Scarowinds 2025 guide | Dates, mazes, ‘Conjuring’ attraction, new ticket system
Scarowinds is back for the 2025 Halloween season at Carowinds with a new 20-minute “The Conjuring” attraction, a handful of new mazes (haunted houses), and big changes to the event’s ticketing system.
Scarowinds runs select nights from Sept. 12 – Oct. 31, 2025, at Carowinds, the Six Flags-owned amusement park in Charlotte on the state line of North and South Carolina.
There’s a lot to see and do. Here’s your guide to planning a sensationally spooky visit to Scarowinds 2025.
Scarowinds 2025 tickets
Admission to Scarowinds is included with a Carowinds daytime ticket, but haunted mazes now cost an extra fee, even for season passholders.
Guests can purchase a Haunted Attractions Pass (ranging from $10-$30, depending on the night) for access into the haunted mazes. An option to add Express, a skip-the-line benefit, is available for an extra charge.
“The Conjuring: Beyond Fear” (attraction details below) is charged separately and is not included with Carowinds admission and is also not included with the Haunted Attractions Pass. Entry into “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear” ranges from $15-$25, depending on the night.
The park doesn’t close between the transition from Carowinds to Scarowinds. If you’re visiting the park on a Scarowinds day and planning on staying for the haunts, you don’t have to exit and come back. Conversely, if you happen to be at Carowinds and didn’t plan on staying for Scarowinds, you can spontaneously decide to do so at no extra cost.
Carowinds single-day tickets — which, on event dates, include admission to Scarowinds, Tricks and Treats, and Oktoberfest — start at $44 when purchased online. Carowinds pass holders can purchase bring-a-friend tickets starting at $39.
Seeing as Scarowinds doesn’t require a separate ticket, Carowinds gold season pass holders receive entry into Scarowinds with their pass (but still require extra payment for haunted mazes and “The Conjuring”). Gold passes currently sell for $95; when purchased during the remainder of this year, your pass will be valid for the rest of 2025 and all of 2026.
An All-Season Haunted Attractions Pass is available for $89, granting unlimited entry into all haunted mazes + one entry per visit into “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear.”
Explore all Scarowinds ticket options on Carowinds’ website.
Scarowinds dates and hours 2025
Scarowinds takes place select evenings from Sept. 12 – Oct. 31, 2025.
- Sept. 12, 13, 19, 20, & 26-28, 2025
- Oct. 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 23-26, 30, & 31, 2025
On nights when Scarowinds happens, the event’s operating hours for 2025 are:
- Thursdays: 6 p.m. – 12 a.m.
- Fridays: 6 p.m. – 12 a.m.
- Saturdays: 7 p.m. – 12 a.m.
- Sundays: 7-11 p.m.
Again, though, guests already at Carowinds prior to Scarowinds’ “opening time” do not need to leave, nor does the park close and reopen. The hours above merely refer to the operations of Scarowinds, not Carowinds.
‘The Conjuring: Beyond Fear’
New for 2025, “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear” is a 20-minute walkthrough attraction set in the world “The Conjuring” movies from Warner Bros. It’s the most elaborate experience Scarowinds has ever created. The pace is fast, the scares are fun, and the special effects are impressive.
Photo courtesy of Carowinds
Your mileage may vary as to whether you think the extra cost is justified, but we loved it. Read our full review of “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear” for more of our thoughts, as well as our recommendations for how to decide if it’s worth it for you.
Scarowinds mazes and scare zones 2025
Scarowinds hosts five haunted mazes (also called haunted houses; nearly all of them go in a linear path, no maze element involved).
- New for 2025: “Defex 2.0” and “Silver Scream Studios: Directors Cut”
- Returning from years past: “Paranormal Inc.,” “Tooth Fairy,” and “Slaughter House: The Final Cut”
“Defex 2.0” takes place in a creepy doll factory filled with scary toys and plushies. The new version of “Silver Scream Studios” is something of a greatest hits of mazes from Scarowinds past in honor of the event’s 25th anniversary.
Our favorite haunted maze at Scarowinds remains “Paranormal Inc.,” which originally debuted at Knott’s Scary Farm before moving to Carowinds in 2022. In 2023, we got a lights-on tour of “Paranormal Inc.,” billed as “a forsaken hospital marred by a chilling history.”
Photo courtesy of Carowinds
Four scare zones populate the park during Scarowinds 2025: “Harvest Fear,” “The Hollow,” and the new-for-2025 “Glitch” (themed to a rogue AI) and “Cleaver Brothers: Sideshow of Dreams” (themed to a haunted circus).
