Halloween Horror Nights 33 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[Brian G.]

So I plan on going the last night (may go the night before) but I don't think my opinion will change much.

This year's event was my least attended since moving to Orlando in 2016. There was nothing featured that drew me in like in past years. Everything was just... fine - and that's across the board.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

So I plan on going the last night (may go the night before) but I don't think my opinion will change much.

This year's event was my least attended since moving to Orlando in 2016. There was nothing featured that drew me in like in past years. Everything was just... fine - and that's across the board.

I agree - I regret purchasing UFF this year. I've been forcing myself to go to justify the purchase of the price.

 

[saint.piss]

For me it's the opposite. I've gone more times than I ever did last year and besides one house, I honestly love all of them. I'll be going Sunday as well.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I've been attending since 2016. This year isn't at the bottom, but it's certainly not in the top half either.

1. 2019
2. 2023
3. 2018
4. 2022
5. 2024
6. 2017
7. 2016

2024 and 2017 could flip back and forth depending on the day

 

[Lucky Planet]

I agree - I regret purchasing UFF this year. I've been forcing myself to go to justify the purchase of the price.

I've been attending since 2016. This year isn't at the bottom, but it's certainly not in the top half either.

1. 2019
2. 2023
3. 2018
4. 2022
5. 2024
6. 2017
7. 2016

2024 and 2017 could flip back and forth depending on the day

I thought about going but it's almost over and I never really got around to plan it. I don't really care for any of the ips to justify the trip and of the originals I was only really interested in 2.
hopefully next year.

 

[HHNSK]

I agree - I regret purchasing UFF this year. I've been forcing myself to go to justify the purchase of the price.

I was disappointed to miss out on UFF + express but it ended up being a blessing. It was pure luck as I never expected this to be such an off year. Will put the money towards checking out the Vegas addition next year. I think I’m going to take a wait and see approach next year.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I thought about going but it's almost over and I never really got around to plan it. I don't really care for any of the ips to justify the trip and of the originals I was only really interested in 2.
hopefully next year.

Despite the general negativity and down thoughts, I would still recommend going at least one night. The houses are all solid at the very least, no clunkers this year. No all-timers either.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Writing a full review on the final night, but I have decided that if next years lineup doesn’t interest me and I don’t see an improvement in overall event direction then I will have to vote with my dollars and sit it out.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Despite the general negativity and down thoughts, I would still recommend going at least one night. The houses are all solid at the very least, no clunkers this year. No all-timers either.

yeah I might regret it and never skipped in 17 years, but as a FFP user, going one night felt kinda sad. and I love hanging out in the streets every year so the streets this year made me sad too.

 

[HHN Yeti Lover]

Final review of the event:

Houses

1. Insidious: This is one of the few houses that felt well planned out and designed. The scare actors gave their all and get in your face and even if you aren’t scared, they still try and felt energetic and enthusiastic. I know working a haunt event is draining and exhausting, but a lot of actors in the other houses were too far away or barely came out of their boo hole which was extremely disappointing and sad. 9/10.
2. Slaughter Sinema 2: Not as good as the original, but one of the best houses here. The scares are in your face, and they get you from everywhere. The set design isn't as strong, but that's because they are B movies. Easily one of me and my brother's favorite of the event. 9/10.
3. Major Sweets Candy Factory: Everything I wanted and more. It did the scarezone justice and was a faithful adaptation of it. The smells, the sets, the characters, and the story were highly enjoyable and extremely pleasant and fun. We really loved this one. 9/10.
4. Goblin's Feast: Cute and mythical, but not as fun as Dueling Dragons. I love all the goblins and trolls, and the set design was spectacular. I had a lot of fun with this one. 8.5/10.
5. Monstrous: Monsters of Latin America: a lot better than anticipated. It does look a little empty and kind of bad compared to the Hollywood version, and while it isn't as good, it still holds its weight and had some really good scares. I just wish it was darker and scarier. 8/10.
6. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: a well-designed house, but the scares were not really there, and overall, it pales in comparison to 2019's Ghostbusters. 7/10.
7. A Quiet Place: The house was more fun than I had expected, despite the fact that I don’t like the films. I wasn't a huge fan of the animatronics, but at the same time I prefer them more than the human characters cause they kind of just feel there, but there were some fun moments. It’s okay. I wish they would’ve chose another IP honestly. 7/10.
8. Triplets of Terror: I think Triplets of Terror is a great idea. It reminded me of Rob Zombie’s Halloween. The arrangement of the actors feels weird, but if this was in a tent, I could see this being a real heavy hitter. 7/10.
9. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits: Was empty when every time we went, so we got a lot of scares, but I do not feel like the story or sets are there. I had fun, but it needed more story and to be fleshed out a little more. 6/10.
10. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines: extremely underwhelming and confusing. The scares aren't really there, and the story is a little bit weird to follow. Extremely disappointing for me because Bride of Frankenstein Lives is my favorite Universal Monsters house. 4/10.

Scare Zones

1. Torture Faire - It’s okay. This is the zone where I interacted with the actors the most.
2. Swamp of the Undead - Really dark, but the actors are having fun and giving their all.
3. Demon Queens - Great actors but this zone just feels there.
4. Enter the Blumhouse - photo op zone.
5. Duality of Fear: Eh.

