Halloween is a fantastic time of year to visit Florida. Houses will be adorned with pumpkin lanterns and lights, woods will be turned into “haunted woods” and normal building or factories will be turned into haunted houses. Americans take Halloween so seriously and make it really special.
Local children will be out in force, trick and treating for candy treats, and they are so well behaved it puts our trick and treaters to shame. The costumes will be perfect, and even the parents dress up to add to the family flavour of Halloween.
All of the theme parks celebrate Halloween, generally with selected dates starting on October 1st. They employ hundreds of extra “cast members” specifically to scare the heck out of you! Disney obviously downgrade their Halloween horror to suit younger children, but the likes of Universal and Busch Gardens really go for the adult 18+ scare factor.
Last years’ Universal Halloween spectacular was entitled “The Directors Cut” and took place on the Islands of Adventure. The evening starts after dark and all of the park rides are open. Riding the Hulk in the pitch black was an experience!! Upon entering the park we were met by dense fog and strong winds, with giant creatures and a “dead” band not too far away.
The park was split into different horror areas, and the first we encountered was a chemical attack. Ghouls, freaks and the living dead walked amongst you, jumped out on you and made you nervous around every corner.
The next land had “manimals” half beast half man creatures performing and scaring you out of your wits. There were creatures on stilts camouflaged against the rocks that made so many people scream and run it was hilarious.
Then there were the attractions, ghost houses, nut houses, haunted houses to name but a few. There was a man called the Lizard, who did painful things to himself. At one point he skewered his own tongue and then had an audience member throw darts at his back. Unusual but fun.
We ended up getting soaked on the water rides before heading home totally exhilarated and scared out of our wits!
This year Universal is going even bigger and better. They are opening both of their parks, Universal studios and islands of Adventure, as well as City Walk to the Halloween spectacular.
It is hard to believe that they will better last years Halloween spectacular, but I bet they give it a hell of a run for its’ money!!