Halloween Horror Nights didn’t start as a big family tradition for us. It started with just Trey and me.
Then Amaya started coming. Eventually Trey’s brothers joined us with their ladies, and somewhere along the way, our little couple’s trip turned into a full crew tradition.
You would think after doing this for years we’d have HHN completely figured out.
We thought so too.
We had a plan.
Then we walked through the gates.
The plan changed. The mission didn’t.
Hit all 10 houses. Walk the scare zones. Catch the shows. Make time for drinks, bathroom breaks and enough sugar to somehow keep us moving until the end of the night.
And this year, baby #3 was along for the adventure too.
Our Trip Actually Started With Disc Golf
We drove down Wednesday, a day before HHN. Originally, Trey and I planned to play Green Gauntlet, but we changed that plan on the way.
We had Amaya with us, and having our teenager sit in the car forever while we played a long round didn’t sound very fun for her. So we found a course right off the highway instead, played our round and kept moving toward Orlando.
Percy stayed with family for a few days, so this trip was us, our teenager, our discs and a full night of HHN ahead of us.
By Thursday, it was time.
One Thing We’ve Learned: TAKE THE BUS
We stay at Universal’s Dockside Inn and Suites, and now we take the resort bus to the park.
I say now for a reason.
When Trey and I first started going to HHN, we used to walk more than 30 minutes to the park.
Going to HHN? No problem. You’re excited. You’re talking. Your feet still work.
But a 30-minute walk at the beginning of the night and a 30-minute walk at 2 a.m. are two completely different measurements of time.
After hours of houses, lines, scare zones and walking around Universal, that same little walk turns into:
“I’ll pay $20 for a two-minute ride. I don’t care. Take my money.” 😂
We’ve learned.
We take the bus.
We Had a Plan… Sort Of
Over the years, we’ve figured out that HHN requires a plan—but you also have to be willing to change it.
Wait times change. Somebody needs the bathroom. Somebody needs a drink. Somebody spots a giant donut. And somehow everybody has a different opinion about what we should do next.
This year, we started with the houses toward the back of the park and worked our way around. The idea was to eventually end at the houses closest to the exit.
That gave us room to catch the live show around 9 p.m. and the water show later in the night.
The others even squeezed in a few rides, including Revenge of the Mummy and MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack.
Me?
No rides this year.
Baby #3 said we came for the haunted houses.
Fine by me.
What Actually Makes a Haunted House Good?
Our very first house of the night ended up being my favorite.
And that got me thinking:
What makes a haunted house your favorite?
Is it the decorations? The theme? The costumes? Seeing a room transformed into a scene straight out of a movie?
For me, those things matter—but there’s something more important.
SCARE ME.
I’ve been getting used to this whole scare thing for about 10 years now. If you know me, you also know I’m absolutely studying the houses while I’m walking through them.
I’m looking at the walls.
The props.
The lighting.
How they built things.
Half the time I’m probably thinking, Okayyy…how could I make THAT at home? 😂
But I can appreciate the decorating and still want you to scare me.
I don’t want a scare actor predictably waiting around every corner. After a while, you start expecting that.
The timing is what gets me.
Catch me looking the wrong way.
Make me jump.
Make me ball up my fist.
Make me yell and then immediately start laughing because you actually got me.
If I walk through the exit saying, “Okay! They got me!”
That’s a good haunted house.
And our first house did exactly that.
So… How Did We Rank HHN 35?
Instead of turning this recap into ten paragraphs about ten different houses, we made it simple.
This isn’t a professional critique of set design, costumes or special effects. This is simply our ranking based on the experience we had that night.
Our #1 house, Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, set the bar immediately.
After that, Trey actually described our biggest issue with several of the other houses perfectly: some of them started feeling a little generic.
We understood why. When you’re dealing with aliens, creatures, vampires or characters from a particular world, multiple scare actors need to look similar.
But when several houses start relying on full-body costumes and similar types of scares, eventually we start noticing the pattern.
Some of the houses were still amazing to look at.
There were rooms where I almost forgot about being scared because I was looking around thinking about how they transformed that space. Seeing scenes that look like they came straight from a movie is part of what makes HHN so impressive.
But for my ranking?
Pretty isn’t enough.
Haunted means scary.
The Scare Zones Had Their Own Competition
We ranked those too, and Infernal Carnival of Nightmares took our #1 spot.
What surprised me was Downtown Clowntown not winning.
If you know how much I love clown-themed Halloween stuff—and how many clown props I make—you’d probably expect me to automatically put that one first.
Nope.
I wanted to rank everything based on how we actually experienced it that night, not what I thought I was going to love before we arrived.
And that’s one of my favorite things about HHN.
Sometimes the thing you’re most excited about isn’t your favorite.
Sometimes the very first house of the night unexpectedly wins the whole thing.
Somewhere Along the Way, This Became Our Tradition
Maybe that’s the real reason we keep coming back.
The houses change.
The scare zones change.
Our carefully thought-out plan lasts approximately five minutes after entering the park. 😂
Even our crew has changed.
What started with Trey and me eventually included Amaya. Then his brothers and their ladies joined us. And this year, technically, baby #3 experienced HHN too.
But we’ve figured out our rhythm.
Have a plan. Change it when necessary. Don’t change the mission.
Hit the houses. Catch the shows. Take the bathroom break. Grab the drink. Eat the giant donut. Let everybody squeeze in a ride or two. Keep moving.
Then, when our feet finally say they’re finished, catch that beautiful bus back to Dockside instead of attempting the 30-minute walk Trey and I once thought was perfectly reasonable.
Because after all these years, I know exactly what I want from Halloween Horror Nights.
Give me incredible sets.
Give me details that make me wonder how they built them.
Give me a few ideas I can borrow for my own Halloween creations.
But most importantly…
SCARE ME.
If I walk through that final door laughing because you got me?
You did your job.
And we’ll see you next year.
