🎃Halloween Horror Nights 2025
2025 Halloween Horror Nights is 10/10. The lineup of mazes this year has some horrifyingly fun themes and they totally stack up! When you add the buzz of Art the Clown from Terrifier cheekily stalking guests, to the hype surrounding the Five Nights at Freddy’s and Fallout mazes, it’s worth making your way out this year.
I was lucky enough to get to go on opening night as “Media” with the social media team from my work. This was my first time ever, after many years attending, that I got a taste of the Express Pass—and omg, it was so worth it.
I was also surprised to see that opening night was SOLD OUT on a Thursday. It’s clear this year of Halloween Horror Nights has a ton of hype and people are taking notice. The park stays open until 2AM most nights. We walked into the park about 7PM and stayed until about 12:30AM. We managed to do nearly all of the mazes and only missed out on 2 of them, mainly because we all had work in the morning and had to head out at a “decent” time.
Maybe I’m just so ready to kick off the Halloween season, but I felt like the vibes in the park were immaculate. The scare zones were active and exciting, providing the best spooks on the main stgretch from the entrance, consistently packed with scary clowns ready to follow you. The best addition to this year’s park wanderings is the fact they added Art the Clown as a permanent, scary, yet charismatic feature to the park. You WANTED to run into him even though he’s terrifying to look at. He might scare you, but he also might joke with you, and it makes you want to be part of the frightful fun.
I thoroughly enjoyed walking the scarezones and there never felt like there was a dull moment, unless you needed a moment to chill.
👻 My Favorite Mazes
1. Terrifier
The infamous maze you get “wet” on, and contrary to the Orlando version of this maze, the Hollywood version does NOT have a dry path, only one path that comes with a wet warning. The good news is, I didn’t get that wet at all. Sprayed a couple of brief times, but nothing major. This maze was absolutely insane with its gore, the bathroom scene, but it also came with a clever plot twist mid-maze *((SPOILER)) that makes you think you’ve reached the end, but it’s a fake-out! They went all-in on the smells including the bleach smell, but especially the poop smell in the bathroom scene… but I didn’t think it was as terrible as it was made out to be. The scares were high-impact and well-timed, the gore was intense, and Art the clown is somehow likable while being absolutely “Terrifying—er”. My most favorite maze of the night. It just felt fresh.
The regular line for this maze by midnight was still 180 minutes, and I was stunned, but it’s clearly one of the most highly-anticipated mazes of the year—and for good reason. Even with the Express Pass we waited about 20-30 minutes, whereas all other mazes with the pass, we pretty much walked right in.
2. Jason Universe
The scariest maze of the night! The scares were consistent and timed perfectly, and the production value was really great. It just felt like they understood the assignment with this one. They used dark rooms, pop up scares, and the idea of the unknown to up the fear factor—fair warning if you’re afraid of the dark. Jason is quintessential horror and this maze was perfection. I was actually consistently spooked throughout. It was the real adrenaline rush of the night and I loved it.
3. Five Night at Freddy’s
Lot’s of hype about this one! I was really excited to experience this maze because I love a good fandom. It’s cool to see lovers of the video game and movie come together—and Five Nights at Freddy’s was all over the park in merch and in peoples outfits! I would say this maze isn’t that scary, but visuals were insanely great and fans will really appreciate the production value. They even pumped pizza smells into the kitchen. A fun maze, but definitely felt a little more “family-friendly,” but just barely.
4. Monstrous 3, the Ghosts of Latin America
A sleeper good time. Wild scenes and some fun scares had this maze ranking higher than expected for me. It’s easy to not think much of these lesser known character mazes, but it’s theme’s like this that allow the maze to go creatively crazy. Insane visuals, spooky acting (and actually downright sad and scary), with some well-timed jump scares. Don’t skip out on this one.
5. Terror Tram: Enter the Blumhouse
Admittedly, I am a sucker for the Terror Tram because I love that you get to walk through actual movie sets—but the sets don’t change each year. So, you’re getting the usual: Bates Motel, the Psycho House, and the War of the Worlds set all packed with scares. I always like the Blumhouse theming (similar to last year) because you have M3GAN, Exorcist, the Grabber, and the Purge which always hit the scary spot. It’s also the experience that utilizes the most chainsaws, which can be triggering if that’s your fear (lol). A fun stroll with some spread out scares, but always a fun one. (And better than the Exterminator theme from a couple years ago).
