Capacity crowds — into the tens of thousands of people — went willingly into the terrifyingly creative and nightmarish Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood during the event’s opening weekend.
Yes there were long lines and wait times for the eight featured haunted houses, however, those were mere sacrifices, mostly endured by General Admission ticket holders. Yet everybody inside was treated to spooky entertainment that extended across the park’s ghoulish landscape and at every dark corner.
Halloween Horror Nights offers multiple “scare zones” to wander into, as well as scare-actor encounters, so that no one, at any time, is safe from a sudden fright. There’s also the menacing Terror Tram, and the frighteningly professional stunt show “The Purge: Dangerous Waters” that only a place like Universal Studios can produce.
Not to mention many of the regular rides are open during the nightly event. On Opening Night, Thursday, Sept. 3, “RIP” guests had access to the new “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” coaster — perhaps the most exciting new amusement park rides in the nation right now. We’ll get to that later, but first here’s some advice.
If you are able, we recommend you snag some Express tickets for yourself, family members and friends. They are totally worth it, especially if you want to try and experience all the haunted houses. There are also Early Access tickets that provide entry to some of the houses beginning at 5:30 p.m. Frequent Fear and Ultimate Fear passes enable guests to experiences the scares again and again. Find a large variety of options: here
This year’s event runs for a record 42 nights, through Sunday, Nov. 1.
The Merced County Times was invited to the Opening Night festivities which kicked off with a star-studded red carpet event. Some of the top entertainers who visited the park included Sharon & Jack Osbourne, Slash, and Luciane Buchanan. Many producers, directors and writers were on hand. These visits can be seen on many social media videos, including one of Ashley Laurence from the Hellraiser series reliving the experience.
Some major media outlets have been ranking the best haunted houses, as well as other top attractions from Halloween Horror Nights, so the Times will humbly offer ours, knowing you won’t go wrong if you follow our lead.
Best Overall
It’s got to be a tie between “Hellraiser” — inspired by the first three films of the series — and “Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness.”
We judged this by them being sheer fan favorites, the thoughtfulness of including them in this year’s event, and the attention to detail. Fans of both Hellraiser and Ozzy will be thrilled as they get their minds blown, but trying to keep your eyes wide open, and taking it all in, are a challenge as you enter a fast-paced horror maze.
We recommend fans head to either one of these first after entering the park. The Ozzy Haunted House on Opening Night was by far the busiest with the longest lines. It’s on the Lower Lot so you will be doing some quick walking to get to it. When you’re done, don’t forget to visit the nearby Ozzy Bar. They are serving themed cocktails such as the Bark at the Moon Mule and the Ultimate Sin-ammon, as well appetizers such as the Crazy Train Chickpea Curry Burrito.
We ended up going to Hellraiser first, which is located on the Upper Lot, positioned beyond Universal’s “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” attraction. You can see the Evil Dead Burn haunted house there too.
A close third place to Best Overall would be the Stranger Things haunted house. This house has quite a few dark nuggets for fans of the show. Notably, there’s a shocking version of the iconic kitchen battle scene between Karen Wheeler and a demogorgon. The scare-actors were amazingly similar to the real actors in the popular Netflix series. We mean it sure looked like Winona Ryder wielding an ax and screaming at you. Absolutely breathtaking in the strangest way possible.
Best Dark Mood, Special Effects
We have to give this to Sinners — based on the Academy Award-winning film. It’s like you are suddenly transported into a 1930s Mississippi world, complete with Club Juke entertainers who suddenly loose their minds to a vampire onslaught. The set design draws you into complete immersion, and the character acting was absolutely the best of the night. Put this haunted house near the top of your priority list. It’s located inside a ghastly scare zone on the upper lot near the Universal Plaza.
Other notables, but it’s all really scary.
Not far from Sinners, you will find the original haunted house “KILLceañera: Music by SLASH.” This house continues the tradition of showcasing Latin American myths and legends. Grammy Award-winning guitarist and songwriter SLASH composes an original score for the house featuring Spanish guitar and an exclusive song titled “15 Candles.”
Meanwhile, the infamous Terror Tram returns again this year with an all-new host, Art the Clown, who hijacks the tram for his own Christmas holiday celebration. Metal band Ice Nine Kills creates new music for the experience, putting a dark twist on classic Christmas songs. Guests are led off on foot to an outdoor, trailer-park-like setting that turns dark — very dark — and gory. This outdoor blood-fest is not for the feint of heart. It’s impressive in its magnitude. Warning: You will definitely be followed around by evil characters wielding bloody weapons. You also get more scare for your buck on this attraction. So yeah, make time for this one!
We finished the night off with an impressive, fiery stunt show: “The Purge: Dangerous Waters.” It’s located on the upper lot inside the WaterWorld venue. There’s explosions, super-high character falls into the water, and lots of shocking action as a battle for survival rages on.
Regular attractions
Guests can experience select theme park attractions open during the event, including Super Nintendo World, Transformers, Revenge of the Mummy, and The Simpsons Ride, to name a few. Special ticket holders also have access to the new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster on the Upper Lot. This ride looked really incredible as we rode underneath and around it on the way to the Lower Lot.
The ride officially opens on Wednesday, Sept. 16, and it’s unlike anything experienced in the park’s decades‑long history. In a technological first, a portion of the ride track can be seen through a transparent encased section of the queue, building on the anticipation as guests wait to ride.
The epic adventure takes riders over and under portions of the multilevel Starway escalator, through four spectacular launches, an exciting inverted dive loop, twisted pretzel loop and inverted stall, among others.
It reaches speeds of up to 72 MPH and a force of up to 3.6 Gs — all while the “car” vehicles on the track can “drift” at 360-degrees.
For more information and to purchase tickets to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, visit www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com/Halloween.