This Halloween: Celebrating 25 Years of Immersive Entertainment 🎃
A Vortex Tunnel in one of the haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights 2001
Celebrating 25 Years of Immersive Entertainment 🎃
We recently unlocked a milestone that almost got overlooked. It might sound silly but a simple spontaneous decision on a trip really did shape our live later on.
It was Twenty-five years ago, and this experience would eventually shape who we are as escape room creators and owners today. It inspired what we now do and what we’ve spent the last eleven years building.
What was it you ask? Well, twenty-five years ago, we took a trip to the Orlando theme parks. No, that’s not all of it! Hang-on! It gets better!
Picture this: two Canadian 20-year-olds with not a care in the world, wandering around Disney and Universal with absolutely no clue what to expect. We only had the stories and advice that made their way back to Canada through other travellers, so there wasn’t much to go on.
What were two young adults doing in the parks, you ask?
We both had similar feelings about not having grown up going to these kinds of places, even though we’d always wanted to. It felt like we had somehow “missed out.”
So, naturally, visiting theme parks became a big goal for both of us. 😆
While we were at Universal Orlando, I noticed an event being advertised called Halloween Horror Nights. It ran from 7 p.m. to midnight, right in the park we had visited that day! What could change? It sounded intriguing.
We are by no means horror fans, but we both loved Halloween, so naturally, we bought tickets.
What awaited us was unlike anything we had ever seen or experienced before.
The entire park had been transformed into a giant haunted playground.
Scarezones appeared throughout the park, filled with fog, creepy characters and terrifying actors in clown makeup or hockey masks who would chase you down the street.
Haunted houses had been built inside soundstages and tents, bringing entire stories, characters and scares to life.
There was a corn maze out in a field with actors jumping out at you.
And there was even a Halloween parade.
I remember turning to my now-husband, trying to explain just how incredible I thought this experience was.
I think what came out was something along the lines of:
“This is the best time of my life!”
And he replied:
“Me too!”
😂
We obviously didn’t know it at the time, but that experience stuck with us.
It showed us just how powerful it could be when you weren’t simply watching something, but actually a part of it.
That feeling when your breath catches and you think, “Wow, how cool is this?!”
It’s a feeling I wish I could bottle up. And it’s one I’ve always wanted to share with others.
Eleven years ago, I played my first escape room, and it brought back that same feeling.
The timing was right, and that nagging desire to share these kinds of experiences with others took over!
Twenty-five years after that first trip to Orlando, we’ve now spent eleven years creating our own immersive experiences at Looking Glass Adventures.
We’ve built rooms, stories, characters, puzzles, surprises and entire worlds designed to give people that same feeling we had all those years ago.
It’s what we love, and we’re confident it’s something you’ll love too!
If you haven’t played one of our games yet, we encourage you to visit us!
It’s pretty amazing to look back and realize that a trip two 20-year-olds took 25 years ago helped set us on the path to where we are today.
Over the 25 years we have returned and see the Halloween event grow into what it is today. We’ve also had the prviledge to experience so many other amazing and immersive attractions.
Here’s to 25 years of loving immersive entertainment, trying new experiences, taking chances and chasing your dreams. 🥂🎃
The event has only grown since then with many more houses across the park. However, we’re pretty nostalgic for the early years :)
