Indy Scream Park Review (2026)

The parking area was well-lit and directed visitors nicely to the park entrance. They added a new wooden fenced area at the entrance that was a bit confusing, but once we figured it out, the waiver counters were easy to access. Friendly and knowledgeable staff were stationed at the entrance to make sure we signed our waivers and got the correct tickets.

The full-on experience of Indy Scream Park begins as soon as you enter the midway. I have to note that we arrived early specifically for the caramel apples, so we made a quick stop at the handicap-accessible, refreshing A/C-equipped bathrooms and went on a mission for deliciousness. Along with those apples came a selection of other goodies like corn dogs, fries, pizza, and more; not a crazy fair-food selection, but definitely enough to get your grub on if you’re hungry while visiting ISP. Water and a few other non-alcoholic beverages are available at the food booth and the decadent drinks booth, but for those wanting an adult beverage to quench their thirst, Bonzo’s Beer Garden is available. Although ISP is a cashless park, staff told us they added a new option at the ticket booth and admission area where they can load cash onto a “gift card” for use inside the park.

The indoor attractions Nightmare Factory, Lockdown, and Neon Nightmare are wheelchair-accessible options at ISP. Before each attraction, friendly staff checked us in at each entrance, gave us glow necklaces when we opted for them, and made sure we got our 3D glasses. Despite the blazing heat that night, the staff seemed genuinely happy to see us. They also did a great job keeping the park clean.

For entertainment, along with photo ops, music, and some iconic Halloween characters, there were a few signature ISP characters too. They all roamed in and out of people in the midway throughout the entire evening with the creepy charisma each one is so well known for. Jason was caught numerous times glaring eerily from the table across the way, or Michael would sneak up behind us and bear that signature blade he’s notoriously packin’. Just one piece of advice and one thing to remember: “Don’t touch the baby”!

Just before dark, the zombie’s prisoner escaped, or tried to, so we got a glimpse of what happens if captured by the zombie horde; you become dinner for a band of hungry folks that prefer fresh meat from the bone versus kitchen-prepped portions. IF they catch you, that is…

While these midway actors were downright amazing and provided entertainment and scares the entire time we were in that area, no actors or entertainment spilled into the waiting areas for each attraction other than some decor here and there. We imagine the waits in line can get rather boring very quickly.

Indy Scream Park definitely gets visitors in the spirit right off the bat this year. As soon as we entered under the breezeway, the vibes hit. Spooky creatures and familiar Halloween characters roamed everywhere, setting the stage for the events that would transpire through the night.

As we entered the queue area for Nightmare Factory, we could tell something wasn’t going right in the factory. There were faint sounds similar to emergency sirens and backup lighting, the only lights to greet us or light our path in any way. Soft, deep hums of electric wiring felt as though they radiated through the very walls surrounding us. From the point of entry to the exit, we were immersed in darkness; it seemed to go on forever. Minus the occasional startling electric shock that lit our way for less than a second, NFB is 100% blacked out.

Lockdown had the scene and setting of an old jail or prison asylum. Bars and chains were used throughout, along with actors doing their “job” to keep us there. Dirty, dingy walls and floors, along with what appeared to be decrepit jail cells, gave us the impression of serious disrepair in this facility. Different methods of restraint, and one could almost venture to say torture, were used on different members of our group, which helped envelop us in the storyline. It would be great to see more character variety to further push this storyline, but it’s clear it’s a prison.

The neon radiated even beyond the entrance to Neon Nightmare 3d! This attraction is exactly as it sounds in the name: someone’s neon nightmare. So many sounds, lights, colors, and clowns lurking around; it was virtually impossible not to feel in the moment in this nightmare.

The Backwoods experience started at the entrance to the queue. Scraggly branches and tree limbs seemed to reach out onto the path and grab at us as we passed. A dark and desolate forest surrounded us. The occasional hiss or chirp from a bug or creature was eerie and only increased the feeling of the darkness surrounding the path. From beginning to end, glowing path lights led us, helping us navigate but sometimes making it hard to know which way to go. There was junk material in areas of the trail that you might see out in the woods on some abandoned land: barrels, scrap metal, and wood to help keep this storyline rolling. For immersion, it was the creepiest setting, but it was also the most bare.

In Zombieland: Unchained, we knew something was getting ready to go down when we passed beneath some heads on stakes and were suddenly surrounded by a sheet-metal queue. And we weren’t wrong… This haunt was set up for great immersion, but at times there wasn’t much going on, which pulled us out of it a bit.

Each haunt has a decorated entrance sign that gives you an idea of what to expect inside. They all spit back out into the central midway, which is perfect.

