Best Halloween Haunt

[CNYCoasterguy11]

Hello, Im looking to get opinions on the best Halloween Haunts in the Northeast. I live in the Syracuse NY Area and am looking to take my daughter to her first Haunt attraction. She's been begging me to go to one and I think she is finally old enough to handle it. I've been trying to pick a park to go that's within a 3-4 hour range at most, something we could do by leaving on a Friday and back on a Sunday. So far I've looked into Great Escape, Darien Lake, Dorney Park and Hersheypark. If anyone could give me their input on what they feel is the best especially for a first timer and any tips they have as I'm sure all of these events would be super crowded especially on Saturday night. We would be going the weekend of 9/26-9/28. 

[SharkTums]

Going to move this to the main board as we don't have a ton of experience with the Northeast Haunts.  Also, you may get more responses if you join the Theme Park Review facebook group and ask there!  That being said, if I was to choose a first haunt for my kid in that area with what you listed I would go for Hershey. 

 

[AmyUD06]

Dorney's Haunt is always solid (for a park haunt), but this year you've gotta pay extra for the haunted mazes (scare zones and shows are included in admission).  I've never been to Hersheypark's Halloween event ("Dark Nights"), but I will be on the 19th/20th, so I'll be able to provide perspective then, and I've never been to the NY parks for their Halloween events.

EDIT:  I just noticed that you said your daughter was "just old enough" to start going to haunt-type stuff, so I'm going to guess in the 13-14 year old range (or younger).  In that case (especially if younger), I'm going to suggest that you actually start out with a park-based haunt and see how she does before taking her to any local independent one.  They are definitely going to be more intense in every way.  I'm going to leave the below text for reference, though, just in case you decide to take her to one of these too.

I can universally say that you should check out local, independent Halloween attractions though - they are almost all better than what Cedar Fair/Six Flags parks have done.   I don't know of any in NY, but this website can help you find some: https://www.newyorkhauntedhouses.com/

I have been to a few that are within your "3-4 hour drive" limit, and here's my mini-reviews in order of awesomeness.

Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, PA (4 hours)
I visited this attraction on October 26th last year and had hands down the best haunted walk-throughs I've ever seen.  Absolutely everything was incredible here and it is well worth the price; I can't say anything about it without spoiling it.  It is just absolutely incredible and makes any Cedar Fair haunted attraction look like it was put together by elementary school kids. VIP skip-the-line tickets are highly recommended because this place gets PACKED.  I cannot say enough positively about this place.

Field of Screams in Mountville,PA (4.25 hours)
I visited this park on Halloween Tuesday in 2023 as the second ever "local haunt" I had been to and it absolutely blew me away.  From the animatronics, actors, set design, everything was just awesome.

Shocktoberfest in Sinking Spring, PA (4 hours)
I visited this attraction on November 8th last year, so outside of the main season, and it was very cool.  The enthusiasm out of the actors was great, with long mazes with elevation changes and spectacular animatronics

There's also Reaper's Revenge in Blakely, PA (about 2 hours from Syracuse) that I've never been to.

Mind you, all of the ones I've listed and most of them in general do not have rides or games (or sometimes even more than basic food) available, so if you're looking for the park experience too, than Dorney and Hershey are your best bets.

[thepoint4life23]

It is out of your range but the haunted Hoochie in Columbus is pretty wild and was topped ranked for many years not sure if it still is, then you could go about an hour north to the Ohio Reformatory they do a hunted house inside the old prison. The prison has been on the ghost hunting shows and was used in shawshank redemption more cool to see the Prison then scary.