Lately I’ve been getting some flack about starting off with negatives about a haunted attraction I’m reviewing. I suppose they’re right, and indeed I should start out with the good stuff before I begin my nitpicking. With that in mind let’s start talking about Shocktoberfest – rated #6 on the Hauntworld list of top 13 Haunted Attractions in America 2006. I should note that they didn’t make the 2007 list.
I liked the cookies. There – you have it. The cookies I bought at a vendor on the midway were quite good. Chewy and just the right amount of chocolate chips to not be too over powering. How’s that for positive? Everyone likes cookies right?
Now onto to the haunts. I hate lines. Everyone who reads this blog should know that by now. Consequently when I see I can buy my tickets online and get a skip-the-line upgrade, well then let me tell ya I’m going to do just that. Shocktoberfest provides online ticketing utilizing Google’s checkout system, and I was happy to see the R.I.P. speedpass upgrade was less at $10 to buy online instead of the $15 required at the ticket booth. Sign me up! Well, the surprise came at the final checkout when I noticed for two quad-passes at $38 each (tickets to all four of Shocktoberfest’s elements) plus two R.I.P. upgrades at $10 each I was charged a $14.40 convenience fee. Holy smokes, but at that point I really wasn’t ready to change my stance on lines so I bit the bullet and purchased them.
The wife and I found Shocktoberfest easy enough due to great Mapquest directions, though I really do think a few more signs would have been good. I like signs, and in my opinion I would hate to think anyone missed the chance to give me money because they couldn’t find my haunt. Parking was adequate and free, and there was no death march along darkened highways to get to the event. No shuttles either which can be a pain.
So we collected our passes from the “internet sales” line and were off to the “Toxic Asylum 3D Extreme”. This element takes one through a classic mental asylum where the patients had been experimented on by the staff. The 3D effects were quite good though my wife was having a hard time keeping the 3D glasses on over her own glasses. There were plenty of creepy areas in this haunt, but there also seemed to be long gaps where no actors were present. Also, while I enjoyed this element it looked to me as if it hadn’t been changed in a while and that some of the pneumatics were in need of repair. I suspect that if I were to walk through this element in 2008 nothing will have changed. Overall I liked the 3D element which was used quite effectively and the actors seemed enthusiastic and reasonably well-trained. I do have some concerns however – namely having to stoop and walk while bent over in a haunt. There were times in this element where we had to do this briefly, and since my wife had just seen her chiropractor for her back I can say that she was a bit put off by this. Little did we know that the few times we had to bend over in the Toxic Asylum were nothing compared to what was to come.
After a great cookie experience on the midway we were into the line for the “Prison of the Dead”. The prison is imagined as Willow Glen State Penitentiary that is populated by the ghosts of guards and prisoners that died in a mass-murder-suicide. One starts their tour by boarding a prison bus and riding a short distance to the haunt. The facade of corrugated metal with guard sharpshooter turrets was a foreboding presence in the dark and quite effectively executed. This haunt was filled with the same enthusiastic actors and plenty of scares. Many times we had to pass through extremely narrow passages and there were extended times that we had to stoop to go through tunnels made of corrugated steel pipes. One of the kids behind me fell on the wavy surface on the pipe. I gotta say that stooping over is much easier when you’re fourteen than when your forty and wouldn’t be something I would ever do in a haunt. Here’s why – not only does it mean a portion of the population can’t give you money to enjoy your show, but also there’s the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is a federal law that in a nutshell says that you need to make you business accessible to everyone. That means paths that are wide enough for a wheelchair and navigable to anyone with any disability – that includes obesity. In fact if your haunt involves a script you should have a way for a deaf person to read it. I kid you not. All you need as a haunt operator is for one person to be unable to go in your haunt because of narrow passages and bam. You could be sued. I heard one story about a wheelchair-bound architect that was going around to businesses and if they didn’t comply he would either sue them under the ADA or offer to do the work of designing and upgrading their businesses. Maybe I’m being paranoid here, but in any event I would never want to produce a show that some people couldn’t enjoy. So get rid of the stooping, the steps, and whatever the squishy mat was that we had to walk across in the woods that nearly broke my ankle. Nuff said.
