The Bottom Line
For something a little different in haunted houses, take a stroll through The Great Outdoors. This South Congress nursery transforms itself into a chain of three different haunted attractions: Gruesome Gardens, Fun & Freak Show, and Wicked Sensations. It won't take too long to go through all three but you may find yourself having to take a few deep breaths between houses. Rather than your garden variety of Halloween ghouls, you'll encounter a few seemingly normal folks, disembodied voices, a foul fowl, and this really creepy old lady in a rocking chair. Beware!
Pros
- Less traditional Halloween monsters and more creepy, freaky not quite normal people
- Unexpected frights in the form of sights, sounds, and smells.
Cons
- Over fairly quickly.
Description
- Location:
2730 South Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas
Park in The Great Outdoors parking lot. - Attractions:
Gruesome Gardens, Fun & Freak Show, and Wicked Sensations are themed areas of the one haunted attraction. - Ticket Prices:
$12.00 for entry to all three areas - Hours:
8pm - Midnight Weekends and Mon-Wed Halloween Week
Guide Review - Gruesome Gardens at The Great Outdoors
When you first enter the area you're walking through The Great Outdoors. It's dark but what you see are normal potted plants, a regular retail nursery. But then it changes as you enter a very strange garden center.
There are a string of three attractions, one after the other. At some points you may find yourself walking through dirt, a little mud, and some mist. I don't recommend that you stop to engage the gardener in conversation. Really. Don't do it. And there are a few places where you might not want to take a deep breath, the air is fowl, yes fowl indeed. Wicked Sensations was a blast for me personally but then I'm fond of dark, maze-like places.
I think our biggest complaint is that it was over way too soon. Of course that's at least partly our own fault -- sometimes you just want to walk very, very fast!
