Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2024 Guide Part 3: Food, Drinks, & Merchandise

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) is a haunted after-hours event voted the Best Halloween Event by the Golden Ticket Awards for over a decade. While Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World focuses on family-friendly activities, Universal embraces its horror roots to create an edgy, adult-oriented event. In this two-part series, we will cover all you need to know about HHN 2024: Part 1 focuses on planning and tickets, Part 2 covers attractions at the event and touring tips, and Part 3 covers all there is to eat and buy at the event.

Food Booths

Universal has embraced the culinary decadence of Halloween with unique treats with food festivals to conjure up items found only at Horror Nights. The menu spans the gamut from specialty burgers to outrageous visual creations to international street food with this year’s menu inspired by Ghostbusters, Insidious, Universal Monsters, and the original concept houses. Here is a sample of the food options at this year’s event:

• Wooden Board Éclair inspired by A Quiet Place – Spicy dark chocolate pastry cream-filled éclair dipped in chocolate ganache with a bloody chocolate plank.
• Slimer’s Korean Corndog inspired by Ghostbusters Frozen Empire – Korean cheese dog with Fritos and coated with Cheetos powder, ghost pepper spice, sage derby cheese, and mozzarella.
• The Frozen Death Chill inspired by Ghostbusters Frozen Empire  – Korean corndog-dipped mint cheesecake with Bugles® and glitter.
• Mini Stay-Puft S’more inspired by Ghostbusters Frozen Empire – Stay-Puft marshmallow man, chocolate bar, and graham cracker.
• In the Fog Fish ‘n Chips inspired by Universal Monsters – crispy beer battered cod nuggets, malt vinegar aioli, and pub fries
• Rocks from Hell inspired by Slaughter Sinema 2 – crispy jalapeño and cheddar cheese stuffed lumps of coal.
• Pork Carniceria inspired by Monstruso – slow roasted mojo pork, mole sauce, tortilla.
• Bloody Goody Bag inspired by Triples of Terror – crispy chicken chunks with fries, pepper onion mix, and sauce.

A full menu is online.

Items are tapas-sized, similar to other food festivals. Dishes are priced $7-17 each while drinks are around $12-14 each. Reusable plastic cups with blinking lights are available and come with a drink refill discount. Food booths are found in the New York section of the park, Cafe La Bamba, Animal Actors, San Francisco, and the bridge between Halloween Nightmare Fuel and The Simpsons. Food booths remain open till around 1 a.m. most nights, pending weather.

Counter Service

For full meals and a place to sit, Universal Studios Florida’s counter service restaurants are open during HHN. These locations offer a reprieve from the sounds and lights outside. Most restaurants serve their full menu plus exclusive items.

• Mel’s Drive-In (or Die-In)
• Today Cafe
• Minion Cafe
• Louie’s Italian Restaurant
• Leaky Cauldron
• Fast Food Boulevard

Leaky Cauldron also closes early, usually around 11:00 p.m. We advise eating a meal before arriving or outside the park at CityWalk or Hard Rock Hotel.

Full-Service Dining

Finnegan’s Bar and Grille is the only full-service dining open inside Universal Studios Florida during Halloween Horror Nights. Located in New York and overlooking that land’s scare zone, the restaurant features Irish pub food at reasonable prices. The restaurant is a fan favorite, especially during Stay & Scream, and does not accept reservations after 2:00 p.m. We advise you to skip Finnegan’s immediately before HHN and during the event due to it being a huge crowd bottleneck. Instead, visit one of the full-service restaurants on CityWalk.

Alcohol & Bars

For those who need the liquid encouragement, beer, wine, seltzers, and premixed drinks are available for guests aged 21 and older at food booths, temporary bars, and drink carts. If you are looking for a mixed cocktail or shots then head over to Finnegan’s Bar and Grill in New York or the Fanta Halloween Bars behind Lombards, across from Nightmare Fuel, between Transformers and Minion Cafe, and on the bridge that spans Simpsons and San Francisco. The HHN Bar is a new bar located in Battery Park across from Transformers with full bar service and characters from the HHN houses.

All the Universal Orlando hotels feature spooky food and drinks plus a late-night grab-and-go menu. Cabana Bay and Endless Summer Dockside’s lobby bars go one step further by transforming into Halloween destinations with spooky decor and new cocktails. Bars open at 4:00 p.m. and closed around midnight, grab-and-go locations remain open till 2:30 am. Check the hours of your hotel’s offerings when you arrive.

During Halloween, the Red Coconut Club, located in CityWalk next to Bob Marley’s Tribute to Freedom, transforms into the kitschy Dead Coconut Club. Whereas HHN is startling and scary, the Dead Coconut Club is sultry and sophisticated with a side of camp. The Club’s interior is what would happen if Frankenstein owned a Trader Vic’s in the 1970s with lots of tropical plants, mid-mod design, and a splash of the spooky.

We enjoy the Dead Coconut Club and think it’s worth the visit. Drinks are freshly made, potent, and a step up from the pre-mixed drinks found inside the event. Live lounge singers perform on Friday and Saturday nights, but otherwise, there is no entertainment. Dead Coconut Club has cultivated a fan following and is a popular haunt for those escaping the event. We advise visiting before 8:00 p.m. if you want to find a table.

Merchandise

Officially branded apparel, licensed character merchandise, housewares, and even seasonal candles are available for Halloween Horror Nights. All the Universal Studios shops feature an assortment of Horror Nights shirts, mugs, and lanyards, but the best selection is found at the Universal Studios Store in Universal Studios Florida and Citywalk and the All Hallows Eve store in Islands of Adventure. The biggest and most comprehensive shop for all HHN merch is the Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store.

The Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store is a themed experience in the New York area, left of the entrance to Revenge of the Mummy. Walk through spooky corridors, haunting visuals, and moody sounds as you shop official merchandise, t-shirts, signs, magnets, mugs, candles, treats, and more. This year the Tribute Store takes place in a comic book store where the horror comics and penny dreadfuls come to life. The Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store is open daily during normal park hours and Halloween Horror Nights.

Do not worry if you forget to pick up something on your trip, the airport Universal Stores also carry HHN merch as does the online Universal Orlando Resort store.

Ready for Halloween Horror Nights 2024? Leave what you are most excited to eat and see in the comments below!