Universal Orlando has caused humans to fear what’s lurking in the theme park’s shadows each fall for a quarter of a century — and the scares keep coming.
The resort destination’s latest “Halloween Horror Nights” continues the tradition by offering a 25th anniversary celebration to one of the most frightening and complex evenings of the macabre.
Guests dare to roam through nine haunted mazes, the most ever assembled for “Horror Nights,” run through five “Scare Zones” and watch a pair of live shows (“The Carnage Returns” and “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure”) all themed to the absurd and grotesque.
Of the collection of haunted mazes, averaging about 10 minutes each to walk through, here’s a look at the most impressive and worthy of appreciation while enjoying a compacted visit to Universal Orlando’s famed theme park.
Body Collectors: Recollections — Guests walk through a winter wonderland and into the 19th century Shadybrook Asylum to witness a group of knife-wielding, well-dressed humanoids accumulating fresh body parts from unwilling humans.
Take note and visit at least twice, my fiends. The maze’s Victorian setting boasts by far the scariest and goriest room in the entire “Halloween Horror Nights” collection. It’s also the only attraction featuring a dwarf, a passive and pensive one at that, who is oddly unsettling amidst the slaughter.
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Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem — The hideous homicidal clown Jack acts as the master of ceremonies as he cajoles guests through a collection of 14 rooms (most ever for any Horror Nights’ maze) that represent some of the best moments of the possible 156 mazes displayed in the park since 1990.
Rooms to savor feature classic Universal Studios’ monsters (Frankenstein’s monster, Wolfman, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, etc.), the Caretaker’s assistant Cindy, a line up of Jack clones, a bedroom full of bloodsuckers and a darn big bear.
It is worth noting that I jumped multiple times to events in this maze. An impressive accomplishment for the scare-actors, since I have been completely desensitized to this type of frightening shenanigans due to years of marriage.
Insidious – One of the most popular paranormal film franchises returns as a haunted maze that perfectly mixes jump scares and encounters with the iconic phantoms from the trio of movies. Prepare to meet the red demon, doll girl, wheezing demon and most terrifying of all, the black bride, while weaving through the rooms and into the dark realms of The Further.
An American Werewolf in London – Director John Landis’ famed monster movie returns to life in a haunted maze featuring all the key scenes from the 1981 film. Mr. Landis requested that the wolves be bigger and badder than in the 2013 experience and the technicians delivered. The hairy, howling, blood-slobbering monstrosities are a masterpiece as they pop out at near every turn.
Freddy vs. Jason: A jaunt through Camp Crystal Lake as well as Elm Street allows guests plenty of encounters with the hockey-masked, machete-wielding psycho, his bladed-glove wearing rival and all of their victims. After a brutal fight, partially shown behind translucent screens, the journey concludes with survivors either seeing Jason or Freddy as the winner with each waving a piece of their opponent in victory.
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The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead — Witness the gruesome world of Robert Kirkman and AMC’s zombie apocalypse television show focused on its fifth season. That means meandering through Terminus (a cannibal’s refuge), passing by Father Gabriel’s cursed church, paying your respects to a familiar horse (and I am not talking about Mr. Ed), and observing where Noah passed away. The area offers limited scares, especially when compared to the other mazes, but it comes loaded with dioramic memories for fans.
I’ll give an honorable mention to Asylum in Wonderland 3D, a maze that offers a colorful and eye-popping twist to Lewis Carroll’s famed novel. Yes, you must wear the dorky glasses, but the visuals are very much worth the effort.
My only quibble with all of the haunted mazes is the plethora of Universal Orlando attendants in each helping to guide guests thought the rooms. I understand the security element as well as not wanting guests to mess with props, set design and scare-actors. However, the attendants do sometimes take away from the total immersion of the horrors.
Now, under the five “Scare Zones” — themed outdoor areas around the park loaded with creatures, psychos and ghouls — the best of the bunch by far is “All Nite Die-In – Double Feature.”
Get this, a generic horror movie plays on an outdoor screen and the characters roaming the surrounding area are either from the old days of monster films or more contemporary freaks depending on if the movie is in color or black and white.
So for color, guests run into such icons as Chuckie, Carrie and Freddy Krueger, for example. For the glory days of black and white, it’s pretty much the Universal monsters including Bride of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, Dracula and Imhotep. It’s a clever, well-executed idea that appealed to this movie monster fan.
Finally, the better of the live shows, “The Carnage Returns,” featured an appearance by Jack the twisted clown and his assistant Chance (looking a lot like the Joker’s gal Harley Quinn).
It’s a horror magic show as preselected victims die on stage while ghouls dance around them to hard-core, goth music. It was a bit too bloody and raunchy for my tastes, but the crowd seemed very energized by the faux butchery.
IF YOU DARE GO
Where: Universal Studios Florida, Kirkman Road and Interstate 4, Orlando, Fla.
Fear factor (out of 5): 4.5 for adults; parental discretion highly advised for children younger than 13.
Hours: Open select nights between Sept. 18 to Nov. 1, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. depending upon the night and date.
Price range: Single-night general admission ticket is $101.99. Look to the website to find other combo deals tied to park admissions and multiple-day access.
Special pricing packages can help with the pain of the excruciatingly long lines. First, look for an HHN Express Pass (starting from $79.99) for shorter wait times.
Or, the slightly wallet-busting RIP Tour offers groups an actual guide (dressed in medical scrubs) to quickly usher a party through all of the mazes in one evening (starting from $139.99 per person).
Website: https://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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