Halloween at Hersheypark: Haunted Mazes, Scare Zones, Roller Coasters & Dark Nights

Hello, spooky cats!

There are haunted hotels.

There are abandoned prisons.

There are cemeteries, battlefields, ghost tours, paranormal museums...

And then there are places where someone decides that what an amusement park really needs is fog, fire, monsters, screaming people, and a haunted coal mine.

Welcome to Halloween at Hersheypark.

We love Halloween events because they fall into their own unusual corner of dark tourism. Nothing terrible necessarily happened here. We aren't visiting the location of a tragedy or investigating a genuine haunting.

Instead, this is horror tourism—traveling somewhere specifically because people have transformed an ordinary place into something dark, creepy, theatrical, and wonderfully ridiculous.

Hersheypark already has roller coasters.

Add haunted houses, scare actors, creepy carnivals, fire effects, fog, monsters, Halloween drinks, and people hiding in dark corners waiting to terrify my husband?

Now we're talking.

Halloween in the Sweetest Place on Earth

Hersheypark is probably better known for chocolate than horror.

The park began in the early 1900s as a recreation area for employees of Milton Hershey's chocolate company and eventually developed into the massive amusement park we know today.

Normally, Hershey means chocolate bars, Reese's cups, roller coasters, and giant candy characters walking around waving at children.

Halloween changes things.

Once evening arrives, parts of the park become much darker.

Fog starts rolling across the pathways.

Scare actors appear.

Haunted mazes open.

Fire shoots into the air.

Suddenly the place selling giant chocolate desserts feels considerably less innocent.

Perfect.

Hersheypark vs. Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt

We had recently experienced Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion, so naturally we were comparing the two events.

Hersheypark was more expensive during our visit, although not dramatically so.

It was also much busier.

That became apparent almost immediately.

There were people everywhere.

Long lines.

Longer lines.

And then lines for the lines.

We hoped we could make it through all five haunted mazes before the end of the night.

Fortunately, we had purchased access that helped with the mazes.

Otherwise, I am not convinced we would have made it through everything.

Hersheypark Has Changed a Lot

We had not visited Hersheypark in quite a while.

And it showed.

The entrance area looked completely different from what I remembered.

There were new buildings.

Things had moved.

And suddenly there was a giant roller coaster sitting right near the front gate.

Where did THAT come from?

Apparently, we had been away much longer than I realized.

The park now packs an impressive number of coasters into the property, and because we hadn't been there in years, several rides were completely new to us.

That gave us another problem.

We came primarily for Halloween.

But there were roller coasters.

You cannot put a roller coaster directly in front of me and expect me to behave responsibly.

Candymonium

Our first major ride was Candymonium.

It dominates the newer entrance area and was definitely not there during our previous visit.

The ride turned out to be a lot of fun.

It reminded me somewhat of rides like Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens—big hills, speed, airtime, and that floating-out-of-your-seat feeling that makes you wonder why amusement parks don't provide seat belts for your internal organs.

It is also strangely appropriate that Hersheypark named a massive roller coaster after candy.

Nothing says chocolate quite like being hurled through the air at highway speeds.

Our Fast Pass Confusion

We initially thought our wristbands included ride Fast Track access.

They did not.

What we actually had was priority access for the haunted attractions.

Which, considering why we were there, was probably the more important choice.

Unlimited ride access would have required another upgrade during our visit, and it was expensive enough that we decided we could survive waiting in regular ride lines.

We were primarily there for the monsters.

The roller coasters were just a bonus.

Apparently Water Costs Almost as Much as Alcohol

Eventually, my husband located beer.

He has a gift.

You can put him anywhere in the world and within approximately fifteen minutes he will find either beer or a brewery.

Hersheypark was no exception.

He ordered a spiked tropical punch.

I ordered water.

The water was only slightly cheaper.

Theme-park economics are fascinating.

At some point, you begin wondering whether hydration is actually a luxury experience.

Storm Runner

Next came Storm Runner.

This is one of Hersheypark's launch coasters and has always been one of the rides we enjoy.

Instead of slowly climbing a giant hill while you reconsider every decision that brought you here, Storm Runner launches you.

Fast.

Very fast.

The ride itself feels surprisingly short because everything happens so quickly.

You launch.

You fly.

