SCREAM QUEEN: Is Universal Halloween Horror Nights Just As Frightful As The Ticket Price?
It’s SpOoKy sEaSoN friends and I finally saved enough money to travel down to ORLANDOOO (Book of Mormon fans only) to experience the scares and even scarier… overpriced food of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. In Beyonce’s year of 2019, Universal featured 10! Yes 10! Haunted Houses with 4 Scare Zones and 2 Spooky Shows. Now, what really got me to spend my coins was the newest Haunted House addition, Jordan Peele’s “Us” as well as spooky oooky “Stranger Things”, which is in its second year of being featured. Now, without revealing any spoilers about the attractions, here are 7 tips and tricks I wish I would have known to fully enjoy my fright night and to bless upon the next victims, I mean… guests.
“HHN”= Halloween Horror Nights…carry on
1. You Probably Won’t Make It To Every Haunted House, So Plan Wisely.
Like I said there are 10 haunted houses. The event is only 8 hours (6PM-2AM). I know that sounds like a full work day but once you put in wait times and then block out times to eat and find restrooms etc., the time will pass you quickly. I was only able to make it to four. Yeah 4/10. I failed basically. But the wait times can be anywhere from 5 minutes to 120+, so find the houses that mean the most for you and do your best to hit those up first. Another alternative to avoid this will lead me into tip #2…
2. Invest In The Express
HHN is a separate event than the actual Universal Studios park, so you will have to pay for a separate ticket. The online price will say $67.99, but that’s just to hook you in. Depending on the day, it can go as high as $89.99 (which it will as it gets closer to Halloween). Along with your regular ticket, I advise that you buy the Express Pass. It’s going to be A LOT more money but you are able to skip every haunted house line ONCE and you’ll save hours and hours of waiting in line and actually be able to enjoy the whole experience. The Express pass as of recent is going for $129.99 on weekdays and $159.99 on weekends. I wish I would have invested in the Express Pass but my bank account said nah at the time.
3. Less Halloween Horror Night And More Mediocre Scare Night.
I am a horror fan. I love scary movies. I love paranormal shows. I want to be scared. However the haunted houses did not spook me. Here is my theory and here is my solution to said problem. To prevent guest from standing in line for 3+ hours per haunt they will NOT stagger you once you enter the house. So unfortunately since you are in a huge line walking through the attraction you will more than likely see every scare before it happens because of the groups in front of you. Towards the end of the night and desperately wanting a good fright, my crew decided to walk really slow once we entered the houses hoping to create some space between the groups in front of us, that way the jump scares were fresh and we didn’t know what was coming and when, and it worked!
Disclaimer: Employees were not so happy about our tactic but we paid enough money to get a proper spook so they’ll deal.
4. ‘Stranger Things’ Has An Even Stranger Wait Time
So the biggest scam of the night is that I didn’t even get a chance to check out the Stranger Things house. It was SO SO popular that there was a 2 hour wait time the ENTIRE night, and will be every night going forward. I refused to do it. My knees were weak and feet were numb, I couldn’t fathom just waiting in a line for 2 hours just to walk into a themed house for 3 minutes (even though I did hear that the demogorgon replica was top notch). Later during the day, I found the cheat code from an employee so take this with you. If this house is your #1 obligation, either go right when the event opens at 6PM (run to the location) or go at the very end, and I’m talking end end. For example, horror nights closes at 2AM so get in line at 1:55AM. As long as you’re in line for any attraction before 2AM, they’ll let you in. If you do make it and are able to experience it, give some nougat to Dart for me.
5. More Bang For Your Buck: Take Advantage Of The Rest Of The Park
Besides the main horror events, there are so many rides still open at Universal and even better, the wait times are short because everyone else is waiting for the spooks. Even if you only bought a HHN ticket you can still experience the rest of the park! Be sure to take advantage of…
Fast & Furious- Supercharged™
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit™
Men In Black Alien Attack™
Revenge of the Mummy™
The Simpsons Ride™
Transformers™: The Ride- 3D and
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™
6. Leave The Costumes To The Employees
You cannot dress up in full costume and expect to be let into the park. They will not allow it. They have plenty of people that they pay that will be dressed and ready to do their scares with chainsaws and other torture devices. So leave the costume at home Pennywise and just bring your running shoes because it’s going to be a long night on your feet.
7. It’s 2019. You Have A Smart Phone. Download The App.
Download the Universal FL. app on your phone. It will give you a map of the entire park, tell you where every haunted house is located and give you accurate wait times, so you don’t have to waste your time walking 500 miles and 500 more through the park.
I hope that helps, with all being said have a spooky time my friends and Happy Halloween!