Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Tips & Tricks

[HalfGlass]

Just got back from our trip this weekend, still processing it all, but wanted to drop this here because someone asked about the hotel entrance a bunch of pages back and I answered based on last year's experience, but now have this year to go off of.

If you are like me and just come down for the event, and don't have a day ticket most days, do NOT pay for Scream Early, your hotel key essentially functions as a full Stay and Scream this year!

We showed up our first two nights at 5:15-20pm at the hotel entrance, expecting to wait about 15-20 minutes to be let in with the rest of the park gate guests around 5:45, but they instead immediately let us into Hellblock. We ran through Hellblock and were dumped out into the park at 5:25 with the rest of the true Stay and Scream guests. We ended up getting three or four runs in before the rest of the park even opened, pretty comparable to true Stay and Scream, and for no extra money.

Confirming also, with the MAJOR caveat of "Don't be a jerk and abuse this", they only looked for one hotel key per group, and at that they literally only needed a flash of the key, no closer inspection of names, dates, etc.

Can't lie, it was nice to almost be required to enter the event through a house that would have otherwise been a skip for us, because instead of having to invest any of the rest of our night in seeing it, we kind of got it thrown in as a Pre-Order Bonus, haha. Would our gameplay (night) have been impacted at all had we not done it? No. Am I glad I now have a little paper poster of the game's box art (house run)? Mildly. Lol

Quick question on this! I’m going next week and staying at Aventura. After Hellblock, are you free to hop in any open line for the houses? Any advice for what to attack immediately after?

 

[jseal777]

Quick question on this! I’m going next week and staying at Aventura. After Hellblock, are you free to hop in any open line for the houses? Any advice for what to attack immediately after?

Everytime I have done stay and scream, by the time I get out of a house I am able to go wherever I want I think. But I have never been "first" in line so it could be different depending on how early you get out of the house.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Quick question on this! I’m going next week and staying at Aventura. After Hellblock, are you free to hop in any open line for the houses? Any advice for what to attack immediately after?

If you really love Halloween and can't wait to do it until after 12:30, I would do it then. If you can wait until around 1AM once you finish everything else, that would be ideal. Really depends on how bad the Stay & Scream line is.

Hellblock opens at 5:15 (warning - very few actors), you'll probably get through by 5:30 at the latest (not many people taking advantage of this perk). You can either get in line for Halloween then, hoping the lines is shorter than 30 mins (it'll be posted 60+, but we waited 35 with a posted 60), or get in line for Dead Man's (you can save Chupacabras for the end - always a 5 min wait past 1AM.

You can then go towards Blum, Bugs, Descendants and Monsters.

 

[HalfGlass]

Everytime I have done stay and scream, by the time I get out of a house I am able to go wherever I want I think. But I have never been "first" in line so it could be different depending on how early you get out of the house.

If you really love Halloween and can't wait to do it until after 12:30, I would do it then. If you can wait until around 1AM once you finish everything else, that would be ideal. Really depends on how bad the Stay & Scream line is.

Hellblock opens at 5:15 (warning - very few actors), you'll probably get through by 5:30 at the latest (not many people taking advantage of this perk). You can either get in line for Halloween then, hoping the lines is shorter than 30 mins (it'll be posted 60+, but we waited 35 with a posted 60), or get in line for Dead Man's (you can save Chupacabras for the end - always a 5 min wait past 1AM.

You can then go towards Blum, Bugs, Descendants and Monsters.

Thank you!

 

[srbmarc]

No one's found any GAT's this year, right? I've been through almost every house twice and haven't seen any.

 

[PenguinCowboy]

Quick question on this! I’m going next week and staying at Aventura. After Hellblock, are you free to hop in any open line for the houses? Any advice for what to attack immediately after?

Yes indeed, after you finish free to go wherever! I hit Spirits immediately, but I second hitting Halloween if you want the most productive night! I am genuinely surprised more people aren't taking advantage of it; again, we showed up somewhere around 5:20 and just walked through freely.

No one's found any GAT's this year, right? I've been through almost every house twice and haven't seen any.

If I had to guess the houses I could see them being in would be Bugs (lots of flashing light control panels), Spirits of the Coven (Speakeasys are notorious for being hidden away, lots of potential ways to "buzz" in), and Legends (boobytrapped old tombs, plus a precedent given Tomb of the Ancients and the Mummy queue), but I don't believe any of those have anything (I know for a fact Spirits does not).