Merchandise - I could have saved a lot of money if I had waited until the last week instead of purchasing a few items just for the sake. Other than the House shirt and Ghostbusters jacket, nothing really noteworthy. I like the lanyards and the Lil Boo and Ghostbusters cap. Didn’t really care for the tribute store this year.



Overall Thoughts: This year, I'm a little let down because the theme doesn't seem well-considered and Sinister & Surreal are only sort of there at the front. Since I've just been going since 2018, this year with HHN 31 (2022) may be my least favorite. I think there aren't any major players or the top 10 worthy, but the houses are fine. I haven't been particularly impressed by anything. After all is said and done, I believe that the only houses I will truly remember are Insidious, Sweets, and Slaughter Sinema. Many of the houses seemed brighter and less dark than before, which makes it much less frightening. Wait times were often way more inflated than they actually were. I wasn't fond of any of the scare zones or feel the energy in any of them. They all just feel there and Nightmare Fuel is still kind of the same. The food is decent, but very limited, and aside from the Spinal Column Pinchos, Fish and Chips, and Pizza fries, of course, nothing really caught my attention and of course it’s overpriced. Overall score: 7/10.

HHN RANKINGS:
2019 (29)
2021 (30) - not the best zones, but those houses were bangers for me.
2023 (32)
2018 (28)

2022 (31)
2024 (33)

 

[Andromeda]

Final review of the event:

Houses

1. Insidious: This is one of the few houses that felt well planned out and designed. The scare actors gave their all and get in your face and even if you aren’t scared, they still try and felt energetic and enthusiastic. I know working a haunt event is draining and exhausting, but a lot of actors in the other houses were too far away or barely came out of their boo hole which was extremely disappointing and sad. 9/10.
2. Slaughter Sinema 2: Not as good as the original, but one of the best houses here. The scares are in your face, and they get you from everywhere. The set design isn't as strong, but that's because they are B movies. Easily one of me and my brother's favorite of the event. 9/10.
3. Major Sweets Candy Factory: Everything I wanted and more. It did the scarezone justice and was a faithful adaptation of it. The smells, the sets, the characters, and the story were highly enjoyable and extremely pleasant and fun. We really loved this one. 9/10.
4. Goblin's Feast: Cute and mythical, but not as fun as Dueling Dragons. I love all the goblins and trolls, and the set design was spectacular. I had a lot of fun with this one. 8.5/10.
5. Monstrous: Monsters of Latin America: a lot better than anticipated. It does look a little empty and kind of bad compared to the Hollywood version, and while it isn't as good, it still holds its weight and had some really good scares. I just wish it was darker and scarier. 8/10.
6. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: a well-designed house, but the scares were not really there, and overall, it pales in comparison to 2019's Ghostbusters. 7/10.
7. A Quiet Place: The house was more fun than I had expected, despite the fact that I don’t like the films. I wasn't a huge fan of the animatronics, but at the same time I prefer them more than the human characters cause they kind of just feel there, but there were some fun moments. It’s okay. I wish they would’ve chose another IP honestly. 7/10.
8. Triplets of Terror: I think Triplets of Terror is a great idea. It reminded me of Rob Zombie’s Halloween. The arrangement of the actors feels weird, but if this was in a tent, I could see this being a real heavy hitter. 7/10.
9. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits: Was empty when every time we went, so we got a lot of scares, but I do not feel like the story or sets are there. I had fun, but it needed more story and to be fleshed out a little more. 6/10.
10. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines: extremely underwhelming and confusing. The scares aren't really there, and the story is a little bit weird to follow. Extremely disappointing for me because Bride of Frankenstein Lives is my favorite Universal Monsters house. 4/10.

Scare Zones

1. Torture Faire - It’s okay. This is the zone where I interacted with the actors the most.
2. Swamp of the Undead - Really dark, but the actors are having fun and giving their all.
3. Demon Queens - Great actors but this zone just feels there.
4. Enter the Blumhouse - photo op zone.
5. Duality of Fear: Eh.

Merchandise - I could have saved a lot of money if I had waited until the last week instead of purchasing a few items just for the sake. Other than the House shirt and Ghostbusters jacket, nothing really noteworthy. I like the lanyards and the Lil Boo and Ghostbusters cap. Didn’t really care for the tribute store this year.



Overall Thoughts: This year, I'm a little let down because the theme doesn't seem well-considered and Sinister & Surreal are only sort of there at the front. Since I've just been going since 2018, this year with HHN 31 (2022) may be my least favorite. I think there aren't any major players or the top 10 worthy, but the houses are fine. I haven't been particularly impressed by anything. After all is said and done, I believe that the only houses I will truly remember are Insidious, Sweets, and Slaughter Sinema. Many of the houses seemed brighter and less dark than before, which makes it much less frightening. Wait times were often way more inflated than they actually were. I wasn't fond of any of the scare zones or feel the energy in any of them. They all just feel there and Nightmare Fuel is still kind of the same. The food is decent, but very limited, and aside from the Spinal Column Pinchos, Fish and Chips, and Pizza fries, of course, nothing really caught my attention and of course it’s overpriced. Overall score: 7/10.

HHN RANKINGS:
2019 (29)
2021 (30) - not the best zones, but those houses were bangers for me.
2023 (32)
2018 (28)

2022 (31)
2024 (33)

Going tonight. Can’t wait to experience it!

 

[UNIrd]

Do we ever aggregate our rankings once the event is over? I'd love to see Inside Universal's Top 10 based on what we've submitted here.