Scarowinds live entertainment 2025
An extensive lineup of live shows provides a nice balance to the haunted attractions (and a great detour if the mazes’ lines are too long for your liking).
Returning from 2024 is “Wake the Dead: A Murder Mystery Musical” performing inside the Carowinds Theater. Shipped over from Cedar Point, a sister park of Carowinds, “Wake the Dead” features four possible endings. The audience determines the killer in real time, and the finale is different based on which character the guests choose.
For families who happen to be staying in the park as Scarowinds begins and find themselves wandering into the Carowinds Theater: just because this is a musical doesn’t mean it’s family-friendly; the show is decidedly PG-13.
Other shows at Scarowinds 2025 include:
- “The Awakening,” an opening ceremony at the beginning of each event night
- “DepRAVEd,” a techno-based show new for 2025
- “The Bon Bons Burlesque Troupe,” a “forbidden cabaret” new for 2025
- “Halloween Hootenanny,” a folk rock band
Check the Carowinds app for showtimes during your visit.
Merchandise (including ‘No Boo’ necklace)
Scarowinds’ signature retail shop is located near Starbucks toward the front of the park. The store sells a wide variety of items, including the “No Boo!” necklace, available for $19. If you’re wearing this necklace, scare actors will not jump out to frighten you in the scare zones.
An interactive lantern syncs with the lighting throughout the park.
Other merchandise available includes pins, hats, hoodies, drinkware, and a t-shirt with all of the logo designs for 2025’s haunted mazes.
New for 2025, guests will find lots of merchandise celebrating “The Conjuring” at the gift shop at the exit of “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear.”
Scarowinds tips if you don’t like being scared
Is it possible to attend Scarowinds if you don’t want to be scared? Kind of. As seen above, the park sells a “No Boo!” necklace at Evil Emporium. Performers (in scare zones) will not scare or approach guests wearing the necklace.
Wearing noise-canceling headphones while walking through the haunted mazes also helps mitigate the experience’s sensory overload.
In contrast to the mazes, scare zones are more palatable for guests who are nervous about attending Scarowinds. With most scare zones taking place in open spaces — designed to accommodate huge amounts of foot traffic during regular park hours — many performers openly walk about. This means you can better prepare yourself for a scare; you can see them coming. Scare zones are less-scary (but still, often, startling) alternatives to haunted mazes for those who prefer a tamer Scarowinds evening, or those lingering in the park for a while after a full day.
That being said, if the vibe itself — loud atmospheres intensely themed to horror and gore — is what you’re hesitant about, Scarowinds probably isn’t the event for you. Fortunately, there’s a daytime alternative, Trick and Treats, with a full lineup of seasonal activities that are spooky rather than scary (see below).
Scarowinds 2025 chaperone and bag policies
To attend Scarowinds, guests ages 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult who is at least 21 years old. That adult must bring their I.D. and stay in the park for the length of the minors’ visit. For large groups, Scarowinds requires one chaperone per 10 minors.
Guests ages 18 and up do not need a chaperone. However, guests ages 18-20 may not be the chaperone for guests under age 16. Guests ages 18 and up should also bring their I.D. to confirm their age.
This chaperone policy begins at 2 p.m. each operating day.
Scarowinds bag policy:
After 6 p.m., all bags must be no larger than 12” x 12” x 6”, regardless of material (clear or opaque).
Each guest is permitted to bring only one bag into the park after 6 p.m.
No filming or photography is allowed inside haunted mazes or scare zones. We were allowed to capture video and photos with permission from Carowinds as part of a media event.
Consult Carowinds’ website for a full explanation of these policies.
Daytime events: Tricks and Treats + Oktoberfest
During the daytime, guests can participate in Tricks and Treats for family-friendly Halloween activities or Oktoberfest for German-inspired cuisine and entertainment. The activities and shows for the event happen park-wide, and do not require a special event ticket.
Guests can visit trick-or-treating stations throughout the park to pick up candy, and participate in a costume contest.
Photo courtesy of Carowinds
Guests can embrace the spirit of Oktoberfest by participating in a stein-holding contest or a brat-eating contest, or by taking part in the color-by-numbers mural.
The Halloween parade from the past several years does not return for 2025.
Stay tuned to Attractions Magazine for daily coverage of theme park news, trip reports, and exclusive interviews from Six Flags, Disney, Universal, and independent attractions around the world.
More Attractions Magazine stories:
Follow us:
No matter where you want to go, our trusted partner MEI-Travel will handle the planning so you can focus on the memories. They offer free vacation-planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating memorable vacations. Visit MEI-Travel for a fee-free, no-obligation quote today.
