Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Tips & Tricks

[rinacee]

I booked a 3 house unmasking the horror tour a while ago and just checked the email with all the details, and it's missing one important detail - the check in time. It says "Your Unmasking the Horror™ check-in time is at and will last up to 2.5 hours" - there's just a space where the check in time should be.

I've booked onto the 1pm tour and I'm thinking I'll just show up at 12:30, would that be okay or do I need to arrive earlier than that?

I think you will be fine 30 minutes ahead! Last year my husband and I got there too early (maybe 40 minutes?) for our 6-house tour because it was in the morning and we overestimated how long it'd take to get breakfast and walk over. They had us come back around 20ish minutes before our scheduled time.

 

[HandsomePete]

While there’s no correct answer to seeing the most houses possible, there are wrong answers - last year I went with a group that Stay and Scream’d Beetlejuice… and then took 30 minutes to get drinks and snacks before getting in line for a second house. That blunder probably cost them 2-3 hours of waiting over the course of the night - I say probably because I was so beside myself that I faked feeling bad and left at 9 after waiting an hour for Carey when we should have walked in earlier in the night. And they had the audacity to say they thought they were making good time.

Long story short, if you go early and just keep your head down and hit houses for the first 60-90 minutes, you’ll have a productive night and can slow down and take the night at a leisurely pace. Don’t be those people.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

While there’s no correct answer to seeing the most houses possible, there are wrong answers - last year I went with a group that Stay and Scream’d Beetlejuice… and then took 30 minutes to get drinks and snacks before getting in line for a second house. That blunder probably cost them 2-3 hours of waiting over the course of the night - I say probably because I was so beside myself that I faked feeling bad and left at 9 after waiting an hour for Carey when we should have walked in earlier in the night. And they had the audacity to say they thought they were making good time.

Long story short, if you go early and just keep your head down and hit houses for the first 60-90 minutes, you’ll have a productive night and can slow down and take the night at a leisurely pace. Don’t be those people.

Well said, if you can knock out 3/4 of the houses by 8 you'll usually be set.

 

[Bort]

Where are my opening weekend vets?

I know Friday will be a mess cause it's night one, but am I going to be kicking myself for not buying one night of express ($150 at the moment) for either Saturday or Sunday? I'm used to going 3rd weekend when crowds are lighter.

 

[Brian G.]

Where are my opening weekend vets?

I know Friday will be a mess cause it's night one, but am I going to be kicking myself for not buying one night of express ($150 at the moment) for either Saturday or Sunday? I'm used to going 3rd weekend when crowds are lighter.

The die-hards will ride Opening Weekend as much as possible. I'd say yes to Express.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

The die-hards will ride Opening Weekend as much as possible. I'd say yes to Express.

Counter argument: don't do express and just enjoy the night for what it is and then really focus on the event when you return.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

All kind of hypothetical at this point, but I was considering taking the Unmasking the Horror tour this year, since it's my first time in Orlando, and I'm a wannabe haunt designer myself so I figure it'll be inspiring aside from just being fun, but my trip lasts from september 8th to the morning of the 12th, and im doing HHN proper every night while im there, intending to be at the event from opening till close, so I was wondering if anyone had experience, would it be remotely reasonable to try to squeeze in Unmasking the Horror on one of the mornings I'll be there or does it seem like that kind of a schedule would be too extreme to even consider.

 

[Jakemeister]

Where are my opening weekend vets?

I know Friday will be a mess cause it's night one, but am I going to be kicking myself for not buying one night of express ($150 at the moment) for either Saturday or Sunday? I'm used to going 3rd weekend when crowds are lighter.

Ride or Die for opening weekend. I haven't decided if we'll do Stay & Scream or not; honestly, last year Simpsons was miserable with the heat, and then it rained & we said F It and went back to Hard Rock until the rain cleared.

This year I'll probably show up when I feel like and just do the houses that I can and stay as late as I want. My attitude about the event is changing, I don't plan on getting Express, but honestly I'm not going to go just one night. If you want to do all the houses in 1 night the advice about food is really good. Wait until lines start to build throughout the event to get food, and if you can go to an establishment that is year round F&B, they tend to have the most consistent operations during HHN as well.

 

[Bort]

Counter argument: don't do express and just enjoy the night for what it is and then really focus on the event when you return.

If I was coming back later in the year I'd 100% do this, but opening weekend is most likely my only shot this year.

Ride or Die for opening weekend. I haven't decided if we'll do Stay & Scream or not; honestly, last year Simpsons was miserable with the heat, and then it rained & we said F It and went back to Hard Rock until the rain cleared.

This year I'll probably show up when I feel like and just do the houses that I can and stay as late as I want. My attitude about the event is changing, I don't plan on getting Express, but honestly I'm not going to go just one night. If you want to do all the houses in 1 night the advice about food is really good. Wait until lines start to build throughout the event to get food, and if you can go to an establishment that is year round F&B, they tend to have the most consistent operations during HHN as well.

I think we're in a similar boat on the open-close thing. It was fun, I could do it again, but I get equally as much enjoyment out of having some food/drinks back at the hotel during that 8-10pm range where the event is a straight zoo. S&S feels like it might be needed once if The Weeknd is one of the houses, just because I can already envision the triple-digit wait time.

I'll have three nights, so I should be able to just split it up 4-5 houses/shows each night, but express on Sunday would be a nice safety net if I can convince the group to take the financial leap of faith.

 

[TheIndoorKid]

Counter argument: don't do express and just enjoy the night for what it is and then really focus on the event when you return.

