Ladies and gentlemen, we are here with the Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Tracker #3 .  After one week of being quiet, the news returned a third announcement was made; The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far. There is more construction visible throughout the park and in the Backlot Metro sets area.  Today we take you to 5 of those construction sites and deliver the latest, breaking news from HHN.

We also field the highlights from HHN Creative Director, John Murdy on his awesome @HorrorNights Twitter account. Certainly the most fan-friendly, and accessible twitter account for haunt fans on any social media platform.  If you aren’t following him yet, do so NOW!

For more information on Universal Halloween Horror Nights or the park itself follow the these links…

• Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Tracker 1
• Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Tracker 2
• The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far
• Insidious Return to the Further Maze Announcement
• Crimson Peak Maze of Madness Announcement
• Full photo update from the park on MiceChat.com

Scare Zone 1

We got our first bit of information about a Scare Zone when Murdy spoke to fans about the construction at the front of the park.

Here’s some info to hold you over till the next maze announcement (which is hopefully next week). The scare zone at the front of the park…

…will be a new theme this year. And by new I mean we’ve never done it for HHN. It will also factor into the opening Scare-a-mony

I know people have been wondering about the opening ceremony since there’s a lot of construction at the front of the park…

… Moving some elements around to make room for it because it’s a signature part of Horror Nights. Looks like it will work.

It is fascinating to see how they make HHN work despite still being under unprecedented construction.  By this time next year things will be a bit more settled.  For now, things are nice in-flux.

Parisian Courtyard

Construction at the Parisian Courtyard  on the upper lot has come along. Assuming the area near Mel’s Diner will again be an entrance, we have an already huge entry façade.

 

 

Around the side we can’t see much else as things are sealed up pretty tight.

 

There has been no word just yet on what this particular maze will be and, more importantly, no hints from Murdy on Twitter.

Revenge of the Mummy Extended Queue

Another area of mystery lay behind the Revenge of the Mummy in the extended queue area.  Not much progress from two weeks ago as there are many other areas of the haunt getting attention.

 

 

Insidious Return to the further

Extended Jurassic Park Queue

Here are the latest pics from the Insidious Return to the Further Maze.  We really can’t wait to take another journey into the netherworld of nefarious specters.

 

 

Former Stage 28 Area

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far (?)

Just yesterday, both Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood announced new mazes based on the wildy popular The Walking Dead.  You can read the full announcement here.  It has not been confirmed as of yet that The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far will be here in the former spot of the historic Stage 28.  However, the official press release stated, “This all-new experience will feature twice as many, never-before-seen walkers and will be situated within an entirely new theme park location.” We also know that after the demolition of stage 28, that area of the park was handed over to “Park Operations”.  So, technically speaking, this is a new area of the “park”. For now we will go with this theory until confirmed or denied by Murdy and Co.

Regarding the actual experience John Murdy went into more specifics than did the official announcement.  He promises, logically, a full change in scenery along with a variety of scenarios to navigate.

The previous two seasons heavily featured the prison, season five does not so bye-bye prison. All new environments and scenes

THANK GOD!

It’s the biggest, longest, and most gruesome maze ever built at #UniversalHHN…The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far.

…”The Living and The Dead” once you get inside TERMINUS, you won’t actually see a walker for a while… But later…tons of them!

This is a fascinating approach that will offer the new maze a sense of variety as opposed to previous years where it was just walker after walker.

You’ll follow in the footsteps of the human survivors on the show as you try to escape the horrors of cannibalism in TERMINUS…

…a lonely backwoods CHURCH cursed by the sins of its pastor, a FEMA CAMP where the government has lost all control and…

…a sprawling warehouse facility were a mysterious new threat that call themselves “The Wolves” are ready to spring the ultimate trap!”

Taking a cue from last year’s absolutely brilliant Walking Dead House in Orlando, Murdy continues…

What’s biggest mean? Well from a square footage standpoint it is the same size as the bigger than ever maze in Orlando in 2014…

Based on what Mr. Murdy had to say on Twitter, we are actually getting very excited to see the walkers again.  This will be a new take on what we have seen before, all based on the brutal season 5.

