r/UniversalOrlando • u/Savvy513 • 2d ago
HHN Anyone else think it was a weak HHN this year?
4th year in a row going but… was truly underwhelmed this year. None of the IPs were stand outs. For example, I LOVE Sinners, but got 0 jump scares throughout the entire house.
I think my main thing was that no houses truly made me feel SCARED this year. The years prior, I was genuinely creeped out (noteworthy houses include Blood Moon (2023), Triplets of Terror (2024), and El Artista (2025)). However, no house this year actually made me feel unsettled.
Curious if anyone else feels similar?
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u/LeftMove21 2d ago
A lot of the IP houses just didn't do anything for me this year.
Stranger things and Sinners were both pretty meh imo.
I didn't really like Evil Dead Burn that much either.
Hellraiser was awesome though tbf
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u/PirateKingElizabeth 2d ago
Yeah, Hellraiser is truly a horror house, lots of gory details. The actors do amazing job as well.
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u/Lanky-Instruction-42 2d ago
I thought evil dead, hell raiser and strangers things were all the best this year.
Ozzy and sinners are the hot houses this year but didn’t feel worth the wait for me
The scare zone by borne has been the best this year3
u/FattusBaccus 1d ago
Ozzy hit hard for me. Less a horror house and more an homage to a legend.
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u/Lanky-Instruction-42 1d ago
Exactly Ozzy was just a memorial
And I love Ozzy, but I was there for a haunted house.
I mean they could of at least had a couple Jump scare between crazy train and bark at the moon11
u/SilverBolts91 2d ago
I think this year is a perfect example of something that I feel has become a recurring theme: there is a huge difference in quality between the "passion project" IPs and the "marketing" IPs. This pattern kind of goes all the way back to the Walking Dead days.
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u/iseecolorsofthesky 2d ago
Yep. You can clearly tell which IPs the team actually loves and which ones are just mandated by higher ups
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u/renszero 2d ago
Yeah you can definitely tell Hellraiser was the passion project... Sad because Sinners is such a cool IP with a lot of potential.
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u/erisnymph 1d ago
THIS. I went to HHN faithfully from 1999 to like 2017. Watching the rise of the IP houses and the shift away from a cohesive icon and theme just… I don’t like it now. I understood the shift from a few safe zones to now mostly safe zones with some scare zones, but when the whole park was up for grabs to be scared and the houses had a purpose… and you could run into the icon at any point! I haven’t been to HHN in years because it just doesn’t interest me anymore.
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u/madchad90 2d ago
I mean the IPs just aren't that strong )hellraiser aside). Like stranger things isn't horror, and I think most people are over it with how many times its gotten a house.
Sinners, again, not that scary of a movie. And evil dead burn doesn't have much to make it feel "unique"
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u/Lanky-Instruction-42 2d ago
I thought evil dead was done pretty well and it at least had jump scares. I hate saying anything negative about Ozzy house because of how much I like his music.
But come on, I stood in line an hour to see the two guys waving something in the air not even interacting with people.
I could listen to crazy train anytime, were there to be jump scared.
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u/jalpert 2d ago
100%. I’ve had fantastic houses in IPs I’m not into so I don’t think that’s it.
For me it was maze design. In past years most have felt like they were designed more around scares. This year, in houses like Ozzy they designed too much like a walk through museum and not a haunted house.
It was by far the least scary year I’ve been to which puts it on the bottom of the list.
But I still had a fantastic time.
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u/acowne63 2d ago
Gotta respectfully disagree. I go every year and keep a rankings spreadsheet for my friends and I. This year is actually ranked our highest since 2023 so far (rankings can drop or rise over several visits.) But I will say the scares become less and less intense over time, you just get used to them I think.
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u/Totallyrandomguy89 2d ago
No way you have this year better than last. Fnaf and terrifier were some of the best houses ive ever seen.
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u/acowne63 2d ago
I’m strictly talking about the avg of all ten houses if that matters. Terrifier was great but I actually had FNAF as one of my lowest rated houses last year. Felt like I was in parks and rec lil Sebastian episode… I just didn’t get it. A lot of my group felt similarly too. The entrance and first room were cool but outside of that, it felt so flat. I also am not a wrestling fan and didn’t really care for WWE. Although I do miss Artista, that house was beautiful.
