ORLANDO, FL — In what park officials are calling “the natural evolution of guest experience,” Universal Orlando has begun quietly testing a premium app feature called Scare My Friends™ ahead of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights.
The service, available for a modest $99 per night, allows a guest to discreetly tag up to five friends in the Universal app. Once tagged, in-costume scare actors receive a real-time alert identifying the targets so they can deliver personalized, high-intensity frights—while the paying customer is carefully excluded from the attention.
“We realized that half the fun of Horror Nights is watching your friends suffer,” said Universal Creative executive Jason Slaughter in a statement. “This just makes the suffering more efficient and, frankly, more profitable.”
Early testing has been described as “overwhelmingly successful” by park representatives. Guests who purchased the feature reported record levels of satisfaction, with many describing the experience as “the best $99 I’ve ever spent on someone else’s fear.”
One test participant, identified only as “Mark from Jacksonville,” told reporters he used all five scares on his brother-in-law in a single night. “I just kept tagging him. The guy in the chainsaw costume found him four separate times. I’ve never laughed harder in my life. Worth every penny.”
A second tester, Ashley, 29, said the feature allowed her to remain calm and composed while her entire group was systematically dismantled. “I got to enjoy the houses for once instead of jumping every five seconds. It was like having a personal bodyguard… except the bodyguard was only protecting me.”
Park officials acknowledged that the testing phase was not without complications. Two participants were reportedly transported to a local hospital for heart-related evaluation after particularly effective scare sequences. Universal stressed that both individuals were later released and that the incidents were “well within acceptable parameters for a premium scare product.”
“Any attraction that involves sudden, personalized terror carries some risk,” Slaughter noted. “That’s why we charge $99. You’re not just buying scares—you’re buying the right to decide who gets them.”
The feature is expected to roll out more widely later this season, with park sources hinting that future upgrades may include group packages, “repeat offender” bonuses, and a premium tier that allows the user to watch the scares via live bodycam feed from the actors.
Universal declined to comment on whether the hospital visits would affect pricing.
