HHN (Halloween Horror Nights) 31 was the first HHN that I had the pleasure of going to. We opted for Florida due to our familiarity with the destination and got a great deal staying at Cabana Bay Resort, which I am now, very much nostalgic for.
The hotel itself was great, they had themed bar in the lobby and a special Universal Monsters photo area for guests of the hotel and if you were to scroll through our insta, you will no doubt find me making use of those photo opportunities to promote our Cakeworthy x Universal Monsters bucket bag, which remain, some of my fave photos I’ve taken to date.
It has been my dream to visit HHN, for as long as I can remember, long before the idea of Ghostly Goods ever popped into my head so the excitement of going was incredible however, I was also a little bit scared, not because of scary houses or the characters that jump out at you but because my Husband has a tendency to faint if things get too much. He was not a horror fan before I stepped into his life and I’d like to think he is now, but this was a new experience for both of us, stay tuned to find out if he did, in fact faint.
The snacks:
I consumed many beverages during my first HHN, sadly most of them were on the bitter side, and I am very much a sweet girl so that was unfortunate however, I got the light up cup, so it wasn’t all bad (until I accidentally submerged it a few months ago and ruined the device).
On the snack side, I had much better luck, the first snack I tried was the Maggot-Covered Cheese Dog which was took inspiration from the Bugs: Eaten Alive house. It was a Korean style corndog with mozzarella, coated in puffed rice and then drizzled with gochujang (now a staple in my kitchen) and sesame seeds. I LOVE a good corndog, they are my absolute fave snack to get in America so it was a no shock that I absolutely loved this take on it!
I ate a major sweets ice cream sandwich towards then end of the night, in reality, I wasn’t hungry, couldn’t finish it and my feet were done for however, if I had the opportunity to grab one of these when I wasn’t in pain and wasn’t already stuffed, I would have loved it! Something about themed desserts just tick all my boxes (unless they contain fruit, my desserts have no place for fruit haha).
My husband grabbed himself a pizza skull, I believe these can now be found permanently near the Kong Ride, which is great as he raved about his, I really should of tried it but my stomach was at full capacity! It sounded delicious and it was such a fan fave it was made permanent, so I have no doubt it was amazing!
The Houses:
Dead Mans Pier: Winter’s Wake
Bugs: Eaten Alive
Halloween
The Weekend: After Hours Nightmare
Universal Monsters Legends Collide
The Horrors of Blumhouse
Spirits of the Coven
Prison
Fiesta De Chupacabras
Descendants of Destruction
Our first house we visited was Halloween, which was based on the original movie. It was absolutely incredible to be put inside the movie, seeing the house stand so tall and going through each scene as you try to escape Michael Myers was breathtaking, I honestly wasn’t expecting the houses to go in to that much detail! Although, I have to say, the scariest scene was right at the end where you walk through a mirror maze-esque room filled with Michael Myers, the adrenaline was high at this point as I knew some of them had to be real, but I had no idea how many or which ones! I came out of the house on an absolute high, to then turn around and have to catch my Husband as he briefly fainted for the first time! Poor guy, but I’m happy to report that he does in fact love Halloween Horror Nights and going through scare mazes now 😊
We both had the same favourite house, Bugs: Eaten Alive, we absolutely love the retro aesthetic, so much so that a Conversation Pit is a MUST with our next home, and we love a good creature feature so it was no surprise that Bugs: Eaten Alive was our favourite house of the line up. The giant bugs, the giant bugs eating/taking over people, walking through the pitch-black corridors and feeling strands tickle your arms to mimic bugs was so much fun.
Dead Mans Pier: Winter’s Wake was breathtaking, it was situated in a sound stage, and they really pushed the boat out with this one (literally, there was an actual boat in there). It was the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen still, to this day, the effort and work that went into the scenes to make it feel like you are truly there, in a New England fishing village. The house was based on a previously popular scare zone called Dead Mans Wharf and I believe it very much lived up to the hype it had generated.
The above were the three standouts for us, the event was an incredible one to go to for the first time and The Weekend’s After Hours album will forever bring me instant joy taking me back to queuing up for houses and being super happy! A special mention goes out to Fiesta De Chupacabras where my husband fainted a second time, this time during the maze as we had a very slow-moving line, but the look of horror on the guys face behind as I catch him before he falls and talk him back around will never be forgotten!
Another honourable mention has to be the Dead Coconut Club in City Walk, just outside the park is one of our all-time favourite bars (up there with Trader Sam’s (FL) and Otto’s Shrunken Head (NY)), they serve up spooky drinks during the spooky season and have the most fun décor. They had the Metaluna Mutant from the 50’s movie This Island Earth, dressed up in a SUIT holding a MARTINI!!!! I have never wanted anything more in my life and I will strive to get one when we have a larger home! They also had The American Sirens perform on the night we were there, singing fun renditions of all your fave spooky songs in a vintage pin-up style!
Also, big props to the mascot for the year, Pumpkin Lord, absolutely killed it and was such a fun mascot, in his giant pumpkin, lording over us all!