I love this Halloween activity! A great value compared with many of the haunted attractions in the area. They do a great job with pacing attendees so you get the jump scares and aren't on top of the party in front of you. There is a lot of stairs and narrow passageways to navigate the ship so wouldn't be a good option if you have mobility challenges. Staff is always posted at the exit to snap photos which I really appreciate also. read more

UnDead in the Water - Haunted Houses Near Me - Tampa, Florida

This was the scariest house I've ever been in!!! Everyone is so talented and dedicated to their roles!! It was affordable too!! I almost peed my pants from how scared I was!! If you are looking for something to do for Halloween, this is it!! read more

Such a fun night with some jump scares! Also so neat to be on a ship! You can enjoy some fun drinks while you wait too!

I have very mixed feelings about rating Undead in the Water only 3 stars, which is why I waited until the season ended to post my review. But, this haunt is on a ship! That part of the experience was worth the price of admission. Plus, we attended with another couple, so we enjoyed spending time with friends as well. I'll start with the positives. First, after reading Brian M's review from 2020, I wondered if the organizers took his advice for the 2021 season by offering tickets in half-hour admission windows. We had a very brief wait, maybe 15 minutes, to board the ship for our 10:00pm time-slot. I saw on their IG the next day that they had been sold out the night we attended, yet the crowds were reasonable, and we had bought our tickets online that morning. We never felt crowded going through the haunt, either. And, as I previously mentioned, it's ON A SHIP! My main disappointment was the lack of scare actors throughout the haunt. I know everyone is hurting for staff, so I will definitely visit again next year. But while other haunts amped up their effects to mitigate the lack of scare actors, Undead in the Water didn't offer a lot of spooky effects aside from low lighting & creepy scenes. I just wasn't scared. My other main complaint, that may (or may not) be out of Undead in the Water's control, was the parking situation. The fee to park in the garage across the street was absolutely egregious at $25, due to some event at Amelie Arena. We wouldn't have gone on this night if I'd known parking would be so exorbitant before I bought our haunt tickets. And I am not familiar enough with downtown Tampa to know if cheaper parking nearby was available... which is exactly my point. The location is fantastic, as the ship was docked at Sparkman's Wharf for the Halloween season. I also thought the pricing was fair compared to the other haunts I attended this year. We were able to meet our friends for dinner ahead of our admission time, which was perfect for our night out. Hopefully, they can entice more scare actors next year, and maybe work out a deal with the adjacent garage to save their customers on parking fees. read more

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Mid-season, it's the hardest time if the year, so keeping the energy the same as it is in the beginning and the ending is hard. If they can remember to do this, it will be amazing. The ship is not for the claustrophobic, who can't climb steep ladders or are afraid of boats. Who is it for? People who enjoy dark mazes, cool effects, interesting scents, and some down right good actors, come and spend an evening at the ship. The weather has been perfect! read more

Once again, UnDead in the Water is ready to serve as Tampa's "only authentic nautical haunted attraction" for another fright-filled horror season. This clever haunt takes place aboard the historic American Victory WWII naval war-ship, and you will be tasked with navigating multiple levels of the ship as you avoid the undead legion you'll find inside, outside, and all-around with only a blacklight flashlight to defend yourself. Lucky for you, the zombies hate blacklights, so those brief moments of "stun" they receive when you light 'em up may just be the thing to save you in the end. Members of the Ripper Squad, an elite zombie eradication team, are on-hand to help usher survivors from the apocalypse to remote islands that offer safe harbor, but there may be a snag or two in the plans now that zombies are on-board... and that captain isn't looking so well now! UNDead in the Water is a walk-through haunt that takes guests aboard the SS American Victory, located on the Ybor Channel in downtown Tampa. After being built in a California Shipyard in 1945, this authentic naval warship was used in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, before being retired to Tampa, Florida as a historic attraction & floating museum in 1996. The SS American Victory still holds the distinction of being only one of three operational cargo ships left in the United States, and still sets sail once per year on its annual Relive History Cruise. An annual event, UNDead in the Water, transforms the vessel into something altogether more sinister. This specially ticketed stand-alone haunt takes place across eleven select nights between October 2nd and October 31st including every Friday and Saturday of the month and one additional Thursday right before Halloween. Backstory: The American Victory Ship was recommissioned as a floating research center to find a cure for the spreading zombie contagion. Dr. Krolech has disappeared. It is rumored that she and her team had finally developed a cure, but it has vanished as well. It is becoming more and more difficult to defend the research facility. Zombies continue to find their way onto the ship from shore, and the containment of elemental compounds of captured zombies is beginning to fail. The situation looks dismal. The decision has been made to scuttle the ship, and fires are ablaze. The research team is still trying to gather the last bits of research, the zombies on board are escaping their containment, and the ship is taking on water. The only hope would be to find Dr. Krolech and the cure. Cost: $20-$30. The price tends to be less when purchased a week in advance. There is a significant price increase when buying event tickets on the day before and even more on day of the event. Parking: $6 at Channelside Garage Line Duration: 46 minutes Haunt Duration: 15 minutes Costumes: costumes are very minimal. Most scare actors only wore regular t-shirts with glow in the dark face paint. 2/10 Atmosphere: missing spooky soundtrack, need better lighting, need more smoke, & more sound effects. Lots of sirens, strobe lights, and groaning is kinda annoying after awhile. There's a Lot of area to walk around on the ship. 3/10 Scare Factor: too many rooms were vacant without scare actors. There needs to be more scare actors in every room and every dark corner. 2/10 Management needs to sell tickets based on 1 hour time slots to decrease long lines over 45 minutes in length. Management needs to hire triple the amount of scare actors so there are more scares around every corner, add better lighting, add music, add smoke, add sound effects, add obstacles, and rehire the chamber of terror who first ran this haunt much better. While management did improve over last year with better lighting and more scare actors, there still needs to be more scare actors and better lighting. If you're in Downtown Tampa area, I'd recommend going to the Haunted Wharf Attraction over this attraction. The best haunted house experience is Scream-A-Geddon north of Tampa in Dade City with 5 houses that will keep you entertained all night, followed by Sir Henry's Haunted House in a Plant City, and Morrows Nightmare Haunted House in Brandon. read more

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I really love a good scare & this was at best a 2. I am so disappointed. There were probably 3 ppl that were ok...the girl coming up the stairs, the guy before her & the guy with the jail cell he slammed shut. I need my Halloween fix & this wasn't it. For $66 for 2 ppl I feel let down & can't recommend. read more

We've been going the past couple years and had such a good time, constantly entertained the whole way thru and even while standing in line. This year not so much. You're basically paying to walk around the ship and hear a couple loud noises. The actors don't try to scare you. The setups weren't even scary. So many possibilities but alot of empty spaces. read more

Not scary. Not much else to say. No storyline, no scary elements, and no exciting finish. Scariest part was cost.