HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS
CHRIS HARDER
09/15/2026
Woods of Terror HHN Trip Log 2026…. As our team navigates the Highways to Bliss in the sun, we prep ourselves for 2 nights at the Halloween Event of the Century. Sorry not Sorry Disney Adults, but Universal is the way. This year Halloween Horror Nights celebrates its 35th season of operations, even though it started off as Fright nights back in the 90’s, HHN is the mecca for the masses for Halloween and Horror lovers. Yes, as Tradition of the event it rained both nights and not once did it ruin any of the event for us. Just a reminder that when going to HHN it is in a theme park with a massive budget; you cannot compare it to your local haunt, that is comparing apples to oranges, and I will die on this hill.
Now that we have that out of the way let’s talk HHN 35. The Antica………pation for this year was through the roof when each house got announced. From 5 amazing IP (Intellectual Properties) to the 5 Universal Original Content houses, this is looking like a stellar year. For your 5 IP houses we have Sinners, Stranger Things season 5, Evil Dead Burn, Hellraiser, and Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. For the 5 OC houses they created Invasion: Alien Abduction, Cybergoria, MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals, H.R. Bloodengutz, The Icon House this year Featuring Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control. The Scarezones this year are Infernal Carnival of Nightmares, Downtown Clowntown, Sideshow of Decay and Fortnitemares. They have 2 street Experiences with Mel’s Die-in Zombies and Club Horror. The 2 shows on the docket this year is an all-new story with Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir and the Lagoon Show Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins. HHN does have themed food booths to the attractions and event as well as plenty of bars selling that delicious Phantom Punch for you 21and up crowd.
During our Premium Scream night (this is a limited ticketed event) Food and regular drinks are included in the price, though Alcoholic beverages will still cost. The wait time for the houses are extremely low, which is part of the reason we go this night. Our longest wait was about 10 to 15 minutes and part of that was just walking in the line to get to the house. Just to give you an insight into the second night we went, when we toured with TJ Mannarino, the VP of Art & Design, Entertainment Division, the wait times on opening night were a lot higher in time frame from 90 minutes to 160 minutes. They do have Express Passes, which is a ticket add on which sells out quickly.
This year’s review of the event I am going to go through the houses as my top 10 list. This year is the hardest year to even make a top 10 since all the houses are on a whole other level than last year. Let’s start with number 10: sitting in soundstage 23B is Stranger Things 5, Join the Hawkins gang for one last adventure. Try to survive an army of Demogorgons, face the Mind Flayer and defeat Vecna once and for all. This house has some of the top scenes from the show this year and even though a lot of fans did not like the ending, you could see the ending from a mile away from the first time they talk about not getting a
happy ending the shows final season I enjoyed as it was perfectly made. The reason this house is in the number 10 spot was strictly on my run through the house and all 3 times I went through it where I was in my group, the acting did not feel like the actors had the emotions from the season in the house. The Sets are massive and you must look up and see all the sights as they immerse you into Season 5. Since we are on Stranger Things let’s talk about the Lagoon show. This is a must-see show. This is the recap of all the seasons great scenes put to a great soundtrack that is stranger things. The best place to watch this show is from the grass area next to the VIP tour area. The team that created this show outdid themselves. Make sure you keep an eye on the showtimes as you do not want to miss the beginning which starts off with the broadcast from the radio station in season 5, make sure you have your dancing shoes ready.
Number 9 goes to the Greys in the Invasion: Alien Abduction House in Sprung Tent 1, Make contact with horrors from worlds unknown in this haunted house, where a ship full of Grays have torn apart a remote homestead in search of fresh test subjects. While talking to TJ about this house they were already doing some costume changes to make the Aliens look better. Again, we are only in week one when going through these houses and Universal is in its make adjustments to the shows time. My runs through this house were a lot of fun seeing the different sizes of greys they had. I would like to have seen more interactions between the greys and townsfolk. The main reason this house is in the number 9 spot is due to the greys doing the same hand swipe. Kudos to the team using area of the house to its advantage though I won’t give it away on what they did, but it gets guest every time.
For Number 8 it’s a trip to Soundstage 23A with Evil Dead Burn: An infernal force has taken hold of a family home, and it’s hungry for its next victim. Dodge Deadites hell-bent on bloodshed. I have always enjoyed the movies for Evil Dead, so I was excited to see their take on this movie. The Team did not disappoint at all. Just the first scene with the head animatronic was a great scene setter for the house. The house gets a bit warmer the further you go through. The demon dog was great to see in multiple scenes in different formats. Experiencing the different scenes from the movie with the actors portraying the characters was great to see their enthusiasm and demonic demeanor.
