If you imagine the frightening but fun vibe of an Elvira horror movie mixed with the WWE and filled with wild special effects, all in the name of ending Cystic Fibrosis, then you have imagined Boogerwoods. This is a wild place where you’re just as likely to laugh as to scream while high-energy guides take you through a variety of different locales, from a carwash to an old-school cage match. Many of the things you see in Boogerwoods are only in Boogerwoods.
Every year, the large team of volunteers that make this haunt possible conspire together to scare, amuse, and most importantly suplex Cystic Fibrosis into non-existence. Fair warning as you read more of this review, we are going to mention the haunt’s cat Booger several times because we are cat people, and her little head was so soft to pet.
The Boogerwoods cast and crew put on a high-energy, extremely active show. You won’t see someone standing around looking like they’re on break or two monsters chatting with each other. Honestly, we’re suspicious if the monsters here even get breaks.
Waiting for our time slot to start, Nurse Goodbody kept us laughing and entertained while they showed off their newest assets. There needs to be a huge shoutout to the guides here, as every year they put in an enormous amount of work to make sure that the most visitors possible survive every trip. Not all, just the most. We got exhausted watching Tonto do all the heavy lifting, and we were constantly sent into laughter by the Lone Ranger’s “guidance.”
In the club, we recommend nobody requests the Manager, but you’ll probably meet him anyway. In the museum after being lectured on cleanliness by a frazzled Museum Director one of our team’s favorite monsters of all time came to visit. The Flatback performers make the finale mind-blowing every time and the Taxi driver is wild and definitely gave us the most scares. We do not recommend Earl’s small engine repair for the engine repair part, but we do recommend giving him a visit. We’ve been coming to Boogerwoods for many years and we’d never met Booger the kitty before in person, so we were one of many groups waylaid to pet the little dear, and she was an extraordinary little dear.
How complete, unique, detailed were the costumes, accessories? – (35% of score)
Were the masks, makeup creative, detailed, realistic? – (30% of score)
How appropriate were the costumes for the respective scenes, themes? – (20% of score)
How believable-, detailed-looking were the queue actors? (See Note if N/A) – (15% of score)
Because Boogerwoods has so many locales, there are a lot of costumes from all over the horror spectrum. Our first introduction to their costuming was Nurse Goodbody, Wednesday, and Morticia Addams. Nurse Goodbody was quite proud of their recent enhancement surgery and had a weathered and personalized outfit. Morticia and Wednesday were perfect, and Thing made a little cameo on Wednesday’s shoulder.
Our guides were also dressed on point, minus all the dirt our poor Tonto was rolling around in to save us. The Taxi driver looked like he stepped right out of the Underworld and Earl looked ancient and concerningly fragile in his old age. Legendary monsters, instantly recognizable in all their cinematic glory, live in dark corners and shocking flashes all over the Booger universe.
How easy was it to locate, park at, navigate the premises? – (25% of score)
Safety (Only dock points for TRULY DANGEROUS hazards!) – (30% of score)
How professional, helpful, friendly were the staff members? – (25% of score)
How easy was it to find pertinent information before arrival? – (20% of score)
The Boogerwoods team works hard to make sure that you’re always safe when traveling through their woods. Guides monitor that the group stays together, light up steps, and call out low ceilings to ensure you are safe and sound. There is an officer on site, and you are never alone as you wander through the woods.
The parking lot is super well-lit and easy to spot from a distance, and there are concessions and port-a-potties available. Everything here is cash, so make sure you bring enough for tickets and t-shirts because you are going to want a shirt to commemorate your favorite scene or scenes. A customer service manager named Booger greeted us at the exit of the t-shirt booth and spent a lot of time making sure we’d had an excellent time.
How well did the pre-haunt areas ("vibe") prepare you for the attraction/s? – (25% of score)
How obvious, creative, believable was the storyline? (See Note if N/A) – (20% of score)
Were you completely, consistently immersed inside the attraction/s? – (40% of score)
How well did the "vibe" flow after, between the attraction/s? – (15% of score)
At the start you are welcomed to Boogerwoods, and that is the only place you are the whole time. The Booger universe is amazing, mixing digital and old-school technology to create a singular world that, once you enter, you live in. The movie theater has those old, soft red seats and an on-point feel. The taxi was not a taxi we would pay for, but it was certainly a real and maneuverable taxi. From the lights and sound in the club to the textures of the mine shaft, they’ve worked hard to make this a real place of horror that you have foolishly walked into. Out front there are Booger-themed cars that pay homage to current and past scenes so you can try to guess at your future doom.
How effective were the sound effects? – (20% of score)
How realistic were the scene designs, details? – (30% of score)
How effective, realistic were the props, animatronics? – (30% of score)
How well did they use creative, special, sensory effects? – (20% of score)
One of the things that is so amazing about Boogerwoods is that every set, scene, and scare is made by the big monster family that runs the haunt. Things you haven’t done and should never do are the theme of the evening. It’s hard to call out special effects in any haunt because we don’t want to spoil the experience, but it’s harder at Boogerwoods because the scenes are the special effects. Sensory effects are heavily utilized here as well. When we went through the car wash, it had all the steps recreated, including the sound a car wash makes. Which is the song “Car Wash” of course, what else could it be? The train that we experienced this year was incredible, old school sound effects mix with high-tech digital displays that sent us hurtling through the Wild West. Despite being battle-hardened Boogerassic Park had an effect that tricked us and had us all looking twice to be sure it wasn’t real.
How scary was it? – (35% of score)
How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? – (15% of score)
How predictable were the scares? – (25% of score)
How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? – (10% of score)
How strong was the ending / finale? – (15% of score)
Boogerwoods is a master at making scenes frightful but fun. Since your guides are there to protect you there is a sense of security…sometimes. We had a first-time haunted house visitor in our group, and he was frightened at first as he went through with his parents, who were Boogerwoods veterans. In fact, at the beginning of every scene, you could see him scared, but by the end of every scene, he had abandoned his parents and rushed to the front to see the action up close. The team at Boogerwoods is a family, and they want to take care of your family as well.
There’s fun in the scares here, and our team might be horror junkies, but we love Boogerwoods for this. If you want to get spooked and then cheer and dance, this is your place. In the club, everyone was so entranced by the dancing that we didn’t ever see the danger coming. It’s a delicate balance, and Boogerwoods has mastered it. And when we say fun, we mean fun. The actors here go all out, wrestling, running, banging, and stalking. You are completely transported to the scene because they add in the feeling of plummeting down a mine shaft and the sense of being attacked by cave creatures. The absolute adrenaline explosion of Flatback’s pneumatics, set build, and gritty cage fight vibe created the most spectacular finale we’ve seen.
How satisfied with the entertainment provided by the MAIN attraction/s? – (50% of score)
How satisfied with OTHER entertainment INCLUDED with the ticket price? – (25% of score)
How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s? – (25% of score)
It is $30 to get into Boogerwoods and tickets are sold in time slots. On top of that we recommend getting there early because those slots sell out since this is a beloved haunt. It took us about an hour to go through the whole thing, so price wise this is almost a steal. AND this year you might get the chance to give pets to the world’s goodest, spooky kitty Booger (you didn’t forget Booger, right? Because you shouldn’t, and we took pictures to prove we are this nuts about this cat).
From the very first moment Nurse Goodbody called out a dirty joke to us to the last scene where Tonto fought certain death to save us, there is no part of Boogerwoods that isn’t worth a view. Most importantly this is an all-volunteer team that have gathered together every year to give you a good time while helping fight against Cystic Fibrosis.
725 Phaniel Church Road, Rockwell, North Carolina 28138