 

[Andromeda]

Hey!
I went last night and here’s my review of this year’s HHN. Soooo tired but it’s a good tired. I’m Not use to going to bed at 3 am. I agree with much of what HHN Yeti Lover said in their post above.

Scare Zones were just ok. Torture Faire was my favorite this year. I miss the pumpkins in the park.

Nightmare Fuel’s show was good but I enjoyed the previous year’s show more. I was happy to see that the blonde aerialist was still in the show from the other years. She’s so strong and flexible. Amazing performer. A Boss.

Ranking of Houses
1. Insidious: This is what I come to expect from HHN. This house was intense and has my heart racing. If they had pulsed this house I might have died LOL. Safety in numbers! Tried pushing my hub aka human shield to move faster and he took his time walking through it. Totally worth the hour wait and was the last house we did. If the wait wasn’t an hour at 1:30am I’d go through it again.

2. Major Sweets
This house was so much fun! I pushed all the red buttons . Felt this house had a cohesive story and got a bunch scares.
sweets was the first house of the night we actually got scares and laughs.

3. Monsters of Latin America
Another fun house that we got a bunch of scares. Dang you chicken monster!

4. Ghostbusters frozen empire
I Watched the movie before going. It was a solid house. Nice set design. Loved the adorable mini marshmallow men. I want to take one home! Garraka got me a few times.

5. Quiet place
I’ve seen all 3 movies. The house was alright. I didn’t mind the animatronics. Surprised there was a boat in the water. The wait was 70 min and I felt it wasn’t worth the wait.

6. Slaughter Sinema
Didn’t attend 2018 that year due to illness. I hear how great the original was and had high expectations for this house. We did this house 1st and hardly got any scares. I enjoyed the monster shark ( please make a Jaws house !!) and zombie strippers…unwrapped lol!

7. The museum
Got a few good scares in. But this house was a missed opportunity. When Museum was announced I imagined being one of those visually stunning houses with creative scares. I was hoping for more.

8. Triplets of terror
It was alright. Parts of the house Felt like deja vu from past houses. IDK. Didn’t love it didn’t hate it.

9. Goblins feast
Nice set design and costumes. Not at all scary. Glad I only waited 5 min to get in.

10. Universal Monsters
Weakest Universal Mobsters house. Loved the other houses. House seem disjointed and lost.

We had a good time this year. I need to rank the years I’ve attended. Right now this one is on the same level as 2021.
Got my zombie ocean attack! Didn’t try any of the food or buy merchandise. The houses were all really solid. Insidious was the stand out and probably one of the best houses I’ve been through. Def in my top 10.

Kudos to the scare actors giving it their all this season!

 

[HHN Maddux]

Still going to closing night of course, but I feel pretty comfortable with my rankings now. Let's get some things out of the way first though.

This year was... very, very weird, and of course I know I'm not alone at all in that mind of thinking. While I love Sinister & Surreal and there was a lot of small stuff that I loved, overall this year still just felt very off. I think a big part of that is the fact that most of the houses this year aren't bad, but not necessarily great either, just... ok. There's my top 4, and the other six all really blur together for me. Unlike last year, I can very easily rank the houses this year:

HOUSES

1. Triplets of Terror - From my very first run-through of this house on Premium Scream, I still can't fully explain why, but I just fell in love with this house upon completing it. From the story to the triplets themselves to having some really good scares, I just love this house so much. Really hoping we see these 3 return in the future, I think there's so much potential here for even more great houses.
   
   
2. Insidious: The Further - Now as much as I love Triplets, I can very much say that 'objectively', this is the best house and it honestly isn't even close. From the atmosphere to the music, to the extremely tight and claustrophobic hallways, and to of course every single scareactor in here. Absolutely incredible house, and genuinely gave me a newly-found love for Insidious.
   
   
3. Slaughter Sinema 2 - Another insanely fun house that I fell in love with immediately. A little biased as I have multiple friends in this house, but even without that factor, I think this house was just about perfect. I do wish the transition hallways were shorter so there was a bit less dead space, but that's about my only complaint. Here's to hoping we see Mardi Gras Murders next year!
   
   
4. Major Sweets' Candy Factory - Yet another house that I think is just pure fun. Is this the scariest house? No, not at all. Is it absolutely chaotic and extremely fun to go through even when you miss a lot of scares? Yes! Old-school haunted house vibes, felt like a spiritual successor to Giggles & Gore, and this factory is getting so many OSHA violations. Now convinced that Major Sweets could very much become an Icon after this.
   
   
5. Goblin's Feast - Right off the bat, this is easily the most quotable house of the year. It almost wins by default as there isn't that many memorable quotes this year (with the exception of Major Sweets)! Another fun house that also balances with being genuinely intense at times. I think it's just way too short though, and I wish we spent a lot more time in the actual tavern.
   
   
6. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - A surprisingly good house! I hated the 2019 house and was expecting this to flop completely, but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this. Some of my best scares of the year have come from this house (specifically the ice room near the beginning, they're RUTHLESS in there). There are quite a few moments of dead space though, which bring this down a few pegs.
   
   
7. Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America - This is hard-carried by the El Silbon sequence being genuinely terrifying. If it weren't for that, this would likely be my #10. This feels like a very disappointing translation of Hollywood's house, and a lot of wasted potential IMO. La Lechuza is literally an owl demon, you'd think it's the perfect opportunity for a bungee scare?
   
