Universal Orlando‘s first Halloween Horror Nights event is happening meaning the season of scary has kicked off!
We’ve been working on going through all of the houses at the event, as well as experiencing everything there is to offer. However, we’re not the only one with that idea — come with us to check out the crowds and wait times!
Outside The Park
Halloween Horror Nights is a separately ticketed event, so all guests with normal park day tickets must also have an event ticket if they want to stay for the event. The park closes at 5PM for regular guests.
When we entered the park, crowds were pretty light — we were early and the rain was coming DOWN.
Once the event started, there were more people waiting at the gates for the night to begin!
We’re T-15 minutes until the official start of #HHN32, and the rain has NOT let up! Stay tuned to see what happens with the Opening Scaremonies…🌧️ pic.twitter.com/0a4vvPwIWq
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) September 1, 2023
Inside The Park
While it was still daylight outside and everyone was entering, we noticed that there was a bit of crowding near the front. Everyone is taking in their first moments of Halloween Horror Nights!
The Tribute Store was very crowded when we entered earlier in the night.
As it got darker, we noticed that the crowds were more dispersed throughout the park.
Haunted House Wait Times
The Haunted Houses are one of the most popular attractions at this event, and there are 10 to experience this year. The wait times started out pretty low toward the beginning with The Exorcist house posting a 15-minute wait.
Here is what the wait times looked like at 8:30PM — two hours after the event officially started:
- Stranger Things 4 — 90 minutes
- Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings — 35 minutes
- The Exorcist: Believer — 70 minutes
- The Last of Us — 100 minutes
- Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count — 55 minutes
- Universal Monsters: Unmasked — 75 minutes
- Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins — 60 minutes
- Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate — 80 minutes
- YETI: Campground Kills — 60 minutes
- The Darkest Deal — 45 minutes
Take a look at the wait times around 9:30PM:
- Stranger Things 4 — 115 minutes
- Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings — 60 minutes
- The Exorcist: Believer — 40 minutes
- The Last of Us — 85 minutes
- Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count — 75 minutes
- Universal Monsters: Unmasked — 85 minutes
- Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins — 75 minutes
- Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate — 40 minutes
- YETI: Campground Kills — 40 minutes
- The Darkest Deal — 45 minutes
These were the wait times at 10:30PM:
- Stranger Things 4 — 100 minutes
- Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings — 30 minutes
- The Exorcist: Believer — 50 minutes
- The Last of Us — 90 minutes
- Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count — 75 minutes
- Universal Monsters: Unmasked — 70 minutes
- Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins — 75 minutes
- Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate — 60 minutes
- YETI: Campground Kills — 40 minutes
- The Darkest Deal — 75 minutes
At 11:30PM, these were the wait times:
- Stranger Things 4 — 75 minutes
- Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings — 60 minutes
- The Exorcist: Believer — 75 minutes
- The Last of Us — 70 minutes
- Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count — 90 minutes
- Universal Monsters: Unmasked — 75 minutes
- Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins — 60 minutes
- Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate — 90 minutes
- YETI: Campground Kills — 50 minutes
- The Darkest Deal — 65 minutes
At 12:30AM, wait times looked like:
- Stranger Things 4 — 90 minutes
- Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings — 35 minutes
- The Exorcist: Believer — 40 minutes
- The Last of Us — 80 minutes
- Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count — 45 minutes
- Universal Monsters: Unmasked — 15 minutes
- Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins — 45 minutes
- Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate — 90 minutes
- YETI: Campground Kills — 40 minutes
- The Darkest Deal — 35 minutes
Ride Wait Times
However, the park’s regular attractions were seeing really low wait times. About halfway through the night, the rides were all sitting around a 15-minute posted wait time.
Since tickets are limited at this event, you can expect low wait times throughout!
All of the Rides That Are Open During Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando
While not every Halloween Horror Nights event will be like this, this is good to keep in mind to prepare yourself for the crowds you may face when you attend. The event typically is more popular closer to Halloween, so it’s more likely to see higher crowds and sold-out nights later in October.
Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars as we take you through this whole first night!
Everything You Need to Know About Halloween Horror Nights in 2023
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What are you most looking forward to experiencing? Tell us below!
Since the park closes early when there is a HHN party, are the wait times for rides during the day also low? There is a trend at Magic Kingdom of low crowds during the day on party nights, and I’m curious if that trend extends to Universal hard ticketed nighttime parties, too.
I didn’t notice that the wait times were low when I went last year. They stayed pretty consistent with any other day, honestly.