The Haunted Road: A Drive Thru Halloween Experience
Yesterday, I drove the Haunted Road and saw a fairytale come to life. Was it the scariest thing I have ever seen? No. But that actually was a good thing. I was able to go with family members who normally do not go to Haunted houses during Halloween with me because they are too scary. It was just the right amount of scary to make it not a bad experience for them while still fun for me.
What is the Haunted Road?
The Haunted Road is a drive thru Halloween experience. The story centers on Rapunzel who has escaped the tower and is looking for her prince William. Along the way she meets a bunch of creatures and fairytale characters along the way, some good and some bad. On the good side is the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz who was captured himself. On the bad side are a twisted Hansel and Gretel who try to cook her in the oven.
How does it work?
There are multiple scenes at the Haunted Road. You drive from scene to scene and spend a few minutes at each scene. You tune into a specific radio station at each scene to be able to listen to what is happening. There are also roaming characters who will randomly come up to your car window to scare you. You can leave your car window up or down. If it is down masks are required.
When you arrive at each scene you turn off your headlights and put your car into park. At the end of the scene, you will be told to drive and move on to the next scene.
The entire experience took about 1 hour from when we entered the experience to when we exited. There was a short wait to start the experience as we were not in the first group of cars.
Who is the Haunted Road good for?
We had a variety of ages in our car. The youngest was my 11-year old daughter and the oldest was my 46-year old sister. This was the first haunted experience of any kind for both of them. I felt that this was the right level of scary for pre-teens and those who tend to scare easily (like my sister).
That said, my 21-year old niece and I also had a couple of scares and still found it fun, even though we usually hit the scarier haunted houses.
Important to Note
When you purchase your ticket, you are given a certain time to enter the Haunted Road. It is important to enter at your given time, so the experience does not get overwhelmed with a bunch of cars at one time and make everyone’s wait time longer.
You will be switching radio stations for each scene. Make sure to look closely for the signs telling you the station. We missed a couple of the signs and had to make sure to closely for the rest of them, so we were able to better hear the scenes from the car. If you do miss the sign, you can hear the scene if you roll down your car window, just not as well as you can from the car radio.
It is dark and is a very twisty bumpy road that you will be driving. You need to be comfortable driving in this type of environment.
You must be in a regular car or SUV. No motorcycles, limos, scooters, oversized vehicles, monster trucks or bikes are allowed.
Alternate Versions of the Haunted Road (not offered in 2021)
For 3 days only, November 5-7, The Haunted Road will be offering an even gorier version of the Haunted Road which is only for adults.
There is also a family friendly version of the Haunted Road that runs Saturdays and Sundays during the day. This experience ends on October 31. The family friendly version will take 30-45 minutes.
Dates
The regular Haunted Road runs Wednesday through Saturday ending on October 31.
The Haunted Road Unrestricted runs November 5-7.
Cost
Prices for the Haunted Road start at $15 and go up to $30 per person depending on the date that you choose. Tickets must be pre-purchased online.
You are also able to upgrade to Beyond the Road for an additional $79 per car for an even greater dose of horror.
Location
Haunted Road
15239 Lake Pickett Road
Orlando, FL 32820
