Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary — Attraction in Philadelphia

EDIT: Be careful. This is a breeding ground for Covid. Both my GF and I contracted covid from this extremely crowded event.

The definitive review!

My girlfriend and I seek out NYC area haunts every October and with quite a few haunted events under our belt (including the notable Headless Horseman in NY State), we finally had the opportunity to try Halloween Nights.

Halloween Nights come with much controversy. Pouring over hundreds of reviews, I discovered that post-COVID, the event has been getting a lot of hate for not being as good as it once was. There was a Terror Behind The Walls feature removed and a good majority of reviewers say the event has gone downhill ever since. For that reason, take this review from the perspective of someone visiting the newest iteration and not having any background of the old.

We booked the event in July, the day online tickets became available. We took a gamble on paying $25 more (plus fees) for the VIP tickets and I'll let you know whether that was a good decision for us or not in a moment.

Our entry time was 6:30 pm on a Sunday in the middle of October. We ate dinner across the street and by the time we arrived at the Penitentiary entrance at 6:00, there was already a small line of 60 people lined up for general entry. A separate line for VIP Express Entry had also just formed, but we were among the first 10 people in that line. When we were let inside, the VIP people were given preference to entry (co-mingled with the general admission crowd), but that is where the express entry ends and that could be an issue. More on that in a moment.

The Penitentiary is an excellent backdrop for this event as it makes for a very eery and foreboding atmosphere. Approximately five haunted houses take you through the smoke-filled, cell-lined corridors of the historic prison. Each house has its own "theme" with amazingly dressed up sets, eerie colorful light patterns, strobing effects, pulsating music, stunning animatronics, and actors who jump out at every corner. One of our favorite houses was done completely in 3D (you wear provided 3D glasses) and the the outward effects were off-the-charts.

The VIP experience adds two free alcoholic drinks at two specified locations, one of which is Al Capone's cell, which made it worth the price for us. Normally, we would have had to pay for a separate tour to see his cell. Unfortunately, hard liquor drinks are only provided at one location, while the other is limited to beer and wine. Normally priced at $15, the complimentary hard liquor drinks are a rip-off for the small cup that you get.

One drawback of the VIP experience is that it does nothing to give you express access to the haunted attractions once inside and this brings me to the main problem surrounding this event: there are too many people. We were lucky. We got there when it opened and were able to move through the lines quickly. We did it all within an hour (or 90 minutes to sit and enjoy our drinks). By 8 pm, we thought we would revisit some of the attractions we did, and were shocked by the size of the snaked lines to get into them. Wait times had to be 30 minutes per attraction. And then, when we exited, the general admission line just to get into the event was wrapped around the outside Penitentiary.

Would we do this again? On the quality of the haunted houses alone, I would say, yes. I can only imagine how much better this was, pre-covid when they featured Terror Behind The Walls. However, the problem is crowd size. This is an extremely popular event and it attracts thousands every year. You can spend hours waiting to get inside the event, and then once inside, waiting in snaked lines to get into each attraction. It looks like people are moved as quickly as possible through it all, but it requires a lot of patience in waiting. Additionally, I agree with other criticisms that this has become an outdoor festival that pushes food and drink sales more than its haunted...

4.5 - I had been wanting to go here for ten years and finally went last night. Some logistics first - I bought a parking pass online and parked right at the Zoo parking garage, which was very easy (note - NO BATHROOMS at the parking garage, so you either have to wait till you get to the prison (porta potties) or go at the gas station up the street - plan ahead for this and leave time or you'll miss the bus haha). There were clear directions when we got there, and we were given fair warning that there was a wait, though it was only about 25 minutes (on a weeknight, weekends might be very different). Actors move through the line and scare you, and it's very fun - neat sneak peek of what's to come. Once you get inside, there's a fair amount of shuffling through lines to get the waiver signed, take pictures, opt in for the immersive experience, etc., but it's all very organized, and they try to keep the group sizes entering the prison small, which makes it a much more in your face experience rather than along moving with the herd.

