Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Survival Guide 2019

Every year Halloween Horror Nights seems to get bigger and bigger, and so do the crowds.

Below you will find some of our tips for making the most out of your Halloween Horror Nights experience. Some do's and don'ts and most importantly, what should be your "plan of attack" for the night.

You can also check out the HHN site for more information on tickets, hours, etc.

Note: In years past have made changes to our Survival Guide after opening weekend, and that will likely be the case this year.

Event Dates

September: 13-15, 19-22, 26-29
October: 3-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27, 31
November: 1-3

If you want a bit more info about this years event, check out John's panel from Midsummer Scream

Tips:

BUY YOUR TICKETS ONLINE!!! The event sells out. Tickets will not be available at the ticket booths. Make sure you print them or use your phone to get in the gates.
GET A FRONT OF THE LINE PASS!!! We can't stress this enough. If your budget can swing it this is truly the best way to have an enjoyable and relaxing night at the event. Click here for Front of the Line Pass info and prices. Front of the Line passes sell out so your best bet is to get them online.
DON'T GO ON A FRIDAY OR SATURDAY NIGHT!!! If you cannot swing the cost of the Front of the Line Pass then you should try to go on a slower night.
DON'T BE LATE!!! You are paying a LOT of $$ to go to HHN. Don't show up at 9:00pm and expect to do everything or expect there to be no lines. The event starts at 7:00pm, you should be lined up by 6:00pm AT THE LATEST. Earlier on Friday and Saturday nights.
USE EARLY ENTRY!!! Basically this is your best way to get into the event easily. Early Entry begins at 5:45 and certain mazes open at 6:00. (As of this time we do not know what mazes will be available but we will assume Stranger Things will be one of them). This means you need to be at the park and in line for early entry by 5:00.

IGNORE THE RIDES!!! (Unless you have a Front of the Line Pass). You are there for Halloween Horror Nights. You can come back on most days and ride Jurassic World, Mummy, The Simpsons or Transformers: 3D all you want. Especially if you have an Annual Pass. Ride lines are typically longer during HHN than they are during the day. If you have visitors from out of town, consider the After 2pm Day/Night Pass so you can ride during the day and get scared at night. These passes are available on the HHN site when you buy tickets.
Get the App!! The Universal Studios Hollywood app is great, even better during HHN. It will allow you to see what has lines and what you can come back to later in favor of something not so long. New for 2019: The App new has a Halloween Horror Nights Game for you to play horror trivia and more while waiting in line. Be sure you download this prior to attending.
WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES!!! This should pretty much be a no brainer but you'd be surprised. Even though there is no Terror Tram this year you will still be walking A LOT. You will be taking escalators up and down to the lower lot and walking to the Backlot. Do yourself a favor and be comfortable.
Avoid the busiest nights: HHN is busy every night, some nights are "less busy". Assume that any night not included with the regular Frequent Fear Pass to be the busiest nights. These would be October 5, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26

Early Entry Mazes

The line-up for Early Entry Mazes is kind of ridiculous, ridiculously awesome.

The times for early entry are as follows:

5:30 - Walkway to Backlot opens
6:00 - Us, Stranger Things and Creepshow
- Note: we have heard that Stranger Things can open at 6:15, but it was definitely open at 6:00 the night we used early entry
6:15 - Frankenstein vs Wolfman
6:30 - Ghostbusters and Holidayz in Hell
6:45 - Pandora's Box
7:00 - House of 1000 Corpses and Killer Klowns

Themed Nights

In addition to Fan Preview Night they are also doing 80's nights this year on Thursdays. Thursdays usually are pretty good days to go so we're not sure if this will change things. We'll definitely be checking out at least one of them.

We used our strategy below on Sunday Night September 15th, a few notes:

We are still going to suggest doing Stranger Things first even though Ghostbusters is definitely the most popular maze through the first weekend
If Stranger Things isn't a priority for you then we suggest going to the backlot as soon as it opens. You have a few options here
- Creepshow opens first, and you can typically walk right on this (as we did last night)
- Frakenstein vs Wolfman seems to get the longer line quicker so you can also go here first (as has been recommended by some scare-actors we know)
- Ghostbusters does get a long wait. The wait time was posted at 125 minutes when we got in line. We waited about 30.
- So with that said, we'd suggest doing Frakenstein vs Wolfman first, then Ghostbusters then Creepshow before heading back to the Lower Lot
Killer Klowns longest line of the night was right around 8pm. We think it was just simply due to crowd flow. We'd almost kind of recommend going back to the upper lot at this point and then coming back down for Klowns later in the night. It's a GREAT maze and the word is spreading that it's great. Which means it will be popular.
We really enjoyed having the Frequent Fear as it meant we didn't have to do EVERYTHING in one night. Definitely recommend if you can swing it.

A little pre-game treat

We got in line for Stranger Things at about 5:30

When we made it to the lower lot, Frankenstein vs Wolfman was closed, so we went through Creepshow first

Ghostbusters was posted at 125 minutes, but ended up being about 30 minutes

Who ya gonna call

Killer Klowns was posted at 45 minutes, ended up being well over an hour. It was the longest we saw for this maze all night, just bad timing.

