Official 2023 Halloween Horror Nights 32 (Orlando)

[ClapYourHands]

Hey fellow HHN goers, we already bought our tickets to go on the 14th of October with early admission passes.

What holding que is located close to The Exorcist and Stranger Things? It has been a few years but IIRC it is called Finnegans?


The houses we are dead set on going through are The Exorcist, Stranger Things, Dueling Dragons & then Chucky house.

Our plan is to wait in que close to the houses we want to go through and once they drop the rope run ( or walk fast ) to the houses we plan on going through before the crowds



Thanks

Get in line really early, like by 3pm there will be a line of people waiting to get into the holding area. Entrance is by the statue where NY meets San Francisco. You probably won’t be let into the pen until after 4, but as soon as you tap in, you hustle down the street, turn left down the alley towards Transformers, then turn right and go into the ST4 line. You want to be in the first holding pen. People in the first pen will be held there until about 5, at which point you will be allowed across the street to preload the queue for the 5:15 opening.

After you get through, immediately go to Dueling Dragons (entrance near the library). It is the other house that opens at 5:15, and should be an extremely short wait, possibly a walk-on, depending on how far up you were in the ST4 queue.

After Dueling Dragons, head back down towards the Rip Ride Rocket stage where you’ll enter the Exorcist queue. This house is supposed to open at 5:30, but some nights will open a bit later, depending on how soon they are able to clear day guests.

If things go as planned, you’ll be done with all three houses at 6, or thereabouts.

Now, you can either go to Chucky OR go to Yeti, which both open at 6. My advice is to do Yeti first. It’s right there, so no doubling back. Moreover, Chucky has its own stay and scream waiting area, but it’s a relatively small crowd compared with the NY crowds. By the time you get finished with Yeti, the S&S people will be finishing up, and your line will be really short. If you end up taking more time getting through the first three houses, and it’s like 6:15 when you’re out of Exorcist, just go directly to Chucky because the line for Yeti will have grown enough that you’ll hit a wait there and a longer wait at Chucky.

After Chucky, you can hustle to the back houses and still have a decently short wait. Dr. Oddfellow’s line tends to build faster and move slower than Darkest Deal.

 

[fanoforlando]

Get in line really early, like by 3pm there will be a line of people waiting to get into the holding area. Entrance is by the statue where NY meets San Francisco. You probably won’t be let into the pen until after 4, but as soon as you tap in, you hustle down the street, turn left down the alley towards Transformers, then turn right and go into the ST4 line. You want to be in the first holding pen. People in the first pen will be held there until about 5, at which point you will be allowed across the street to preload the queue for the 5:15 opening.

After you get through, immediately go to Dueling Dragons (entrance near the library). It is the other house that opens at 5:15, and should be an extremely short wait, possibly a walk-on, depending on how far up you were in the ST4 queue.

After Dueling Dragons, head back down towards the Rip Ride Rocket stage where you’ll enter the Exorcist queue. This house is supposed to open at 5:30, but some nights will open a bit later, depending on how soon they are able to clear day guests.

If things go as planned, you’ll be done with all three houses at 6, or thereabouts.

Now, you can either go to Chucky OR go to Yeti, which both open at 6. My advice is to do Yeti first. It’s right there, so no doubling back. Moreover, Chucky has its own stay and scream waiting area, but it’s a relatively small crowd compared with the NY crowds. By the time you get finished with Yeti, the S&S people will be finishing up, and your line will be really short. If you end up taking more time getting through the first three houses, and it’s like 6:15 when you’re out of Exorcist, just go directly to Chucky because the line for Yeti will have grown enough that you’ll hit a wait there and a longer wait at Chucky.

After Chucky, you can hustle to the back houses and still have a decently short wait. Dr. Oddfellow’s line tends to build faster and move slower than Darkest Deal.

Wow it sounds like you have planned this yourself!!


I appreciate the input because i was unaware that some houses open later than others.


I am probably going to go with this plan and inform my party that they should pick between Yeti and Chucky.


4 years ago when we went ( pre Covid ) we were able to hit up 5 houses before the wait times got too crazy but since it has been that long, i don't know how the crowds have been.

Statistically when demand goes up so do prices, when the early access was first introduced it was only a $25 addition, now it is $40 so we want to maximize our visit as best as possible.

