Old Town and Fun Spot USA - 12/27/13

On the evening of the 27th my wife and I went to Old Town and Fun Spot USA in Kissimmee, Florida; not far down the road from Walt Disney World. The two attractions offer a somewhat kitsch-y alternative to the major Orlando attractions. Old Town offers a handful of attractions and a wide-variety of shopping (a little bit of everything, including odd items like kangaroo jerky) and we started our night there.

It was clear right away that the peak holiday season had arrived in Orlando and it wasn't just drawing huge crowds to Disney, Universal, and Sea World. I have never seen the parking lot so full or so many crowds of guests milling about during past visits to Old Town. We walked to the haunted attraction first - Legends: A Haunting at Old Town. There was an anxious family of four joining us through the house. I had never experienced the previous haunted attraction in this same location (the Haunted Grimm House), but had heard positive reviews thus far for its replacement. It was a very fun experience and had a professional feel and presentation. There were lots of live actors in the house (or at least a few very quick moving actors who could go from one scare to the next rapidly), which was a pleasant surprise. I took my time walking through and was in the front of the group which seemed to upset my wife and the family trailing us a bit as they wanted to rush out as fast as possible. All in all I would recommend stopping by if you're visiting and are a fan of haunted houses. $15 a person for admission seemed a bit steep at first, but I felt was worth it in the end.

Next we continued to the end of the street where most of Old Town's rides are located. We bought enough tickets for a ride on the Windstorm roller coaster. Its a standard Zamperla Windstorm coaster which features plenty of intense twists and turns. The ride is fun and has just enough rust and faded paint to have an added sense of danger about it. Next I walked to the Wacky Worm where a sign regretfully stated I was too tall to ride without a child. I figured I might as well verify with the ride attendant that I would not be allowed on.

- "Hey.. Would I be allowed to ride?"
- "I don't see why not."

Alright! An unexpected new credit for the visit. We bought a few more ride tickets and jumped on. It was a Wacky Worm, not a lot else to say.

After this we decided to grab some food and drink from one of Old Town's dining and drink establishments. I can not recall the name, but they had fried food which was tasty and cheap draft beers (but that does describe essentially every restaurant in Old Town, so if you like those two things you really can't go wrong).

Fun Spot USA was next on the agenda. I stopped by a ticket booth to activate the annual pass I bought on black friday ($90 for both parks for a year, fantastic deal), and bought a sampler wristband for the wife which would get her on four rides of our choosing; and we were on our way. First stop was the RockStar Coaster which previously existed at Cypress Gardens before moving to Fun Spot in 2011. The ride is a Zamperla spinning mouse which is extremely fun in large part thanks to the ride attendants encouraging loading the cars in a manner that causes as much spinning as possible. Following a dizzying ride on the RockStar Coaster we rode the park's Flyers. They were not as wild as some Flyers out there, but we could still get the bucket flying. There was another coaster in the park - the Kiddie Coaster - so we went there next so I could add that credit to my list as well. We ended our evening on the S&S Screaming Swing. I had never been on one of these before, it was incredibly fun and a huge adrenaline rush. Certainly faster, taller, and more forceful than I expected. Probably the highlight of the evening.

If you're in Orlando and looking for a fun night away from the major resorts and attractions, come by Old Town and Fun Spot in Kissimmee; it is a fun time.

15 bucks PER PERSON for the walk-through haunted house? That seems AWFULLY high to me.

That might make up for the nights when they have absolutely nobody going through and have all of two scare-actors that spend most of their time out on the sidewalk going up behind people for fun. Trust me, I've seen it.

Mike Gallagher said:

15 bucks PER PERSON for the walk-through haunted house? That seems AWFULLY high to me.

To their credit it is a good length (at least 10 or so minutes from what I recall) and of good quality. To me in a town where Halloween Horror Nights is the haunted experience of choice and if you want to enjoy it you're going to be spending between $50-$100 for admission and a further $100-$200 for Express Passes or a RIP Tour to actually see a majority of the 7-8 houses (if you're only doing one night), the pricing isn't too outlandish. This haunt is better than the less impressive houses at HHN, to me at least.

Plus if you want a single ride on one of the Fun Spot coasters you're looking at $9 a pop (in the case of White Lightning). No matter how you look at it... nothing is cheap in Orlando. ;)

Capitalize said:
No matter how you look at it... nothing is cheap in Orlando. ;)

Except the enthusiasts.

