Down the dark backroads outside Kansas City, Kansas, is a multi-attraction haunted location ready to scare your entire family.
Acres of Madness is a large outdoor haunted attraction and features zombie paintball on a monster truck bus, two haunted houses, a haunted hayride, and several other attractions. While there are some scares, it’s generally safe for haunters 5 years and older who are brave enough.
While the haunted houses do have flashing lights and fog, the other attractions do not, so there may be options for those who are sensitive to those sorts of things. The terrain is fairly flat, but do consider shoes that you can get muddy in case it rains.
As a side note, Hell’s Gate Haunted House is on the same grounds, but owned by different people. They have their own separate Scare Factor listing & review. It is a TOUCH haunt, and not recommended for younger haunters.
Individual Scores
House of Horrors: 6.84
Zombie Purge Paintball: 5.78
Haunted Hayride: 5.83
Zombie Purge & Haunted Hayride:
The Zombie Purge bus and Hayride took almost identical routes in the same wooded area, so the field actors were the same. They had maybe 10 or so actors total around the entire course. The field actors were a mix of moving around and standing still for paintball. For the hayride, they would approach the trailer, and a few would talk some.
The Hayride had a few additional scare actors who joined us on the trailer, mostly clowns. They did interact with us, pointing out their “friends” in the fields and answering questions if we asked. They stayed in character and were a nice addition to the ride.
House of Horrors:
The cast in House of Horrors was pretty good. Some of them just engage in jump scares, but others were very interactive.
The first person I encountered asked if I wanted to play “Ring around the rosy” with her. I said yes, but we probably didn’t have enough room. He responded with “there’s enough room in there”, pointing to the next room. I walked into the next room, and she waved me goodbye.
There was also a moment when I walked into a room and the door behind me didn’t shut. I went back to close it for the next group. The actor started moving before I noticed and stopped and reset the scare, so I still got the full scare even after messing her up.
Zombie Purge & Haunted Hayride:
All of the field actors seem to wear padded suits and helmets to keep them safe from the 1,000 paintballs being shot at them at once. So I can’t comment too much on their costumes, as it was more padding and body armor than anything. Some zombie outfits would have been nice, but I’m glad to see that they were being kept safe.
The Hayride did have a few scare actors who joined us, one was a devil/demon with red hair, horns, and a whip, and at least two clowns in grungy clown outfits and full makeup.
House of Horrors:
This haunted house featured a variety of characters and costume types. There were full-body costumes with full-face masks as well as face paint. Some of the costumes seemed more generic, but others were really complex.
One person was dressed up and painted to look like a statue, and it was kind of trippy. I thought it was an animatronic at first. I really liked the robotic fox costume that lit up and had sound effects. I’m going to say it was a Five Nights at Freddy’s character, but I could be wrong. I couldn’t find a replica of it when I searched online.
This haunt has a great website with lots of information about all its attractions and the ability to buy tickets online.
When you arrive, there are no signs by the road for the haunt, but you can see the lights. It’s mostly grass parking and some gravel roads. It sprinkled all day today, but the ground seemed solid, so I wasn’t worried about getting stuck in the mud.
They have a large ticket and merchandise trailer to check in at. Only one person was manning each side, but the merch side was helping to check people in when there was nobody in their line. The staff gave clear instructions about the bus and were able to provide information about other attractions.
There is no gate attendant, so you can walk in and out of the area as you need. The food booth is outside the main gate, as well as some picnic tables and a few firepits that had fires going. You’ll also find two porta-potties, and at least one of them had a light and hand sanitizer (always a plus).
The staff running the haunts and attractions were very nice and gave me additional information about the attraction when I asked.
Midway area:
The area is mostly grass and flat ground, and scare actors were walking around in various costumes. I did talk to some they said that they had accessories like wings and horns, but were not wearing them because of the light rain we were having.
The two haunts have big displays with their names out in front of them, but the other attractions do not. It was pretty obvious on some stuff what they were, but a small or better signage for each attraction wouldn’t hurt. There were a couple of photo op areas set up and a few animatronics on display to give the space a haunted feel.
Zombie Purge:
You load up on a large monster truck bus with windows blown out and both sides lined with attached paintball guns. There are green overhead lights to set the mood and music playing on overhead speakers. Staff came around and loaded all the guns with a container of paintballs and extras for those who purchased more. The guns are on a swivel stand, so you don’t have to hold them. After being given quick instructions and a safety briefing, the bus started up and moved to the field.
We were given the cue to pull back the slide on the top of the gun to power them up and to start shooting. Even after several pulls, a lot of guns weren’t firing properly. The bus stopped, and the staff quickly cut the air supply to all of them and restarted it. They also went through all the guns and made sure all were working, even quickly replacing one with a spare. Once everything was working properly, we started back up and got to work killing zombies.