 

This does look like a ginormous spot with plenty of room to build bigger.

 

Of course, there were nay-sayers online.  Those tired of the property’s 4th go at Halloween Horror Nights were vocal.  Murdy was quick to defend the decision by saying…

This year we are featuring the Walking Dead an unprecedented 4th time. Why? Because it is an unprecedented horror property in every respect

Over the last 10 years we featured tons of horror properties, some more than once…F13, NOES and TCM 3 times each. Saw twice, etc

The ratings last year were the highest ever, Hell it beat Sunday Night Football! That never happens. It’s a phenomenon and hotter than ever

He makes a good point.  You can’t really argue with the numbers.  The trick here is to keep it surprising and fresh.  An ironic sentiment, yes, seeing as how we are talking about dead things.  We are betting that they will pull it off.

Below is the teaser video.

Metro Sets

Crimson Peak Maze of Madness was announced at Comic-Con 2015.  Murdy tweeted previously…

This maze will be located in the metro sets on the universal back lot. We’re grateful to the studio for letting us have access to that again

 

So far this is the only construction that we see happening in the Metro sets area.  It appears to be quite large and from what we see, has tall flats being installed.

 

Below is the teaser video and announcement.

Terror Tram Route

Murdy delivered this characteristically cryptic bit of info yesterday via @HorrorNights

Gearing up to do a bunch of original film production for Terror Tram. New theme this year, love the concept but it requires a bit of set up

And speaking of changing things up, decided this year not to make WD the theme of Terror Tram or scarezone on backlot. That info is coming.

New theme?  That means no Walking Dead on the Terror Tram!  Hooray! There isn’t much to report that is different from Project Tracker 2 in this department.  We are making the assumption that the Terror Tram will take the same route this year up the trail around the hills and through the War of theWorlds set.  There is still some construction taking place here but it is not involved with HHN as it is for backstage storage.  We will keep up to date on these things and report back with more.

 Next Maze Announcement

Murdy then went ahead and told his fans when to expect the next announcement.

So hopefully that answers some of your questions. The next maze announcement will be live on stage @ScareLosAngeles Sat August 8th. Be there

Speaking of, below are links to two of our articles on ScareLA along with info on the Panel discussion where Universal Studios Hollywood will be announcing their next maze.

Use Discount Code :HORRORBUZZ for 20% off tickets!

• ScareLA Presentations You MUST see.
• Spooky and Haunted Experiences at ScareLA

Other HHN News

Here we have bits of ticketing news and information from Murdy.

When tickets go on sale in August I’ll tweet a special link for those tickets sales. We only make them available to fans on Twitter, etc

The lesson here?  Follow him on Twitter.

Other popular features that will be returning include “early arrival” (ie we let certain amount of people into the park early every night)

This is an awesome feature for the hardcore fans.  You can tear through multiple mazes with little wait and enjoy the rest of the night at your leisure.  That is, if you are early.

People have also asked about the frequent fear pass. Looks like that’s going to return too. Like previous years, limited quantity.

So get your Frequent Fear pass as soon as they go on sale.

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That is all that we have this week for the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Tracker 3. What other surprises await us in the dark?  We shall find soon enough friends. Check back next Friday for the Knotts Scary Farm Tracker 2.

• Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Tracker 1
• Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Tracker 2
• The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far
• Insidious Return to the Further Maze Announcement
• Crimson Peak Maze of Madness Announcement
• Full photo update from the park on MiceChat.com

 

Halloween Horror Nights 2015 at Universal Studios Hollywood kicks off on Friday, September 18, 2015, and continues on select nights through November 1.

Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood are available here on HorrorBuzz.com and online at HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Hollywood

You can find them on Facebook at: “Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood,” on Instagram at @HorrorNights and Twitter at @HorrorNights as Creative Director John Murdy reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information. Watch videos on Halloween Horror Nights YouTube and join the conversation using #UniversalHHN.