In Sprung Tent 3 we go to Darkest Deal…. I mean Sinners in the Number 7: Head to Club Juke as the Smokestack Twins fend off bloodthirsty vampires. When walking up to this sprung tent you see the massive banner for Sinners and a couple of boxes that you can hear the soundtrack playing through. Seems like some years these sprung tents have façades built others times it’s a banner with the logo of the house to me I will always enjoy seeing façades then just a poster. Being able to see club juke and the smokestack twins HHN typecasted these roles to the point I thought the real actor was there or his body double.
The interaction with the cast was very blissful and I never got a bad run through this house. I really enjoyed the soundtrack of this movie, and it is apparent in this house they used it to make you feel like you were in club juke ready to just enjoy the night out. The Remick’s in this house was fun to see the progression in the story line of this house. The woods section was truly my favorite part the high energy of these vampires was great to see.
Back to the Soundstages we go in this journey of my top 10 houses, we take that Crazy train to Soundstage 24A. Number 6 is Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness: You’re in Ozzy’s world now. Bow at the throne of the Prince of Darkness in this haunted house inspired by the twisted mind of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest legends. I know from seeing a lot of top 10 list this house is higher up on a lot of them but for me and my runs through the house this is where it lands on my list. This house with the music I grew up listening to, to just seeing the characters from the wolfs to just Ozzy himself it was a great tribute house to a great musical artist of our time. Walking onto the Crazy train was really a fun time as I do believe the train scene was from hatchet and chains house last year just updated for Ozzy. The ending if you are not looking up might miss seeing Ozzy in his black wings falling right to you was pure bliss seeing this in person.
As we walk the long walk in the soundstage area we come across to the Icons of this event Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow Soundstage 22. The lore of the HHN Original content houses is bar none the best in the haunt business. They are pure story tellers and have always found a fun way to give the fans some amazing characters to enjoy seeing each year. Number 5 is the Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control: Witness Jack the Clown’s unholy origins, then enter Dr. Oddfellow’s wickedly twisted universe where two of the most powerful forces in horror face off in a deathmatch of chaos versus control... HHN stepped up their game with this house. Just some highlights I enjoyed were the seeing origins and the story that we only got a small glance during his house in 2023. When you step into the chaotic realm of the Oddverse where jack has been shoved into with all the mangling of his body, this house is more chaos than control. The actors get this house rocking in so many ways. Finally seeing Shadybrook asylum turned into Jacks’ chaos area was the cherry on top to this house. The Ending and the joining of forces was the best way to bring you to the continuation of Jack and Oddfellow.
Back to the Sprung Tents we go and land right in a once quiet little town in Sprung Tent 2 with H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular: On a dark and stormy Halloween night, your favorite maître d’macabre returns to WKNB with a special scare-athon! Tune into a curated selection of H.R. Bloodengutz’ Halloween favorites in this haunted house complete with ghouls, gore and all the frights that keep you coming back for more. I enjoy the Anthology houses HHN puts on cause there are times that you end up
getting full versions of houses out of one of the movies or shows they create in these types of houses. This is what is the comedy house for this year and it does not let you down. Seeing the original H.R. reprise his roles in the tapings of the different movies before each scene was amazing. Also there is a little WOTfx Roscoe in the Pumpkin lord scene and as always all hail the Pumpkin lord. This house just screams old school Halloween vibes.
The top 3 houses for this year for me changed each time I had my run through them. So we hit the next spot Number 3 and head back to a very dark and no animals alive post-apocalyptic Soundstage 24B with Madlands: Caged Cannibals: A defunct zoo is now the deadly domain of warring cannibal factions that have taken their animal instincts to extremes. They’re territorial. They’re hungry. And you’re lunch. This brings me back to those Legendary Truth years (HHN20, 22&23, 30) of the Factions that were created then like the Cerebins (Beasts) and Baccanoids (Warriors). I joined the Baccanoids back then as their symbol was the Dragon and The Caretaker was in that faction, so it made a lot of sense. Seeing these new Factions and their symbols plastered everywhere brought me back to those HHN years. If you catch the front façade, you can see jack the clown graffitied on the door. This house is chaotic in every scene. The addition of the UV to some of the costumes and using a UV strobe to add an effect you are not expecting was a nice touch. Enjoy the poo smell that is pushed in a section of the house. You really have to keep your head on a swivel cause the actors have multiple scare spots to get you from.
