Halloween Horror Nights 2022 Tips and Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

Sep 6

Welcome back to The Krystal Palace! Halloween Horror Nights 2022 at Universal Orlando is here! I am here to tell you the honest truth about the event. I will go over how my opening night experience went, Halloween Horror Nights tips, rank the scare zones, what to wear to Halloween Horror Nights, and go over some things I would do differently at Halloween Horror Nights 31. I will also go over if the HHN Express Pass is worth it. I hope you enjoy this HHN guide!

First and foremost, Halloween Horror Nights can seem like an extremely overwhelming event. For this reason, I put attending the event off for a while, I needed to be mentally prepared for it. After I have experienced it, it is not as bad as it seems IF you are prepared. You need to do some research if you want to actually enjoy yourself at HHN. If you are here, yay you are doing research! I will tell you all the information I used to prepare for HHN and a guide to the 2022 Halloween Horror Nights. What does HHN mean? You may be wondering this. HHN stands for Halloween Horror Nights, I will be using this abbreviation throughout this article.

If you are interested in a video from the event, check it out here!

What to do at Halloween Horror Nights?

With 10 Haunted Houses, 5 Scare Zones, 2 incredible shows, Tribute Store and tons of food options, make sure you plan in advance what you want to do. Also with this, make sure you look at a map ahead of time so you know where you are headed. This will help to avoid even more walking around. During opening weekend, Universal did not have printed maps so I was glad I had a day in the parks before to scout out where everything is. If you don’t have time before though, check out a map online. I will list a spoiler-free HHN house list at the bottom if you want to check out some descriptions of the houses.

My original plan was to do Bugs: Eaten Alive first, Descendants of Destruction, The Weeknd, then Universal Monsters: Legends Collide, some of the best HHN houses to start my HHN evening. When I got there, I was told that the stay and scream area only led to The Weeknd, which was fine because we wanted to do that anyway.

At 3:00pm there were already people lined up outside of Central Park to get into the Stay and Scream area for these two houses. We got in line around 4:15pm and the line was wrapped around the lagoon but it went fairly quick. At the Central Park tent, they scan your HHN tickets. Through this, you decide if you want to wait for The Weeknd or Monsters. We chose the Weeknd which ended up being a very popular line (for good reason). We did have to wait over an hour to actually get in line for the house. They put us up near Animal Actors so there was a tent with fans and seats which worked out. We chatted with other fans in line and it was great! The gates opened to get in line for The Weeknd house. The whole house experience took us 18 minutes, not bad at all. The Weeknd queue was playing his music so it was really enjoyable to stand and wait for. I absolutely loved this house!

We got out of The Weeknd and walked back to the entrance of The Weeknd house and Universal Monsters Legends Collide (they were right next to each other in Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone). Once we got out it was a little before 6pm which is the official opening time of Halloween Horror nights when guests without Stay and Scream can enter the park. We decided to hop in line for the Monsters house. The posted wait time was 10 minutes but it actually ended up taking 30 minutes for us to get through the house.

After Universal Monsters, we went over to Men In Black which was where Descendents of Destruction and Bugs: Eaten Alive were. Descendants of Destruction was posted 25 minutes, and Bugs: Eaten Alive was 30 minutes. Bugs was my priority so we decided to get in line for that even though Descendants of Destruction was closer to where we just came from. This line was super slow. We were barely moving. It took us 52 minutes for the whole experience. I am glad we waited though because it was a really fun house. The lines for these two houses were next to each other so when we saw how long Descendents of Destruction was, we decided not to wait for it.

Waiting in line made me work up an appetite so we went over to the giant pumpkin food booth to get a Churro Dog ($8.99). This is a Korean Style fried corn dog, tossed in cinnamon sugar. It was filling, interesting flavors but really good! The line was pretty long. It did take a bit to get but I’m glad I was able to try it because it was on my list of things to try. **Annual Passholder discounts can be used on HHN food items not including alcoholic drinks**

Now it was time for the scare zones. Absolutely amazing part of the night. I loved all of these zones. My rankings:

HHN 2022 Scare Zones

Sweet Revenge: The sweets from Major Sweets’ Candy Company have turned children into crazed killers!

