Every fall, Red Coconut Club at Universal CityWalk undergoes a spine-tingling transformation into Dead Coconut Club for Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). This year, guests will be transported to a quaint Midwestern farm town (with an extraterrestrial twist) for Midweston’s 35th Annual Harvest Festival.
And with out-of-this-world beverages and a brand-new food menu you’ll definitely want to make this part of your Halloween itinerary! Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at this year’s Dead Coconut Club.
Step Inside the Story of Dead Coconut Club
As the door creaks open, it’s a scene straight out of science fiction.
You’ve entered a Halloween house party. Pumpkins flicker, paper bats litter the walls and a candy bowl awaits trick-or-treaters. On the TV, a black-and-white movie plays, the title of the film reading, “Dead Coconut Club.” Green glowing light drips down the walls and fog floats through the room — a hint of the sinister story you’ve stepped into.
The hair on the back of your neck may rise as you descend deeper into the club. Ryan Wolfgang, field scenic producer, explains the feeling of the first room. “Once you enter the space, we want to be able to tell that story pretty quickly,” Ryan says. “We know it’s Halloween at this point. We know that something weird happened. We don’t know exactly what.”
Trick or Treat Give Me Something Sweet to Drink
The whole town is aglow with stoops prepped for the occasion. As the 35th anniversary celebration roars on, crowds gather at the town center gazebo donned with black and orange flags under a ceiling full of autumn foliage.
“A lot of what we are circling around is a nostalgic feel to things, like maybe how we felt in the ’80s and ’90s without it being set in that time specifically,” explains Lauren Culver, show director. “We talked a lot about the feeling of fall leaves crackling, trick-or-treating door-to-door. We want to evoke the feeling of nostalgic Halloween. Halloween as you remember it…but then with this completely different energy injected into it.
The gazebo hosts a bar with a drink menu inspired by that very nostalgia, rooted in some of Halloween’s sweetest treats:
- Lollipop: A spellbinding swirl of vanilla vodka, coconut rum, lemon juice, strawberry syrup and lemon-lime soda.
- Mexican Candy Margarita: A wicked concoction of reposado tequila, mango rum, agave syrup, lime juice and hot sauce.
- Stars Burst: A bewitched blend of Cuervo blanco tequila,limoncello, watermelon schnapps, simple syrup and lemon-lime soda.
While you sip, be sure to check out the pumpkin carving competition, with some entries bearing mysterious green slime.
Dancing Under the Harvest Moon
As you move deeper into the venue, the design takes you outside from within as the house façades give way to the dance floor. The DJ booth is decked out as a farm stand, complete with an overflowing cornucopia of apples, pumpkins and pies! The vision was to immerse guests in the heart of Midweston simply by stepping into the club.
“We’ll be dancing in the cornfield,” Ryan explains. “We can go through the maze and kind of explore there, but again, it’s just creating this vibe. You know, how often have you partied in a cornfield?”
Under the moonlit bar are classic fall-flavored cocktails including:
- Jack-o-Lantern: Classic pumpkin meets bourbon, spiced rum, passion fruit and coconut cream
- Scarecrow: An autumnal blend of apple pie liqueur, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup and apple cider.
The band behind the bar plays in full swing while the harvest moon rises higher and higher. As you dance in the corn maze among towering stalks, you may start to feel as if something is not quite right. Are those green lights on the horizon and crop circles under your feet?
Up, Up and Away from Earth
One second, you are sipping in a corn maze, and the next, porch pieces and trick-o-treaters fly as intergalactic rays zip everything up. A trip up the staircase beams you straight into the mothership. Wave goodbye to Midweston from above! Tinfoil hats are no help here; your abduction is underway.
Drinks in Another Dimension
Entering the belly of the beast, peer down over the railing at the party you just left behind. Exposed neon cabling hangs overhead while glowing specimen jars line the wall.
Don’t be frightened by the radioactive pumpkins or pods full of failed experiments.
“While there is an otherworldly story at play here, of aliens harvesting the people and objects of the world below, we ultimately want people to hang out in the space and to keep the fun,” Lauren says.
Savor your drink in the upstairs bar, as it very well may be your last (as an Earthling, at least):
- Void of Resin: Cosmic concoction of rum, coconut cream, crème de cacao, pineapple and orange juice with an otherworldly finish of chocolate powder and chocolate bitters.
- Liquid Xenon: A not-so-toxic mix of brandy, scotch whiskey, lemon juice, orgeat syrup and ginger syrup, topped off with herbal bitters.
You can also order off the secret menu for the viral drink of the season: Irradiated Infusion (also known as the alien blood bag). It’s covered in extraterrestrial letters and exclusively available at the upstairs bar, served in an IV-style sipper pouch with a rum and sour mix that tastes like sour green apple candy.
Tasting the Tale
Dead Coconut Club’s first-ever food offerings allow you to devour your way through a small-town celebration that’s invaded by aliens. Feast your eyes — and your appetite — on three dishes designed to follow the narrative of the night.
The first dish in the trilogy, Hawaiian Toast, pays homage to any Halloween party’s staple: pizza. It’s a spin on the classic you know and love, reimagined on French baguette bread with a garlic cream base sauce, topped with crispy Spam, pineapple chutney, jalapeños, scallions and mozzarella cheese.
“Being able to now create dishes for an event like HHN and then offer it in an area that has not seen it before, like CityWalk, it’s unbelievable at times,” says Antwan Dickerson, restaurant chef. “I sit back and I become shell-shocked and kind of surreal that I’ve been allotted this moment.”
Then, as the chaos of the night hits and the invasion arrives, The Party Crasher – a loaded chili cheese hotdog – arrives.
What begins as a loaded chili cheese hot dog quickly becomes part of the night’s unfolding story, complete with crushed tortilla chips and a “blood and guts” relish inspired by the aftermath of an alien invasion.
“As we’re loading up our hot dog with our chili and cheese, we get the space crash from the UFO, which crash lands into our snack table, which throws [tortilla chips] onto our hot dogs,” Chef Antwan explains.
The Cosmic PB&J serves as the final arc of the culinary tale, designed to represent space rocks from the UFO crash. A twist on the classic HHN snack fried PB&J, this “fallen meteor” features a strawberry PB&J sandwich dipped and fried in black funnel cake-style batter, drizzled with hot honey and topped with popping candies to savor the last bite of the story.
“I love putting smiles on guests’ faces. I love to see that ‘wow’ moment when they take that bite,” Chef Antwan exclaims.
Ready for Abduction?
Don’t wait for the mothership to return home! Discover Dead Coconut Club – Harvest at Universal CityWalk, starting at 4 p.m. on HHN event nights. Whether you’re starting your night full of screams before heading into the theme park or winding down with a nightcap, experience the harvest for yourself and journey through the story, all before it disappears November 1!
Are you excited to get beamed up at Dead Coconut Club this year? Comment and tell us all about it!