Day of the Dead Food Booth Returns for Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2023

In 2022, for Halloween Horror Nights, a Day of the Dead food and beverage location attracted many guests for Mexican-themed options. For Halloween Horror Nights 2023 in Orlando, the Day of the Dead food booth returns with new items for guests to enjoy.

The Day of the Dead (Dia da Los Muertos) location operates on Halloween Horror Nights evenings. This booth can be found near Café La Bamba at Universal Studios Florida. The food menu looks like this:

Food Menu

• Walking Taco- $12.49 (Fritos® topped with taco beef, shredded mozzarella, black beans, queso fresco, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and cilantro)
• Vegan Walking Taco- $12.49 (Fritos® chips topped with vegan chorizo, shredded mozzarella, black beans, roasted corn salsa, pico de gallo, vegan sour cream, shredded lettuce and cilantro)
• Al Pastor Torta – $11.99 (Al Pastor pork, black bean spread, smashed avocados, tomato, shredded lettuce, pickled onions, queso fresco, torta bread and pickled jalapeños)
• Vegan Churritos with Ice Cream – $7.99 (Vegan churros served with vegan gelato, coconut nectar, and OREOS®)
• Chicharróns De Harina – $4.99 (Fried flour crisps seasoned with cinnamon sugar)

We tried the food items here during the opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). Of course, the queues for HHN food looked far longer than one would have preferred. Still, the Halloween Horror Nights event earns a reputation for excessive food and beverage queues. Guests should plan for this issue.

Walking Tacos at Day of the Dead Halloween Horror Nights Booth

These tacos come in a large Fritos bag. On September 2, we watched as large containers of these bags were transported to the Day of the Dead location. The walking tacos come with plenty of corn chips. In fact, we have heard several people comment on how many corn chips exist in this entrée.

The main proteins in these tacos are ground beef or vegan chorizo. As best we can tell, these are the same proteins used at Café La Bamba when it is open for counter service meals. We found both the ground taco beef and vegan chorizo worked well with the other components. The other ingredients work fine but will not blow you away. Even though we felt concerned with the price over $12 before annual pass discounts, the portion size makes up for that. These tacos will not surpass any gourmet tacos. Still, they sell quickly at the Day of the Dead location.

Al Pastor Torta at Day of Dead Halloween Horror Nights Location

This food location offered a traditional Mexican item, the torta. This comes with Al Pastor pork, black bean spread, smashed avocados, tomato, shredded lettuce, pickled onions, queso fresco, torta bread, and pickled jalapeños. We have many positives to say about this item, with one large concern.

We found the bread incredibly soft during our recent visit. Since we expected a more rigid bread but appreciated this. The black bean base and vegetables provide all the proper aspects for a good torta. We would have preferred a more powerful pork flavor, but it worked. The torta comes cut into two portions. We expressed surprise at the portion size. These were not gigantic but larger than we expected – which is never a bad thing with theme park food.

However, this torta features some pickled jalapenos and onions on the side. This presentation caused confusion among some guests about how to eat this. These spicy pickled items should be placed inside your torta. When doing so, the black bean spread pairs very well with it for a tasty torta. However, the black bean spread without some spice tasted bland on our recent visit.

Also, some guests tried to eat the pickled jalapenos as a side salad. We do not recommend that. These contain a significant amount of theme park spice. Based on how dark it is in the dining area around the Day of the Dead food location, we understand how this unfortunate mistake could be made. Overall, we enjoyed this item.

Two Desserts at The Day of the Dead Halloween Horror Nights location

The Chicharróns De Harina and Vegan Churritos are available for sale here. The Chicharrons taste fine but are pre-packaged. The Vegan Churritos continue the recent addition of vegan churros at seasonal events at Universal Studios Florida. Though we have long-term concerns about the preparation process for the vegan churros for Halloween Horror Nights this year, the churros continue to taste above average. The addition of gelato with them makes these churros a more substantial snack.

The Day of the Dead booth received high marks from most guests last year. We suspect that pattern will continue this year also. As always, eat like you mean it!