SOOOOOOO once again it’s time for Universal Studios Halloween Horror nights for 2013! And once again I’m late with the news, they go so well together don’t you think?
Now in it’s 23rd year, Halloween horror nights starts this weekend, Thursday, and goes until Nov. 2nd. For almost all weeks it takes place each Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It starts each night at 6:30 PM and goes until midnight or 2 AM, depending on the date. This event takes place in the Universal Orlando theme park, NOT Islands of Adventure.
Halloween horror nights is a special event, which means you have to buy a separate ticket to see it. Guest that had been in the park during the day must leave by 6 PM.
This event is a very mature, very scary type of Halloween event. It is NOT for little kids. They serve plenty of alcohol during the event. So combine your Goth, Halloween loving types with lots of drunk people and the results can get pretty nasty.
That’s not to say most of the folks are not nice, they are. But don’t be surprised to see folks puking up beer and ladies running around with not much on (ok maybe that’s not so bad). 😀
You are NOT allowed to wear any type of Halloween costume. That’s so guest are not confused with the real Universal Studios actors who will be dressed up as real bad-ass zombies and ghouls.
Most rides will be open for you to enjoy. There will be three shows you can catch if you want, however personally the past few times they were not that great.
The main attraction of Halloween Horror nights is the haunted houses. They are spread out throughout the park, often inside the sound stages buildings. This year there are 8 of them. They are:
The Walking Dead
Resident Evil
Evil Dead
Cabin in the Woods
An American Werewolf in London
La Llorona
Havoc
After Life
Each house is set up inside to be a bit like a maze. You basically get herded through a twisting, narrow hallway where you come across a creepy scene around each corner. Often surprised by actors in costumes lunging at you in the dark.
They also tend to use lots of flashing strobe lights so your not sure what is going on around you, or how close you are to things. Each house of course will show scenes and creatures based on the name of the house.
Now I must give a little rant here. Back in the old days (oh no) when they first started Halloween horror nights, they did it much better. They made detailed, full scenes you could spend some time looking at without getting rushed through each house.
But as the event got more popular they found out they had to push more people faster through each house. Otherwise the wait would be 4 hours or more for each one. As it is now you still often have to wait for 2 hours per house.
Sooooo, they started to make each house like a maze so they could push people through faster. Your not allowed to stop, they keep you going with all the flashing lights and zombies popping out everywhere.
The result IMO is less of an attraction than it use to be. Once you’ve gone through two houses that pretty much is what your going to find with all the others; just a frantic race through a maze of lights and lunging actors.
It quickly stops being scary and just gets tiring. That’s MY personal take on it, and I’ve seen a dozen years of Halloween horror nights. But I suppose if your drunk with a dozen of your friends you’ll have a great time anyways. 😀
Outside between each house you will encounter roaming zombies, witches, ghost and other things. They will not touch you but will get very close to you and try to scare you, especially if your a pretty young girl.
This event does sell out, so you should get your tickets for the night you want to go early. Go to the Halloween horror nights website to find out much more and get your tickets. Me, I’m not going this year, it’s just not worth the hassle for me. 
