HHN Hollywood 2026: The Houses Aren’t the Problem
This review won’t be following my usual format. I’ve reviewed Halloween Horror Nights a few times before, and I have a lot to say about 2026. I don’t feel like we need to go through our usual ratings this year. Instead, the TLDR will simply be a tier-ranked list of the houses. Before we truly get into it, a lot of this feels like it has been building for the past couple of years, and 2026 was the year that finally did me in.
A couple of things to keep in mind as you continue to read: yes, we went on a sold-out opening-weekend night, and yes, that was my mistake. We were also dealing with a rare rain event in Los Angeles, which undoubtedly contributed to some of the problems we experienced. That being said, I am still deeply disappointed in my experience. I so rarely see thoughtful negative reviews of HHN that I feel like I have to write one.
And, importantly, none of my critiques are directed at the people working this event. The CMs and scare actors were all doing exactly what they were trained to do. The set designers, costume designers, and countless other people who work behind the scenes did beautiful work. My criticism is directed at the organizers and the folks making the decisions at the top.
So, with that out of the way: let’s talk about it.
Hurricane Horror Nights
Let’s just start with the weather of it all, because it’s so rare that I don’t think it will matter many times in the future, but it is worth noting that if you bill an event as rain or shine, I expect you to be prepared to run that event in the rain. We queued up for entry at 6:30pm and stood in the pouring rain, there was no organization of lines. It took us 90 minutes to reach the turnstiles and as this is a theme park that operates every single day and is well into it’s third decade of HHN events, is unacceptable. And not only that, when we finally looked at our tickets we noticed that Danny was given someone else’s Express Unlimited pass, and I had Danny’s pass. Whoever Kaitlyn was that night: I hope you got an upgrade from General to Express! But seriously, who knows how many people in that line got the wrong tickets? Just absolute chaos that is unacceptable for an event that is not new, is not low budget, and an operation that quite literally runs daily. Again, rain or shine it declares, and yet two houses got flooded, to the point where Killer Klowns did not open until 9:30pm. Thankfully I didn’t have early entry, or I would be even more upset than I already am. No scare zones were active when we finally got through the gates, and many things were covered to protect from the rain. There were many technical malfunctions as well, presumably due to the weather, such as downed escalators and wait time signs not working. The escalators were particularly rough at the Terror Tram, causing pedestrian traffic to only be able to flow in one direction at a time, and I felt so bad for the one CM trying to manage a crowd that was a 200 minute wait time. Tech things happen, weather happens, and I have a lot of understanding for that but again: rain or shine, baby. That is the expectation you set.
Then there was the signage. Or lack thereof.
And on the note of this being the third decade of this event at Universal Hollywood, I also felt like this year the signage was so confusing and not helpful. This was most evident at Stranger Things where Express was queueing in 3 different places, the line was extending way outside of it’s queue, and people were getting rude and rowdy. No one knew where the true start was, it was just unnecessary chaos, the same thing could be said for the Sinners and the Terror Tram but those were more quickly rectified. At a certain point, I have to wonder: how are we still figuring out how to organize a line?
A quick positive, because I promise there are some.
I do think they put some real effort into the scare zones and wandering characters this year in an attempt to make the event feel more immersive. I really enjoyed the “bonus” feeling of the side quest in the Carnival zone. I liked Blood Bog and felt like it was so effective. As simple as it was, simple can be scary, and I wish they would do more of that throughout the park. I don’t play Fortnite and therefore don’t really “get” the main scare zone. I do think the colors are really cool and pretty, and some of the costuming is fun. I just don’t feel like it should be the main scare zone. Nothing about it says “Horror Nights” to me. Maybe a campy Halloween vibe, if we want to stretch it. Another positive for me was the MERCH. I did really love the Whatever Makes You Happy collection. So, congratulations to whoever was in charge of that because, despite everything else I have to say about this event, you got my money.
Keep. It. Moving!!!
One of my biggest complaints about the event this year is the escalation of the CMs yelling at you to keep it moving. I have complained about this at an increasing rate year to year but this year was a whole new level. If I were to upload my videos of this year both from around the park and inside the houses, the audio always has someone yelling to keep it moving. In the houses, there is usually nowhere to go, and yelling to keep moving does nothing. In the case of them now yelling at you while you are standing around the park, that really makes my blood feel like it is about to evaporate out of my skin. They created these experiences for us to enjoy, presumably? But you would be wrong. They do not want you to enjoy them. They do not want you to stop and watch the scare actor have a fun interaction, they do not want you to stop and enjoy details, they want you to pay your money and get in and out of their park as fast as possible. I understand Hollywood struggles with limited real estate, but the solution is not to shit all over the guest experience, the solution is to limit ticket sales, or end your event entirely. I really could not believe that one of my biggest pet peeves has now extended so egregiously outside of the houses and is now being yelled from every corner of the park. There is no immersion whatsoever at Horror Nights Hollywood 2026.
