to hang out for vibes and scope out shorter lines for houses I’ve missed or want to do again.
Here’s what we thought of Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood for 2025:
Terrifier: Art the Clown has unofficially solidified his place as a Horror Nights icon. From the moment you arrive at the event, the roaming silent clown killer chillingly charms with his bag of demented tricks. Personally, and like most going to the event, this was my first exposure to the character and the world of Terrifier, having been deterred by some of the divisive discourse surrounding the gratuitous violence of the franchise. However, the Terrifier house cleared up some of my concerns and I think the films fall more into an absurdist gore vibe versus the gritty gore genre (think more Raimi than Roth).
There are more horrific things, I think, in the Monstruos house with a child being eaten by La Llorona than anything in the Terrifier house. Don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. Art is still very hardcore but in a hilarious way. We very much enjoyed the Looney Tunes or rather Itchy & Scratchy aura on a very sick cartoony clown’s mission of demonic mayhem. The full display of depravity was such a rollicking good time I went home and watched Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 immediately. Art the Clown will get new fans (myself included) and this house will please longtime fanatics. Get down to the Clown Cafe as soon as you can because this one will have a long queue. And the water splash warnings? They’re for real; bring a poncho.
Jason Universe: This is hands down the scariest house in a traditional sense. Jason stalks you alongside memorable Camp Crystal Lake deaths and with the iconic soundtrack, there are jump scares aplenty. If you’re hard to “get,” you’ll appreciate the attention to detail in making a house that encompasses the Friday the 13th legacy. Even with an express pass, this line was long.
Pro tip: The Jason Universe-themed foods are low-key the HHN snack war winners. We recommend the gouda fondue bread bowl (we paid out of pocket for it); it’s steeped in Angry Orchard cider and comes with green apple slices. It’s available at the same booth as the Jason mask-shaped s’mores. It might be the best food of the horror fest.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: The sheer artistry of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’s puppetry and HHN performer work makes this one an all-ages all-timer with aplomb. The haunted “animatronics” charging at you or springing to life really works and there are even unexpected jump scares with dead kids creeping up on you as you hover awestruck around Chica or Foxy. Our only complaint is that the stage show centerpiece at the start only featured Freddy; Orlando’s HHN got the whole ensemble.
Chainsaw Man: This import from Universal Studios Japan was an unexpected surprise. Anime fans will delight in a special HHN Japan theater short, which brings the beloved characters (minus Pochita, sadly) into a meta immersive experience where they have to fight demons while attending HHN themselves. The mix of cute, spooky 2D animation and fourth-wall-breaking CG action with a brief adventure featuring the Chainsaw Man gang impresses and I hope we get more overseas fun making its way stateside.
Scarecrow featuring Slash: The HHN Hollywood Scarecrow lore grows with Slash providing a new score. The scares and creature work always make this a standout. However, we were a little underwhelmed by the music; we loved the riff composed by the rock legend but the boom-clap beat made us feel like we were comically in a corn whiskey commercial. It threw the spooky energy off. Hit the bar after.
Monstruos 3:Celebrating the horrors of Latin American folklore has been a fantastic staple of HHN and really there’s no one scarier than La Llorona (IYKYK) and her penchant for kidnapping children and feasting on their souls. Alongside another killer vengeful cryptid, La Siguanaba, this house makes for a solid scare-filled experience; it just felt a little on the shorter side or perhaps we caught it while there was a cast change, which happens sometimes.
WWE Presents: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks: As an homage to the late wrestler who came up with the entertainment wrestling’s campy horror lore, this house is a sentimental and solid send-off. However, as someone whose horror WWE storylines were Undertaker and Kane, I felt so lost and wasn’t sure how to connect the storyline in the house to the personas in the ring. Could have had a bit more cohesion but the set and costuming were on point; we’ll give it that. Pro-tip: This one has a series of gross-smelling rooms, and you’ll also get sprayed.
Terror Tram: Blumhouse taking over the backlot could have been great but it ends up being more like an elaborate meet-and-greet area than a haunt. Unless you particularly want to meet Blumhouse figures of fright and get more steps in, it’s probably best to skip. But if you’re a horror movie fan and want to explore where the movies are made, this is a good spot. The photos are always great so that’s an upside. Be warned: this experience takes up nearly an hour of your time so plan accordingly.
