Looking for a scare this Halloween? Head to the nearest amusement park! Theme parks across the country are hosting ghastly, ghoulish events to celebrate the season, and you're invited.
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Halloween Haunt at Kings Island
Mason, Ohio
The Kings Island coasters aren’t the only things making park guests scream. Come September, the park’s annual Halloween Haunt adds frightening mazes and live shows designed with one purpose: scare you just enough to haunt your dreams until next year’s event comes ‘round. Among the upcoming attractions, along with all the rides Kings Island fans love, the Kill Mart department store-themed house, Slaughter House and a musical stage show: Monster Rock.
Photo courtesy of Kings Island
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Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion
Doswell, Va.
A host of 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
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Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America
Gurnee, Ill.
Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America offers thrill seekers several haunted houses and scare zones, including a maze from the movie Hell Fest and the cursed Manslaughter Manor.
Photo courtesy of anjanettew / Flickr
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Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Valencia, Calif.
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
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SCarowinds at Carowinds
Charlotte
Carowinds Theme Park turns into a scream park with 16 haunted attractions and shows and 500 monsters waiting to thrill and chill. Visitors to this year's event can walk the haunted Fleet Street, gather round for a berserk circus, revisit the horror classics of the '50s and '60s at Silver Scream Studios or swing by The Playground.
Photo courtesy of Carowinds
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The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce
Bristol, Conn.
Each weekend starting in late September, visitors to Lake Compounce will be entering The Haunted Graveyard, a mile-long nightmare journey featuring dark catacombs, a vampire's lair and an ancient temple hiding dark secrets.
Photo courtesy of Lake Compounce
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Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Va.
Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream celebrates 20 years of fears with more scares than ever. Fear awaits in the Virginia theme park’s collection of elaborate haunted houses, immersive themed scare zones, challenging escape rooms and darkly entertaining live shows.
Photo courtesy of Busch Gardens Williamsburg
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Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood
West Mifflin, Penn.
For 16 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
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HalloWeekends at Cedar Point
Sandusky, Ohio
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. Previous years have featured chemical-created mutants, mortuary miscreants, eerie Egyptian ghouls and 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
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Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando
Orlando
Celebrating 28 years in 2018, 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 Universal Orlando Resort
The top 10 winners in the Best Theme Park Halloween Event category are as follows:
- Halloween Haunt at Kings Island - Mason, Ohio
- Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion - Doswell, Va.
- Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America - Gurnee, Ill.
- Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain - Valencia, Calif.
- SCarowinds at Carowinds - Charlotte
- The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce - Bristol, Conn.
- Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Williamsburg, Va.
- Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood - West Mifflin, Penn.
- HalloWeekends at Cedar Point - Sandusky, Ohio
- Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando - Orlando
10Best Local Experts teamed up with Christine Barger, a.k.a. The Haunt Girl, to pick the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote.
Congratulations to all these winning Halloween events!
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The Experts
Christine Barger
Christine Barger is a Los Angeles based... Read More
Christine Barger is a Los Angeles based entertainer and blogger that loves to travel around the nation attending haunts and playing escape rooms. She has played over 400 escape rooms and attends over 30 haunts each season. You can find her reviews on her blog and YouTube channel: TheHauntGirl. She also enjoys paranormal investigations, ventriloquism and photography. Follow her on Instagram @TheHauntGirl or @ChristineBargerOfficial.
Christine Barger
Christine Barger is a Los Angeles based entertainer and blogger that loves to travel around the nation attending haunts and playing escape rooms. She has played over 400 escape rooms and attends over 30 haunts each season. You can find her reviews on her blog and YouTube channel: TheHauntGirl. She also enjoys paranormal investigations, ventriloquism and photography. Follow her on Instagram @TheHauntGirl or @ChristineBargerOfficial.
10Best Local Experts
10Best Local Experts provide users with original,... Read More
10Best Local Experts provide users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world. No business pays to be listed. Our Local Experts are well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields - and their cities - but discriminating in their tastes. These local experts live in the city they write about, with constantly updated content.
10Best Local Experts
10Best Local Experts provide users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world. No business pays to be listed. Our Local Experts are well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields - and their cities - but discriminating in their tastes. These local experts live in the city they write about, with constantly updated content.