6. Fallout
I’m just as shocked this ranked so low for me, too. I was pretty excited for the Fallout maze, but it was just… not that impressive?? With such cool IP and big fandom, you’d think they’d go all out, especially with a new season on the horizon, but I just don’t think they did it justice. Scares were minimal, and a lot of blank, dark, spaces of time. This is in the same spot as the old walking dead experience, and each year for Halloween Horror Nights, it feels like this spot gets one of the lamer experiences, no matter the theming. I just walked out of this maze feeling meh, and not that scared. Honestly, the Fallout themed food and drinks were a better highlight as a fan.
7. WWE: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks
I honestly could have ranked this higher based on the gore and scare factor, but I guess I’m ranking this lower because I didn’t understand the cross-over with the WWE? Clearly it was themed in the South with all of its bayou creepiness, and it had some scary scenes, but the theming felt disjointed. So, it didn’t hit as well as it could have, in my opinion. But if you’ve got some extra time, this isn’t a bad one to fill the void between long lines.
Other Mazes
I didn’t make it to Scarecrow with Music by Slash or the Poltergeist mazes, which is why they didn’t make my list. If I make it one more time this year with my husband, I’m hoping I can these mazes.
🍻Food & Drinks I Tried
I wish I took more/better pics of the food, but these—at best—mid photos, will have to do, lol.
I feel like Universal Studios food is usually pretty hit-or-miss. For these special events, they lean hard into theming, which I really appreciate, but more often than not, the food is just okay at best. It’d be cool if we could get taste AND style. I think there are other theme parks that do themed foods a bit better for the taste buds and look just as cool.
22” Crystal Lake Campfire Dog
The Nuclear Blast (alcoholic)
Freddy Fazbear Pizza & Jason S’more
Jason Universe Barbecue (Lower Lot)
22 inch Crystal Lake Campfire Dog: all-beef hot dog topped with smoked beef brisket, cheese and jalapeños. This was my favorite treat of the night! It actually tasted great, and could easily feed 3-4 people. I’d say the only bad thing about it is its $40 price, but if you share, it could be worth it!
Jason Universe Mask S'more: Roasted marshmallow in the shape of Jason’s mask, graham cracker, milk chocolate and “blood.” This was SO insanely sweet. Each bite contains a ton of rubbery marshmallow (but hey, maybe that’s your thing) that gave moonpie vibes, super sweet chocolate, and an oddly soft graham cracker. It’s cool for the photo’s, but this snack was too sweet for me (and we had to wait in a long line for it).
Fallout (Upper Lot)
The Nuclear Blast: Vodka, peach schnapps, blue curaçao, orange and lemon juice, simple syrup and Sprite soda, topped with a dehydrated lemon wheel. It was tasty, but for $20 I wish this had a little bit more of a boozey kick.
Quantum Fizz: Blue raspberry Sprite with a sour blue raspberry rim (nonalcoholic). Another super sweet drink, but still good.
Loaded Cram Fries: Crispy chili-glazed spam served over pub fries. I wanted to love this, but it was just way too salty for me.
Yum Yum Deviled Eggs: Coconut panna cotta filled with Chamoy pineapple bits and topped with mango topping and tajin. What a mind f*ck of a dessert. It LOOKS like deviled eggs, but tastes sweet of panna cotta—the consistently is what made me not like this. The egg white was too gelatiness, and the pineapple chunks in the middle just weren’t for me. Fun, gimmicky dessert, but didn’t like the flavors.
Vault Dwellers Wedding Cake: Red velvet sponge cake with cream cheese mousse. Not as cute as the promo photos, and smaller than I thought, but this actually tasted great. Although, I think they could up the cake to icing ratio.
Five Nights at Freddy's (Lower Lot)
Freddy Fazbear Pizza: classic pepperoni pizza. Is it weird I wanted an even more generic pizza for something trying to replicate Chuckee Cheese? Pizza was just fine, but it was trying too hard. But do it for the meme and get this.
Tickets & My Express Pass Verdict
General admission starts as low as $77, but can go as high as $107 for a weekend closer to Halloween—add on Express Pass it starts at $239. And if you decide later on and want to add-on, the Express Pass starts at $165 alone! 🤯 So, it’s definitely a big ask to get the Express pass.
I know I didn’t pay for the Express pass this trip thanks to my work, but now that I’ve used it—I can see it’s worth it. I’m a believer now. I had always fought the need, but after years of waiting in lines that can easily get over 1-2 hours and missing out on mazes at the end of the night, getting a taste of the Express Pass is a blessing and a curse. I’m not sure if I could go back now.
We walked onto nearly every maze, except Terrifier, but even then we didn’t wait longer than 20-30 minutes. I’ve heard online that they’ve felt the Express Pass is not worth it (mainly seeing this in Orlando), but in my experience, it allowed me to do all the mazes I had at the top of my list to experience.
More Horror Nights Photos