Thoughts: I was most excited for this one because I just loved the traditional Halloween theme. It did not disappoint at all. This scare zone was huge with SO many scare actors. Each actor played a different character that you would see at a traditional halloween parade. There were 3 huge floats and it was truly amazing. We saw a mayor on the Judges Booth giving announcements and be sure to look up because they have some window projections as well. This zone also tied into the last room of the Tribute Store so well. This is my top scare zone just because of how big, immersive and epic it was!

Conjure the Dark - an evil sorceress called forth monstrosities from dark dimensions.

Thoughts: A total surprise to me how much I loved this scare zone. The winner for me was the scare actors that popped out because when they did, the lights flashed behind them and it was timed perfectly. It made it more intimidating and it was awesome. They also had a stage where witches were performing sacrifices.

Scarecrow: Cursed Soil - at an abandoned farm, scarecrows have risen from the crust of the earth to hunt you and seek revenge

Thoughts: I liked this way more than I thought. I get very anxious with big crowds in small spaces which is why I wasn’t too excited about this one since the sidewalk is a little narrow but it truly wasn’t bad even on a sold out night. The set and the props were incredible. Look out for the truck near the central park crepe booth on the right side. They had amazing scare actors, some that pop out at you and some epic fog moments!

Graveyard: Deadly Unrest - a dark storm descends upon a cemetery and awakens long-dead spirits.

Thoughts: Going into it, I thought the cemetery was going to be just a played out idea but I was wrong. This scare zone was amazing. The fog brought those spooky cemetery vibes that it needed. They had stilt walkers. Ghosts, spooky sisters and other amazing scare actors.

Horrors Of Halloween - The Pumpkin Lord has taken over HHN31! He has summoned creatures and terror has taken root.

Thoughts: I was a bit disappointed in this one because of how great the giant pumpkin arch was. There just were not as many scare actors walking around this scare zone. The highlight was of course the Pumpkin Lord popping out of a big pumpkin but you have to make sure you catch him because he goes in and out. With that being said, this is the main entrance of the park and there were construction walls up around Monsters Cafe so for traffic flow purposes I understand where there were not as many scare actors in this area.

After we put on so many steps, we went to Central Park to see Ghoulish: A Halloween Tale. I was so pleasantly surprised with this show. Think of World of Color at Disneyland vibes. They did a great job. Water, projections, music, lighting. Also the little spray of water you feel watching the show feels amazing on a hot HHN night.

We headed over to the San Francisco area to get in line at the food truck for the Burnt Offering Mac N’ Cheese Bowl ($8.49) - White cheddar mac n’ cheese bowl topped with char siu pork skewer. Now this I waited a very long time for. I finally got my mac n’ cheese and it looked so small. It ended up being a perfect amount for me and I really enjoyed it. I liked this better than the churro dog. We ate in Richters, good to know that other food venues are open during HHN like Richters and Fast Food Blvd in the Simpsons Area if you do not want the HHN special food.

On our way over to see Halloween Nightmare Fuel Wildfire, we stopped into Diagon Alley and I’m so glad we did. It was empty! Nice and quiet and a great break from the trills of HHN. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts was a 20 minute wait. There was nobody at all in Olivanders! You could go into all the shops without so many people and really take some time to look around. It was awesome!

Halloween Nightmare Fuel Wildfire was a fantastic show. It was 25 minutes and very entertaining. There was never a dull moment. I would compare it to an extreme America’s Got Talent with acts back to back.

Showtimes are 8:00pm, 9:30pm, 11pm, and 12:30am. We watched the 11:00pm show and it is located in the old Fear Factor Live arena right next to Men in Black and Diagon Alley. I’m not a big show person but I’m so glad we took time to experience both of these shows because they were amazing!

I highly recommend staying at one of the hotels near Halloween Horror Nights. Specifically, a Universal Orlando Hotel since they offer ticket packages for HHN. Even if you don’t want a ticket package, the Universal hotels provide free transportation to and from the parks which makes it so simple and stress free. We stayed at Endless Summer Surfside Inn & Suites during HHN and the bus was waiting for us right when we left!

What would I have done differently?

