I just got back from a 6 day trip to UOR. I attended every night of HHN Wednesday-Sunday and here's the strategy I used to maximize the amount of time I had. Stay & Scream obviously is the best way to go on any given night. Between Bride, Texas Chainsaw, Beetlejuice, Hill House, or Scarey, I say Scarey is the best option. It rarely had more than like 200 people waiting in the S&S and opened the earliest of any of the S&S houses. After, it's a quick walk to Wicked Growth and Puppet Theater. Wicked Growth is better to go to next because it doesn't open until 6 and is pretty popular. Puppet Theater never has a line so go ahead and hit up that next since it's right next door. After you've hit up the three tent houses, it's close to 6:30 so all the other houses should be open at that point.
This is a good time to eat and get snacks, because people are barely coming in and those food lines can get pretty ridiculous. After, it's all about seeing where the crowds go and deciding whether you want to do Hill House and Beetlejuice or the soundstages. Case Files generally never has a line longer than 45 minutes and is a good point between the warehouses and the soundstages. Hill House and Beetlejuice seem to average the longest wait times, so the middle of the night is a good time to hit up Bride of Frankenstein, Tooth Fairy and the two shows. Without Express, it's all about checking wait times to see when to go to Texas, ICONS, Beetlejuice, or Hill House. The only house that had consistently long lines throughout the night was Beetlejuice; even at close there was still a lengthy wait to get in. Conversely, the lines for Hill House seem to dissipate in the last hour, same as ICONS and Texas so save those for last and prioritize if it's a busy night.