No labeled vegan food at Hollywood HHN but who is surprised there. No use elaborating. Moving on.
Why was there nothing in the Kung Fu Panda theater? Also not worth elaborating, just a misuse of space and another thing to add to the list.
Okay. Let's talk about the houses.
I know you all love the IPs. And honestly, that is the only thing I can get my head around when I see people willing to overlook everything else about the event. You are a fan, and you want to be inside that world. To a point, I get it. A lot of the IP gets this year were cool, but at what point do we just feel like we have paid a lot of money to be inside of an ad? And hey, maybe this event just isn’t for me any more. That is the part that makes me sad, I want to love Horror Nights. I think it is so cool, and special. And I wish that I could hold it onto the pedestal that everyone else does. Because of the budgets, the hype, the fans, the price, and also my own desire to love it, I do hold it to a standard that it falls quite short of. The set designs, the costuming, the storylines are all amazing. So much work goes into each one, months and months and so many team members. But everything else that this event just does not make those 4 minutes inside the houses worth it. Maybe if I was local enough to get the season pass and just pop in randomly, I would feel a lot differently, but I only get 1 Express ticket and attend the event once per year. That is all my budget and distance allows, and I truly cannot imagine standing in a GA HHN line ever again in this life. This should be an event that someone who paid $250 per ticket is able to thoroughly enjoy, and it isn’t. That being said, Ozzy, Hellraiser, Sinners, and Terror Tram are all absolute bangers this year. Even Killer Klowns coming back was a blast for me. The rest are pretty forgettable, and we don’t even need to talk about the pointlessness of Stranger Things 5.
Have I seen this before?
One thing I noticed much more this year than in years past was the reuse of set design and props. So much of Ozzy was just reused set pieces. There were lots of reused props in Terror Tram, and so much of what I was supposed to think was cool inside KILLcineara felt like a regurgitation of Monstruous from years past. Again, I understand that things are expensive. I believe in reuse and recycle. But when it is this obvious, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If you are going to bill your event as having all-new houses every year and charge us what you charge, I think there is a reasonable expectation that the experience should feel new. This is also a big reason why I think I need to take at least one year off from the event.
Maybe more.
I think HHN would probably feel a lot more impressive to me if I weren’t going year after year and becoming increasingly capable of identifying exactly which set piece I saw three years ago. I also think I am a prime example for exposure therapy, as I don’t even get jump scared at HHN any more, and went through Dead, Deader, Deadest by MYSELF. Who is she???? I think getting jump scared is one of my favorite things about haunts (even though I pretend to hate it) and that has lost a lot of the HHN luster for me.
So…where does that leave me?
I do think so much of what disappointed me this year comes down to expectations.
Expectations set by the event. Expectations set by the fans. And expectations I have set for myself.
I do think HHN is a fun event, and I know that many people will not feel the disappointment that I felt. It sells out night after night. Clearly, I am largely in the minority. But this is all just my opinion and my experience on one particular night of the event. And I think we need to hold companies accountable for doing better and for delivering the guest experience that we are paying for. The houses aren’t the problem. There is an incredible amount of talent behind those houses, and I genuinely think some of the work this year is fantastic.
But Halloween Horror Nights is supposed to be more than four minutes in a house.
It is supposed to be an event.
It is supposed to feel immersive. It is supposed to feel exciting. It is supposed to make me want to linger, explore, get scared, laugh, eat something weird, watch a scare actor interact with someone, and generally feel like I have stepped into another world for the night. This year, too much of that felt like an inconvenience. And maybe that means I need a break.
I’m looking forward to checking out other haunts around Southern California, and I’ll even be popping into a North Carolina haunt that I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time to see how those stack up. Maybe I’ll come back to HHN next year and fall in love with it again. Maybe I won’t. But for now…
I’ll see you in the fog.
TLDR
〰️
TLDR 〰️
🎃 The TLDR: HHN Hollywood 2026 House Tier List
S TIER — Absolute Bangers
Ozzy
Hellraiser
Sinners
A TIER — Very Good
Art’s Terror Tram
B TIER — Fine / Forgettable
Killer Klowns
KILLcineara
Evil Dead Burn
C TIER — Could Have Skipped It
Dead, Deader, Deadest (I do think I missed a lot of the scare marks in here and that is a big factor)
F TIER — Why Are We Doing This
Stranger Things 5
Overall: The houses themselves were honestly not the problem this year. There are some really good ones in here. My issue is everything surrounding those four-ish minutes inside them.