You twist around.

And then suddenly you're sitting in the station wondering if that was really the whole thing.

Short but fun.

Jolly Rancher Remix

Then we rode Jolly Rancher Remix.

This one takes you forward through the course before eventually sending you backward.

We sat toward the back, which meant we got particularly high during part of the ride.

I have a fear of heights.

Naturally, I keep riding roller coasters.

Apparently I believe repeated exposure will either cure me or eventually finish me off.

The ride triggered the fear nicely.

Still fun.

Fahrenheit

Then came Fahrenheit.

This coaster sends you almost straight upward before dropping you almost straight back down.

Because apparently normal hills are insufficient.

The line was long.

Very long.

Probably around an hour during our visit.

That is another thing to consider if you're visiting Hersheypark during Halloween season.

If you're trying to ride coasters AND complete all the haunted houses, you have to manage your time carefully.

Once the haunts open, the night disappears quickly.

A Break at The Chocolatier

Eventually, we needed food and drinks.

We tried to get into The Chocolatier, Hersheypark's full-service restaurant, but it was booked.

The bar was still an option, so that is where we ended up.

Honestly, I was not upset.

The drink menu looked fantastic.

There were multiple cocktails I wanted to try, including wonderfully ridiculous dessert-style drinks.

Why don't more places offer martini flights?

I support tiny drinks.

Tiny drinks allow you to pretend you are being responsible while drinking several different things.

Science.

The Take Five Chicken Sandwich

Then we ordered food.

I got a Take Five-inspired chicken sandwich.

It had peanut butter on it.

Yes.

Peanut butter.

On chicken.

At Hersheypark, apparently even dinner must become candy.

It sounds strange.

But peanut sauces appear in plenty of savory cuisines, so the concept isn't as bizarre as it first seems.

My husband got a burger.

There were also massive chocolate desserts wandering past us that looked like they contained approximately a week's worth of calories.

Hershey does not believe in subtle desserts.

Skyrush Before the Darkness

We also managed to get on Skyrush.

It had been temporarily closed earlier, so we weren't sure we would get the chance.

Fortunately, it reopened.

Skyrush has an intense first drop and plenty of speed.

It was fun.

But by then, something more important was approaching.

6:00 p.m.

Spooky time.

When Hersheypark Changes

At six, the haunted attractions and scare zones began opening.

This is when the mood of the park changed.

During the daytime, you still have families, roller coasters, food, and giant candy mascots.

After dark?

Fog.

Fire.

Monsters.

Screaming.

Scare actors moving through the pathways.

Halloween had officially arrived.

If you are visiting with small children, this is something to consider.

The park becomes much more intense once the evening horror programming begins.

Haunted Coal Mine

Our first haunted maze was the Haunted Coal Mine.

Finding it took a little effort.

The lines were already long.

Fortunately, our haunt upgrade helped.

Even the priority line wasn't exactly empty.

That tells you how busy Hersheypark gets during Halloween.

Eventually, we reached the dark entrance.

And into the mine we went.

Going Underground

The Haunted Coal Mine ended up being one of my favorite attractions of the night.

The elevator effect at the beginning was especially fun.

Fake elevator effects are common in haunted attractions, but when they're done properly, your brain knows perfectly well that you aren't actually descending hundreds of feet underground...

And somehow your stomach still believes it.

The maze included several effects I had encountered in other haunted attractions, but that didn't make them less effective.

There is something naturally creepy about mines anyway.

Darkness.

Tunnels.

Confined spaces.

Things hiding around corners.

It is practically a haunted-house designer's dream.

Why Mines Are Already Perfect Horror Locations

Mining has always been fertile ground for dark folklore.

Underground spaces naturally trigger fears of darkness, confinement, collapse, isolation, and being unable to escape.

Real mining history also includes disasters, dangerous working conditions, fires, explosions, cave-ins, and countless deaths.

The Hersheypark maze is theatrical rather than historical dark tourism, but it borrows that visual language.

Put me inside a fake mine tunnel.

Turn off most of the lights.

Add something breathing behind me.

Done.

I am interested.

Fallout Zone

After leaving the mine, we headed into one of the scare zones.

The Fallout Zone had a post-apocalyptic feeling.

Scare zones work differently from haunted houses because there is no controlled entrance or narrow path.

