Halloween Horror Nights - Orlando
Sunday, September 20, 2026
I've been going to Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) since I was little. I started going as a father-daughter trip in the 90s, then it became a mother-daughter trip, then mother-daughter-friends when I was in my teens, just friends during college, and now I go with my partner.
This year, since we had the unlimited park passes for Universal and Islands, I thought it would be a good idea to get a room at the Royal Pacific so we would have unlimited express passes to use at both parks during the day, go back to the room to relax, and then back out for HHN which we also purchased express passes to skip all the lines for the rides & houses.
We got up early Sunday morning, drove from our Disney Springs hotel to the Universal Orlando hotel to check in around 7:30am. Our room wasn't ready yet so they held our luggage and gave us our room keys which allowed us early entry into Islands of Adventure at 8am. We took the free boat over and dashed to Hagrids but the wait was outside of the castle which would be well over an hour so we treked over to Velocoaster but it was on a delay. We went back to do some spells at Hogsmeade and grabbed some drinks at Hog's Head with no wait. I asked for something tasty like butterbeer but also with alcohol so I got a cold butterbeer (in my mug of course) and a shot of fire whiskey and did my own potion with them.
At 9am, we could take the train over to Universal where we got the fire breathing dragon video, did some more spells, and got drinks at The Hopping Pot.
Next it was time for rides. We worked on maxxing out at Men In Black, got Dufftoberfest to drink at Moe's Tavern, and grabbed a seasonal crepe from Central Park Crepes. The Street Corn & Carnitas Crepe with pork carnitas, street corn, queso fresco, cilantro crema, Tajin, and micro cilanto was delicious and a good portion for $14.99. It was made fresh to order and you could tell, highly recommend. We walked around the scare zones in the day time which is fun for photos without crowds, shared a turkey leg, then took a nice ride on ET. We tell them everyone in our party is named Steven (like Spielberg) and at the end of the ride it's pretty funny.
After that we headed back over to Islands and grabbed a frozen mango pina colada at Confiscos Bar. It started to rain so we enjoyed our drinks under the cover and did some people watching.
Once it cleared up, our room was ready so we headed back to change and prepare for HHN. We went back to Universal at 4pm since it closes at 5pm and we wouldn't be able to get back in until 6pm. Since it wasn't dark yet and we weren't ready to go into house, we grabbed some cocktails. First was the Phantom Punch and we got the souvenir cup since it had discounted refills. Then I got the Lasagna Burn, szechuan pork potsticker lasagna, for $10.99. I heard it was super spicy but I didn't think it was too bad and I would get it again. It started to rain so we did some shopping (just browsing) and hopped on the Mummy ride and it was dead so we went twice in a row. Then we decided at 6:30pm it was time for some houses. I grabbed a can of Maniac Mix in between lines which was another favorite drink.
After doing 5 houses we got more food. The Beer Cheese Soup with pretzel rods was too small of a portion and I wouldn't get it again but I would instead recommend the Loaded Bavarian Pretzel for $15.99 with cheese sauce, pickles, meats, and dijon mustard. Oddfellow's Elixir was another canned drink but I preferred the Maniac Mix. We also got Chow's Southern BBQ Eggrolls for $10.99 and were BBQ pulled pork and cabbage in a cripsy eggroll which were fine but I wouldn't get them again and would try the Torn to Shreds POrk Sandwich instead if I was craving BBQ pork. We walked through some scare zones and finished up the rest of the houses before getting back on the boat to the hotel around 11:30am. We left early because our legs were so sore from all the walking we did all day. If I could go back and do it over, I would definitely not do early entry to a park the same day as HHN but overall it was a great time and would go back.
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