The Dead Coconut Club has returned to CityWalk with theme “Harvest”. Step into Midweston’s 35th Anniversary Harvest Festival with a pumpkin patch, corn maze, live band, trick-or-treating, and suspicious alien activity. This two-story bar has three unique menus, incredible theming, and a selection of snacks available to purchase outside.
Dead Coconut Club Harvest offers free admission and is open to all ages. You’ll only find this special experience open on Wednesdays – Sundays during Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) from 4:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. If you’ve never noticed The Red Coconut Club aka Dead Coconut, it’s on the second level of CityWalk as soon as you come up the escalators.
The downstairs of Dead Coconut is themed to the town of Midweston in October, where you’ll enter a living room with a strange green glow and a skeleton resident covered in alien slime. Once outside in Midweston, you’ll see the doorsteps of other homes ready for trick-or-treaters.
The Harvest Festival theming includes a pumpkin carving contest, pumpkin picking, a corn maze, a DJ, and a live bland playing spooky songs.
It’s fun to see how things change at the Harvest Festival as the alien’s make their presence known. You might see a crop circle appear, a flash of light, UFO sighting, and alien’s suddenly possessing the band.
Universal has created the hometown fall festival-feel so well. If you’re into pumpkins and less of the scary side of Halloween, Dead Coconut Club Harvest is a good mix of both.
Both the DJ and the live band are incredible, playing mostly throwback, iconic songs we all know and love like “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones.
New this year, there are two distinct menus at the two downstairs bars. The one immediately to the left near the pumpkin carving contest has all Halloween candy themed cocktails, seasonal draft beers, and canned cocktails.
The other bar below the band stage is themed to the harvest with cocktails like the Scarecrow and the Jack-o-Lantern. The Dead Coconut is also a full bar for anyone looking for more of a classic cocktail.
At all of the Dead Coconut Club bars, you can purchase this year’s HHN souvenir refillable cup. The design for the 35th Anniversary includes the event logo, and a Jack and Oddfellow tarot card. Purchasing a refillable cup ensures you receive a large pour for less money. Just be sure to also bring it with you to HHN!
All Ale the Pumpkin Lord – 20 ounce Souvenir Cup – $18
All Ale the Pumpkin Lord is new to HHN this year and replaces the popular Whole Hog’s Pumpkin Ale. This is a worthy substitute with a rich ale taste, subtle pumpkin, and just enough spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Beers are always your best value when first purchasing a souvenir cup and then you can get a cocktail refill later at a lower price.
As soon as you head upstairs, it’s clear you’ve left the Harvest Festival and are headed into an alien spaceship. The theming is drastically different and there are signs of trick-or-treaters, pumpkins, and corn all having been beamed up by aliens.
Just like the downstairs, take your time looking at the entire space. There are funny details like the aliens testing, corn, popcorn, and candy corn to figure out what they are.
The cocktails at the upstairs bar are alien themed with names like Void Resin and Proton Plasma plus ingredients like blue curacao to give everything a space glow. While there isn’t beer on draft upstairs, you can get a selection of canned HHN-exclusive drinks.
Jack’s Maniac Mix – 12 ounce Strawberry and Blood Orange Cocktail – $15
The strawberry flavor comes through stronger than the blood orange and while not acidic, it does have a slight chemical taste from the carbonation. While not bad, it’s not one I would go out of my way for because of its sweetness. We tried to also order Oddfellow’s Elixir but were told it’s not yet available for HHN and had potentially been recalled.
Available exclusively at the outdoor, walk-up bar is a food menu of three themed items. A food first for the Dead Coconut Club! You’re welcome to grab any of these snacks and bring them inside.
The Party Crasher – Nathan’s all-beef hotdog topped with chili, white queso, mustard, crushed Doritos Nachos Chips, “blood and guts” pickle relish, and green onions all on a brioche bun – $13.49
I’m so happy to see a food menu for Dead Coconut! It’s such an amazing space, it only makes sense to have food offerings to encourage staying for longer than just a drink. In addition to the hotdog, there is a SPAM sandwich called Hawaiian Toast and a waffle PB&J called the Cosmic Crunch PB&J. Unfortunately, The Party Crasher was one of the worst hotdogs I’ve ever had. The hot dog was gray and cold and there’s no need for beans in hotdog chili. I guess the green onions are supposed to look like the corn stalks from the Harvest Festival but I would take off this unnecessary garnish. This was tried at an early Annual Passholder Preview, so maybe it will improve when the event is in full swing.
The Dead Coconut Club is a valuable addition to the HHN season! It allows people without an event ticket to experience the immersive theming without worrying about jump scares. Now that the venue opens earlier at 4 p.m., it’s even more appealing as a pre-HHN drink spot. Best of all, the harvest theme this year is perfect. It combines the feeling of classic Halloween and fall in a way we don’t see every year at HHN. If you’re visiting Universal Orlando between now and November 1st, do not miss Dead Coconut Club Harvest!
