Dark Harbor continues its rise back to life
Tickets are set to go on sale soon while more details are released about the haunts coming to the Queen Mary’s widely popular attraction, which had been canceled since 2020. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, Aug. 14 for the Halloween haunt event and festival that will take place on the ship and the surrounding grounds on select nights from Sept. 20 through Nov. 2.
Since its inception in 2010, Dark Harbor featured several mazes on and off the vessel that were inspired by real stories that happened aboard the ship. It also included a carnival with monsters roaming around, food vendors and performances. At its peak it was the ship’s largest event of the year, attracting more than 120,000 people during its more than monthlong run. But like all other major events it was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
When it returns it will bring back some of the familiar attractions as well as a few new twists. According to a release from Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, a Halloween-themed entertainment company that will be coordinating the return of the event, the mazes this year will include returning favorites like “Feast,” which has been reimagined for 2024. This maze takes people through the bloody kitchen of a deranged chef who after years of serving first class passengers, decided to add a special secret ingredient to his meals. The deadly culinary voyage will end in the ship’s Engine Room, where another of the vessel’s famed ghosts may be waiting.
Also set for this year is “Lullaby,” which will take brave visitors into the Queen Mary’s first-class swimming pool where they may run into the ghost of Scary Mary, who is based on a young passenger who drowned in the pool decades ago. According to the release, there will also be new mazes like “Infirmary,” which follows the spirit of a sadistic surgeon and his accomplice in life, Graceful Gale, as well as “Breakout,” in which people will take on the role of Samuel the Savage, one of the the ship’s most infamous ghosts. In the “Breakout” maze Samuel escapes his cell and those going through the maze will take on the role of Samuel, trying to avoid being captured. And if you’re afraid of clowns, then just stay home because also new this year is a maze dubbed “Big Top Terror.” where a sinister Ringmaster will lead you through a labyrinth of frights.
“We’ve said from day one that we will honor the history, legacy, and stories of this legendary event,” said Brett Bertolino, director of special projects for Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, in a release. “But we’re also committed to guiding the event’s evolution by adding new and cutting edge experiences.”
Besides the mazes, Dark Harbor’s festival will return with a variety of entertainment, including the Dark Harbor Sliders and the Voodoo Sound Company in the VooDoo Bayou bands, fire spinners, magicians and sideshow performers, hidden bars and rides like the Sinister Swings, Scary Mary’s Ghost Rider, Black Widow, and Rampage Double Wheel. For tickets go to darkharborhalloween.com