   
8. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits - I'm absolutely convinced this was originally going to involve Sinister & Surreal in some way, then got hit really hard by budget cuts, it feels like there's so much missing story here that I imagine would've been filled in with a connection to them, oh well. As much as I love Triplets, I think both of these houses would've benefitted from switching locations. Triplets would've had a much more claustrophobic feel to it (perfect for slashers), and Museum would've had the space it desperately needed to actually make it feel like a museum coming to life. Cool costumes at least.
   
   
9. A Quiet Place - In all honesty, this and Museum are interchangeable. I think this house gets ruined by repeat visits, as the gimmick wore off pretty quickly for me at least, and the house just turned into the same Death Angel popping out over and over. I'm glad they tried something different though.
   
   
10. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines - In all my years of going (attending since 25), this now holds the title for most disappointing house. This was easily my most anticipated going into the event, and it's not even an abyssal mouse, it's just... disappointing (which I'd argue is even worse). The story is told very confusingly, and the biggest problem... where the heck is anybody? This house consistently has vast stretches of completely empty space with no scareactors coming out, and it's just not good. Very, very disappointed with this one.

Now for my hot take of the season: As time went on, I think the zones outshined the houses this year (with the exception of Duality but we'll get to that).

SCARE ZONES

1. Torture Faire - I will be fully honest right now, this would be #2 had it not been for a very personal reason that's made this my favorite zone. Even without that, however, this and Demon Queens would be tied, because this zone is just so much fun. The amount of character these scareactors had, and the plotlines you could watch unravel as they would interact with each other was astounding to watch. Very, very much hoping to see this return as a house in the near future.
   
   
2. Demon Queens - The scareactors really made this zone into something special. From the contortions and weird body movements many scareactors started performing, to the Queens, and of course Surr3al themselves, IMO, being an incredible Icon with amazing interactions. The amount of times I would watch people (or myself) be read like a book by Surreal as they proudly talked about our fears out loud, diving into psyches and completely breaking people, it was amazing. When crowds were bad, this is often where I would go to just sit down and vibe. Love this zone.
   
   
3. Enter the Blumhouse - Another zone where the scareactors turned what was a glorified photo op into, IMO, a very nice zone with good energy. The interactions for the stage photo ops were always fun, and the scareactors on the actual street did an incredible job given the limited space they had, which does unfortunately bring us into the biggest problem, the MASSIVE bottlenecks that would occur daily from guests crowding around M3gan and the Grabber. Really, *really* hoping Universal finally learns their lesson from this year and makes the space in here more viable if it's used again as a zone.
   
   
4. Swamp of the Undead - Another nice zone upped by scareactors bringing in that energy. It helps that this zone already had a great atmosphere, even during regular hours with no effects, and the swambies took with them a fun energy that spread through the zone. Main problem though was that damn mist, making it very slippery in here all the time and just about impossible to see.
   
   
5. Duality of Fear - What more can be said that hasn't already?

Nocturnal Circus is great fun, although I do think it was a downstep from Revenge Dream. Curious to see if this comes back or if they're gonna start changing things up.

The Death Eaters felt a lot more fun this year, so I like that. Keep it up.

Halloween Horror Nights 33 was weird. I liked it, but it was still quite weird and off in a lot of places. I'll miss a few houses and two zones, but that's about it. If I had to give this year a score, I'd say probably a 6 or 7 out of 10.

Here's to HHN 34!

 

[Lucky Planet]

Hey!
I went last night and here’s my review of this year’s HHN. Soooo tired but it’s a good tired. I’m Not use to going to bed at 3 am. I agree with much of what HHN Yeti Lover said in their post above.

Scare Zones were just ok. Torture Faire was my favorite this year. I miss the pumpkins in the park.

Nightmare Fuel’s show was good but I enjoyed the previous year’s show more. I was happy to see that the blonde aerialist was still in the show from the other years. She’s so strong and flexible. Amazing performer. A Boss.

Ranking of Houses
1. Insidious: This is what I come to expect from HHN. This house was intense and has my heart racing. If they had pulsed this house I might have died LOL. Safety in numbers! Tried pushing my hub aka human shield to move faster and he took his time walking through it. Totally worth the hour wait and was the last house we did. If the wait wasn’t an hour at 1:30am I’d go through it again.

2. Major Sweets
This house was so much fun! I pushed all the red buttons . Felt this house had a cohesive story and got a bunch scares.
sweets was the first house of the night we actually got scares and laughs.

3. Monsters of Latin America
Another fun house that we got a bunch of scares. Dang you chicken monster!

4. Ghostbusters frozen empire
I Watched the movie before going. It was a solid house. Nice set design. Loved the adorable mini marshmallow men. I want to take one home! Garraka got me a few times.

5. Quiet place
I’ve seen all 3 movies. The house was alright. I didn’t mind the animatronics. Surprised there was a boat in the water. The wait was 70 min and I felt it wasn’t worth the wait.

6. Slaughter Sinema
Didn’t attend 2018 that year due to illness. I hear how great the original was and had high expectations for this house. We did this house 1st and hardly got any scares. I enjoyed the monster shark ( please make a Jaws house !!) and zombie strippers…unwrapped lol!

