Fans were absolutely buzzing when Universal announced a Five Nights at Freddy’s scare maze but they were even more gobsmacked when it was revealed that full-sized animatronics were being created to bring this video game to life in a full walkthrough Halloween experience.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is still to this day consistently getting the longest queue at Halloween Horror Nights (unless you have an express pass of course) and rightly so, people are curious as to what the animatronics look like and how will they interact with the guests and I for one loved it.
Whilst the maze wasn’t scary in the slightest it didn’t matter, you were completely immersed in the world and these animatronic creatures were running wild in this scare maze and it really was a sight to behold.
Full-sized animatronics don’t come cheap and this instantly catapulted Five Nights at Freddy’s to the top of the leaderboard for the most expensive Halloween Horror Nights maze every created with a record breaking investment to bring this iconic video game to life.
Since its debut in 2014, Five Nights at Freddy’s has captured imaginations with its chilling mix of childhood nostalgia and mechanical terror. The series’ animatronic monsters—Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy—have become horror icons, their twisted smiles haunting players across multiple games, books, and even a blockbuster film.
Taking those characters and bringing them into a real-world scare environment must have been no easy task but if there’s anyone you want on this project, it’s Universal.
After blowing us away with the world’s most advanced ride animatronics which are now housed within the Monsters Unchained ride at Epic Universe theme park we all know what Universal is capable of when it comes to animatronics and the Five Nights at Freddy’s ones are just world class.
No expense was spared in recreating the infamous Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, from the flickering fluorescent lights to the exact details of the restaurant’s arcade machines, checkerboard floors, and security office. For guests, it isn’t just walking through a haunted house—it’s stepping directly into the game’s universe.
They could have gone down the cheap route and had costumes and more masked figures but oh no they went the whole nine yards and created custom-build animatronics as you are walking through this robot inhabited scare environment.
It’s a spooky look into the future but equally as incredible as these figures also need to hold up to daily performances, remain reliable and all. required months of engineering, testing and specialised materials to withstand this rather intensive run of the Halloween Horror Nights events calendar.
The attention to detail makes this maze more than a walkthrough attraction. It’s a fully immersive narrative where fans can feel the tension of the game’s “survive the night” premise in a way they never have before.
Like I say, the maze isn’t scary in the slightest but it fully deserves a very high rating on our top mazes at Halloween Horror Nights 35 which is no easy task given that this years event has one of the strongest line-ups in recent memory.
What does have me curious though is that I can’t imagine Universal will host another Five Nights at Freddy’s scare maze for quite some time so what now happens to those animatronics?
Will they be stripped and repurposed within other Universal attractions or will these FNAF themed robots inhabit their very own FNAF themed ride or space in the near future? With the large investment undertaken for such a short runtime event surely there’s a bigger picture here to justify the cost and whatever that picture is, I look forward to finding out what it could be.
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza may be fictional, but thanks to Universal, its horrors have never felt more real.
