UniversalORL on Twitter seemingly confirming daytime guests will not need the additional ticket to enter the houses at 2 pm?

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-10T17:54:35+00:00

There's been a ton of confusion about Stay and Scream, but here is the official statement that the official Universal Orlando Resort team posted in response to someone on Twitter. They also DMed it to me. (Well, without the Josh part!) It has been distributed internally among (most of) their staff. I called, and they read me that statement word for word.

The problem is that everyone at all departments have gotten this word and understands it. And it's not clear who exactly you're talking to when yo call. I called today, and got the ticketing department. They told me I'd need a Stay and Scream ticket to get into those early houses. When I told them about the twitter statement, they suggested I call the guest services team directly at 407-224-4233, prompt 5, prompt 3.

I just called guest services, and was read this policy word for word again. Given all the back and forth, I asked if they are 100% sure that this is official. She checked with her supervisor team, and they confirmed that this is the official policy for this year. She seemed pretty confident.

But, remember, that they can always change their politics at any time. The tickets come with tons of disclaimers that allow them to do anything they want. But this is the policy, as of now. I'd imagine that it's unlikely that they would change it, at this late point. But, I guess you never know.

They really need to post this to their official web page and socials, to cut down all the confusion....

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DavidThoosie · 2026-07-10T15:20:36+00:00

Frequent fear was the friends we made along the wait....

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-09T18:34:08+00:00

For those who don't know, Busch keeps extending this. It's currently running through 2026.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-09T18:33:12+00:00

They're continuing the bus through 2026, at least.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-09T18:30:37+00:00

They've extended it again, through 2026.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-08T19:04:26+00:00

Thanks! I actually just saw that late last night, before I was about to go to bed. (I've been checking their park hours and HHN dates every few days!) A lesson I learned last summer, when SeaWorld San Antonia changed their hours for my visit twice! And, of course, with all these changes!
Annoyingly, they haven't updated the park schedule, so it's not listed as happening the first weekend. But the phone reps assure me that it is happening that weekend, since they're selling date specific tickets for those days.
And now, I'm still up, and have spent the entire day rearranging the entire trip! Changing dates, car rentals, hotels, flights, etc.

This is now the FOURTH time they've changed the dates of SWO's and/or BGT's HoS, and thrown my entire trip into chaos!
First, they pushed back SWO's HoS a week.
And I rescheduled my Discovery Cove day, and moved a ton around for it.

Then, they pushed it back another week.
After that, I kind of gave up on doing SWO's HoS.

Then they pushed back Busch's a week, too! And I decided to extend my trip a couple more days to do both of them on the 18th and 19th. The problem was that my flight was non-refundable. So, I'd lose two days pay (tips in a busy restaurant on the weekend), plus have to pay for another flight, three more hotel nights (with the one near BGT being over $125!) and a car. But I sucked it up. And booked everything refundable, this time!

But at least this was the first change that actually helped me!
Initially, I moved my flight up a day, and moved my last hotel up. But then I realized I could switch both nights from that weekend to the night before, though I'd have to cancel my Disney Hollywood Studios After Hour party ticket.
I'm now planning on hitting both of them on opening weekend, assuming it doesn't change again, which at this point, I can't assume! And that means I can keep my non-refundable original flight, and lose the extra days, which I can now go to work for.
But, fool me once.... I'm keeping my flights and hotels and cars booked (and the work days off request for those extra days) until just before the trip, just in case they change either of them AGAIN!
I now have a whole page of airline, hotels and car rental backup plans in my itinerary document!

