Features:
✓-Free Parking✓-Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site✓-“Old-School” (Low Tech)✓-You will NOT be touched✓-Movie Characters✓-Original Characters✓-Uncovered Outdoor Waiting Line✓-All-Outdoor Attraction✓-Family Friendly
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This attraction was reviewed on October 26, 2018 by .
How Do We Get These Scores?
Our Rating System
UPDATE FOR 2022: Our former “Atmosphere” and “Theme” categories have now been combined and renamed “Immersion.” Our intent with this is to give more appropriate credit to attractions that have shown a clear focus on achieving and maintaining better customer experiences (both inside and outside the attractions) and developing creative storylines.
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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Final Score: 7.11
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 6.78
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 6.98
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 7.7
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 7.4
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 6.7
(5% of Final Score) Theme:
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 6.75
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 7.73
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Summary:
The moon soaked trees cast eerie shadows through the haze on a family homestead in Union County, Ohio. As the chilly autumn wind carried the familiar scents of fall, it also brought with it the screams and nightmarish howls of the monsters that lurked within the Adams Family Haunted Woods. It was difficult to determine if it was the woods or the wind that was sending chills down our spine.
Adams Family Haunted Woods is located in Marysville, Ohio and is a home haunt/haunted trail with a lot of character. You won’t find a stockpile of expensive props here, but what you will find is a lot of great people with a real passion for haunting and the Halloween spirit.
Cast: 6.78
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 7
(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 6
(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 7
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 6.5
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 8
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Being a family affair, Adams Family Haunted Woods is staffed by friends and family that want to have fun and provide you with a great experience while you are there. Even the little ones help out, by donning makeup or masks to take on roles as innocent victims or harbingers of foreboding doom. Outdoor trails are always a bit hard to staff, especially when the weather is less than admirable, but Adams Family had a decent level of coverage throughout the trail. They could have used some more, but there were actually more actors out there than we were expecting.
There was also a nice assortment of baddies to choose from, including Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. The dialogue and verbal interactivity could use a little help, however, given the young age of some of the actors, that will come in time and with a little training. We have high hopes for this group in the future.
Costuming: 6.98
How Did We Get This Score?
Costuming Scores (15% of Final Score):
(15% of Costuming Score) How complete / finished did the costumes appear to be?: 6
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 6
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 6
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 7.5
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 9
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Costuming was on par with most family events. It wasn’t bad and left room for improvement. One thing for all haunts to remember is that if you are going to use iconic characters, they need to maintain the appearance and persona of the original characters. You want to maintain the look of movie characters or it takes away from their effectiveness. For haunts on a budget, creating your own costumes is a great route to go and can be pieced together from Goodwill finds or clearance sales at fabric stores.
Customer Service: 7.7
How Did We Get This Score?
Customer Service Scores (10% of Final Score):
(25% of CS Score) How easy was it to locate the attraction, park, and navigate the premises?: 6
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 9
(25% of CS Score) How professional, helpful and friendly were the staff members?: 10
(20% of CS Score) How easy was it to find their information before* arrival?: 5
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Adams Family Haunted Woods’ Facebook page does not have their address listed and the website does not seem to exist. We were able to find their address in a post and GPS took us right to the front door. There were a few signs directing us there from the main road but, we very nearly missed it and had to back up a little bit to get into the driveway. It is lined with glowing pumpkins and a dummy dangles from the trees to let you know you’re in the right place. A ghostly white rabbit greeted us in the driveway that we first thought was a prop, but hopped off into the trees when we rolled down the window to check.
The folks out here are incredibly friendly and the trail, despite raining all day, was very well maintained and not a muddy mess. There is always something ‘special’ about walking through the dark and spooky woods on a chilly autumn night.
Atmosphere: 7.4
How Did We Get This Score?
Atmosphere Scores (10% of Final Score):
(60% of Atmosphere Score) How obvious was it that you were at a haunted house before entering?: 7
(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 8
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With the fun, decorated driveway and the ambient noise as you wait, there is no mistaking that you are at a haunted house and the level in the queue area matches what you find along the trail. You are at a haunted trail and there is no mistaking that fact.
Special Effects: 6.7
How Did We Get This Score?
Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 8
(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 7.5
(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 6
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 6
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 6
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We were actually impressed with the amount of sound and lighting effects that they had along the trail. Getting power through the woods is never an easy feat and we typically don’t see much beyond glowsticks and battery powered lighting. Adams Family Haunted Woods actually managed to provide soundtracks in several of their scenes, which we weren’t expecting.
Their sets aren’t highly detailed, nor do they have that ‘thrown together’ feel to them. They fell nicely in the middle and provided enough detail to let you know what type of area you were in without having to try and figure it out on your own.
Theme: N/A
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?:
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?:
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?:
This score is left “N/A” when we believe the haunt is trying to target a random variety of themes or phobias, rather than a single overarching “Theme” or “storyline.”
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This attraction doesn’t follow a single theme.
Scare Factor: 6.75
How Did We Get This Score?
Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 7
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 8
(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 6
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 6
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 7
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Adams Family Haunted Woods isn’t a terrifying attraction and is definitely a place that you could take the whole family or just hit it up for a fun date night.
They do get some good scares and don’t just focus their attention on the obvious targets but, trails are notoriously difficult to disguise scares on’so, for people like us that have been haunting for a long time, it is fairly predictable where the scares will come from. For your average haunt goer though, they will be a little more surprising.
Entertainment & Value: 7.73
How Did We Get This Score?
Entertainment & Value Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment received during the main attraction/s?: 8
(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 7.5
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 8
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 7
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Admission into the Adams Family Haunted Woods is only $8.00 and it took us about 20 minutes to make it all the way through. When calculated out, that means that they provide 2.5 minutes of entertainment for every dollar that you spend, which is incredible.
While this may not be a big-budget haunt, it is loaded down with a ton of animatronics and fancy scenery and the experience that you have there is certainly worth the $8.00 ticket price.
How Did We Get These Scores
Our Rating System
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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