 

[srbmarc]

If I had to guess the houses I could see them being in would be Bugs (lots of flashing light control panels), Spirits of the Coven (Speakeasys are notorious for being hidden away, lots of potential ways to "buzz" in), and Legends (boobytrapped old tombs, plus a precedent given Tomb of the Ancients and the Mummy queue), but I don't believe any of those have anything (I know for a fact Spirits does not).

It's funny you mention Legends because when I didn't notice the "wind" effect until my second time through, so I thought maybe it could be GAT related. Kinda like Chance's knives last year, but those were scareactor-controlled.

 

[UNIrd]

Just got back from our trip this weekend, still processing it all, but wanted to drop this here because someone asked about the hotel entrance a bunch of pages back and I answered based on last year's experience, but now have this year to go off of.

If you are like me and just come down for the event, and don't have a day ticket most days, do NOT pay for Scream Early, your hotel key essentially functions as a full Stay and Scream this year!

We showed up our first two nights at 5:15-20pm at the hotel entrance, expecting to wait about 15-20 minutes to be let in with the rest of the park gate guests around 5:45, but they instead immediately let us into Hellblock. We ran through Hellblock and were dumped out into the park at 5:25 with the rest of the true Stay and Scream guests. We ended up getting three or four runs in before the rest of the park even opened, pretty comparable to true Stay and Scream, and for no extra money.

Confirming also, with the MAJOR caveat of "Don't be a jerk and abuse this", they only looked for one hotel key per group, and at that they literally only needed a flash of the key, no closer inspection of names, dates, etc.

Can't lie, it was nice to almost be required to enter the event through a house that would have otherwise been a skip for us, because instead of having to invest any of the rest of our night in seeing it, we kind of got it thrown in as a Pre-Order Bonus, haha. Would our gameplay (night) have been impacted at all had we not done it? No. Am I glad I now have a little paper poster of the game's box art (house run)? Mildly. Lol

I had this same experience but was not at all expecting it. I was just trying to avoid the lines out front but at the hotel guest entrance, there was no one there. A CM asked me if I wanted to do a house. I was like "SURE? What house?" Seemed sus as there was zero signage and I was just being led behind HRRR and it turned out to be Hellblock Horror. Got to do it totally alone but also it was so quick after coming in from the outside that I could not see ANYTHING since my eyes hadn't adjusted. I couldn't even tell you what was in the house.

After I got out, I went and did Blumhouse and Masters of Destruction with zero wait too before heading back to the front of the park with my friends who had just gotten there.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

So it looks like we may have a hurricane/tropical storm next week when we arrive - does rain = zero actors in the zones? Or does it depend on how heavy the rain is?

 

[MI1287]

So it looks like we may have a hurricane/tropical storm next week when we arrive - does rain = zero actors in the zones? Or does it depend on how heavy the rain is?

If it's a light rain/drizzle they may still be out (stilt walkers excluded) but they don't stay out in anything substantial. Had a lot of rain during my trip last week as well, including the infamous Thursday night monsoon.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

If it's a light rain/drizzle they may still be out (stilt walkers excluded) but they don't stay out in anything substantial. Had a lot of rain during my trip last week as well, including the infamous Thursday night monsoon.

That's awful - it sounds like both of our nights may be like that next week.

Shame - we were really excited to see the zones in action!

 

[wutisgood]

I do wonder if crowds are insane right now and the next few days being worried about the weather. I fly in weds so likely right before the storm would hit. I saw a video that had the stay and scream for Halloween had a huge line before opening weds. Most times I have been it was more of a general blob where you could move around towards the front early enough. I wonder if universal is possibly pre managing lines a bit more within the stay and scream than in previous years?

Last year it was rainy plus I had express and did everything twice. It prob would have been my most productive year anyway without express. I will take rain over the scare zones being open if it keeps crowds away, but I thinks so many people have dated tickets and are committed to vacations that it has to be a really rainy day that shifts multi day tickets around the rain.

