When you hear that you are going to a haunted attraction called the Dark Carnival your mind begins to conjure one thing, and you get gripped by coulrophobia (fear of clowns). Well let me tell you, this attraction will not disappoint you there. You are in for a heavy dose of clowns, including one that may be the creepiest I have seen at any of the haunted houses I've ever been to. But a Carnival is so much more than clowns alone. The Dark Carnival really exploits the possibility of a carnival gone horribly, horribly wrong. They stay very true to the theme throughout, and give you many unique twists on the terrifying characters you could find in a normal traveling show.

While the design of the sets was kind of basic, it did contain elements of some rooms that really were able to grab your imagination. You would enter a room and were visually drawn to certain focal points and they would hold your attention long enough for the suspense to build, then in what kept feeling like your last breath you let out a scream as another creepy crawly jumped out of some unseen hiding place.

A couple of the things I would have said were well done with this attraction was first the appearance of the characters. The details in many of the costumes was outstanding and convincingly transformed the actors into the ghastly individuals they portrayed. The other thing that I felt was very well done was the execution of the jump scares. They were so well placed and timed, that even the ones you felt were obvious, still managed to give you a great adrenaline rush.

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