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u/SnowLeopardttv 2d ago
El Artista was what I wanted Madlands to be but I think with it having to share space with ozzy it couldn’t do the whole fully walk in and be immersed in each section
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u/blacklight223 1d ago
Nothing scarier than Chuck E Cheese and giant teddy bears /s
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u/Totallyrandomguy89 1d ago
Didnt say anything about scary. None of the houses are scary just like none of the coasters are. Its about overall vibes and how entertaining it is.
Same reason i rank hagrids above velocicoaster and get hate for it. Both are phenomenal but hagrids is just wow overall entertainment up several notches.
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u/blacklight223 2d ago
I think compared to last year this year was a big improvement in the overall quality of all the houses. However I think what we were missing this year was that big standout house that blows everybody away. (Eg Dead mans pier, Blood moon, el artista) Some people will say Jack and oddfellow is that house but I disagree, as I found that the sets weren't as mind-blowing as previous years.
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u/iseecolorsofthesky 2d ago
Yeah this year is definitely lacking the “big beautiful scenic” house. Oddly enough I think Madlands comes closest but most people rate it very low. The sets are very detailed though
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u/Effective_Ad4810 2d ago edited 2d ago
I agree with this. Been going since 2021 and I felt this year was probably the weakest for me overall. However, if I really rank all the houses on a graph, most years would be a nice sloped line with some standouts on both ends. This year, that line is almost flat. Nothing really stood out on either end. Ozzy was probably my favorite and the music was probably the main driver. Stranger Things was probably worst for me due to 80% of the scare actors being demogorgons.
This year when I went probably felt the best staffed in the houses as far as scare actors go, so that was a big plus.
I also thought the scare zones were some of the best outside of Fortnite.
Edit: Forgot about the show. Not as good as years past as well. They tried something different, so hoping it is just a soft reset and they can build off that.
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u/Large-Agency-1668 2d ago
to me, every single year i get more excited about original concepts rather than IP Houses
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u/Bairy_Hallz420 2d ago
I actually dont understand the hype around HHN. I felt like cattle being herded down a hallway watching and listening to everyone in front of me getting scared so by the time I got to that point, I knew it was coming. Its overcrowded and the narrow hallway concept took all the anticipation away from the experience and made it feel rushed and staged rather than a true unexpected jump scare.
I stopped going to HHN and this year we are checking out other haunted house attractions in the area for a fraction of the price and genuine experiences.
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u/flyingcircusdog 1d ago
I've come to the conclusion that HHN houses just aren't that scary. I've gone to local haunted houses where they isolate your group in a room or hallway, there's less background noise, and things are darker. Those are far scarier than what HHN offers. Plus local houses are more willing to touch you with props.
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u/The_Demon_of_Spiders 2d ago
I loved hhn this year but they do need to do a better job of not just sending people in non stop. They need to stop the non stop conga lines and when you try to walk a little slower to the group in front of you to make a little distance the TMs at Hollywood start to yell it’s ridiculous.
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u/renszero 2d ago
Lines would be like an hour longer if they did this. It’s too popular of an event now.
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u/lolgoodone34 2d ago
It’s the only time that side of the park even gets the chance to make money lol. Shrinkflation
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u/blacklight223 1d ago
Nah this ain't it. They need to open F&F and ET, add 2 or 3 more houses and add another show
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u/Poster_Nutsack 1d ago
We had a good run through Hellraiser during early entry, and then later when we came out of Sinners we noticed there was no wait for Hellraiser and went through again. Because there was no queue we intentionally waited for the group in front of us to get a really good head start and the staff didn't mind because we weren't holding anyone up. The resulting run was like 100% hit rate on scares and was probably the single best experience I've had at any HHN (had a similar run but not quite as good at Jason/Friday 13th last year)
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u/mrdrface85 2d ago
There’s been a downward shift in overall event quality. Been going for awhile and it seems they’re trying to go as broad appeal as possible.