7. The museum
Got a few good scares in. But this house was a missed opportunity. When Museum was announced I imagined being one of those visually stunning houses with creative scares. I was hoping for more.

8. Triplets of terror
It was alright. Parts of the house Felt like deja vu from past houses. IDK. Didn’t love it didn’t hate it.

9. Goblins feast
Nice set design and costumes. Not at all scary. Glad I only waited 5 min to get in.

10. Universal Monsters
Weakest Universal Mobsters house. Loved the other houses. House seem disjointed and lost.

Still going to closing night of course, but I feel pretty comfortable with my rankings now. Let's get some things out of the way first though.

This year was... very, very weird, and of course I know I'm not alone at all in that mind of thinking. While I love Sinister & Surreal and there was a lot of small stuff that I loved, overall this year still just felt very off. I think a big part of that is the fact that most of the houses this year aren't bad, but not necessarily great either, just... ok. There's my top 4, and the other six all really blur together for me. Unlike last year, I can very easily rank the houses this year:

HOUSES

1. Triplets of Terror - From my very first run-through of this house on Premium Scream, I still can't fully explain why, but I just fell in love with this house upon completing it. From the story to the triplets themselves to having some really good scares, I just love this house so much. Really hoping we see these 3 return in the future, I think there's so much potential here for even more great houses.
   
   
2. Insidious: The Further - Now as much as I love Triplets, I can very much say that 'objectively', this is the best house and it honestly isn't even close. From the atmosphere to the music, to the extremely tight and claustrophobic hallways, and to of course every single scareactor in here. Absolutely incredible house, and genuinely gave me a newly-found love for Insidious.
   
   
3. Slaughter Sinema 2 - Another insanely fun house that I fell in love with immediately. A little biased as I have multiple friends in this house, but even without that factor, I think this house was just about perfect. I do wish the transition hallways were shorter so there was a bit less dead space, but that's about my only complaint. Here's to hoping we see Mardi Gras Murders next year!
   
   
4. Major Sweets' Candy Factory - Yet another house that I think is just pure fun. Is this the scariest house? No, not at all. Is it absolutely chaotic and extremely fun to go through even when you miss a lot of scares? Yes! Old-school haunted house vibes, felt like a spiritual successor to Giggles & Gore, and this factory is getting so many OSHA violations. Now convinced that Major Sweets could very much become an Icon after this.
   
   
5. Goblin's Feast - Right off the bat, this is easily the most quotable house of the year. It almost wins by default as there isn't that many memorable quotes this year (with the exception of Major Sweets)! Another fun house that also balances with being genuinely intense at times. I think it's just way too short though, and I wish we spent a lot more time in the actual tavern.
   
   
6. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - A surprisingly good house! I hated the 2019 house and was expecting this to flop completely, but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this. Some of my best scares of the year have come from this house (specifically the ice room near the beginning, they're RUTHLESS in there). There are quite a few moments of dead space though, which bring this down a few pegs.
   
   
7. Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America - This is hard-carried by the El Silbon sequence being genuinely terrifying. If it weren't for that, this would likely be my #10. This feels like a very disappointing translation of Hollywood's house, and a lot of wasted potential IMO. La Lechuza is literally an owl demon, you'd think it's the perfect opportunity for a bungee scare?
   
   
8. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits - I'm absolutely convinced this was originally going to involve Sinister & Surreal in some way, then got hit really hard by budget cuts, it feels like there's so much missing story here that I imagine would've been filled in with a connection to them, oh well. As much as I love Triplets, I think both of these houses would've benefitted from switching locations. Triplets would've had a much more claustrophobic feel to it (perfect for slashers), and Museum would've had the space it desperately needed to actually make it feel like a museum coming to life. Cool costumes at least.
   
   
9. A Quiet Place - In all honesty, this and Museum are interchangeable. I think this house gets ruined by repeat visits, as the gimmick wore off pretty quickly for me at least, and the house just turned into the same Death Angel popping out over and over. I'm glad they tried something different though.
   
   
10. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines - In all my years of going (attending since 25), this now holds the title for most disappointing house. This was easily my most anticipated going into the event, and it's not even an abyssal mouse, it's just... disappointing (which I'd argue is even worse). The story is told very confusingly, and the biggest problem... where the heck is anybody? This house consistently has vast stretches of completely empty space with no scareactors coming out, and it's just not good. Very, very disappointed with this one.

Halloween Horror Nights 33 was weird. I liked it, but it was still quite weird and off in a lot of places. I'll miss a few houses and two zones, but that's about it. If I had to give this year a score, I'd say probably a 6 or 7 out of 10.

one of the reasons I also skipped this year is because the houses I was most interested in ended up being very low on people's lists . but thank you for the reviews

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

Thank god it’s over…

HHN 33 struggles with an insane identity crisis and just has no idea what it is or what it’s attempting to be. The lack of creative direction and fluency is so prevalent where I literally stopped and thought “What were they thinking?”

Houses are all decent to just bad, no all timer, no scenes in houses that made my jaw drop, just a lot of “ok”

HOUSE RANKINGS:
1: Major Sweets
-Good scares, had the most essence of all the houses and it felt like good ol classic HHN. Also the most quotable.

2: Goblins Feast
-Fun idea, great cast, and terrific costuming.

3: Slaughter Sinema 2
-Not as good as the original but still some very fun scenes. Has Blood N Chum paved the way for Jaws?

