As the saying emblazoned on the Ferris wheel and t-shirts alike, “Not to See Elitch’s is Not to See Denver,” the same has held true for decades of Denverites who love spooky season with Elitch Gardens’ Fright Fest!
Elitch Gardens (or Elitch’s, as most call it these days), began as a family farm in the late 1800s, before opening in 1890 as Denver’s first zoo with a large garden operated by John and Mary Elitch. One year later, John Elitch died, and Mary took the reins alone, becoming known as “the Gracious Lady of the Garden,” and the only woman in the world to own and manage a successful summer resort at the time. Elitch Gardens’ continued evolving over the next several years, adding rides and a theater, and ultimately beginning to move away from its zoo and garden roots. Eventually, the focus became the rides, turning Elitch Gardens’ grounds, then on 38th & Tennyson in northern Denver, into a full-blown amusement park featuring dozens of rides ranging from Kiddieland to the famous Twister roller coaster. Then, in 1995, Elitch Gardens moved to its current location off Interstate 25 and Speer Boulevard, near the heart of the city, just minutes from Confluence Park. Elitch’s continued to grow, adding a full water park and additional thrill rides in 1997.
Elitch’s first started hosting fall events in the 1990s, with Fright Fest beginning near the end of the decade and continuing to serve as one of Denver’s premier haunted attractions since then. During the day, before 6:00 p.m., Elitch’s also hosts kid-friendly activities, including trick-or-treating and more friendly decor in Kiddieland. After that, the creeps come out to play! This season, Fright Fest has made a few updates, including adding two new haunted houses, Redcliff Ridge and Port of the Damned, to the mix, and expanding the use of scare zones, called TERRORtories, throughout the park, some of which are paired with the haunted houses, which expands the reach of each of those haunts further out into the park. Unfortunately, on the day of our visit, Redcliff Ridge was closed due to technical issues, so, although we didn’t get the opportunity to review it, we did get to enjoy the four TERRORtories, including Deadman’s Canyon, which is the result of Redcliff Ridge’s curse spreading beyond the attraction. Nevertheless, we were able to see the other two haunts, including the longtime favorites, Carn-Evil, and the other three TERRORtories, Nightshade Woods, Dolls of the Dead, and Containment Breach, which seems paired with Port of the Damned.
This is a combined review, but each of the two haunts we visited are scored separately. However, this season, visitors who want to go really experience fear and can purchase a wristband that allows unlimited passage through all the haunted houses. For haunt fanatics really wanting to maximize the scares, there is a VIP access bracelet that will allow you to skip the regular line and save a significant amount of time. For those wanting to see the sites with a greater sense of safety, there is a no-scare wristband that acts as a talisman warding off the monsters.
The cast at each of the haunts brought a variety of interactions and scares, some more effective than others.
Carn-Evil – The clowns at Carn-Evil were mostly lively, highly interactive, and humorous. Some leaned more into fun fear while others took a darker and more direct approach. A few areas of the haunt would have benefitted from a few more actors, permitting them to act as a team to scare and fill some of the spaces more fully. As we will discuss later, we ended up going through parts of Carn-Evil multiple times, as a result, we encountered some actors’ multiple times, a couple of whom left deeper scars in our minds than others. One such cast member was surprisingly flexible, eventually fooling some of us with a puppet before bursting forth with a loud cackle. Another cast member thoroughly enjoyed his section, which was set up as a large-scale shooting gallery complete with large ducks, providing two brand new experiences to this haunt lover. The first time through, he shot me on the side of the head with a foam ball. The second time, he greeted our group out among the ducks, and followed us with monotoned quacks, which, for our group, is a never-before-seen take on haunting a room that paddled to the top of our most memorable encounters at a haunt! Although all the actors were clowns, there was a good variety of them, from the clown wearing a neon suit jacket to the friendly, old-fashioned clown going over rules and letting guests into the haunt.
Port of the Damned – The cast at Port of the Damned was slightly sparser than at Carn-Evil, so it, too, would benefit additional members. Nevertheless, there were also a few cast members who outshone the others. One astute performance, which represented an underrecognized step in telling the story of a haunt, was the actor lying on the ground, clearly sick but newly infected, with a subtle glow surrounding his mouth. He didn’t leap up or try to sell a performance, he convalesced like someone who was truly unwell, being almost more of a set piece that helped sell the haunt’s theme. Another memorable character was the scientist who left his sanity back on the ship. He brought an incredibly interactive scene to life, greeting us as soon as we appeared, then continuing to ramble like a madman about what the captain had done until one of his latest patients screamed to life, kicking up the scene unseen. The actor playing the captain himself was another who brought an outstanding performance, which began before we ever saw him, as his cackles echoed through the haunt, reminding us of the spray-painted warnings earlier in the attraction.
The costuming at Fright Fest is well done, but what one would anticipate seeing from a higher end haunt.