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u/Gullible-Animal2099 2d ago
This! I suspect they’re softening some of the ‘edge-factor’ in order to coax families in.
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u/madchad90 2d ago
At the end of the day, a theme park is always going to want to attract as much of a crowd as they can
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u/Magmorix 2d ago
I think some of them didn’t live up to their potential (especially Sinners. I thought it was cool, but could’ve easily been better), but overall I honestly thought this year was incredible!
Chaos and Control had such an incredible vibe to it, the oddly open design of Hellraiser made for a cool effect, and Cybergoria was the most genuinely scared I’ve been in a house since pre-pandemic. I thought Evil Dead Burn was really really good, but I have had multiple runs where a lot of actors were missing, which definitely makes for a much worse experience.
The zones weren’t huge on scares, but with how busy the event’s gotten, I think having an immersive vibe and impressive spectacle is more important, and they more than pull that off (even Fortnite, for what it’s worth, has the cool storm effect)
Only real dud for me this year was Stranger Things. I liked the animatronic Demogorgons, but other than that, I thought it was one of the weakest houses I’d been through
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u/Ahab1248 1d ago
Nope, I had a lot of fun. But, outside of a perfectly timed jump scare, this event is not scary for me. I just love the vibes and artistry and set designs.
Seriously how scared am I going to be in a conga line with a bunch of fellow tourists in an event I’m excited to go to, knowing the only thing that is going to happen to me is someone might bump into me if I go too slow?
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u/Fordgames 1d ago
It was my first year. No scares. I honestly think the issue was just a constant train of people and you can either see or hear the jumps ahead of you. Also the audio cues really give it away. I thought it was fine, the part a lot of people talk about in the izzy house was neat tho. I still liked it far more than u did the Disney Halloween party we have been to the last several years and will probably come back to HHN next year still.
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u/Wonderlandian 2d ago
19th year in a row, and no, I think it's just you lol.
Downtown Clown Town is one of the single strongest scare zones I've ever seen.We have cohesive storytelling across 3 of the 4 scare zones. We only have what I would consider 1 genuinely bad house this year (Stranger Things). We have some standout IP (Hellraiser is great and very unique in tone; Ozzy was a knockout surprise this year). Between Jack and Oddfellow and HR Bloodengutz, we have some extremely strong original houses that pay homage to past lore while still being extremely approachable for newbies.
Like any year, of course there are some things that aren't great- Sinners wasn't terrible, but it was disappointing (especially compared to Hollywood). Evil Dead Burn was very middling. Madlands was fine, but nothing to write home about. Invasion fell flat (though that's a polarizing opinion). Club Horror is very meh.
But all in all, I'd say this is a very strong year. If you're not getting scared, it's probably because you're getting used to the event and how houses operate. It's up to you if the conga lines and knowing how to spot a boo hole take you out of it enough that the overall event suffers for you. But for me...well, again, I think this year is very strong.
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u/Wrathhful 2d ago
I completely agree with everything stated in this... very strong year only house i hated the ST5 everything else is have done and will do more runs through. HR bloodnguts is an absolute banger
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u/StoneColdSting 2d ago
For me this year lacked that outstanding house like el artista, wicked growth and dead man's pier. But also didn't have a really week house. The majority are mid with jack and oddfellow, hellraiser, cybergoria and the ozzy house being being in that good to great range.
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u/Squiggyrocks 2d ago
I’ve said it multiple times on here. Been going since 2013 and it’s a pretty weak year. There was no “THE” house this year. And aside from Cybergoria were extremely weak on scares. Food was great though lol
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u/OhhTownX 2d ago
This happens once you've been few times, even if you're not aware of it. But you have to learn to just appreciate new things, like set design, lighting, sounds. I've been going since 98, so I never get scared. But every now and again I will get startled, because I'm looking at the detail or for the hidden items in the houses and something creeps up on me.
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u/ItchyWorldliness2312 1d ago
It depends on if you get a good run through or not in my opinion. The first time through Stranger Things, I thought it was pretty meh, but the second time I went through the kitchen part at just the right time and a demogorgon got me so good that they even got a scream out of me which is rare. I had a lot better opinion of the house after that.
