Universal Orlando HHN 33: Touring Plan & Minimizing Wait Times. Tips and Tricks: How to Make the Most of Your Night:
The premier Halloween event is back at Universal Orlando Resort this year. Here’s a short guide featuring some changes to 2024 Halloween Horror Nights that are new for everyone visiting, like new Stay-and-Scream holding areas (or “Scream Early” entrances); plus, which houses get busy first.
Are you trying to complete all 10 houses in one night? Do you want to have the most fulfilling night out at Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) without too much rushing? Here, we go through two main “Plans of Attack” for this year’s event!
Once you have your HHN ticket, you’ll decide between entering the event with Stay and Scream or the Main Entrance Gates, for your entry into Horror Nights. I recommend Stay and Scream, which requires you to be inside Universal Studios before 5:00 p.m.
With a Scream-Early Ticket; you can enter Universal Studios after 3:00pm, (3-5)
If you already have a day ticket to the theme park, you do not need this add-on ticket. If you’re inside the park before 5:00pm, there will be a variety of sectioned-off areas that you can enter where you will either begin waiting for a haunted house or enjoy some food or drink options and relax in the area.
You may enter ride queues for Universal Studios’ rides all the way up until 5:00pm, and then enter a holding area after you ride; some Haunted Houses begin to open at 5:15pm, and these House queues may already in place as early as 2:30pm in some cases.
Different from previous years; this year there are only two main Stay-and-Scream areas, the “Streets of New York,” and the “Lombards/Fear Factor Stage” area. You can also wait at Today Show Cafe.
New York Stay and Scream, Scream Early Waiting Area
Now entering at Minions Cafe, near Rip Ride Rockit. You’ll have access to multiple food stands and also the bar at Finnegan’s. You can also start waiting in line for one of the three most popular Haunted Houses of the night in this holding area.
Lombards Stay and Scream, Scream Early Waiting Area
Now enters at Lombards Restaurant, near Harry Potter World. You’ll have access to a bar and some food stands on the bridge near Men in Black. You may start to wait in line for a Haunted House as well.
TIPS For Stay & Scream and Daytime Hours at Halloween Horror Nights:
You may get in line for an indoor ride at the park up until 5:00pm, and then head to a Stay and Scream holding area afterward, limiting your time outdoors during the high heat.
You should be wearing dark sunglasses in line to have your eyes be best adjusted to the dark rooms as possible. Wear them all the way until you step foot into the Haunted House.
We do not recommend doing your most-anticipated Haunted House during the daytime since your eyes won’t be fully adjusted, and we find that all scare actors may not be in place in early hours.
PLAN OF ATTACK – NEW YORK STAY AND SCREAM
If you want to queue up for a Haunted House during Stay and Scream, the most popular ones are found at the New York Stay and Scream waiting area; here, people begin to queue up before 3:00pm. If you are trying to do houses as quickly as possible, you should be getting in line for a popular haunted house like Ghost Busters, Quiet Place, or Insidious; the most popular houses of this HHN 2024.
Get in line at 3:00-3:30pm; if it’s 4:00pm and the line looks too long, that usually means it is too long and I’d advise against it since you’ll be waiting more than 90 minutes in the sun.
(*Optional) Before 3:30PM: In Line for “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious“
5:45PM: In Line for “Major Sweets”
6:30PM: In Line for (shorter queue first) “Universal Monsters” & “Goblins Feast“
7:15PM: In Line for “The Museum: Deadly Exhibits”
7:45PM: In Line for “Slaughter Sinema 2”
Swamp of the Undead (Scare Zone)
Demon Queens (Scare Zone)
8:30PM: In Line for “Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America“
9:15PM: In Line for “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious”
Torture Faire (Scare Zone)
Enter the Blumhouse (Scare Zone)
Death Eaters Encounter (Wizarding World)
11:00PM: Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus (SHOW)
11:45PM: In Line for “Triplets of Terror”
12:30PM: “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious” (Twice if you skipped step one)
*If long waits out in the sun aren’t your thing: Skip Step 1; have some food and drink; and make your way to Major Sweets by 5:45 at the latest.
PLAN OF ATTACK – LOMBARDS STAY AND SCREAM
Lombard’s has a smaller Stay and Scream area, the advantage to this area is that you can go through all four of the Haunted Houses on the far side of the park with very minimal waits; checking off four houses before 7:00PM.
5:45PM: In Line for “The Museum: Deadly Exhibits”
6:15PM: In Line for “Slaughter Sinema”
6:45PM: In Line for (shorter queue first): “Universal Monsters” & “Goblins Feast”
7:30PM: In Line for “Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America“
(5 of the 10 houses of the night are now complete, and you’re hopefully even further ahead of schedule than listed here; we now recommend heading to one of the busiest houses. Check the wait times or visually check the lines by looking at them to see which makes sense from the three. Ask an employee once you get to the end of the queue if they suggest waiting for one or the other, sometimes they have the best knowledge; more than a wait time board.)
5. 8:15PM: In Line for “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious“
6. Torture Faire (Scare Zone)
7. Enter the Blumhouse (Scare Zone)
8. Death Eaters Encounter (Wizarding World)
9. 9:30PM: Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus (SHOW)
(If you miss the show due to a long wait, plan to fit it in for 11:00pm or 12:30am.)
10. 10:15PM: In Line for “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious“
11. 11:30PM: In Line for “Triplets of Terror“
12. 12:15PM: In Line for “Ghostbusters” OR “Quiet Place” OR “Insidious“
13. Remaining Scare Zones: Swamp of the Undead (Scare Zone) & Demon Queens (Scare Zone)
14. Repeat your Favorites, lines get shorter from this time until closing
PLAN OF ATTACK – NO SCREAM EARLY TICKET, MAIN ENTRANCE
Follow the plan of attack for “LOMBARDS STAY AND SCREAM” above, replacing steps 1-4 with the steps listed below. Arrive to the front gate of the park no later than 5:30PM, this usually means arriving to the parking lot no later than 4:30PM.
6:15PM: In Line for “The Museum: Deadly Exhibits”
6:45PM: In Line for (shorter queue first): “Universal Monsters” & “Goblins Feast”
7:30PM: In Line for “Slaughter Sinema”
Skip “Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America,” and add it to the end of your night, where this house will have a very short line.
