The Haunted Trail

Asheville's Family Friendly Haunt

About Your Experience

In leu of pretty pictures, we are going to just tell you about everything you need to know about the Haunted Trail.

Timeline:

  • 6pm – Doors and festival open
    • Pirates Cove: 10 minute escape room, live mermaid, Captain’s Challenges, and obstacle course
    • All food and drink
    • Balloon art & face painting
    • Bonfire & S’mores
    • Gem Mine
    • Monster sized games
    • Meet our sponsors
    • Lil’ Ghouls area
  • 6:30pm – Sweet Peek Tour
    • Meet at the Sweet Peek Tour sign at the front of Pirates Cove
    • This is a guided tour of the Trail before it gets dark and before there are actors in the scenes
    • We offer this opportunity to anyone who might be scared and nervous
    • You are welcome to get in line for the full experience if you feel comfortable
  • At Dark near 7:00pm (Depends on the time of month) – The Haunted Trail Opens
  • 8:55pm – We let the last groups go through
  • 9:00pm – The Trail line closes
  • *Check in at the Adventure Center for your Aerial Glow Trail time if you purchased a Glow Combo Pass

Are you really kid friendly?

YES! YES! AND YES! We take special care to introduce kids to Halloween without traumatizing them. That being said, we don’t completely shy away from Halloween classics, but here is how we keep it really kid friendly.

  • We know our audience – we design it for kids 12 and under
  • If you are at all nervous, we highly recommend doing the Sweet Peek Tour (it is only offered at 6:30pm, so you don’t want to miss that time) You won’t ruin any surprise because our actors and the dark transform the scenes.
  • Things we don’t do – bloody scenes, gory scenes, sorry there are no chainsaws!
  • Things we do – Halloween classics like a circus scene, dancing aliens, a western scene, an enchanted forest, a mad doctor, graveyard ball, etc.
  • Our scenes have barriers so you can take in the whole scene comfortably. We do not chase you, we do not touch you. There is one roaming bush that might startle you outside of a scene but it will not chase/touch you.
  • We offer something for all ages. If you have siblings of many ages, we offer a Lil’ Ghouls area for smaller kid play to a field full of monster sized games for bigger kids

Too Much To Do At The Haunted Trail!

Sorry, not sorry, we just get so excited all year long and can’t help ourselves from creating more activities for the Haunted Trail. It is our little goblin baby after all. Here is a quick rundown of what to expect.

  • Glow Zone – check out Asheville Play’s glow party in the Not So Mellow Field
  • Pirate’s Cove: The grand entrance to the festival featuring a 30ft Pirate Ship Escape Room (reservation first come/first served), a live mermaid encounter, Captain’s Challenges, and photo ops with real pirates.
  • Lil’ Ghouls Area: This special area dedicated for young ghouls featuring a playhouse, play ways, and more.
  • Live contests like Mummy Wrap Up and Mummy Polo, play and you might just win an order of donuts
  • Bonfire for yummy smores
  • Live music by the Rock Academy on Fridays
  • Oh yeah and THE HAUNTED TRAIL itself features 18 scenes with over 50 actors a night
  • AND The Aerial Glow Trail that includes 2 aerial trails illuminated in over 1000 lights.
  • We operate all month long on the weekends, so you might as well plan on coming 2 mights 🙂

Our Line Philosophy

Sounds deep, but it is pretty obvious if you are a parent. Kids waiting in line are not always awesome. We position our line around the game field. As long as you have one placeholder, let your kids play in the field! Still supervise them with an adult, or have them play near you. Grab some food or a drink and come back to the line. Once you get toward the front of the line, gather your goblins. We will be doing contests for those in line to ease your pain.

We let family groups in together but to keep your experience awesome, group sizes can not exceed 8. We space groups out at the beginning, and then you are self guided after that. Common curtesy is expected on the Trail. If you catch up with a group hang back and give them space. If you are moving slow, let the group behind you pass.

Eat, Drink, And Be Scary

There is plenty of food and drink to make this a one stop shop for your family!

  • You may pre-purchase Mellow Mushroom pizza or buy it by the slice onsite
  • Sweet Treats – Fresh made donuts & apple cider donuts, popcorn, Jeremiah’s Ice, S’more kits for the bonfire
  • Drink Up – we have non-alcoholic drinks like hot chocolate, hot cider, Devil’s Foot Soda and local craft beer and wine for the adults at the Spookeasy