4: Insidious
- I sadly didn’t get as good runs as everyone else, but I see the hype. The cast on my runs still delivered though.

5: Bloodlines
- Slight dissatisfaction here, but definitely really over-hated. Had two really great runs of this one.

6: Frozen Empire
- What a blast, not as scary obviously but the Garaka’s were putting in the work. Surprisingly good.

7: Monstrous
- Really was looking for a Hollywood recreation down to the T (yes I know that was naive) wish the facade looked more like theirs, and why change Muerto’s voice? Had gotten use to hearing it in the walkthroughs. Still somewhat scratched the itch.

8: A Quiet Place
-Puppets are great, but really really repetitive.

9: Triplets
- A&D fumbled the bag on this one SO bad. You can tell this was going to be a really fleshed out house with a really good story, but it feels like they only got half the development time on it then what they needed. I would even argue that it’s the house that has let me down the most since ive been doing HHN.

10: Deadly Exhibits
- Just bad, nothing notable to say…

ZONES
1. Torture Faire
2. Blumhouse
3. Demon Queens
4. Swamp of the Undead
5. Duality of Fear

OVERALL EVENT RANKING: 6

HHN 33 and its horrible sounding and underdeveloped Icons needed more time in the oven to cook. It felt like the event just needed better direction across the marketing, merch, and the event itself.

Aiello bring us to the promise land…

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Halloween Horror Nights 33 was weird. I liked it, but it was still quite weird and off in a lot of places. I'll miss a few houses and two zones, but that's about it. If I had to give this year a score, I'd say probably a 6 or 7 out of 10.

I think this statement sums it up perfectly. We had a great time like always, and if I had the chance to do another night I absolutely would have. But it was just off. "Weird", as you said.

 

[Killer Klown]

Another year has come and gone. I understand why people are a bit soar on this year, the IP slate wasn’t flashy and the park atmosphere was definitely off.

Houses:
I thought it was a solid group this year. Some real surprises and unexpected standouts.
1. Ghostbusters - I’m as surprised as anyone but this was my favorite house of the year. I never had a bad run, the effects and settings were great, and I always had a good time with it.
2. Insidious - Definitely the scariest and most intense house. Biggest reason it’s not number one for me is that I do think it had the weakest set design for the year and that counts for something in my book.
3. Slaughter Sinema 2 - Not quite as good as its predecessor but very close. It was great to have a Christmas house back even for the briefest of moments and of course the giant shark was amazing. I’d love a Heavy Metal Hell house in a concert setting as a future house.
4. Major Sweets - The other big surprise of the year for me. I wish it were a bit more “twisted wonka” with its setting. So for that reason I think it would’ve been better in a soundstage or a new tent but I still really liked what we got and it showed that the new F&F configuration can definitely work.
5. Goblin’s Feast - I didn’t always get the best run throughs here and I don’t think the house quite figured out what it wanted to be tonally. Still I’m a sucker for set design and effects and this one had some of the best at the event. I hope they keep the fantasy houses going. It’s time for a new Scary Tales!
6. A Quiet Place - The puppets and animatronics really carried this one. The “be quiet” gimmick didn’t land for me nor did any of the non death angel scares. Still I’m glad they tried this IP just for the death angels alone and it was awesome to have a puppet centric house again.
7. Monstruos - El Slbon really carried this house for me. His moments were some of my favorite in any house but unfortunately the rest aside from the big animatronics just didn’t land like I wanted them too.
8. Triplets - Sigh. I just wasn’t feeling this one. I actually really liked the suburban setting and I can appreciate what they were trying to do but the pieces just didn’t all come together for me.
9. Museum - So I don’t think this house was worth the vitriolic hate I’d been seeing for it especially at the beginning of the event, but I don’t think it was a good house either. Nothing here really stood out to me and that’s a shame cause this is one I was really hyped for and should’ve had a real slam dunk of a concept.
10. Eternal Bloodlines - What a shame. Scenically beautiful, but so so empty and the story didn’t land at all. Unfortunately I think this should mark the start of a hiatus for monsters houses especially with a monsters land on the horizon. It was a good run, but they need some time off while Dark Universe takes the reins.

Scarezones:
Oof. These were rough. I had a feeling going in we would be in for a down year here and that’s what we got.
1. Swamp of the Undead - This one felt the most like a complete zone, and they finally stopped overdoing the fog in this location so that was nice. I still don’t care for zombies though.
2. Enter the Blumhouse - A photo zone but I had fun interacting with the characters, especially M3GAN and the Grabber.
3. Torture Faire - Felt very empty a lot of the time and what characters were there I didn’t care for. The little show was neat.
4. Demon Queens - Dark Zodiac reskinned. I miss Graveyard Deadly Unrest.
5. Duality of Fear - Shouldn’t even count as a zone haha.

 

[HHN22DidNothingWrong]

After much debate on if I was going to make the trip this year, I got to attend HHN33 from October 27th-Oct 31st. On a personal note this year was very special to me. It was my 10th Orlando event and I hit my 100th unique HHN house with Slaughter Sinema 2 (I'm counting my one Hollywood event houses in that count). It gave me a lot to reflect on being a part of the community on twitter, and a lurker on here for so long. Even if the event was a solid 6/10, I'll always be grateful for this weird little group of super fans who keep the conversation going throughout the whole year.

Okay sap aside.