 

[Skywalker3]

Get in line really early, like by 3pm there will be a line of people waiting to get into the holding area. Entrance is by the statue where NY meets San Francisco. You probably won’t be let into the pen until after 4, but as soon as you tap in, you hustle down the street, turn left down the alley towards Transformers, then turn right and go into the ST4 line. You want to be in the first holding pen. People in the first pen will be held there until about 5, at which point you will be allowed across the street to preload the queue for the 5:15 opening.

After you get through, immediately go to Dueling Dragons (entrance near the library). It is the other house that opens at 5:15, and should be an extremely short wait, possibly a walk-on, depending on how far up you were in the ST4 queue.

After Dueling Dragons, head back down towards the Rip Ride Rocket stage where you’ll enter the Exorcist queue. This house is supposed to open at 5:30, but some nights will open a bit later, depending on how soon they are able to clear day guests.

If things go as planned, you’ll be done with all three houses at 6, or thereabouts.

Now, you can either go to Chucky OR go to Yeti, which both open at 6. My advice is to do Yeti first. It’s right there, so no doubling back. Moreover, Chucky has its own stay and scream waiting area, but it’s a relatively small crowd compared with the NY crowds. By the time you get finished with Yeti, the S&S people will be finishing up, and your line will be really short. If you end up taking more time getting through the first three houses, and it’s like 6:15 when you’re out of Exorcist, just go directly to Chucky because the line for Yeti will have grown enough that you’ll hit a wait there and a longer wait at Chucky.

After Chucky, you can hustle to the back houses and still have a decently short wait. Dr. Oddfellow’s line tends to build faster and move slower than Darkest Deal.

Thank you so, so much for this! I’ve been thinking about our upcoming trip, and our one night. We do have express, but I’m still hoping to do stay/ scream and get a few houses done, so we can repeat then, esp Stranger Things. I was prepared to get in the pen by 4, but reading through the thread, I need to be there quite a bit earlier. Ugh. Will see what we think, but would love to do ST a second time. I wasn’t sure what houses to do next, and your recommendations help so much
Thanks!!!
If my knees and feet hold out, I’m hoping to stay as late as possible! Will be there in a little over a week!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Wow it sounds like you have planned this yourself!!


I appreciate the input because i was unaware that some houses open later than others.


I am probably going to go with this plan and inform my party that they should pick between Yeti and Chucky.


4 years ago when we went ( pre Covid ) we were able to hit up 5 houses before the wait times got too crazy but since it has been that long, i don't know how the crowds have been.

Statistically when demand goes up so do prices, when the early access was first introduced it was only a $25 addition, now it is $40 so we want to maximize our visit as best as possible.

I didn’t just plan it myself, I did it myself. We were there 9/21-9/24 with Rush of Fear. Thursday, we landed late at MCO, got there after midnight, and did 4 houses before park close. The next three nights we followed the above outline at Stay and Scream, always starting with ST4 and Dueling Dragons, and then prioritizing the other houses. Like the third night, we didn’t want to do Exorcist or Chucky again, so we prioritized getting to the back houses, and were able to get through Oddfellow, Darkest Deal, and Monsters before 7.

We did no houses between 8-12 on any night. Friday we did our first block of 6 houses, rode the rides at US, then left to hang in City Walk and get VooDoo donuts, and returned to finish 5 houses between 12 and 2. Saturday, we did 6 houses, bounced to IoA, and jumped in line for Velocicoaster, then left Universal for dinner on I-Drive, dropped one tired teen at the hotel and returned a bit past 12 to do our last 4 houses. Sunday, we did our 5 houses, bounced to IoA for a night ride on Hagrid’s, returned to US for one last RRR ride, and called it an early night because we still had to pack and sleep before leaving at 6am for the airport.

I feel like it was a really productive strategy. It does, however, rely on getting a good spot in the Stranger Things line. If your spot is second pen, you’ll definitely skip Yeti. If you’re in the third pen, don’t bother. Get in the Dueling Dragons line instead. You can even do it twice (pick fire once and ice the second time). Then jump in line for Exorcist and proceed as above. You want to do as many houses as you can before 7. After that, we noticed the waits really started to balloon. You can go back at hit Stranger Things at the end of the night when waits fall. Or if you’re doing houses all the way through, suck it up and do it when it’s at like 75-90 minutes; it’s way more palatable to do a long wait for ST4 later when everything else is at an hour than at the beginning of the night when waiting in that line means squandering the chance to walk on for several other houses.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Thank you so, so much for this! I’ve been thinking about our upcoming trip, and our one night. We do have express, but I’m still hoping to do stay/ scream and get a few houses done, so we can repeat then, esp Stranger Things. I was prepared to get in the pen by 4, but reading through the thread, I need to be there quite a bit earlier. Ugh. Will see what we think, but would love to do ST a second time. I wasn’t sure what houses to do next, and your recommendations help so much
Thanks!!!
If my knees and feet hold out, I’m hoping to stay as late as possible! Will be there in a little over a week!

