Interest is piqued by the big ABANDONED neon sign on the side of the building, visible from the highway. The Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins hung in the tunnel welcome you to this tiny little town. It has a gift shop fully stocked with merch, an alcoholic drink stand for those the need liquid courage, and a DInEr with a variety of food options that are literally to die for.
Stalker is their outdoor attraction, using the outdoor elements to their advantage. Utilizing all this space we were able to walk inside trailers, check into a motel, walk through a cemetery and even check out a dark ride! They do such a good job of keeping the bustle of the midway out of the attraction.
Props used to complete the many different scenes are repurposed and set up to create a natural maze in the night. The post-apocalyptic junkyard is the best example of using cars and other industrial-style items to create a cohesive look. In another scene, we were immersed in the back of an army style truck, keeping our heads lowered as we made our way through the front of the door and out. The dark ride is an example of efficiency through simplicity. The walls are dark; nothing fancy is shown because the pitch-black hides everything until a burst of bright lights shines for a second or two. Blink and you could miss the quirky, old-timey Halloween props behind a chain-link fence.
Stalker is a favorite for anyone who loves haunted trails or corn mazes, as the tall grass still makes it feel like one at times. On your way out, you are sent back out to the midway to either hang out or set yourself up for the next attraction.
Sector 6 is their new, improved Time Machine, and it’s off the Richter scale. Against our will, we were scanned to ensure we were cleared for time travel. Lights and fog were used to create confusion, causing us to freeze and wait for the next steps. After a few failures and tweaks, we were finally on our way to different time periods. This whole section was extremely immersive!
A few examples of what we encountered were the Middle Ages with the active Black Plague epidemic, Ancient Egyptian times, and even Medieval times when the tortures were rampant. The rooms were packed with props and filled with relic replicas; the walls had realistic textures, and the actors used them to their advantage to catch unsuspecting guests.
The different elevated levels helped with overseeing the full rooms and catching other guests in the process of getting their scares. Before heading out, we must be submerged to the scariest place of all time, Hell! Being teased with the pearly gates, I don’t understand how we end up here. Cooled molten rock covers the whole room while goat heads hang. What a great way to end our time in Hysteria and on to Ambush.
Ambush is the more traditional horror themes put together to make one attraction. We passed through a church with an active exorcism, which we won’t know if it was succesful because we kept on going. The creepy and tight halls helped with the transition into the subway, with graffiti becoming more visible as we got closer.
We flowed through the rooms and at times passed through them multiple times going behind the scenes. In the hotel, we check in and make our way through the back to get to the honeymoon suite. In the prison, a live execution takes place, and once we pass it up and go around, we get to witness more guests pass through the same area we had just passed through.
On our way out, a chain-link fence maze was set up with an actor positioned in a safe space away from us. As we try to make it out through the disorienting, blinding lights, the music gets louder, and the anxiety hits an all-time high as the group tries to make their way out. The chainsaws rev, and we finally meet face to face with the actor that we were avoiding. A brief chase and we are outside, back to safety.
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