The Purge: Dangerous Waters: This is tired and while we appreciate the effort in the stunts, there hasn’t been a new Purge movie in ages. This space could have been better utilized, perhaps by Fallout, and we’ll explain why in a bit.
Poltergeist: Retire this one.
Fallout: As a fan of Walton Goggins’ Ghoul, there was not enough sassy and scary outlaw Ghoulussy put into this. The Vault scenes were short and focused too much on Lucy’s linear journey rather than giving us a greatest hits of the horrific moments from the Prime Video show. It also wasn’t scary at all and used up so much space in the former Walking Dead year-long house attraction area with few set pieces that it felt over sooner than we would have liked. For a property that’s going to invite long queues, it’s not worth it. A show on the Waterworld stage starring the Ghoul and Lucy squaring off against figures in the wasteland and the Gulper might have been better.
Pro-tip: The Fallout food is a more fun experience; we recommend the Roasted Radroach Legs but also had a particular affinity for the Roasted Stingwing. There’s also RadAway in pouches for you, in-universe-specific item fans.
Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood is open now through November 2. Get tickets here.
Universal Orlando has been awarded new amusement-industry awards, scoring big for its new behemoth baby Epic Universe and water theme park Volcano Bay.
This year’s Golden Ticket Awards, a prestigious annual tradition in the theme park world presented by Amusement Today, granted Universal a total of five awards for both new and longstanding immersive experiences and attractions. It was the only Florida park to win in this year’s roundup.
The park nabbed the following honors:
Best new theme concept for Epic Universe’s village of Darkmoor
Best new coaster for Epic Universe’s Stardust Racers
Best new attraction installation for Epic Universe’s Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
Best dark ride for Epic Universe’s Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
Best water park for Volcano Bay
This year marks the first time a new winner has been named in the best water park category in 26 years. Volcano Bay, opened in 2017, beat out the previous titleholder: Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas.
While Epic Universe, the theme park’s highly anticipated new venture that opened this summer, helped the amusement giant score big, Disney World was left in the dust.
Disney World took home no wins. Maybe next time, Mickey.
Terrifier icon Art the Clown has made an impact as the new king of painted-face slasher villains and the character enters a new era as a feature at Halloween Horror Nights. The spooky season haunt at Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood features not only haunted houses inspired by Damien Leone’s bloody franchise but also a huge Art the Clown presence for walk-around characters.
At the red carpet for Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Terrifier’s very own Art the Clown, David Howard Thornton, talked to Dead Meat about his advice for the scareactors at Universal embodying the gleefully silent gorehound.
“First of all, I just told them to have fun because that’s how Art is. He finds so much joy in the horrible things he does. And I said, ‘Just find that sadistic joy in just messing with people.’ Just go wild with it and have fun with it. And it’s just, be a little jerk,” he shared.
Having experienced hilariously horror-tinged mime interactions with Art in the park ourselves, we can confirm it’s just a sheer demented delight.
Thornton continued to explain his inspiration to better define the character, who first appeared in Leone’s early 2008 short film The 9th Circle and whom the actor took on in 2016’s Terrifier feature.
“I based him on a vulture. The idea came in because of his beak nose. And so I’ve added more of a hunch to him. Especially when he’s in predator mode, as I like to call it, when he’s actually on the hunt. Birds of prey lead with their eyes first; as they look at something, the head moves. And then the body follows. And that’s what I based Art’s movements off of when he’s in hunt mode.”
Imparting the art of being Art to Universal theme park scareactors really solidifies the clown as a titan of terror at the annual Halloween festivities. Thornton is proud of this horror honor. “It makes me so happy because I think it’s a great thing just to build up the love of our character. Because I love every year watching the videos that they have of Universal with the Grinch, all the things he does … [and] I love seeing now Art’s doing that same thing. And it’s catching that kind of popularity.”
