Stay and Scream Guidance for Halloween Horror Nights 2023

Stay and Scream areas at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida provide a great way to start your night. We have some suggestions about utilizing the Stay and Scream areas for Halloween Horror Nights 2023.

Stay and Scream areas at Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) provide a way for some guests to receive a head start to enter the HHN houses. We tend to think of this as early park admission, except for HHN. Guests eligible for Stay and Scream (or Scream Early, as it is sometimes called) enter holding areas before (or soon after) 5:00 p.m. on Halloween Horror Nights evenings. This allows them to stay inside Universal Studios Florida as the park transitions to HHN.

Guests Eligible to Stay and Scream

Any guests with daytime admission to Universal Studios Florida and a separate ticket to HHN that evening may take advantage of Stay and Scream. So, annual passholders can easily take advantage of this perk. Guests using daytime admission tickets and then paying for Halloween Horror Nights that evening are in for a long, expensive day, but it could be done.

Universal Orlando Resort also offers a Halloween Horror Nights Scream Early Pass. This pass, which costs $40 this year, entitles any guest that has this pass and a Halloween Horror Nights ticket for that evening the ability to enter Universal Studios Florida at 3:00 p.m. This allows those people to enjoy the park and then enter a Stay and Scream holding area.

Stay and Scream Holding Areas

Based upon last year’s pattern and the speculated areas for the HHN houses for 2023, we have some idea where the Stay and Scream holding areas will be. With several entrance portals up, that also provides some clues. However, we cannot confirm these spots officially, and Universal Orlando has not announced these officially. Still, we think the best Stay and Scream areas will be in the following locations:

Delancey St. in the New York area of Universal Studios Florida

The usual entrance to this area resides near Louie’s Italian Restaurant. This holding area is popular since Finnegan’s Bar and Grill will operate during the waiting time for houses to open. This one also contains several HHN food booths that tend to open around 4:00. Obviously, only guests in this Stay and Scream can visit those booths before Halloween Horror Nights officially opens each evening to everyone.

We anticipate that the three HHN houses that this Stay and Scream area will initially enter are:

• Stranger Things 4
• The Exorcist: Believer (or maybe Yeti: Campground Kills)
• Dueling Dragon: Choose Thy Fate

Based on last year, guests in this Stay and Scream area should be able to enter one of these houses as early as 5:15 p.m. Considering the event officially opens at 6:30 p.m., that makes for a large head start. Based on crowd levels, guests might be able to experience these three houses before 6:30 p.m. Though we would not expect that on opening weekend.

Springfield, USA area

This Stay and Scream area usually includes Central Park (where people queue), Lard Lad’s Donuts, Duff Brewery, and Bumblebee Man’s Taco Truck. This competes with the New York Stay and Scream area for the largest number of people. An entrance to this scare zone should be set up near the entrance to the lagoon area.

Usually, when you enter this Stay and Scream area, you must decide between three different queues. Two of the queues take you to an HHN house. These queues lead to different houses, so choose wisely. The third queue leads to the dining options in Springfield. Remember, Fast Food Boulevard will not be open during Stay and Scream time.

Based on speculation, the two HHN house options in this Stay and Scream area will probably be “The Last of Us” and Universal Monsters: Unmasked.  The Classic Monster house was in this area last year.

However, since most of KidZone is under construction, the route guests will take to these houses should look different this year.

Richter’s Burger Co.

This served as a new Stay and Scream area last year. We used this location a few times based on the weather. With Richter’s Burger Co. having plenty of indoor seating, this makes it a good place to stay dry and refill your Coke Freestyle Cup.

Last year, we entered this holding area between Chez Alcatraz and the San Francisco Candy Factory​. All signs (and the Chucky HHN food and beverage booth) point to the Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count HHN house being nearby. Guests being released from this holding area will enter that house first.

While this Stay and Scream area does not make for an ideal choice for an efficient touring plan, you can stay dry, which means a lot on an HHN evening.

Other Stay and Scream Areas

Two other Stay and Scream areas should be used for this year’s event. A holding area will be set up at TODAY Café. However, guests may have to wait in a queue outside this area before getting to Stay and Scream at TODAY Café. Guests in this holding area will receive no special access to a house early. Thus, we do not recommend this area unless you need to see the opening ceremony near the front entrance.

Another Stay and Scream area will probably be used again this year. This area between Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and Universal Studios Store will allow guests to enter the HHN house located nearby. The Universal Orlando Resort hotel guests using the side entrance will also enter this way. We think people in this area will first enter Blood Moon Dark Offerings and then exit into the New York area. That is educated speculation, so we cannot be as confident about that.

Either way, we recommend the New York and Springfield areas over the other choices unless it is raining. If it rains, Richter’s becomes a viable option. Since this is HHN, expect rain and expect it often, so prepare now.

We wish you a spooky good time for Halloween Horror Nights 2023. We hope to see you in the fog.