Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios) and Hallo Scream (Busch Gardens)

Living in FL, I'm a big fan of theme parks. Each halloween, two of my favorites have a cool halloween event, with shows, haunted houses, scare zones, and of course, their usual rides.

In Tampa, Busch Gardens has Hallo Scream. The insider tip here is DO THE TOURS. Seriously, for not too much above admission, you can get a 5 hr guided tour, 20% off merchandise, front of the line access to haunted houses and rides, and select seating at shows, and free parking. The one I mentioned was the Mega Tour. It's the best value of the bunch, not the most expensive, not the cheapest, but with this one, you can see ALL the houses, and ride your favorite rides in the park. Without a tour, you're waiting in line for at least an hour for EACH one!!!

In Orlando, Universal Studios has Halloween Horror Nights. There are two ways to go here. You can either do the tours (they are a bit more than Busch Gardens' pricing), or you can get Express Passes to wait in a shorter line (about 15-25 min) for haunted houses and rides. The Express Pass route is a little more affordable, but you will wait some time in line and may not see everything. Depends on how much you want to spend.

I try and do both of these each year, if we can swing it. Like Busch Gardens, the haunted house and ride lines can be long, but mostly only for the most popular rides and houses. Others will be almost no line or wait. So, I thought I'd pass along what I've learned. Lines suck, especially in FL heat...

Oh man I love both of them!! Haven't been to either in about four years though, because we don't live in Florida anymore. . Does Universal Studios still do the Bill and Ted show? That was a classic and cracked me up everytime.

To anyone that takes the OP's advice and goes to one of these. Busch Gardens is going to have more rides. If you're a roller coaster buff. I say pick Busch Gardens, only so you can ride The Sheikra in the dark. That roller coaster rocks! Plus they have several others, and of course, about 8 haunted houses. If you pick Universal Studios, they have a couple of coasters, but their haunted houses are awesome. Mixed in with a lot of funny and spooky Halloween shows, that run off and on throughout the night. They also have some pretty good people doing concerts during that week (or at least they used to, this part may have been changed).

Dang now I'm sad and missing Florida . Have fun when you go OP!

reply to post by Gazrok


Both my boys are killing me to go to the Elitches 6 flags out here for the same - they are just too young for the real stuff, but during the day they have a kids version, toned way down. I want to go to the ones at night

CJ

I've never gone to Hallo Scream, but I've gone to Halloween Horror Nights several times and it's always been fun. One of my favorite things to do is ask one of the actors what he's doing later as he's attempting to scare me. The confused look on their faces is always classic! It's as though they don't know whether to answer me or keep trying to scare me.
One time I did get a kiss though, so that was pretty funny.

If you go to Halloween Horror Nights, don't miss the Bill and Ted Show!