The lights are out at the Nightmare Factory. That didn’t stop our intrepid group of reviewers from making their way through the winding machine halls within. With nothing but our outstretched hands and faith to walk by, we began our trek. Drop panels were used extensively throughout the Factory, concealing unlucky workers and monsters alike. A word to the wise: don’t trust your footing too much. Our faith was rewarded when the floor suddenly gave way, sending us dropping! Soon after, we were hit with the distinctive smell of ozone and the sound of electrical current feeding into large capacitors. An alarm blared, and suddenly arcs of electricity erupted from a massive Tesla coil in the center of the room, striking the wall in front of us. Our sense of self-preservation kept us from admiring the display for too long, but the glimpse we got, lit by electrical discharge, was awe-inspiring.

The scene building within Lockdown made it feel real. From the moment we walked in, the lighting and detail built in made it feel like we were about to do time too! We must’ve gotten sent straight to the psyche wing, but thankfully the prisoners had taken over. We decided to celebrate our incarceration with a dance party complete with a light show! Who knew the commissary had party lights? Our dancing quickly stopped, though, as another group of prisoners ushered us into body bags and sealed us in. We escaped, only for more prisoners to attempt to load us into a furnace! As much as it warms our hearts to warm our fellow inmates, we had to decline and make our way out.

Next on our adventure was Neon Nightmare. The bass was strong enough to vibrate the air inside our lungs, and while thrilling to experience, it provided the perfect concealment for clowns to move around us undetected until it was too late for us. While your sense of hearing is otherwise occupied, your eyes will be mesmerized by the neon 3D effects surrounding you. Massive wall displays that seem to pulsate with the music and spinning clowns make it impossible to detect the real threats moving above and around you. When we finally made it to the rave filled with fog, and the DJ playing the infectious bass, we almost forgot we were in a haunt – if not for the eerily still ravers surrounding us.

Backwoods was up next. A haunted trail filled with a family that does not want company. Our advice if you want to make it out: mind your manners and keep it moving! While making our way through, we encountered mazes of sheets with revolting brown smears (do NOT taste those!), a truck that almost ran us over, and decrepit little cabins ruled by various family members. We would’ve liked more audio components to really ramp up the dread as we entered each new cabin. There were some strong lighting moments, like the truck scene or the kidnapping scene, and we’d like to see those strengths extended to some of the other scenes.

Our last stop of the night was Zombieland Unchained. Crushed cars were stacked all around us, leaving no doubt we were in a junkyard. The first unfortunate soul we encountered was someone being fed straight into a shredder! Before the zombies had a chance to push us in next, we ran straight on. Unfortunately for us, that only led us deeper into the zombies’ territory. The zombies had taken over every facet. Crawling out of cars and reaching for us, or trying to shock us from behind stacks of pulled parts! We were dismayed to find they also remembered how to use chainsaws, skills they happily showed as they chased us through the last maze and back out into the midway. Thankfully, we had those caramel apples waiting for us to calm us down!

As our group crept through the Nightmare Factory’s shadowy halls, we occasionally stumbled upon the workers lurking about. Corrupted and turned evil by the darkness, they were all eager to add us to its list of victims! For the most part, they were people of few words; we heard a lot of tortured, angry screaming – with the odd taunting laugh thrown in. Most wore dark-colored coveralls, and we noticed a considerable amount of blood splattered on them from less fortunate visitors. At least one appeared to have some grime on their face, suggesting that they’d been in there a while. While nearly all our interactions with the cast were jump scares, the actor carrying a loud weapon tried to slice up every single person in our group, and the one nearest the exit fixed us with a very eerie stare as we fled for our lives!

Many of the actors were behind drop panels that appeared to be timed, meaning they were visible for a few seconds after the initial scare. There was definitely room for further interaction, but the majority of them stood and just waited for the panel to conceal them again. The park’s guests are intruders barging into the factory while they’re ‘working ’-threats or creepy things shouted at them would not be out of place.

Not long into the night, we wound up being the newest inmates admitted to Lockdown. Unfortunately for us, it quickly became clear that those already inside had overthrown security and escaped, and they were now running the whole facility! As a result, most of the characters we met were inmates, with a few security guards desperately imploring us for help in taking back control of the building. If only our fellow prisoners had been as easy to deal with… the minute we walked in, they smelled fresh meat, and boy, did they take advantage! We were threatened and accosted around every turn, though a little comic relief came in the form of a scene where we had to dance with a prisoner. Since we opted for the glowing ‘touch pass’ necklaces, inmates also occasionally pulled us away for more intense interactions, like shoving us in a boiler or having our hair ‘cut’!

