Yes, ladies and ghouls, Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights finally coming back for the fall of 2021 kicking off the announcements with the first house, Beetlejuice. – Select nights beginning on September 3 and running through October 31, the popular event is returning for it’s 30th year of iconic terror. Included in today’s announcement are the notes that there will be 10 haunted houses, five scare zones and two live shows.  The news here isn’t Beetlejuice, or the inevitable announcement of the Tooth Fairy house. No, the breaking news here is that Orlando has been quietly planning a post-covid Halloween celebration that will set the standard going forward.

What will the houses look like in a time where guests and performers will be hyper-aware of germs, proximity, and the like? We got a taste of it last year with the previews of the two houses during normal operational hours. Much longer waits and lower capacity. The upside is that as HorrorBuzz writer Ken Toghia explained, that it was a vastly superior experience once in the house. And what of the new shows.  Universal teased that they would be horror and pop-culture based. Will we see some teeth in the comedy again or will they play it safe and focus group the heck out of the jokes to a level of pablum?

You can find out about the dates for Halloween Horror Nights Orlando on their website here.

You can follow their up-to-the-minute house announcements here.