Halloween Horror Nights XIV - 2004

Asking guests "What's Your Breaking Point?" Halloween Horror Nights XIV was the first, and so far only time, both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure housed the event. Two paths acting as scarezones were used to connect the two parks. Field of Screams a cornfield where scarecrows come to life was located behind Seuss Landing, and Fright Yard was a backstage path between The Lost Continent in IOA and the New York back lot of Universal Studios.

Islands of Adventure held five of the seven houses. Castle Vampyr took place in a gothic castle filled with vampires, Ghost Town was a haunted western themed house, Horror in Wax  an abandoned wax museum filled with creatures from Universal Studios' past, and Hellgate Prison where guest had to survive their way through a prison riot. The final two houses Deadtropolis a zombie infested city, and Horror Nights Nightmares were located in Universal Studios

For the first time in five years Halloween Horror Nights didn't feature an event icon. Portions of the parks were closed with only some attractions operating. The parks became so crowded, that Universal opened designated closed sections on busy nights to help alleviate  the crowded pathway. Scare-actors were also inserted throughout the event to help fill the "dead" space.
Bill and Teds Excellent Halloween Adventure 2004 overview

Halloween Horror Nights XIII - 2003

Halloween Horror Nights 13
theme was based around a new icon, The Director. The Director was a filmmaker who specialized in snuff films depicting his victims dyeing on camera. The houses were all "sets" for The Directors twisted films. The event's commercials featured a cover of the song "You Oughta Be in Pictures".
As with Halloween Horror Nights XII the scarezones took up each of the islands within Islands of Adventure. Including The Port of Evil which served as the entrance into the Director's macabre film festival.

The event also featured six houses. All Nite Die-In, where guests entered through an abandoned drive-in theatre and were led by The Director into the house from Halloween, Camp Crystal Lake from Friday the 13th, Freddy's Furnace from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Leatherface's kitchen from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In ScreamHouse Revisited, guests returned to the Victorian manor of The Caretaker Dr. Albert Cain. Shady Brook, the asylum that provided Jack the Clown a home until is murderous escape, was introduced to guests in my favorite house that year Psychoscarapy. In Jungle of Doom, bloodthirsty zombies chased guests after they trespassed on a "Pet Symatary" type burial ground. Funhouse of Fear was an optical illusion house filled with maniacal clowns. Finally, Ship of Screams (a second rate S.S. Frightanic) was an aging cruise liner whose decks were manned by a crew of ghosts.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 2003 overview

HHN 13 overview

Halloween Horror Nights XII: Islands of Fear - 2002

Halloween Horror Nights XII was moved out of Universal Studios park and into Islands of Adventure.  The scarezones and houses revolved around the imagination of Dr. Albert Caine, also known as The Caretaker. The event featured five mazes; Scream House, Project Eviloution, Scary Tales II, Fear Factor and Maximum Carnage. The Travel Channel made a documentary about HHN XII, detailing the houses as well as giving other background information on how the event comes together.

The Caretaker was not the original icon for HHN XII. Cindy, the demented daughter of  a mortuary owner namedPaul Bearer, was originally the icon of the event. In the event's original premise, every land would be ruled over by her "playthings. Due to a string of child abductions in the Orlando area that year, the Cindy character was abandoned and her father Paul Bearer became Albert Caine.

Horror Nights absolutely nailed it this year. The bar was raised and I don't think surpassed until HHN XVII. The houses were the best the event had ever given us. The fact that every island contained a scarezone turned it up to eleven, no matter where you went there was no safety net. If I absolutely had to pick a favorite house from this year it would be a toss up between Maximum Carnage and Scream House, with a very notable mention going to Scary Tales II.
Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 2002 overview

Opening Scare-emonies

Commercial 1

Commercial 2

Bill and Ted

Travel Channel Documentary

Halloween Horror Nights XI - 2001

Halloween Horror Nights XI featured three scarezones and five houses; Scary Tales, Run, Superstitions, Pitch Black, and The Mummy Returns: The Curse Continues. Due to the attacks on September 11 Universal changed much of the the event to tone it down. Therefore the original mascot "Eddie" Jacks brother,was scrapped at last minute and replaced by the return of Jack. Taglines such as "Jack's Back" and "There's no more clowning around", were used. Anything graphic or violent was scrapped from the event, with no blood or gore being displayed and several of the attractions names were changed. Some of the changes included; Bloodbath Underground becoming Ooze Zone, Terror Land becoming Scary Tales, Slasher Alley becoming Nightmare Alley, and the Festival of the Dead parade becoming Nightmares on Parade.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 2001 overview

Halloween Horror Nights X - 2000

Halloween Horror Nights X featured five houses; Anxiety in 3-D, Total Chaos, The Fearhouse, Universal Classic Monster Mania, and Dark Torment. It also introduced four new scare zones; The Gauntlet, Midway of Dr. Morose, Apocalypse Island, and Clown Attack. Dark Torment was my favorite house that year. The maze started after you exited the Earthquake ride, I wish the powers that be at Universal would bring back this idea.

