Mortem Manor Haunted Attraction — Attraction in Kissimmee

Oh this was not at all what I had hoped it to be . I moved back to Florida in February and as someone who prides themselves in not only being a haunt actor, but also production, makeup and creator of haunts , and very experienced in touring haunts around the country, both big and small, I think I'm about to leave a very valid , honest and blunt review. Anyways since moving here I couldn't wait to finally get a chance to experience Morten Manor myself , having seen it on travel channel , hearing the hype about it being one of the best in America , I purposely waited patiently for the Haunt season to begin , because knowing year round haunts aren't to top potential most other months , I waited till Halloween weekend . The busiest of the weekends for a Haunt , and a weekend that pretty much spells success for any haunted house anywhere . This was the easiest of weekends to cash in on the scares . Well ... let's just say that after attending last night , whomever is running this place , either has a staff who is mismanaging money , possibly has become a new owner of the establishment and has no real love for the season or the haunt scene in general , and is completely clueless on how to properly handle the delicacy of this type of business and thought they were simply buying a hyped up , turn key operation , and would just be sitting back collecting money while they hire very lazy performers , most likely pay them very poorly, and won't have to invest on the upkeep and updating of the attraction . You know since it's in the heart of major tourist trap and all . Tickets will have it sell itself. (That's what i really believe is going on here). Walking through Mortem Manor , you can clearly see the love that was put into building such an attraction, the designers knew what they were doing and they loved it . However that love has sadly left the building . The building feels lifeless and not in a haunted house sort of way. it feels like major budgetary cuts were made, and it feels like a glorious attraction has been demolished to that of a tourist trap , Poorly staffed by people who have no real love for the business , and sadly understaffed since the entire time I walked through I don't recall seeing one live actor in the entire place other then the one who gave us the "rules" ,and the ticket clerk. From the thrown together costume and self applied make up on the woman who led us in the door , it's clear that the makeup and wardrobe department has been let go. Poor girl did the best she could with what she is given . As for the walk thru . I know these places are supposed to be strategically dark, noticed I said strategically , that means thought out and planned dark areas . Well it's more like someone forgot to pay the power bill and the lights that are on in the venue, are only on because of a back up generator . Special effects .. ummm .... I can see they have the ability to operate them , but then again I think the production manager must be on vacation, do they have animatronics . Yes . Are they well cared for and operating as they should ... no.. they are broken or not working. And due to how dark the venue is , you can barely see the ones that are on . Also why is there no sound ? This is a haunted house and it's as quite as a library . No screams, no themed music, no atmosphere, may as well be a quite stroll down a very poorly lit sidewalk , cause that's about as scary as it gets . The scariest part is the stairs honestly. I don't see this once amazing and beloved haunt lasting much longer . These people need to hire managers and a staff that will bring the love back. They need to clean it up, make repairs , and put in effort and maybe .. they can bring mortem manor back to the living , it's so sad to go to a haunt that was so successful at one time , and see it degraded to this . Please OWNERS OF MORTEM MANOR , get your act together . Obviously you have a major turn over rate with staff, or you're stupidly letting the wrong people work for you to cut corners .please put love back in this haunt....

I would have given this place five stars, and I will get into that later.

I am a big haunted house fan. I love Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, and this place definitely stood up with them. The theming was impeccable. Dark, creepy, and sometimes disorienting.

Here's the gig (no spoilers), you purchase your ticket, and the attendant points you to a locked door to the side. As you wait at the door, other groups join you in the wait. After a while the door opens and a guide will escort the group in (we had about 10 people). He leads the group into a room and in character, instructs the group on the rules (being this is the holidays, he did it with a rendition of "The Night Before Christmas" way cool). He points you to the next room and the haunts begin.

The house is 2 stories, so you get a decent amount of walkthrough. In total it's about 15 minutes to get through it all. Now, on to why I gave 4 stars instead of 5. While the house states that there are animatronic and live actors, it seemed like there was a significant shortage of live actors. Don't get me wrong, the animatronics in here are excellently done, and were enough to scare the 2 girls behind me in the group to hold on to my arm for dear life the entire time LoL, but there is still nothing like the human element.

After we exited the house (got a high five from a lady in the group thanking me for leading them through LoL), I spoke with a host outside. I asked about actually how many actors were in there. He was very nice and told me that there were only 4 that night being it's the off-season. I asked about applying to become an actor, and he said they bring in a lot more actors in spring and September, so I assume that would be the best time to go.

If you're on vacation, or on a date out in Old Town, I highly recommend it. I had a blast those 15 minutes and I'm sure you will too. I wish I could walk you all through the house, but I'm not that type of guy...

This was an unexpected find and adventure. While I was feeling a little bummed that my daughter is too young for "Horror Nights", I found coupons for this "year-round " haunted house, I decided to take a chance and bring my daughter for her first haunted house experience. Being fairly inexpensive, I figured it wouldn't be such a loss of we had to "chicken-out" of the haunt if my little princess did not enjoy the "Monsters" (as she later called the haunted house) . It was great to see her go from hiding behind me and shying away from the props, to eagerly turning corners and climbing stairways through the winding ups and downs of the haunted maze. As soon as we exited, she said "Again! Again! Go to see the Monsters! More Monsters! Please! Please!" She's in the spectrum and has marked speech delay, so for her to articulate so many words in a row (not imitating or after prompting) is a HUGE deal. And she had a borderline meltdown when we started towards the car and she realized that she wasn't gonna get to go back in. So hands down an unforgettable experience and a perfect introduction to hopefully many scares to come as I hope she's as big a fan of haunted houses as her fad and I are. Although my daughter is 7, they state that it is not recommend for younger than 12, but my daughter has been exposed to horror films at home. So, of course, parental discretion is advised. 😉👳‍♀️🐄🥲 Afterwards, enjoying an icecream, while walking around the "Old Town" shops, restaurants, arcades and fair rides with live music playing on the main stage, made for an amazing and fun evening. Totally recommend, will most likely go again frequently. If only they had annual...