By Candyce H. Stapen
Halloween is not just for kids. The creepy creatures and morbid monsters patrolling the streets and popping out at evening Halloween happenings at some Universal, Busch Gardens and Kings Island theme parks are a chillingly refreshing change from the same old ghouls and goblins.
The after-dark frights pack such a wallop that the parks recommend the events for ages 13 and older. Grab your buddy, partner and especially your sometimes-sullen teen. After all, there's nothing like running from vampires and back-from-the-dead corpses to build bonds that will stretch through the school year.
On select nights in September through early November, highly skilled creators and technicians transform the parks into spectacularly spooky worlds. Haunted houses and mazes burst with vicious skeletons, bloody werewolves and deranged butchers. The park's streets fill with long-dead pirates, loony lumbermen and other sinister beings. Catch your breath at the live music and entertainment shows before heading out into the night for more mayhem.
In 2024, Universal Orlando Resort earned the title of Golden Ticket Legend for Best Halloween Event from Amusement Today. During Halloween Horror Nights, the theme park delves deep into its stash of made-for-film professional skills to resurrect fearsome creatures and construct eerie settings that reflect pop culture, including movies. The expert timing and technical savvy make the 10 haunted houses intense. Otherworldly pizza patrons pop out at you at "Five Nights at Freddy's," bloodied dead bodies confront you at "Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters," and tortured dolls and eerie toys attempt to capture you at "Dolls: Let's Play Dead."
Think you're safe because you made it through? Nah. More spookiness awaits in the scare zones. In these streets, often enveloped in fog, you don't see the chainsaw-wielding carnies, hungry zombies and other deranged folk until they lurch in front of you.
Escape the terror for a time at the live shows. Illusions and pyrotechnics dominate "Nightmare Fuel: Circus of Decay," and a ghost tale unspools at "Haunt-O-Phonic: A Ghoulish Journey." Need sustenance? Munch on Universal's clever themed food from adorable Halloween cupcakes to bloody clown popcorn. Universal also offers similar Halloween Horror Nights at its parks in Hollywood, California; Singapore; and Japan.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg, a frequent winner of the World's Most Beautiful Theme Park, gains fame for its animal experiences, live shows, rides and its 10 roller coasters. On Howl-O-Scream nights, get tossed, spun and turned upside down in the dark, making these coasters even more devilishly delightful.
Come face-to-face with a chain-breaking werewolf tracking his hunters at "Werewolves, the Wolf's Revenge," one of the park's five haunted houses. Try to escape from twisted jesters at "Clown Town," and at "Bloodshot," a testament to warped history, confront the undead at a dive bar in the ruins of Pompeii.
At Busch Gardens, the scare actors live in six Terror-Tories. Mangled villagers run from an escaped Big Bad Wolf in the Bavarian Village. In Wicked Wonderland, an anti-Christmas village decorated with rotting garlands and sneering snowmen look out for Krampus, the horned creature known to punish naughty children during the holiday season. Get your blood pressure back to normal at the percussive powerhouse "Monster Stomp on Ripper Row" and by toe-tapping to dancing bones at "Skeletons in Your Closet." Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Florida, offers similar Howl-O-Scream events.
Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, about 25 miles from Cincinnati, draws Midwesterners. During Halloween Haunt, wend your way through scare zones and tackle The Beast, touted as the world's longest wooden roller coaster — a whopping 7,361 feet — in the dark. Haunted mazes (separate purchase required) lead you through catacombs, past dragons and into cornfields where wicked scarecrows look for revenge.
"The Conjuring: Beyond Fear," new this season, takes its terror from the "Conjuring" films. As a paranormal observer tasked with placing the bedeviled Annabelle doll back into her case, you encounter demonic entities, strobe lights, moving platforms and 3D images.
Be sure to check each park's policy on wearing a costume. Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood forbid this. Consider visiting for more than one night and purchasing express passes to skip the lines. After all, there's so much horror to enjoy. And who doesn't feel as if they need a good scream?
WHEN YOU GO
Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights: universalorlando.com/hhn/en/us
Universal Studios Hollywood Horror Nights, select nights through Nov. 1: universalstudioshollywood.com/hhn/en/us
Universal Studios Singapore, select nights through Nov. 1: rwsentosa.com/en/play/universal-studios-singapore/hhn13
Universal Studios Japan, select nights through Nov. 3: usj.co.jp/e/halloween
Busch Gardens Williamsburg, select nights through Nov. 2:
buschgardens.com/williamsburg/events/howl-o-scream
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, select nights through Nov. 1. buschgardens.com/tampa/events/howl-o-scream
Kings Island, Mason, Ohio, select nights through Nov. 1: visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt
Candyce H. Stapen is a writer at www.greatfamilyvacations.com.
Follow her on Instagram @candycestapen Twitter @familyitrips (Candyce H. Stapen), www.facebook.com/FamilyiTrips/ and at www.hennyskids.org, her non-profit that brings solar-powered computers and soccer balls to rural schools in Africa.
Demonic toys pop out at visitors at Universal Orlando's haunted house, "Dolls: Let's Play Dead." Photo courtesy of Universal Orlando Resort.
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