Everyone we came across wore appropriate outfits: guard uniforms, prison jumpsuits, or distressed street clothes. They had varying degrees of rips, tears, and stains. Makeup largely consisted of wounds, like gashes, on faces and limbs. With the full acknowledgment that it’s very dark in this house and that details on many actors would be hard to see, we felt there was room to flesh them out more.

“Go on, now. Git!” …were the words we wish someone had given us before we trespassed in the Backwoods, home to a family of aggressive hillbillies that absolutely did *not* want us on their property! We were yelled at or threatened by nearly everyone we found- or who found us- though a few of them gave us laughs when they accused us of trying to get with their kin, and poor Granny hanging out by her trailer had made quite a mess of herself… she approached our group hoping for a little help with that. Another funny interaction came from the gentleman in the outhouse, who was upset that we interrupted his ‘meal’. When a group member replied, “In the sh**ter?!” he snarled back, “Don’t knock it ‘til ya try it!” Most dialogue and interactions were appropriate for a hillbilly haunt, though the one involving a bomb (?!) strapped to an actor’s chest seemed a bit out of place, and we heard our share of “keep moving”.

Life this deep in the boonies would make anyone look rough, and this clan certainly looked the part! Most were appropriately dressed in flannel shirts, overalls, nightgowns, etc., and a lot of their outfits were torn and dirty. We did see some unlucky visitors who were imprisoned, and their clothes seemed a bit too clean and in good shape for the environment. Some carried weapons, like chainsaws, or other props.

The colorful circus that was Neon Nightmare had quite the party planned for us – and armed with our 3D glasses, our whole group was rave-ready! While we screamed and danced the night away, we ran into several clowns. Some were quick to make their presence known, while others remained cleverly concealed until they saw an opportunity for a scare. (Shout-out to the clowns working the area where they were both up top and down below. Great teamwork!) Dialogue was almost completely limited to wicked clown cackles, and while most interactions involved quick scares, the DJ was absolutely throwing it down near the end!

All costumes fit the 3D clown rave theme: UV-reactive and checkerboard-patterned clown suits, and we swore we saw some actors slinking about in black morph suits in the finale. The DJ wore a detailed UV-reactive costume and appeared to be wearing a mask with dreadlocks. All makeup was clean and neatly done.

Atmospheric music and the ominous roaring of chainsaws greeted us upon our arrival to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was Zombieland: Unchained. We might’ve been warned in advance about the zombies- and we certainly found a few of those on our adventure- but the ‘survivors’, driven crazy from their ordeal, were every bit as big of a threat! Since we opted in for the glow necklaces that serve as touch passes for this attraction, we frequently had our group split up or individual teammates taken away for one-on-one interactions. Some of those included a group member being plunked in a dental chair and checked for any gold fillings the ‘dentist’ (… right) could extract, other group members being strapped down and operated on for their brains, and one was forced to crawl through a tunnel as the actor gave chase, grabbing at their toes! As for the zombies, they were nothing short of vicious, snarling and snapping at us while we tried to avoid them. We would have liked to see a few more of them, as it seemed the survivors had done a good job of reducing their population.

Living through a zombie apocalypse is no easy feat, and many of the survivors looked worse for the wear. Their clothes were quite grubby. The zombies’ faces sported wounds and splashes of blood, with more blood staining their ripped clothing. Adding more detail, like extra distressing and staining on costumes and a more gaunt, sickly appearance on the zombie makeup, would work well here.

Where do we even begin with this attraction? Blackout started building tension before we ever stepped inside. From the moment we reached the queue, the music and atmosphere created immediate discomfort and anticipation. Once we entered, the intensity only increased. The music was blaring, our hearts were already racing, and we quickly realized we had no idea what was waiting for us around the next corner. What really stood out was the pacing of the scares. They were spaced extremely well, giving us just enough time to recover before something else caught us off guard. It felt like every 15-20 steps brought another surprise, keeping us constantly anticipating what was coming next.

Between the air cannons, dropping floors, startling animatronics, and other unexpected effects, Blackout rarely gave us a chance to feel comfortable. Just when we thought we could catch our breath, the attraction found another way to get us. Yes, it was humid inside-but by the time we made it out, we’re pretty sure most of that sweat came from the tears we had just endured!

We made our way into Lockdown and decided to test our bravery by wearing the glow necklaces offered at the start of the attraction. These necklaces signaled to the actors that we were ready for more than the typical scare; we were fair game for a more intense and interactive experience. Knowing what those necklaces meant, we entered expecting to be separated from our group, cornered, possibly grabbed, or otherwise pulled deeper into the action. Perhaps we moved through certain sections a little too quickly, because we were only pulled away a few times so they could put us in body bags or hit a dead end in a metal enclosure.

