Some Dark Nights 2023 prep?
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Event Hersheypark Dark Nights 2023
- Thread starter paintervision
- Start date
I'm so excited to see this event grow over the next few seasons. It was already off to such a strong start last year. As the institutional knowledge grows inside the park, I really believe it has the potential to turn into something really compelling.
2023 info is now live: Dark Nights
Major changes look like a new scare zone and fifth house. Also Creatures Uncaged looks like it changed directions, which is a good idea since it caused a huge traffic problem with the entrance and exit.
Oh yeah, and it looks like they killed the upcharge! It's free for all tickets and passholders.
Major changes look like a new scare zone and fifth house. Also Creatures Uncaged looks like it changed directions, which is a good idea since it caused a huge traffic problem with the entrance and exit.
Oh yeah, and it looks like they killed the upcharge! It's free for all tickets and passholders.
I'm actually disappointed that they are killing the upcharge. More attendance-limited events with upcharges have consistently been the best in my experience. They must have really had a hard time selling the upcharge tickets last year for them to back peddle on their monetization strategy like that.
I think it was a tough sell. Add-on prices started at $25 (even for passholders), but they also sold combo tickets for admission/event starting at $89. The Add-on plus Fast Track for the houses was too expensive, versus the actual quality of the four houses and three scare zones for the first year of the event. Clear to me they were trying to market it like Fright Fest or HHN, when they didn't really have the amount of content to back it up/justify the price.
Honestly, Dorney Park (90 minutes away) had a much better showing for more houses/zones/actors/entertainment, and it was cheaper to visit with a base day ticket for most folks. Back in October 2021, I got an "All Day and All Night" Dorney ticket for $45 online, and the park hours were better!
I'm all for Dark Nights being included. As a passholder, it would be nice to do one or two mazes on each visit, rather than stress about lines trying to get everything in one night and make the most of an add-on. They still do the "houses open until 11" when rides close at 10PM, so that also hopefully means better crowd distribution and less of a rush at the end of the night (a call back to when the park would "slow close" and gradually wind down nightly operations).
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Some Dark Nights updates (I missed Professor Darkstone passing out trading cards last week):
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Here's an update from another passholder:
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Here's an update from another passholder:
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Some more Dark Nights signage, but nothing much else to report today. Did notice that it looked like the service road between Turkey Hill and Lightning Racer did get some new paving and curb work from Lighting Racer, so it's possible that may be used for the event - either as overflow queue or back of house for actors?
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That service road is also where HP generally has track deliveries for new coasters go. I’ve heard it’s taken a bunch of abuse the last few years.
Hersheypark's Dark Nights is back for a more-promising sophomore season. Now included with admission rather than an upcharge, they've also expanded the event a bit and added a lot more to see. These pictures are from the first night but I'll be back to capture more soon.
They're still doing Hershey product characters in Halloween costumes, and "Treatville" trick-or-treating for kids in the Boardwalk section. I didn't take any pictures of it, but there is a new dance party going on in the Music Box Theater, which is new this year.
Fallout Zone is a new SZ this year, and transforms the area in front of Tidal Force with a lot of cool new props and effects. They have smoke bubbles that blow into the air, and flame throwers on the bridge. I wasn't quick enough to get a shot of it, but there was a huge explosion at one point, along with smaller flames set to music.
There are a couple new food offerings this season. Twisted taters and toppings for funnel cakes are new, along with some returning offerings.
Everything from last year came back, and there are new tweaks or additions to everything. We did all five mazes and the most noticeable change from the first season is Creatures Uncaged, which reversed the layout and added a lot more. Last year this one started by the Skyview turnaround, but now it starts next to the Aqua Theater. As far as scare zones, Darkness Hollow is still quite small and lacks detail, but Midway of Misery has moved closer to Wildcat and looks a lot better.
At least for opening night, Wildcat's Revenge was running three trains with a walk-on. It was actually my first time on it at night, and the lights/fog added a lot. I will say it was running slower and creeped into the brake run at the end after the magnetic brakes, but it's still a very good ride.
We tried the new Spirits Rooftop Bar - also my first time up here since Chocolatetown opened (usually closed in my past visits). This is really cool although it's considered "outside" the park, so make sure you get a handstamp if you want to go back in. Shout-out to the bartenders up there, they have a cool menu with drinks and food, plus are showing classic scary movies and have cornhole and jumbo jenga. Looks like a great place to hang out, and I'll be back.
The new house is Auntie Mortem's Abattoir, which felt a lot like the Cedar Fair Slaughterhouses of the past. Still good and notably more "gory" than the other houses. This one has a split path and we got a spinning tunnel - not sure if the other side has the same effect or something different, but I'll update this for future runs.
Overall, this event has improved. More actors, more things to see and do, more going on. I cannot stress how much of a weight was lifted by not having an upcharge, as last year Ops was struggling with explaining the extra costs to guests and getting overwhelmed with greeter spots. Also saw a lot more kids this year doing the houses, which is a good thing - better than buying a $25+ upgrade for your group and deciding it's too scary.
In another year or two it may give Dorney Park or Great Adventure real competition. Hersheypark has the capacity to host this huge event every year, and I hope it pays off for them. I expect Saturdays to be brutal but we for opening night Friday we didn't wait long for anything except Haunted Coal Mine (about 25 mins). Overall the event is less scary/gory than others, but if you're looking for "light PG-13" Haunt events, or ones with a lot of food/beverage offerings to try, Dark Nights is it.
They're still doing Hershey product characters in Halloween costumes, and "Treatville" trick-or-treating for kids in the Boardwalk section. I didn't take any pictures of it, but there is a new dance party going on in the Music Box Theater, which is new this year.
