Halloween Horror Nights 2024 Touring Plan

At Orlando Informer, we work diligently to keep information up to date. This page was last updated on November 6, 2023.

Halloween Horror Nights 2024

While we wait for 2024’s haunt, please enjoy the following information regarding 2023’s Halloween Horror Nights.

There is a single purpose to the Orlando Informer Halloween Horror Nights 2023 touring plan: to get you through the haunted houses – and, ideally, the scare zones and everything else – at Universal Orlando’s most popular annual event with as little waiting as possible.

Does our plan really work? Why, yes, it does:

Skip to: First steps | Touring plan | FAQ

Halloween Horror Nights 2023 touring plan – first steps

While we wait for 2024’s haunt, please enjoy the following information regarding 2023’s Halloween Horror Nights.

Halloween Horror Nights general admission entry
Halloween Horror Nights general admission entry

Before we can get to the touring plan properly, we need to lay the groundwork first. Don’t worry, though – this’ll just take a moment.

To minimize overall wait times, we strongly recommend that you take advantage of Halloween Horror Nights early admission (sometimes referred to as Stay and Scream). If you do not have daytime access to Universal Studios Florida, then you must arrive at the park turnstiles by 4:45 pm. This is important because the crowd waiting to get into the theme park can be significant, and you really want to be at the front of that crowd. But don’t worry about having to stand at the gates for an hour and a half – Universal starts letting guests in around 20 to 30 minutes before the official starting time of 6:30 pm.

Once you’re inside Universal Studios Florida, grab an event map and get ready to visit some haunted houses!

Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Map
Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Map

It’s imperative, for the purposes of minimizing wait times, that you head directly for the houses and do them in order without stopping at the scare zones, other attractions, or live shows. We know – you’ll really want to check out a zone after you exit the first haunt, but every extra minute you spend straying from the warpath will equal five to 10 minutes more of standing in line.

If you have questions about using this plan, be sure to read through the whole page and then see the FAQs at the bottom. If you want to learn more about each of the mazes, click any of the links provided to visit their individual announcements and our analysis of them.

Halloween Horror Nights 2023 touring plan – the touring plan itself

While we wait for 2024’s haunt, please enjoy the following information regarding 2023’s Halloween Horror Nights.

Stranger Things at Halloween Horror Nights 2023

Please note that we’ll be tweaking this touring plan as the event goes on to ensure it’s as optimized as is (in)humanly possible. Keep checking back before your descent into Halloween Horror Nights’ horror!

1. Stranger Things (New York, near Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon)
(If you have daytime admission and are doing stay and scream)
Stranger Things returns to Halloween Horror Nights in its third appearance at the premier fright fest of the season. Follow the beloved characters from Hawkins, Indiana as they continue their battle against the supernatural. Favorite scenes and bone-chilling moments will be recreated in this maze that depicts the events of Season Four.

It’s imperative that you are towards the front of the group that releases from Finnegan’s Bar & Grill in order to experience this haunted house. (If you aren’t doing Stay and Scream, start with Universal Monsters: Unmasked and circle back to Halloween at the end of the night.) If time allows before 6:00 PM, this would be an excellent time to knock out Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate once you have completed your adventure through The Upside Down in Stranger Things.

2. The Exorcist: Believer (Production Central, in front of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit)
Two girls who had previously been missing mysteriously turn up with no recollection of their whereabouts, but they aren’t alone. This house will show scenes from The Exorcist: Believer, the newest installment in this franchise.

3. Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate (New York, to the left of Revenge of the Mummy)
Beware as you are caught in the skirmish of two warlocks turned dragons after they attempted to steal Merlyn’s spellbook. What’s interesting about this dragon-filled house is that it is not only a nod to an archived attraction but appears to have four different endings in somewhat of a “choose your own adventure” style.

4. Universal Monsters: Unmasked (KidZone, E.T. Adventure)
Terror lurks beneath the city of love within the Paris catacombs. Try to escape the grasp of famous foes like The Phantom, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as they chase you in your wake.

5. The Darkest Deal (World Expo, near Men in Black: Alien Attack! restroom entrance)
Blues singer Pinestraw Spruce craves fame, so when The Collector names the price of celebrity for the soul of this singer, the dark side of stardom begins to unravel in front of fright fans’ eyes.

6. Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins (World Expo, between Halloween Nightmare Fuel Wildfire and Men in Black: Alien Attack!) (San Francisco, near Fast And Furious – Supercharged)
Step into this big top where the twisted Dr. Oddfellow has a full lineup of sideshow horror.

7. YETI: Campground Kills (New York, to the left of Revenge of the Mummy)
A familiar, mythical legend is making its return to HHN! The fabled Yeti comes to life as your campground is infested with these abominable monsters. The only way to escape is by reaching the ranger tower, but these creatures are chasing you in your wake.

8. Shows
Take a break between scares to see some fun but frightening shows. Here’s the scoop on what’s showing this year:

Halloween Nightmare Fuel Wildfire – The Fuel Girls have returned to continue the Nightmare Fuel tale, a show that has taken over the Fear Factor Live stage for the last two years with a storyline twisting and evolving over time. Set to upbeat electronic music, a new nightmare is set to debut.

Show times: 8:00PM, 9:30PM, 11:00PM, 12:30AM

We also recommend using this time to check out the Death Eaters that roam Diagon Alley.

