After two full months of scares, Halloween Horror Nights 32 at Universal Studios Orlando has ended. This year was filled with some excellent houses and scare zones, and continues to prove why this event draws in Halloween crowds from all over the country. I released my initial rankings and event review last month, but now that the event has wrapped up, here are my final rankings and thoughts. I won’t go too in-depth on the houses, but I will highlight the main points and why my opinion has changed on some of the houses.
My final ranking of the ten houses is as follows, starting with my favorite. I will also add where I ranked these houses previously in the parentheses.
1. The Exorcist: Believer (1)
2. Stranger Things 4 (2)
3. The Darkest Deal (8)
4. Universal Monsters Unmasked (3)
5. Dueling Dragons (4)
6. The Last of Us (6)
7. Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins (5)
8. Blood Moon Dark Offerings (9)
9. Yeti Campground Kills (7)
10. Chucky Ultimate Kill Count (10)
As you can see, some houses went up, some went down, and some stayed the same. The biggest change is The Darkest Deal, which went from number 8 to number 3. Similar to last year’s Descendants of Destruction (which was actually located in the same location as Darkest Deal), my opinion of this house got better with each walkthrough. While I still think the story is too complicated for guests to understand on a single walkthrough, it’s packed with great scares and extremely detailed sets. The simplicity of the costumes and set designs went from a criticism to a positive for me, it just adds to the environment and ambience. The Darkest Deal proves that elaborate costumes and effects are not needed for effective scares.
Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins and Yeti Campground Kills each moved slightly down on my list because I think both of these houses feel a little generic for the world’s premiere Halloween event. The cast of both of these houses was consistently giving a hundred percent, but I don’t foresee the houses themselves being discussed years down the line. Blood Moon Dark Offerings moved up solely because of the set design and ambience, because I consistently missed almost every single scare in the house. I understand that this is no one’s fault but fate and timing, but this list is based off of my personal experience, and I wish I got more scares for how strong the sets and story were.
Regardless of my or anyone’s ranking, it’s clear why Halloween Horror Nights is still as popular as it is: the cast, crew and creative team put everything they have into this event. They clearly love what they do, and they know their audience loves it just as much. This event is run solely off of the passion of those behind it, and if the staff at all levels wasn’t as passionate, HHN would not be the same. I speak for all the HHN fans when I say how grateful I am that this event exists at the level it does, and I can’t wait to see what is waiting in the fog for next year!
I like all these festival theme park. so cool