New to Universal Orlando; Horror Nights...

[dandee]

Hi all,
We have our yearly Disney girls trip planned and have decided to extend it to begin our trip with 5 days at Universal Orlando (we've never been and are very excited!!). We'll be going in the middle of October and were thinking about hitting Horror Nights; I've been lurking, but don't know where to look to see how much the tickets are for this event. Any advice on what this is like, general ideas on prices of tickets, is it worth going, etc...
Thanks!!!!

 

[robvia]

Ticket prices vary depending on if you are an annual passholder (AP), and if you buy early versus at the gate. Ticket prices haven't been posted yet, mine was $32.75 with an AP rate buying online. Yes, it's worth going.

I'd switch the trip around doing Disney first, and Universal last. Most agree with this. If you can stay onsite at the Royal Pacific Resort (RPR), then do it, but I bet the rooms are already sold out.

Crowds will be light in the day time at the USF parks, then at night the place gets packed for HHN. It's best to be in the park and use the stay and scream area. What that means, is you are already in the park, and also have an HHN ticket, which is a seperate event. Everyone goes to the middle area where you can do the first two houses, while everyone else waits outside the park.

 

[F-L-A]

Get an Express pass and thank me later.

 

[Luv2Roam]

And that being said -- we found out the hard way that HHN EP are sold in advance -- long before the date of attending.
We were planning on buying some for the night we were there. (The Saturday before last Halloween.)
Surprise!
We knew how backed up the traffic is on I4 and going into US for HHN. So as passholders, we arrived mid to late afternoon, and kicked back in US.
Later, we were corraled between the US and IoA. And they were great in that they allowed those of us there to enter two Haunted Houses before the general public. Way to go Universal!
Then, we were allowed back into US about 20 minutes before general opening. We went to the nearby Vampyre Castle, which was the most popular last year. It was a brief que line wait.
We were one step ahead of the crowd the whole night. I think we went in all in probably a two hour timeframe.

Don't go to the IoA side unless you are brave or LOVE shoulder to shoulder crowds. It was so bad you just had to move with the crowd whether you wanted to go there or not. It was a sea of people.

 

[dandee]

Thanks very much for your advice, it looks like we'll be staying offsite; I'll buy the tickets in advance and buy an express pass.
One more question; do I buy the express pass in advance for the day we'll attend HHN or wait until that day?
Thanks again for all of the helpful advice, I'm so excited to get there!!!!