“Mom, I just wanted to thank you for bringing me. I think that is my favorite thing I’ve ever done at Universal.”
These words from my 13-year-old son almost brought me to tears the morning after our first visit to Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (or “HHN,” as most people call it). Maybe it sounds odd that spending a night screaming my way through haunted houses with my teenager made me emotional, but it felt like a milestone of sorts, both for him and for our relationship.
My son has been begging to attend HHN for years. My husband and I are huge fans of all things spooky—he starts decorating for Halloween in August and we watch scary movies most nights of the week—so we wanted to indulge our son’s interest in the event. But we also wanted to make sure he was ready.
Now that we’re safely on the other side of his first HHN experience (and already planning his next one), I want to share some of the things we did leading up to the event, as well as some tips for other horror-loving parents who want to bring their kids.
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What is Halloween Horror Nights?
Halloween Horror Nights is a monthslong, after-hours Halloween event that takes place at Florida’s Universal Orlando Resort and California’a Universal Studios Hollywood. This separately ticketed event completely transforms the park from a place of bright lights, laughter, and upbeat music into a lair of creatures lurking in dark corners, tortuous screams, and rolling fog.
The event changes from year to year, but always includes a mix of haunted houses, outdoor scare zones with free roaming scare actors, rides and live entertainment. Basically, Halloween Horror Nights is not for the faint of heart. The park is dark, the music is loud, and the haunted houses and scare zones are gory, with jump scares around every turn.
Those are some of the reasons I love HHN, but they are also why Universal warns that HHN may be “too intense for young children and is not recommended for children under the age of 13.”
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How we prepared for Halloween Horror Nights at home
Before I ponied up for a plane ticket to Orlando (and let my son miss a day of school), I wanted to make certain of two things: that he could handle Halloween Horror Nights and that he would actually enjoy it.
When he began to express interest a few years ago, we started watching YouTube videos of past events to give him a sense of how scary the houses are. It’s easy to find house walkthrough videos online if you want to do this, as well. A few channels I would recommend are Mammoth Club, Inside Universal and Thrill Geek.
We also eased our way into watching horror movies, which is something I did when I decided I wanted to attend HHN myself. We started with some “beginner” movies like “Ghostbusters,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” before graduating to “advanced” movies like “The Conjuring,” “Insidious,” and basically every movie based on a Stephen King book. If you Google a list of the scariest horror movies, we’ve probably seen them all.
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The most important step we took toward Halloween Horror Nights readiness was visiting a local haunted house. Since I go every year, I knew that I would be able to compare the scare factor of a local haunt to the houses at HHN. I promised him that if he survived (pun intended), he could come along with me to HHN.
Our local haunted house was actually scarier in some ways. The actors followed us around and were even allowed to touch us. Of course, I screamed nonstop, but my son handled it like a champ and earned his ticket to Halloween Horror Nights.
Tips for attending with your young teen
Preparing my son for Halloween Horror Nights was only the beginning. There are several other things I would recommend you do leading up to and during the event to make the experience one you and your teen will remember forever.
Stay at an on-site hotel. At Universal Orlando, the on-site hotels have Halloween-themed decor in the lobbies, specialty food and drink items, and free and convenient transportation to Halloween Horror Nights (we were able to walk back and forth from our room at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort).
In California, Universal Studios Hollywood doesn’t have any official hotels, but there are a handful within walking distance of the park. I like the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City and the Sheraton Universal Hotel.
Take a rest before the event. Most nights, Halloween Horror Nights closes at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. That’s pretty late in my house, but we wanted to stay until the event closed to see as much as possible, so we took it easy during the day of the event. We spent the day by the pool (another perk of staying on property) before retreating to our room to soak up some air conditioning before the night’s festivities.
Buy a special souvenir. You can find Halloween Horror Nights merchandise all over the parks and at CityWalk. My son picked out a T-shirt that listed all of this year’s haunted houses, which I thought was a fitting way to commemorate his first HHN.
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Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the houses. Both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando offer behind-the-scenes “Unmasking the Horror” tours of select houses. These tours take place during the day, with the lights on and, rather than scare actors, you’ll be joined by a friendly tour guide to walk you through the details of each house.
For anyone who is as Halloween-obsessed as my family is, it’s a unique opportunity to see the details and artistry you miss when the lights are out and there are monsters in your face. But these tours can also be helpful if you or your teenager are excited, but still a bit timid, about haunted houses.
Seeing the houses fully-lit gives you a better idea of the layout and where the scares might come from, leaving you feeling more prepared to step inside at night for the full experience.
Take breaks throughout the evening. Even though HHN takes over most of the park, there are always spots to get away from the scares if you need a little “rest and reset.” Many of the park’s restaurants remain open during HHN and several rides, as well.
Skip the line if it’s in your budget. Kids can be impatient, but Universal offers several skip-the-line options during Halloween Horror Nights. The least expensive is called a Scream Early ticket in Orlando and an Early Access ticket in Hollywood and costs less than $100 per person. These allow you into the event before the posted start time, with select haunted houses opening before the event officially begins.
If you’re willing to pay closer to $250, you can buy a Halloween Horror Nights Universal Express pass that lets you skip the standby line and use a shorter “Express” line. This option is more expensive, but can save you hours waiting in line.
If you want to go all out, you can also reserve a R.I.P Tour (Universal’s spooky take on a V.I.P tour). There are different variations that include private or group tours of all or some of the houses, and your guide will usher you straight to the entrance of each house.
Should you bring your teen to Halloween Horror Nights?
There wasn’t one thing we did that made me know my son was ready for Halloween Horror Nights. Like many parts of parenthood, it was more of a gut feeling that my husband and I had after attending the event ourselves, letting our son try out some spooky things at home, and just knowing our kid.
Every child is different. Like with any major milestone, kids get there on their own time. I know of parents who brought their kids to HHN at a much younger age than mine. On the other hand, I know kids and adults who wouldn’t go to Halloween Horror Nights if you paid them.
There’s more to it than just feeling ready for the scares, though. The houses, actors and scare zones at Halloween Horror Nights depict murder, violence, gore, and other adult content that you and your kid need to be comfortable with.
My son had the time of his life, and, as silly as it may sound, HHN was something that helped us bond during a time when our relationship is shifting into that of parent and teen. He no longer needs me to feed him or read to him, but someone’s got to raise the next generation of horror fans, and that is a role I am happy to take on.
I can’t think of a better place to usher in this new stage of parenthood than at Halloween Horror Nights.