9. Zones
There are five original scare zones this year at Horror Nights. We suggest strolling through all of them after the sun goes down.

Dr. Oddfellow’s Collection of Horror (Avenue of the Stars, Production Central) – Dr. Oddfellow marks his return to this fright fest with his menagerie of terror, a shriek peak into what’s to come for your night of haunts. 

Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror (Central Park) – During his jungle expeditions in the 1920s, Dr. Oddfellow decided to play with the laws of nature. Now, his creations are ravenous and seeking revenge.

Shipyard 32: Horrors Unhinged (San Francisco)  –  Travel through time and enter a 1940s shipyard where Dr. Oddflellow’s crated collections of oddities have arrived and broken free, making nightmares come to life.

Vamp ‘69: Summer of Blood (New York) – It’s time to rock out at the music festival of the century – but is it just you, or are the attendees a little bloodthirstier than usual? Dr. Oddfellow has unleashed a fleet of vampires, and it looks like you’re next on the lethal lineup.

Dark Zodiac (Hollywood) – What lies in the stars for you? Your horoscope says a trip into Dark Zodiac is in your future. Here, Dr. Oddfellow has harnessed the power of the Zodiac and unleashed malicious entities in a zone of doom.

While traveling from zone to zone, keep your eyes out for a horde of Model 3 Generative Androids, better known as M3GANs, making their way through this fright fest.

10. Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings (Hollywood, near Minion Land)
Enter a Colonial-era village where the blood moon rises, and moon-worshippers have begun their hunt. Can you escape the village before you fall into its grasp?

11. The Last of Us (World Expo, near Men in Black: Alien Attack! restroom entrance)
Fright fans will become part of a specific chapter in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part I, an action-adventure video game based on a post-apocalyptic United States where a fungus has spread, infecting human hosts and transforming them into mutant, flesh-hungry creatures.

12. Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count (KidZone, near DreamWorks Destination)
Wanna play? Chucky returns to cause mischief and mayhem as you avoid becoming tallied in his count.

13. Stranger Things (New York, near Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon)
(This is the part of the night you would do this maze if you did not do Stay & Scream)
Stranger Things returns to Halloween Horror Nights in its third appearance at the premier fright fest of the season. Follow the beloved characters from Hawkins, Indiana as they continue their battle against the supernatural. Favorite scenes and bone-chilling moments will be recreated in this maze that depicts the events of Season Four.

14. Rides and repeating houses
If you’ve managed to complete all the above and still have time to spare, consider lining up to experience your favorite houses again. You could also hit up one of the rides open during HHN:

We want to hear how your night went!

Our community of Horror Nights and Universal fanatics wants to know about your experience at Halloween Horror Nights 2023. Be sure to join our Orlando Informer Community on Facebook!

Halloween Horror Nights 2023 touring plan – FAQ

While we wait for 2024’s haunt, please enjoy the following information regarding 2023’s Halloween Horror Nights.

Spingfield holding area at Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights
Spingfield holding area at Halloween Horror Nights

Now that you know your first steps and have looked over your battle plan, it’s time to dive a little more deeply into a few choice aspects of our 2023 touring plan.

What do I need to be aware of if I use HHN early admission?

When using Halloween Horror Nights early admission (Stay & Scream) – which we really can’t recommend enough – you will wait inside Universal Studios Florida as Universal transforms the park from daytime operations to the nighttime event. You will still want to follow our touring plan with one extra instruction: since you will get early access to one or two haunted houses (the specific houses may change from night to night), you will, of course, want to visit these first. When early admission is over and everything opens (between 6:15 and 6:30 pm), simply scratch the haunts you’ve already seen from the list above, then work the list from top to bottom as usual.

Please, please see our HHN early admission page and take advantage of it if you can!

What if I can’t get to Halloween Horror Nights early, like you advise?

If you can’t take advantage of early admission, buy a Halloween Horror Nights Express Pass. If this is also not an option, be at the park turnstiles by 5:00 pm. If you can’t do that, either, then please go to Horror Nights on a Thursday or a Sunday during the first three weeks, or on a Wednesday during the second half of the season – even so, still be prepared to do a lot of standing around.

What if I have an HHN Express Pass?

If you have Express – which can only be used once per haunted house, we should make clear that you absolutely still want to follow the list above in order. Remember that Express Passes can sometimes only be expected to cut down the standby wait time in half – so if The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare maze is at two hours, the Express line may be up to a one-hour wait. That’s why, even if you have Express access, we still want you to follow our touring plan and minimize overall wait times.

Also, the general wisdom is not to use your Express Pass if the haunt has a lower wait time since, later, you can visit it again – when it has a longer line – and then use your Express. This is definitely a smart move, but only do it if you are certain you will want to visit the maze again; the posted wait times at Horror Nights houses tend to be a little optimistic, so a posted time of 25 minutes may easily turn out to be 30 or 35 minutes.

That’s all we got for our Halloween Horror Nights 2023 touring plan. Please keep in mind this is only one page in our HHN insider’s guide. For the most effective planning, please be sure to read through all of our pages, which you can access at any time using the navigation links at the top and bottom.

Did you know that this isn’t our only touring plan? You can view all of our exclusive Universal Orlando touring plans, including our ultimate one-day Wizarding World of Harry Potter plan, by clicking here.

Do you have a question about the information on this page or would you like to provide feedback? Please let us know by posting in our Orlando Informer Community on Facebook.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024