All three nights were surprisingly busy, especially after last years wait times near the end of the event. This can probably be accounted for when last year stopped selling multi-night passes early. So good for Universal on getting that cash. Good for me who didn't buy his frequent fear until the 26th. Bad for everyone who wanted to marathon some houses near the end of the event.

Every night I did the same path. The stay and scream in NY was always ridiculously crowded, so Expo was the way to go. I desperately miss the Fast Food Boulevard access as the only food options were (sold out) Pretzels for $11, Pumpkin Guts, and a Turkey Wing. That said, pumpkin guts are a great value and probably the only vegetables I ate the entire trip and even the turkey wing was a decent amount of meat for $7. I guess this is in preparation for the inevitable Simpsons construction we might see in a few years and honestly the amount of space in this stay and scream was perfect. The huge holding queue for the S&S houses was awesome, even if I never waited in it. I'm also lucky(?) enough to have an AAP, so rushing into houses isn't really necessary for me.

I love love love what they did with Goblins and Eternal Bloodlines in the back corner. Having a mini plaza set up complete with bathrooms felt very reminiscent of Hollywood and their parking garage area behind Hogwarts. That being said, I never got to experience it at night so I don’t know how efficient it was when the crowds came in. I know, blasphemous to judge these houses based off their Stay and Scream vibes but I just never found myself back here after dark.

Goblins Feast – 6/10

This seemed to be really popular with people on Twitter. I’m not too much into the dark fantasy horror myself so it was a miss on me. However I did love some of the sets this showcased. The moving water wheel was impressive and made me forget we were in a tent. Puppets are always a welcome addition to a house and this year had a few great ones including the giant hand. There wasn’t a whole lot in terms of scares for me over the three nights I went, and I think that’s okay.

Universal Monsters Eternal Bloodlines – 5/10

I appreciate the many locations it tried to take us to and the overall narrative. I have to agree with the many complaints that the house felt disjointed though. We aren’t spending enough time in the transitory spaces to listen and understand what is happening. The main plot points like the Bride Teaming up and Saskia’s death were dependant on timing the scare right. The grand entrance of Marya’s castle never once had a scareactor in it all 5 of my run throughs. However, the bungee wolf scare and the trio attacking at the end got me every time so I definitely give it a few bonus points for that. I like the characters they used. I enjoy this sort of ongoing plot from year to year. Seeing our Bride again was awesome and it just feels like they’re setting her up for a big win in a future house. I’d love to see her with Saskia’s crossbow taking out other monsters.

One of the best new additions to HHN this year was the AAP check in points. Coming out of the MIB Tent Plaza and being able to grab a return time for Insidious/Ghostbusters or A Quiet Place is huge. I noticed less crowding at the express entrances because of it…for the most part. Anytime a crowd was built up at the entrance was usually just express holders not realizing they could go around and get their pass checked by someone else.

The Museum: Deadly Exhibits – 7/10

Everyone is too mean to this house. Yes, the name is lame. Yes, it belonged in a sound stage. I managed to get a solo run through this house though and that’s why my score is so high. I get it though, not everyone can experience that. I just really loved the details in this house. Every sign into a new exhibit. Each artifact or piece of art having its own label. The scares, like goblins, weren’t 100% but I just can’t give something that was clearly made with a ton of love anything lower than a 7. This was someone on the design team’s passion project and it really showed even if the execution wasn’t there.

Major Sweets Candy Factory – 8/10

First things first. Congratulations Fast and Furious for having a proper house for the first time ever. Second, the smell of this house was wild. My nose is, like the soundstage, forever scarred with the Pea Soup smell when it comes to HHN houses. This smell is more than welcome to come back in future houses. Sickeningly sweet. As a fan of the event, sequel and prequels always have a soft spot for me. Did we need two in one year? Debatable. Seeing these characters again was fun. Taffy was a great addition. This was a house where you were rewarded for looking up, and as a 6’2 guy I always like details that are higher up. Throw in a few GATs and a very active cast, and I think this house will be looked back on as a gem in an otherwise ‘meh’ year.

I’m going to do zones by themselves, but I don’t really have anything new to add to the conversation about them. The first one I walked through was Blumhouse and it was certainly Blumhouse. For better or worse.

A Quiet Place – 6/10

Cool entrance. Puppets were great. That title card room really set the stage for something amazing and then I just…never got it. Applause for trying something different but with the crowds HHN gets this needed to be something you did during the premium night in a pulsed environment. It consistently had a 75+ minute long wait though, so maybe I’m wrong here.

Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America – 4/10

Having gone through Hollywood’s iteration last year I can say this was the lesser of the two. Less about the house and more about the location but for the last 3 years this has been such a weird house spot as far as crowds go. I know Hellblock/Blood Moon/Monstruos isn’t the biggest draw but the wait time for this location is either 0 or 100 there is no in between. When it says 60 it means it’s a walk on. When it’s 20, you’ll be waiting 60. It just seems to be the spot that Universal uses to control crowds and move them around the park by posting low wait times to fill it up.

Anyway. The costumes were great but the scares weren’t really it. We had better stilt walkers in Ghostbusters. We had more up-close monsters in Insidious. I never felt anyone tried to get up in my face in here which is a shame because Hollywood did that really well in their house. The bird puppet was the highlight but that’s like riding Kong just to see the animatronic at the end for 30 seconds.

