Halloween Horror Nights 22
You’re ready to go to Halloween Horror Nights 22 but don’t know how to approach the night.  BestofOrlando.com has put together the Ultimate Guide to HHN 22. We’ve got tips on how to see everything in one night, info on the haunted houses, shows  and the Legions of Horror roaming the park... including what it’s like to be a scareactor. We even give you tips on surviving the night without getting frightened too much and the places where you can grab a bite to eat.

Time Management:

  • If you can, invest in an express pass, but if you don’t you can still see everything without it.
  • Get there early, they start letting people through even earlier than the opening time.
  • Check wait times once you enter, and plan out your game plan
  • They say the first and last show of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure is the least crowded, but we wouldn’t advise you see a show early during the time when house wait times are the shortest.
  • The Walking Dead: Dead Inside line is the most popular, so doing it first when HHN opens is a good idea. Head directly to the Disaster Area.
  • After Walking Dead, Silent Hill should be next on your list.
  • Next, go through Dead End and then Gothic, if you arrive to HHN before 6:00pm; you should be able to go through these houses without an express pass within a couple hours, maybe less.
  • The next house that you can expect to have a longer line is Penn and Teller New(kd) Vegas.
  • After, you’ll be able to visit House of Horrors, and then Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare, one after the other easily.
  • If you skip any house because the wait was too long, you can enter the queue just before closing time.  This way you don’t waste valuable park hours in line, essentially elongating park hours for you, because they will let you finish the haunted house no matter how long it takes in line.
  • Traveling with large groups will slow your pace. Two people go through HHN faster than four, and so on.
  • If you have time, take advantage of the short wait times for popular Universal Studios rides, plus it’s always great to ride the Hollywood Rip ride Rockit at night!

Houses:
Inside Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare – Travel inside multi-platinum recording artist Alice Cooper’s twisted mind and experience the perfect melding of horror and Cooper’s four decades-log career. Your nightmare begins as you follow Steven, the iconic character from many of Cooper’s works and travel deep into Cooper’s demented and dark subconscious where disturbing images and tormentors blur the thin line of reality and insanity. Read More

Inside Welcome to Silent Hill – Based on the video game and movie, this haunted house takes you to the deserted and eerie town of Silent Hill where ash falls from the sky, strange beings roam and horror lurks at every corner. Just like both the video game and movie, Welcome to Silent Hill haunted house features the faceless nurses, Pyramid Head and all the terror you felt when you played the video game or watched the movie. And a bonus for this house, guests who dare to walk through will be able to witness a scene from the upcoming second Silent Hill film. Read More

Inside the Walking Dead – Inspired by the flesh-eating zombies in AMC’s “The Walking Dead”, this haunted house has some of the most iconic places and images from the TV series and plenty of “walkers” who look surprisingly like the ones form the hit show. A few things to be on the lookout for: “bicycle girl” from Season 1,  “well walker” from Season 2, Merle’s severed hand, supplies left on the station wagon for Sophia and the iconic “Don’t Open Dead Inside” chained double doors. Read More

Inside Penn & Teller New(kd) Vegas – A little humor to offset your screams, Penn & Teller New(kd) Vegas is just as entertaining as it is odd as the two Las Vegas magicians have accidentally nuked Sin City in an attempt to create the best illusion ever. You’ve never seen Las Vegas like this with mutated showgirls, an all-you-can-eat buffet that isn’t so edible, a casino filled with slot machines of horror and much more. But it’s the 3D effects and Penn & Teller themselves (in hologram form of course) that really set the haunted house apart form the rest. Read More

Inside Dead End – Take a walk amongst lost souls and victims of horrendous violent acts in the Dead End house and come face to face with the ghosts, ghouls and plenty of evil spirits looking for revenge. Dead End offers several different areas to walk through including a garden area, a library, an attic and more all with incredible detail and imagery like floating books, transparent ghosts and lighting and air effects to bring your biggest fears to life. Read More

Inside Gothic – The Catedral de Caementum Animus, is by day undergoing an architectural refurbishment. By night, the watchful stone gargoyles come to life to protect this holy place against any unwanted visitors. If you dare to enter the cathedral, watch out for swinging creatures and stilt-walking gargoyles who will do anything to get you out. Along the way you’ll come across a fallen church bell and hanging bungee ropes that you can actually pull to hear the bell ring. The costumes and setting are also one of the most elaborate of this year’s houses and will make you feel like you are really amongst protective gargoyles. Read More

Inside Universal’s House of Horrors – The name is just as it seems. Lurking in this haunted house are the classic monsters from Halloween’s past including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and more. Couple this with small spaces, a soundtrack that offers clues to who will be scaring you next and the most scareactors in one room in all of Halloween Horror Nights 22 and you have a real house of horrors. Read More


Legions of Horror:
The Vampires – Just as blood-sucking hungry as ever, the Vampires have been summoned by The Iniquitus and will stop at nothing to sink their teeth into your veins. Their hunger makes them quick on their feet too so don’t for a second let you’re guard down or you’ll risk their razor-sharp fangs!

Beasts – Not as stealthy as the Vampires but just as terrifying, the Beasts let you know they’re after you with an eerie growl that will make you shudder. But even if you hear them coming, nothing can prepare you for their grotesque and distorted faces and their determination to make you scream.

Warriors – After being killed in a deathly battle and brought back to life by The Iniquitus, these warriors have a chip on their shoulder and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure everybody who crosses them feels their wrath. Dressed in all black with masks covering their mouths and equipped with swords, the warriors tend to march through the park in paths, warning guests they are not to be messed with.