I personally haven’t seen any of the Terrifier films but the memorable interactions within the haunted house and outside in the scare zones made me an instant Art fan. Art very much fits in the chaotic meet-and-greet fun you’d expect and joins fellow theme park standouts such as the Grinch and Beetlejuice in making a home at Universal as characters people want to meet.
Universal Studios is rolling out its houses of horror across the country—opening three major hubs that monster fans can make their Halloween season travel destinations—in this month’s theme park news.
io9 was invited by Universal to experience the very big bag of tricks and treats the theme park creatives are unleashing into the world for fandom fiends seeking thrilling frights. On the West Coast, Universal Studios Hollywood prepares to open the vault with the Fallout house inspired by the Prime Video series and Bethesda video game franchise, alongside its other horror property offerings, come September.
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, AREA15 has opened the gates of Universal Horror Unleashed, a desert warehouse that holds haunted gateways to chilling cinematic experiences. And of course things are already getting started at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando with Terrifier’s Art the Clown being set loose alongside the Five Nights at Freddy’s gang.
Universal Studios Hollywood Fallout lights on tour
HHN Hollywood creative director John Murdy walked through the Fallout house with press to explain the story guests would be experiencing nightly during the Halloween event’s run. “Going through the series, my initial reaction was, ‘Wow, this is a huge world,’ and there’s three different kinds of storylines going on with the show. There’s Lucy’s storyline where she’s searching for her father, there’s Maximus’ storyline with the Brotherhood of Steel, and then there’s the Ghoul and his storyline—kind of going from being a TV actor cowboy to his transformation into this bounty hunter character.”
“So what we decided ultimately to do is we would pretty much be following in Lucy’s footsteps,” he shared, as we saw the under-construction vault setting for the wedding leading to her eventual breakout through the vault door.
“So we’re gonna be taking you from the vault to the wasteland, meeting all the characters along the way,” Murdy continued, and elaborated that Hollywood’s version of the house will offer different set pieces than Orlando. One major difference is that the West Coast will get the mutated Yao Guai bear, whereas Florida will get the Gulper.
Murdy knew one thing for certain: “And then for us, when I saw the Super Duper Mart sequence, which is actually the fourth episode of Fallout, I was like, that is tailor-made for a finale to a Halloween horror house because it’s when all the ghouls are breaking out.”
Murdy acknowledged that the Fallout house would also include many Easter eggs for the show and the games, such as a final scare piece to hype up season two of the Prime Video series.
Murdy also discussed the making of the other major horror video game and now movie franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s with press on a more extensive and detailed BTS tour showcasing the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop puppets, which can be found here.
In Las Vegas, Universal’s year-round horror haven is now officially open with houses that feature The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Universal Monsters, The Exorcist: Believer, and HHN West’s fan-favorite Scarecrow. The Sin City attraction, which io9 attended as a media guest, is the gem of AREA15 Zone 2; it aims to attract immersive-experience fans to a new side of the Strip that elevates experiential entertainment and dining.
Universal Horror Unleashed features spooky sips and eats in addition to live acts, including HHN East’s icons Jack the Clown and Chance—who perfectly suit the chaotic clownery of Vegas.
Many HHN fans will notice that neither Orlando nor Hollywood features a Universal Monsters house this year and that’s because of Universal Horror Unleashed. And when we say it’s the best one yet, we mean it mostly because it finally debuts the Creature From the Black Lagoon as part of the action.
There’s a whole under-the-sea sequence where you wade past seaweed to come face-to-face with the creature that is swimmingly well executed. On top of that you’ll encounter Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride, the Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy—along with the Gill-man—in an all-out mash that you’ll want to go through over and over again. For ticket information visit here.
While we haven’t yet visited HHN Orlando, the fun officially kicks off this weekend with the annual event’s opening. To celebrate, Art the Clown from Terrifier has taken over the social media account to show he’s taken Jack’s place as the resident clown at Universal Studios in Florida.
And of course, if you’re hoping to see the Universal Monsters while you travel to the East Coast, you can make a day of it at Epic Universe with a visit to Darkmoor and Frankenstein Manor for Monsters Unchained—and then of course go scream your face off at HHN. There’s also no telling what monsters you’ll run into; there could be an Invisible Man or a wild Ygor looking for the Frankenstein creations.
