Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights 35

Last year, we went to HHN on a whim and barely scratched the surface. This year, we gave ourselves one goal: do it ALL.

During our 2025 Agency Trip in Orlando, Becky convinced me to go to Halloween Horror Nights. I was NOT a certified Horror Girly. I liked zombies, apocalyptic stories, and psychological thrillers, so it’s not like I was completely averse to scary things. But I had no idea how I’d handle the jump scares.

I don’t even like that butterfly-whoosh feeling you get on a drop ride, so I was nervous that being startled would give me that same feeling. And, honestly, it did a little. But what I also discovered was that every time I screamed, I also giggled.

And who doesn’t love to laugh?

I was hooked.

Our first HHN experience was definitely not what you would call strategically planned.

We showed up late and quickly discovered that standby waits were going to eat up most of our night. That ended up being great for us, though! Becky and I had only met that week at the agency conference, so those long waits gave us plenty of time to get to know each other. Now, we get to call HHN our Friendiversary.

We did manage to squeeze in a few experiences. I tried my first HHN festival food and another agent we were with, Amanda, convinced us that we absolutely needed to see the Nightmare Fuel show. Neither of us really understood what the hype was about, and honestly, we weren’t even sure we wanted to give up the time. We’re so glad Amanda talked us into it though, because the show was incredible!

By the time it let out, the event was closing, and on paper we hadn’t accomplished much.

Two haunted houses.
One show.
One festival food item.

But we had walked through every scare zone, been chased by scare actors with chainsaws, watched mini shows happening throughout the zones, and been jump-scared so many times that our throats were sore from what we now affectionately call scream-giggling.

And somewhere between all the screaming and laughing, we knew we had to come back. We needed more time, a better strategy, and, next year, we were going to do HHN right.

This Year, We Came Prepared

After our first HHN experience, we knew we needed more time and a better strategy. We bought Scream Early tickets, which allowed us to enter the event at 2:00 PM, and Express Passes so we could spend less time waiting in line and more time experiencing it all. Our goal was simple: do every haunted house, see both shows, walk through every scare zone, and eat as much of the festival food as we could manage.

But we didn’t stop at the logistics. We wanted to really immerse ourselves in HHN this time, so we did our homework. We listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos, and dove into the backstories and lore behind the original houses and festival icons like Jack & Oddfellow. Basically, if there was something we could learn before walking through the gates, we wanted to know it.

We also came prepared to dress the part! Last year, we threw festival shirts over our leggings and called it a day. This year, we went all in with a vampire-inspired look for Sinners, complete with fake blood, bat tights, themed shirts, and temporary tattoos listing every house so we could check them off as we went. And, of course, glitter, because there should always be glitter.

We weren’t just going to Halloween Horror Nights this year. We were going to crush Halloween Horror Nights.

So… how did our carefully planned night actually go?

Getting Ready at Sapphire Falls

After checking out of our agency house, we headed over to Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, our home base for the night. We checked in, grabbed lunch, and spent some time enjoying the pool before heading upstairs to get ready for HHN.

Sapphire Falls was absolutely beautiful, and the spooky-season decorations made it feel especially fitting for our Halloween weekend. The weather was gorgeous, so spending a little time by the pool before a long night at HHN was the perfect way to slow down and recharge.

Of course, we probably spent a little too much time getting ready. Between hair, makeup, glitter, and a failed attempt at fake vampire teeth, we didn’t actually make it into HHN until a little after 3:00.

The upside? I’d heard the Scream Early wristband line can get pretty backed up before 2:00 as everyone tries to enter right at opening, so arriving later meant we completely skipped that initial rush and just walked right it.

And Sapphire Falls was the perfect place to stay for the night. The resort’s water taxi took us directly to the parks, which made getting to HHN incredibly easy. Even better, when we were finished with HHN late that night, we were able to hop right back on the boat and head straight to the resort.

One House at a Time

The scare zones and scare actors don’t come alive until the event officially begins, so after getting our wrist bands, we headed straight for our first house!

Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control was a fun way to kick things off, especially after all the research we’d done into their backstory. It was cool to finally see the lore we’d been learning about come to life, but the set design was what really stood out. The house had a true carnival feel, with tilted floors and moving walls that kept us feeling off-kilter while the scares came at us from every direction.

From there, we headed to Stranger Things 5, which was my second most anticipated house of the night, right behind Sinners. I’m a huge fan of the show, so I had pretty high expectations going in. Thankfully, it delivered. There were plenty of recognizable moments and characters including Dipshit…I mean Delightful Derek, and it felt like the house really captured the atmosphere of the final season. I just wish our express passes let us go more than one time, because this was definitely a house I would have happily done again!

Hellraiser was an interesting one for me because I’d done my homework and watched the first two movies. I didn’t love the movies and was mostly thinking, what the heck am I watching right now? But I could definitely see the potential for a great haunted house. They are extremely gory and bizarre, and the Cenobites are practically made for HHN. I certainly didn’t want Butterball coming near me!