If you only have one night, doing ST more than once is a great idea. I never quite understand the people who use express during S&S - seems like a waste. The end of the night is another great time to get in a second run through. After 12, the waits really drop and the posted times are usually inflated. You can get in line right up until 2. We usually started our night with Stranger Things, and ended with jumping in line for The Last of Us just before closing time.

Going through a house more than once increases your chances that you’ll get a full cast, or if you don’t have a full cast, you’ll hopefully be able to have different characters missing the second time so you can put a full walk-through together in your head.

 

[fanoforlando]

I didn’t just plan it myself, I did it myself. We were there 9/21-9/24 with Rush of Fear. Thursday, we landed late at MCO, got there after midnight, and did 4 houses before park close. The next three nights we followed the above outline at Stay and Scream, always starting with ST4 and Dueling Dragons, and then prioritizing the other houses. Like the third night, we didn’t want to do Exorcist or Chucky again, so we prioritized getting to the back houses, and were able to get through Oddfellow, Darkest Deal, and Monsters before 7.

We did no houses between 8-12 on any night. Friday we did our first block of 6 houses, rode the rides at US, then left to hang in City Walk and get VooDoo donuts, and returned to finish 5 houses between 12 and 2. Saturday, we did 6 houses, bounced to IoA, and jumped in line for Velocicoaster, then left Universal for dinner on I-Drive, dropped one tired teen at the hotel and returned a bit past 12 to do our last 4 houses. Sunday, we did our 5 houses, bounced to IoA for a night ride on Hagrid’s, returned to US for one last RRR ride, and called it an early night because we still had to pack and sleep before leaving at 6am for the airport.

I feel like it was a really productive strategy. It does, however, rely on getting a good spot in the Stranger Things line. If your spot is second pen, you’ll definitely skip Yeti. If you’re in the third pen, don’t bother. Get in the Dueling Dragons line instead. You can even do it twice (pick fire once and ice the second time). Then jump in line for Exorcist and proceed as above. You want to do as many houses as you can before 7. After that, we noticed the waits really started to balloon. You can go back at hit Stranger Things at the end of the night when waits fall. Or if you’re doing houses all the way through, suck it up and do it when it’s at like 75-90 minutes; it’s way more palatable to do a long wait for ST4 later when everything else is at an hour than at the beginning of the night when waiting in that line means squandering the chance to walk on for several other houses.

Pretty awesome! It sounds like you were able to maximize your time at HHN, to me that's really important as no 2 years are alike


I appreciate the input, thank you


We're super excited to go this year , Covid really messed things up

 

[NileNellie]

The way they abruptly jack up prices every few weeks without any warning is obnoxious. It's really tarnished the brand reputation for me. I don't care what a company wants to charge for an experience - if it has value, I'll pay it and not complain.

But set the price correctly from the getgo and stick to it. Don't screw around and annoy people with this constant price fluctuation that has someone paying far more for the exact same experience on the same evening because they bought their ticket a few days later. I don't think it's right or guest-friendly.

Discovery Cove does this too and it drives me batty. I'll look at the website one day, and then the next day the prices have increased by $100.

 

[keishashadow]

Pretty awesome! It sounds like you were able to maximize your time at HHN, to me that's really important as no 2 years are alike

Actually, no 2 nights are alike.

the wait times ebb & wane from day to day/hour to hour. It’s nice to go in with a plan, the ones listed here are some good options.

IMO it’s more important to just keep checking the house times. Either on U app (which was iffy for me, thinking so many people using it) or the one I prefer for reliability (thrilldata). I’m sure there are others out there.

Even tho I try to save steps, sometimes it is worth it to haul across the park for a 20 minute standby line

scarezone = waiting in line to avoid waiting in line…a paradox

Our first night this year ST went down, technical issues during S&S time. Was glad we had picked Central Park scare zone that time, even tho no shade.

