[Haunts] The Walking Dead Returns to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando and Hollywood

Earlier today Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood announced they'd each be getting their own version of a Walking Dead maze for Halloween Horror Nights. This marks the fourth year in a row that the show is being featured at both parks in some form or another. Like previous years, both events will be getting a slightly different version as well.

I'll be honest, I'm with a lot of people that say they should move away from the show for HHN. There's a lot of other stuff out there that could be used and would be far more interesting, but hey at least this year they're going to have to build all new sets and locations for the mazes as Terminus hasn't really been done to this extent. As long as it's rated highly by people, they'll keep doing it I guess.

So, with that in mind, let's take a peek at what each park will offer up those brave enough. Like previous years, the maze at Universal Orlando will be following in the footsteps of the previous season. In this case, season five. Here's the official word on what to expect down in Florida:

"Guests will begin their journey at the Terminus safe-haven compound, where an unspeakable hunger has consumed the demented souls of those dwelling within. As the chaos ensues, guests will encounter even greater atrocities as they stumble upon dismembered “W” walkers, witness the horror of victims besieged by the living dead, and step onto the loading dock of the Del Arno Food warehouse to face hordes of “W” walkers."

Nothing that surprising there, and for fans of the show, will definitely be an experience for them from the sounds of it. Here's the announcement trailer from Universal Orlando on the all new experience coming to the park this year.


Here's a little from HHN Orlando Creative Director, Mike Aiello, on the maze coming to Orlando,

“We’ve been fortunate to recreate many horrific moments over the past few years, and as the series raises its own bar every season, so have we with our environments, faithfully representing season 5 has brought with it all-new elements, and we will literally place our guests in the lead role as they escape hordes of walkers.” 

Now, Universal Hollywood is doing things a little bit differently as they are wont to do in their own strange ways.


Folks out in California will be getting a little treat as the HHN creative team, helmed by Creative Director John Murdy, is going off the reservation a little bit and tossing in new, never before seen walkers and other elements with their maze; The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far. This one promises to be the longest and most gruesome maze in the California event's history and will be home to twice as many walkers as in the past in an all new location within the park.

According to Murdy, it will be located in the empty lot next to Transformers and be around the same size as last year's "biggest ever" at Universal Orlando. Also, it looks like they'll be highlighting the horrors of not just the walkers, but also the living as the opening areas within Terminus will be more live humans focused before the onslaught of walkers is set upon you.


So, while things will still be based on the events of season five, it appears that they're going to throw in a few new wrinkles with the help from Greg Nicotero and the show's creative team. Speaking of that, here's what Nicotero had to say regarding this year's event;

“I couldn’t be more delighted to continue and expand The Walking Dead universe with Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando than by having fans experience some of the most harrowing and suspenseful moments of our show,” said Greg Nicotero, executive producer and special effects makeup supervisor for The Walking Dead.  “Halloween Horror Nights is the gold standard to which all other Halloween-themed events try to emulate, so to bring authentic walkers to this event, alongside other horror greats, is the ultimate thrill.”

And there ya have it. Pretty much everything that we've got on the latest maze coming to both Universal Orlando and Hollywood for this year's Halloween Horror Nights.

Reactions so far are only lukewarm at best on this one from what I've seen on Facebook and YouTube, it's not surprising either. As said before, this is the 4th year in a row that the show is being featured prominently and while each park is only going with a maze this time around, there's really only so much you can do before a property becomes tired. Personally I think the folks at Universal could've come up with their own spin on the zombie theme...but hey, there's always next year, right?

More to come from both Universal Orlando and Hollywood as even more details on this year's Halloween Horror Nights are yet to be revealed. So, stay tuned here and of course on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and even Facebook if you must for all the latest!