At first glance, the props in the front yard are amusing. Having "outgrown" the front yard (according to the website), I expected to see a larger assortment of "spooky" memorabilia and decoration while walking down the path to the ticket booth. I was very disappointed. The first actor to greet us wasn't very spooky, save the costume, and smoking a cigarette with customers approaching probably isn't a good idea ...
Now, keep in mind, I am by no means an expert in evaluating the effectiveness of spooky themed venues. I also had two kids, (8 and 6) with me at the time. If you ask them, they'd say the place was awesome and very scary. My son (the 6 year-old) actually cried. Didn't see that coming because his "fear factor" is normally very low ... I expected my daughter (the 8 year old) to be the one screaming and what-not ...
After dropping $40 for wristbands, we were led to a greenhouse arbor which was the main entrance to the corn maze. Inside is was decorated a little better than the front yard or the path leading up to it. We waited approximately 15 minutes before actually beginning out tour 9even though there were no other customers present). As we were waiting, a group of teenagers showed up. One girl tried running away while in line because she basically "freaked out" when an actor carrying a dismembered head prop walked through the main entrance. Now, THAT was funny!
So, we begin our tour and the "head carrying" actor tries to hype it up a bit. He interacted well with the kids and they seemed genuinely "spooked" at this point and we were still outside the maze!
That said, I didn't think it was dark enough to walk the maze. In hindsight, that's a good thing because even though we could see most of the actors before they had a chance to scare us, the ambient light made it easier for my son to handle the "ghouls." Simultaneously, I was disappointed, but I can't blame them for the lighting ...
All told, we walked through in about 45 minutes. There were some cool effects, like the vortex and the "barns" but the actors scare tactice were very predictable because of the lighting thus reducing the overall "scary" effect.
The actors were however, very diligent recognizing the "fear factor" of the kids though. They actually stopped to talk to the kids to reassure them that they were normal people and didn't try to scare the kids unless they knew the kids could handle it. Thanks for that.
Kudos to the "swamp thing" (SPOILER ALERT)outside barn 3 for scaring me. (The one time I totally didn't expect it!)
Well, our first family foray into the "spooky" stuff didn't exactly go as planned, but we still had some wonderful fun. The staff were friendly, engaging, and the actors were awesome with the kids. I'd consider this venue a family friendly one for sure and will return when my kids can handle the dark a little bit better.
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