ST Came back up not long thereafter but, just throwing it out there...Stuff happens, you need to be prepared to pivot

 

[mamapenguin]

Actually, no 2 nights are alike.

the wait times ebb & wane from day to day/hour to hour. It’s nice to go in with a plan, the ones listed here are some good options.

IMO it’s more important to just keep checking the house times. Either on U app (which was iffy for me, thinking so many people using it) or the one I prefer for reliability (thrilldata). I’m sure there are others out there.

Even tho I try to save steps, sometimes it is worth it to haul across the park for a 20 minute standby line

scarezone = waiting in line to avoid waiting in line…a paradox

Our first night this year ST went down, technical issues during S&S time. Was glad we had picked Central Park scare zone that time, even tho no shade.

ST Came back up not long thereafter but, just throwing it out there...Stuff happens, you need to be prepared to pivot

Great, now I want to watch Friends. “Pivot.”

 

[tony67]

View attachment 798125

This was absolutely needed IMO.

Reports do indicate the crowds have dropped since the last night of RoF, especially on the nights the “free” tix is not available to Premier AP holders.

WOW - this was totally unexpected. I know they have stopped selling them in the past for a few days - but never stopped completely that I recall.

I had been out of the country and not paying attention to all of this, came back to buy tickets today and they are sold out

Seeing what a mess it is I guess it makes sense - hopefully they rethink the tickets next yeah and go to some sort of 5 night ticket instead of a season pass. The ultimate fear with express now looks like a bargain and a half.

From what I am seeing it does not look like fun - I mean now they have people rushing you through scare zones... just WOW

 

[keishashadow]

had been out of the country and not paying attention to all of this, came back to buy tickets today and they are sold out

Oh no! not sure if any sell them, have you tried the usual ticket re-sellers to see if they have any left in their inventory?

From what I am seeing it does not look like fun - I mean now they have people rushing you through scare zones... just WOW

Some of the Scarezones are just a point A to B thing in my mind. Not that I don’t appreciate the scareactors, only have so much to work with in their assigned roles.

IMO U created a monster , encouraging the scareactors to drop out of role & stop/pose for selfies.

inevitably, a small crowd forms, which tends to follow/impede the character. then, the handlers need to step up to disburse it...of the keep it moving, nothing to see here sort of thing.

If they would set up some official meet & greet options, might be a happy medium?

Do think it’s a much stronger event this year than last. even tho I moan & groan, it’s out of a true love for the event. Everything I see “wrong” this year could easily be addressed, if they chose to…people do need to fill out those surveys.


Just for Fun, What Changes Would You Make to HHN?

Might be be interesting to see other people’s thots on what needs addressed going forward into next year. I’ll go first.

1. crowds appear near/over capacity,

(EP appears to have been wildly oversold, as well as RIP tours. crowd control also needs work, both in scare zone lines & overall)

2. They really need another production show to spread out the crowd, perhaps in the BMG theater?

2. food is horrifying, not in a good way.

 

[mamapenguin]

WOW - this was totally unexpected. I know they have stopped selling them in the past for a few days - but never stopped completely that I recall.

I had been out of the country and not paying attention to all of this, came back to buy tickets today and they are sold out

Seeing what a mess it is I guess it makes sense - hopefully they rethink the tickets next yeah and go to some sort of 5 night ticket instead of a season pass. The ultimate fear with express now looks like a bargain and a half.

From what I am seeing it does not look like fun - I mean now they have people rushing you through scare zones... just WOW

I went every night from 9/20-9/24 and experienced no rushing through the scare zones. It wasn’t any different than the last two years, lots of attention from the scare actors. Is this something being reported since then?

 

[SPINster]

I didn’t just plan it myself, I did it myself. We were there 9/21-9/24 with Rush of Fear. Thursday, we landed late at MCO, got there after midnight, and did 4 houses before park close. The next three nights we followed the above outline at Stay and Scream, always starting with ST4 and Dueling Dragons, and then prioritizing the other houses. Like the third night, we didn’t want to do Exorcist or Chucky again, so we prioritized getting to the back houses, and were able to get through Oddfellow, Darkest Deal, and Monsters before 7.