Carn-Evil – There are only so many ways one can skin a clown, but rest assured that most of them show up in the red and white tent! The clown makeup was all unique but like one another. Likewise with the costumes: there were a variety of clown costumes, but very few stood out. Being honest, we were more distracted by the decor, pranks and interactions that surrounded us, so the costumes essentially blended into the background. That tells us that the costumes were adequate, as they didn’t detract from the environment, and the rest of the haunt was a ton of fun!
Port of the Damned – The costuming at Port of the Damned was a little less identifiably fitting within the haunt as the clowns were in Carn-Evil, but that is due to the variety of souls swamped into the putative port. Some cast members wore things one would expect to find among dock workers who happened to fall prey to the infection, while others wore more distinctive attire, such as the doctor donning the long white lab coat, and the captain dressed as an old salty dog. In the end, much like at Carn-Evil, we were called by the action of the actors rather than what they wore, meaning it, too, was adequate.
Customer Service at Elitch’s is exceptional. All the trappings of a large amusement park still exist during Fright Fest, including the staff working every corner of the park, including at its customer service office. All the staff we interacted with were friendly and helpful, from the staff working to the Director of Operations himself, who sat down with us before the season to chat, which you can watch after reading this review on The Scare Factor’s YouTube page!
Finding information about Elitch Gardens and Fright Fest is simple. Elitch’s maintains a big presence in Denver, including a website, social media pages and other, more customary media, as well. For those traveling along I-25, one of the main thoroughfares through the city, Elitch Gardens is hard to miss, as the park, including the chasing lights lining the ferris wheel, are highly visible from the highway. Parking does run $35 for the day, but there is plenty of it outside the gates of the park. In addition, there is nothing truly dangerous at either haunt, or throughout the park, though one person in our group stumbled a little in Port of the Damned.
We got to see how Fright Fest responds as the inevitable occurs. As noted above, we wound up going through parts of Carn-Evil multiple times. That is because it unexpectedly shut down twice as we went through. The first time, as we were admiring the laser swamp, the main lights came on suddenly, an overhead public address system began announcing that the haunt was being shut down, and the cast immediately dropped their character personas and helped direct guests to the nearest exit. There were unidentified technical issues that staff were able to address quickly. Given how Elitch’s haunt tickets work, however, folks were still able to enjoy the offerings at Port of the Damned while Carn-Evil got back in shape. Nevertheless, we were also treated to seeing how staff politely handled an angry guest, who never said her name but didn’t need to. Anyway, after taking a quick break for dinner, we headed back to the haunt as it was opening back up. We got back in line and once again made it to the laser swamp when the house lights once again kicked on, the PA system once again kicked in, and cast dropped their facades and steered us out to the nearest exit once more. We later learned that a cast member had been attacked by an idiot. It goes without saying, but we’ll say it clearly, with our full chests: DO NOT ATTACK HAUNT ACTORS, PERIOD! It doesn’t make you cool; it makes you a loser (and a few other choice things I’ll happily say to your face that we can’t publish online). It was clear the impact even being within the zone of danger had on some of the cast, as some people were clearly shaken. Nevertheless, the Fright Fest crew rallied in support of the cast, and they all got the haunt reopened again in short order. Kudos are due to everyone on staff that night! Although not ideal, this experience illustrated how dedicated Elitch Gardens is to maintaining safety in the park, for guests and staff alike.
The haunts were a lot of fun, but there were times when immersion was lost. Also, neither had queue line actors, which would have kicked both haunts up a notch or two.
Carn-Evil – Carn-Evil is set in Elitch Gardens’ water park, so it is somewhat sequestered from the rest of the amusement park. That, however, helped improve immersion. The area outside of the haunt was dark and creepy, featuring a few decorations. While the unused parts of the water park would have benefitted from either some additional decor or something more clearly cordoning it off while keeping with the theme. The main attraction there was clearly the haunt, however we also saw multiple clowns walking around out front, talking out of character with one another, which distracted from the creepy vibe and sense of immersion. Inside of the haunt, however, the immersion improved, though we could still glimpse some of the hidden parts of the waterpark as the tent walls billowed which reminded us of where we were. The haunt, however, does put guests out right near the entrance to the water park area, which leads right back to the main amusement park, allowing the scary vibe back to carry visitors back to the rest that the park has to offer.
Port of the Damned – At Port of the Damned, in contrast, the immersion was less broken than not established in the first place. Port of the Damned is set in one of the open-air theaters near the middle of the park, but off to the side such that it feels partially removed from the park as well. Guests are still near enough to the park to enjoy it in the periphery for part of the line, but as it gets nearer to the entrance to the haunt (which, surprisingly, is not located anywhere near the giant sign for the haunt), the park fades from view and guests are left with a somewhat sterile looking building with a questionable sidewalk that leads off into the dark. That dark sidewalk is great, but the entire experience would be better with some additional decor lining the area. The sense of immersion inside of the haunt doesn’t improve much, unfortunately. Although there are shipping containers and barrels around, there is nothing nautical, like rope coils or fishing nets, to authenticate the seafaring theme. Moreover, much of the top of the haunt is open, permitting glimpses of the park, which further removes visitors from the infected setting. In fact, at one point in our visit, one of the doors into the cast area was left ajar, whereupon a cast member in full costume sat in a folding chair unfazed, reading a book. While that can be attributed to a one-off error, the rest of the things that cut down on immersion at Port of the Damned were more integral, if not structural, but will hopefully be addressed in future seasons to bring Port of the Damned up to the standard set by Carn-Evil.
