The same underwater theater that’s run a live mermaid show since 1947 turns into “Halloween Town” after dark this weekend, with the mermaids swapping their usual act for one called “The Pumpkin King.”
Wild n’ Wicked Nights runs Friday and Saturday nights, Oct. 16-17 and again Oct. 23-24, 7-11 p.m., at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. The underwater “Pumpkin King” show runs at 8, 9, and 10 p.m., and the park adds two haunted walk-throughs on land — the Toy Factory Haunted House and Jack’s Tree Lot Haunted Maze, both running 7-10:45 p.m. and both flagged as not wheelchair accessible. A separate, non-scary Halloween Town area stays open the same hours with carnival games, kids’ mazes, mermaid photo ops, and three scheduled costume contests (7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 p.m.).
Admission is $12 per person, ages 3 and up, and it’s Eventbrite-only — no tickets sold at the gate, and annual passholders don’t get free entry or a discount for this one. “Scary Stories You Tell in the Dark” runs three times a night (7:45, 8:45, 9:45) for anyone who wants the spooky without the haunted-house walk-through.
The regular daytime mermaid show at Weeki Wachee has been running basically unchanged since 1947 — this is the same theater and the same performers, just a different script for two October weekends. If the springs themselves are more your speed than the haunted house, here’s the rest of what makes Weeki Wachee worth the trip.
Good to know: Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, 6131 Commercial Way, Weeki Wachee. Fri.-Sat., Oct. 16-17 and 23-24, 7-11 p.m. $12/person (ages 3+), tickets via Eventbrite only — no walk-up sales.
Photo: the mermaid statue at Weeki Wachee Springs, public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons.
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