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Five Nights at Freddy’s has a young fanbase, which makes one wonder what Universal Destinations & Experiences was thinking when they made it one of their premier attractions at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event.

For those who aren’t familiar, Halloween Horror Nights is a yearly Halloween event that Universal holds at their Orlando, Hollywood, Singapore, and Japan theme parks. The nighttime event features walkthrough haunted houses, scarezones, scare actors, and other bits of spooky fun. Some of the haunted houses are themed after popular franchises, like this year’s Five Nights at Freddy’s attraction.

If you have a child in your life who is a big FNAF superfan, they might be asking if they could go to Halloween Horror Nights to experience the Five Nights at Freddy’s attraction. Here are some things to consider before you take them.

Please note that this article will be specific to the Orlando version of Halloween Horror Nights. However, some of the tips and observations apply to all versions of the event.

Is Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights too scary for kids?

Let me start off by acknowledging that every kid is different. You might have a 9-year-old child who is unphased by horror, and a 13-year-old who is terrified of their own shadow. It’s hard to break things down by age, because every child has their own sensibilities. The key thing is to know your own kid.

That being said, I would not recommend taking a child under middle school age to Halloween Horror Nights. The general vibe is very intense. Even if they skipped the other haunted houses, a child might be frightened by the various décor and scare actors walking around outside. The scare actors will never touch you, but they will approach you and do what they can to frighten you. There are certain places known as "scarezones" where this phenomenon occurs.

 Can you avoid the scarezones? Yes, but you’ll have to go out of your way to get from one section of the park to another. You might consider attending Halloween Horror Nights and simply visit the FNAF house while avoiding everything else. Since the FNAF house is located in the soundstages to the side of the park, it’s possible to avoid all the scarezones if that’s your goal. However, you will still be exposed to the soundtrack, décor, and general atmosphere of the event, which could be a bit much for a kid.

Universal’s official Halloween Horror Nights website states that the event isn’t recommended for anyone under the age of 13. Feel free to take your kid, just don’t say you weren’t warned.

Is the Five Nights at Freddy’s house at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights too scary for kids?

Warning – this section of the article contains spoilers for the FNAF house at Halloween Horror Nights.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s house is a bit scary, but it’s no scarier than the games themselves. If your child is a big fan of the video games, they’re already familiar with most of the scary imagery. Of course, it’s a different experience seeing the animatronics coming at you in real life instead of an iPad screen. On that basis, I would say the FNAF house is only slightly scarier than playing the video games.

The most graphic moment is a shadow of Freddy biting a female in half. The entire incident is shown using shadows on the wall, so there’s no gore. If your child has already seen the FNAF movie, then they’ve already seen this moment during Maxine’s death scene. In fact, they might consider it an Easter egg instead of a traumatic moment.

Aside from that, the rest of the FNAF house is filled with typical HHN tropes, such as scare actors jumping out at you, some with weapons like fake knives or hooks. The animatronics will reach for you, but they’ll never make contact.

The bottom line is that if your child can handle the FNAF video games and movie, they will probably do okay with the haunted house.

Kids at Halloween Horror Nights

The inclusion of the FNAF house has generated some controversy within the Halloween Horror Nights community. There is a concern that the attraction will draw more kids to the event, which might make things unpleasant for adult attendees. One attendee shared their concerns on Reddit, stating that unsupervised teenagers cause trouble (and make wait times longer). The other fear is that the success of the FNAF house might push Universal to try more youth-centric IPs, causing future Halloween Horror Nights events to be “less scary.”

To be clear, the Halloween Horror Nights community is a big one, and the concerns I’ve read online don’t represent the entire fandom. However, the fear of kids taking over adult spaces was a recurring theme across Facebook groups, Reddit, X, and other online spaces. One thing to keep in mind is that while FNAF has a young fanbase, it’s a franchise that has spanned multiple generations. Superfans who played the original games as children are now in college, the perfect age to be introduced to Halloween Horror Nights.

If you’re worried about kids ruining your Halloween Horror Nights experience, my suggestion is to go on a school night. That’s what I did, and I barely saw any kids. I understand not everyone has the option to do that, but if your schedule allows for it, the lines are much shorter.

Either way, with the inclusion of the FNAF attraction, don’t be surprised if you see more kids at Halloween Horror Nights this year.

The Five Nights at Freddy's phenomenon is lasting longer than five nights. Get up to speed, with how to play all the FNAF games in order, why Five Nights at Freddy's is the ideal starter kit for a kid wanting to get into horror, details on the characters and lore, getting to know the FNAF movie animatronics, how the movie fits in the canon of the games, and how Chuck E. Cheese is responding.

Can't get enough? We have recommendations for five movies to watch after Five Nights at Freddy's.