Haunting Nights at Leu Gardens Bigger & Better Their Second Year
From gargoyles to creepy clowns, a maze and more, you won't want to miss this year's Haunting Nights, presented by Massey Services.
Get your walking shoes on and prepare for some Haunting Nights at Leu Gardens this Fall. We were one of the first inside this week for a sneak peek at this year’s event, and it’s bigger and better than ever. In total, you’ll explore 14 themed worlds. From the extremely detailed costumes and makeup, to the animatronics and actors, Creative City Project and The Memoir Agency have truly outdone themselves.
Let’s Get Started
Guests start at the Fall Festival, found on the main lawn, where you can stock up on margaritas, wine, beer, sodas, and snacks galore. Don’t worry; if you run out of snacks along the way, there are plenty of booths with different food and beverage offerings, like walking tacos, churros, chicken tenders, loaded tots and more. From there, you’ll enter Bayou of the Beasts, where larger-than-life reptiles and amphibians roam the swamp, and all is not what it seems. Watch out for Bigfoot on the swampy edges of Lake Rowena!
If you make it out og the Bayou, you’ll head into Orbit Breakers, an out-of-this-world alien encounter dance-party experience. Without giving too much away, this was superbly fun and unexpected. Next, don your closed-toed shoes and climb multiple haystack arrangements and platforms at Scarecrow Summit. You may be visited by the Crow Sage but only during the kid-friendly Happy Frights version of this event (which requires a separate ticket and happens earlier in the day), but don’t worry, he’s harmless; at least we think he is.
Don’t Look Back
Guests who escape the Crow enter the Brew Bash, a trippy, colorful, bubbly, and witchy good time. Giant cauldrons bubble and spew a multi-colored lightshow along this perilous path, with puppeteers commanding 15-ft tall marionette witches. Perhaps our favorite “world”, Brew Bash was a fun, immersive and slightly trippy vibe. From there, stroll into The Crypt, where guests have several photo opportunities in standing coffins. A fall garden-themed Monarchs and Marigolds gives attendees a quick repreve from the scares, but don’t rush through, or you may miss the mammoth butterflies flapping their wings.
If you don’t like clowns, be prepared to walk quickly through the Crazy Carnival. Enter through the clown’s mouth (you did read that correctly), where ghastly busts come to life, and scare actors give their creepiest clown-inspired performances. There are several unexpected and scary things awaiting you inside the Crazy Carnival, but we won’t give them all away. Once you’ve escaped the carnival, get lost in the Spider’s Den, a eerily and beautiful experience, but not without its scares. If you manage to escape the Spider’s Den, you may not make it through the Carnivorous Kingdom, where monstrous plants have an appetite, FOR YOU!
Gargoyles & Minotaurs, Oh My!
Continue along the guided path for a truly immersive experience in the Garden of Gargoyles world, where these stone beasts come to life. Watch the skies for flying gargoyles, and keep to the path, or else. The Dia de Muertos world is next, illuminating the rose garden and fountain and accompanied by live music. It’s a fun, festive, and not-scary part of Haunting Nights. Attendees second to last stop is Electric Wings, a bat-themed neon light-show set to some fun pop-themed Halloween music. Guests final stop is The Labyrinth, where corridors twist and turn and scares are around every corner. Choose your path and you may escape The Minotaur.
The Little Things
We recommend on-site parking since it is a nighttime event, comfortable walking shoes, and light clothing (it is Fall in Florida after all). This event is recommended for ages 13 and up, and does include scares throughout the experience. For an in-depth behind-the-scenes, look, watch our full video on this year’s event here.
