Hersheypark Dark Nights — Local services in Derry Township

We went to Dark Nights tonight, I think for the first year it was done very well. My only complaints would be there should be a few more Halloween decorations around the park. Also, within the haunted houses I would put more actors. As well as, the midways they claim as haunted areas. Only one actuality had actors in it, and some really awesome performances. The contortionist, was absolutely brilliant, and entrancing to watch.

Now, for the Haunted houses themselves, they’re all great concepts, and very well done. The effects in two of the houses were one of the neatest things I’ve seen. They had areas of mist and light, that looked like you were walking through water. It was just awesome. Another one, had a mirror effect, it was so disorienting, but in an amazing way. I ended up jumping at my own reflection. The illusions in the houses were very on point. The themes of the houses were also great. I also appreciate that the actors don’t touch you. I read that people do not like all the security in the houses. I will be 100% honest. In today’s world things are not great. I appreciated all the security. They pretty much blend into the background and are easy to ignore. For the first year it was great, I’m excited to see how this event grows. It was a good event, the possibilities for this in the upcoming years could be fabulous.

I’ve also seen many complaints of long wait times. This is going to happen at any theme park, and any haunted houses this time a year. My advice pay attention to the day you go. Our longest wait for houses was only 1-3 mins. We did have a fast pass for the houses. But, wouldn’t of needed it. The longest wait for a ride was 10 mins.

If you’re looking for something gory, with more scares, and okay with actors touching you. This may not yet be your thing. However, I definitely jumped and screamed in all of the houses. Honestly, I scare pretty easily. But, my husband who never scares even jumped once or twice.

All and all, the themes were great, and the houses were just really cool. I was overall impressed.

Just an FYI for those who have epilepsy that is not entirely under control, and are photosensitive. There’s strobe lights in one of the houses. Also, a lot of flashing lights. I have epilepsy that’s under control. If yours isn’t, either skip this event. Or have someone to go with you and close your eyes, and let...

Don't waste your time, Hershey park I feel has an identity crisis along with an internal culture and employment issue. First lets start with the Identity does it want to be a family friendly Halloween event or an adult event with alcohol, haunted houses and scare zones? The scare zones were basically fog and scented, the set pieces if there were any was lacking in a big way. I believe there was one set piece that made me go that's neat, there's potential here but sadly that was lost quickly. We never even attempted the haunted houses based on the crowds and how bad the scare zones were felt it would have been a large waste of money. The other thing is they are doing trick or treating, adults and kids dressed up and people taking photos with guests, is that person a scareactor? some people had elaborative costumes that were better than the employees so you didn't know if they worked there or not for sure.

Now onto Hershey park itself, the park was open 2-9 arrived at park gate area at 2:10pm and the line was out beyond the tram circle 1 hr. and 3 minutes later finally got in the park. The first thing we saw before we even made it to chocolate world area was trash cans overflowing by large amounts with a security guard directing traffic 15 feet away. I understand not his job but communicate to someone (maybe they did maybe they didn't) but either way when leaving 6 hrs later still the same garbage just larger piles. All rides at the park had atrocious lines. 90 minute wait for lighting racer, 45 - 60 minutes for small flat rides and food lines wrapped out of que lines down paths and behind buildings. We chose not to eat there due to the lines and even then still was only able to ride 6 attractions with leaving the park at 830pm. The employees win the award for slowest dispatching and will to work I have ever seen in any theme park. We rode Lighting racer, which only running one side, I actually timed the dispatches 4 minutes per train. I used to be a season pass holder here and gave it up due to the crowds and lack of enjoyment at this park, Unfortunately this reinforced my thoughts for this park and I will continue to drive and fly to parks out of the area to have a much more enjoyable experience.

If this saves just one person the misery of this event it was worth writing this up

And Hershey if you see this you have a lot of...

I would not recommend coming here for Halloween. The value of what you get is not worth the price you pay. If you want a Halloween experience, go somewhere like Jason's Woods or Field of Screams. With the few hours the Halloween stuff here is active, there's not enough time to get to everything considering wait times being minimum 45 minutes.

We got to three of the haunted houses, all equally rather disappointing. I wasn't expecting Field of Screams level of scares, but I definitely expected more than there was. Not many actors on the main ways, many empty moments within the houses, basically the same stuff on repeat in different destinations. The laff track was fun to ride in compete darkness, but the wait for it was absurd.

Most of the decorations were pretty cool and they had a fire feature that caught my eye. They go WAY too hard on the smoke machines though. What makes it worse is they put multiple smoke machines directly where people have to cross under an archway, so you have to hold your breath if you don't want to inhale an extreme amount of smoke. I saw teens 'vaping' the smoke it was that heavy. I also think they add fragrance to the smoke. Even lighting was poorly thought out as there was one light that made it almost impossible to see a food stand.

Speaking of food. Pack your own. $10 for a s'more that wasn't warm enough to melt the chocolate. $12 for fried pickles that weren't made fresh and were given to us cold. Some of the stands weren't even properly tended to. I got fried pickles because another booth appeared closed. Finished eating my cold pickles, mentioned to my date how I would've loved the cheese curds if the stand was open, and only then does an employee finally walk out 🙄 The best thing I ate was the loaded mac and cheese at the BBQ place which was so good I wrapped it in foil to take it home.

Hershey is fun in general, but it's definitely not worth it on Halloween. Just go during normal operations and...