This was also the first Halloween Horror Nights to feature an original icon. Jack the Clown, took over the event and much of the park was re-themed to be based on his character. Jack stared in his own show called Jacked Up, and Jack's evil clowns took over the streets of Hollywood for the Clown Attack scarezone.
Jack was even made a cameo in the Jaws ride during the boat house scene. Jack was seen killing a victim in the boat house, before turning his attention to Amity Six's Skipper and passengers. He was also used in advertisements for the event touting, "Not Afraid of the Dark? You Don't Know Jack."

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 2000 overview

Bill and Ted 2000 video

Halloween Horror Nights IX - 1999

Halloween Horror Nights IX debuted the first 3-D maze in Halloween Horror Nights history, Universal's Creature Features in 3-D. The event also included four other mazes; Psycho: Through the Mind of Norman Bates, Doomsday, Insanity, and The Mummy. As cool as the 3D house was The Mummy takes the cake for the best house that year. The amount of detail put into the sets and costumes was unbelievable, especially the undead priests. The house I was looking forward to the most was Psycho. Unfortunately it was a huge disappointment and remained my least favorite house until the Friday the 13th house in 2007.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 1999 overview

HHN 9 event overview

Halloween Horror Nights VIII - 1998

The eighth annual Halloween Horror Nights was labeled "Primal Scream". The posters pictured a screaming face with the tagline "The Last Scream You'll Ever Hear" underneath. Halloween Horror Nights 8 featured five mazes; Hells High, S.S. Frightanic: Fear in First Class, S.S. Frightanic: Carnage Crew, Museum of Horrors: Camber of Horror, and Museum of Horrors: Unnatural History. It also included the returns of The Midway of the Bizzare scare zone and the Chainsaw Drill Team.

HHN 8 was notable for two reasons; One it featured a one night only concert with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Peter Frampton and Tommy Shaw, and two it was my first time going to Horror Nights. I had been to haunted walkthrough attractions before, (Terror on Church Street,  Mystery Fun House) but none of them were equal in scale or detail. I fell in live with the event within seconds of walking in, and haven't missed it since. The best house (in my opinion)
that year was Carnage Crew, Holy Crap! I've been a huge horror movie fan since I was a kid, and that house hit every one of my horror nerves, and loved it to no end.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 1998 overview

Halloween Horror Nights VII - 1997

Halloween Horror Nights VII ran for 18 days, from October 3 to November 1. It featured three  haunted mazes; Hotel Hell, Tombs of Terror, and Universal's Museum of Horror. The event also included The Midway of the Bizarre scarezone, three shows, The Festival of the Dead Parade, and a Frankenstein exhibit in Studio 54. Advertisements for the event showed a small demon keeping an eye from shutting, and ended with the events tag line "You'll Never Sleep Again".

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 1997 overview

Halloween Horror Nights VI - 1996

Held over fifteen nights, Halloween Horror Nights VI boasted the return of the Crypt Keeper for it's icon. The event featured three haunted mazes: Universal's New House of Horrors, Toy Hell: Nightmare at the Scream Factory, and The Crypt Keeper's Studio Tour of Terror. Midway of the bizarre returned as the events only scarezone. This year also featured the debut of The Festival of the Dead Parade, with the Crypt Keeper acting as Master of Scare-emonies.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure 1996 overview

Halloween Horror Nights V - 1995

The fifth annual Halloween Horror Nights introduced the idea of using an Event Icon. The Cryptkeeper from television's Tales From the Crypt was the inaugural icon.
Advertisements labeled the years event as "The Curse of the Cryptkeeper" and used his likeness for billboards and commercials.  The event featured three mazes:Cryptkeeper's Dungeon of Terror, Terror Underground: Transit to Torment, and Universal's House of Horrors.
As well as two scarezones: Horrorwood Blvd. and Midway of the Bizarre. The event was expanded to twelve nights.

Halloween Horror Nights V commercial

Halloween Horror Nights IV - 1994

Halloween Horror Nights IV continued the trend of getting bigger and bladder every year. The event was expanded to seven nights and featured four haunted mazes. These included the returns of Dungeon of Terror and The Psycho Path maze, as well as two new houses The Boneyard and Hells Kitchen. HHN 4 also introduced two features that would become synonymous with Halloween Horror Nights: the first scarezone and the Chainsaw Drill Team. The scarezone was created to centralize the scareactors to create better scares while in a safer environment. The term scare-actors was coined for the first time.
This year also marked the last time Robosaurus would appear at the event for twelve years.