It is officially spooky season, and the best way to celebrate is at Universal Orlando.
The Florida theme park’s annual Halloween Horror Nights is back with a whole new slew of scares for 2022 — starting with 10 new haunted houses, including one built around musical superstarThe Weeknd.
PEOPLE had a chance to check out the attractions in person at the event, which takes place on select nights from Sept. 6 to Oct. 31 at the Orlando resort (a similar one, with its own unique attractions, isrunning at Universal Studios Hollywood).
In addition to the houses, there are also five scare zones and two live shows, as well as more than 75 unique culinary treats and a whole collection of seasonal merchandise available to meet every Halloween need.
It all takes 14 months, with more than 1,000 actors and countless twisted minds, to bring the event to life. The production team takes the friendly facade of the park and, as the sun goes down, transforms it into a spooktacular display of fright-filled smoke-shrouded hellscapes, full of wicked witches, ghastly ghouls and demonic demons.
Halloween Horror Nights — or HHH, as its legions of fans have dubbed the two-month celebration — first debuted at Universal Florida in 1991, under the name Fright Nights.
Each year has its own theme and this being the 31st annual HHH, and Halloween falling annually on Oct. 31, producers settled on classic Halloween as their theme. That means parkgoers can expect the park’s five elaborately themed “scare zones” to be decorated with lots of pumpkins, graveyards, skeletons, scarecrows and even some bloodthirsty trick-or-treaters.
But really, it’s all about the haunted houses, each scarier than the next. Step through each door and one is transported into an entirely different world, with intricately designed sets, creepy music, and smoky, dark lighting creating an experience that hits every sense.
All include live actors known as “scareactors” (rhymes with “characters”), trained to sneak up and jump out at attendees when they innocently pass.
Each room is based on another of The Weeknd’s creations, all while exploring his inner demons like the greed and vanity one experiences finding fame in the bright lights of Hollywood. An L.A. nightclub is where everything begins; but from there? Let’s just say it takes a turn into darkness fast.
“A slasher carving a smile at an otherworldly rave. Bandaged maniacs performing extreme plastic surgery. A grotesque mannequin masquerade. His nightmare is now yours,” reads the official description. A must-visit for anyone attending.
Universal Studios Orlando
Among the other IPs this year is a house built around the original 1978 horror classicHalloween, and one of two recent Blumhouse horror releases:FreakyandThe Black Phone.
There’s alsoUniversal Monsters: Legends Collide, a home celebrating three legendary characters from the studio’s history: The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy.
The original content houses may not be based on familiar stories, but each tells rich, captivating tales.
Here are each of their official descriptions. Definitely check outDead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake, a standout among them all.
But no Halloween Horror Nights visit would be complete without a trip to one of the two shows playing throughout the evening.
Ghoulish! A Halloween Taletakes place in the Universal Studios lagoon, with animations projected on an extravagant fountain display.
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It’s a spectacular show with mind-blowing visuals, hard-hitting music and incredible acrobatic performers. And it’s the perfect way to end one’s scaretastic trip.
Tickets for Universal Studios Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nightsare now on sale.
source: people.com
