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Halloween Horror Nights 16

This year’s HHN is a combination of a Sweet 16 celebration and a Homecoming of sorts for Halloween Horror Nights four top icon characters. HHN 16 also returned home to it’s birthplace, Universal Studios Florida. As someone who enjoyed the past few years where HHN took place at Islands of Adventure next door, I found that I really enjoyed having it return back to the Studios this year.

As a plus, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure also returned home to their original theater venue, though slightly updated by Fear Factor: Live. Honestly, this is where Bill & Ted belong… it just hasn’t felt like quite the same show in the Toon Lagoon theater. Without giving too much away, Bill & Ted were… well… “Excellent” this year. We’ve got a ton of sweet photos for you that are sure to include some SPOILERS as well. So be warned, if you want to be surprised by this year’s show don’t look at the photos on the Bill & Ted page.

You can also read some questions and answers all about Halloween Horror Nights taken from our interview with TJ Mannarino, the Director of Art & Design at Universal Orlando. Click here to read it!

That said, lets enter Halloween Horror Nights 16 proper by taking a right turn and heading down the Hollywood street which is now decorated in order with the banners of all the past Horror Nights. Just past Mel’s you’ll make a brief stop at The Arrival stage where the four icons put on a brief show, off a few innocents (or not so innocents) and we run into our friend Darkness here as well. Unlike last years great human sacrifice display on the Terra Throne that really set the mood for the night, I wasn’t as impressed by this show. Knowing all four icons myself, this seemed more like a brief HHN-101 class for the uninitiated to bring them up to speed with who is who.

Now before we dive into the haunted houses, I’ve got to mention this year’s three Scare Zones. You’ll find the Harvest of Souls just behind the Arrival stage area which is full of fog, pumpkin head fiends, little trolls and much more. The Scareactors here were great and really knew how to get the girls to scream. My only problem with the Harvest of Souls was that the area was just too small, especially in comparison to the huge cornfield version (Field of Screams) they had at HHN 14.

Going the other direction from Mel’s towards Shrek 4D will take you through the Blood Masquerade… which also was entirely too short. I’m also not sure what was up with the all white wedding dress looking vampire girls. Call me a typical man if you will, but I prefer the goth looking vamp girls with the push-up bras and low cut shirts myself that they had at Castle Vampyr back in HHN 14. That said… Blood Masquerade also looked understaffed when I went through, with all the vamps on platforms and nothing roaming around in the fog.

The highlight of the entire evening however was to come… Deadtropolis. The dead have risen and taken over New York and all the Army can do is try to contain the “infection” at each entrance by telling you to stay out. Without blinking an eye I will say that Deadtropolis was beyond incredible. Everything that was wrong with the other scare zones and often minor problems I’ve had with past HHN events was solved here. It was a convincing, living, breathing cityscape that was in the midst of being overrun by zombies. Deadtropolis covers the entire large New York corner of the park where you encounter not just your typical people playing Zombie, but Scareactors of all ages dressed up like city locals and tourists so they blend into the fog filled crowds and can often get within just a few feet of their victims before they even know who’s coming for dinner. The zombies are everywhere, from the main street pathways to others hiding in the alleys and side streets… they even have an assortment of “street walker” zombies for your enjoyment walking around as well as a few being placed up onto the back of a flatbed left in the middle of the street. Oh, I can’t forget the zombie hunters… angry biker types who ride their hogs around the streets looking to distribute a little justice of their own and send the shambling mounds of flesh back to hell again. After my first pass through the area I had to come back two more times just to stand around and watch the action take place in various parts of the city. All said and done… Deadtropolis ROCKS!

Before I review the mazes, lets take a look at some of the general photos taken around the park and of each of the three Scare Zones. I also want to thank my good friend Michael Fettig of Action Shots Photography (based in Orlando) who served as my photographer for the evening. If your in need of an excellent photographer while in the Central Florida area for whatever reason, please do check out his services.