Honestly, the house was great. All that gruesome imagery translated really well. It was a fun reminder that you don’t have to love the source material to love the house.

Then came Sinners, which was the house we’d built our entire outfits around and the one we’d both been looking forward to the most.

And… unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown.

I really wanted to love this one after loving the movie so much. It did incorporate a lot of the movie, but everything moved so quickly that it felt like if you blinked, you’d miss it. It was also very dark and felt surprisingly short, and I left wishing I had more time to take in each scene and feel immersed in the story.

I’ve since watched a few walkthroughs from media night, and I’m curious whether we were simply rushed through since we were one of the first groups of the night. I’ve also heard that the Sinners house at Universal Studios Hollywood is even better, so I suppose I’ll have to experience both next year and conduct some very important research.

H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular! was one of my favorite houses of the night. It wasn’t particularly scary, but it was so much fun. I love anything campy, and horror-comedy is one of my favorite genres, so this one was right up my alley. The whole house felt like a ridiculous, over-the-top Halloween show in the best possible way.

H.R. Bloodengutz is another example of the original characters and lore that make HHN more than just a collection of movie-based houses. He’s been part of the HHN universe for years, and longtime fans were excited to see him return.

And, to top it off, there was Dr. Pumpkinspyce, the mad scientist behind a monster fueled by spiced coffee. Because apparently, the HHN universe needed its own pumpkin spice origin story. And I’m here for it.

INVASION: Alien Abduction took a direction I really appreciated. It would have been easy to make an alien house campy or funny, but instead, they leaned into the idea of how terrifying an actual alien invasion would be.

We walked through a home where a family was being attacked by aliens and desperately trying to fight them off. This made the whole experience feel much more like a real-life horror story. I thought they did a really impressive job with the atmosphere and execution.

Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness was another house that surprised me. I’m not an Ozzy fan, although I do respect what he’s contributed to music. Crazy Train is about the only song of his I could confidently identify. Luckily, it made an appearance in the house, which was a lot of fun.

I also thought the overall tribute to Ozzy throughout the house was really well done, especially hearing him sing “I love you all” at the end. I wasn’t expecting this one to stand out for me, but it really did.

MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals had a pretty wild concept, and I really wanted to be into it. I understood the whole premise, but I just couldn’t quite get on board with humans dressed as rhinos and birds murdering other humans and, apparently… eating them? I don’t know. It was definitely weird, and maybe that’s exactly what some people loved about it, but it just wasn’t really my thing.

And, in its defense, I was also about eight hours into HHN at this point, so my ability to process anything more complicated than “run from the scary people” was rapidly disappearing.

Cybergoria had a concept that was a little easier for my very tired brain to follow: thousands of years in the future, machines are determined to make humans live forever, whether we like it or not. And honestly, considering the current state of AI, that felt… uncomfortably relevant.

I really liked the sensory elements in this house, especially the dramatic temperature changes. The freezing chamber was such a cool effect, and I always appreciate when a house uses things you can actually feel or smell to make the experience more immersive. By this point, I was running on fumes, but the sensory effects definitely kept this one interesting.

Evil Dead Burn was the one that got away. By the time we reached the final house, I was more than 20,000 steps into the night and my body had officially voted no. It was only 11:30, so we absolutely could have squeezed it in, and I still kind of regret not pushing through just so I could say we did all 10 houses.

I had meant to watch the movie before our trip, but I never quite found the time or the mood to do it. I’d seen Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, but I’d also heard that Evil Dead Burn had a very different, much less campy tone. After watching a walkthrough when I got home, I can definitely see that it’s creepy and legitimately scary, but I also think I would have been pretty lost without knowing the movie.

So, unfortunately, I will forever have to live with the fact that I came within one house of saying we did all 10.

Was One Night Enough?

After everything we managed to squeeze into our nine hours at Halloween Horror Nights, you might think we experienced just about everything the event had to offer.

The funny thing is… we didn’t.

I haven’t even gotten into the scare zones, the shows, or all of the food and drinks we tried (and didn’t get to try). And honestly, those deserve their own conversation.

So, was one night enough?

For us, no. We had an amazing night and experienced a ton. We could have gotten through all 10 houses, seen both shows, walked through all the scare zones, and squeezed in a few food and drink stops if we’d really pushed ourselves. But that doesn’t leave much time to slow down and actually enjoy what’s happening around you.

And that’s the part I want more of. I want to hang out in the scare zones. I want to watch the street entertainment instead of rushing to the next house. I want to see the shows more than once. I want to try more of the food. I want to stop and take it all in instead of constantly thinking about what’s next.

One night can absolutely give you an incredible Halloween Horror Nights experience. I just don’t think one night is enough for me anymore.

I’ll be sharing all of that in Part Two, including the scare zones, shows, food and drinks, plus the plan I’m already cooking up for next year’s HHN adventure.