I'll be here all night, folks. Be sure to tip your waitress.

Wow $15 for one walk through, that is high! I suggest you visit Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream in Tampa. They have reasonable tickets, they went up this year, but still got their online deal (Always go to the parks' website for best deals!) for $35/$40 if you're not a pass member and that includes 7 haunted houses with unlimited visits, rides, and shows. We had a blast and prefer it to Universal. If you really enjoy haunted houses then you may as well pay a little more one time and have a whole night of fun. Several places are known for great Halloween events.

$15 sounds about right for a well done haunt. I've paid as much as $35 for popular (put in my opinion, not so well done) stand alone haunts. That said, the parks that offer many different haunts, plus rides and shows for a pretty reasonable admission are priced very well. I think Halloween season crowd levels prove that.

Yeah all the yearly haunts near Chatlotte are at least $20 and up to $50. I'd say $15 is a bargain.

I was holding off because, believe it or not, sometimes I get tired of being the jerk...but since others have said it...

In what context is $15 for a stand alone haunt expensive?

Seriously. Where is there a haunt (even the dinkiest of local seasonal haunts) that's significantly less than $15?

We held a haunted house at our campground, and charged $10.00. We only had 120 people come through, and, we put a lot of work into it. Most said it was really good, and had one lady wet her pants, LOL!! so, it must have been ok. Though we didn't make enough money to host another one for the public. Though we have the same haunted trail every year for the campers. Last year we had 150 people come through in one night, compared to the 3 weekends we were open to the GP.

I love haunted houses. The one at Indiana beach is pretty good. Though the best one I was ever in was the House of Dark Shadows, In Grand Rapids. That place was awsome! Now they have the Haunt, which I have heard is pretty intense.

I think I've heard about that haunted campground.

Strobe light room. Chased by a chainsaw. Then AHHH ... Tighty Whitey Twister.

I'd probably pee my pants too if I saw that!

Almost a zombie thread...

Gonch, the kind of haunt will determine the price. Some haunts in our area charge as little as $6. The more elaborate haunts in the bigger cities can charge a lot more.

Last October I visited the haunts that Ghostly Manor in Sandusky. It was $20 for five haunts. They were pretty elaborate and enjoyable too. I think The Eastern State Penitentiary in Phily was about $25 for several haunts a few years ago. However, there is a haunt near my home that benefits the Boy Scouts that only charges $6.

I like the idea of a haunt charging more for busier times to influence crowds.

So if I hit up a benefit for the Boy Scouts in WV it's $6?

Makes $15 for this stand-alone attraction in Orlando seem even more like a steal.

I'll GLADLY pay $15 or more for a good haunt.

At this point, I'm craving a good haunt so badly, I'd probably pay double.

I'll haunt you for $25...

No need. You just creeped me out and it didn't cost me a penny. :)

15 bucks isn't bad at all. For Pennhurst it was a four haunt attraction that you needed VIP access if you were going to see everything you paid for, and it was 80 bucks. That's 20 bucks a haunt. This one was a decent bargain.

Now $80 for four haunts operated in the same location sounds steep to me. That's close to the all-day price of a Disney park. You can go to Cedar Point or Kings Island for a whole day during their haunt events and get rides, roller coasters, multiple haunts including outdoor scare zones for about half of that.
$80 just seems like a really high "sweet spot" for them to charge. It's hard for me to imagine that they are profitable.

And this is coming from someone who reads Haunted Attraction Magazine.

Oh, I don't know about that. In the case of Pennhurst, it is one of the most popular haunts in this area. It draws thousands and thousands of people a night. 80 bucks was, as I said, for four haunts AND VIP admission (like a Flashpass or FastLane). If you look at an admission to Dorney at over 30 dollars a person, plus upcharged parking at Dorney for special events (I don't remember how much more they charge, but they do tack on a couple extra bucks for Haunt parking versus regular seasonal parking), plus possibly having to buy a FastLane pass if you want to see all the haunts, you'd be paying about the same price if not more. Plus, I may be totally off on the cost and it may have been 80 dollars for me and my husband total. I can't remember. In any case, I don't think it really cost more than a park haunt and probably actually cost LESS in the grand scheme of things.