Cedar Point is preparing to turn its roller coaster skyline into something considerably more sinister this fall, and its signature Halloween celebration is already earning national attention.

HalloWeekends has been selected by an expert panel as one of 20 nominees in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Theme Park Halloween Event, putting Cedar Point’s mix of daytime family fun and after-dark scares in the national spotlight.

Fans can vote once per day through Monday, Sept. 21 at noon ET, with the winners scheduled to be announced Wednesday, Sept. 30.

For travelers considering a fall trip to the Lake Erie peninsula, the nomination comes as Cedar Point prepares one of its most ambitious HalloWeekends seasons yet. The event returns on select days and nights from Sept. 17 through Nov. 1, combining the park’s rides and roller coasters with haunted mazes, outdoor scare zones, live entertainment and seasonal food and beverages.

But visitors who don’t want to wait until Sept. 17 can get an early taste of the scares.

Cedar Point will hold its Scream Peek Weekend Sept. 10-13, offering access to four indoor haunted mazes: Midnight, Fearground Freak Show, The Haunting of Eerie Estate and Slaughterhouse. The preview provides an opportunity to experience some of HalloWeekends’ indoor horror attractions before the full event begins.

Diablo Brings a New Kind of Horror to Frontier Town

One of the biggest additions for 2026 is Diablo: The Infernal Path, an immersive haunted experience inspired by Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo franchise.

Located near Steel Vengeance in Frontier Town, the attraction takes visitors into a gothic world of cursed cathedrals, ancient rituals and supernatural evil. Familiar Diablo characters including Lilith, Mephisto and Baal are part of an experience designed to pull guests progressively deeper into the nightmare.

The addition gives HalloWeekends another recognizable horror property while also bringing a dramatically different atmosphere to one of Cedar Point’s most popular sections after dark.

The Conjuring: Beyond Fear also returns following its debut at the park. Rather than simply walking through a collection of frightening scenes, guests become paranormal investigators encountering sinister entities and cursed artifacts inspired by New Line Cinema’s The Conjuring Universe, including Annabelle.

Visitors looking for scares outdoors will have plenty of options as well.

New this year is Crystal Rock Massacre, which turns a seemingly ordinary summer camp into the setting for a much darker story. It joins returning outdoor attractions Cut Throat Cove, Tombstone Terror-tory: Doc McCoffer’s Evil Elixir, CornStalkers 2.0 and Clownz: Hall of Infamy Tour.

The outdoor haunted attractions are included with park admission. Access to the indoor haunted mazes requires a separately purchased Haunted Attractions Pass, while The Conjuring: Beyond Fear requires an additional ticket.

Even Cedar Point’s Rides Get Into the Halloween Spirit

HalloWeekends has increasingly become about more than walking through haunted houses, and Cedar Point is extending the Halloween atmosphere to several familiar attractions.

GateKeeper becomes GateKreeper, Rougarou transforms into RougaBOO and Maverick takes on the MaverEEK! identity. Blue Streak becomes Boo Streak, while Ocean Motion turns into Ocean Potion.

One of the more unusual transformations happens on the Midway Carousel. Rechristened the Midway Scare-ousel for the season, Cedar Point’s oldest operating ride will rotate backward.

Those changes give visitors something different to experience even between haunted attractions — and make some of the park’s most familiar rides feel a little less familiar after the sun goes down.

HalloWeekends Isn’t Just About Scares

That split personality remains one of the reasons HalloWeekends works particularly well as a fall travel destination.

During the day, the emphasis shifts toward families, with more than 20 Halloween-themed activities and attractions geared toward younger visitors. Returning experiences include The Magical House on Boo Hill, the Trick-or-Treat Trail, pumpkin decorating and picking, the Howlin’ Hay Maze, Tricky Corn Maze, Harvest Tractors and PEANUTS character meet-and-greets.

A new Creation Station adds craft-making to the daytime lineup, while families can also find games, costume contests and live entertainment such as “Snoopy Tricks and Treats Adventure.”

That means families can spend the afternoon enjoying pumpkins, characters and rides before the atmosphere changes dramatically as darkness settles over the park.

More Halloween Entertainment After Dark

Live entertainment will have an expanded presence in 2026, led by the new “Midnight’s Mythmakers.” The interactive production lets guests help shape Halloween stories while choosing different levels of scares, with Mr. Midnight’s three mysterious storytellers guiding the experience.

Also new is “Fangs: Eternal” inside the Red Garter Saloon.

Returning productions include “Opening SCARYmoanies” with Mr. Midnight and his minions in Frontier Town, “The Shrieks! Contamination” in the Jack Aldrich Theatre, “Wake the Dead: Til Death Do Us Part” in the Palace Theatre and “Butchers of Rock” on the Gemini Midway. 

“Skeleton Crew” and “The SKA-letons!” will bring additional entertainment to The Bonewalk, Cedar Point’s Halloween transformation of The Boardwalk.

For travelers, that combination is what makes HalloWeekends more than an evening of haunted houses. It can be a full fall getaway built around roller coasters, Halloween entertainment and two very different experiences depending on when you visit.

By day, Cedar Point leans into pumpkins, trick-or-treating and family-friendly Halloween fun. After dark, the same midways become the setting for monsters, scare zones and haunted attractions.

Now, with a USA Today 10Best nomination and new experiences including Diablo: The Infernal Path and Crystal Rock Massacre joining the lineup, HalloWeekends has another reason for Halloween fans to consider a fall trip to Cedar Point in 2026.

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(Photos Courtesy Cedar Point)