California company stirs up another Halloween event
Another Halloween experience is moving into the Orlando market. Dark Horizon: Point of No Return will pop up with three haunted houses, four bars, two stages and about 150 monsters, organizers announced Tuesday.
“It’s a destination attraction for the evening. It’s not one of those stop in and go. You’re going to want to stay in party all night long,” said Charity Hill, co-producer and a managing partner of Epic Entertainment Group, which has been running a similar production called Dark Harbor in Long Beach, Calif., for 10 years.
Dark Horizon will operate from the back lot of the Holiday Inn Suites — Water Park on State Road 536 near International Drive. It will be open 16 nights between Oct. 4 and Nov. 2.
Organizers see Dark Horizon as the arrival of West Coast-style of Halloween haunt to Florida.
“My business partner and I travel the country every year looking at haunts, and we love that every region in the country does them just slightly different,” Hill said. “We’ve got immersive bars, we’ve got specialty acts and entertainment, and the entertainment flows, you know, outside of the haunted houses as well as inside.”
The haunted houses will have Florida-inspired themes to their scares, including a ghost ship, a serial killer based in the Everglades and a voodoo priestess who will make appearances on both coasts.
“We really like to focus on local legends, local lore, local history,” Hill said.
Dark Horizon will spook folks on the spot of the former Nickelodeon Suites.
“It’s a perfect little location; it butts right up to the swamp, which provides like the perfect backdrop for what we’re looking for,” Hill said.
Nightly admission includes repeated walks through the houses and access to live entertainment on the two stages, one with aerial performers and one with fireeaters and fire-breathers. Specialty acts and entertainments are sprinkled between. There will be about 300 people working at Dark Horizon per night, Hill said.
Add-on options include private cabanas, express passes and an air-conditioned R.I.P. lounge. (The haunted houses have AC as well, Hill said.)
“We have guests that love to have their own private party within our party,” Hill said. “Then we’ve got people who are just, you know, in love with horror and the scream of it all, and they focus their time in the mazes, stop to water and eat and then head back into the haunted houses again.”
Dark Horizon is designed to be an adult experience, she said. The company doesn’t recommend Dark Horizon for children younger than 13.
Central Florida’s tourism corridor already is populated with Halloween festivities, starting in mid-August. Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s Howl-OScream provide intense fright fests. Sea World’s Spooktacular, Mickey’s Not-So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World and Legoland Florida’s Brick or Treat feature lighter thrills.
“It’s a tough industry, the Halloween industry. We’ve been in it for a decade,” Hill said. “We’d like to say that we have an idea of what we’re doing. But every market is new and presents its own challenges. “
She compared their new territory with their competition in Southern California. Dark Harbor is staged on the Queen Mary and features six haunted houses.
“I think we’re used to playing in the same sandbox as those brands,” she said. “I think there’s a place for everyone.”
Dark Horizon tickets are now on sale. Base prices are $34 and $39, depending on date. There is an early arrival option that starts at $20. The attraction will have a 50 percent off sale on general admission tickets for select nights; the discounts are available through 6 a.m. Thursday. (The promo code is DARK50.)
For more information or to buy tickets, go to darkhorizonorlando.com.