You look at the calendar, it flips from August to September. The wind picks up outside, the forces of evil and scary things rise from their slumber and take to the streets of Universal City in California. That which was dead comes back, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood is here and open for business. Now, that rise also coincides with a mass of people, scarier than the zombies from the Night of the Living Dead. No, we’re not talking about actual zombies. We’re talking about all the other people trying to go through all the haunted houses at the same time as you.

Most people worry about the lines that come with a visit to Halloween Horror Nights. Either you can follow this guide, or you can just buy the Universal Express Pass or RIP Tour to basically cut ahead of the lines. That’s a nice option, but for some people, spending $300+ on a night at a theme park isn’t financially tenable. That’s where the guide to getting the most out of your visit to Halloween Horror Nights comes in. If you stick to the plan, you’ll have time to eat, time for the bathroom, and you’ll get through all nine houses/Terror Tram at the Hollywood event.

This plan has worked exceptionally well at previous years, but this year, with THREE “main event” level houses, instead of the normal two, it’s a lot harder. It’s not impossible, but you’re going to have to thread the needle a bit more.

Follow Along If You Want To Live (And Get The Most Out Of Your Money)

This year, the three houses that you need to prioritize and get a bit lucky on are: Terrifier, Five Nights At Freddy’s, and Jason Universe. All three routinely go up to 180 minutes for their line, and at the lowest are around 50 minutes. The big issue is that all three are relatively far from one another. Terrifier is through The Wizarding World and by the Curious George parking lot. It’s quite a trek, and the only other thing out that was is Poltergeist. That house gets busy, but not nearly as busy as Terrifier. This guide is also helped a lot if you get the early access ticket, which is either the 2PM Universal Studios ticket or getting in at 6:00PM ahead of the park opening at 7:00PM.

The lower lot features Jason Universe, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks, and Scarecrow: Music by Slash. Depending on how busy the night gets, Wyatt Sicks and Scarecrow don’t get that busy, so saving these for the end of the night is advisable. So, realistically, how are you going to do all of these houses in one night? Follow along.

In previous years, I was recommending that people head straight to the Curious George houses, but this time around, I’m sticking with the plan from 2024. If you get the early access ticket, going to Terrifier first is smart, but the smartest bet is heading down to the Lower Lot houses and trying to knock out Five Nights At Freddy’s and Jason Universe is the smartest bet.

The alternate path that crowds seem to follow is that they all head down to the lower lot first, at park opening. Then they head back up to the houses/Terror Tram near the middle of the night. You can counteract this, and try to pass up the crowds for Monstruos 3 and Fallout earlier, and then take your bets for the lower lot. This is a risk, because on a Friday/Saturday, the biggest crowds arrive between 8-10:00PM. If you want to take the plunge and arrive around 11:30PM, you can do that and circumvent a lot of the longest lines as the night goes on.

The biggest wrinkle in this is the Terror Tram. It closes earlier than the rest of the houses and takes a bit to get through. Nothing is worse than waiting for longer than 15-20 minutes for this, so try to knock this out, if not, don’t worry, the Terror Tram is better this year, but it’s not the best variation on the attraction that they’ve done.

If you’re heading through all the houses and you arrive at around opening time (or you get the early entry), if you time it right, you should get through everything by like 12:00-12:30AM. That also leaves you some time to grab food, drinks, or hit some rides as well. The rides (besides The Mummy) are all quite short during Horror Nights.

Too Long, Didn’t Read All Of That, The Guide Summarized

  • Arrive at Universal Studios at 7;00PM or earlier if you get the Early Entry Pass.
  • Head down to the Lower Lot, jump in line for Five Nights At Freddy’s IMMEDIATELY, then try for Jason Universe.
  • If you can do this before opening, head back to Terrifier and Poltergeist.
  • Grab food if you need it, the Slash Bar has some good tacos and drinks.
  • Do the Terror Tram.
  • Head up to do Fallout and Monstruos 3.
  • Head back down to the Lower Lot and finish up the night with The Horrors of Wyatt Sicks and Scarecrow: Music By Slash.

This plan, should be the most optimal way, but of course, your success may vary, keep track of wait times, just because you see Terrifier go down to 60 minutes, doesn’t mean it’ll still be 60 minutes by the time you make the trek to it. You don’t need the express pass, but this might be the first year that I would recommend people to get it, just to make sure they can get through everything comfortably. There’s also the after 11PM express special that Universal offers, if you want to wait and see if that’ll work for you.

A variety of tickets are available for sale. Click here to purchase tickets for Halloween Horror Nights.

For more on Horror, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon.

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