How to Get Early Admission to Halloween Horror Nights 2025 at Universal Orlando

Halloween Horror Nights 2025

• Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Touring Plan
• How to Get Early Admission to Halloween Horror Nights 2025 at Universal Orlando
• Insider’s Guide to Halloween 2025’s Exclusive Food and Drinks at Universal Orlando Resort
• Insider’s guide to Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Extras: Express Passes, RIP Tours, and More
• Insider’s Guide to Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Tickets

Given the popularity of Halloween Horror Nights and the draw of big-name haunted houses, it can seem like there really aren’t any “slow” nights anymore. This is why Horror Nights early admission, which used to be a fun trick for insiders, has now become a necessity for any guest who wants to go to the event and experience the haunts with only a sensible amount of waiting – with or without Express Passes.

On this page, we’ll explain how any guest can get early entry to HHN 2025, and we’ll show you exactly what that looks like.

Skip to: The basics | Overview | Check-in Areas | FAQ

Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission – the basics

Before we get into the nuts-and-bolts of how early entry to Halloween Horror Nights works, let’s first take just a quick moment to answer a few basic questions – it’s important for all of us to be on the same horror page in order to fully soak up every last bit of time-saving information.

Who qualifies for Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission (Stay & Scream)?

Anyone who has admission to Universal Studios Florida during the day and HHN admission for that evening can use the early entry feature. It isn’t restricted to guests who purchase special packages or tours or those who win the lottery. If you are in the park during the day and your Horror Nights ticket grants you admission to the event that evening, you qualify for early entry. Yes, it’s that simple.

Can I get Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Early Admission without a daytime ticket?

Short response? Yes! Let us explain.

Once you’ve purchased your HHN admission, you can then opt also to buy an add-on called a Scream Early ticket; for $55, it enables you to access Universal Studios Florida starting at 3:00 pm, allowing you to take advantage of early entry to the event (which we’ll explain in just a moment).

If you don’t want to pay for the Scream Early upgrade, it’s worth noting that Universal Orlando hotel guests have a special entrance for HHN general admission. This does not grant hotel guests early access to houses like HHN early admission does, but it may help you skip some of the general admission crowds at the park turnstiles.

Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission – overview and explanation

Okay – now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way, it’s time to dive head-first into our early-entry explanation and guide.

How Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission works

This is the process Universal used to call Stay and Scream, and although the company no longer officially employs the term, many guests and fans still do. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a brand-new procedure for Halloween Horror Nights 2025. If you’ve attended in past years, note that this year’s process is different.

1. Beginning at 2:00 PM, you may proceed to one of the designated check-in locations.
2. You’ll proceed to check in and get your wristband. Wristbands are available at the following locations: Lombard’s Seafood Grill (starting at 2:00 PM), Illumination’s Minion Café (beginning at 3:00 PM), and Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast (wristband distribution begins at 3:00 PM).
3. Once you have your wristband, you’re free to explore the park — ride attractions, watch shows, grab food, shop for merchandise, or simply take in the atmosphere.
4. Starting at 4:00 PM, wristbanded guests can begin entering select haunted house queues before the event officially opens.

Now is a good time to mention again that you don’t need a special ticket to use HHN early admission. When you’re checking in, they don’t care how you got into the park earlier in the day (you could have a one-day ticket, you could be an annual passholder – doesn’t matter), and they don’t care what kind of Horror Nights ticket you have (one-night admission, Frequent Fear, whatever), as long as your ticket is valid for that night.

Beginning at 4:00 PM, show your wristband at participating houses to get an early start before Halloween Horror Nights officially opens. This is an awesome way to see these houses with little to no waiting.

See how easy it works? Ultimately, this is the best way to jump-start your Horror Nights touring.

What Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission is really about

If you’ve looked into Halloween Horror Nights before, you might know that general-admission guests are often allowed through Universal Studios Florida’s turnstiles as early as 6:00 PM. This means you get about a two-hour head start. But HHN early admission in 2025 is less about the raw minutes and more about two big advantages.

With early admission, you can start entering select haunted house queues at 4:00 PM — a full two hours before general admission. In that window, it’s realistic to visit two to three houses with little to no wait before the bulk of the crowd enters. Since HHN has 10 houses total, you’ve potentially completed up to 30% of them before the event “officially” starts.

Even better, by the time general admission opens at 6:00 PM, you’re already deep inside the park and in a great position to continue toward less-popular houses. This means you can keep your wait times low well into the evening — even without Express Passes. With a smart plan, you might get four or more houses done by 7:00 PM (in other words, use HHN early admission and our touring plan).

Plus, if you arrive for general admission around 5:00 PM, you’ll likely stand in a crowded line for nearly an hour doing nothing. That’s a less-than-thrilling start to the night.

With early admission, that wasted hour turns into productive, enjoyable park time. You can sit, use the restroom without losing your spot, enjoy a snack or drink, and, thanks to the new freedom to roam, start your HHN night in a far more relaxed and efficient way until the early house queues open at 4:00 PM.

Now that we all agree, let’s talk about the check-in areas.

Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission – check-in areas

Universal Orlando Resort has announced three check-in locations for Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Stay & Scream wristbands:

• Lombard’s Seafood Grill (beginning at 2:00 PM)
• Illumination’s Minion Café (starting at 3:00 PM)
• Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast (commencing at 3:00 PM)

House queues generally begin opening in waves at 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, and 6:00 PM. Since the houses available for early entry can vary daily, we recommend checking the Universal Orlando Resort app on the day of your visit to confirm opening times and decide which line makes the most sense to join.

Halloween Horror Nights 2025 early admission – FAQ

Still have a few early-entry questions for us? That’s good – we’ve still got a few answers for you!

VERY IMPORTANT: get into the park on-time

Okay, this final instruction is critical: your group needs to be inside the turnstiles of Universal Studios Florida before the park officially closes so you can get to a check-in location on time. If you show up at the park gate later, you may not get in, and you’ll have to wait with everyone else for general admission.

Any tips if I can’t get HHN early admission?

Because you’re a fan of Orlando Informer, we’ll share with you a quick secret to skipping most of the HHN turnstile line. Please keep in mind that this is not an alternative to getting early entry, as described above – if you have daytime admission, we still highly recommend you get yourself inside Universal Studios Florida before the park closes. But if you don’t have daytime access to the park, this trick can help save a bit of time and get your evening tour off to a swift start.

The key to this trick is that you have to be at Universal Studios one hour before HHN starts. When you arrive at the turnstiles by 5:30 pm, you will likely see a scene that looks like this:

What most guests don’t realize is that the middle section of the USF park gates, seen here…

…will have temporary turnstiles open to add capacity to the permanent turnstiles found on either side. So if you wait in the middle, where lines won’t form until guests actually see Universal team members preparing the temporary turnstiles, you will get a significant jump start!

As we mentioned above, the key to this trick is timing – you need to get to Universal Studios Florida early enough. As soon as employees come out and start preparing the temporary turnstiles in the middle, all the guests in the long lines will see what’s happening, and this area will be flooded.