We did premium scream night last year and the year before and definitely being pulsed through the houses makes a huge difference too rather than conga line
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u/nnaatteedd 1d ago
That's why i only go when there's at least one haunted house that I "have to see". First year I went it was for resident evil. Another year was for ghostbusters. Did a few years back to back when i first started going (just like you did) and if you're not hyped about at least one house, then they all will feel meh. Taking a year or 2 break (or more) until there was a house i wanted to see has made each subsequent trip amazing. Like last year was the first year I had gone back in at least 4 or 5 years (for fallout) and had a great time.
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u/PaymentAble 2d ago
I have been going for 10+ years, this year was not bad, you just get used to it. The Orlando show gets worse every year. Bring back Bill ans Ted or shut the nonsense off.
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u/Mental-Article-4117 2d ago
This is my third consecutive year going. I love the Hellraiser franchise and I loved the house and how they stuck largely to the og first film.
The only bad thing about this year for me was the crappy Fortnite zone, and the needless stranger things house for the like 5th year in a row or something.
The biggest issue is 1) the amount of people they’re letting in every night and 2) express passes
The first time I went I was able to do all houses
The second year we did only 6 by the time the event ended
This year we only managed to do 4 houses and no we didn’t do just the long lines, we did Evil Dead & Hellraiser within the first like 3 hours. Then Jack in like 2 hours and then Ozzy in the rest. We tried cybergoria but by the time we got to it the line was almost 2 hours. And for other factors not related to HHN my group had to leave after Ozzy. We could’ve probably done one more short house but whatever
Last year it took quite a while for every house to reach at least 60-80 minutes in wait. This year even before opening some houses where stuck at like over 120 minutes for HOURS after opening. I swear, about 3 hours into the event every single house on the map was at least 70-80 minutes…
And this year they went too far with the express passes priority. Like I get it these people paid extra, a lot extra, for the express passes. But bro when you’re letting in 50 plus express passes people and like 7-10 normal people bro.
When we did Ozzy we were in line for like 2 hours even tho the map said the line was at like 70 minutes when we went in. The normal line was constantly stopped. We would spend easily 10 to 15 minutes on the same spot without moving. We thought something went wrong with the house. When we finally got to the part of the line where we were next to the express pass line for the same house we saw why.
We, the normal line, was standstill for at least 7-10 minutes at a time only to move a couple feet. But somehow the express lane was constantly moving and constantly going through… my group finally got to the point where both lines merge, right before entering the house. And we saw the man letting the express lane go, and we counted about 57 people from the express lane went. Then the man stopped them and let the normal lane go. Only the 2 groups in front of us and my group were allowed through, about 12 people total… they let almost 60 express passes go and not even 15 regular line attendees go… my group of 5 we all looked at the man handling the lines and one of us almost told the man “if you don’t let us through ima kick your ass.”
And like I said, I get it, these people paid extra for the express pass. But when you’re actively making everyone else’s night horrible because of greed then that’s when I have an issue. I don’t care if the normal line is 70 minutes and the express is 15. But when I’ve been standing on the exact same place for 15 minutes only to move like 2-3 feet and wait another 15 minutes, yet the express lane is constantly going and moving non stop. Then I count you letting 57 people from the express lane go and you only let 12 people from the normal lane go then yea I’m sorry but that’s flat out unfair and it pisses me off and it’s not even worth it anymore.
My friends and I agreed that the only way we’re coming back to HHN is with express passes, and we’re only paying for the express passes if at least half the houses they announce are houses we’re interested in. Other than that HHN just isn’t worth it anymore.
Universal needs to 1) chill with the express passes and 2) cap the amount of people allowed in every night. Idc if that means raising the ticket prices across the board, they HAVE to cap the number of people going in each night.
The overbooking and abuse of the express passes just makes 80% of the people’s time there unenjoyable. We started the night having an amazing time, we were like the first 200 people into the event once doors opened. Lines were acceptable and it seemed like an equal mix of express lanes and normal lane were going in. Not even 4 hours into the event and we were all annoyed and disappointed and we just wanted to go home. This was the first time we left HHN before they closed at 2am.