We did no houses between 8-12 on any night. Friday we did our first block of 6 houses, rode the rides at US, then left to hang in City Walk and get VooDoo donuts, and returned to finish 5 houses between 12 and 2. Saturday, we did 6 houses, bounced to IoA, and jumped in line for Velocicoaster, then left Universal for dinner on I-Drive, dropped one tired teen at the hotel and returned a bit past 12 to do our last 4 houses. Sunday, we did our 5 houses, bounced to IoA for a night ride on Hagrid’s, returned to US for one last RRR ride, and called it an early night because we still had to pack and sleep before leaving at 6am for the airport.

I feel like it was a really productive strategy. It does, however, rely on getting a good spot in the Stranger Things line. If your spot is second pen, you’ll definitely skip Yeti. If you’re in the third pen, don’t bother. Get in the Dueling Dragons line instead. You can even do it twice (pick fire once and ice the second time). Then jump in line for Exorcist and proceed as above. You want to do as many houses as you can before 7. After that, we noticed the waits really started to balloon. You can go back at hit Stranger Things at the end of the night when waits fall. Or if you’re doing houses all the way through, suck it up and do it when it’s at like 75-90 minutes; it’s way more palatable to do a long wait for ST4 later when everything else is at an hour than at the beginning of the night when waiting in that line means squandering the chance to walk on for several other houses.

Just chiming in to say this it the strategy we used on 9/23. We were actually in the second ST holding pen, waited about 15 minutes once the house opened. Then waited less than 5 minutes for Dueling Dragons, Exorcist, 10 minutes for Yeti. Then 15 minutes for Chucky.

Thanks to Scream Early we actually hit 8/10 houses in the night, AND did Yeti and Dueling Dragons twice. We could have hit all 10 but decided we would rather do DD and Yeti again vs Blood Moon and waiting in the loooooong line at Last Of Us at the end of the night.

 

[tony67]

I went every night from 9/20-9/24 and experienced no rushing through the scare zones. It wasn’t any different than the last two years, lots of attention from the scare actors. Is this something being reported since then?

From what I understand they had traffic control folks directing people through to keep them moving - its possible it was an exaggeration but the weekend of the 29th was nuts from what my friend said

 

[tony67]

Oh no! not sure if any sell them, have you tried the usual ticket re-sellers to see if they have any left in their inventory?

Yeah - unfortunately they don't sell them - that was the first place I looked.

I also tried calling pass holder services - there really is no passholder services other than an automated system - and the person I got did not know they were sold out and basically said there are none. He did also say to keep in eye out in case they go back on sale as we saw early last year - but I highly doubt that will happen (and he did agree its unlikely)

I'm going to try email next I guess. Going to be very unhappy if I have to buy a bunch of individual nights - its my own fault - but it been yet another bad year for me trying to plan an HHN trip.

 

[keishashadow]

Going to be very unhappy if I have to buy a bunch of individual nights - it’s my own fault - but it been yet another bad year for me trying to plan an HHN trip.

Oh, I’d be unhappy too in this situation.

especially, as I don’t recall FF sales ever being halted in the past.

good luck

 

[snoopboop]

IMO U created a monster , encouraging the scareactors to drop out of role & stop/pose for selfies.

I know it may be a hot take (or maybe not?) but every year I see more and more posts on FB from parents who take their 7-8–9 year old children and rave about how everyone was so NICE and how the scareactors were so FRIENDLY and took pictures with their children, etc…

I find this really frustrating, but also, Universal is ALLOWING them to do this. Might it be time for an actual age restriction on the event?

 

[neverenoughtime]

I really do not know why they did not do scare actor dining this year. That way people could have gotten their pictures instead of stopping in the middle of the scare zone. May not have completed eliminated the problem but it would have helped. We headed down this week and cannot wait. May also hit up Hallow scream at Sea World too.

 

[tony67]

I know it may be a hot take (or maybe not?) but every year I see more and more posts on FB from parents who take their 7-8–9 year old children and rave about how everyone was so NICE and how the scareactors were so FRIENDLY and took pictures with their children, etc…

I find this really frustrating, but also, Universal is ALLOWING them to do this. Might it be time for an actual age restriction on the event?

Agree 100% but they are paying the same price so its very profitable for Universal.
Unfortunately since they added stranger things the audience has gotten younger and younger and the event has become more Family Friendly IMO

IMO U created a monster , encouraging the scareactors to drop out of role & stop/pose for selfies.

Yeah - unfortunately it gets free publicity for HHN and really the scare zones have become more selfie zones for several years now

 

[Hale]

Hello Everyone!
Does anyone have slots open for RIP tour this year? Figure I'd ask before I get tickets.

Thanks!