It’s that time of year again. The time we wait for all year long from the moment the previous event ends. Halloween Horror Nights 33 is upon us!

For the last several years I’ve asked Universal Orlando Team Members to rank the houses after their preview night. It’s something fun and it gives us a glimpse into what first impressions are. Hopefully at least some of you have been looking forward to this publication!

There’s nothing scientific about it, it’s based on averages. In the past, most UOTMs have visited all ten houses. This year is different because on average they visited five houses. So I’m going to be doing things a little differently this year. I’ll be averaging out the ranks of each individual house based on how many folks visited it. You’ll also see how many people ranked each house as their number one. I will also put out rankings from the few respondents to my request for rankings who did all ten houses.

Most people pick houses that they want to be sure to visit before they arrive. I think the number of people who visited some houses will give you an idea of what those top houses were. I had a total of 30 UOTMs respond to my request this year. (Be on the lookout for the request again next year!). I always hope to have more respondents than the year before.

I’m going to add some comments about the houses without naming names or giving anything away. No need to worry about spoilers! You’ll find the lists of comments under the stats for each house.

So let’s get to it! In no particular order, here are the houses.

A Quiet Place – Silence your screams if you want to survive the terrifying, post-apocalyptic world. Like the Abbott family, you must keep quiet as you travel from the farmhouse to the woods, to the foundry. As soon as you make a sound, monstrous creatures who can hear the slightest noise, will hunt you down and silence you for good.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 4.57

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 18 and 3.77

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 2

• best props/ effects
• never seen the movies but it was really good

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire – A bone-chilling new specter has escaped from an ancient artifact, and he’ll stop you cold. The Ghostbusters must team up to save you and the rest of the world from a second Ice Age.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 3.86

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 22 and 2.82

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 7

• Great story line, great props, great rooms. Puts you in the movie!
• Ghostbusters is beautiful and fun if you’ve watched the last movie.
• 10 out of 10 house was Ghostbusters just cause of all the littlecharacters that were around

Universal Monsters Eternal Bloodline – Get caught in an epic battle as Saskia Van Helsing and the Bride of Frankenstein go up against Dracula’s daughter and her monstrous mavens.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 7.71

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 15 and 5.93

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 1

• It’s all female monsters, all female creators, all female production crew, female makeup artists, etc. but they lost their feminine look and lack of scares and original house make it lack luster

Insidious The Further – Don’t get trapped in The Further as terrifying demons try to ensnare you. Enter the Red-Faced Demon’s lair behind The Red Door. And try to keep away from KeyFace, so he can’t lock up your spirit.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 2.14

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 22 and 2.45

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 11

• best scares
• I got scared while there was NO scare actors
• I refused to do Insidious because I heard it was “other level” disturbing.
• People were crying as they left the house.
• People loved it, but they were legit scared.
• Insidious will kill you dead
• Lol insidious didn’t scare me I guess I’m used to HHN
• Insidious was wild. Very intense

Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America – ¡Ten cuidado! With La Muerte as your guide, try to survive the night with three terrifying legends: Tlahuelpuchi, La Lechuza and El Silbón.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 5

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 19 and 4.26

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 1

• listen to the universal hhn podcast to learn the story of the 3 Latin monsters featured in this house. Their stories mixed with the scares makes it even better
• Here are the Discover Universal HHN details you can listen to.
• Monstruos was surprisingly amazing.

Slaughter Sinema 2 – It’s time for another horror movie marathon at the Carey Drive-in! Scream through scenes from creature features, grindhouse gore and more.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 4.29

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 13 and 3.46

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 2

• sometimes the sequel is just as good as the original

Major Sweets Candy Factory – You’re chaperoning a fieldtrip to a candy factory when the free samples transform the kids into candy-coated killers.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 7

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 21 and 4.86

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 0

• another funny scary house. Good smells
• I thought it was super cute but not THE scariest of houses

The Museum: Deadly Exhibits – A folklore museum’s newest exhibit, The Rotting Stone, has released an evil spirit that decays everything. And it’s coming for you.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 9

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 12 and 6.75

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 1

• cool story, poorly executed

Goblin’s Feast – Enter a goblin village, where a feast is being prepared for goblins, orcs, hobgoblins and witches. And you’re the main course.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 5.43

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 17 and 4.12

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 4

• beautiful set. The cottage is awesome. Kinda silly and gives shrek looking ogre vibes
• the aesthetic and theme was cool.
• goblins was really fun

Triplets of Terror – You’re invited to the Barmy triplets’ birthday celebration. But their kind of party involves recreating the murders of their entire family.

Number of UOTMs who visited all 10 houses and the average rank: 7 and 6

Total number of UOTMs total to visit this house and the average rank: 20 and 5

Number of UOTMs who ranked this house number one: 1

• awesome original story. Triplets slaughters their family and return to the scene of the crime to relive it every 10 years
• didn’t follow the story line well but wasn’t an awful house
• Triplets was really cool

Overall, a few comments about the event in general were the same across the board. It was a “shitshow” and a “mess.” This seemed to be a general consensus about the pulsing of the queues (Letting a small group in and then waiting before letting another group in.) and the wait times were “lies” (Either much longer than posted, shorter than posted, or posted with different wait times from boards to out front.). I also heard that most of the food people tried was mid. A huge complaint was that the Ghostbusters Mini Stay Puft S’more was sold out in about an hour.

It was also reported that again this year there are a lot of “dead zones” in the park. I didn’t like this at all last year. No ambiance music, fog, or lights in many areas of the park. No music or videos in the queues. It felt like you were walking to each house and scare zone with absolutely nothing going on in between. To me, it really detracts from the event. I want to be completely immersed.

I did have some positive feedback on houses so we all have that to look forward to! I also heard from a few people that the Dead Coconut Club is good this year. The folks who watched Nightmare Fuel said it was pretty good this year.

I heard there was a QR code for UOTMs to scan to give feedback about the event. I can only hope that they are truly considered. And that lessons were learned during what is a technical rehearsal.

After all you’ve seen here, what do you think will be the house you choose to go to first? Are you more excited?

I’ll be there opening night with a bag full of trades/giveaways! See you in the fog!