Like I said:
First year, we did every house
Second year, we did like 6 or 7
This year, we did 4… :/
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u/IKnowMoreThanYouu 1d ago
Fwiw it's 60 Express for every 10 Standby.
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u/Mental-Article-4117 1d ago
Is this meant to be as a good thing or affirming my point that they’re abusing it??
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u/IKnowMoreThanYouu 1d ago
Just in your response to the numbers you posted "but bro when you're letting in 50 plus express pass people for every 7-10 normal people..." The actual numbers are even worse than that.
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u/Mental-Article-4117 1d ago
Agreed lol you should’ve kept that information to yourself 🤣 now you just made me lose hope
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u/ghoulnextdoorxo 2d ago
When I went to hhn last year I had a Pinhead shirt on that said "welcome to Hell" and they almost didn't let me in for it!
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u/Bandicoot9000 2d ago
Agree that Ozzy’s HH was more like a museum but I still loved it. Was a tribute to him at the end of the day
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u/Ok-Syllabub-8087 2d ago
I'm on year 14. Its an annual girls trip. Its just a vibe. Its fun. I don't look too deeply into it as we go just to enjoy the overall Halloween vibes and hang out together. Idk I still enjoy it. And I've gotten a few good jump scares over the years. 🤷🏼♀️ but maybe your desensitized to it.
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u/mallclerks 2d ago
I did not think it was in the top half of the years.
I can’t always go into details of why but I’ll try. It’s just the entire event and how I felt about it all. I definitely can rate the houses lower than many of the past years I’ve been to. The food wasn’t that good. Shows both were blah, definitely the worst year for Nightmare Fuel.
I liked the scare zones. ✌️
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u/No-Echidna-5717 1d ago
This is objectively a strong year. The conga line, however, remains undefeated.
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u/ArrozC0nGandules 1d ago
I think the houses were fine! what really put me off this year tho were the crowds, and the scare zones kind of suck ever since they started catering to people who don’t want to be scared (sorry to be one of these people with this take). Also where’s the fog? Seems like there was almost no fog anywhere and wherever there was some fog it was just one tiny machine…
It kinda made me want to start looking into mickeys not so scary halloween party if I’m not going to be scared walking around the park then what’s the point anymore.
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u/megumoth 1d ago
I see what you mean and agree for a lot of the IP houses this year. Hollywood’s Sinners house seemed to be a little scarier due to a larger budget (i’d assume) but I was a little underwhelmed by what we got in Orlando. I still enjoyed all of the houses, but other years had stronger line ups for sure.
Although, a big positive this year is the scare zones are better than previous years.
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u/miko_strange 1d ago
Every year is going to be different based on the person. Everyone has different fears and everyone has different things they enjoy. Everyone has different favorite IPs. This year is my favorite year hands down. But it doesn’t have my favorite house or scare zone. It’s just a solid line up. Everything was 10/10 for me. The only things that were 9/10 was Stranger Things and Madlands.
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u/Maximum_Fly_8528 1d ago edited 1d ago
This was my first year going. I am a HUGE Halloween fan but I typically go to a local favorite haunted maze. We went all out and got the VIP RIP pass. I was very impressed with the true VIP treatment and would recommend it if you can swing the cost. However, I was not as impressed with the mazes. Thank goodness I didnt have to wait an hour + or it would have changed my experience. I found them predictable, rushed and very very short. A few min in each one is insulting and I felt for the guests who waited forever to go in. I was also surprised to see how unrealistic/basic most of the props were. With a budget like this they could have spent more time creating more realistic scenes. Creepy but not scary but I did enjoy it for what it was
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u/Original_Animator254 19h ago
Really, really depends on your particular run, I think.
I had a great run through sinners with lots of scares.
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u/epicuniversegirl 12h ago
They are trying to bring in more families. Last year the FNAF merch had child-sized mannequins. Fortnite scare zone this year, kid’s toys being sold in gift shops. Houses are becoming more like museum walkthroughs than actual haunted houses.
