Universal Orlando has made major changes to how its popular Stay & Scream system works for Halloween Horror Nights 35, and the Unofficial Guides team has field-tested a step-by-step guide to help you survive all 10 haunted houses in a single night!
For many years, Universal Orlando has offered an optional Stay & Scream program during its Halloween Horror Nights hard-ticket events. It allows guests holding daytime admission (including annual passes) for Universal Studios Florida to stay inside the park after it closes to regular daytime visitors, then enjoy select haunted houses before evening ticketholders are admitted for the night. In the past, these haunted houses didn’t open until after 5 p.m., but for Halloween Horror Nights 35, the scares now start as early as 2 p.m.
Purchasers of pricey Express Passes will wait an average of 15 to 20 minutes for haunted houses during peak hours at Halloween Horror Nights 35. By following in our Stay & Scream steps, you can enjoy a similar wait time per maze, at a much lower expense, which is why we consider it a true game-changer for hardcore haunt fans.
Therefore, if you want to take full advantage of the new Halloween Horror Nights 35 Stay & Scream option, you’ll want to throw out your old strategy and follow along with our field-tested plan.
Before 1 p.m.: Arrive at Universal Studios Florida
It may seem absurd to show up for a nighttime event at noontime, but it’s important to get a jump on the crowds by getting inside the park before haunted house queues open—and lines at the front entrance have been known to back up into CityWalk on busy afternoons. Fortunately, this year’s new Stay & Scream setup means you can check in for the evening and receive your Halloween Horror Nights 35 wristband right as you enter the park, using the turnstiles behind the ticket booths on the right.
Once inside the park, grab a snack or drink, then make your way to your pick of the the three haunted houses that allow guests into their queues at 1 p.m.: Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, Stranger Things 5, or Hellraiser.
2 p.m. Stranger Things 5, Jack & Oddfellow
Of the three earliest houses, Hellraiser is the farthest from the front entrance and will have the shortest wait, so you’re better off saving it for later; the other two are in soundstages behind Music Plaza at the front of the park. Being first in line for Jack & Oddfellow may save you a little more time upon opening, but Stranger Things 5 is the only house of the three with an air-conditioned indoor queue, making it our pick for the best place to wait.
Once the houses open at 2 p.m., do the two haunts in the soundstages back-to-back. You’ll have little-to-no wait at the first and less than half an hour at the second. You’ll then have plenty of time to do either house again or enjoy a daytime attraction elsewhere in the park.
3:45 p.m.: Hellraiser
Look for the gate between the Nightmare Fuel stadium and Men In Black, then take the long walk to the tall tents. Shortly before the next wave of haunted house queues opens at 4 p.m., the wait time for Hellraiser should drop to nearly nothing. You can get several runs in back-to-back before moving on to the next step.
4 p.m.: Queue for Sinners
Sinners and Ozzy Osbourne are by far the two most-popular mazes at Halloween Horror Nights 35, but only Ozzy will have a substantial line formed before the queue even opens. As long as you are at the entrance to Sinners (which is located next to Hellraiser) right at 4 p.m., you should be among the first folks through when it opens at 5:15 p.m., by which time there will be at least a 90-minute wait behind you. If you don’t get in line until 4:30 p.m., you should still be through the line well before 6 p.m.. which is still a big improvement over the average wait during most of the night.
5:30 p.m.: H.R. Bloodengutz: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!
If you manage to get in and out of Sinners shortly after opening, exit and take a left past Men In Black to the entrance for H.R. Bloodengutz, located in one of the two tents behind The Simpsons Ride. If you were late entering the Sinners queue, save this for later (but don’t skip it!) if you must, in order to make the crucial next step on time.
5:59 p.m.: Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
As arguably the most in-demand maze at Halloween Horror Nights 35, Ozzy gets mobbed from the start of its Stay & Scream operations until shortly before closing. The only reliable dip in its wait time comes just before the nightly opening ceremony at 6 p.m., when event-only guests get inside the gates. Therefore, your goal is to be the final Stay & Scream guest inside Ozzy’s queue; if so, your actual wait should be about 45 minutes or less.
6:45 p.m.: Madlands: Caged Cannibals
The entrance for Madlands is easily accessible from Ozzy’s exit, so you might as well do it now if the posted wait isn’t over 45 minutes already. If it is, try this one again around 8:30 p.m. or after 11:30 p.m.
8 p.m.: Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir
If you want to see the night’s first performance of this year’s Nightmare Fuel show, be sure to enter the queue by 7:45 p.m. at the absolute latest. If you miss the cutoff, you’ll need to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to any of the remaining showtimes. And if you are sensitive to abusive decibel levels of bass and being soaked with water, you may want to forgo the show entirely.
8:30 p.m.: Dinner Break
By this time, you’ll probably need to refuel—or at least quench your thirst. Halloween Horror Nights 35 has over a dozen food booths with themed specialty offerings—the Sinners BBQ is quite good—but they tend to be overpriced and overcrowded. We prefer to eat inside the Leaky Cauldron, an air-conditioned oasis that is often empty during the event. As an added bonus, while entering, you may spot Death Eaters dueling with guests in the streets of Diagon Alley.
9 p.m.: Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins Fountain Show
After eating, cross the lagoon to Central Park and secure a spot for the Stranger Things fountain show. The lowest tiers of the viewing area along the lagoon always fill up first, but you can find better views on the upper lawn—next to the area reserved for VIPs—right up until showtime. If you miss the evening’s first performance, other showings start every 45 minutes through 12:45 a.m.; we consider this show “not to be missed,“ even though its soundtrack skips a crucial Kate Bush classic.
9:15 p.m.: Scare Zones & More
By this point in the evening, wait times for all the remaining haunted houses are virtually certain to exceed an hour, and they won’t begin to drop until after 11 p.m. In the meantime, spend a couple of hours exploring the Scare Zones, especially the ones in New York’s Downtown Clown Town—home to Jack, Eddie, and Chance, as well as the Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Art the Clown, and the delightfully eerie Delancey Dan.
You can also kill time in the Tribute Store or ride any attractions using the single-rider queue. As a last resort, exit the park for an hour and check out the Dead Coconut Club in CityWalk.
11:30 p.m.: Cybergoria, Invasion: Alien Abduction & Evil Dead Burn
If you’ve successfully followed along with our Stay & Scream survival plan so far, you should only have three haunted houses left to see. Not so coincidentally, these are also our three least-favorite houses at this year’s event, so if you depart Halloween Horror Nights 35 without seeing all of them, rest assured you’ve already experienced the best of the best.
Of the three houses, Cybergoria is by far the most popular and therefore holds its line longer. It is also among the loudest and goriest mazes this year, for good or ill.
The entrance to Invasion: Alien Abduction can be found across from Springfield’s Kang & Kodos ride. If the haunt’s line fills The Simpsons Ride’s queue, then you’re in for an hour wait or longer (not worth it, in our opinion).
Finally, Evil Dead Burn is found closest to the park gates, so you may choose to hit it on your way towards the exit. Posted wait times for all three of these may be slightly inflated around midnight, but your actual wait for each should be under 30 minutes.
1 a.m.: Repeat Favorites (Optional)
Wait times drop sharply during the last hour of operation, so if you’ve missed any of the three most-popular houses—Sinners, Ozzy, or H.R. Bloodengutz—then jump in one of those lines as close to closing as possible. Those three will still post substantial waits right up until the final bell, while most of the other mazes should be walk-ons, especially the ones that have been open since 2 p.m.
What do you think of the changes to Stay & Scream at Halloween Horror Nights 35? 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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