When we started, I was there with my friend - I opted in, he did not, so I was separated from him quite a bit. It was generally easy to find him again until the end when he got out a full ten minutes before I did - I am not sure if there is a way to make sure people get back to their groups (might just be your group members waiting for you), but I would have enjoyed finishing it out with him. Opting in was MORE than worth it (and you get cool blood on your face haha which I kept on throughout the night so it looked like I got into some sort of fight XD) - though claustrophobic people BEWARE - you are forced into small places a LOT - fortunately, this scares me, so I really felt like I was in a scary situation :D

I don't want to give away specific details of the scares, but there are plenty of jump moments and really neat special effects - makeup and acting is exceptional. I LOVED it, especially the infirmary and the breakout part. I will say, it's extremely disorienting (which does add to the appeal), and if you're not a fan of vigorously flashing lights, fog machines, or sensory stuff that can give you vertigo, I might skip it. One section in particular was visually AWESOME, but very similar to a simulation or 3D movie, which personally made me dizzy (still enjoyable, just needed a moment to recover when I got out haha).

I have to give props to the actors as they do watch out for you, and a few of them acted quickly and professionally to help guide out a patron clearly suffering a very real panic attack without taking away from the experience for the other patrons.

Overall, I had an awesome time, and it was absolutely everything I imagined it would be. The price was more than fair for what we got, and the yard at the end (though not fully taken advantage of by me and my friend cause we had a long drive ahead) looks like a nice place to spend some time and decompress before...

I was here on Wednesday the 23rd. For you thrill seekers; YES THIS HAUNT IS TERRIFYING!! The sheer interact ability between the actors and you when you opt into being touched and taken away from your group makes this haunt scarier than ANY other I have EVER been to. Do not believe any negative reviews you see on here. I go to 3 haunted events every year around Halloween, often varying the ones I go to, and I am telling you right now this is the best one I have EVER been to. The actors are amazing and there is plenty of them, there are so many that despite them not separating your group from other groups as you enter (something I usually despise) they still manage to get to scaring everyone. It's so great. Make sure to opt into being touched for the extra fear factor!! For anybody concerned about opting in to be touched; the actors take great care to scare you but not hurt you, I wouldn't fret about it, I'm pretty sure the actors got some training to make sure they don't touch anywhere inappropriate. Make sure you buy your tickets in advance, and wear some pants that have zippers!! You may go through terrain that could make it easy to lose your items. There was a lot of security at the entrance that will check your bags, I don't recommend bringing any. Your ticket allows you to go into any the haunted houses over and over until they close by the way, most haunts I go to only let you go into each attraction once. It's really awesome and totally worth the money.

Hard to say thanks to specific individuals without spoiling it for anyone reviewing, but, THANK YOU TO THE "KIDNAPPERS" IN THE BIG TOP!! Seriously, you guys made my night, you are the best and you stole the show. I suffer from some mental illnesses, and being around you guys made me feel so happy it was like I was a little kid again. I wish you the best because you made me feel the best. Also major props to the "kidnappers" in the crypt, nightmares, and the machine shop. You were all amazing and terrifying. I genuinely hope you guys have as fun doing this as I did, I will come back year after year.

This isn't really anyone's fault, especially not the actors, just a clarity thing I have some advice on for the future for people running the event; when you say no taking pictures inside the venue, typically at haunts you can still take pictures while in line or when you're generally around outside any of the haunted houses. So I took some pictures near one of your scare zones, which I thought fell into the okay to take pictures at category, and I was told not to. I'm not mad about it, I just wish there was something that told me specifically not to take pictures in the scare zones, because I only thought you couldn't in the haunted houses themselves. Maybe you could put up a sign before entering them? I don't know. Anyway no hate, you guys did fantastic, just felt kind of bad when I was told off for that and I didn't see anything that said I wasn't...