Get ready to go back to the Upside Down. "Stranger Things" is coming back to Halloween Horror Nights.
Universal announced today that it will feature Halloween Horror Nights houses based upon Season 4 of the Netflix series at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood this fall. The big bad for that season was Vecna, who will be the villain in the HHN house on both coasts.
"Guests will find themselves on the front line of Vecna’s deadly attacks on the citizens of Hawkins while traveling through iconic scenes, including the notorious Hawkins Lab, the enigmatic Creel House and Vecna’s chilling mindscape," Universal said in its press release. Here is the hype reel:
My big question is, did Universal license the Kate Bush song or not?
Halloween Horror Nights starts September 1 in Orlando and September 7 in Hollywood, running select nights through October 31. Tickets are on sale now, including single-night discounted tickets for Hollywood from our partner, USH Halloween Horror Nights tickets.
For more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
Forget Kate Bush, I need some Metallica.
Ugh...I'm so tired of Stranger Things at HHN. I long for the days when everything was an original idea and not so much IP. Hollywood is seriously suffering.
They’ve always had IPs at Halloween Horror Nights: Psycho, The People Under the Stairs, Classic Monsters, Bill & Ted, Beetlejuice… ect
@FingerPoppinDaddy - This will be just the third time Stranger Things has been used at HHN, and the first since 2019. I don't know how you can be "so tired" of an IP that hasn't been used in 3 years.
For my money, UC can use the same IP every year as long as they continue to take unique approaches. I've gone through a half dozen different "Universal Monsters" mazes, and each one had its own memorable take on the classic IP. Universal has also done plenty of Walking Dead mazes (including the permanent installation at USH) that were excellent in their own right. In my experience the best IP maze in a given year is usually neck and neck with the best non-IP maze - Last year, Dead Man's Pier (non-IP) was tops for me, while my previous visit in 2017, The Shinning (based on the original film) was by far the best.
Stranger Things isn't for everyone, but if you're from a certain "era", it hits all the right buttons, and as long as UC are able to capture the essence of the series within the maze (I predict it will be predominantly in the Upsidedown), it will be hugely popular.
Growing up in central Florida, I was always most excited about the original ideas. The storyteller houses, the original jack houses, especially the one where you went on Earthquake the ride. Yeah, they had Bill and Ted, and sure they had The Crypt Keeper, but they also had The Director and all of the houses were based on his movies. I want THAT level of storytelling, not phoning it in with popular TV.
Again, Hollywood suffers way more than Orlando year after year.
IP houses are always big drivers for merch and F&B offerings, hence why there's such a big push for them at Universal.
not a hot take: halloween horror nights in hollywood wouldn't exist without IPs to differentiate from knott's.
Stranger Things season 4 might have been the strongest season yet after a somewhat lackluster season 3. Not to mention it has some tremendous locations and set pieces which could make for an amazing maze.
Stranger Things is about as appropriate for HHN as Everybody Loves Raymond.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
This was the announcement we were hoping for last year. I doubt we'll be able to make it to HHN this year, but we are going to the Stranger Things Experience in Seattle in August.