Halloween Horror Nights™ - Tales of Terror
2005 • Halloween Horror Nights
(5/5 | 1 review)
12 Members Attended
No One Will Live Happily Ever After
Now in its fifteenth year, Halloween Horror Nights™ was unstoppable and becoming a juggernaut in the haunt community. Located in Universal’s Islands of Adventure and a portion of Universal Studios Florida, 2005 proved to be a complicated storyline year for those following the event… General marketing for the event showed Elsa Strict, also known as The Storyteller as the Event Icon. A deranged, almost grandmother-type, reading stories to her bound victims before showing us how they would ultimately meet their end. Fans were amped to have another Event Icon that would be prominent in the event, however upon visiting the event (and supplement updates on the interactive website), you learned that The Storyteller was telling a deeply enriched backstory that every event Haunted Houses, Scare Zones, and Shows were intermingled. The Storyteller debuted the tale of Terra Cruentus, where it’s harsh ruler, The Terra Queen rode her ‘right out of hell’ winged motorcycle and tortured guests during her Terra Throne show and her subjects would murder and rule all the land. Islands of Adventure was broken into the various Terra Cruentus realms: North Hollow, Terra Gate, Iron Bone Gorge, South Hollow, Gorewood Forest, and Dragon Forge.
- Year:
- 2005
- Location:
- Universal Orlando Resort™
- Dates:
- September 30; October 1; 7-9; 12-16; 20-23; 27-31, 2005
- Event Name:
- Halloween Horror Nights™ - Tales of Terror
- Event Phrase:
- No One Will Live Happily Ever After
- Hours:
-
7:00 PM-12:00 AM (Non-Peak)
7:00 PM-2:00 AM (Peak Nights) - Pricing:
- $59.75 +tax
- Stats:
-
8
Haunted House(s)
4 Scare Zones
2 Shows
Select the attraction name for additional information... and frights...
(1)
Event Facts
- During the event, the official Halloween Horror Nights™ website displayed clues and riddles in which a time, date, and location within Universal’s Islands of Adventure was revealed.
- For those who figured out the puzzles and showed up at the appropriate location, they were rewarded with a prize from a cloaked figure. Primarily, the game was designed for and targeted fans of the event.
- On the final night of “Halloween Horror Nights™: Tales of Terror”, those who had identified the clues were led to a private event with the Halloween Horror Nights™ design team. At the event, the fans were treated to browse concept books, models, and props from Horror Nights™ current and past.
- At the end of the evening, each guest was provided with a hooded cloak and were escorted to the “Terra Throne,” where they served as “witness” to the final sacrifice of the Terra Queen herself.
- “Halloween Horror Nights™: Tales of Terror” featured a “costume contest” on the final event night. This was a rare moment in Halloween Horror Nights™ history in which costumes were allowed to be worn at the event. At the end of the night, the guest with the best judged costume won a decently large cash prize.
- “Terror Mines” brought a unique feature to Halloween Horror Nights™. Visitors were given “miner’s helmets” to wear throughout the house to aid them through the darkness. The light on the helmet was triggered via radio transmitters to turn on, off, flicker, and change color. This allowed Horror Nights™ designers to bring in a controlled interactive element that added a new level of technology and scare factor to the event. The helmets were also used the following year in the “People Under the Stairs: Under Construction” house.
- This was the debut of the “miner’s helmet” guest effect.
- “Terror Mines” was housed within the “Poseidon’s Fury” attraction. The design team took full advantage of the attractions show elements to add special effects that had never before been seen in a Haunted House. For example, the beginning of the house was built under the attraction’s water vortex, which had visitors walking through a spinning wall of water. Additionally, the sections of the house that were built in the main theater utilized the shows fireballs and water explosions to create a unique experience.
- This year featured the first “immersive” storyline to the event. Each house and Scare Zone was tied in to each other in one shape or form, the back story of the event created an entirely new world titled “Terra Cruentus” that was controlled by the “Terra Queen.”
- The time in which guests visited this realm (each event night) was deemed as “The Season of the Queen,” in which the Queen emerged from the roots of the Gorewood tree to claim her sacrifices.
- While the “Storyteller” was featured in television and billboard ads, she served only as a gateway into the world of “Terra Cruentus” – acting as the one telling us this dark “Tale of Terror”.
- The Storyteller was featured in the only house that appeared to take place outside of the overall theme – “Where Evil Hides.”
- When Universal’s Islands of Adventure closed for the evening, and the realm of “Terra Cruentus” took over, each island was re-named to a different location within this fictional world.
- “Port of Entry” was transformed into “Terra Gate” – Which was ruled by the Terra Queen and her minions.
- “Marvel Superhero Island” was turned into “Iron Bone Gorge” – Taken over by evil bikers.
- “Toon Lagoon” became “South Hollow” – due to IP restrictions, this “hollow” was virtually abandoned and uninhabited, filled with fog and lasers.
- “Seuss Landing” became the “North Hollow” – due to IP restrictions, this “hollow” was virtually abandoned and uninhabited, filled with fog and lasers.
- “Jurassic Park” was filled with mine shafts and titled “Gorewood Forest”.
- The Lost Continent” became the hellish world of “Dragon Forge”.
- Each land had its own symbol, and when put together all of the symbols created the overall logo of this years’ event.
- The Terra Throne show was centered around several unique character, one of which was a cheek-missing man named “Eelmouth”. Eelmouth was known for walking through the crowds and commenting on guests in highly entertaining ways. Listening to his hecklings was always a treat, as he held nothing back on poking fun at visitors.
- The main stage was a menacing looking tree called the “Gorewood Tree”. Throughout the evening, the Terra Queen would take unsuspecting “guests” to sacrifice to the tree – during this, the unlucky victim would be murdered on stage in various ways. On the final event night, the Terra Queen made the ultimate sacrifice – herself. Upon her sacrifice, Eelmouth declared “The season come, the queen is done”…
- "Tales of Terror" was the first year Universal offered a ‘behind the screams’ tour of the Halloween Horror Nights™ event called “Unmasking the Horror”. The tour, at the time, was $20 and featured a walk-through of “Blood Ruins” and “Where Evil Hides”. At the time, the tour was simply a test to see how fans and the general public would react. Due to its popularity, the tour would officially return the following years as the much more expanded and in-depth tour.
- “Demon Cantina” was loosely based off of the 1996 Robert Rodriguez film “From Dusk Till Dawn.” The house revised the vampires from 2004’s “Castle Vampyr”.
- These vampires would also return the following year for the Scare Zone “Blood Masquerade”, and during “Halloween Horror Nights™: Carnival of Carnage” for the “Castle Vampyr: Blood Bath” Haunted House.
- “Where Evil Hides” featured two sides. Both sides were identical to each other in every way possible, from the façade to the finale – the only difference is that one side was accessible to wheelchairs (an alternate route was created during the “attic” section) while the other side wasn’t. Because of this, Universal technically featured eight houses in 2005.
- Universal created the mythical world "Terra Cruentus" for this year’s event. Breaking the title down, "Terra" is Latin for "earth" or "world," while "Cruentus" means "blood."
- The queue video for “Terror Mines” was projected onto the Poseidon’s Fury façade.
What HAUNTVAULT Society Members are saying...
Halloween Horror Nights™ - Tales of Terror
(5.0/5, based on 1 review)
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Best year ever!! The event was so Immersive and all the houses and scare zones were connected! Best year ever!! Long live the Queen!!