Take a look inside the Five Nights at Freddy’s house at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. It looks like a real Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location right out of the mind of game creator Scott Cawthon and Emma Tammi’s cinematic adaptation.
io9 was invited to a behind-the-scenes walkthrough of the Hollywood attraction based on the video game and Blumhouse film franchise, opening at HHN ahead of December’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. Creative director John Murdy took us through to highlight the incredible work done between Horror Nights, Cawthon, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
The latter provided incredible puppets to bring the iconic FNAF characters to haunting life, powered by Universal’s own team of animatronic engineers. “Going back to our Chucky house, we have a group that works for our tech services department that are young mechanical engineers—they just happen to all love Horror Nights and a few years ago they were coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, we’d love to work with you guys and try to do actual animatronics, which we’ve never done.’” Murdy shared. The Chucky animatronics in the HHN attraction inspired by the Syfy series featured pint-sized and giant versions of the terror titan killer doll.
Murdy continued, “We’ve gotten a lot more technologically advanced with the skillset of this particular group, so they built like 17 animated Chuckys that year we did Chucky, and then last year they built a lot of stuff for A Quiet Place. This year they’re doing the T-60 [from Fallout] for us and they’re also doing the hero Freddy Fazbear [as a] fully electronic character.”
He shared about getting to combine tech with the practical elements of their haunted houses, in particular FNAF, which has been a top-requested property for the event. “A lot of this is simply fan wish fulfillment. It’s like, OK, let’s go for it; let’s give them the houses they’ve been dying to get. And that kind of rolled through the whole development process. This house was developed a little differently than all our other houses up to this point. We always collaborate with our sister park in Orlando, but usually that collaboration is more along the lines of, ‘OK, what’s the main story we want to tell?’ [And] when we made our list of what we wanted from the movie based on the first movie to be in this house, there was nothing we didn’t do. We got every single thing on our list.”
The traditional haunt is, of course primarily scareactors in costumes, but for Five Nights at Freddy’s, the challenges posed really needed safer solutions for performers first and foremost. Reaching out to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which worked on the puppets used in the Blumhouse FNAF film and on Universal Fan Fest Nights, was the obvious course of action.
“The other big thing we knew early on was that in order to pull this off, we really needed to work with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. [They] had to build so many creatures and they had to learn how to do it for us,” Murdy explained. “It’s really different when you’re making a movie. You know, with Five Nights at Freddy’s, [there are] puppeted figures, and there are guys in suits [on a movie set]. Guys in suits are out of the question for us because you can do that in a movie for—typically when the cameras are rolling—it’s like a minute or two until they cut and then [the costume] comes off. The performer can go to their trailer and chill out. That’s not how it works in Halloween Horror Nights. Our performers need to be on set for roughly about 45 minutes and then they’re taking a 45-minute break, and then they’re back on set. So we needed to figure out the ergonomics behind all of this as well as the aesthetics, and so it was a big collaboration with Henson. We’ve been in meetings with them every week for well over a year.”
The set immersing park guests into the environment of a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza was also very important to the HHN teams and Murdy confirmed Hollywood and Orlando’s houses are virtually alike save for some small differences. Both teams worked hard to include as many Easter eggs from the film, such as kid’s art alluding to the yellow rabbit and the training video, which will play as guests enter a night of security guard watch.
Right off the bat you enter the restaurant parlor area with the stage, where the animatronics come to life with puppeteers supplemented by scareactors. “There’s a lot of puppets, but we wanted that human factor as well, like the classic jump scare that are kind of the bread and butter of haunted houses. So that’s where we’re using the ghost kids and we’re also using all of those guys who broke in and trashed the place,” Murdy said. Foxy is teased with eerie music as you venture throughout as if you’re Mike Schmidt (played by Josh Hutcherson in the movies) on a security shift.
As you go along, you’ll encounter not only Freddy but also come face to face with Chica with Carl the Cupcake, Bonnie, Foxy, and of course Yellow Bonnie. In order to really capture how these set-piece fights will be effective, Murdy described the mechanics of the scare with Freddy Fazbear.
