Hersheypark haunted: LebTown explores Dark Nights as eerie season approaches

It was sunny a nearly 80 degrees as I strolled toward the Hersheypark entrance on the evening of Friday, Sept. 12 – not at all the right weather to get in the mood for Halloween, despite my jack-o-lantern t-shirt and my daughter’s Nezuko Kamado costume (from the “Demon Slayer” manga series).

But Hersheypark, which was hosting a media event on opening night of its Halloween/Dark Nights season, quickly gets us in the spirit of things with lights and other decorations, misty walkways through the park, and plenty of costumed characters to add oomph to the spooky proceedings.

Then you start seeing goblins and monsters on the paths filling with mist and screams start emanating from the nearest of five haunted houses in the park, and you start getting into the rhythm of Halloween.

Four walk-through “scare zones” and a Trick or Treat Trail through the otherwise empty waterpark certainly furthered the mood, especially as the sun lowered toward the horizon and the park’s many light displays, flame spouts, and other special effects became more pronounced in the growing darkness.

Hersheypark Halloween runs Fridays (5-10 p.m.), Saturdays (noon-10 p.m.), and Sundays (noon-9 p.m.) from Sept. 12 through Nov. 2. Additional Dark Nights features run on the same days, 6-11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 6-10 p.m. on Sundays. Treatville – the Trick-or-Treat Trail – closes each day at 8:30 p.m., and rides shut down at the end of each Hersheypark Halloween day.

Creatures of the Night, an after-dark tour of ZooAmerica, opens at 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays starting on Oct. 3 and is also included in the price of admission.

“Hersheypark guests can experience thrills by day and frights by night – all included with a Hersheypark Halloween ticket starting at $49.99,” the press materials note. In other words, the Dark Nights features, such as the haunted houses and scare zones, come free with general admission to the park.

It speaks well for the sheer volume of Halloween offerings that, during a visit of more than four hours, my footsore family got to fewer than half of the attractions. And we didn’t even ride many rides – most of which are running during the evening hours, some of which are running with the lights off (including the Comet, Wildcat’s Revenge, and Candymonium) for extra thrills in the dark.

For patrons who want to enjoy the rides and visit the Trick or Treat Trail without risk of being scared, the park provides a marked Avenue of the Afterlife without any costumed ghouls jumping out of dark places.

But my wife and kids this early in the evening were game for anything, so we hit the scare zones with glee.

Our first stop on the haunted house tour was the Curse of the Tommyknockers, a coal mine purportedly 1,900 feet below ground level (situated close to the Trailblazer roller coaster, which is closed for the duration of Dark Nights).

The line to get in, though long, moved quickly. The walk-through itself is fairly rapid, striding through the dark depths as the mine threatens to collapse among colorful flashing lights, strange smells, and loud crashing noises … plus, of course, crazed colliers jumping out to elicit startled reactions from unwary guests.

If you frighten easily, be sure to keep an eye on every dark corner that might conceal a lurking miner.

Two scare zones later – ghoul-filled Darkstones Hollow and the witchy Path of Shadows – and my kids were eager to fill a bag with candy, so we headed to Treatville.

There, along paths brilliantly lit with festive lights and decorations, stations await where children 12 and under can sate their yearnings for sweets. (Hershey’s brands, of course!) And don’t worry about bringing your own trick-or-treat bag, as one will be provided.

Parents of young trick-or-treaters can rest easy, the Treatville section of the park is atmospheric but not scary at all.

Next, while my wife and kids scoured the park for something cold and sweet – having decided they had reached their tolerance level for jump scares – I headed down the Midway of Misery.

The midway was on my way to try out the newest attraction in the haunted house lineup: the Kill ‘n Fill Garage, which starts with a tire maze amid the stench of black rubber.

Although I toured this one without my own children in tow, the young teen behind me was targeted by just about every jump-scare actor in the joint – and they elicited genuine shrieks from him. Every. Single. Time.

Then I squeezed in a visit to the Twisted Carnevil before meeting up with the family and heading for the exit … after, of course, some refreshments along the way.

Anyone craving food and drink will find plenty of Halloween-themed food and drink at vendors throughout the park, and between us, we sampled our fair share.

Me, I ended the evening with a deliciously ghoulish cocktail – Spirits on the Rooftop, a spiced rum-based drink with mint, lime, and a “brain garnish” – at the Spirits Rooftop Bar, which is conveniently close to the exit.

So … what didn’t we see?

Actually, quite a lot. We didn’t get on many of the rides on this visit, mostly because we wanted to focus on the Halloween-specific activities. And I, the haunted house enthusiast, didn’t make it to two of the five offerings: Auntie Mortem’s Abattoir and the Estate of Evil. And we didn’t take a stroll down the Avenue of the Afterlife – the scare-free path down by the ferris wheel – which promised fire-breathing performances and a DJ dance party.

We also didn’t get to Creatures of the Night, the nighttime tour of ZooAmerica, simply because it doesn’t open until October. Although we were disappointed, it’s probably for the best, since we probably could have spent the entire evening there.

Nor did we visit the new Shaq-A-Licious Laff Trakk, which the website describes as “a bigger, bolder, XL ride through a Shaq-ified world of giant glowing gummies, bass-pumping beats, and over-the-top fruit-flavored mayhem,” which is only open for the Halloween season, or Shake, Rattle, & Glow: Monster Ball, a glow dance party featuring Hershey characters.

But there’s no denying, we packed a lot of Hersheypark into our time there. While anyone who enjoys the amusement park in the summertime should enjoy it equally in the autumn – only a few of the big rides are closed, after all, so it’s no big loss there – fans of the Halloween season should definitely have a good time sampling the thrills and chills of the Halloween/Dark Nights experience.

There are so many things to do, it might even warrant a second visit … before the park transforms again into Christmas Candylane.