You simply walk through them.

Which means the scare actors can come from anywhere.

Behind you.

Beside you.

Out of the fog.

They especially seem to enjoy targeting people who are concentrating on their cameras.

I have no idea why that would apply to me.

Estate of Evil

Our second haunted maze was Estate of Evil.

This attraction ended up producing one of my favorite moments of the entire night.

Not because of me.

Because of my husband.

The scare actors were extremely good at standing perfectly still and looking like props.

Even in decent lighting, some looked fake.

My husband apparently decided one was definitely a mannequin.

It was not.

The "prop" moved.

He jumped.

He will deny this.

I was there.

It happened.

And because he is normally much harder to scare than I am, I treasured the moment.

The Best Scare Actors Know When Not to Move

One of the most effective techniques in haunted attractions is surprisingly simple.

Do nothing.

We expect scare actors to jump out.

We expect screaming.

We expect movement.

So when someone remains completely motionless among fake bodies or mannequins, our brains categorize them as scenery.

Then they move.

That tiny violation of expectation can be far more effective than someone charging toward you from twenty feet away.

Estate of Evil did this extremely well during our visit.

It may have been my favorite maze for that reason.

Also because my husband got scared.

I cannot emphasize that enough.

Midway of Misery

Next came Midway of Misery.

During daylight, some scare zones can feel slightly awkward.

You can clearly see the actors.

You can see the props.

You can see where everything is positioned.

Then darkness arrives.

Completely different experience.

Fog starts swallowing sections of the walkway.

Lighting becomes more dramatic.

Scare actors disappear into shadows.

Suddenly the same decorations that looked theatrical an hour earlier become much more convincing.

This was definitely one of those areas that improved as the night got darker.

The Slider Problem

Scare zones also had plenty of actors sliding across the pavement.

If you've never experienced haunt sliders, they wear protective equipment that allows them to drop down and slide toward guests, often producing a loud scraping sound and sparks or dramatic movement.

They are extremely effective when you don't see them coming.

Especially when you're looking through a camera screen.

Ask me how I know.

Kill N' Fill Garage

Another attraction during our visit was Kill N' Fill Garage.

This was newer for the season we attended.

The theme was exactly as subtle as the name suggests.

Cars.

Garage.

Murder.

Halloween.

Works for me.

By this point, we had already gone through several attractions and were starting to develop favorites.

Estate of Evil was still winning because of the makeup and motionless actors.

But we had more to see.

Fire Makes Everything Better

Throughout the park, we encountered large bursts of fire.

I love fire effects.

I know this is probably not shocking information.

Give me fog and fire at a Halloween attraction and I am happy.

There is something about huge bursts of flame appearing above an amusement park that instantly changes the atmosphere.

Especially when you are surrounded by monsters.

Perfectly reasonable family entertainment.

Twisted Carnevil

Next came Twisted Carnevil.

If you don't like clowns, you already know where this is going.

Creepy carnivals are one of those horror themes that never seem to disappear.

They combine several naturally unsettling things:

Bright colors in dark environments.

Distorted music.

Laughing faces.

Masks.

Clowns.

Mirrors.

Carnival games that already feel slightly suspicious even when nobody is trying to murder you.

This attraction was shorter than some of the others, but it had one feature I absolutely loved.

Mirror Maze!

There was a mirror-maze section.

I love mirror mazes.

I wish haunted attractions would make enormous ones.

Not a little section.

Give me a giant mirror maze where I genuinely have no idea how to escape.

Let scare actors wander around inside.

Maybe I disappear.

Maybe I emerge three days later.

That is commitment to Halloween.

The reflections make it difficult to determine where actors are standing and create an easy opportunity for misdirection.

You see something approaching.

Turn around.

Nothing.

Look back.

Monster.

Excellent.

One Maze Left

By now, we had completed four haunted attractions.

Only one remained.

We were tired.

We had been walking around Hersheypark for hours.

The crowds had been heavy.

Lines were long.

But there was no way we were leaving without completing all five.

Spooky Cat Lady rules.

If there are five haunted houses, we are going through five haunted houses.

Auntie Mortem's Abattoir

Our final maze was Auntie Mortem's Abattoir.

The name alone tells you that this one was intended to be particularly gruesome.

