Miami, FL — The Horrorland opens its 2026 Halloween season on September 10 at Jungle Island, rebuilt with six all-new haunted houses, five scare zones, and a new Frankenstein Bar. The Miami haunt runs select nights through November 1.
Now in its seventh season, The Horrorland is a walk-through event spread across more than 18 acres and recommended for guests ages 13 and older. It started as a drive-thru during the 2020 pandemic and has grown into one of South Florida’s larger independent haunts, named Best Event in Miami in the Miami New Times readers’ poll and listed on USA Today’s 10Best haunted houses.
Six All-New Haunted Houses
Every house is new for 2026, each with a distinct storyline and larger sets. The lineup:
- Honky Tonk. A forgotten biker bar where the music stopped decades ago and the patrons never left.
- The Orphanage. An abandoned children’s home haunted by restless spirits.
- Dr. Malice. An underground laboratory where years of forbidden experiments went wrong.
- The Coven. A village ruled by immortal witches.
- Nyctophobia. A research facility staged in near-total darkness.
- Seven Deadly Sins. A walk through seven themed realms, one for each sin.
Five Scare Zones and a New Frankenstein Bar
Between the houses, five scare zones put roaming characters on the pathways: Ice Cream Men, Moon Cabin, Marry Me, River of Souls, and Last Rodeo. Each zone runs a different cast of characters and set, and monsters move through them throughout the night.
New this year, the Frankenstein Bar serves cocktails themed to the haunted houses inside a set built for photos as much as for drinks. It opens each night at 8:00 p.m. and is designed as a stop guests can return to between houses rather than a single walk-through beat.
Circus of Terror and the Monster Parade
Circus of Terror returns as the event’s live production, a stage show of aerial work, acrobatics, and fire. Each night opens with the Monster Parade at 7:45 p.m., which brings out giant creatures and dozens of monsters before the houses open.
The Circus Family Behind The Horrorland
The Horrorland is the work of a circus family. Its creator, Francisco Santos, is a Cirque du Soleil veteran whose family circus line, by our earlier reporting, traces back to 1803 in Spain. He also runs Vampire Circus, a live show he has staged since 2006 and books to haunted attractions and Halloween events around the country. We spoke with him about it at this year’s TransWorld Halloween and Attractions Show.
Vampire Circus is a 45-to-90-minute production of aerial acts and audience interaction, pitched as spooky rather than gory and built to play for all ages. Santos performs in it himself, as both the ringmaster and the clown. “It’s very interactive,” he told us at the show. “I bring all the audience on stage and mock them and make games.” At The Horrorland, that same skill set becomes Circus of Terror.
The event’s creative director is Santos’s daughter, Luna. She is a 17-year-old high school senior with the same circus background, and she has led The Horrorland’s creative development since she was 14. WSFLTV, which profiled her as the teenager behind Miami’s premier haunted experience, credits her with the walk-through’s movie-quality sets and its houses built around specific fears.
A Year-Round Haunt at Jungle Island
The Horrorland began in 2020 as a drive-through haunt during the pandemic, built for minimal contact and credited with creating more than 250 jobs at a time when live entertainment had largely shut down. It won early recognition for Best Community Engagement and Best Adaptation of an Event During the Pandemic, and it has since grown into a year-round producer at Jungle Island.
In February 2026 the company ran its first event outside Halloween, Love Kills, a four-night Valentine’s walk-through with live actors, themed sets, and scare zones built for the run, with tickets from $29.99. “We wanted to create something people have never experienced before, a Valentine’s event as intense and immersive as the biggest Halloween horror nights,” the creators said at the time. A Christmas event, Krampus, fills out the rest of the calendar.
Florida’s largest Halloween events run at the Orlando theme parks, Halloween Horror Nights and Howl-O-Scream. The Horrorland is South Florida’s independent counterpart, and the event says a growing share of its guests now travel down from Orlando.
Dates, hours, and tickets
The Horrorland runs select nights from September 10 through November 1 at Jungle Island in Miami. A typical night runs on this schedule:
- Gates open: 7:00 p.m.
- Monster Parade: 7:45 p.m.
- Frankenstein Bar: 8:00 p.m.
- Circus of Terror: 8:35 p.m.
- Haunted houses: 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
General admission, Fast Pass, VIP, and season passes are on sale now at TheHorrorland.com, and the event says many nights are expected to sell out in advance.
Details, dates, and times per The Horrorland. Photos: The Horrorland.
