Please remember that Halloween Horror Nights is an separately ticketed event; simply purchasing a day pass for Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure does not get you into this special nighttime attraction.
Popular rides at both parks will remain open during HHN, including Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, TRANSFORMERS and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
Wait Times
Universal Studios Florida hosts Halloween Horror Nights as an evening event after regular park closure, offering ten houses and scare zones themed like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tooth Fairy’s Revenge and The Haunting of Hill House.
Lines at haunted houses vary depending on when and how close to Halloween you visit them, with wait times usually highest during Halloween week and the last two weeks in November.
If you are planning to visit Universal Studios, purchasing tickets ahead is recommended; many nights sell out quickly. Plus, buying early allows you to enjoy your event without long lines at entrance!
Save time by visiting less popular houses first and purchasing Fast Passes later – this way you’ll experience all of them in one night with shorter wait times! If you plan on visiting with others, ensure everyone in your group agrees on which houses they would like to see together.
Rides that Stay Open
Universal Studios hosts an impressive Halloween Horror Nights experience each year, with ten houses, five scare zones and a lagoon show all set up for guests to experience during this ticketed event. Attractions and soundstages transform into horrifying haunted houses themed after popular movies as well as original concepts conceived by Universal’s creative team – offering something special to the Halloween Horror Nights experience!
Universal Studios stays open during HHN with many rides open with minimal wait times for visitors, including Jurassic World, The Simpsons Ride, Transformers: The Ride-3D, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and many others.
Many haunted house themes can be expected, yet over the years some surprising ones have cropped up. One such house in New York this year is Sweet Revenge: an amusement park gone wrong filled with candy, parades and other typical elements of carnival season turned dark and foreboding. Others feature third-party intellectual properties like AMC’s Stranger Things or Netflix’s The Conjuring for inspiration.
Express Passes
As opposed to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, which caters to families, HHN is designed as an adults-only event and this has a dramatic impact on crowds as rides stay open less long during HHN events than they would on regular days.
As with the regular Universal Express Pass, the Haunted House Nightmare Pass allows you to bypass standby queues and enter shorter lines – though only once for each haunted house. Wait times can be found both on the guide map and through Thrill Data on your smartphone app.
This year’s haunted houses include everything from a high-security penitentiary filled with bloodthirsty monsters to a suburban home transformed into a torture chamber and even an entire frozen New England fishing village filled with undead fishermen seeking revenge – many are original but others based off third-party licenses like AMC’s The Walking Dead or Netflix’s Stranger Things; one even recreates scenes from 1978 horror classic Halloween!
Haunted Houses
Halloween Horror Nights may have a reputation of being loud and rowdy, yet is heavily regulated by Orlando police and security. Any individual breaking any rules may be kicked out of the park and arrested for acts such as drunk & disorderly conduct and sex on public property.
At Halloween Horror Nights (HHN), the main attractions are the Houses. These indoor mazes are constructed in unused queue areas of daytime attractions or on Universal soundstages and feature scare actors, eye-catching props, and jaw-dropping special effects to provide fully immersive experiences for visitors.
Some of the house themes include The Crypt Keeper’s Tales From The Crypt, a seedy sideshow slaughterhouse, La Llorona’s legend and demon clowns; you may also come across simple midwestern-style haunted houses or tours through abandoned cities with mutant humans fighting for survival.
Chris is a passionate learner and writer. When he’s not working on his blog or learning something new, he’s a full-time systems administrator and father of two beautiful girls. Chris loves spending time with his family, reading, writing, and playing hockey.