Can You REALLY Do EVERYTHING at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights WITHOUT Buying Express Pass?

By now you know that we’re experts at all the Halloween Horror Nights tips and tricks to help you have the most amazing night. We’ve shown you how you can do everything throughout the night with Express Pass and even got real about our experience doing HHN alone, but can you really do it all without the extra help?

The answer is YES — but you’re going to need the right strategy and tips to get you through!

As someone who can’t get enough of the spooky, macabre, and things that go bump in the night, Halloween is certainly my chosen season of the year. For me and my family, there’s no better way to spend a spooky evening out than at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.

Hey y’all — if you’re new here I’m Myranda, one of our resident reporters for AllEars which means I spend A LOT of time in the theme parks. However, if you already knew that much about me you probably wouldn’t have guessed that I’ve been going to Halloween Horror Nights for literally DECADES. Yep — my millennial is showing now, isn’t it? And since it’s my favorite way to spend an evening during spooky season you’d bet right by thinking I’ve learned a thing or two attending year after year.

I’ll let you in on one even bigger secret about going to these events with my family and it’s that I almost NEVER purchase Universal’s Express Pass for us when we go! As a large family that likes to go several times each season, we typically skip that expense in favor of a multi-night pass so we’ve really had to figure out the best way to make each and every night work to our advantage. Now I realize that I can’t bring you all with me whenever we’re doing our own HHN nights, so I’m ready to give you our tested strategy and best tips to help you get through EVERYTHING Halloween Horror Nights has to offer without spending the big bucks on Express Pass! You ready?

Putting In The Prep Work

Your best chance at “surviving” the night at HHN starts well before a Team Member scans your entrance ticket for the night! The very first thing I do is make sure to familiarize myself with the layout of the event. Universal Orlando AND Hollywood typically release the map of the event well in advance of opening night for each season giving you the opportunity to start learning what’s lurking around each section of the park.

My home event at Universal Orlando is typically a bit larger with 10 haunted houses, 5 scare zones, 1 epic pyro-fulled illusion/acrobatics show, along with several other rides, food booths, and experiences peppered in to fill the night. The areas for scare zones typically change in theme each year, but rarely change locations however, with the addition of DreamWorks Land, we did see a few of the normal locations (or at least entrances) for haunted houses change from years past. This could save you valuable time when deciding what to do next (and a bit of walking out of your way wandering in the dark). Doing your homework early will DEFINITELY put you ahead of everyone else from the moment you step through the entrance gate (but more on that later).

You’ll also want to make sure you’re packed for any scenario that might typically come up during a “normal” theme park day. You’ll want to make sure you’re already prepared to whip out the raingear when you’re stuck in the middle of a gigantic switchback queue line for a house and find yourself wasting valuable time scrambling for “unintentional souvenirs” have a few snacks and either a refillable souvenir cup or water bottle on hand, and that you’ve stowed away supplies for minor emergencies like blisters, a change of socks, and the comfiest pair of tennis shoes or sneakers you own — you’re going to be going place in these lines that are typically considered “backstage” where the terrain is typically rougher so comfy is definitely your friend these long nights. You’ll also want to keep in mind when choosing your raingear that ponchos need to come off of you before entering the houses (that’s a Universal safety rule) and while they’re probably the handiest, you’ll need to be able to slip them off easily, too.

And finally, you’ll want to make sure you’ve picked up your ticket BEFORE arriving! YES, I’m not joking — year after year I see people wasting valuable event time because they either didn’t already have their tickets purchased OR they did purchase them but forgot to pick up the physical ticket at guest services in advance or link their ticket to their Universal app on their phones. Don’t let this be you — we’ve got a full night to get through and every moment counts!

Additionally, planning WHEN you attend will also play a factor in how strictly you might need to watch your schedule for the night. Historically, after that first wave of HHN enthusiasts subsides after the first few opening nights, attending an event night during the middle of the week usually makes for lower crowds.

Just know these crowds (and by effect the wait times) tend to pick up significantly as the season progresses closer into October and Halloween night.

You’re Prepped & Ready To Roll

Ok, you’ve become one with the HHN event map, you know where all the bathrooms are (hopefully) and now you’re ready to start your night! I’m right there with you… but there’s one more decision you’ll have to make. How and where you start your evening could also set you up for your greatest chance of success, so let’s talk about all of your options.

If you’re not already using a day ticket to be inside of the park and arriving through CityWalk to the outside of the park until the gates officially open for HHN that night, you’ll want to make sure you’re arriving early and please don’t scoff at this! Depending on which night you’re attending, you could expect to be anywhere from an hour and a half early to waiting for multiple hours outside of the gates on nights like opening night of the season and on Halloween. This crowd will line up down the bridge into CityWalk and it is the ONLY route in to scan your ticket into the event so if being one of the first into the park matters to you, heed my warning and know a few hours early isn’t over exaggerating.

If waiting like that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea and you already planned to be in the park (probably checking out all the scare zones in the daytime if you’re anything like me), there are two options you can choose from this angle. One is called Stay & Scream where you can corral yourself into one of a few crowds to already be “in line” for a house before the event starts. This really puts you at an advantage because you could easily knock out a house within the first few minutes of the event officially starting. The only downside to this is that you’ll probably miss the opening “scaremonies” (ceremony) where scare actors come out and hype up the event a few minutes before opening.

A second option for you if you’re planning to stay inside the park is called Scream Early. Technically, this is a separate purchase on top of your ticket which allows you to start your thrills early in the afternoon between 3PM-5PM and you’ll enter a Stay & Scream area after 5PM. Prices for these tickets start at $55 per person per night.

