We did the Christmas tour back in 2024 and our tour guide mentioned that her favorite tour to work is HHN. My sons have not forgotten and have been begging to go since. They are 11 and 13. I think Strangers Things and Five Nights at Freddy’s are the scariest things my 11yo has watched. He said they did not scare or phase him. My general understanding is that they do not even come close to the scare level at HHN though. Am I right? What is the youngest you’d recommend taking kids?
Thanks!
The official line is it’s not recommended for guests under the age of 13, and we suggest parental discretion is advised for anyone under 18.
HHN is gory and over the top violent, but it is not the scariest haunted house option in the USA. It is more scary than just Stranger Thigns and FNAF, houses based on Poltergeist, SAW, American Horror Story, Evil Dead, and more are part of the event, too.
My suggestion is to try out a local haunt if possible and gauge their reactions.
That’s great advice, thank you!
I had definitely seen Poltergeist by the time I was 11. Maybe that’s why I can’t handle scary movies!!
There are a couple houses that tend to be “less scary”, like Stranger Things, Last of Us and so on. As mentioned, the majority of the houses and entertainment is “R” rated for sure!
Plus, they blast LOUD music throughout the park all night. I choose to wear earplugs the entire night.
It is crazy that I see small children and even babies there each year!
You are not the only person I know who doesn’t like scary movies because of Poltergeist.
I took DD last year at 14 and I wouldn’t have taken her any earlier. The whole event is very over stimulating, so if that is an issue, especially for the younger one I would wait. We chose to use loop earplugs so we still could hear well, but it dampened the sound. That did impact the jump scares as they usually use a loud bang to stratle you before they jump out, but it was still enough to startle us.
We chose not to do Terrifier because I decided an unrated movie was probably too much even if the houses are “less” than the movie. No regrets there.
We loved it and we are going back again this year. I might wait one more year if I were you, just for overall enjoyment of the event, I think a little maturity helps.
Edited: sorry to revive an old thread. What did you decide?
I would say it depends on the child. I’ve been going through haunted houses as long as I can remember because they don’t scare me. I love getting startled by the actors, but I’ve never been afraid.
I think about taking my 13 year old nephew through one of these, and he would probably break down in tears 10 feet from the front door. My 6 year old niece is more like me, she’d think it’s funny.
HHN can go heavy on the gore, so be mindful of that if you think it would bother your kids.
I’m still deciding, leaning toward yes. Mostly because the other request is to go snowboarding and I don’t know where to find snow in October 
I let the boys watch The Ring and they both took it in stride. Any suggestions for a next step movie?
Thanks!
That’s a hard one because most of them are rated R - and that could be for different reasons (including sex). I would wait to see what the houses are for this year (I belive Sinners and Hellraiser are two that “everybody” knows are coming) and then read up on the content. I didn’t let DD watch Sinners because of the sex, but will let her watch the version edited for plane flights next time we are on one.
I forgot about the Stranger Things and Ozzy Ozsbourne! Honestly, if your kids don’t get easily overstimulated, I think you will be fine. If you think you will watch the show, bring earplugs because it is loud enough to caise hearing damage! (I remeber Len saying that in a HHN review years ago, and as I sat there I thought “yep”)
Thank you!! I’m gonna start looking at hotels and tickets!!
I’ve been taking DD since 2019 and she was born in 2007 so she was 12.5. But I will say this kid is scared of very little as is evidenced.
I took her to the local haunted house in 5th grade and she would talk back to the scare actors. Like they’d be following her and she’d turn around and say “hi how are you doing?” But the ones in Universal will do jump scares but they don’t tend to follow you. It’s more just very gory and spooky set scenes like an old town church with witchy bloody looking spooky mix of mannequins and scare actors and you don’t know who is who, dark sets and then jump scares like popping out of what looks like a normal wall or a plant from stranger things ending up in your face in 1 second flat. Super impressed with how they did that. The scariest one ever for me was haunting of hill house where they had you walk thru a completely pitch black room (I mean u could not see anything at all) and somehow they projected broken neck lady’s voice in your ear. Very loudly and all of the sudden. I jumped so high.
My funniest story from when I took DD at 12 is when in the scare zone a stilt walker monster surprised her and she raised her fist in response. She didn’t hit him but her impulse was to defend herself. It was then I knew she was gonna be alright. lol.
There are always some haunted houses that aren’t scary in the least minus maybe a jump scare like ghostbusters and beetlejuice. It’s more like they reenact scenes from the movies.
I do hate chainsaws and they do have them thru some of the scare zones and scare zones are unavoidable in some locations.
I’ve done Killer Klowns before that’s a repeat. I like that one because we loved that movie as a kid. It’s over the top so I don’t find scary. It’s just corny.
Also pro tip in Sept when all the YouTubers go they’ll do walk thru vids which you can watch to see if there is anything you don’t want your kids to see.
Big Snow in New Jersey. Although it’s basically a bunny hill so anyone who knows how to ride will get bored quick. They do have a little park, though.
