Halloween Horror Nights 2026 live updates: Opening weekend at Universal Orlando
Halloween Horror Nights 2026 begins its opening weekend at Universal Orlando Resort, and Attractions Magazine is following the scares across two nights with live updates, photos and video from inside the event.
The first screams arrived last night, Aug. 27, during the separately ticketed Premium Scream Night, followed by the official opening night, Friday, Aug. 28.
And prepare for this year’s fun with the full lineup and HHN 35 map.
What we learned from HHN 2026 opening night
Opening night gave us our first full look at Halloween Horror Nights 2026, from the haunted houses and scare zones to the shows of “Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir” and “Stranger Things: Hawkins Forever.”
We experienced all ten houses, thanks to our gracious hosted media experience. ‘H.R. Bloodengutz’ emerged as one of the strongest houses of opening night, combining humor, horror and plenty of memorable scares. ‘Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness’ also delivered as a standout, while Hellraiser impressed with attacks from all sides.
With opening night complete, we now have our Halloween Horror Nights 2026 house rankings. And you can keep reading to relive opening night and Premium Scream Night with us in the play-by-play updates below.
Updates appear in reverse chronological order, with the latest news and observations added at the top.
Opening night live updates Aug. 28 in Eastern Time
12:54 a.m. — “Stranger Things: Hawkins Forever”
We caught the “Stranger Things: Hawkins Forever” lagoon show. Matt liked it, especially the great ’80s music throughout. Mikey was less sold.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
12:38 a.m. — Fortnitemares
We are spending some time in the scare zones, and Fortnitemares is definitely at its best after dark. The zone relies heavily on lighting effects and video scenes.
12:25 a.m. — Hellraiser
‘Hellraiser’ was a great final house of the night. Walking into the Lament Configuration creates a really cool effect, with plenty of strong views of Pinhead throughout the house.
12:18 a.m. — Sinners
One of the most highly anticipated houses of the night, Sinners does not pack in as many scares as some of the other houses, but the scenic design is impressive and the experience feels very true to the movie.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
12:01 a.m. — Invasion: Alien Abduction
Invasion: Alien Abduction was a fun walkthrough with a strong concept, even if many of the alien designs felt similar from scene to scene. The premise and pacing still made it an enjoyable house.
12:02 a.m. — H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!
H.R. Bloodengutz is campy, funny and deliberately over-the-top. Each smaller section shifts into a different concept, giving the house a variety-show feel that fits the character perfectly.
11:00 p.m. — Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir
We’re watching Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir, an intense, visually striking show set in a vampire-ridden metropolis. It mixes seductive vampires, vampire hunters and death-defying stunts with strong performances.
The Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir showtimes tonight are:
- 8 p.m.
- 9:30 p.m.
- 11 p.m.
- 12:30 a.m.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
WATCH: Enjoy a high-energy snippet in our video below.
10:45 p.m. — Cybergoria
Cybergoria was fast-paced and packed with attacks from multiple directions. Its story of humans awakening from cryo-sleep to find themselves transformed by cybernetic caretakers fits the relentless scares.
Walk through a terrifying future in our YouTube video below.
10:16 p.m. — Downtown Clowntown
We made it into Downtown Clowntown, with oversized props, roaming clowns and plenty of bright, chaotic visuals. The scare zone is lively with multiple entertaining moments, including stage moments with Jack and Chance, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Photos by Matt Roseboom
10:01 p.m. — Posted house waits
Posted waits are substantial around 10 p.m. tonight. “Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness” is showing 130 minutes, while “Sinners” is at 125 minutes.
Other posted waits include Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control at 75 minutes, “Stranger Things 5” at 60 minutes, “Hellraiser” at 50 minutes and “Invasion: Alien Abduction” at 60 minutes.
9:54 p.m. — Madlands
Madlands has one of the more unusual concepts we’ve seen tonight, and it worked better for us than expected. The setting and execution made it a particularly memorable walkthrough. Our full rankings of all the houses will come later, for now enjoy our YouTube video below.
9:42 p.m. — Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
Next was Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. First impression: pretty cool, with strong use of Ozzy’s music, some impressive effects and notably large-scale rooms that give the house a different feel from several others tonight.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
9:35 p.m. — Evil Dead Burn
Our media group just finished Evil Dead Burn. One of the standout details was the use of large dog puppets, adding another practical creature effect to the Deadite-filled house.
