We’re back with September’s photo update around Universal Studios Hollywood. This month, we focus on Halloween Horror Nights setup throughout the park, in addition to the numerous projects currently under construction.
Let’s get started!
Park Update Index
» CityWalk Hollywood
» The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!
» Lower Lot
» Halloween Horror Nights 2019
» Halloween 2019 Merchandise
» A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
CityWalk Hollywood
In honor of the upcoming opening night of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights, Voodoo Doughnut is selling a selection of Halloween-themed doughnuts.
IT’SUGAR continues its lengthy exterior refurbishment with little visible progress since our most recent update.
Antojitos has officially opened at CityWalk Hollywood! The interior of the Mexican restaurant features a mixture of rustic elements and vibrant, neon colors, creating a modern yet inviting atmosphere for all to enjoy. We’ll provide you with a more in-depth look at Antojitos and discuss our dining experience in a future article, but for now, we’ll give you a quick look at the new restaurant as well a view of the menu.
Below is a peek at the two private dining rooms located on opposite sides of the restaurant.
The previous locations of the Element Apparel Store, Sublime Gifts & Finds, and ANGL all appear untouched since our most recent visit. No announcements have been made regarding their respective future replacements.
The Universal Studio Store has received a new Halloween Horror Nights exterior naming all ten mazes to be featured at this year’s event.
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!
Though overall not much has visibly changed at the future location of the attraction, a break in the green tarp covering the facade of the building reveals work on what appears to be the windows of multiple apartments.
As summer crowds have dwindled down since Labor Day weekend, construction walls have been placed at the far end of Baker Street and extend all the way to the front entrance of Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Baker Street restrooms – as well as the drinking fountains – are now only accessible through walking down the street past the Palace Theatre Café. Access to Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem and the adjacent Super Silly Fun Land is only available through French Street. However, walls have encroached on the entrance to Minion Mayhem, making it a rather tight squeeze for guests to enter.
The temporary ceiling above the outside queue for The Walking Dead Attraction is gradually being removed as construction finishes up on the adjacent exterior of “The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!”.
Lower Lot
Construction on the rumored location of Super Nintendo World on the Lower Lot has significantly progressed over the past month. A massive show building has sprung up on the plot, seemingly increasing in size by the day as hard hats work continuously on the project. Perhaps the most remarkable change of them all is what appears to be the beginning of work on a second story of the building.
Halloween Horror Nights 2019
As the opening weekend of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights approaches, all construction related to the event is coming to an end. We’ll provide you with an overview of the progress on the many mazes and scare zones featured at the event, though be sure to also take a look at our three recent articles where we offer a behind-the-scenes preview of Ghostbusters, Creepshow, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space, respectively.
Props for the Spirits & Demons of the East scare zone have made their way onto New York Street on the Upper Lot.
The facade for the House of 1000 Corpses maze – located in the WaterWorld queue – has been revealed, featuring multiple iconic elements from the film including the Murder Ride skull and adjacent museum and gas station. Walls have also come down around the exit of the maze, returning views of the WaterWorld main entrance and cast board to the public.
A portion of the maze taking place at the infamous Firefly farmhouse is also visible from afar.
In addition, walls surrounding the facade themed to look like a giant New Year’s postcard for the Holidayz in Hell maze – found in the Parisian Courtyard – have come down, offering a full view of the mural as well as side views of the maze.
Props for the adjacent Christmas in Hell scare zone have also been wheeled out, depicting a variety of twisted holiday scenes.
Stranger Things continues construction inside of Soundstage 29 on the Universal front lot, while Ghostbusters, Creepshow, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman likewise progress on the Metro sets.
Setup for the All Hallows Evil scare zone has also begun on the Metro sets, preparing to take guests through the many haunted holidays that happen at this time of the year.
Located just in front of the Studio Tour garage, two mazes – Jordan Peele’s “Us” and the original maze titled “The Curse of Pandora’s Box”, respectively – have significantly progressed. The facade for Us is themed after the first funhouse featured in the film, while the facade for The Curse of Pandora’s Box appears to be an antique store.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space in the Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride extended queue adds its finishing touches in the final days before the event.
Meanwhile, on the Lower Lot, food venues for the event are coming together. Studio Scoop appears to be receiving a transformation into Scoops Ahoy – the ice cream shop where much of the action in the most recent season of the show takes place – in honor of the presence of the Stranger Things maze located nearby. A facade themed to the Starcourt Mall – largely featured in Season 3 of the Netflix show – will also be selling a variety of Stranger Things-inspired food offerings.
A stage has also been set up in front of the Jurassic World area, likely for the new Throwback Thursdays experience at this year’s event – where popular 80s hits will be played by a live band or DJ each Thursday.
Maze entrance posters, as well as other miscellaneous Halloween Horror Nights signage and props, are also making their way into the park.
Halloween Horror Nights tickets and passes are up for sale at the ticket booths at the park’s entrance.
Halloween 2019 Merchandise
An array of new Halloween Horror Nights merchandise has debuted around the park and inside of the CityWalk Universal Studio Store, including – but not limited to – t-shirts, lanyards, hats, mugs, and, of course, character masks.
We’ll begin with a look at merchandise found in the CityWalk Universal Studio Store:
Next, we’ll move onto merchandise up for purchase in the Universal Studio Store just inside of the park:
Production Central also offers a variety of Halloween Horror Nights merchandise, particularly centered around the Universal Monsters:
The Lower Lot Studio Store has received a 1980s revamp – wallpaper, flooring, and all – complementing the 80s-themed merchandise for this year’s event. Many properties to be featured at Halloween Horror Nights 2019 were released in the 1980s, allowing for this year’s heavy emphasis on the decade.
Halloween displays have also made their way over to the Animation Studio Store on the Upper Lot.
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
Guests can now meet Everest from the upcoming DreamWorks feature, Abominable, outside of Universal Animal Actors.
Furthermore, both Universal’s Animal Actors and the Special Effects Show have installed new LCD monitors displaying showtimes. WaterWorld has also received a temporary LCD monitor next to its turnstiles.
A blue and grey curtain has appeared on the upper seating area of Jurassic World for unknown reasons.
A new food venue has opened for studio employees working on the Universal front lot.
That’ll do it for this month’s photo update. Be sure to follow Inside Universal for continuing coverage of Universal Parks and Resorts.
