If you are looking for a truly immersive and downright terrifying experience- look no further than Ominous Descent! From the moment you enter the Harris Lake House, with Finn and his demented family members inside, you enter right into their world of torment, filth, and madness. After a few years’ hiatus, Ominous Descent returned to Central Florida for the first time in 2024, and they are back for more terror in 2025! Located in the Winter Haven Moose Lodge parking lot, the independent haunt crew has spent the last year adding on to the maze to become a fully immersive environment, where you genuinely feel like you are living an absolute nightmare when you are inside of it- and the only thing on your mind is escaping… alive!
This year’s house, called Resident Misery, is a continuation of the Harris Lake House storyline that we have grown to love over the years. After years of madness, Dr. Covington returns to the Harris Lake House to search for Finn, a previously escaped patient from his deranged mental asylum, Covington Asylum, where he performed horrible and inexplicable experiments on his patients, Finn included. Without Finn to experiment on, his madness grew increasingly intense, slowly taking him over, and causing him to lose his mind. Dr. Covington’s longing for a cure leads him to Finn’s childhood home, right along with his Asylum caretakers wearing the skin faces of their victims to assist in his hunt. Here is where they all hide within the walls of the Harris Lake house and use electroshock therapy to transform the residents into the Doctor’s own sadistic breed of human. Are you going to escape the horrors within the Harris Lake House, along with Dr. Covington’s tormented operations? Only one way to find out…
I do not think I have ever screamed as much as I did in this house! They scare you from every angle; completely immersed in a true horror movie, leaving you shocked when the next scare comes at you. We barely escaped this time, and we cannot wait for what the future holds for Ominous Descent!
Holy cow! The cast of Ominous Descent did not disappoint! They were coming at us from every angle at some points, wielding giant chainsaws as we narrowly escaped by. Terrifying us at every corner, there was even a time that they were on top of us and would jump down to grab that extra scare!
The cast had their A-game on at every scene, but the victims were top-notch! They were so believable with their tormented screams and cries, it made you feel like you were witnessing these poor souls being killed as you walked on by!
The girl scare actors in the scenes had the most fantastic facial expressions; their eyes just ate through you, as they danced with their dolls and played with their axe weapons. It was nice to see a mix of female characters mixed into the haunt.
The entry scene of the house, with the Asylum caretaker wearing the skin of his victim on his face, while torturing the victim in the chair as soon as you enter the kitchen, sets you up for pure unadulterated horror. It was nonstop from this point on, and that was a good thing!
The costumes were on point this year and truly gave you that immersion you needed as you walked through the walls of the Harris Lake House. The masks were highly realistic; the special FX makeup had just the right amount of grime, dirt, and blood to make it all seem real. There was so much layering and attention to detail for each of the characters lurking about, you forget you are walking through a haunt and feel like you are in a horror movie!
There were a large number of different characters, too, not just the Doctor and Asylum workers wearing skin masks, but the Breed and Finn (the original inhabitants of the Harris Lake House) were also found terrorizing you throughout the walls of the house. Many of them have chainsaws to add to that extra layer of fear, too! The victims found throughout the house were the perfect amount of bloody and sweat-soaked, like they were living their own horror that we all get to witness throughout.
Every one of the staff members was beyond helpful and went out of their way to make sure that we were taken care of throughout our time spent. There is a ticket booth as soon as you enter the haunt area, which is set up in a Moose Lodge parking lot, just under the oak trees. There is an escape room alongside their haunt and ticketing booth, which is a new addition for this year. This is not included in the ticket price of the haunt, but it is a small add-on fee and is worth the extra experience!
Parking is free and is first-come, first-served, but there is more parking off to the back of the parking lot, and along the grass, as needed.
The haunt is located outdoors, so it is highly recommended to bring bug spray and to wear closed-toe shoes throughout the haunt, as you may find yourself running for your life at times!
The immersion was next level! The second you walked into the Harris Lake House, you could smell the rot, feel the terror, see the grime, hear the screams, and you knew it was just a matter of time before you were going to be running for your life. The sets are so detailed, it’s almost like stepping into a horror movie of your own.
The attention to detail is found everywhere you look- from the ceiling to the floor to even the corners of the rooms. Wherever you look, it doesn’t diminish your feeling of fear by seeing something out of place lingering in a corner- everything just fits into place perfectly, creating a harmony between the scenes you walk through and the storyline behind them. Each room adds onto the next, bringing you pure torment right before your eyes.
The swamp area was one of the best implementations of laser/fog that I have witnessed personally. You not only felt like you were in the swamp, but you couldn’t see a thing below you- leading up to a perfect opportunity for the characters to terrify you as you wade through the waters, completely out of your element. As we narrowly escaped for our lives, you could feel the heat and air from the chainsaws on our necks, truly making our heartbeats increase!
Throughout the house, Dr. Covington and his Asylum caretakers torment their victims with electroshock therapy, and they certainly don’t hesitate to use those techniques on you either! The effects were everywhere as we walked through each of the haunt scenes. Sometimes the shocks would come from above us in the ceilings, other times they would come from the walls. The haunting sounds throughout each room added that special extra touch to the immersive feeling. They create increased anxiety and fear as you walk through, leading you right into the intense smells of death, rot, and stench.
Once you get to the swamp area, the perfect balance of lasers and fog is used, so you actually feel like you are wading through a swamp, complete with that humid, swampy feeling, with crickets chirping all around you. The lighting effects were mixed throughout each scene, whether it was dimly lit or lights flashing, the effects would throw you off your step as you walked, creating disorientation, adding another layer of fear.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 9.5
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 9.25
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 9.5
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 9.5
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 9
This was hands down one of the scariest haunts we have had the pleasure to attend in Florida! These guys stopped at nothing to make sure we were drenched in sweat, running for our lives, and filled with pure adrenaline by the end of it.
I appreciate the attention to detail each character had and the storyline that they followed to create that immersive environment for us to walk through. Everyone was on par in their acting and made sure to scare each and every one in our group equally. The scares came from all around us, sometimes multiple at a time, so you never know where they are coming from to be able to estimate the scares.
The chainsaws and electroshock effects added that extra level of fear, and the smells were truly disgusting at times. The masks and costumes were so realistic, you forget you are in a haunt. While the immersion of the sets makes you feel like you are walking through a real-life horror movie, there were times we found ourselves lost, not knowing which way to turn to escape, leading us right into another terrifying character!
The value overall for the ticket price is great! The tickets cost $23 for about 8 minutes of heart-pounding, pure nonstop horror. Parking is always free.
There are also fast passes, called Quick Descent passes, that are a few dollars more at $38, which take you to the front of the line, so you can go through the haunt without waiting too long in line. There are also Die Twice passes that allow you to go through the haunt twice, and those are $33 for regular tickets and $48 for the fast passes. There is also an escape room that you can add on at the ticket booth for an added experience.
The remaining dates the haunt is open are October 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, and November 1, with the trail opening at 7:30 pm and ending around 11 pm, on weekends. There are staggered ticket times for arrival, which helps with waiting in line. Tickets are available online or at the ticket booth on-site.
There is also a food truck usually right outside the haunt, so you can grab a snack and drink while you hang out. Ominous Descent includes a beautifully detailed photo op area to take pictures before you enter the haunt, complete with its own scareactor, which also has the story of the house to read before entering inside.
If you want to truly be terrified and step into a world like no other, this is the haunt you want to go to! The terrors never stopped from the moment we stepped into the Harris Lake House, narrowly escaping their torment. These guys definitely know how to scare!
2305 Havendale Blvd NW, Winter Haven, Florida 33881
