Eastern State Penitentiary
 

Hi,
We're planning on going to the Eastern State Penitentiary for their halloween 'show'. Can anyone recommend a nice hotel OUTSIDE of Philadelphia but not too far (20-30 minutes tops?)The hotel can be in PA or NJ.

If not how about a nice hotel in Philadelphia that not over $200?

Also, has anyone ever gone to this? What were your thoughts? Is there a place for people in your group that may not want to go thru?

Thanks for your help/suggestions!

Have lived on the westcoast all my life so obviously do not know anything about this, BUT, is this for real??

Yes, it's for real, it's rated number 9 in the country...this is their website...
http://www.easternstate.org/halloween/index.html

I went there Halloween 1998. It was awful! First of all, the line was extremely long. 2nd, it wasn't even the least bit scary. All it had were live persons dressed in black suits hiding around the corners, then jumped out at us and said "boo!" Really, don't bother!

There are plenty of nice hotels in Philadelphia that's within your budget. Sheraton Rittenhouse, Loews, Sofitel, Marriott etc.
Or bid for a hotel on Priceline (check out biddingfortravel.com).

You could try the Marriott Philadelphia West. It is about 20-25 minutes west of the city in Conshohocken, where I-76 and I-476 meet, so it is easy to get to. It is your standard high rise hotel, but very nice inside and you shouldn't have to pay that much.

How far is Hershey? They have a Haunted Halloween field and plenty of accommodations.

Hi! Hershey is about 2 hours outside of Phila. It is close to Lancaster county which is also a nice area to visit.

I live right near Eastern State. It attracts an awful lot of people--mostly teens and 20s. There are always a lot of lines.

My stepkids are kind of blase about it--but then, they're not impressed with anything. Still, they go every year. There's also a new haunted house in Philadelphia this year--I think it's at the Sports Complex. It's called "Nightmare on Broad Street".

For those who don't want to go through the tour at ESSP, there's a very nice coffee house/juice bar across the street called Mugshots. It's open until 11 p.m. or so.

I never thought of a prison for Halloween.

I wonder if Martha Stewart will be making something special.