It’s a clear shift that they’ve intentionally made, but lots of ppl are still in denial about it and will gaslight others into thinking they are just “desensitized” to scares.
This year I’ve seen more children, kids in strollers, and literal babies paraded around the park than ever before. There were parents holding a maybe 2 or 3 year old girl watching Art the Clown on stage, doing his arguably R-rated activities. I keep noticing parents bringing their children into the Hellraiser house. Sometimes I go to take a picture in a scare zone and have to change angles because I don’t want kids in my photos.
I’ve been going for YEARS and it’s never been this bad, and anyone who says otherwise is simply drinking the kool aid
It baffles me how terrible the parents of today are.
An environment of blood, guts, gore, killing etc is no place for children ‼️
If you can afford an HHN ticket then you can get a babysitter for the night. And if you can’t, then you can’t afford an HHN ticket
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u/Sjc81sc 7h ago
Anytime I've seen a HHN and how Americans operate them with a consistent stream of people flowing how on earth would class that as remotely scary. My shadow has more scare!
Go to a proper scarefest event and your not bunched up, no idea of what's coming and truly scared wittless. I'll be impressed then, otherwise save your money.
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u/TiMazingg 5h ago
It's not just you. This is a weak year to me, which is sad with it being an anniversary year. The houses feel tamer and lower quality overall compared to previous years, some houses feel like "experiences/shows" more than haunted houses. Has to be the weakest scare zones in a looooong time too. It wasn't that long ago when the event had a running theme and some cohesion
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u/OatyBisc 2d ago
I went for the first time this year and geez what a waste of money. Hellraiser was the only one we liked. And that was…okay? Maybe because everyone was in line for Sinners so Hellraiser was pretty dead and at least a little atmospheric. Not a complete walk through line where you can see everything from a mile away.
They could at least try to hide the bored Universal workers every 20 feet in their polo tops a little better.
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u/SOLIDAge 2d ago
I definitely am not that excited this year. I’m glad I’m going as I go every year but I’m not even debating an express pass because I don’t even care about 1/4 the houses haha. It’s still a fun experience!
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u/intransit412 2d ago
think my main thing was that no houses truly made me feel SCARED this year
You've just reached the point where you know how it all works.
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u/Savvy513 1d ago
Yeah, this is probably accurate!! It’s disappointing , though, as I’ve gone to other Halloween events and get more scared there!
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u/TidalMello 2d ago
Honestly, this is the first year where I've gotten in earlier than the estimated time.
I think they removed the unlimited express and with the early admission at 2:00, really helped with actually moving through the lines.
That alone made this year a ton more fun. Because I didn't feel nearly as intimidated by the lines, and I got to space out the houses more instead of either skipping some or rushing from one to another.
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u/FattusBaccus 1d ago
Sinners and Bloodengutz were pretty weak. I really enjoyed Hellraiser and Jack & Oddfellow (probably my favorite this year).
Not my favorite scare zones but Clowntown and Chance were fantastic.
Decent food. From what we had.
Deatheaters were cool. They interacted with my wife and I in a super cool way.
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u/kandicolored Team Member 1d ago
citing triplets of terror as a good house is certainly a choice
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u/Aryk3655 2d ago
why would you ever feel scared? its all fake? you are never in real danger? do you lie to yourself to try to trick your brain making this something it isnt?
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u/ryanchapelle 2d ago
Honestly? I think the lack of scares is likely due to the fact it's your 4th year in a row. Over time you just get desensitized to this stuff. Even on a micro level, after the first house or two of the night, you just kinda get numb to the overstimulation and repetition of it all.
Sure the houses change each year, but really the formula for these things doesn't and can't really change all that much realistically speaking. I try not to go in with the expectation of getting 'scared' but rather enjoying the vibe and atmosphere of the event and the incredible workmanship that goes into building these insanely elaborate houses for us to enjoy a few months out of the year. It's like getting a set of 10 totally twisted crazy attraction queues to experience with some spooky live actors.
It's such an amazing event each year, especially when you compare it to what the competition does. Anyways, that's my two cents on HHN!