Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Dateline Universal Orlando! We attended opening night for Halloween Horror Nights 26 and we can’t wait to tell you all about it. We have some photography from the event as well as film from two of the houses. But, we don’t want to spoil everything, so we won’t be showing content from everything. As well, please be warned that the material is slightly more graphic than a normal Dateline update, so proceed with caution! But you can handle it, can’t you folks?!
Next up, we have video of the Walking Dead house. This house was our least favorite last year, but was a nice surprise this year, with a great finale scene!
After this, we entered the Ghost Town house. They referred to this as a “re-quel” of a house they did back in 2004. It wasn’t terribly scary, but it had a lot of cool details and felt really big. There were also some neat water effects that simulated a rainstorm indoors.
After this, we watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure, which was hilarious as always. But of course, no photo or video allowed.
We next went to Lunatic’s Playground 3D, which is the Chance themed house. This was sadly our least favorite house this year, as it borrowed many of the effects from last year’s Alice in Wonderland 3D house.
Overall, this year’s event was fantastic. The theme might not have been as strong across the park as last year, but it would be difficult to top Jack the Clown and the 25th anniversary of the event. That said, I think the houses were stronger this year, and the event will only get better night by night. Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights now through Halloween, and we can’t wait to return. It’s just that good.
Nightmares come to life in nine disturbingly-real haunted houses based on some of the most terrifying legends in pop culture. Guests will:
Become the next doomed residents of Murder House, tortured performers in the disturbing and twisted Freak Show, and victims of the otherworldly, death-dealing Hotel from FX’s groundbreaking anthology “American Horror Story”
Desperately try to escape Leatherface’s lethal chain saw in “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”
See, hear, feel – and even smell – every iconic levitating, head-spinning, vomit-wrenching, skin-crawling moment from “The Exorcist”
Fight to survive the return of masked killer Michael Myers in “Halloween II”
Fend off packs of flesh-hungry walkers in instantly-recognizable scenes from Seasons 1 through 6 of AMC’s “The Walking Dead”
Encounter the evil ancient spirit of the dark shadow of Saint Nicholas in “Krampus”
Step inside the twisted minds behind the nation’s best Halloween event in three haunted houses based on original stories – Lunatics Playground 3D: You Won’t Stand A Chance, Ghost Town: The Curse of Lightning Gulch, and Tomb of the Ancients.
And there’s even more horror lurking in the streets of Universal Studios Florida, with five unique scare zones and two live stage shows.
Beginning Sept. 29, guests can witness a whole new generation of psychological horror with a brand-new, cutting-edge entertainment experience – The Repository. A blend of custom virtual reality technology, real-life characters, incredible immersive storytelling and intensely-themed environments, this exclusive experience will terrify, thrill and amaze like never before. This highly interactive horror experience can be purchased for $49.99 plus tax, per person, by calling 407-224-7840. Halloween Horror Nights admission is also required.
For 31 select nights through Oct. 31, guests can experience theme park thrills by day and become victims of their own horror film by night at Halloween Horror Nights. For more information, visit www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Orlando.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
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