9:20 p.m. — Stranger Things 5 house
Initial thoughts: Stranger Things 5 was very dark, making some scenes difficult to take in, and it appeared that some animatronics may not have been fully operating during our walkthrough. The Hawkins and Upside Down environments are still impressive, but this first run felt a little uneven.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
9:10 p.m. — Wait time observation
We didn’t enter the Ozzy Osbourne house during this pass, but its posted wait had climbed to 80 minutes around 9:10 p.m.
9:06 p.m. — First house: Jack & Oddfellow Chaos and Control
Our media group has finally entered its first haunted house of the night: Jack & Oddfellow Chaos and Control.
First impression: It’s a solid, fun house, although guests who don’t already know the history between Jack and Dr. Oddfellow may find parts of the story a little confusing. The puppet show helps provide context (see our YouTube video below), but depending on your route through the event, you may experience the house before you have a chance to see the show.
Even without knowing all the lore, there’s plenty here to enjoy, with colorful carnival imagery and some wonderfully bizarre characters throughout.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
8:15 p.m. — HHN icons swarm the media event
The Halloween Horror Nights icons have taken over the media event, with Jack the Clown, Dr. Oddfellow, Chance, Eddie and Cindy Caine all making appearances as the night ramps up.
Our media group is getting ready to head into the haunted houses next, so first impressions from inside this year’s lineup are coming soon.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
Watch the entire moment in our YouTube video below.
7:50 p.m. — Universal discusses working with Clive Barker and Sharon Osbourne
Universal Creative leaders, including Michael Aiello, are discussing the collaborations behind this year’s coast-to-coast horror houses. Aiello said communication with Clive Barker for the Hellraiser house was handled through traditional mail because that is Barker’s preferred method of correspondence.
The team also discussed working with Jack and Sharon Osbourne on the two coast-to-coast Ozzy Osbourne haunted houses, bringing the late rock icon’s music and imagery into Halloween Horror Nights on both coasts.
Aieolla shares this about the process, “We worked every week — we had a meeting with Sharon Osbourne — and it was pretty spectacular that she was literally herself approving all of our content.”
“If she wasn’t there, the approval didn’t happen until she got to see it, and that was pretty amazing.”
“Any fan of Ozzy Osbourne is going to leave this experience feeling something — hopefully really scared, but also really knowing the impact that this artist had on so many people, including all of us.”
“It was really an honor to do this and bring it to the event for our anniversary.”
6:35 p.m. — Local media joins HHN media event
Local media, including the Attractions Magazine team, has now joined out-of-town media and creators in the event’s media space, located inside one of the soundstages behind the New York area of Universal Studios Florida.
Important note: Our media group will not visit any of the houses until 8 p.m.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
6:06 p.m. — Halloween Horror Nights admission begins
At 6:04 p.m., Attractions Magazine team members Matt and Seth checked in for tonight’s media event. At 6:06 p.m., guests with Halloween Horror Nights admission began entering Universal Studios Florida through the front gates.
Stay & Scream has now ended for the evening as the event transitions to general HHN admission.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
5:02 p.m. — Multiple houses showing at capacity
Multiple Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses are showing at capacity in the Universal Orlando app shortly after 5 p.m. Reports from guests already inside Universal Studios Florida are also indicating that several house queues have reached capacity ahead of the official start of tonight’s event.
4:45 p.m. — Thunderstorms approach as media arrives
Thunderstorms are beginning to move into the Universal Orlando area as media check-in gets underway for tonight’s Halloween Horror Nights opening-night coverage. Weather could affect outdoor operations and scare zones if lightning moves close to the park, so we’ll be watching conditions as the 6:30 p.m. event start approaches.
4:30 p.m. — Posted wait times may be running high
Multiple guests on social media are reporting that some posted haunted house wait times are significantly longer than the actual waits during Stay & Scream. One example being shared is ‘Stranger Things’ showing a 70-minute posted wait but taking closer to 30 minutes.
Wait times may become more representative once the full Halloween Horror Nights crowd begins entering the park around 6:30 p.m., so guests should treat the early posted times as a rough guide for now.
2:50 p.m. — Hellraiser reopens after delay
The ‘Hellraiser’ haunted house was showing as delayed around 2:26 p.m. during Stay & Scream. The interruption appears to have been relatively brief, with guests entering the house again roughly 25 minutes later.
2:25 p.m. — Stay & Scream queue forming
The Stay & Scream crowd is already building near the Music Plaza Stage. This queue leads to ‘Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control.‘
2:20 p.m. — In the park Stay & Scream wristband distribution
Mikey (follow @HHNstagram) is inside Universal Studios Florida as Stay & Scream kicks off. Universal has designated wristband pickup locations both outside and inside the park.