Fallout Zone is a new SZ this year, and transforms the area in front of Tidal Force with a lot of cool new props and effects. They have smoke bubbles that blow into the air, and flame throwers on the bridge. I wasn't quick enough to get a shot of it, but there was a huge explosion at one point, along with smaller flames set to music.
There are a couple new food offerings this season. Twisted taters and toppings for funnel cakes are new, along with some returning offerings.
Everything from last year came back, and there are new tweaks or additions to everything. We did all five mazes and the most noticeable change from the first season is Creatures Uncaged, which reversed the layout and added a lot more. Last year this one started by the Skyview turnaround, but now it starts next to the Aqua Theater. As far as scare zones, Darkness Hollow is still quite small and lacks detail, but Midway of Misery has moved closer to Wildcat and looks a lot better.
At least for opening night, Wildcat's Revenge was running three trains with a walk-on. It was actually my first time on it at night, and the lights/fog added a lot. I will say it was running slower and creeped into the brake run at the end after the magnetic brakes, but it's still a very good ride.
We tried the new Spirits Rooftop Bar - also my first time up here since Chocolatetown opened (usually closed in my past visits). This is really cool although it's considered "outside" the park, so make sure you get a handstamp if you want to go back in. Shout-out to the bartenders up there, they have a cool menu with drinks and food, plus are showing classic scary movies and have cornhole and jumbo jenga. Looks like a great place to hang out, and I'll be back.
The new house is Auntie Mortem's Abattoir, which felt a lot like the Cedar Fair Slaughterhouses of the past. Still good and notably more "gory" than the other houses. This one has a split path and we got a spinning tunnel - not sure if the other side has the same effect or something different, but I'll update this for future runs.
Overall, this event has improved. More actors, more things to see and do, more going on. I cannot stress how much of a weight was lifted by not having an upcharge, as last year Ops was struggling with explaining the extra costs to guests and getting overwhelmed with greeter spots. Also saw a lot more kids this year doing the houses, which is a good thing - better than buying a $25+ upgrade for your group and deciding it's too scary.
In another year or two it may give Dorney Park or Great Adventure real competition. Hersheypark has the capacity to host this huge event every year, and I hope it pays off for them. I expect Saturdays to be brutal but we for opening night Friday we didn't wait long for anything except Haunted Coal Mine (about 25 mins). Overall the event is less scary/gory than others, but if you're looking for "light PG-13" Haunt events, or ones with a lot of food/beverage offerings to try, Dark Nights is it.
I saw kids from (guessing here) age six and up, waiting in lines for the houses. There was a group of four preteen kids that were escorted by a Mom who really enjoyed the heck out of Haunted Coal Mine. I don't know what their story was, but I didn't see that kind of thing as much last year when the event was a lot more expensive with the upcharge in place.
The new Auntie Mortem's house is more graphic than the others, but it's still tame compared to what SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, or Universal has put out there in the past. Just in general, making it more accessible is a win, and if you take kids who can't handle it, there is still the rest of the park around you.
I don't think Nicole is going to consider 6-year olds going through the houses to be a plus. lol.
Wanted to share some images from Friday night:
Did this on a Saturday and it gets crazy busy. The houses are pretty good, but this event isn’t built for the size of crowds Hershey sees. Even fast track lines were a good 20-30 mins wait, with a lot of that due to how much they spread out groups. They honestly need another 3-4 mazes with the crowd sizes and then relegate a bit to the fact they’ll need to allow bigger groups through at once.
Best house I thought was the coal mine, since it allowed the actors to seriously hide throughout the house in places you can’t prepare for.
Scare zones were a big let down with few to no actors in them and they just aren’t that decorated up. They were more akin to party zones, and that would be a better direction if Hershey doesn’t want to go all in with making the park scary.
Best house I thought was the coal mine, since it allowed the actors to seriously hide throughout the house in places you can’t prepare for.
Scare zones were a big let down with few to no actors in them and they just aren’t that decorated up. They were more akin to party zones, and that would be a better direction if Hershey doesn’t want to go all in with making the park scary.
The Scare Zones aren't very scary, and Darkstone Hollow comes across as very lacking in props, lighting/effects, and music. I'd be OK if they move it to the old Carousel area and play up the "Sideshow" aspect (they have jugglers and acrobat people walking around, but it's too open to really showcase anything).
They really, desprately need some kind of live music or better show. Apparently they did add a show this year but I've seen very few details about it, and before seeing this pop up on YouTube, I had no idea this existed: (also pretty lame if you ask me)
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My daughter and I went to Hershey this past Saturday. Our second house of the night was Twisted Carnevil and as we were about to enter it at 6:10pm a woman dragged a screaming, crying and hysterical 5-6 year old boy out through the entrance and proceeded to yell at him to calm down and get it together so they could go back in and finish the walk through. We were absolutely disgusted and horrified that people can be so selfish and heartless.
We love scares. Seeing this woman mistreat this terrified child really got both of us incensed. I know that some kids can handle more than others, but Halloween events should not allow young kids into the houses. Not only is it traumatic for the kids, it also ruins it for other guests.
Later that night we saw a woman in an ECV run over her child / grandchild's foot and proceed to scream at him and blame him for it happening. "I told you to watch where you're walking!!!" Absolutely disgraceful.
Though the park was insanely overcrowded with idiots that night, we did have fun. 4 of the 5 houses were great, but perhaps since it was so crowded, we only saw a couple scare actors in just one of the zones. Lines were incredibly long for everything including food. We feel very fortunate to have had the quick queue / fast track for both the houses and coasters, and were able to get through 4 houses and two rides in under an hour. Waits for some coasters were 90 - 120 minutes.
Doesn't help that Comet and SkyRush limped to the end of seasonal operations with one train. I went on a Sunday night that was busy and they were only running one side, one train ops on Lightning Racer.