Halloween Horror Nights is less than a month away and signs of the event’s 35th anniversary are popping up all over Universal Studios Florida! Universal Orlando has now announced all 10 haunted houses, 4 scare zones, 2 street experiences, and the 2 shows all included in your event ticket . You can watch our full event guide here to help plan the perfect Halloween Horror Nights vacation!
On a recent visit to Universal Studios, we spotted lots of theming already being put in place in three of the scare zones. Here’s a peak at what you can look forward to when the event officially opens on August 28th!
Sideshow of Decay – Hollywood
Sideshow of Decay – “Cindy’s time has come. With Dr. Oddfellow’s dark sorcery, she opened a portal in the carnival’s junkyard — using it to resurrect decayed nightmares from the past that are back to haunt you.”
This scare zone has so many incredible details you’ll want to appreciate both in the daytime and when the event comes to life at night. There are fun callbacks to former HHN icons and previously used props plus, large carnival-inspired displays from days gone by. Even if you’re scared of clowns, the detail of this scare zone will have you excited for the event!
The “carnival junkyard” theme comes to life with rusted signs, broken carnival rides, weathered clowns, and even trash from a long gone carnival. The carnival remnants are used in creative ways like this garland made from popcorn and candy wrappers.
There are four stages throughout the Sideshow of Decay scare zone, promising creepy sideshow acts from HHN icon’s of the past. The first stage has rusty carnival pieces and what looks like a floor vent for smoke or other effects.
Be sure to look at all of the clown puppets throughout the scare zone to see familiar faces like “Lady Luck” pictured below. Lady Luck first appeared in the HHN 21 scare zone “Your Luck Has Run Out” and then again in the “Icons: HHN” scare zone and “HHN Icons: Captured” house.
The more you look for details, the more East Eggs you’ll find including this 2000 Halloween Horror Nights Mardi Gras-style doubloon.
One of the stages features a large clown that would be so cool as an animatronic. There’s also vintage popcorn and “creatures” neon signs, a two-headed swan boat, and a worn carousel horse.
The other large stage has a neon sign that says “absurd” along with posters for past circus acts like a magician and a mangled animal cage.
All of the worn-down carnival rides are slightly demented like the two-headed swan boat and this rabbit with cursed eyes.
Again, you would probably miss these funny details at night like the vintage toy creatures pictured below.
You might recognize the green “pickles” barrel from the HHN 33 scare zone, Torture Faire. You’ll notice this vignette has moldy hotdogs, a sleeping junkyard cat, clown socks, and birds who are now calling this sideshow home.
While we don’t know Phillip the seagull just yet, he already feels like an HHN 35 icon with a sign reading “Don’t feed Phillip”. Naturally, all we want to do is feed Phillip a theme park snack.
The addition of the “35” anniversary emblem can be seen in a lot of details so far and is a great sign of anniversary merch and other anniversary surprises to come. It of course also makes for a great photo-op.
Another stage with the potential for a sideshow act is “Undoubtedly Dead” with a sign that says “Enter If You Dare” for the Fish-Man act.
Another familiar clown puppet is seemingly wearing a Freddy Krueger sweater. Freddy Krueger has been featured as one of Jack the Clown’s underlings and a past icon of both Orlando and Hollywood’s events.
Downtown Clowntown – New York
Downtown Clowntown – “The city that never sleeps becomes a waking nightmare when its overrun by Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Art the Clown, and other clowns folk who can’t wait to tear you limb from limb.”
Downtown Clowntown is too fun to say and will likely be even more fun to experience! The New York area of Universal Studios will also be home to the Tribute Store and many of the event food booths. Guests can look forward to a mash-up of previous scare zone characters and likely lots of scare actors.
The HHN Tribute Store is back to its rightful location after being temporarily moved to Sahara Traders in 2025 to accommodate the demolition of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. We’re still waiting on details of the Tribute Store theming and the merch collections to come.
Across from the Tribute Store is the largest stage scare zone stage, featuring two circus tents likely plenty of clowns.
In addition to the main stage is a knock out style carnival game sometimes called “Down the Clown”. We can only assume Downtown Clowntown will have a similar game.
Dr. Oddfellow’s Cart can be seen parked in front of the Palace Theater Arcade.
There’s also another “35” emblem now hat looks to be a magician’s stage – perhaps someone will volunteer to be sawed in half?
While not directly part of Downtown Clowntown, there is a stage set-up near the New York brownstones. There’s no noticeable theming yet but Universal has used stages like this to promote new horror films or characters from Blumhouse.
Fortnitemares – Central Park
Fortnitemares – “Guests will enter Freaky Fields, a Halloween-inspired living battleground overcome with a threatening force. Throughout the scare zone, fans will encounter the Battle Bus along with familiar Fortnitemares characters – plus a few new additions exclusive to Halloween Horror Nights – as they work to escape and claim victory.”
Fortnite is making its HHN debut and it’s still hard to picture everything the scare zone will entail. The Central Park scare zone is usually packed with props and theming at this point so we can assume a lot of the atmosphere will come from the characters themselves.
The trees along the walk-way are all lined with LED light strips and will totally transform the space at night.
The only true set design piece so far is on the end closest to Animal Actors on Location! where there’s a small brick stage and shed.
There’s also a raised stage and a large lighting rig which might be where the famous Battle Bus will be located. We look forward to seeing more details as HHN draws closer.
Food Booths
Even though we don’t have food menus just yet, six themed food booths have popped up around the park. The themes appear to include Jack the Clown, Dr. Oddfellow, Stranger Things, and Meetz Meats from the Carey, Ohio lore.
New York Area Food Booths
Lagoon Bridge Food Booths
