Halloween Horror Nights 30 is off to a great start here at the Universal Orlando Resort. After the cancellation of the event last year, fans have been eager to get back to haunting Universal Studios Florida late into the night. The full event is back for 2021, with new shows and a full line up of houses and scare zones, with modifications due to COVID-19. Universal Orlando Resort had recently announced that dividers would be placed throughout houses between scare actors and guests, which left many people concerned the event would not live up to its full potential. We’ve been through all of the houses and scare zones multiple times now, and want to give you an idea of what to expect at Halloween Horror Nights this year.

Let’s take a look at the event with scare actors in face coverings and dividers added to houses.

At the Universal Orlando Resort, face masks are required for all Team Members indoors. Guests are only encouraged to wear face coverings indoors. Inside the houses, you’ll find scare actors with full costume masks or smaller masks themed to their character. You may be looking at the face of Jack inside the HHN Icons: Captured house and hearing his voice, but you’ll notice his mouth is not moving. Many of the full face masks on scare actors look like actual faces. Unfortunately, we don’t have photos of the scare actors inside the houses, but we can share photos of the scare actors we encountered during our RIP Tour in Cafe la Bamba. Some masks are very themed and blend right in.

Other characters are wearing masks that have been splattered with blood. Good thing these actors have some very creepy, intense eyes.

Scare Zones are outdoors, but many of the costumes cover the actor’s entire face.

Because masks are optional outdoors for vaccinated Team Members, you’ll see a mix of masked and unmasks scare actors around the Scare Zones.

This year, there is no social distancing. You’ll be packed into long lines with other guests and be continually moved through the houses along with everyone else. This is basically back to what things were like before COVID-19. There is no hand sanitizer distribution and no distancing between parties this year.

Many people have been curious to know if the dividers in houses really make a difference in the experience. We did The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, Revenge of the Tooth Fairy, and Beetlejuice last year with dividers and social distancing. Now, all the houses have dividers, although they aren’t in front of every scare actor. The dividers are, for the most part, very obvious, and do make some scares predictable, but there are still a lot of unexpected scares throughout each house. The dividers aren’t in front of every actor, so when someone crawls out at you from behind a stack of boxes, you will definitely jump and scream. There are also several scares involving puppets, so there are no dividers in place, allowing for even more surprises as you make your way through the houses. Actors that are on stilts or platforms in the houses blend in with the scenery, so be prepared to jump when there is an unexpected movement next to you or a hand in front of your face out of nowhere. Who knew a pile of clothes could be so scary?

Overall, the house experience might not be 100% because of the dividers, but they don’t completely ruin the scares. We enjoyed every minute of the event, from houses to shows to scare zones, and are looking forward to many spooky nights around the park after dark. Halloween Horror Nights 30 is happening on select nights now through October 31. Let us know in the comments if you’re going to HHN and what you think about the event this year!

Annie Wilson