A Guide to 90 Days of Orlando Halloween Celebrations
The city of Orlando invites visitor, whether local or tourists, to have a bit of fun during the spooky season with its lineup of spooky experiences. 90 days of events from horror movie brunches, paranormal-themed escape rooms, haunted botanical gardens, kid-friendly trick-or-treat trails, and an adult-only vampire bar.
“Orlando lives up to its reputation as the Halloween Vacation Capital with nearly three months of festive celebrations for all ages,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. “Halloween fanatics, horror movie enthusiasts and costume-loving families can enjoy the multitude of special events across our theme parks, attractions and beyond.”
Here’s what to expect over the 90 days of Halloween festivities:
- Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party: This year features family-friendly, all-ages entertainment inlcuding the “Hocus Pocus” Villain Spectacular! at Cinderella Castle, Disney Junior Jam for the kiddies, and more Halloween attractions. Guests are encouraged to wear costumes (with some restrictions of course).
- Universal Orlando Resort’s Halloween Horror Nights returns for 48 nights and features 10 movie-quality haunted houses like “The Exorcist: Believer”, “Stranger Things 4” and “The Last of Us”. Five scare zones with creatures emerging from the shadows and two live shows are on the schedule too.
- SeaWorld Orlando guests can have fun with two Halloween events: Howl-O-Scream (Sept. 8-Oct. 31) and SeaWorld Spooktacular (weekends, Sept. 16-Oct. 29)
- Brick or Treat Presents Monster Party at LEGOLAND Florida Resort includes a trick or treat trail with candy, live entertainment, exclusive LEGO characters, and a cinematic experience for the ultimate family Halloween.
Don’t want to head to the theme parks? Other popular Orlando-area attractions have family-friendly frights:
- Screamin’ Green Hauntoween at Crayola Experience (Sept. 24-Oct. 31) has a lineup of spooks included with admission like a themed scavenger hunt, crafts, character photo ops, trick-or-treating on the weekends, pumpkin decorating, and slime making.
- Gatorland’s “Gators, Ghosts, and Goblins” event features an all-new haunt zone, interactive characters, and more on the weekends Oct. 14-29.
- Pirates Dinner Adventure offers their “Vampires: When the Blood Moon Rises” dinner show where guests go on a “spooktacular” journey with aerial artistry, swordplay, stunts, and duels.
- Happy Frights at Harry P. Leu Gardens (Sept. 29-Oct. 31) gives guests the chance to meet a dancing bridge troll, walk through a sunflower garden, neon-light maze, giant hay-pyramid, celebrate Die de Muertos with eight trick-or-treat stations.
- The German American Society of Central Florida (Oct. 28) hosts Halloween Oktoberfest, which features authentic German food, a biergarten, live entertainment, kids play area, and more.
- Lake Nona Town Center’s Lake Nona Graveyard Smash allows us mortals to party with ghouls and ghosts plus trick-or-treat stations, live music, and inflatable courses.
- The annual Goblins & Giggles weekends (Sept. 9-Oct. 29) has a spooky scavenger hunt, live shows, dance and costume parties, and pumpkins. The resort offers a “Fall Into Family Fun” vacay package with an overnight stay, $50 nightly resort credit, one scavenger hunt booklet, and two Halloween-themed crafts in the Adventure Kids’ Clubhouse.
For thrills and adult-only fun:
- For year-round Halloween fun, The Bureau features paranormal themed escape room Possession at Haddon Heights, allowing guests to face an evil being at an abandoned school.
- Renaissance Theatre Company presents the return of “Nosferatu” Sept. 15-Nov. 5. It’s a completely new concept from last year: each patron gets a unique experience as the cast leads the audience through scenarios. Later that night, the vampire nightclub “VBar” opens to guests with separate admission.
- Harry P. Leu Gardens hosts Haunting Nights Sept. 29-Oct. 31, an immersive event with jump scares from characters providing a level of thrill to guests.
- Vegas-inspired adult dinner show Teatro Martini hosts the annual Halloween revue Sept. 29-Oct. 31. The show features lyrical pole dancers, comedians, magicians, jugglers, and limited-edition cocktails.
- Scream n’ Stream Drive-Thru Halloween Experience returns for the third year with horrifying areas to drive through with monsters, music, lighting, and special effects Oct. 6-29 on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Downtown Orlando’s Cocktails & Screams is a Halloween-themed bar with live music and an extensive list of cocktails. On Sundays, guests can fill up of the Cereal Killer Brunch from noon-5 p.m. plus other events through the season. Halloween comes with new cocktails and entertainment during the HallowEMO Night.
- Vampires, ghastly remnants, and banshees come alive at the Phantasmagoria XIV: “Tales of the Undead” Oct. 26-28. For those three nights, guests can see the original tales of the acclaimed troupe and stories of authors including Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, Penny Dreadfuls, and more.
- The Halloween Pub Crawl returns Oct. 27 to Downtown Orlando with drink specials and a chance for guests to show their best costumes. Between 8 p.m.-1 a.m., Halloween fans can hop around to participating venues, four comp drinks, various drink specials, and more.
Photo c/o Visit Orlando