Throughout The Night

Your strategy is everything at this point and because of that, we’re making our way straight to the backside of the park FIRST. This strategy tends to pay off because most of the time, the bigger IP (intellectual property) houses based on the big blockbuster films that are well known are typically positioned as houses in the soundstages closer to the front entrance of the park. Of course, this entices people who aren’t as familiar with the event to stop almost as soon as they’ve entered and get in one of those lines first backing up those wait times earlier in the event night. But stay with me here because I’ve got a plan to get you through those houses too!

While everyone else is wasting an hour+ in THOSE lines or grabbing some snacks and drinks at the food booths, we’re being “very mindful” of everything we’re looking to do throughout the night and going to knock out as many of the houses on the backside of the park as possible until those wait times start climbing higher.

Once I start to see those wait times stabilize a bit because everyone’s finally dispersing throughout the park, it’s time to switch up my plan. This is when I like to pivot away from getting in those exaggerated waits for haunted houses and use my time doing something else. Over the last few years Nightmare Fuel (the resident live entertainment show for HHN) has grown in immense popularity and this year’s installment is no exception. Nightmare Fuel Nocturnal Circus is a can’t-miss show that performs nightly at 8PM, 9:30PM, 11PM, and finally at 12:30AM each event night. Because of something I’ll get around to later, it’ll be in your best interest to see one of the earlier shows and try to stay away from the latest showtime if you can help it (but seriously I love this show so much that if I could I’d see each performance each night because it’s INCREDIBLE).

Most of the time, the Team Members working the stage area will tell you to get in line for the show at least an hour in advance because once the theater fills up, they’ll have to cut off the line and you won’t make that performance. Rather than spend the same hour and a half standing in line for a 5ish minute house walk-through, spend an hour of that in the hoard waiting for the theater seating to open and sit for a 25ish minute stage show. Seriously, the crowds just don’t get shorter for this one and at least this way you can keep an eye on the crowd for another show time if you happen to not be in line early enough to make the first attempt to see it.

If you’ve already seen the show and the wait times are still higher, OR you want to do this next thing in reverse then totally be my guest! If it were me, I’m heading to go see the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley and ride a few rides while the wait times for the houses are still higher. During HHN is the only time you’ll see Death Eaters roaming Diagon Alley hunting for recruits that might also bear the dark mark, but beware of their dastardly stares!

They give a short performance when they storm into Diagon Alley and will roam for around 15 minutes or so afterward before reconvening to meet in secret with the Dark Lord away from the alley so you’ll want to check in with a Team Member to see when they estimate they’ll be out next if you don’t spot them as you’re entering the Wizarding World.

Then, if I’ve got some time and the lines are still pretty long, I’m ready to take a quick break for a few HHN staples that I can’t miss year after year — pizza fries and twisted taters!

Now’s the time to explore the food booths and grab a drink but I wouldn’t waste this time visiting restaurants that are typically open during the day like Finnegan’s and Minions Cafe. Browse the food booths in Battery Park, San Francisco, and Springfield to see what you’d like to take a stab at taste-wise and take that ever-important break.

It’s also a great opportunity to station yourself around the park to watch people interact in the scare zones or take your food with you as you brave your way through each of them yourself!

If you’re not familiar with the Universal app, this is the time to get acquainted. This handy tool will update house and ride wait times all through the night, has a map feature, and will list all of the open experiences throughout the event in case you’ve forgotten or just want a refresher. I find myself checking it constantly when completing a house to see what’s nearest to me that I haven’t done yet, and to keep my walking between houses to a minimum!

But, sometimes to get through everything, you really will find yourself ping-ponging all over the place because of the wait times UNLESS you use our trade secret: start your night at the back of the park and work your way forward.

HOWEVER, I offer up one “cheat” if you will. Most people don’t realize this exists, BUT if you’re really cutting it close and you’re nervous you won’t make it through everything and kicking yourself for not buying the Express Pass (or it was sold out for the night), Universal’s got one more trick up their sleeve for you!

Universal also sells an option for Express Pass valid for around 10PM or 11PM. They’re available during the event night and are only purchasable on-site while supplies last. It’s usually discounted from the full event option you would buy beforehand, but the cost will vary depending on the night you attend.

Our Best Kept Secret: POWER HOURS

My favorite time of the night isn’t even night at all — it’s the MORNING! If you’re really ready to go full force to complete everything all in one night, take full advantage of what my family and I refer to as power hours. Wait times tend to drop dramatically between midnight and 2AM, making this a window of opportunity to get a cluster of houses done OR take a second walkthrough if you find yourself done early. There are plenty of times where we’ve shown up for a night of houses alone around 11PM and were able to get 8 or more done by close at 2AM!

And remember, as long as you’re in line by 2AM for that last house –congrats you’ve made the cut! So there you have it! We’ve spilled all our secrets to help set you up for the most successful (and cheapest) Halloween Horror Nights experience at Universal Studios doing it all!

We want to hear YOUR thoughts though! Leave a review right here on AllEars on anything from entertainment to restaurants, to rides, and more that you’ve been to so you can help out fellow Universal lovers planning their next trip!

We’re not done yet though! Be sure to stay tuned with us at AllEars as we bring you all the latest news, updates, and more about Universal Orlando soon!

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Do you have any other helpful tips that help you get through EVERYTHING all in one night at Halloween Horror Nights? Tell us in the comments so we can put it to the test!

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