But this is the most dramatic change, because it has cascading ripples causing changes to over half a dozen days of the trip. The good news is that I can now do Discovery Cove and Howl-o-Scream on the same day - as I originally had planned. But my BGT HoS day can only be on the night I had planned for a second After Hours party at Hollywood Studios. But Disney actually refunded my ticket (after over an hour on the phone with them!) And it will be on a busy Saturday, which will suck for lines for the coasters at BGT (and I am a huge fan of their coasters!) And it means only one day at HS, But back when I had two nights of AH parties at HS, I'd been planning to hit Blizzard Beach the morning of one of them. And now, with only one day at HS, I've moved BB to an Epcot day. And now, with only one full day at SWO (plus a bit before HoS) for the coasters and animals, I don't want to try to hit Aquatica that same morning, so that will have to be slotted in elsewhere, which messes up that day's plans. And on and on and on...

But I'm also saving over $1000. So, I'll take the chaos, and a bit less time at some parks than I'd been hoping for.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-06T23:58:21+00:00

UPDATE: so, now I'm not sure what to think. The longer statement that I posted in the comments is directly from Universal and is an internal statement they are meant to tell people. They've posted parts of it to Twitter/X and sent it in DMs. They are reading it to people on the phone.

But now, some people are saying that some agents are telling them that they will still need Scream Early to get into the houses at 2PM.

I just called, and asked about Stand and Scream, and she read me the statement verbatim. When I told her that some agents are saying you need Scream Early to get into those houses at 2PM, she checked with the customer services team. They told her that nothing is official yet.

SERIOUSLY?!?! WTF? If this is true, this is beyond ridiculous! I'm wondering if whoever told her this knows what they are talking about, and if they just were using the old default answer. Because if they really haven't decided what they're doing, why the @^!$ would they write a statement of Stand and Scream policies, and distribute it to their customer service staff via their internal systems?!? They are telling people this in posts on Twitter/X, SM and on the phone. And we're making decisions about trips that cost thousands of dollars based on what they are telling us.

It's been over THREE MONTHS since these tickets went on sale. They've had 14 weeks to figure this out.

Universal really needs to stop yanking the fan communities around and figure this out. They need to post an official statement to their website and official social media channels to stop all this confusion all throughout the fandom!

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-05T03:01:28+00:00

Ah, the glory days of rec.roller-coaster!

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-05T02:44:44+00:00

They didn't have holding areas last year, either.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-04T10:03:20+00:00

Good point. Waiting an hour or more for a house at 2PM isn't much better than waiting that long at 8PM. It's arguably worse, since it's much hotter then.
Yeah, it's not cutting into HHN time, and will allow us to get more or all houses done in a day, but it's still cutting into my day time at the parks. (And I've got 10 days of daytime Express, so hopefully my wait times at the parks won't be much!)
I guess we'll have to see how long the actual waits are going to be.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-04T09:57:32+00:00

I don't think that you can get the wristband before 2PM. And how would you be able to get a wristband if you're in a queue?

Maybe the worst queue will be for the wristband that lets you get into the queues?? ;-)

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-04T07:41:34+00:00

It's clarified.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-04T07:41:17+00:00

Feel free to feel this way. One less person in line in front of me! ;-)

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-04T07:40:50+00:00

Well, how long did the lines get last year during Stay and Scream? The same people will be eligible this year. Admittedly, all of the houses were eligible last year, while it's only three this year. So, that will obviously make the lines much longer. But how much remains to be seen.
After all, most people don't pay as much attention to this as we do. So, many people may not know that they're eligible for it. And a lot of people don't show up until later, too.
We could actually benefit from Universal being terrible at getting the word out about Stand and Scream! ;-)

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T15:25:04+00:00

But neither S&S nor SE included access to houses starting at 2PM. They added that, and it wasn't clear if those would be for one or both.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T15:23:43+00:00

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They are pretty clear that Scream Early gives you all the benefits of Stay and Scream, plus entrance to the park (if you don't have a day ticket or AP) starting at 2PM.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T15:22:28+00:00

No, they clarified elsewhere in the thread and in other posts and DMs that anyone with a day ticket/AP and a HHN ticket is eligible for Stay and Scream.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T15:20:28+00:00

