Halloween Horror Nights has returned to Universal Orlando for 2025 with its some of biggest boos—and longest lines—in years, but you can experience all the frights in a single night using our field-tested Stay & Scream survival guide for HHN 34.
As Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) has grown in popularity over the past three-and-a-half decades, it has become increasingly difficult to experience all of the event’s offerings in a single night without paying for Express Passes or an RIP tour. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! We attended HHN on a Thursday evening in early September and proved that it is still possible to visit all 10 houses, see both shows, and walk through all the scarezones in one off-peak evening, provided you take full advantage of Stay & Scream.
Any guest with a valid daytime ticket to Universal Studios Florida (including annual passholders) and admission to HHN can take advantage of Stay & Scream at no extra cost; anyone else can buy a $60 Scream Early add-on allowing admission to USF at 3 p.m. Halloween Horror Nights Stay & Scream procedures have changed for 2025, so follow along with our illustrated itinerary—complete with POV videos of every attraction—for the best route to enjoying everything HHN has to offer!
3 p.m.: Retrieve Stay & Scream Wristband
Instead of being confined to designated Stay & Scream corrals, this year guests can show their HHN admission at one of three locations and retrieve a wristband that lets them roam the park after closing (while daytime guests are escorted out). Stay & Scream wristbands can be picked up at Minion Blast, Minion Cafe, or Lombard’s; we recommend the latter, as it tends to open first and have the shortest line.
After getting a wristband, Stay & Scream guests may enjoy the rest of the park, but if you want see the event’s most-popular mazes, you should gather near their entrances no later than 3:30 p.m. The queues do not open until 4 p.m., but even on an off-peak night, a large crowd will gather in advance. Here’s a look at the soundstage entrance near Minion Mayhem half an hour before queues opened:
4 p.m.: Five Nights at Freddy’s
Posted 185 minutes/85 minutes actual
Five Nights at Freddy’s is by far the most popular haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights 2025, and it usually has a 3-hour posted wait as soon as the queue opens. If you’re among the first few hundred Stay & Scream guests to enter the queue, you can be in and out of the house by 5:30 p.m., and you’ll get to spend most of that wait sitting in an air-conditioned queue.
Tip: Hold onto the numbered ticket you’ll be handed upon entering the queue; you’ll need it to reenter if you want to use the restroom or get refreshments.
5:35 p.m.: Terrifier
Posted 50 minutes/55 minutes actual
If you’re out of the Five Nights at Freddy’s house early enough, you should have time to jump in the Terrifier queue before it exceeds an hour; unfortunately, this line is entirely unshaded and tends to move slightly slower than estimated. But the gore effects and unique wet-dry finale are worth the wait, which will soon exceed 90 minutes for most of the night.
Watch our walk-through of the Terrifier house here.
6:35 p.m.: WWE Presents The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks
Posted 20 minutes/25 minutes actual
It’s a long walk from the soundstages to the rest of the park, so try to pack in one more maze back there if the wait is still under half an hour. This one is also blessed with an air-conditioned queue.
7:15 p.m.: El Artista: A Spanish Haunting
Posted 35 minutes/45 minutes actual
In less than an hour after the event’s official opening, queues for the intellectual-property houses will grow to 2 hours or more, so get in some of the original haunts before they get too busy.
Unfortunately, a flood of Express users inflated our wait times, but the architecture and effects of this house are well worth up to an hour wait in the outdoor switchbacks.
8:30 p.m.: Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters
Posted 45 minutes/45 minutes actual
From this time until around midnight, it will be challenging to find any house with a wait time under an hour, so 45 minutes counts as a short time in line.
Fortunately, for this maze, most of that time is spent under cover in the Simpsons Ride queue.
9:45 p.m.: Haunt-O-Phonic Fountain Show
After conquering half the haunted houses, grab a snack or drink and take a break while watching the Haunt-O-Phonic fountain show, which runs every 45 minutes from 9 p.m. until 12:45 a.m.
You can grab a spot for any performance just a few minutes before showtime; the grassy area in the rear is our favorite place to watch.
10 p.m.: Scarezones and Tribute Store
Wait times should now be at their peak, which makes it the perfect time for a lap around the park to explore this year’s Tribute Store and scarezones.
Don’t miss the interactive mini-shows staged in New York’s Toxic Twenties and Hollywood’s Cat Lady of Crooked Lane!
11 p.m.: Nightmare Fuel
Another must-see element of Halloween Horror Nights 2025 is the Nightmare Fuel show staged in the former Fear Factor Live Stadium. An explosive combination of circus arts, illusion, and choreography makes this HHN’s most popular entertainment, and you can expect every performance to fill to capacity.
There are only four performances every evening, so be sure to jump in the standby line at least 30 minutes before showtime, or you may not get a seat.
11:30 p.m.: Galkn: Monsters of the North
Posted 25 minutes/10 minutes actual
As soon as the Nightmare Fuel cast members take their final bows, try to be among the first guests out of the stadium so you can head down the nearby path towards the tent houses behind Men In Black.
11:45 p.m.: Fallout
Posted 45 minutes/25 minutes actual
You’ll notice that, as the midnight hour approaches, the posted wait times will suddenly go from mostly accurate (or slightly underestimated) to greatly overestimated. You can take advantage of this knowledge to experience all five remaining houses before closing time.
12:25 a.m.: Dolls: Let’s Play Dead
Posted 30 minutes/10 minutes actual
By the time you finish seeing the last of the original houses in World Expo, the lines should be virtually nonexistent.
That should give you plenty of breathing room to look for multiple guest-activated triggers inside this house, which you can press for fun surprises!
12:50 a.m.: Grave of Flesh
Posted 35 minutes/18 minutes actual
We’ve saved the least for almost last; if you aren’t a completist, you may choose to skip this dirt-focused original house to revisit another of your favorites.
1:20 a.m.: Jason Universe
Posted 45 minutes/25 minutes actual
Jason Universe is just behind Terrifier and Five Nights at Freddy’s in popularity, but it opens significantly later than those mazes, which is why we recommend skipping it during Stay & Scream. Instead, save it for last, when you should wait less than half an hour for the house.
Your mileage will undoubtedly vary, depending on the particular night you attend HHN. But as you can see, it’s possible to fit in all 10 houses at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2025, plus shows and scarezones, before the 2 a.m. closing bell, using only standby lines and Stay & Scream.
What’s your plan for surviving Halloween Horror Nights this year? Let us know in the comments below!
For all there is to see and do at Universal Orlando, check out The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando.
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