Halloween Horror Nights 2025

John and I had a 2+ hour delay on our flight to Orlando for the last weekend of HHN34. It turned out that it was a staffing shortage at the control tower and not the remnants of Hurricane Melissa (how ironic if our trip had been ruined by a storm with my name). Luckily everything worked out. This was our third year in a row, and we were ready with a strategy. An Express Pass is a must!

The first house (Fallout) did not open until 5:15, so we walked around Diagon Alley, hoping for a personal encounter with a Death Eater. We left our wands at home, but if I had mine, you better believe that I would have tried to get chosen for the duel.

Once we tired of Diagon Alley, we walked through the Mutations: Toxic Twenties scare zone. I think this area was the best to walk through while it was still light out because you could see more of the detail on the scare actors. This dude’s eyes freak me out.

The first couple of houses that open are in the back corner of the park. We started there all three nights. The first night – Halloween – the line to Fallout was so puny that we went the standard route and saved our express pass. Once through it, we immediately went into the standard line of the house next door: Galkn. After that, we went with the express pass for both houses. We felt pretty happy to have been able to go through both twice!

Since we can’t take pictures inside the houses, and many of them are inside sound stage, here’s the rest of them: Jason Universe; Five Nights at Freddy’s; El Artista: A Spanish Haunting; Grave of Flesh; Terrifier; WWE Presents: The Horrors of Wyatt Sicks.

Scare Zones!

The Cat Lady of Crooked Lane

Posing with creepy doll killer

Mel’s Die-In Zombies

Masquerade: Dance with Death

The Origins of Horror

Mutations: Toxic Twenties

FOOD!

Some houses and scare zones had food themed to their vibe. Fallout’s food included Pickle Bucket Baked Chicken and Yum Yum Deviled “Eggs” (in quotes because this was a vegan option; wasn’t a fan of the texture). For Wyatt Sicks’ house, we devoured the Ramblin’ Rabbit Fried Carrot Cake (one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!). At El Artista: A Spanish Haunting we got the Artist’s Palette and Pan con Tomate. I reluctantly had a taste of the Spiral Sausage from Jason Universe (it looks too much like bloody guts). I liked the Flamin’ Hot Birria Ramen from The Cat Lady of Crooked Lane’s area, but I’m too much of a wimp to handle the heat.

Ratings

According to the averages of our ratings as we left each house, these are our top three:

Mel:

• #1 WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks — This is shocking because I originally had no interest in this house. There were a lot of scare actors positioned for frequent scares. The more scares I get, the higher I rate it (8.66).
• #2 Jason Universe — I wish that we watched the movie ahead of time, but it’s on my list now. This house was big, had a lot of scare actors (pretty much all Jasons), and I often got scare from both sides at the same time. Loved it! (8.33)
• #3 Galkn: Monsters of the North — This house made up a lot of ground on night two and three; the first night I gave it 5.5 because all the scares were happening to the person ahead of me. On night three I gave it a 10. The best scare of all three nights happened in this house!

John:

• #1 El Artista
• #2 Galkn
• #3 Fallout