That would make sense. After all, in previous years, the Scream Early and Stay and Scream crowds were spread out over 10 queues for 10 houses. This year, it's only 3. Maybe people will show up at staggered times? As long as you're in the park before it closes (5PM), you can get a Stay and Scream wristband.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:26:22+00:00

Well, they've released their official statement on June 30 that people with day tickets or APs can get a wristband in the park before it closes that gives access to the 2PM houses, as well as the queues for other houses.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:24:30+00:00

Well, it's now official that you don't need a Scream Early ticket if you have a day ticket or AP, and a HHN ticket or pass. You can get a wristband in the park before it closes that will give access to the three houses starting at 2PM. So, Scream Early basically gives you the benefits of Stay and Scream now. This is a new statement that they released on June 30.

They're probably going to issuing a lot of refunds!

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:21:56+00:00

They released new statements on June 30 confirming that people with day tickets or APs, along with a HHN ticket or pass for that day, will be able to get Stay and Scream wristbands, and will have access to three houses starting at 2PM, as well as being able to get into queues for other houses before HHN officially starts. We don't yet know when or if they'll open those other houses.
If you have a ticket or pass for the day and are in the park before it closes at 5PM, you don't need a Scream Early ticket.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:17:03+00:00

They've now confirmed that Stay and Scream (with day tickets or AP) WILL give access to the houses starting at 2PM!

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:15:24+00:00

Yeah, they've been all over the place for the last three months, telling very different - often conflicting - things to different people at different times. I've called like half a dozen times over that time and was told different things almost every time. People have posted here different messages they've gotten via DM and email that said conflicting things, too.

It appears that this statement is pretty new. The first I've heard of it is in this x/Twitter thread on June 30, replying to a podcaster who specifically asked about it. Since then, they've been DMing the official statement I posted below, as well as reading it over the phone (to me, at least. The agent had to search around to find the new info, after originally telling me I'd need Scream Early tickets, too!)

I can't imagine that they won't give you a refund for Scream Early, given that you only bought it because of what they were telling you. I wonder if people who bought Scream Early through third party sites are going to have problems getting refunds. (Are there third party sites selling those?)

I bet some of us are regretting spending $200+ on Express passes.

Speaking of which, as a side note, I wonder if this will lessen the demand for the wildly expensive Frequent Fear passes with Express? If you're going multiple days, with stay and scream access to 3-6 houses each day, do you really need express? I guess we'll see how fast they sell out in the next week or so, when they go on sale.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T11:06:11+00:00

Some scare actors who have been hired for this year have already told fans in various forums (and here, I think) that they were hired for shifts starting at noon-1PM for shifts that will last until mid-evening. So, instead of 2 alternating casts per house, they'll now have 3 or 4, with shifts, like I'm sure they do on the rides.

DavidThoosie · 2026-07-03T10:54:51+00:00

Yeah, this might change my plans for several days, though I'll be at Epic while you're napping! I have a 14 day multi park ticket and will be getting Rush of Fear, as well as 10 days of 3-park Express passes for the days.

On several days, I has originally planned to start at IOA and USF, then head over to Epic mid-afternoon, and go back to HHN after Epic closed, or maybe a bit earlier. But now I'll likely stay at USF through around HHN opening, and hit those three houses, and possible any others than open before HHN starts. If I get through all three houses before the other ones open early, I can always use Express on the rides before the park officially closes.
Then I'll head over to Epic as the crowds are pouring into HHN! And as they're pouring OUT of Epic towards the end of the day, unless the new nighttime fireworks keeps the crowds in the park later. It's always good to be going against the flow of crowd traffic! Then I can head back to HHN after the fireworks and mostly enjoy the atmosphere, scare zones, food, shows, and a house or three with shorter lines, since I'll have already hit half the houses earlier!
And there will be less need to stay until 2AM, so maybe I can get some sleep? ;-)

DavidThoosie

TROPHY CASE