Know the IP’s - Halloween, The Weeknd, Horrors of Blumhouse and Universal Monsters: Legends Collide were the four Intellectual Property houses this year. These are all movies/ properties that Universal owns and used in HHN 31. I know The Weeknd which is why I wanted to visit the house. I do wish that I watched Blumhouse movies, and Halloween before coming to the event so that it would make me appreciate and be more inclined to want to go into the houses. Even if you have seen the movies before, a refresher couldn’t hurt.

Is HHN Express pass worth it?

If you want to do all 10 houses, 2 shows, 5 scare zones and have time to go to the bathroom, you should get the express pass. As I've mentioned, the lines were very long. It has to be noted that this was the opening weekend that was sold out with 40,000 people in attendance. I can’t see a night of this event that will not be packed though. For me, waiting in line for the houses also kind of kills my momentum of the event. So for next time, I will consider the express pass.

Important to note - once you purchase your HHN ticket, they are non refundable and you can only upgrade to the express pass for whatever the price is at the event, which could sell out.

If you are looking into the express pass you should see other options as well such as the R.I.P Tour and Unmasking the Horror Tour. The R.I.P Tour can be private or non-private and includes a priority VIP entry to the houses (express pass) and park attractions. The HHN R.I.P tour happens at night during the Halloween Horror Nights Event. Unmasking the Horror Tour happens during the day and you can choose between a 3 or 6 house tour. The 3 house tour includes and the 6 house tour includes. Theme park and or event admission is not included or required for this tour. Now I have not had the chance to do either of these so I can’t speak from personal experience but if you have the extra cash for them, they seem cool to check out. If I do get to experience these, I will come back and update this section with my thoughts!

Visit some Scare Zones in the daylight - From 6:00-8:00pm you can see the scare actors out in the daylight. During this time we were queued up for houses which we had to be or else we would just be waiting super long throughout the night. This goes back to having that express pass. If we did get the express, I would have walked through at least one scare zone in the daylight to see the difference between day and night. Instead I chose to use that daylight time to get those 3 houses done.

Important tips:

Consider the Express Pass (as mentioned above)

Make a priority list of your top houses, food, and things you want to do.

Dress light - even though it is Halloween themed, it is still Florida and it is still extremely hot out. I wore my comfortable biker shorts, sneakers and a light tank top and still was sweating but I was glad I was not in pants or leather.

Wear comfortable shoes - you will be doing tons of walking.

Get a blinky cup - this can save you some money on alcoholic drink refills

Visit the Tribute Store - located right in the Sweet Revenge scare zone.

Make sure you have Stay and Scream - Stay and Scream allows you to be in the park after 5pm. If you have a regular day ticket or an annual pass, you already have stay and scream. If not, you can purchase the add on for $35 per person. We think this is worth it because it allows you to get in line early and you can get at least 2 houses done with short wait times before guests even enter the park. If we did not have Stay and Scream, we would have waited a very long time just to get 2 houses done.

Start at the back of the park - if you do not get Stay and Scream, head towards the back of the park - Bugs: Eaten Alive and Descendents of Destruction first since those houses don’t open up until 6:00pm anyway.

List of HHN Houses

The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare - You love his music, but can you survive his mind?
Halloween - His Beginning is Your End.
The Horrors of Blumhouse - Get ready for a bloodcurdling new double feature of Blumhouse.
Universal Monsters: Legends Collide- If you thought one Universal Monster was scary, how about three?
Spirits of the Coven - A coven of beautiful ﬂapper witches will lure you into their 1920s speakeasy, reveal their haggish true form and turn your scream squad into a witch’s brew.
Bugs: Eaten Alive - While touring a 1950s home of the future, you’ll be surrounded by the slime of bugs everywhere as hordes of many-legged terrors descend upon you
Fiesta de Chupacabras - Visit a Latin American village where the legend of the creature Chupacabras is celebrated with a colorful ﬁesta. The streets are lined with the crimson blood of tourists like you and your amigos.
Hellblock Horror - As These Monsters Escape Their Prison, There’s No Escape for You
Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake - In a New England ﬁshing village, undead ﬁshermen emerge from the waves to seek their revenge
Descendants of Destruction - descend the subway tunnels of a deserted New York. Lurking in the dark are hungry mutants looking to feast on the last remnants of humanity.