It had been six years since I’d been to my beloved Halloween Horror Nights. Six. Long. Years. I spent my time living through every photo and video I could find of the last few years events.

But finally, this year, I made it back. A week of Universal’s parks, two nights of Horror Nights, and one Unmasking the Horror Tour later, and I’m already eagerly awaiting announcements about next year’s event.

With this being Halloween Horror Nights 31, there was a heavy Halloween theme: Halloween (1978) house, scarezones with a very dark take on traditional Halloween themes (pumpkins, witches, ghosts, candy), and 31 presenting itself wherever it could to tie the houses together (example: Bugs: Eaten Alive was set on Pavillion 31) – Halloween was everywhere, and it filled me with so much spooky serotonin.

Greeting us as we walked into Horror Nights, as well as sitting in one of the scare zone entrances, is the Pumpkin Lord in all his glory.

I was a little obsessed with him.

But I’m sure most of you want to know how my anticipation list for the houses ended up comparing to the houses themselves. From least favorite to my number one house:

10.) Bugs: Eaten Alive

9.) Spirits of the Coven

8.) The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare

7.) Blumhouse (Freaky/Black Phone double feature)

6.) Hellblock Horror

5.) Descendants of Destruction

4.) Fiesta de Chupacabras

3.) Halloween

2.) Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake

1.) Universal Monsters: Legends Collide

I want to say, before I continue, I don’t think there was a bad house – just bad runs. This list could have changed entirely with another run that went perfectly. We only had two houses we had time to repeat: Legends Collide and Descendants of Destruction. Our second run in Descendants was much weaker for us, where our first one was amazing. However, Legends Collide remains king, because both runs were perfect and I was absolutely in love with that house.

But I will say, I was absolutely in love with the beauty of the Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake house. It was breathtaking.

The only real downside is that I felt like we just didn’t get to everything I wanted to. Not all the treats, didn’t see the shows, etc. So next time, I need a better strategy.

I debated putting our Unmasking the Horror tour photos here, but I think I’ll do a separate pose for that.

If you went to Horror Nights in Orlando this year, let me know your favorite houses below!

-Angel