Its shocking to hear anyone even coming in kind of late with express not being able to get through all the houses. I think Universal is getting to the point like exists with LA that they should just sell daily tickets and phase out many of the multi nights. I think really HHN needs to just go to every night in sept/oct. Given the time commitment I am doing one long night anymore vs multiple with stay and scream. The sea world/Busch gardens combo ticket is just too much of a deal for variety bs the multi night hhn combo ticket as it is.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I do wonder if crowds are insane right now and the next few days being worried about the weather. I fly in weds so likely right before the storm would hit. I saw a video that had the stay and scream for Halloween had a huge line before opening weds. Most times I have been it was more of a general blob where you could move around towards the front early enough. I wonder if universal is possibly pre managing lines a bit more within the stay and scream than in previous years?

Last year it was rainy plus I had express and did everything twice. It prob would have been my most productive year anyway without express. I will take rain over the scare zones being open if it keeps crowds away, but I thinks so many people have dated tickets and are committed to vacations that it has to be a really rainy day that shifts multi day tickets around the rain.

Its shocking to hear anyone even coming in kind of late with express not being able to get through all the houses. I think Universal is getting to the point like exists with LA that they should just sell daily tickets and phase out many of the multi nights. I think really HHN needs to just go to every night in sept/oct. Given the time commitment I am doing one long night anymore vs multiple with stay and scream. The sea world/Busch gardens combo ticket is just too much of a deal for variety bs the multi night hhn combo ticket as it is.

We fly in Monday and have HHN tickets for Wednesday and Thursday. I would hate to lose the zones, but if the house lines are short I'm willing to deal with it. Hopefully they still run Ghoulish and Nightmare Fuel when weather is bad.

Of course.. we have to hope that they don't flat out cancel HHN.

 

[DodgsonHere]

We fly in Monday and have HHN tickets for Wednesday and Thursday. I would hate to lose the zones, but if the house lines are short I'm willing to deal with it. Hopefully they still run Ghoulish and Nightmare Fuel when weather is bad.

Of course.. we have to hope that they don't flat out cancel HHN.

Same situation here, flying in Thursday night, have express for Friday night.

 

[Alsands]

Same situation here, flying in Thursday night, have express for Friday night.

Flying in tommorow was also planning Wed-Fri. Wonder if I should go Sunday instead of Disney

 

[TheGentTrent]

Welp, was holding off on Express for Sunday while I was waiting for a friend to commit, now they’re sold out. Be honest, am I screwed or have they been selling them in-park day-of?

 

[wutisgood]

Welp, was holding off on Express for Sunday while I was waiting for a friend to commit, now they’re sold out. Be honest, am I screwed or have they been selling them in-park day-of?

My day is Sunday as well. I am very worried this will be when everyone gets in on flights and the most crowded day of all time I have been at HHN. I am probably going to ask customer service if they can move my ticket if we get there earlier right after the hurricane. express being sold out is a very very bad sign.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I do wonder if crowds are insane right now and the next few days being worried about the weather. I fly in weds so likely right before the storm would hit. I saw a video that had the stay and scream for Halloween had a huge line before opening weds. Most times I have been it was more of a general blob where you could move around towards the front early enough. I wonder if universal is possibly pre managing lines a bit more within the stay and scream than in previous years?

Last year it was rainy plus I had express and did everything twice. It prob would have been my most productive year anyway without express. I will take rain over the scare zones being open if it keeps crowds away, but I thinks so many people have dated tickets and are committed to vacations that it has to be a really rainy day that shifts multi day tickets around the rain.

Its shocking to hear anyone even coming in kind of late with express not being able to get through all the houses. I think Universal is getting to the point like exists with LA that they should just sell daily tickets and phase out many of the multi nights. I think really HHN needs to just go to every night in sept/oct. Given the time commitment I am doing one long night anymore vs multiple with stay and scream. The sea world/Busch gardens combo ticket is just too much of a deal for variety bs the multi night hhn combo ticket as it is.

usually in previous years, rain guaranteed you short lines, but some of these past days the lines were 50 minutes even with rain, i had to wait a lot on some rainy days. i had an umbrella personally, but everyone was just standing in the rain.
and i did mention on what if universal opened every night of the month in the other thread

about this crowd problems, what if universal just opened hhn on mondays and tuesdays as well? or something? seems like more days will be needed?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Welp, was holding off on Express for Sunday while I was waiting for a friend to commit, now they’re sold out. Be honest, am I screwed or have they been selling them in-park day-of?

Are you doing Stay and Scream?

 

[TheGentTrent]

Are you doing Stay and Scream?

Yes, that’s the plan.