 

[HHN22DidNothingWrong]

(Sorry for double post, I hit the character limit lol)

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire – 8/10

A faithful recreation of the movie with some great face casting and continuing the trend of “IP Movies that are better than their movies” that Exorcist Believer started. You can’t not walk out of this house feeling great hearing that theme song and it just made me wish we had a lagoon show this year even more. The Garraka’s were g-a-reat, the Ecto in the house was cool to see, and that firehouse recreation halfway through was almost as cool as seeing the Myers House in 31’s Halloween.

Triplets of Terror – 3/10

I’m sorry. Ever since the announcement with the badly photoshopped art that almost looks AI this house was not going to be it for me. I love a good slasher too so it was sad to be this disappointed. I’ll focus on the good. The hallway setting up the podcast coverage. It gave legendary truth vibes. Almost every boo hole was filled, and every scene had each of the triplets. That was cool to see the consistency. They felt like really good characters I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing return. The guts spelled out ico- Happy Birthday.

Maybe 3 is a bit harsh but it was my least favourite house of the event and I gave Monstruos a 4 so.

Insidious: Into the Further – 9/10

Truly house of the year. There are some neat design choices in here and some amazing drop to the floor level scares. Having missed HHN 25 this was my first real Insidious house. We aren’t counting Horror’s of Blumhouse here. It was claustrophobic, loud, and the cast was not afraid to get in your face. Not one but two strobe rooms with many mannequins mixed with scareactors which are effective even on multiple run throughs. It’s cliché but it’s a good scare and the fact they make you do it TWICE is evil and twisted and I love it. The real winner in this house is that damn curtain hallway. This reminds of the horror make up show when they say combining practical effects and cgi nightmares do come true? Only here the practical effects are the great set pieces we see early in the house and the CGI is this hallway. Any other house that just put me into a hallway of curtains I would slam the same way we slam Murdy for black transition hallways. The use of turns and placement of scareactors was so effective. It essentially turned 3 scareactors into 6. Those scareactors WORKED to make you feel surrounded. The jump scares were on point. Sometimes they’d just poke their head out and watch you before slowly slipping back in, only to catch you on the other side of their platform after turning around.

This very much deserved house of the year. If it wasn’t for my biased towards

Slaughter Sinema 2 – 10/10

“The only thing that will get me down to HHN this year is Slaughter Sinema 2.” – Me, early spec season when it was on the first map.

The flights were booked a week after the announcement. I was such a HUGE fan of the first house that this could have been a phoned in sequel and I probably still would have loved it. But it wasn’t. They put the work into this house and it really felt like the heart of the event. Maybe that’s because the merch reflected Heavy Metal Hell 3D so much. But that’s besides the point. To see an MIB tent house have consistently long lines that rival the big 3 IPs every single night I was there was wild. We got a great variety of movies. I loved that we entered to the left instead of the right this time (and it leaves the third door straight ahead open for a threequel?). The scents were on point especially in Hatchet and Chains. Blood and Chum felt like the team saying “Stop asking for a Jaws house it would essentially be this over and over again”. Zyborgs was SO COOL, another instance of looking up being rewarding. The lazers were so 90s. Of course ending with the homages to the past house was a dream for us fanboys. Seeing Gourdy and his iconic voice line again was the cherry on top.

Scarezones

These were certainly zones.

Demon Queens - was the obvious winner. I managed to catch Surr3al a few times in her zone and her interactions were great. I really enjoyed that it wasn’t a Surr3al versus Sinist3r situation, and when prompted as such she shot that down so quickly turning the narrative into how amazing they worked together. The moments where the entire zone got into her chanting was unique. I do have to agree with some about the use of autotune on her voice though. Imagine they did that for all the icons. No thanks.

Torture Faire - could have been number one if it switched locations with Demon Queens. New York will always be such a spread out zone it ruins the overall feeling of it. It’s crowded, the cast are too far apart to interact with each other effectively, and maybe I’m just also a little upset I never saw Sinist3r here. This zone is also the only one I personally saw a few scareactors walking and talking with friends while working. Never as bad as Vanity Ball was but it still irks me when it happens. I know they’re human. I know it happens in every zone. This was just my experience.

Swamp of the Undead – Loved the use of misters over just fog. They really need to let these zones breathe and either move out more into the Hollywood space between Central Park and Mels or out towards Animal Actors in the back. It just feels bad being such a small walkway.

Duality of Fear – Still better than Blumhouse.

Blumhouse – If you’re going to have a photo op zone, don’t put it in the crowded San Francisco. This is the sorta stuff that NY should be used for.

As for the rest, the merch was ugly. I’m glad I do my trips at the end of the event to get that 70% off because paying full price for any piece of merch this year would have felt bad. I’m no artist myself but it just wasn’t for me and when that seems to be a general consensus on Twitter and here…maybe it’s not me that’s the problem. Minions Café is also a weird vibe in the middle of horror nights. It felt like an exclusive club the way TM’s were guarding the door. I get they want everyone ordering through their phone but forcing people to download the app before entry is wild to me. I just want to go get water in the freestyle machine, please.

Overall the event was like a 6/10 for me. Definitely the lowest point in the 10 years I’ve been, but hey, I enjoyed HHN 22 so what does my opinion really mean?

If I had to choose really quick. 2019 > 2018 > 2017 > 2012 > 2021 > 2022 > 2016 > 2013 > 2023 > 2024