Halloween Horror Nights 2021 experience

Halloween Horror Nights is an annual event held by Universal Studios starting in September and runs through the end of October. With one of several nationwide locations located in Orlando, it is a common experience for Florida college students to visit the theme park for the Halloween season. This year HHN is celebrating its 30th anniversary, with the slogan, “Never go alone.” 

While this was my first time going to HHN, I do consider myself a horror fanatic and aptly qualified to review the experience. I attended HHN with two close friends of mine, one of whom handles haunted houses and horror fairly adequately, but the other made it apparent how easily haunted houses scare them. Our group was well set to give an all-around view on the HHN experience. 

Once entering the official park for HHN, guests are funneled through the scare zone 30 years 30 fears, which was not particularly scary but a good area to get visitors ready for the upcoming horror. There were also people on stilts in this area, which is always impressive, especially while trying to avoid a plethora of incoming guests. 

I decided to start the night off a little easy for the sake of my friends, and we visited our first house, The Bride of Frankenstein Lives. I left that house mostly laughing. There was maybe one scare that got me, but the scenery in the house was the most impressive. Next, we visited the house I was most excited about, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This house, based on the notorious movie series of the same name, was decently scary. It was cool to see Leatherface in person, but honestly nothing special. While walking through the house there were numerous employees playing the same character, which is supposed to give the illusion that Leatherface was chasing you, but it was not executed the greatest, often taking out the immersion. Nonetheless, I left with a smile on my face. 

After the two houses we decided to walk around the park a little and visit some of the themed food and drink stands, but before that we had to walk through another scare zone called Seek and Destroy. This zone featured characters with weapons and chainsaws, a personal fear of one of my friends. We ended up quickly moving through this area to catch up with our friend running in fear.  

From the themed stand I got some sort of orange alcoholic drink with allspice in a souvenir cup, which I had to buy. It was made of  sturdy plastic that lit up, but the drink itself was unfortunately not only weak but also unmemorable.  

After which, we took a long walk to the Beetlejuice house, as it was the last must hit of the night and we were clearly getting tired. I did not expect the house to be scary because of the subject matter, and I was right, but this house had by far the best interior. If you are a big fan of the movie or musical, the house is definitely worth it because of all the amazingly decorated references. 

My friends and I decided to go to one of the shows as we were of tired of waiting in lines. As such, we picked up an oversized turkey leg and headed to the stadium. The show, called Halloween Nightmare Fuel, was unexpectedly by far the best part of the night. The show featured fire, pyrotechnics and aerial performers and was beyond engrossing. It was also unexpectedly a little mature, so I would not recommend it for any young children. 

We finished off the night at the house Revenge of the Tooth Fairy, and just like the previous show, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this one. This house legitimately scared me multiple times. I was not expected to be scared that much either way, but this house really got to me. Not to mention that we went right in with almost no wait. 

I did not end of hitting all the houses or the zones, including the relatively popular Haunting of Hill House, but nevertheless I had a fantastic time. I would recommend the experience to anyone who has never gone before, but if you have, then honestly it is up to your interest in these types of things. At the price point of $83 per person, it is much higher than most Halloween activities, but debatably worth it.