The in-park wristband pickup signs are already in place, although no one was distributing wristbands at the location Mikey checked around 2:20 p.m. We’ll keep an eye out.
9:30 a.m. Stay & Scream wristband distribution outside of the park
Guests can pick up their wristbands beginning at park opening throughout regular park hours before entering Universal Studios Florida. Both valid daytime park admission and Halloween Horror Nights admission are scanned at the wristband pickup location before guests enter the park. Look for “Stay and Scream” signage near the park entrance.
This allows eligible Stay & Scream guests to have their credentials verified earlier in the day, which means no waiting until the traditional holding areas open later in the afternoon.
Premium Scream Night live updates Aug. 27 in Eastern Time
Below is a brief recap, followed by live updates from Premium Scream Night. Our thanks to Philip Hernandez of Haunted Attractions Network for sharing his experience with us throughout the night.
We’ll be back tonight for the official opening night of Halloween Horror Nights 35, when we’ll explore the haunted houses and share more photos, videos and details from throughout the event.
11:20 p.m. — Final live update; summary
That wraps up our first look at Halloween Horror Nights 35 during Premium Scream Night. This visit offered a taste of this year’s highlights.
- Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow at the event entrance
- Art the Clown in Downtown Clowntown
- A meet-and-greet with Hamikuma
- The Fortnitemares and Downtown Clowntown scare zones
- “A Tale of Chaos & Control,” the Jack and Oddfellow puppet show
- Club Horror and the Ozzy Osbourne-themed bar
- Specialty food, including Birria Pizza Fries, Carn “Evil” Smash Tacos and Death by Cheese Stick
Updates appear in reverse chronological order, with the latest news and observations added at the top.
Note: Select food and nonalcoholic beverages are included with Premium Scream Night admission, so we are sharing quite a bit of food updates.
11:10 p.m. — Premium Scream wait times
Wait times have fallen to just five minutes for the operating haunted houses shown on the park’s boards, including “Stranger Things 5,” “Evil Dead Burn” and “Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control.” “Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness” and “Madlands: Caged Cannibals” were listed as delayed.
Several rides also had five-minute waits, including Revenge of the Mummy, Transformers: The Ride-3D and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
10:55 p.m. — Jack and Oddfellow appear at the entrance
Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow are now appearing in the entrance scare zone at Universal Studios Florida. The two HHN icons were not outside earlier in the evening as rain affected street entertainment, but guests can now see them presiding over the event.
Photos by Philip Hernandez
10:30 p.m. — More fuel from Funny Fare
Philip stopped for a Twisted Philly, a $12.99 Philly steak stromboli topped with spicy Italian sausage, peppers, onions and cheese sauce, along with a Lucky Ticket Lemonade made with Minute Maid Lemonade and raspberry jam.
The $10 price initially seems high for lemonade, but it is a large serving and costs about the same as other specialty mocktails at this year’s event. Both are available at the Funny Fare booth in Sting Alley.
Photos by Philip Hernandez
10:30 p.m. — More fuel from Funny Fare
Philip stopped for a Twisted Philly, a $12.99 Philly steak stromboli topped with spicy Italian sausage, peppers, onions and cheese sauce, along with a Lucky Ticket Lemonade made with Minute Maid Lemonade and raspberry jam.
The $10 price initially seems high for lemonade, but it is a large serving and costs about the same as other specialty mocktails at this year’s event. Both are available at the Funny Fare booth in Sting Alley.
10:10 p.m. — A stop at the Ozzy Osbourne bar
The Ozzy Osbourne-inspired bar in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Florida is definitely a highlight.
The elaborately decorated bar features “Prince of Darkness” imagery and three specialty cocktails: Black Rain and Bat-Tea and Ultimate Sin-Amon.
Black Rain and Bat-Tea are also available as $10 mocktails.
Photo by Philip Hernandez
10:02 p.m. — Club Horror feels familiar
Club Horror returns with an experience similar to last year’s version. Guests who visited the street experience in the San Francisco area during Halloween Horror Nights 2025 should find much of its atmosphere familiar.
Photo by Philip Hernandez
9:47 p.m. — Puppet show explores Jack and Oddfellow’s history
“A Tale of Chaos & Control,” a roughly three-minute puppet show in Downtown Clowntown near Louie’s Pizza, explores the twisted history connecting Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow. The miniature performance is worth stopping to watch while moving through the New York scare zone.
