A Wet and Wild Halloween Horror Nights Staycation

Halloween Horror Nights has been a staple of my Universal vacations for 6 years now. I remember the first time I went I did two houses and the lines were too long and it was too hot for me to keep going. I was also a little late to this event due to me being a big scaredy cat but eventually, I could no longer avoid the trips. After experiencing horror nights as a team member and seeing how much effort and creative energy was put into this event the more, I loved it. Like with anything, there are good years and not-so-good years but overall, I still have a good time no matter how many houses are good. Unfortunately, my days as a team member are over so I don’t get to experience the amazing team member preview where all the houses are 20-minute waits. I have to come up with more creative trips to experience all of HHN like going in the first couple weeks of September. I also went to opening night but that was a mistake. All houses were well over an hour and the food lines were intruding into the walkway making it a hard place to get around. 

Hotel

For this HHN trip, we stayed at the Portofino. Arguably my favorite hotel on Universal property. The pool is great, the food used to be great but has taken a step back. You get express passes included in your stay and you are a short 10–15 minute walk or a quick boat ride to City Walk. 

For our trip, it was $136.40 for the night. We didn’t use the express passes as it was raining the entire day but we used the pool, used the walkway, and enjoyed having our room so close to the park. This pool was a great option too, it was almost completely empty as it rained most of the day and the clouds surrounding the pool didn’t make it look any better. Empty hot tubs, empty water slide, and mostly empty pool, it was fantastic. Quite a difference from the Yacht Club pool, Stormalong Bay, at Disney. Where that pool was full the entire day and didn’t start clearing out until nighttime. That pool was incredible too and is known throughout the Disney community as the best pool at Disney. I don’t think the Portofino pool was a huge difference. Both were very nice experiences. 

Tickets

Our HHN tickets were free, and I am glad they were because we didn’t feel the need to close it down during the biblical storm that occurred. It was lightly raining the whole night but we had our rain jackets, so it was fine. We did Monstrous in 20 minutes. Goblin Feast two times in a row, and then got in line for the Universal Monsters house. During our wait, the sky opened up and it began to pour down on us for a solid 20 minutes. There were a lot of people with no ponchos, no jackets, no umbrellas getting pummeled by the rain. Huge puddles began forming and my shoes got completely soaked. After Monsters, the worst house of the night I might add, we made the journey back to the Portofino in the pouring rain. The final tally of 4 houses done. 

Food

After that lovely experience, we were really hungry so we door dashed two burgers for $25 and ate in our Portofino room after we took off our soaked shoes. We even had Crocs at the room but figured we didn’t need them, what a mistake. We almost didn’t bring our rain jackets either. The next day it rained a majority of the day once again so we couldn’t use our express passes and we decided to just cut our losses and go home. Quite a memory though. 

Total

Our one-night staycation cost a grand total of $161.40 a great price for a stay at a deluxe resort but would have been nicer to use the express passes. That is probably my favorite perk out of any hotel, and we couldn’t use it. Overall, a fun staycation with many memories made.