Number 2………..buffering……. initiating sequence……. Loading Cybergoria….. Location Fast & Furious Area…… Awaken thousands of years in the future in this haunted house and brave a cold world driven by machines with a singular goal: to make you live forever, even if it kills you. From Premium scream night run of this house twice and it would be maybe 4th on my list but when my run of the house during opening night there were more Cyborgs than the other night and Wow it was relentless. The only spot you get to breathe is the section that goes outside from the fast and furious building to the tent section that 2 second transition you breathe and then another onslaught of cyborgs attack and attack and attack again from all different spots. You still even get your story as you go through the house.
We end our trip to the last location deep in the Labyrinth of Hell of Sprung Tent 4 Hellraiser: Enter a realm of eternal suffering where Pinhead and his Cenobites derive their immense pleasure in this haunted house based on the original Hellraiser trilogy. This house is Hellraiser in full. From seeing the Cenobites to Pinhead and a lot of the scenes from the first 3 films. Being able to walk right into the cube that is partly pulled apart by the chains was a nice touch to have inside the tent and not the outside. The team of Creators used this
space like I never thought they would. It is not a short house at all like I had heard from Team member preview night. With all the special effects and the costuming, it was like seeing the movie in real life. Deep Throat (Female Cenobite) these characters did a fantastic job with how they worked their areas. Gotta love seeing Chatterer and that sound bite of his chattering teeth really worked out perfectly. The imagery of the lighting through the walls and the areas that they gave the characters numerous spots to scare from even in different levels made it a nice touch. I walked out of here all 3 times wanting the house to not end.
Scarezones and Street Experiences brought some nostalgia back from old HHN icon years and this year there were so many different varieties of clowns. I will get this out of the way first I have never been a fan of the video game Fortnite. It’s not my thing but going through this scarezone it was a lot of fun seeing some amazing costumes from the pumpkin guy to the faced wrapped guy. The atmosphere was a lot of fun, and I like the lighting of the trees with the strip lights that made it seem like there was a storm brewing. Downtown Clowntown was a huge area of clowns of all types from Art the Clown to Killer Klowns from Outer space, Jack, Chance and Jack’s Brother Eddie put on a nice show on the stage in this area. There is so much to see and a few areas that you can trigger stuff by hitting the guest triggers at the games and the cotton candy cocoons. As you even enter the event there is the Scarezone Infernal Carnival of Nightmares. Jack and Oddfellow start the night here unless it is storming. Jack and Oddfellow come out with some actors from the different scarezones with the addition of the usher on stilts and some usherettes as well. My favorite scarezone is the Sideshow of Decay were Cindy (who was supposed to be the Icon in the year I first ever went to HHN in 2002) gets her year to shine as Oddfellow gives her some of that Oddfellow magic to bring back some of the HHN original characters from years past. Cindy and her father the Caretaker are planted in the middle of the scare zone in great view to cast her light and bring out what seems to be different characters each night. Right after that scarezone you can’t miss the old 50’s style zombies at Mel’s Die-in. Club Horror is back for another year pushing the high intensity music over in the San Francisco Area. As always enjoy the Chainsaw horde over in Springfield led by the Ringmistress top notch the whole horde is.
Nightmare Fuel is back with a whole new show called Blood Noir: Embark on a dark musical journey and resist temptation as death-defying stunts lure you deeper into a vampire-ridden metropolis. This is a much watch show the new story does bring in a whole new look and feel to Nightmare Fuel. It’s a great way to take a load of and sit down for a bit. Just the music alone is perfect and so enjoyable. With the new additions to the show really makes this a fun show.
There is one more Premium Scream night left to go to and if you have tickets then make sure to hit those food booths cause all I can say is it’s great this year. The Death by cheese stick will always be on the list to get. There are so many food booths everywhere, it seems like they added as many food options as they could.
Overall, this event is a never-miss event. If you haven’t ever gone I would say go on a premium scream night cause the food and drinks are included and makes it a much easier night to get in all the houses more than once and still have time to ride some rides. Again, the Haunters (I hate the label Scare actor) in all these houses, scarezones, and street experiences did a phenomenal job. Thank you again to TJ Mannarino for touring our group through the crazy Opening night, being able to talk haunt shop and learn how things run at HHN. I hope you enjoyed this walk through my top ten this year, until next time Ill see you the fog
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