Photos by Philip Hernandez
9:23 p.m. — Carn “Evil” Smash Tacos become the night’s standout
The Carn “Evil” Smash Tacos are the best thing Philip has tried tonight. Priced at $14.99, the dish features smashed cheeseburger tacos with American cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, secret sauce and toasted sesame seeds. His verdict: “They’re really good.”
Photo by Philip Hernandez
8:50 p.m. — Finally trying Death by Cheesestick
After encountering a line of approximately 30 to 40 people earlier tonight, Philip finally got the Death by Cheesestick. The giant hand-breaded mozzarella stick comes with spicy marinara and is served at the Death Tank booth in the New York area of Universal Studios Florida.
Its regular HHN price is $12.99, though it is included among the select food offerings during Premium Scream Night. Philip sought some air conditioning and seating inside Minion Cafe.
Photos by Philip Hernandez
8:28 p.m. — Art the Clown takes the stage in Downtown ClownTown
Art the Clown takes the stage in the Downtown ClownTown scare zone for an approximately five-minute skit.
7:59 p.m. — Birria Pizza Fries join the feast
Philip grabbed the Birria Pizza Fries, topped with birria beef, mozzarella cheese, onions and cilantro. Select food and nonalcoholic beverages are included with Premium Scream Night admission, so we may have quite a bit of food tonight for our live updates.
Photo by Philip Hernandez
7:50 p.m. — Fortnitemares comes alive at dusk
Philip stopped by the Fortnitemares scare zone just before sunset, where the Battle Bus, Fortnite-inspired sets and costumed characters were beginning to glow against the darkening sky. The zone is located in the Hollywood section of Universal Studios Florida.
7:43 p.m. — HamiKuma greets guests
HamiKuma is meeting guests during Premium Scream Night, bringing the fan-favorite Halloween Horror Nights character from Universal Studios Japan to this year’s event in Orlando.
7:15 p.m. — “Death by Cheesestick” draws a long line
Approximately 30 to 40 guests are waiting to order Death by Cheesestick, a giant hand-breaded mozzarella stick served with spicy marinara sauce. The popular item costs $12.99.
7:07 p.m. — Time to fuel up
It’s time for a quick food break with two of this year’s gruesome-looking menu items. The Pizza Skull is a skull-shaped pizza filled with pepperoni and cheese, while the Meat Grinder Red Velvet features red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, raspberry sauce and puffed-rice “maggots.” The items cost $9.99 and $8.99, respectively.
Photo by Philip Hernandez, Haunted Attractions Network
6:50 p.m. — “Chaos and Control” posts 10-minute wait
“Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control” is posting a 10-minute wait shortly after the start of Premium Scream Night.
6:45 p.m. — Rain begins; ponchos distributed
Rain is falling at Universal Studios Florida as Premium Scream Night gets underway. Ponchos are being handed out to guests inside the event.
Photo by Philip Hernandez, Haunted Attractions Network
6:07 p.m. — Jack and Oddfellow featured on event credentials
This year’s Halloween Horror Nights credentials feature a split design with Jack the Clown forming the left half of a face and Dr. Oddfellow forming the right. Behind them, a circus tent is divided into red on Jack’s side and purple on Oddfellow’s side.
Photo by Philip Hernandez, Haunted Attractions Network
5:56 p.m. — Gates open for Premium Scream Night
The gates to Universal Studios Florida are now open, and guests are entering the park for Halloween Horror Nights Premium Scream Night. The limited-capacity event is scheduled to continue until 2 a.m.
8:15 a.m. EDT — Halloween Horror Nights medallion appears at park entrance
The Halloween Horror Nights 35 medallion has appeared in scrim form over the entrance to Universal Studios Florida as preparations continue for tonight’s Premium Scream Night. Crews were still working around the entrance Thursday morning ahead of the event’s 6:30 p.m. start.
Photo by @MagicCityMayhem Mikey
We also received an early look at some scare zones during a preview earlier this week.
First look at Halloween Horror Nights 2026 videos
The videos below take guests inside this year’s Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store and offer glimpses of Art the Clown dressed as Santa in Downtown ClownTown, Chance appearing onstage in the same scare zone and the video game-inspired Fortnitemares scare zone.
(Video) Fortnitemares Scare Zone at Halloween Horror Nights 2026
(Video) Art the Clown Returns For Halloween Horror Nights 35, Orlando
(Video) Chance Show Moment in Downtown Clowntown Scare Zone
(Video) Halloween Horror Nights 35 Tribute Store Walkthrough
Check back throughout tonight and Friday as we continue updating this report from Halloween Horror Nights opening weekend.
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