“In the Chucky house, we created this character we called Mega Chucky. How that worked is there’s a track above the performer’s head and what’s called a traveler. The performer is kind of like strapped into this thing. The monitor for the performer to see is inside the figure itself, and then they’ve got shoes that connect to the feet of the character, so they’re actually able to kind of take a few steps.”
“So we did that for [Freddy] he’s right over here on a big traveler track, so he has the ability [to] come out from there [and] take steps [toward guests].”
You don’t have to be a FNAF diehard to enjoy the work that went into this house, but of course there’s plenty for the fandom, including a certain striped cup and foil ball on the security desk (IYKYK). The nostalgia was so real and Murdy revealed that scents will harken to the ’90s era of pizza arcade casinos so many of us grew up with.
“Like there’s something still lingering in this environment because it was a family entertainment center,” is how he described the aromatics of the house. “[A place] where they served a lot of pizza and a lot of popcorn and a lot of that kind of stuff. I think in the showroom, it’s more of a popcorn thing. The pizza’s [scent] in the kitchen, I believe.”
And of course the mood will be set throughout with the music from the franchise, with the iconic theme greeting you when you enter: “It’s particularly in the facade, and then the rest of it is all score music from the film.” As a Henson puppet fan, I’m stoked to see the characters in action and having attended HHN for decades, I can attest that the Five Nights at Freddy’s house takes things to a new level for theme park haunts.
The Five Nights at Freddy’s house will open the doors to Freddy Fazbear’s come September 4 at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. For ticket info visit here.
This year’s Halloween Horror Nights is shaping up to be all for the girls.
Universal Orlando recently revealed the 10th and final house theme — Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines, which features an all-female monster cast.
In the all-new, original storyline, guests will join Saskia Van Helsing, daughter of famed hunter Abraham Van Helsing, as she faces off against Dracula’s daughter, Countess Marya, who wants revenge for her father’s killing. The character inspired by 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter then teams up with the She-Wolf (1946’s She-Wolf of London) and Princess Anck-Su-Namnu (1932’s The Mummy) to destroy the Van Helsing bloodline.
Surprise, surprise, Saskia has an unlikely alliance as well — with the Bride of Frankenstein. Guests become the innocent, terrified bystanders in this epic, deadly battle between hunters and monsters.
Universal also announced this house will get an original score composed by Emmy-nominated composer Sara Barone (Planet Earth III, Silver and the Book of Dreams).
Besides Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines, this year’s HHN also has two scare zones filled with demon queens and monstrous females. The Duality of Fear zone contains the physical manifestations of visceral horror and unearthly terror — SINIST3R and SURR3AL. These two creepy ladies welcome you at the front gates, where you to choose a path of fear to follow.
The Demon Queens scare zone is the realm of four ruthless queens and their fanatical followers who are all loyal to SURR3AL. With one more scare zone theme to announce, it will likely feature followers of SINIST3R.
It’s a battle of Halloween season announcements with Universal Studios—plus, summer conventions are heating up with San Diego Comic-Con, D23 Expo, and Midsummer Scream.
Peak vacation season is in full swing at Disney Parks and Universal Studios, where the latest attractions are drawing in major crowds. Whether you’re keeping cool on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or taking in the cinematic sights of Universal Pictures’ Cinesational, there’s something to do for everyone as the time draws nearer for spooky season.
Long before Halloween arrives, however, major conventions like San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Disney’s D23 Expo, and Midsummer Scream will be gathering genre fans en masse. Find out more in this week’s theme park news and fan-tastical destinations update.
Haunted House Announcement: Insidious: The Further Don’t get trapped in The Further as terrifying demons try to ensnare you. Enter the Red-Faced Demon’s lair behind The Red Door. And try to keep away from KeyFace, so he can’t lock up your spirit. All tickets are now on sale, link in bio for more details. #HHN#HHN33
Get ready to tip-toe through the tulips once more! The latest Halloween Horror Nights house theme announced for Universal Studios Hollywood (opening September 5) and Universal Studios Florida (opening August 30) is James Wan’s Insidious franchise. For more info and tickets visit here.
