I decided to visit this place since they had a Haunted Hayride. (Just so you know, this review is going to be all about the Hayride, since I have no idea what it's normally like.) I also came with six other folks. When we arrived, blow-ups of family-friendly characters greeted us. They seemed fitting, considering the website for the event claimed it was "Family-Friendly." They had a good parking system going, and it didn't take long to park. Before I describe this next part, I should mention that we came 15 minutes early. Okay, let's continue. There was a HUGE line to get into the main entrance area where you could buy food, buy drinks, pay for your tickets, (which were $7 per person) and get into the line before you boarded the Hayride. The line looked long, but we zipped through it pretty quickly. We were directed into one of many lanes with smaller lines. Thankfully, they had an inflatable screen you could project a movie onto. They had a projector running so you could just watch a movie while you waited to board one of the four tractors. When a tractor came around, they would let one of the lines of people go onto the tractor. When the next one came, they could let the next line of people go. When they got to the last line, they would go back to the first line and the process would restart. Once we boarded our tractor, we were treated to a variety of scenes that starred Boy Scouts and people dressed in costumes. It was all very fun. We passed some lights and there were a few jumpscares, but nothing too major... yet. Halfway through the ride, we disembarked from the tractor to explore a cabin lodge. Inside, there were bathrooms, a line for food that cost extra, (but we didn't mind) and marshmallow roasting in the back. They also had a really cool werewolf animatronic that danced to music with lights behind him and next to him that were synced up to the music. One of the songs was Thriller, if you want an idea of what kind of music they were playing. After you explored the lodge, you could hop back on the tractor and return to where you started, or you could take this path, which had an official name I don't remember, filled to the brim of a cauldron with spooky stuff. However, this area was DEFINITELY more scary than the tractor ride, so beware if you have small kids. If you followed this trail, you would end up at the entrance where the tractor would have taken you had you chosen to have taken it back to the entrance. On the path, some of the most memorable... exhibits, we'll say, were a small maze with glow-in-the-dark paint on the walls with costumed Boy Scouts jumping out at you, a creepy Jack in the Box show where you would sit down and a creepy rendition of Pop Goes the Weasel would play until the Jacks in the Boxes would jump out of their respective boxes all of a sudden, probably scaring you, and some boys at the end offering you dumb items to buy, they were all a joke of course. (At least, I ASSUME that they were and that you couldn't actually buy them.) As one final scare, there is a little wooden fortress-like building that is exposed to the elements that you can choose to walk into at the end of the experience. It looked to be the scariest thing there (yes, I chickened out) and you could even hear a chain saw originating from the fortress. One more warning for little ones though, since the fortress is near the exit and the exit is near the entrance, while waiting for your tractor at the start, multiple times, your party will hear the loud sound of a chainsaw running. This may spook some kids... or hype your party up for the end! Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time here. My favorite moments were those that included the Boy Scouts and the jokes were a nice touch. The Boy Scouts added a certain charm, that's for sure. There were scary moments, there were funny moments, and there were relaxing moments. I would recommend this for any group or family as long as you have kids that don't get scared easily. A fantastically phantom-filled experience for all! read more
