Unleash the Horror- at Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights
I am a self-proclaimed chicken. Halloween is not my holiday (I’m a Christmas gal) and I truly attended 4 Halloween Horror Nights before I ever entered a haunted house…
Yet I LOVE Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando.
Halloween Horror Nights is a special ticket event at Universal Studios Florida park at Universal Orlando resort. The event runs from 6:30pm until 2am on most Wednesdays through Sundays from the end of August until early November. Guests with a standard day ticket that do not have Halloween Horror Nights ticket for that night will be required to exit the park by 5:30pm. Tickets start around $80 per person and includes access to the event that features 5 ScareZones, 10 Haunted Houses, and a special show. Event attendees can also purchase special themed food, drinks and merchandise.
For 2026, tickets are already available and the event dates are:
August 27, 28, 29, 30
September 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30
October 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31
November 1
While you can have a fun night with a standard ticket, the best way to experience this event is with an RIP tour. The RIP Tour is a special tour during Halloween Horror Nights that gives you front of the line access to the Haunted Houses, select snacks available in the VIP lounge before your tour starts, a guide to share details about the event and so much more. There are private RIP tours (just your party and your guide) or a shared experience for up to 14 guests with your guide and they are both excellent. This is one of the only ways to see all the houses and ScareZones in one night. Plus, as a scaredy cat, my guide was amazing at helping me decide which houses to enter and which ones I would wait outside for the group (and because they had front of the line access, I only had to wait outside for a few minutes- shorter than most guests are still waiting in the Express Pass lane).
If you really love the details, then you will want to plan to do an Unmasking the Horror tour which will take you through 3 or 6 of the Haunted Houses during the daytime with the lights on. You will learn more about the stories of the houses which makes you appreciate each house even more when you walk through during the event.
Even if you aren’t attending Halloween Horror Nights, many of the Universal Orlando resorts bring out their scary side. I would love to help you plan and build your scariest (or not so scary) fall visit to Universal Orlando. Head to amyrunsonmagic.com/bookyourtrip and click on Universal Destinations to get started.