"Abattoir" is basically a slaughterhouse.

So you can probably imagine the theme.

The line moved slowly, but eventually we made it inside.

At one point, the scare actors apparently tried separating my husband from the group.

He realized what was happening and turned around.

Nice try.

The Spinning Tunnel

This maze had one of my favorite haunted-house effects.

The spinning tunnel.

I LOVE these.

You walk across a stationary bridge while the huge tunnel surrounding you rotates.

Your eyes insist the entire world is moving.

Your feet know the floor is not.

Your brain becomes angry.

Suddenly walking in a straight line feels impossible.

It is such a simple illusion, but it works extremely well.

Every haunt should have one.

I have spoken.

Was It Really That Gory?

The attraction had been described as especially gory.

I didn't think it was dramatically worse than the others.

Maybe we have watched too many horror movies.

At some point your gore scale becomes distorted.

Normal person:

"Oh my God! That's horrifying!"

Horror fan:

"That's a pretty good intestine effect."

Still, the maze was fun and made a strong ending to our five-haunt mission.

Mission accomplished.

We got through everything.

Hersheypark After Dark

After completing the final maze, we walked back through Midway of Misery.

Now it was fully dark.

This was when the scare zone really worked.

Fog hung heavily across the pathways.

Scare actors moved through the haze.

Sliders appeared from nowhere.

Fire effects flashed overhead.

The entire environment felt much more atmospheric than it had earlier.

If you are attending primarily for the Halloween side of Hersheypark, stay after dark.

The lighting and fog make an enormous difference.

Is Hersheypark Halloween Actually Scary?

This was one of my biggest questions going into the event.

Hersheypark has traditionally felt very family-oriented to me.

Would the haunted attractions actually be scary?

Or would everything be toned down?

The answer was somewhere in the middle.

I did not think this was an extreme haunt.

If you regularly visit intense haunted attractions, you're probably not going to spend the entire night terrified.

But the mazes were fun.

The actors were enthusiastic.

The sets had some good effects.

The scare zones became atmospheric after dark.

And several scares genuinely worked.

Especially on my husband.

Never forgetting that.

Hersheypark or Kings Dominion?

During our visit, we kept comparing Hersheypark's Halloween event with Kings Dominion's Halloween Haunt.

The two experiences had different strengths.

Hersheypark was more crowded and more expensive for us.

But Hershey had stronger food and drink options, and I preferred its coaster lineup overall.

Hershey also had the advantage of feeling newer to us because we hadn't visited in so long.

Kings Dominion felt more aggressively horror-focused in some areas.

Hershey still retained more of its family amusement-park personality underneath everything.

Which one you prefer probably depends on what you want.

If you primarily want extreme scares, your answer may be different.

If you want roller coasters + Halloween + good food + drinks + haunted houses, Hershey makes a strong combination.

Horror Tourism With Roller Coasters

This is why I consider Halloween amusement-park events part of our dark tourism travels.

They aren't historically "dark" in the way Gettysburg or a prison might be.

They are manufactured dark tourism.

Everything is deliberately designed to let us safely play with fear.

We enter a haunted coal mine knowing the mine isn't going to collapse.

We walk through a slaughterhouse maze knowing nobody is actually being butchered.

We let monsters chase us while knowing security guards and funnel cakes are nearby.

Humans have always turned frightening subjects into entertainment.

Ghost stories around fires.

Grand Guignol theater.

Horror novels.

Monster movies.

Haunted attractions.

Modern theme-park Halloween events are simply the enormous, fog-machine-filled version of the same impulse.

We apparently enjoy being scared.

As long as we can buy a cocktail afterward.

The Perfect Halloween Combination

Hersheypark combines several things we love:

Roller coasters.

Halloween.

Haunted houses.

Scare zones.

Food.

Alcohol.

Fire.

Fog.

Chocolate.

That is a surprisingly powerful formula.

You can spend the afternoon riding coasters and eating ridiculous food, then watch the entire park transition into something darker as evening arrives.

You don't have to dedicate the whole day to haunted houses.

There is always something else to do.

How Long Do You Need?

We arrived around noon.

We left somewhere around 8:30 p.m.

That meant we spent roughly eight and a half hours in the park.

That is basically a workday.

