It’s not your imagination: The Halloween zombies at Dead City Vegas really are chasing you
This year, Halloween in Las Vegas will see the debut of zombie-filled Dead City Vegas and the demise of the 15-year Fright Dome.
Across the city, expect to find costumed characters lurking in darkened corridors eager to make you squirm and scream.
You won’t find the Fright Dome among the choices this year. For 15 years, it was a wildly popular attraction that took over Adventuredome at Circus Circus.
However, Halloween impresario Jason Egan and officials at MGM Resorts couldn’t agree on terms for 2018, so Fright Dome vanished.
Egan’s Halloween creativity is still on display at the year-round attraction, Saw Escape Room Las Vegas, based on the “Saw” horror films.
In this immersive attraction, visitors will find themselves in a meatpacking plant after hours and have to solve puzzles created by the movies’ infamous Jigsaw Killer before they can go free.
The escape room is open Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission costs $49.99. Guests younger than 18 need to present a waiver signed by their parents or guardians; not recommended for children 16 and younger. Info: Saw Escape Room Las Vegas, (702) 625-8716
One of the best of the haunted house attractions in Las Vegas is Trilogy of Terror from Freakling Bros.
This year’s themes are Castle Vampyre, Coven of 13 and Gates of Hell. Billed as the only R-rated haunted house in Nevada, Gates of Hell requires guests to be at least 17 years old. (Teens 13 to 16 years old may enter if accompanied by an adult.)
The frights will be doled out nightly through Oct. 31. Tickets are only available at the door and cost $15-$17 per house or $39 for all three.
Info: Trilogy of Terror
The new Dead City Vegas bills itself as “The Only Haunted House Where You Can Fight Back.” Zombies roam through the darkened maze looking for you. Your only hope is to grab hidden airsoft guns to combat the undead. The guns, used by gamers, only fire blanks.
The experience is open Thursdays to Sundays through Oct. 28. Tickets cost $29.99 and can be purchased on the website.
Info: Dead City Vegas, (855) 219-4479.
The downtown Fremont Street Experience will transform itself into Rock of Horror, which a news release describes as “a mischievous haunt,” from Oct. 26 to 31.
Designed with grown-ups in mind, there will be roaming, costumed actors; flash mobs and a pop-up haunted house. Visitors are encouraged to come in costume and prizes will be awarded.
Rock of Horror will feature live musical and theatrical productions.
Admission is free.
Info: Rock of Horror
When downtown, consider dropping by the El Cortez, which has been around for more than seven decades. There are no guarantees, but if you believe in hauntings and ghosts, this may be a place to check out.
Serious ghost hunters might want to check in to Room 2258 in the hotel’s old wing. That’s where supposed supernatural experiences involving gangster “Fat Irish” Green have been reported. Green was given free room and board by his boss, mob kingpin Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who once owned the place.
Adding to the creepiness, the cremated remains of former hotel workers are kept in the hotel’s basement. Longtime El Cortez owner Jackie Gaughan would cover the cost of an employee’s funeral. If no one came to claim the ashes, he would store them in the basement. The hotel manager says some workers still refuse to go down there (the basement is off limits to the public).
Info: El Cortez Hotel & Casino, (800) 634-6703
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