EXCLUSIVE: New Haunts at Hersheypark Halloween and Dark Nights 2025

Dark Nights celebrated its fourth year as part of Hersheypark Halloween (Hershey, PA) with the new Kill 'n Fill maze and Path of Shadows Coven's Curse scare zone. The Haunted Attraction Network went behind-the-scenes with some of the creative team to learn about the continued evolution of their haunt experience and what sets Hersheypark apart as a must-visit seasonal event. Learn More about Dark Nights
ARTICLE: Dark Nights 2025 Expands Hersheypark Halloween with New Haunted House and Scare Zone
BTS VIDEO: New Haunts at Hersheypark Halloween and Dark Nights 2025
VIDEO: DARK NIGHTS 2025 | ALL 5 Haunted Houses FULL Event at HersheyPark

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hershey Park is raising the bar once again for Halloween.
That's coming up on today's show. Welcome to the show.
I'm Philip on the Haunted Attraction Network show. We bring
you the news and stories you need to prepare for Halloween.
This podcast is just one part of what we do.
You can find our videos, articles, and our newsletter linked

(00:30):
in the show notes. Today's episode is adapted from our
video feature with Hershey Park, where we went behind the
scenes of Hersheypark Halloween and Dark Knights to explore how
this seasonal event continues to evolve into a must visit
Halloween destination. Today, you're going to hear from different members
of the team as they explain the creative and technical
elements that make this event so unique, from its mass

(00:52):
uponment houses to the lighting and atmosphere that transform the
park after dark. The full video is linked in the
show notes and available on the hr she Park and
YouTube channel. First up, I'm passing YouTube brewer Lister. Then
you'll hear from Chris Brown, John Kaufman, and Amanda Poljak.
Here we go.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hi everyone, Welcome to Hershey Park Halloween and Dark Knights.
This is our fourth year of hosting Dark Knights as
part of Hershey Park Halloween. For this year, we have
some exciting new things to share with you. First, we
have a brand new haunted house called Kill and Phill Garage,
where you'll get to experience what it's like to come

(01:30):
upon an abandoned garage. You've seen it in the movies.
Now you'll get a chance to feel what it's really
like in our brand new haunted house. In addition to
a new haunted house, we have a new scare zone
here at Hershey Park Halloween and Dark Knights, and that
is Path of Shadows Coven's Curse. There will be three
witches that you will get to interact with and you

(01:51):
will get to see them put on spells inside the
Path of Shadows and be careful, they will want you
to also join their coven. When we set out to
create this new experience, we knew that we wanted to
do something different from one of our other scare zones,
and that was to truly bring to life the power
of technology with an immersive story. So we do that
with the combination of some special effects, some great music,

(02:15):
and as well as some great performers who are really
going to bring together a truly unique experience, one that
changes throughout the evening. So we encourage guests to come
early and then come back later because as the evening progresses,
things are going to get a little darker and a
little more exciting. You're going to hear from my colleague
Chris who's going to share all the excitement and story

(02:37):
behind Killing Phil Garage, our new haunted house.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Chris Brown. I'm the director of Planning and Design here
at Hershey Entertainment Resorts, and as Brewer said, I'm happy
to be standing in front of the Killing Phil Garage,
our newest haunted house here at Hershey Park dark nights. So,
as we've done with most of our haunted houses here
at Hershey Park, we try to lean into something that's
relevant to our history here in Hershey, and so the
classic service station is part of Hershey Estate's history own
couple of gas stations here in town. We really wanted

(03:02):
to understand what it would look like if one of
those was abandoned on the edge of the Hershey Park campus.
So Kill and Phil took shape as part of that.
So here in Killing Field Garage, it's more than just
a service station. It's become a height out for three
very highly trained killers. All those classic elements of a
service station are being put to much more nefarious uses

(03:23):
by our killers that are hiding out here. So things
are more the meets the eye. When you walk in
Kill and Phil, you'll see blood stains, You'll see a
lot of body parts being disposed of. We really wanted
to make Kill and Phil our most ambitious house yet.
We wanted to make the routing through the house as
complex and circuitous as we could. The extended Q line facade,
the more robust scene of treatments on the inside. There's

(03:45):
a lot of great depth and a lot of great
layering of detail in this house. One of the things
that we got to play with with kiln Field Garage
was a little bit more hype. So we're really excited
about the service bay. We actually have the ability to
get you in underneath the car being worked on, up
on an actual car. It allows us to play with height,
change our sight lines, and really change the experience in
this haunted house and take advantage of the space we

(04:06):
have behind us here. Additionally, in the house this year,
we got to play with some new technological sort of treatments,
new ways to light the space, new ways to bring
special effects in all in the purpose of the story
of Killers being in here and so Illuminated Integration is
gonna be able to tell you a lot more about
the specific implementation of those technological advances in this year's house.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
I'm John Coffmin, I'm a lighting designer, principally here at
Illuminated Integration. I focus a lot on conceptual design, and
then when it comes time to do some of the
stranger stuff, say like Haunted House is roller coasters, that's
when I step in. I like to find what is
real in the world that the house is living in.

