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Five Guys Is Training Staff at Universal CityWalk, and Its Halloween Horror Nights Sign Already Promises a 1 a.m. Close
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Five Guys Is Training Staff at Universal CityWalk, and Its Halloween Horror Nights Sign Already Promises a 1 a.m. Close

Michael Travels
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Published

A sign is already up at the new CityWalk Five Guys promising it will be open until 1 a.m. during Halloween Horror Nights. The restaurant has not officially opened.

A red poster behind glass in a black metal frame reading FIVE GUYS, then HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS, then OPEN UNTIL 1 AM in a black bar, with a white up arrow and vertical UPSTAIRS text at the right, a cobweb and a small dangling spider at the left, and below them a milkshake cup and a cheeseburger on red risers beside a carved jack o lantern and a paper wrap of fries, all in fog

The sign at the restaurant, with OPEN UNTIL 1 AM set in a black bar and a vertical UPSTAIRS beside an arrow at the right edge. Photo by @magiccitymayhem Mikey, via Attractions Magazine

Attractions Magazine went up to the restaurant on the evening of Wednesday, September 23 and found staff training inside a finished space. In its words, it "found the new Five Guys training staff on Wednesday evening, Sept. 23, on the upper level of CityWalk."

Training is not a grand opening. Universal has still not given an opening date or a set of operating hours. The photos do show the in between state you would expect: food and a drink cup sitting on a dining table, and a guest standing at the counter while staff work the line behind it. Attractions calls the current stretch what it looks like: "As recently as Sept. 21, no official opening date or operating hours had been announced, so this period could be considered a soft opening."

What is finished

Quite a lot, judging by the photos. The white FIVE GUYS wall sign is lit on the red back wall, the digital menu boards are running, four black self order kiosks are lined up on the tile, the drink dispensers are in, and the tables and chairs are out. Several employees in red are working behind the counter.

The finished interior of a Five Guys restaurant, with a lit white FIVE GUYS wall sign on a red back wall, digital menu boards, four black self order kiosks in a row on grey tile, a wooden slat divider, wood tables and chairs, several employees in red behind a red service counter, a man in a black shirt and black cap beside a chair in the dining area and another guest standing at the counter on the right

Inside the CityWalk location on Wednesday evening: kiosks in, menu boards lit, staff behind the counter. Photo by @magiccitymayhem Mikey, via Attractions Magazine

What Universal has actually said

Universal announced the restaurant on Friday, September 18, and described it only as coming soon. That post put it on the upper level across from Bread Box Handcrafted Sandwiches, reachable by the escalator near the entrance or the stairs near Bigfire, with indoor and outdoor seating: "Once you're on the upper level, you'll find Five Guys located just across from Bread Box Handcrafted Sandwiches. Choose from indoor or outdoor seating options and enjoy!"

The menu is burgers, hot dogs, hand cut fries and milkshakes, plus a breakfast sandwich, which Universal pitched as something to grab on the morning walk into Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure. Universal says Premier and Preferred Passholder discounts apply. Whether the breakfast sandwich means early morning hours, and what those would be, has not been said.

A sesame seed cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and pickle sitting on crumpled foil on a wood table, a tall red and white checkered FIVE GUYS BURGERS and FRIES cup with a red straw behind it, and two piles of skin on hand cut fries, one spilling from a brown paper bag

Universal's own Five Guys image, released with the September 18 announcement. The menu is burgers, hot dogs, hand cut fries, milkshakes and a breakfast sandwich. Photo: Universal Orlando Resort

The 1 a.m. line comes from the sign, not from Universal

Worth being precise here. The late night hours have not been announced by Universal or by Five Guys. They are on a poster at the restaurant, photographed by a third party. It reads FIVE GUYS at the top, HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS below it over two lines in a Halloween display face, and then OPEN UNTIL 1 AM in a black bar. Whether that covers every event night, or only starts once the restaurant actually opens, the sign does not say.

Halloween Horror Nights runs select nights through November 1 with 10 haunted houses. A burger at 1 a.m. after your tenth house is a genuinely useful thing if it holds.

Two signs it is close, one sign it is not

The exterior blade sign is hung, a round red FIVE GUYS disc mounted above the Panda Express Chinese Kitchen roundel on the CityWalk facade. The Halloween poster is framed and in place.

Against that: as of this morning, Five Guys' own restaurant finder lists 10 Orlando area locations and none of them is Universal CityWalk. That absence is us reading a tea leaf, not a statement from anyone. What it does establish is narrow: Five Guys is not yet advertising the CityWalk location as open on its own site.

What it replaced, and what else just opened

The space was the Burger King Whopper Bar, which Universal said in April would close on April 21, with Five Guys announced the same day and targeted for that summer. The Whopper Bar opened in 2009 as a more premium Burger King format. Inside Universal describes that concept as Burger King's answer to the rise of fast casual burger chains, Five Guys among them, which makes the succession a small joke at the Whopper Bar's expense.

When it does open, it will be the second new quick service restaurant at CityWalk in a matter of weeks. Fat One's Hot Dogs & Italian Ice opened on September 19.

Sources

Image credits: Halloween Horror Nights sign and interior photos by @magiccitymayhem Mikey, via Attractions Magazine. Burger and fries photo by Universal Orlando Resort.

Mentioned in this story

Check out our guides for more on each place in this story:

Five Guys Bread Box Handcrafted Sandwiches Bigfire Fat One's Hot Dogs & Italian Ice Panda Express Halloween Horror Nights 35

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