One memorable moment did occur when we were ushered into a small room where an actor instructed us to press a button without telling us what would happen next. Instead of terror, we unexpectedly found ourselves having a miniature dance party! It was a fun, amusing change of pace that briefly lowered our guard before we went deeper into Lockdown. The best scare in this haunt came from multiple well-timed drop panels that got everyone in our group!

What’s more terrifying than clowns? Seeing them in a completely different way through 3D glasses! This attraction overwhelmed our senses with bright neon graphics, EDM music, and walls that seemed to come alive around us, and sometimes nearly smashing us! The 3D effects made it incredibly difficult to tell where the scenery ended and the actors began – and they took full advantage of that!

The clowns were hitting us from every direction, popping out from places we never saw coming, including above us! We caught ourselves staring so intently at the wild wall designs that we became easy targets. Just when we thought we were starting to figure things out, the classic mirror maze reminded us why such a simple effect still works so well. Seeing two clowns reflected in front of us and having no idea which one is actually standing there creates a great moment of uncertainty.

One of the biggest surprises, though, was the nightclub experience. With a DJ pumping music through the room, we suddenly found ourselves walking through what felt like a bizarre, twisted club scene surrounded by shadowed bodies. The unsettling part was that we weren’t quite sure whether any of them were actually alive, or which one might suddenly move or seemingly block our path. We were so lost in here! Between the pounding music, disorienting 3D visuals, unpredictable actors, mirror maze, and nightclub atmosphere, Neon 3D Circus turned sensory overload into part of the scare.

Zombieland: Unchained felt like we were walking straight into the middle of a zombie outbreak where pretty much everything had already gone wrong. The actors brought energy throughout our walkthrough. Zombies came at us from different directions, and several times we found ourselves watching one actor only to have another catch us completely off guard. That unpredictability really kept us on our toes at times. There were also some gruesome growlers inside those buses! They sounded so scary we didn’t want to go near them! One of them reached out and laid their hand on one of our shoulders, and that really intensified not wanting to be touched by a zombie! More of that for the necklaces, please!

The attraction had that rundown, chaotic feel you would expect from a world that had been completely overrun. Once again, we opted for the glowing beacons of “come mess with us.” And we were separated from each other, had to crawl, solve a puzzle, got our eyebrows cut, you know, normal stuff. There were definitely some good scares, and making it out of the exit proved a bit harder than we thought it would be. Who thinks it’s fun being trapped inside a metal maze as zombies and chainsaws attack you? We do! This haunt had the strongest finale by far.

Backwoods is one of those attractions where you start walking and pretty quickly realize you probably shouldn’t be out there. You’re in the middle of the woods, it’s dark as hell, and there are some seriously questionable characters waiting for you along the way. The only thing that guided us through the dark woods was the orange glow of tiny lights, and it just made it so creepy!

The characters were what really made this one for us. They weren’t just popping out, screaming, and disappearing. They talked to us, messed with us, and gave us some pretty funny interactions. And some of these people were WEIRD. But they weren’t really scary… more entertaining. Except for the one who had the victim tied up – he was intense!

We would like to see additional scares in between the buildings. While a sudden car horn, some yells, and the creepiness of the woods got to us, once a few groups started to catch up, it felt more empty out there. We believe at least one bushman got us good. There were a few chainsaws, but they weren’t very intent on chasing us out of there.

On the night of our visit, General Admission tickets were $38.90 with fees. We spent about 42 minutes across the five haunts, resulting in 1.08 minutes of inside haunt time per dollar, which was right above average. In addition, all tickets include unlimited trips through the haunts using the General Admission lines; we think this can be a great deal on a night when you have time to hit a few favorites more than once!

Ticket prices vary by date, with lower prices earlier in September and higher prices as the season progresses. We recommend visiting earlier in the season to avoid the larger crowds. The park also offers VIP Fast Pass, Unlimited VIP Fast Pass, and Super VIP Fast Pass admission, with the latter including unlimited, no-wait access to the haunts.

Keep in mind that there is also a parking fee. Standard parking is $8 per vehicle, while preferred parking is $12, and you can buy both online or on-site. Once inside the park, it is cashless, but guests can have cards pre-loaded at the ticket office.

We also recommend wearing super-comfortable shoes and planning to spend the whole night there, because there is a lot to enjoy!

We thought this iteration of Indy Scream Park was the best we’d experienced yet. If you are looking for a haunt with a wide variety of themes, creepy characters you can interact with even while grabbing a bite, a bonfire to hang around, and some cool swag to take home, ISP is a great place to spend the night.