Opening night for Halloween Horror Nights, HHN, at Universal Orlando is THIS week! Premium Scream Night will be Thursday, August 29th, and the opening night for general admission is Friday, August 30th. This is the 33rd year of HHN at Universal Orlando! This is THE halloween event, and if you haven’t gotten tickets yet, it is not too late. If you are a first timer, (or even an HHN veteran), we are our top ten tips you do not want to miss!

1.CROWDS

Historically, HHN is busiest in the month of October, and opening week. Beat the crowds and go in the months of September or November. Halloween Horror Nights is one of the most popular Halloween events, so even on the “slower nights” there will still be crowds. Getting to Universal early will help beat some of the crowd, so you can park faster and scream sooner. Be prepared to wait. If you go into the night knowing you will spend time waiting in lines, you will be happier in the end. In line people will entertain themselves in a variety of ways. Some people play heads up, talk with friends, play on their phone, trade or make bracelets or (my personal choice) read a spooky book on their Kindle. If you have something to do your time will fly by! 

@mamarunsdisney

2.OPENING SCAREMONIES

This is one of my favorite, goose bump inducing HHN traditions! I try to make it to AT LEAST one scaremony, if not all. If you haven’t seen this before, it is basically an opening “show” either based on the yearly theme or the nearest scarezone to the entrance. This signals the opening of the event! This is done right at the entrance so the closer you are to the front, the better you will see. I have been in the back of the entrance crowd and you are still able to see it, but you’ll see even better if you use zoom on your phone!

3. ENTER UNIVERSAL BEFORE THE EVENT

You may be thinking, how do you do this? There are two options, you can either already have valid daytime theme park admission, (including annual passes), or you can buy a Scream Early ticket. Buying the Scream Early ticket will allow you into the park early, from 3-5 pm, then at 5pm you will wait in a Stay & Scream area with other guests. This gives you a head start on getting to those houses before guests pour in through the entrance gates. Depending on where you are, you will be much closer to various houses, getting you a spot in the front of the line. I do this with my Annual Pass, and I am usually done with 2 or 3 houses by the time my friends are inside.

@mamarunsdisney

4. HOUSE ORDER

There are two ways to go about this. If you don’t have a preference over which haunted houses you want to do, head to the back and do those houses first. The theory is that most people will stop at the first haunted houses they see and those wait times will go up FAST. This works for the most part, but many veterans know and use this trick. Depending on the night it may only save you a few minutes. The other way to do it, is to go to the house that will most likely be the most popular, last year it was This Is Us. This works especially well if you were in one of the Stay and Scream holding areas, or used the hotel guest event entrance. Alternatively, you could go to the house you want to do the most, to make sure you have time for it. It’s hard to guess which houses will be most popular this year, maybe Ghostbusters or Slaughter Sinema 2, which is a sequel to a house from HHN 28. My personal favorite is the all-female haunted house, Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines because it screams girl power!

5. STAY CLOSE

The convenience of staying onsite cannot be beat. Hard Rock Hotel is my favorite because of its close proximity to Universal Studios. I made it there in under 5 minutes. You can also walk from Loews Portofino Bay Hotel (a little further than Hard Rock, about 15 mins) or Loews Sapphire Falls (you have to walk through City Walk, around 22 minutes). Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Portofino Bay Hotel are unique because they also allow you to go through a separate security checkpoint. This alone saves so much time! All Universal resorts have transportation to the parks. If that wasn’t enough, there is also a dedicated entrance FOR HOTEL GUESTS ONLY!! You must have your room key and HHN tickets, this is an amazing benefit you can only get staying onsite. It also allows you to do some houses before regular guests! Check with your hotel to see where the entrance is this year.

@mamarunsdisney

6. EAT ALL THE SNACKS

There are so many snacks at Halloween Horror Nights, but my favorite is the TWISTED TATER!! I love anything potato, so a fried potato spiral on a stick is right up my alley. If you’re feeling daring, get my favorite flavor, ghost pepper! There are a few I am excited to try this year. I am most excited about the Mini Stay-Puft S’more. It looks delicious and almost too cute to eat. I am also looking forward to trying the Slimer’s Korean Corn Dog, African Lentil and Potato Sambusa Coffin (I loved this last year), and the Wooden Board Éclair (chocolate and spicy are my favorites!). There are also so many themed drinks, and I will definitely be trying the Depredadora. It is made of rum with pineapple and mango flavors, and sounds delicious!

7. RIP is VIP

If you are looking for the BEST Halloween Horror Night experience, RIP is the way to go. It is HHN’s version of the daytime VIP tour. With the RIP tours you have two options. Option 1 is a private RIP tour which includes you and up to 10 people in your party. Option 2 is a non-private RIP tour, in which your party will join other parties for the tour. Private tours can also request specific itineraries whereas the shared RIP tour is based on the tour guides itinerary. Each includes VIP admission to each house while with the tour guide group, Express Passes to use for rides before and after the tour, light snacks before the tour, commemorative lanyard/credential/button, reserved seating for the show, exclusive cash bars, and EVEN MORE. This is my first year doing the RIP tour after dreaming about it for years. Stay tuned for an update on my RIP experience!

8. SPOOKY STYLE

Another way to really embrace the event is to dress the part. I don’t know about you, but I have more fun when I like my outfit. My favorite is to do a horror or halloween themed tee and biker shorts so I can be comfy and not too hot. The shoes are also important! I highly recommend considering how long you will be on your feet before you make your shoe choice. I typically go with converse or vans, because for me I know I will be comfortable! Remember costumes are not allowed.

@mamarunsdisney

9.SCARE ZONES

Make sure you go through the scare zones multiple times!! I love walking through them several times, and from different entry points. This allows you to experience all the scare actors in each scare zone and see all the details! The more you go through, the more you see. The scare zones are some of the most fun areas because they are interactive and give you a different experience each time you walk through. They sometimes have little “shows” that only occur every so often and you can miss them if you only walk through once!

10.UPGRADE YOUR HORROR

If you are like me, there is no such thing as too much horror, or too many visits to Halloween Horror Nights. You can have even more fun, by purchasing a multi night ticket and going to multiple event nights. This year I purchased the Frequent Fear Plus Pass. This means I could potentially go 40 times to HHN. My record is 10 event nights in one season. There are multiple levels available if you can’t quite commit to 40 nights. RIP tours are another way to upgrade, but you can also do a daytime tour. These tours are called “Unmasking the Horror”. These are lights on tours of 3 or 6 (you choose) houses so you can get an up close look at the haunted houses. This would be a good introduction to HHN for those who are a little hesitant.

Spooky season is here, and starting off with a bang at Halloween Horror Nights THIS week. These ten tips for Halloween Horror Nights will help prepare you for the spookiest event. I cannot wait to eat, drink and scream my way through HHN. Be on the look out for my review of HHN 33, it will be coming soon! In the meantime, you can check out last years, here. My first stop (after getting my twisted tater) will be the Ghostbusters house. What are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments!

The event runs until November 3rd, so it is not too late to get tickets and plan a trip! While HHN might be a little spooky, don’t be scared about booking a vacation last minute! Our friends at Winds in the East Travel are frightfully good at booking your perfect screamcation. Fill out the form below and an advisor will contact you to help you book your Halloween vacation package.