(04:45):
So we think about Kill and Phil, the new Haunted House.
It's set in the nineteen seventies. You backtrack a little bit.
You think, okay, well, if it was abandoned in the
nineteen seventies, the world Kill and Phil lives in this
place must have been constructed in the four fifties, so
that lets me know, okay. Lighting fixtures, I just don't want,

(05:07):
you know, I love gantum. I don't want just a
gantum fixture up there lighting up the entire room. I
want a gantum fixture reinforcing a period antique fixture from
that era. So what I usually do is I go
around on at the eBay local antique shops and some
non local I go all the way down to Virginia
sometimes and stuff like that and shop for all of

(05:31):
these practical set pieces that we then modify and integrate.
There's one piece in Dark Knights. It's in the first room.
It's an old nineteen seventies Mountain dew clock that we
ripped the guts out of and put led tape in there.
So it's just stuff like that that's really cool. Where
else do you get to do that?

Speaker 5 (05:47):
Right, So, now that you've heard all about our haunted
houses and what is offered in Dark Knights, I'm here
to actually tell you about all the family friendly experiences
that are also included with a Hershey Park Halloween ticket.
I am. I'm joining you from the stage of our
Music Box Theater, which is home to our third annual Shake,
Rattle and Glow Monster Ball. It's a show featuring our

(06:09):
Hershey characters, dressed in their costumes of course, and dancing
to seasonal favorites. It's so much fun for the entire family.
A great option for a break in between the coaster
riding or visiting a haunted house, you can come out,
take a selfie with the characters and then join them
for some dancing and music. In addition to our show,

(06:29):
we also have some other family entertainment in our Avenue
of the Afterlife. It is a scare free zone located
in our water park that features some street performers like
acrobats and fire breathers, and a live DJ with some
fun bubbles and a really cool environment and atmosphere to
get into the Halloween spirit. Well, of course, there is

(06:50):
no sweeter place to trick or treat than here in
Hershey Park. We actually have a trick or treat trail
that starts at Hershey's Chocolate World and winds through our
water park. Inside Hershey Park, there's fourteen candy stops, more
than last year, and we invite children twelve and under
to wear their Halloween costume into the park so that
they can collect candy in between the coaster rides. Of course,

(07:13):
during Hershey Park Halloween and Dark Knights, our food and
beverage team has really elevated the culinary scene. Our Hershey
Park Halloween Tasting Pass is backed by popular demand. It's
a great option for guests looking to get a taste
of all the culinary offerings we have here exclusively during
dark nights, you can try up to five items for
more than thirty different offerings. One of my personal favorites

(07:36):
is our new Nashville Hot Chicken and Waffles. It's so delicious,
and we also have things like our Kill Possible, which
is inspired by our new Haunted House Kill and Phil Garage.
So we've really prid ourselves here at Hershey Park on
offering an incredible value with our ticket. So whether you
want to scream on coasters or scream in a haunted house,
we've got you covered. Your ticket includes all of our rides,

(07:58):
so fifty rides and coasters, our family entertainment including our
character show, five haunted houses, and four scare zones, so
it gives you the option to choose your thrill as
you see fed.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Today's episode was edited by me Philipernandez, with post production
by David Swape and original music composed by Chris Thomas.
Support for today's episode comes from Gantum Lightning and Controls.
Gantum illuminates attractions worldwide with the world's smallest intelligent spotlights.
From dark hourg to nether World, super Mario Land to
Hagrid's Bike. Gantum goes where other fixtures can't. See what

(08:31):
you're missing With a free demo, sign up at gantum
dot com slash demo. That's scantum dot com slash demo.
The ha N team includes Daryl Plunky, Emily Luis Rua,
Megan Spells, Gavin Burns and Omniadventures. Until next time, Stay Scary.
This is a Haunted Attraction Network production