Six Flags Fright Fest 2024
The reaction from the haunt community has been a resounding “hell yes!” for this year’s Fright Fest at Six Flags across North America. This year’s event will feature major IP in mazes including WB’s Conjuring Universe, Netflix’s Stranger Things, and more! For more info on which mazes will be featured at your nearest Six Flags location, visit here.
Walt Disney World Country Bears Jamboree
At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the Country Bears Jamboree has reopened with its new slate of songs. The iconic characters are now performing Disney classics sung by country’s best in the business today, including Mac McAnally, Allison Russell, Chris Thile, and Emily Ann Roberts. Read more about it here.
Beating SDCC to the punch by a day, D23 Expo unveiled its slate for this year’s event in Anaheim, CA. Here are some of the panels we’re super excited about outside of the Honda Center’s major events, which will be Friday’s Disney Entertainment showcase and Saturday’s Disney Experiences showcase—where we’ll see the future of all the studio projects and theme park plans from under the Disney banner be teased including major Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney Animation news!
30 Years of Toy Story Celebrate 30 Years of Toy Story with filmmakers and Pixar Legends as they reflect on the making of the groundbreaking classic nearly 30 years ago and share never-before-heard anecdotes about how the historic film came to be.
Exploring New Parts of the Mind: Behind the Design of Inside Out 2 + a Dreamy Surprise! Join Inside Out 2 production designer Jason Deamer as he gives an in-depth look at designing the new emotions joining Headquarters as Riley enters teenagehood. And stick around for a special dreamy sneak peek of an upcoming Pixar series!
Jolly Holiday: A D23 Musical Celebration of Richard M. Sherman From Mary Poppins to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, a heartwarming and joyous musical tribute to our beloved Disney songwriting legend Richard M. Sherman—with unbelievable performances and delightful surprise appearances by some of the people who knew and admired him best.
Marvel Animation Sneak Peek See what’s coming next to Disney+ from Marvel Animation, with special guests and first looks at hotly anticipated series including Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Eyes of Wakanda, future seasons of What If…?, X-Men ’97, and more!
MARVEL COMICS: Celebrating 50 Years of Wolverine Look back at 50 years of Wolverine with Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski and writer Jason Aaron as they dive into the legacy of Marvel’s most popular mutant (and what’s next!). PLUS: an exclusive giveaway while supplies last, and a sneak peek at what’s in store for Marvel’s 85th anniversary!
Making A Goofy Movie: The Road to Lake Destiny The creatives behind the A Goofy Movie phenomenon reunite, reminisce, and share clips from a new documentary about the incredible origin story of this beloved cult classic.
Bringing the Worlds of Disney Animation to Life in Disney Parks Team members from Walt Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney Animation Studios discuss bringing the worlds of Disney Animation to life in Disney Parks around the world, including such projects as World of Frozen (Hong Kong Disneyland), Zootopia (Shanghai Disneyland), Fantasy Springs (Tokyo DisneySea), and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (Magic Kingdom and Disneyland).
The Muppets 70: A Glamorous Miss Piggy Retrospective Join Walt Disney Archives director Becky Cline and the Muppets producer Dani Iglesias for a fabulous look back on the past 70 years of the Muppets, but mostly Miss Piggy! We will dive into the vaults to uncover nostalgic artifacts along with how we preserve this collection today!
For the full lineup of show floor pavilions that fans can experience at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event from August 9-11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, visit ultimatefanevent.d23.com.
SDCC 2024 has begun to reveal its schedule for the convention happening in San Diego this month, including a panel celebrating Interview With the Vampire and AMC’s Immortal Universe. The full slate of events will be revealed this weekend.
Another big Southern California fan gathering, Halloween and horror convention Midsummer Scream, will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center July 26-28.
Here’s what you can expect:
Over a dozen haunted attractions, including the Gears of Fear maze, a torturous immersive experience packed with scenes from iconic Lionsgate films.
Presentations from SoCal’s biggest Halloween attractions offering a preview of the scares coming this spooky season. (We’re most excited to find out more about Fright Fest)
Celebrity appearances from Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the casts of “Black Phone,” “Monster High,” and more.
