A Look Back at Past Halloween Horror Nights Events

The 32nd edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando is soon upon us. This year's offering for HHN 32 includes:

• Stranger Things 4
• The Last of Us
• The Exorcist: Believer
• Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
• Universal Monsters: Unmasked
• Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origi…
• Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy F…
• YETI: Campground Kills
• The Darkest Deal
• Blood Moon: Dark Offerings

We can take a look at past house wait time data to get an idea of what might be the most popular houses and best days to attend HHN 23 later this year.

Past House Wait Time Averages

Each of the past full Horror Nights events (2019, 2021, and 2022), one house has clearly been the most popular choice with the highest wait time.

• 2019: Stranger Things
• 2021: Beetlejuice
• 2022: Halloween

Notice that these are all major brand houses (and typically the second and third most popular were too). Expect the trend to continue this year with the return of the enormously popular Stranger Things and Last of US IPs, plus the Exorcist and Chucky. These houses will likely average 75+ minute wait times each night. Back in 2017, the Stranger Things house saw some absolutely massive wait times, as shown in the graph below. Most of the other houses built-up their waits slowly, allowing early arrivers to take advantage of more houses. Typically, the original houses have lower wait times too. It will be interesting to how popular the Dueling Dragons house is with its nostalgia factor.

Past HHN Best/Worst Days to Go

Trends on which day is best and worst to attend has varied over the past 3 events. In 2019, Tuesdays were clearly the worst day to visit, but the other days were pretty similar. In 2021, Wednesdays had the highest average waits, and Fridays were surprisingly lower. Last year, Monday took the crown for highest wait times while Tuesday and Friday were more mild. One tip is to is to avoid the Premier UOAP days, which are September 6th to 10th, 13th to 17th , 20th to 24th, 27th to 28th, and October 4th and 5th this year. While it seems counterintuitive, past data suggests Fridays may be a good day to go because the general perception is that it will be packed.

HHN 31 Recap 

At the most recent HHN event from last year, HHN 31, the highest wait times were observed on Wednesday, October 19th. The lowest wait times were right after Hurricane Ian when crowds where intentionally limited. The sweet spot last year was the second weekend of the event. Events were heavy from mid October and on. October 11th was quite the anomaly.

During the busiest event on 10/19/22, these were the house wait times by time of day. Expect Stranger Things 4 and The Last of Us to follow patterns similar to Halloween last year. If you want to do a higher quantity of houses, it is best to start with everything else between 6 and 7 PM.

Questions? More tips? Ask them in the comments below!