Confirming what had briefly leaked through its own website, Universal has announced the next Halloween Horror Nights will start on Friday, September 6, 2019.
“Guests will face haunted houses, scare zones and live entertainment based on everything from horror legends and the top names in pop culture, to disturbing-original stories created exclusively by the twisted minds of Universal’s award-winning Entertainment team,” Universal said in a press release.
The event will run on select nights at Universal Studios Florida until Nov. 2 — the exact dates that had earlier appeared on Universal’s site this past weekend before quickly being taken down.
The expanded HHN schedule had been telegraphed by recent changes to the Universal event calendar. HHN has traditionally begun the weekend after the Rock the Universe Christian music festival, but Universal moved the 2019 fest to February. This took over the spot typically reserved for the Celebration of Harry Potter, which won’t be held next year.
The event itself had also been expanded the past two years, growing from 34 nights in 2017 to 37 nights in 2018. The popularity of the “Stranger Things”-themed haunted house even led Universal to opening it for day guests after HHN had wrapped for the year.
Despite this being the earliest start for HHN ever, the event won’t match the length of Disney World’s kid-friendly Halloween event. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party began taking over Magic Kingdom on August 17, 2018, though only five of its 2018 dates came ahead of the first Friday in September, when HHN will kick off next year.
More specific announcements about the 29th edition of Halloween Horror Nights are likely still months away. For HHN 28, the first house wasn’t revealed until April.