Except my job normally does not involve being launched by a roller coaster and chased through a fake slaughterhouse.

We were exhausted.

Halloween theme parks involve an incredible amount of walking.

Then standing.

Then walking uphill.

Then standing in another line.

Then getting on a roller coaster.

Then walking across the park because the haunted maze you want is somehow on the opposite side.

Wear comfortable shoes.

Seriously.

Is the Haunted Attraction Fast Pass Worth It?

For us?

Yes.

Absolutely.

The park was extremely busy during our visit.

Even some priority-access lines still had waits.

Without faster access to the haunted houses, completing every maze while also riding coasters and eating would have been much harder.

If your main goal is experiencing every haunt on a busy weekend, I would seriously consider whatever priority haunted-attraction option is available during your visit.

Packages and prices can change each season, so check the current options before buying.

Plan Your Food

Restaurants can become packed.

We were unable to get a regular table at The Chocolatier because reservations were full.

Fortunately, we could use the bar.

If there is somewhere you definitely want to eat, make reservations early when possible.

Halloween weekends attract huge crowds.

Apparently monsters also need dinner.

Ride the Coasters Before the Haunts Open

If you want both rides and haunted attractions, I would spend the earlier part of the day concentrating on coasters.

Once the haunted houses open, shift your attention toward them.

Otherwise, you may end up standing in an hour-long coaster line while five haunted mazes are waiting for you.

We managed to do both, but it was a long day.

Don't Judge the Scare Zones Before Dark

Some of the scare zones didn't impress me much while there was still daylight.

After sunset?

Much better.

Fog and theatrical lighting completely change an environment.

Midway of Misery especially benefited from darkness.

So if an area seems underwhelming at six o'clock, walk through it again later.

It may feel entirely different.

Watch the Actors Who Look Fake

Important safety announcement:

If you see a mannequin inside a haunted attraction...

Assume it is a person.

Especially if my husband tells you it's definitely fake.

Ending the Night With Beer

On our way out, exhausted after more than eight hours of walking, coasters, food, haunted houses, and scare zones, we stopped for another beer.

Because apparently that is how our trips end.

We said goodbye to our creepy Hershey friends and started heading toward the exit.

My feet were done.

My body was done.

My camera battery was probably done.

But I was happy.

Is Hersheypark Halloween Worth Visiting?

For horror fans who also enjoy amusement parks, definitely.

This isn't the kind of attraction I would recommend because you're going to encounter genuine paranormal phenomena.

You probably won't.

There isn't some documented ghost of Milton Hershey chasing people through a roller coaster station.

At least I hope not.

But as Halloween horror tourism, it works.

You get elaborate haunted attractions, scare zones, fog, fire effects, actors, creepy environments, major roller coasters, unusual food, drinks, and the strange experience of watching a family amusement park transform as darkness falls.

Our Favorite Haunted Maze

For me, Estate of Evil probably won.

The scare actors were excellent at blending into the scenery, and the fact that they fooled my husband made it particularly memorable.

The Haunted Coal Mine was also high on my list because I liked the elevator effect and the overall underground theme.

Twisted Carnevil earned extra points for the mirror maze.

And Auntie Mortem's had the spinning tunnel.

Basically, I want to steal the best part of every attraction and combine them into one gigantic haunted house.

Someone should give me a theme park.

This seems reasonable.

Final Thoughts on Halloween at Hersheypark

Hersheypark during Halloween is one of those trips that reminds me dark tourism doesn't always have to involve real death or tragedy.

Sometimes we travel because we love the darker side of entertainment.

Horror movies.

Haunted houses.

Ghost stories.

Monsters.

Roller coasters in the dark.

Fake blood.

Creepy clowns.

Fire shooting into the air while someone slides toward you through a wall of fog.

Hershey takes a place associated with chocolate and family vacations and, for a few hours every evening, lets the monsters take over.

We rode Candymonium.

We launched on Storm Runner.

We survived Fahrenheit.

We ate food containing entirely too much chocolate.

We made it through all five haunted mazes.

My husband got scared by a human pretending to be a mannequin.

And after eight and a half hours, we limped back toward the exit completely exhausted.

So yes.

Successful Halloween trip.

Would we go back?

Absolutely.

Just maybe after my feet recover.

Stay spooky, cats!