Universal Announces Return of “The Walking Dead” to Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights 24

Halloween Horror Nights 24 at the Universal Orlando Resort started off with a bang as it was announced that AMC’s The Walking Dead would return to the nation’s premier haunted experience for the third straight year. A ratings juggernaut for AMC, season 4 of The Walking Dead premiered in October of 2013 with a shocking 16 Million viewers and continued its popularity until the season finale in March of 2014, which also set a ratings record for season finales (breaking its own record set at the end of season 3).

In 2012, The Walking Dead made its debut at Halloween Horror Nights 22, with a haunted maze that used no characters from the popular television show. For HHN 23, not only did The Walking Dead have a bigger maze, but the entire park was filled with scare zones set to themes established by the television show. In addition, several characters from the show (such as Michonne’s walkers) were used in the scare zones and maze, making the experience much more immersive for fans of the show.

Universal says that for HHN 24 The Walking Dead will have the biggest house of the entire event and will use more scare actors than ever before. The official HHN 24 twitter feed has been dropping hints of what we can expect to see, including:

Almost every major environment in season 4 will be featured. Prison for a small portion. The big spot and its parking lot. The moonshine shack, the country club, the tunnel… Terminus. – Mike Aiello, HHN Creative Director

Executive Producer Greg Nicotero talks about the terrifying return of AMC’s The Walking Dead to Halloween Horror Nights 24. This all-new horror experience will be the largest maze ever built in the history of Halloween Horror Nights, with more scareactors than ever before.

While some early reactions to the announcement  was along the lines of “Walking Dead? Again?” the numbers speak for themselves, and The Walking Dead brand brings guests into the park who ordinary wouldn’t do Halloween Horror Nights. Similar to Harry Potter bringing people to Islands of Adventure (and soon to Universal Studios Florida), The Walking Dead will get people through the turnstiles, period.

Last year we took a lights-on tour of The Walking Dead house, No Safe Haven. You can read about that experience (along with tours of the houses for La Llorona and Cabin in the Woods) by checking out our Morning Menace Tour blog post from last year.

For more information and tickets for Halloween Horror Nights 24, please see the official HHN website.

Special thanks to Brandon Glover for his assistance on this article.