There were three separate areas where the bus took us. Each area had a few scare actors and other items to shoot at. Some items included vehicles, a boat, cargo containers, and some other small things. Some actors were moving around while others stood still. I had seen some comments online before I went about people feeling like they weren’t getting enough paintballs. I tried to pay attention to the number of shots I took since they just dumped a container in, and I can’t imagine them counting out exactly 100 paintballs for each one. I did lose count, but I easily took 30 shots in just the first area with little effort. It felt like I went through it really quickly, but I do think 100 paintballs would be fairly accurate.
When we were done, the bus dropped us off at the same starting point and right back into the attraction. When we loaded, there was about 10 minutes of waiting for prepping the guns and instructions, then from the time the bus moved to the return was about another 10 minutes, so 20 minutes in total.
Hunted Hayride:
The hayride, or at least the one I went on, didn’t have any actual hay to sit on, but a large wooden bench. We all loaded up, and there were about 4 or 5 scare actors who jumped on and joined us.
We took either the same route or almost the same route through the wooded areas as the Zombie bus. I think we took a trail that ran parallel to the zombie bus route, and the same scare actors worked both paths. I thought I could see a second path through the tree line that was more illuminated. The actors would approach the moving wagon, and one or two actually spoke to us. The actors on the wagon referred to them as their “friends” and waved to them. There was a moment that was funny, and we could see the actors running through the tree line, and another moment where a clown looked like he was hitting something in a caged area, but overall, that was it.
There wasn’t much out there in the way of props or animatronics except for the thing the paintballers could shoot at. Overall the the ride lasted approximately 7 minutes and dropped us off at the same place we started.
House of Horrors:
The haunt has a large demon monster animatronic out front with a stone look to the outside, the kind of resembles a castle. There was about a 3-minute wait between groups this night, and a short wait line. When I asked about the amount of time it takes to get through, they said about 15 minutes.
The house is all inside and weaves in and out of various types of rooms and is highly decorated. There are various animatronics and scare actors throughout. It’s advertised on the website with a lot of movie references. I saw characters from Five Nights at Freddy’s, Terrifier, The Exorcist, Bloody Mary, Acracniphobia, and a few others. I’m sure I missed several other movie references.
I took the coffin ride inside the haunt, and it lasted just under 2 minutes. The coffin was large enough to hold two people, and the attendant closed the lid so it was completely dark. The coffin rattles and shakes, and you can hear the hydraulics working to move it. It was fun and something I didn’t expect to see.
The haunt went well, but the ending was a little abrupt. It just felt like you were walking through, and then suddenly you’re out of the haunt. No real defined finale, transition out, or closure. Overall, the haunt with the 2-minute coffin ride lasted about 10 minutes for me. I never ran into another group while I was in there.
Zombie Purge & Haunted Hayride
There were no real special effects used in either of these. They had some key lighting and some spooky music but that was about it. No animatronics, flashing lights or fog effects from what I saw.
House of Horrors:
The house did have a number of special effects, including: an air bladder tunnel, moving doors, animatronics, key lighting, and sound effects.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 5.33
The Hayride and Paintball didn’t have any real scares, but I put a 4 in these slots since there is a possibility of there being scares.
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 5.67
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 5.33
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 5
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 5
Zombie Purge & Haunted Hayride:
The Haunted Hayride & Zombie Purge didn’t have any scares, unless you are afraid of the dark or clowns. There were about four costumed actors on the hayride with you, and they talked to you in character, but there were no real scares or intimidation tactics used. The actors out in the field appeared out of the darkness and approached the wagon, but they didn’t jump on or try to scare people. For the paintball bus, they mainly braced for impact or moved around a bit to have something to shoot at.
There were no jump scares or intimidation, no weapons, and no gore. This would be safe to bring younger haunters on without any issues.
House of Horrors:
The house used a couple of different scare tactics, including jump scares, distractions, camouflage, fear of spiders and darkness, intimidation, and sensation.
The actors were the main scare source, mostly with jump scares, but they engage in different tactics as well. Some will follow you through the room or even the next room if they can. One actor will grab your attention while another sneaks up behind you. The scares came from all sides, so everyone in your group will get some action.
The haunt offers the option to buy each attraction separately or as a combo pass to save money over multiple attractions.
The combo pass Zombie Purge paintball and the two haunts is $75 (saving $2), this does not include fast pass.
If you’re into paintball or have younger haunters, then you’ll have fun with the Zombie Purge paintball & their huge monster truck bus. Haunters who are there for the scares will do better with the haunted houses, Hell’s Gate being the scariest and House of Horrors being better for families.
The firepits, picnic tables, and photo areas are a great touch that can help extend the night and make it more fun. Overall, the true value is up to you, what you want, and how you go about your night. You can spend a little time there or a couple of hours.
5615 Wolcott Drive, Kansas City, Kansas 66109