Into the “Biohazard Hayride” we went after leaving the prison bus. This element is imagined as a toxic dump that has mutated the animals with grave results. Despite the fact we had speed passes we had to wait a bit for this ride due to an injury to one of the actors. None of the little girls – and I do mean little girls as most of them were young teens – that were managing the lines seemed to know what happened or how long it would be. So – we waited, but no more than twenty minutes or so. Now as far as hayrides go there’s really no way to make them any more comfortable to a person with a back injury than a hay wagon can be. My wife and I knew this going in, and she did wince a time or two getting a seat. There are, however, things that can can be done to prevent people from being any more uncomfortable. Chiefly this – have enough wagons to meet the needs of your crowd so the driver doesn’t have to exceed safe speeds to get through the haunt faster. Not only did we hit every bump, but once we even went airborne out of our seats like when a roller coaster hits a high spot and then dips suddenly. This was not good for the wife’s back I can assure you. Then, the driver even managed to scrape the side of the wagon up against a tree causing damage to the wagon but thankfully no one had their hands or arms hanging out. This could have been disastrous.
The actors in this element were also quite good. I especially liked how some of them were lurking about in the dark away from the main scenes preventing me from anticipating the scare. They were in and out the wagons which takes a particular athletic – and young – actor to pull off. The only concern I had was that when the actors were jumping out the wagon was already moving at quite a clip. It was no wonder that the hayride had been backed up due to an actor injury. We also entered several buildings that housed some very expensive animatronics. I really loved the giant mutant mother worm and its babies that tried to eat us. Very cool. The SawKill area at the end was a nice finisher to this element too.
While waiting in line for the hayride we could easily see into Shocktoberfest’s newest element – “Club Shock”. Basically this haunted nightclub was a tent with pallet walls, some buckys, and loud music. We noticed there was not a single person inside and I could see no Ghoul Girl dancers. This might have been fun for a teenager to hang out in so on the way out we tried to give our tickets to this element away. There were no takers. It seemed the target crowd either didn’t get what Club Shock was supposed to be or just didn’t feel like paying for it. We ended up leaving our tickets on one of the picnic tables. Hopefully someone got some use out of them.
Things I noticed: the crowd was predominantly teenagers for this haunt. There were very few adults, and I wonder if perhaps the adults come once or twice and figure that since the haunts do change why go back. That’s just a guess on my part. Also, the midway was boring and reminded me of a normal carnival. There were no scaractors roaming about and it didn’t really feel like part of the haunt. I would have liked it if the games and food vendors would have been themed too. I can’t believe anyone would pay for Club Shock, and in fact I recommend any serious haunt goers skip this element and save the $8 difference for some of the great cookies. Also, Shocktoberfest advertised a Text2Scream feature that would allow one to use their cell phone to text to a ScareZone thus setting off a scare on unsuspecting people. I never came across this anywhere, and would have liked to try this interactive feature.
So would I go again? Only if I could be sure the haunts would change at least 50%, and I would skip Club Shock. I’d also hold on for dear life in the hayride and have a chiropractor standing by for an emergency adjustment at the end of each element. Overall, not a bad haunt, but at $38 for a quad-pass plus $10 for speedpass I found it to be a bit salty for my tastes. If I were to compare this haunt to a similar one like Frightland which has eight elements plus carnival rides for $25 and a speedpass for $40 I’d have to go with Frightland. I haven’t been there in a few years, but their show is really good if you want to get your money’s worth.
When you go:
I found this in my referrer log.. Just wondering if you’ve ever been to Jasons Woods? Shocktoberfest was way better than Jasons Woods in my opinion. I’ll have to give frightland a try next year. Good read.