The special effects at Fright Fest are on point! Between fog obscuring the creeping fiends in Nightshade Woods, the chainsaw-wielding miner in Deadman’s Canyon, and the glowing barrels and terrifying zombies milling about Containment Breach, the TERRORtories truly lend a lot to the night. The haunts also feature some great special effects.
Carn-Evil – Carnevil was awash in bright colors and black lights, which provided a lot for the eye to enjoy. While there wasn’t much sound scaping, demented carnival music filled the air, providing a welcome reprieve from the same six or so songs on repeat in the main park. Throughout, there are several other fun effects, such as the shooting gallery area touched on earlier, and an air cannon that shoots head-sized smoke rings at visitors from above. Even something as simple and low tech as a balloon, when put to good use, proved to be a great effect. Carn-Evil is also home to one fun effect that we won’t spoil but it was a huge surprise!
Port of the Damned – The special effects were a little less at Port of the Damned, but still decently done. One of the signs of the infection was glowing green, whether surrounding a poor longshoreman’s mouth or smeared around the captain’s face, which effect was consistently kept up throughout the port by well-placed black lights and spray-painted phrases and designs. There were a few fun special effects along the pathway as well, that heightened our experience and left us feeling a little shaken. Other inhabitants of the infected port had other, smaller effects to bring life to their performances, such as the person who sent sparks cascading across the ground toward our feet. Otherwise, Port of the Damned’s show is more about its cast than its special effects.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 7.03
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 7.73
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 7.85
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 7.81
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7.2
Between the building anticipation over the day, appreciating the excellent decor throughout the park, the TERRORtories that spring to life after 6 pm, and the haunts themselves, there’s a lot of frightening excitement to be had at Elitch’s!
Carn-Evil – The clowns at Carn-Evil offer more of an entertaining time than a scary one, but there are plenty of scares throughout the haunt. In one case, one of the actors who had previously helped us evacuate the haunt let us pass before stalking through the laser swamp to sneak up on someone in our group who prides herself on not being gotten. Well, she was gotten and gotten good! Carn-Evil also featured an actor whose disembodied scream was all she needed to terrorize us. The cast did a great job of targeting everyone in our group, too. Indeed, the teammate mentioned above was directly in the center of the group when she was scared. The scares also came in many forms, from loud noises to actors using distraction well to provide scares from unnoticed corners. The finale was a lot of fun, as well, giving us a little extra boost on the way out the door.
Port of the Damned – The scares at Port of the Damned were a fun combination of subtle and in your face. The haunt began with more storytelling than scares, which helped build the narrative of the attraction, but, as guests continued, the scares became more intense. The scientist did a great job distracting us, setting up one of the best scares of the night! Sadly, that was one of the last scares to come, as there didn’t seem to be a final.
Elitch’s is a great time even without the Fright Fest fun, but there is so much more fun to be had at Elitch Gardens’ Fright Fest! Not only do guests get the entire benefit of the amusement park (sans the water park, which closes earlier in the season…it’s Colorado after all), but they also get the whole Fright Fest set up, complete with fun, creepy decor throughout the park, the TERRORtories, and a few seasonal vendors, like the turkey leg stands. Adding in two or three haunted houses, trick-or-treating, themed shows, and the Fright by Night Procession, all true haunt lovers should make plans to visit! Regular tickets to Elitch Gardens run $49.99, and the Haunt Passes, which allow unlimited passes through the haunts, are currently running $35.00 each (currently, because the price is currently discounted due to Redcliff Ridge remaining closed). That puts the base price of admission to the park and the haunts at $84.99. For another $20.00, visitors can also add on an Express Pass, which skips most of the line at the haunts. Combining that with the unlimited admission to the haunts is well worth it, as, on the night of our visit, the regular lines were much, much longer than the Express Pass lines, so guests can theoretically go through one of the haunts two or three times with an Express Pass in the time it would take someone without one.
But wait, there’s more! Rather than paying $49.99 per regular admission to the park, folks can buy a 2026 season pass for a mere $20 more, which provides access to the park for the rest of the 2025 season (including the rest of Fright Fest and the winter event, Elitch Holidays), free parking, discounts, and a host of other benefits. There are different levels of season tickets, each slightly more than the last, but each increasing level provides extra benefits as well. Visit Elitch Gardens’ website for full information, but long story short, guests planning can pay a little extra now and get access and free parking through the end of 2026, saving a fortune while enjoying one of Denver’s decades-old top haunted attractions!
Carn-Evil walkthrough time: 11 minutes
Port of the Damned walkthrough time: 9 minutes
2000 Elitch Circle, Denver, Colorado 80204