Enigma Haunt Review (2018)

Guests first get acquainted with cast members in the queue, where characters like Sammy hang out. Sammy hosts an entertaining, impressive, and comical fire-eating act. Guests may run into Sammy again once inside, as he assists with grouping Guests and welcoming them to the attraction prior to sending them on their way in.

Performers throughout the attraction are dedicated to providing scares as well as character-based stories throughout the attraction. ENIGMA HAUNT utilizes a few child actors, with a parent performing in the same scene and this is a great opportunity for young people to get their first taste of performing in a haunted attraction while maintaining safe working conditions for youngsters.

Besides Sammy, and the three-faced man in the queue, the most impressive in the attraction itself was the character who introduced Guests to his mutant ‘dachshund,’ and continued with the group for quite some time to show off and introduce Guests to his portion of the attraction and its inhabitants. Little Red Riding Hood delivered a great story and objectives to Guests while using her spiel to ensure they were spaced out accordingly prior to moving forward.

Costumes are thorough and creative, matching the themes appropriately while delivering strong character looks throughout all sections of the attraction. Some favorites include the unique three-faced mask seen on one of the queue actors, and some of the mutant characters towards the end of the attraction, including one with an oversized mask with a bulgy eye. Jack Frost also had a fun look and though his mask was a bit cumbersome (as is expected for silicone masks), he still was able to deliver clear and effective dialogue through the mask. Oversized clown mask choices seemed to work pretty well without inhibiting performance, or becoming too static feeling as clown masks frequently do.

ENIGMA HAUNT employs a variety of different effects from old school, tried and true effects to more high-end and impressive special effects. Some include their impressive ‘rules board’ at the entrance to haunt, and various animatronic figures peppered throughout the attraction.

Some other favorite effects included the Looking Glass Pepper’s Ghost effect, elevator, and the return of the slanted corner room in TWISTED MAYHEM, providing disorienting experiences to lead into great scares. It seems as though lighting has improved this year, with more pin lighting and programming to allow various show elements to happen on cue, as well as appropriately lighting and highlighting key elements throughout the attractions.

ENIGMA HAUNT delivers three distinct attractions, all within one main attraction. Each of them have a common theme, but they are told in an original way that only ENIGMA truly can.

Clown sections, though partially UV, do not fully rely on UV lighting and paint to convey a clown atmosphere. CURSED takes a different approach on voodoo with their attraction being somewhat unique and original. REALMS OF TERROR heavily features Fairy Tales that have turned into nightmares. The theme is rather consistent throughout the entire attraction, with a few things to pull Guests out of the illusion (a couple piles of performer belongings were spotted).

ENIGMA provided some solid scares to the group throughout each of the sections, with some unexpected surprises. Unfortunately, most scares seemed to skip the first person in the group, as it seemed as though they were waiting to scare the middle of the group. While normally appreciated to scare more than just the first person, this tactic was a bit too highly used, as a lot of scares were missed from the person in the front of the line. ENIGMA has a good balance of effects-driven and performer-driven scares, creating a nice variety throughout the attraction. Performer scares could continue to be more aggressive and developed, though are working well currently as a nice solid foundation. The ending could use a ramp up of energy and intensity, though hard to manage without having some Guests fly down a long flight of exit stairs beyond the end of the haunt.

ENIGMA HAUNT offers a few different ticket options (one including REALMS OF TERROR only, the longest attraction out of the three) for $30, and a pass for all three attractions begins at $35, making a clear choice to spend a little extra money and get the extra sections (CURSED and TWISTED MAYHEM) adding on over a minute per dollar spent for the additional charge!

If time is an issue and the haunt is crowded, a VIP option is available, though ENIGMA does a great job at making the queue entertainment very entertaining and engaging, assisting Guests in making their wait time fly by. ENIGMA HAUNT is not to be missed for those in the area, and well worth a reasonable drive to see.