Traditionals – Ghosts, goblins, pumpkin heads, witches make up this band of scareactors but beware, these aren’t the fun-loving Halloween characters you may remember as a child. They have teeth and they are dying to use them on the unsuspecting victim.

Prisoners – Fire scorched these women inmates alive and now they’ve been brought back by The Iniquitus to inflict the same pain they felt while they were burning alive. And to help them torture guests they’ve all been given chainsaws. You can’t miss these ticked off women; they’re dressed in hot orange jumpsuits and are running ferociously through the park to claim their next victim.

Read More about the Dark Legions of Horror, plus see more photos here!

Behind the Scenes at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights
So what exactly goes in to being a scareactor at Halloween Horror Nights 22? Well for starters, there is the obvious makeover filled with gory and gruesome makeup and a wardrobe of bloodied, tattered and torn shirts and horrific masks. Then you have to learn how to roam the streets in the scariest of ways during a scarecator training session. You then put it all together and hit the streets to see if you have what it takes to scare the daylights out of guests. Read More

Survival Tips
How to reduce your chances of being startled:

  • Stay cool- Scareactors can sense fear; at least, they are looking for people that’ll be an easy scare
  • Texters Beware- Actually, any use of the phone will momentary distract you and can be very temping for a scareactor.
  • Don’t run or Scream- Just like the undead, causing attention to yourself will paint you a target for nearby scareactors
  • Don’t be sassy- It’s good to be confident, but not overconfident; sometimes telling a scareactor “You’re not scary,” or any other rambling could be detrimental when you least expect it.

Shows
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure 2012 – Back by popular demand, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure is like so totally cool you’ll be a fool to miss it. In this righteous show, Bill & Ted are back and mingling with a slew of current Hollywood celebrities for a parody of movies, TV shows, music and other pop culture events from 2012. Party on dudes!

20 Penny Circus: Fully Exposed – Bringing it’s “Magic For People With Questionable Taste” to an unsuspecting Halloween Horror Nights audience the 20 Penny Circus: Fully Exposed is a magic show that uses mutilation, blood and fire to make you squirm in your seat.

Lagoon Show –Universal’s all-new Cinematic Spectacular Lagoon Show that normally features movie memories from Universal’s most popular films now shows four short and terrifying moments from Universal’s most horrific films including Psycho and Chucky, as well as Classic Universal monsters and a song by Alice Cooper.

Rat Lady – Halloween Horror Nights iconic Rat Lady is back and she is just as creepy as ever as she lies in a coffin and let’s her four-legged rat friends run all over her. She won’t jump out at you or lure you to her coffin but the site of her lying their motionless as dozens of rats run across her body is very chilling.

 

Dining:
Mel’s Die-in – On any non Halloween Horror Nights night Mel’s Die-In is just Mel’s Drive-In but as night falls and the undead and evil creatures come out from their dark hiding places, the café turns into a drive-in to die for! Hungry guests can still enjoy Mel’s usual menu of burgers, sandwiches, shakes, fires and onion rings.

Universal Studios Classic Monsters Café – Fitting right into the Halloween theme, this restaurant features some of Universal’s classic monsters including Frankenstein, The Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Adding to the ghoulish fun are different scary dining areas including the Crypt, Mansion, Space or Swamp area. Each is filled with props from the monster movies.

Finnegan’s Bar & Grill – Take a break from the traditional American fare and the fear in the street and grab a seat at this Irish restaurant for classic Irish dishes like Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Beef Stew, Fish ‘n Chips and more.

Louie’s Italian Restaurant – Fuel up from all the screaming and running with a trip to New York for a slice of pizza at Louie’s Restaurant. Modeled after the restaurant in “The Godfather” where Sonny Corleone got his revenge, Louie’s offers Italian classic like Spaghetti and meatballs, Fettuccine Alfredo, Pizza and more.

Richter’s Burger Co. – A great spot to watch the spooky Lagoon Show this Halloween, Richter’s is a warehouse-like structure that appears to have been damaged by an earthquake. The menu of burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, shakes and more will keep you full and ready to go back to the haunted houses.

Beverly Hills Boulangerie – Located at the entry of the park, guests who need to eat before they get the daylights scared out of them can stop here for sandwiches and sweet treats.

Starbucks – Not that you’ll get tired darting from the undead roaming the streets and screaming from all of the evil in the haunted houses, but if you need a jolt that won’t leave you running for the hills stop by Starbucks between The Mummy and the Walking Dead House.

Benn & Jerry’s – Add a little joy to your horrific night with a scoopful of the country’s beloved ice cream franchise Ben & Jerry’s, also, between the Walking Dead: Dead Inside house and The Revenge of the Mummy.

Food carts – There are several food carts throughout Halloween Horror Nights offering quick bites between scares. You can get classic theme park food like turkey legs and boneless chicken wings and the not so classic foods like jell-o shots in blood bags and test tubes served by bloody nurses. Also, there is even a Twisted Tater cart offering spiral-cut, deep-fried potatoes on a stick.


Get your Twisted Taters!


Bloody Nurses have all your blood bag and poncho needs!

Shopping:
If you do survive your time at Halloween Horror Nights and want something to remember the horror by there are several HHN 22 merchandise items to choose from including “The Walking Dead,” Silent Hill and Alice Cooper t-shirts, pins and key chains.  Check out the HHN midway to win neat prizes like mummy-wrapped stuffed minions and other plush HHN merchandise.

Final Thought
If you plan on visiting Halloween Horror Nights closer to Halloween, then prepare for a bigger scare! Scareactors get into their stride with ways to frighten visitors. The houses get minor tweaks that will ratchet up the scares. And crews become more efficient in every respect. Fans who visited closer to the opening will find that the scares will are revamped and in spots they least expected, so you can go every night and still experience something different each night.