Best Theme Park Halloween Event (2015)

Seventeen nights of horrifying mazes, roaming zombies and spooky shows await thrill seekers at this famed California theme park – threats so terrifying, in fact, you may just opt for the relative “calm” of riding the world-class roller coasters in the dark instead! Looney Tunes characters and holiday crafts delight wee ones by day, but all bets are off at night when cannibals, ghostly circus performers, man-eating plants and more darken every turn.
Photo courtesy of Six Flags Magic Mountain

Thrills by day, frights by night is the theme in New Jersey, where the scariest great adventures come after dark. While the sun’s up, family-friendly fun abounds with spooky magic shows, eerie animal antics, a trick-or-treat trail and more. But the fun turns dark when the clock strikes six and this thrill park becomes a chill park for those brave enough to stay. Devilish demons and a real-live carnival of horror are among the terrors on tap in 2015.
Photo courtesy of Six Flags Great Adventure

The glitz and glamour of legendary Las Vegas morphs into murder and mayhem inside the fearsome Fright Dome, consistently ranked among the top Halloween attractions in the nation. Each year, this unique, indoor fear festival transforms the Circus Circus Adventuredome into a horror-lover’s playground; multiple houses and scare zones, 25 rides and attractions and live shows that bleed entertainment.... Literally. Think you can survive the murderous clutches of the Insanitarium or the murderous animals of the Slaughterhouse? Only time will tell.
Photo courtesy of Fright Dome

A host of new haunts are on tap at this Virginia favorite, where dangers lurk in the eerie woods just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the ghosts of criminally insane inmates are looking to satisfy their eternal bloodlust – though “Skareoke” at the Annex at Club Blood could prove the most frightening entertainment of all! Live shows, mazes and more are in store and each year the mayhem spreads like a Halloween virus. Kings Dominion’s fierce fans are most definitely infected.
Photo courtesy of Kings Dominion

It’s been Amusement Today’s Best Halloween Event for seven years running. There’s got to be a reason. Celebrating 25 years in 2015, Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights immerses gleeful guests in gore from end to end. Killer clowns, brain-starved zombies and violence-bent Purgers are among the characters you might meet as you navigate the streets– which transform each evening into a hellscape of bone-chilling screams. You’ll find little refuge in any of its nine horrifying houses.
Photo courtesy of 2014 Universal Orlando Resort.

Cedar Point rolls out the orange carpet for kids and grown-ups come Halloween time. When the sun goes down, its cheery exterior morphs into the stuff that haunts your dreams. On tap this year: chemical-created mutants, mortuary miscreants, eerie Egyptian ghouls and an all-new attraction that may bring you face to face with the proof that lycanthropes live among us. Bring the wee ones during the day for a family-friendly affair that’s trick-or-treat’tacular.
Photo courtesy of Cedar Point

The treats are still sweet come nightfall at Hersheypark, but they do take on a Halloween theme that offers a fanciful bump-in-the-night for families. The park’s famed thrill rides become “roller ghosters” and a trick-or-treat trail offers extra interactive fun for the kids. Theming throughout adds holiday allure and a “Creatures of the Night” flashlight tour at neighboring Zoo America gives guests an educational extra to pair with all that candy.
Photo courtesy of Hersheypark

For 14 years running, Phantom Fright Nights has been luring Kennywood fans back for Halloween-themed thrills they can’t get any other time of year as their favorite attractions go Jekyll-Hyde, transforming into dark, fearsome alter egos well suited for the holiday. Raging Rapids, for example, is drained to become Voodoo Bayou, a devastatingly dangerous attraction for those brave enough to enter. Also on tap: BioFear, Mortem Manor, Villa of the Vampires and more. Don’t come alone.
Photo courtesy of Kennywood

Mixing the biggest names in horror entertainment with exciting original content is the Universal specialty. This year’s California event bring six haunted houses to life, including blockbuster brands like AMC’s The Walking Dead and the iconic, classic-slasher horror of Halloween’s Michael Myers. All-new offerings include the exceptional dance moves of America’s Best Dance Crew winners, Jabbawockeez, and for those less enthused about taking part in The Purge, the Terror Tram will provide safe haven…. Or will it?
Photo courtesy of 2015 Universal Studios Hollywood

While Busch Gardens sometimes shares scare content across parks – as it will this year with Unearthed, an all-new house from the fertile, freakish minds that brought “The Blair Witch Project” to the big screen – there’s more than enough to inspire serious horror fans to visit both. Williamsburg’s outdoor Terror-tories scare zones are fraught with fearsome frights. Fiery fiends, a graveyard of lost pirate souls, a trip through Jack the Ripper’s foggy London hunting ground and more await visitors in 2015.
Photo courtesy of Busch Gardens Williamsburg