A new haunted house is opening in time for the Halloween season at Old Town, and its creators have designs on making it a year-round haunt.
Mortem Manor is scheduled to open Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Kissimmee entertainment complex.
“We are looking at tweaking this over time,” said Ted Sobek, owner and president of Mortem Manor. “We have some bigger plans for the future, but we’re just trying to get open for Halloween season to promote with Old Town and their Halloween attraction.”
The Haunt at Old Town event kicked off last weekend and runs through Oct. 31.
The new attraction takes over the two-story space previously occupied by Legends: A Haunting at Old Town, which closed in January. That business was preceded by Old Town’s Haunted Grimm House.
“It’s going to be very similar to the previous haunted attraction because the infrastructure, the layout and the walls were already there,” Sobek said.
But Mortem Manor will feature all-new props and animatronics, he said. There will be scenes in a mortuary, morgue and chapel, he said, and there will be live actors.
Tickets will be $15, and there will be a “lights-on” version on select evenings for $8 ($5 for children under age 12).
“We have a lot of families with younger children who are interested in Halloween, but they’re not interested in full scares,” Sobek said.
Mortem Manor was designed by the Extreme Fear Design & Production from Pittsburgh. That company manages the nearby Hundred Acres Manor Haunted Attraction, and it recently created a haunted house for Dubai Mall, which is said to be the first-ever year-round haunt in the Middle East.
Sobek’s company approached Old Town about a haunt this summer, but the space had been leased. After that deal fell through, the complex reached out in mid-August, Sobek said.
It’s been a quick turn-around, he said, but he has managed to look into local charities for Mortem Manor to associate with eventually.
“We’re jumped in here for the Halloween season, and if success is here, we’re going to be around a lot longer,” Sobek said.
For more information, go to MortemManor.com.
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