Starting Friday, August 2, Disney fans and families can dive into Disney’s The Little Mermaid X CAMP in Los Angeles, a new musical and immersive experience inspired by Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Here are some details of activities that will be part of the experience:
Sing and dance to their favorite songs from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, including “Under The Sea,” “Part of Your World,” “Kiss The Girl,” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls”
Explore King Triton’s Palace, controlling the seas from his throne
Discover Ariel’s Grotto and embark on a scavenger hunt for gadgets and gizmos aplenty
Climb through an abandoned shipwreck through cargo net tunnels and unlock treasure chests
Watch a magic show in Ursula’s lair
Shop exclusive Disney’s The Little MermaidX CAMP apparel and accessories
Disney’s The Little Mermaid X CAMP is a limited time offering at CAMP’s West Coast Flagship location at Westfield Century City. Tickets start at $34 per person and are available here.
Willy’s Candy Spectacular Premiere
Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody of the infamous “immersive” Willy Wonka pop-up disaster has set its director for its Edinburgh Fringe run. The musical will be helmed by filmmaker and theatrical director Andy Fickman, known for cult fave Heathers: The Musical and movies like She’s the Man and The Game Plan.
“I can’t stress enough what a thrill it was when the brilliant Richard Kraft asked me to direct Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody. Aside from just loving candy, I fell in love with these songs—written by some of the best in the business,” Fickman said in a press release. “On a personal note, one of my first jobs in Hollywood was Director of Development for Gene Wilder, the original Willy Wonka, so this opportunity feels like a very sweet return home.” The show runs August 9-26.
Tickets for the Edinburgh Fringe run are now available here.
Meow Wolf Las Vegas
A new immersive side quest is coming to Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart in Las Vegas, as teased above!
MAYOR’S VETERANS ADVISORY COUNCIL. ALL RIGHT. EVERY DAY THIS WEEK, UNIVERSAL HAS BEEN ANNOUNCING NEW HAUNTED HOUSES FOR THIS YEAR’S HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS. AND TODAY WE ARE SHOWING YOU MONSTROUS THE MONSTERS OF LATIN AMERICA. YOU’LL MEET THREE TERRIFYING LEGENDS OF MEXICO, COLOMBIA, AND VENEZUELA. UNIVERSAL. STILL HAS PLENTY MORE HOUSES LEFT TO UNVEIL, SO STICK WITH US AS WE BRING YOU ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS AS SOON AS THEY HAPPEN. HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS RUNS AUGUST 30TH
Universal Orlando unveils 5th house coming to Halloween Horror Nights this year
Updated: 2:20 PM EDT May 23, 2024
Universal Orlando has just unveiled another house that will be ready to haunt guests during the 2024 Halloween Horror Nights season. Joining the list of four other announced houses is “Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America,” where Universal said guests will encounter three terrifying legends. “With La Muerte as your guide, you’ll be begging for piedad from these three terrifying legends: Tlahuelpuchi, La Lechuza and El Silbón,” the park said online. This year, Halloween Horror Nights will start earlier than ever and feature 10 haunted houses and five scare zones.Universal has already announced five of its 10 houses, which also include “Major Sweets Candy Factory,” “Goblin’s Feast Tavern,” “The Museum: Deadly Exhibit,” and “Slaughterhouse Sinema 2.”To read more about the other houses announced, click here. Halloween Horror Nights runs from Aug. 30 to Nov. 3
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Universal Orlando has just unveiled another house that will be ready to haunt guests during the 2024 Halloween Horror Nights season.
Joining the list of three other announced houses is “Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America,” where Universal said guests will encounter three terrifying legends.
“With La Muerte as your guide, you’ll be begging for piedad from these three terrifying legends: Tlahuelpuchi, La Lechuza and El Silbón,” the park said online.
This year, Halloween Horror Nights will start earlier than ever and feature 10 haunted houses and five scare zones.
Universal has already announced four of its 10 houses, which also include “Major Sweets Candy Factory,” “Goblin’s Feast Tavern,” and “Slaughterhouse Sinema 2.”
To read more about the other houses announced, click here.
Halloween Horror Nights runs from Aug. 30 to Nov. 3
