Ideas for getting essentially the most out of Halloween Horror Nights

Halloween Horror Nights is among the largest, scariest and hottest Halloween occasions within the nation.

The annual monster mash is held at each Common Studios Hollywood and Common Orlando Resort, so you may attend Halloween Horror Nights on both coast (or each, if you happen to love HHN as a lot as I do). The occasion runs at each parks for about two months main as much as Halloween (and typically pushes into early November), so you continue to have loads of time to plan a terrifying journey.

Annually, Halloween Horror Nights transforms what is usually a family-friendly theme park stuffed with laughter and smiling faces right into a creepy haven for screams and monstrous, decaying countenances. The occasion consists of a mixture of indoor haunted homes, outside scare zones, stay leisure and plenty of tasty treats.

To maximise the fearful enjoyable, guests ought to study in regards to the obtainable ticket varieties and line administration methods to see as many homes as potential in a single night time. And for HHN tremendous followers like me, there are alternatives to see “behind the scares” and brush up on the occasion’s historical past and deep lore. Sure, I’m going to assign you Halloween Horror Nights homework, however I promise it’s going to be extra enjoyable than highschool math.

Whether or not you might be on a finances or cash is not any object, this is the way to take advantage of a go to to Halloween Horror Nights.

For those who’re on a finances

As a result of Halloween Horror Nights is a individually ticketed occasion, a daytime ticket doesn’t grant you entry to the park throughout HHN (and vice versa). The park closes earlier than the occasion, and daytime visitors are required to depart.

Halloween Horror Nights tickets use a date-based pricing mannequin at each parks. Usually, it is cheaper to keep away from Friday and Saturday nights, that are additionally the busiest nights with the longest traces. Wednesday is the least costly day to go to.

You will additionally pay much less if you happen to go nearer to the start of the occasion (late August by September) versus visiting in October as Halloween approaches. Remember the fact that Halloween Horror Nights solely takes place on choose nights, so examine the occasion calendar earlier than you e book flights or reserve a lodge room.

You may also lower your expenses by buying your tickets forward of time as an alternative of ready till the day of your go to and getting them on the gate.

Even if you’re attempting to avoid wasting, there’s one add-on it would be best to buy along with your ticket to make sure you aren’t ready in traces for one to 2 hours all night time. This add-on goes by completely different names at Common Studios Hollywood and Common Orlando Resort, however it primarily allows you to contained in the park earlier than the occasion begins every night so you may line up early for the haunted homes.

In Common Studios Hollywood, this add-on known as the Early Entry Ticket and will get you into the park at 5:30 p.m. so you may get a head begin on choose homes earlier than the occasion formally begins at 7 p.m. The worth varies per date however solely provides between $10 and $25 to your ticket value.

In Orlando, this add-on known as a Scream Early Ticket. With a Scream Early Ticket, you may enter Common Studios Florida between 3 and 5 p.m. to take pleasure in a couple of rides earlier than the park closes to daytime visitors. As soon as the clock strikes 5 p.m., you may line up at one of some “Keep & Scream” zones.

These are primarily holding areas the place you may queue up on your first haunted home of the night. Earlier than you select a Keep & Scream space, do some on-line analysis or converse with a workers member to search out out which homes are opening earliest on that exact night time and get in line for a type of.

This add-on will improve your ticket by $50, however you may knock out two to 3 homes earlier than the occasion formally opens for the night time.

For those who actually need to lower your expenses, you may forgo these add-ons and plan to remain till the tip of the night time. After midnight, the wait occasions can drop considerably. Simply be ready for some longer traces early within the night.

For those who do not thoughts paying to skip the road

If you’re prepared to shell out a bit extra to skip the lengthy traces for the haunted homes and the rides that keep open throughout Halloween Horror Nights, your greatest wager is a Halloween Horror Nights Categorical Cross. The HHN Categorical Cross works equally to a daytime Common Categorical Cross, permitting you to skip the standby line and use a a lot shorter Categorical entrance.

This cross works otherwise at Common Studios Hollywood and Common Orlando Resort, so let’s check out every.

In Orlando, the Halloween Horror Nights Categorical Cross is an add-on to your HHN ticket. It might probably greater than double the price of your ticket, however it additionally ensures you may skip the standby line for all 10 homes and choose rides as soon as per night time. If you wish to go to any of the homes a second time, you may have to attend within the standby line.

At Common Studios Hollywood, you should buy a Halloween Horror Nights admission ticket that features Categorical entry. There’s one model that features one-time Categorical entry and one other that features limitless Categorical entry to the haunted homes and choose points of interest. Each variations additionally embody nighttime entry to Tremendous Nintendo World.

Common Studios Hollywood has one other ticket possibility that permits you to enter the park early to take pleasure in some rides and start queuing for choose haunted homes earlier than the occasion formally kicks off. The Halloween Horror Nights After 2 p.m. Day/Evening ticket allows you to enter the park as early as 2 p.m. to expertise rides and points of interest (together with Tremendous Nintendo World), with entry to pick out homes starting at 5:30 p.m.

Regardless that you may’t skip the standby line with the After 2 p.m. Day/Evening ticket, you may nonetheless get into the occasion early sufficient and be capable of get by all the homes. Then, you must nonetheless have time left over for some stay leisure or a experience on the Terror Tram.

If cash is not any object

If finances just isn’t a priority, an R.I.P Tour (Common’s intelligent play on a VIP tour) is the best way to go.

While you e book an R.I.P. Tour, a Common tour information will accompany your group all through the occasion. Not solely will they usher you to an unique entrance at every of the haunted homes, but in addition they may let you know attention-grabbing particulars about every of the homes. Consider it as getting a crash course on the storyline of every home earlier than you stroll by.