I've only been going for the past 4/5 years and we always take the money we would have spent on Express and put it towards another night. Makes it so much easier to not rush and take everything in. Of course, we still rush to get everything done the first night so that the next night we can slow down and hit the houses that we know we enjoyed the most. But our "official" goal is to hit at least half the houses each night.

 

[jarmor]

Stay and Scream. . . plus, you can get through all the houses if you do it, minus. . . you cant see shi. . . anything in them for the first couple hours. Wear dark shades until you get in the house.

 

[Fabrii]

Anyone knows if there will still be half-priced express passes after 9/10 pm?

 

[GlitterandGloom41]

Anyone knows if there will still be half-priced express passes after 9/10 pm?

It (at least for the last few years, I got it a couple times a few years ago) is after 10/11. It’s for the last 3 hours of the night. Starts at 10 on 1 am closing nights and starts at 11 on 2 am closing nights.

I know they were still doing it last year. I don’t think they ever do sell it online, as far as I know it should be there. No indication it won’t be there at least. You can’t get it if regular express sells out but otherwise I would assume it’ll be there. Also you don’t have to wait til those hours to buy them. You can buy them right away at the beginning of the night, you just can’t use it until those last 3 hours of the night.

 

[rinacee]

All kind of hypothetical at this point, but I was considering taking the Unmasking the Horror tour this year, since it's my first time in Orlando, and I'm a wannabe haunt designer myself so I figure it'll be inspiring aside from just being fun, but my trip lasts from september 8th to the morning of the 12th, and im doing HHN proper every night while im there, intending to be at the event from opening till close, so I was wondering if anyone had experience, would it be remotely reasonable to try to squeeze in Unmasking the Horror on one of the mornings I'll be there or does it seem like that kind of a schedule would be too extreme to even consider.

Last year my husband and I went for 3 nights to the event, and went to the 6-house tour the morning of the first night. The tour lasted a long time (which was great!), but I underestimated how tired we'd be by the time Stay and Scream rolled around. We ended up going to the event and I think we got all the houses done and tried some of the food, but we left by 11ish because we were so exhausted. This year we're doing the 6-house tour again but skipping the event that night. The 3-house tour might be a different case though!

 

[Jakemeister]

I'll have three nights, so I should be able to just split it up 4-5 houses/shows each night, but express on Sunday would be a nice safety net if I can convince the group to take the financial leap of faith.

If you're going Fri-Sun I'd push for Friday Express. It will be a little more than Sunday, but it comes with so much more flexibility in your other 3 event nights. You see all the houses the first night and then you can determine which ones you'd like to prioritize for your 2nd & 3rd night.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Anyone knows if there will still be half-priced express passes after 9/10 pm?

Half price express starts at 11pm but you can buy it earlier.

 

[kristenabelle]

Last year my husband and I went for 3 nights to the event, and went to the 6-house tour the morning of the first night. The tour lasted a long time (which was great!), but I underestimated how tired we'd be by the time Stay and Scream rolled around. We ended up going to the event and I think we got all the houses done and tried some of the food, but we left by 11ish because we were so exhausted. This year we're doing the 6-house tour again but skipping the event that night. The 3-house tour might be a different case though!

I did this too; S&S in the sun really dragged whatever energy I had left after the tour. Luckily, I made it to all 8 houses I wanted to using Express for some of them & went back to Hard Rock around 12. But I also had time for some event food, and didn't miss anything I wanted to see.

Generally, I'd recommend the tour to anyone whenever they can squeeze it in - it's so fun and worth it!

 

[erider]

I'm really having a hard time deciding on buying Frequent Fear with or without Express this year. Any thoughts on expected crowd levels this year? I was there last year on the last two weeks of October and they where very busy with several sold out nights. But this year I'm going on the last week of September and first 2 weeks of October, maybe it's less busy then the last two weeks of October? But then international visitors weren't allowed into the US during HHN so I don't know if this year will be much busier. Any thoughts would be appeciated. I could do Stay and Scream since I have an AP.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I'm really having a hard time deciding on buying Frequent Fear with or without Express this year. Any thoughts on expected crowd levels this year? I was there last year on the last two weeks of October and they where very busy with several sold out nights. But this year I'm going on the last week of September and first 2 weeks of October, maybe it's less busy then the last two weeks of October? But then international visitors weren't allowed into the US during HHN so I don't know if this year will be much busier. Any thoughts would be appeciated. I could do Stay and Scream since I have an AP.

I always recommend multiple nights versus express. With Stay & Scream you should be fine. You can easily knock out 5-6 houses if you rush in the first 2 hours, and then relax the rest of the night.

 

[krisjane22]

All kind of hypothetical at this point, but I was considering taking the Unmasking the Horror tour this year, since it's my first time in Orlando, and I'm a wannabe haunt designer myself so I figure it'll be inspiring aside from just being fun, but my trip lasts from september 8th to the morning of the 12th, and im doing HHN proper every night while im there, intending to be at the event from opening till close, so I was wondering if anyone had experience, would it be remotely reasonable to try to squeeze in Unmasking the Horror on one of the mornings I'll be there or does it seem like that kind of a schedule would be too extreme to even consider.

Several years we've done the 3 house at 1 or 1:30 on the day after attending the event - back to the hotel after to shower/rest - and to the event that night. I would definitely say 3 house is easily done. Not sure I'd want to be running around for so many hours for the 6 house. That "Florida fall" heat will really drag you down.