Yesterday, Universal Orlando Annual Passholders got a chance to preview this year’s Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store. Let’s take a deep dive into this year’s immersive new store.
While shopping the latest Halloween Horror Nights merchandise and treats in an all-new Tribute Store, guests will be able to enter a mysterious NYC Comic Book Shop and experience the “Tribute to Terror” by stepping into the pages of this original, terrifying, horror comic book.
Plenty of fun easter eggs can be found in the two shop windows, including references to the beloved Earl the Squirrel and this fun Horror Nights-themed board game.
The Tribute Store has returned to the New York area of Universal Studios Florida, with the last two (Jurassic Park and Mardi Gras) being hosted in Hollywood. In fact, the Jurassic Park Tribute Store still remains open at this time, meaning there are currently two in the park!
As we head inside the Tribute Store, the comic theme is immediately on full display, with the entry room themed as a comic book store called McPherson’s Collectibles.
Each of the four rooms of the Tribute Store are themed to a different comic from the “Tribute to Terror” line. We first enter “Grave Consequences.”
“Grave Consequences”
The Curator welcomes us into the first story, on an appropriately creepy evening in Hollow Hills Cemetary.
“False Idols: Part 1 – A Boris Shuster Mystery”
The second, and perhaps most impressive of the rooms is themed to Private Investigator Boris Shuster, the subject of the Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth house at the event in 2021. The character comes directly from a window facade in the New York area of the park.
The room takes on a dark, comic book noir style, with some impressive lighting and screen effects.
It’s not a Tribute Store without a mold-a-matic plastic figure, and the first is the Bride of Frankenstein.
There’s even a reference to the Dead Coconut Club, which is returning for a second year at Universal CityWalk.
As is usually the case, guests had the opportunity to become part of this Tribute Store, given the option to choose one of five comic book covers to put their image on and have displayed in the shop.
“Pay Up!”
The next room “Pay Up!” takes us into a spooky diner, where a wide variety of treats are appropriately available.
Chucky fans can get their hands on this absolutely to-die-for popcorn bucket.
“Eyes of the Ripper”
The final room lets us see through the “Eyes of the Ripper” – set in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888
As guests exit the Tribute Store, they are greeted by some posters for the scare zone located right outside, “Vamp ‘69: Summer of Blood.”
A disheveled newsstand beckons guests back into the streets of New York.
Universal Orlando also shared a full official walkthrough of the spooky new store:
Halloween Horror Nights begins Friday, September 1st at Universal Studios Florida. Check out the full event lineup here.