In Orlando, the price of your tour additionally consists of valet parking, an unique park entrance, a pretour reception, limitless Categorical experience entry and reserved seating for choose reveals. You may e book a gaggle R.I.P. Tour the place you can be paired with different visitors or a personal R.I.P. Tour completely on your social gathering. For group or personal R.I.P. Excursions, Halloween Horror Nights admission just isn’t included and can should be bought individually.

Hollywood’s R.I.P. Tour works a bit otherwise. You should purchase an R.I.P. Tour ticket that features admission to Halloween Horror Nights, plus a guided strolling tour of the occasion. You will get one-time R.I.P. entry to every home (which suggests you chop the standby line and the Categorical line), VIP seating for one stay present and entry to Tremendous Nintendo World.

You additionally get an unique Common Backlot Halloween expertise, dinner earlier than the occasion, themed photograph ops and complimentary valet parking. After your tour, you should use your occasion credential to get limitless Common Categorical entry to stroll by your favourite homes as many occasions as you want. Principally, you may be handled like Halloween royalty. This yr, R.I.P. Tour tickets begin at $329.

If you wish to sleep as shut as humanly potential to the demons that lurk inside Common’s gates, you may e book a lodge package deal that features Halloween Horror Nights admission and in a single day lodging.

Associated: The very best accommodations close to Common Studios Hollywood

This is applicable extra to Common Orlando Resort as a result of Common Studios Hollywood would not at present have any on-site accommodations, although there are two accommodations inside strolling distance — the Hilton Los Angeles Common Metropolis and the Sheraton Common Lodge.

However, if you’re visiting Halloween Horror Nights at Common Orlando Resort, the creepy crawly enjoyable extends to the accommodations as effectively. Every of Common Orlando’s accommodations decorates for Halloween and provides specialty food and drinks menu gadgets at their on-site eating areas. They even provide late-night meals choices so you may seize a chew to eat earlier than you retire to your room and attempt to keep away from having nightmares about what you simply witnessed contained in the park.

Common Orlando provides lodge and ticket package deal reductions that will help you save a bit of cash in your Halloween Horror Nights trip. If there isn’t a restrict on how a lot you might be prepared to spend to be near the scares, you may keep at certainly one of Common’s Signature Assortment accommodations — Loews Portofino Bay Lodge at Common Orlando, Onerous Rock Lodge at Common Orlando, Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Common Orlando or Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Common Orlando.

These are the closest accommodations to the parks and have handy boat transportation and strolling paths to the parks. For those who go for certainly one of these transportation strategies, you should use an unique safety entrance with a a lot shorter wait than the usual safety line.

If you need all of the gory behind-the-scenes particulars

One in all my favourite issues about Halloween Horror Nights is the wealthy historical past and lore. The occasion started in Orlando in 1991. Thirty-three years and greater than 200 haunted homes later, the occasion has a deep effectively of tales and characters to function inspiration.

I used to be however a mere baby in 1991, so I have never been going to the occasion since its inception, however there are different methods to dig deep into the treasure trove of callbacks and Easter eggs which can be intrinsically linked to the occasion.

For instance, Halloween Horror Nights has a number of “icons” — authentic characters who’re central to the plot of many haunted homes and scare zones. These characters have detailed histories and intertwining storylines. Take Jack the Clown (pictured above). Most likely essentially the most recognizable and sometimes used icon, Jack first appeared at HHN in 2000. The murderous circus clown is now concerned in a number of homes and scare zones, making him a mainstay of the occasion.

The Uncover Common Weblog frequently posts content material associated to Halloween Horror Nights, together with an in depth origin story of Jack the Clown. Annually, the weblog options behind-the-scenes seems at homes and ideas for visiting the occasion.

In 2022, Common additionally launched the Uncover Common Podcast. This yr, there’s an “Echoes from the Fog” sequence that makes use of voice actors to inform the story that you will see performed out within the homes. It is an effective way to get excited in regards to the occasion and acquire a greater understanding of what you may see within the homes.

One other approach to immerse your self within the occasion and study extra of these enjoyable little particulars which can be straightforward to overlook when monsters scream in your face is by taking a “Behind the Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour.”

This tour is barely obtainable at Common Orlando Resort. This yr, you may select from a three- or six-house tour. Every tour covers completely different homes, so you may theoretically see 9 of the ten homes if you happen to take each excursions.

These excursions happen through the day. The lights within the homes are on (so you may see all of the gory particulars), and there aren’t any scare actors ready to leap out at you. As a substitute, you may get a guided tour of the homes that delves into the storyline of every one. You will additionally be capable of see particulars you would not in any other case discover with the lights out.

For instance, this yr, the home designers hid small snails in every home. They’re very exhausting to search out, and you’ll by no means see them at night time, however our tour information pointed them out to us.

We additionally discovered that every home was given a dessert code identify in order that visitors would not guess what the homes can be earlier than they had been introduced. Common cleverly hid every dessert in its respective home. The Museum: Lethal Exhibit was given the code identify “Baklava,” and there is a plate of the dessert sitting behind the reception desk while you enter the home.

If you’re a scaredy cat (raises hand), I like to recommend scheduling your Unmasking the Horror tour earlier than you go to Halloween Horror Nights within the night. I had a greater thought of the home’s format and the place among the scares can be. I did not scream any much less, however not less than I knew the screams had been coming.

For those who desire the ingredient of shock, I might do your lights on tour the day after you go to HHN at night time. This manner, you may get all of the scares, after which you may return by the home to see the main points you missed.

This yr, Unmasking the Horror excursions begin at round $100 per individual.

Backside line

Through the years, I’ve splurged and saved at Halloween Horror Nights. Each may be enjoyable methods to expertise the occasion if you already know which ticket sort to purchase and you’ve got a strong plan in place.

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