After a snack, back up top.

And straight to a 5 minute wait for Holidayz in Hell.

Maze Order

Stranger Things:
There are two scenarios for this maze, one for Early Entry, one if you missed it.

Early Entry: As mentioned above, early entry will begin at 6:00pm. Stranger Things is one of the mazes available (we have heard that this can actually open at 6:15). If this is the case you should absolutely head here first.

No Early Entry: If you do not get there in time for early entry but are there at opening check the wait time for Stranger Things. If it's 45 minutes or more, head to the Metro Set Mazes first. The line will be there all night. Better to wait in some shorter lines and come back and wait for Stranger Things later.

Front of the Line tip: If lines are short when you get to the lower lot (or if you are there for Early Entry) DO NOT use your Front of the Line Pass for Stranger Things. Go through once with the GP and use your FOTL pass later in the evening when it's busier.

Metro Set:

Once you have walked through Stranger Things we suggest skipping Killer Klowns for now and heading to the Metro Set.

Frankenstein vs Wolf Man: We suggest to begin here, as the flow of the Metro Sets takes you in a natural progression.

Ghostbusters: Frankenstein vs Wolf Man exists at the entrance to Ghostbusters. The time posted may be longer than what it actually is. If there are 3 full switch-backs full it's about a 30-40 minute wait.

Creepshow: Finish here before doing the mini scare zone and heading back to the Lower Lot. This line moves pretty quick.

Front of the Line tip: If you don't want to make the walk back to the Metro sets later in the night, go through them once with the GP and then use your FOTL privilege right after to get two trips through each maze.

Killer Klowns:
Once you have finished the Metro Set mazes and made your walk back to the Lower Lot, we suggest doing Killer Klowns prior to heading back to the upper lot.

Note: After visiting 2 Sunday nights without Express we can clearly state ... MAKE SURE YOU GET IN THIS LINE AT 7:00PM, or even line up for it before 7:00pm!!! This maze is proving to be the most popular at Halloween Horror Nights 2019. At 7:15 the line is already over an hour and it doesn't go down the rest of the night!! Even if it means walking back from the Backlot and skipping one of the mazes and then walking back. It WILL save you time.

Front of the Line tip: If the line for Killer Klowns is not long go through once with the General Public and then use your FOTL pass later in the evening. Getting back down to the lower lot mazes is easy to do later in the night. If the line is long use your FOTL for Killer Klowns and Stranger Things (if you didn't use it earlier).

Jurassic World: This is usually the part of the survival guide where we tell you to skip Jurassic Park (now World). But we're not heartless. We realize many of you will not have ridden Jurassic World yet. So this once, we're going to give you a pass. But seriously, do single rider, and only if you haven't ridden it yet. Because it's truly awesome.

But even with that, we'd suggest coming back down to do it later in the evening, after you've finished all of the mazes.

Upper Lot:

You are probably going to need to rest by now, feel free to stop by one of the eateries and get a snack, a meal, etc. Sit around the upper lot scare zone and watch the talent do their thing.

If you've followed the strategy at this point you'll have four mazes (and Walking Dead) left and plenty of time to do them.

Us and Pandora's Box: Since there is no Terror Tram this year they are utilizing the Studio Tour queue area for these two mazes. The line will likely move slower than the Terror Tram simply due to capacity. But there's always nice video clips and more here so enjoy that while you wait.

Holidayz in Hell: This maze is right in the middle of the upper lot so will probably be rather popular. That said, in years past this maze has had a shorter line in the 10pm-12am timeframe simply due to the fact that everybody is on the lower lot or backlot during this time.

House of 1000 Corpses: The last new maze is located near Waterworld. Many people will go here first when getting to the event, because it's the first thing they'll see. Don't make that mistake. Head over here last.

Walking Dead: If there is no line or you don't visit the park much then go for it.

Front of the Line tip: Same as Lower Lot and Backlot. If the lines are on the short side go through once with the GP and once using your Front of the Line. You always see different things on each walk-through.

Jabbawockeez

Like the last few years, there is only one show at HHN this year. Once we get showtimes we'll update this with recommended times to go.

Once you have completed all the mazes you can hang around the scare zones and watch the talent, check the wait board to see if there are any short maze or ride lines or if you have a Front of the Line Pass use up any trips you haven't already.

Do some shopping, grab a t-shirt, hang out in the scare zones and drive home safely.

Pro Tip: If you are at the event until it closes you may get to experience the amazing "Chainsaw Chase-Out". It's a great HHN tradition.

Alright, that'll do it for this years Survival Guide. We will be attending 2 nights over the first weekend (once with Front of the Line and once without) so we'll be updating this for sure early next week.

Related Videos:

Related Updates:

If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

If you have any comments, please share them below

Universal Studios

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Survival Guide 2019

Categories

Archives