Enjoy a full day of fun and an evening of fright as Kennywood welcomes back Phantom Fall Fest! Experience six haunted attractions: Detached (debuting this year), Shady Grove, mAlice in Wonderland Unleashed, Dark Shadows, Kennyville Cemetery, and Voodoo Bayou. Sadly, during our visit, Voodoo Bayou wasn’t open for the night and will be omitted from this review.
Throughout the park, you’ll also discover four scare zones: Fear Fest, Dead Light District, Hellbilly Hollow, and The Welcoming/Departing. Plus, there are over 30 thrilling rides to enjoy, along with a variety of food and snack options available throughout the park.
Overall Haunt Scores:
Detached: 7.8
mAlice In wonderland: 6.57
Shady Grove:7.1
Dark Shadows: 6.63
Kennyville Cemetery: 6.22
Detached: The cast members portrayed their puppet roles excellently, acting wildly as they demanded our body parts to make more puppets for their master. We were impressed by how interactive the cast was inside the attraction. Another interesting element was how the experience began slowly, with cast members wearing just one or two puppet parts, and gradually escalated until they became complete puppets by the end.
mAlice In Wonderland: As you journey into Alice’s mind, you’ll encounter a diverse cast of characters. Among them, the cat stands out as especially memorable. Throughout the attraction, Alice herself remains present, exploring her own whimsical Wonderland. A handful of notable characters make appearances, and this attraction featured the smallest cast of the night.
Shady Grove: The doctors want your eyeballs! Our experience began with some confusion when a maintenance employee greeted us in the waiting room, which didn’t fit the theme. Once inside, however, the doctors and patients impressed us with their strong performances. That said, some elements seemed out of place. For instance, one cast member repeatedly squealed a pig toy at us, which neither contributed to the atmosphere nor made sense within the story. Despite these few odd moments, the cast delivered a strong performance, making the attraction enjoyable.
Dark Shadows: This attraction truly lives up to its name – it’s almost pitch black inside, making it tough to spot the cast members as they lurk in the shadows and suddenly appear right before your eyes. The cast was the most interactive of the night, keeping us on edge by mocking and playing mind games with us, which made this our favorite attraction overall. While we couldn’t determine exactly how many cast members were involved, their presence was felt throughout, aside from a few dead spaces toward the end where things slowed down.
Kennyville Cemetery: The moment the caretaker ushered us through the cemetery gates, we were immediately swarmed by zombies ravenous for our flesh. Every cast member immersed us in the chilling theme, except for the enigmatic lady lurking in the water. Her presence stands out in a fascinating way, as she’s a rare sight in such settings. But beware of the crawlers! These relentless creatures are hungry for your feet and ankles, ready to take a bite at any moment.
Detached: Detached featured an array of costumes, from single puppet pieces to complete puppets. The master takes great pleasure in personally selecting the parts for each new creation. The attraction’s costumes are truly impressive; everything from the masks and makeup to the overall design was executed with care, ensuring that each element fit the theme perfectly.
mAlice In Wonderland: If you’re familiar with Alice in Wonderland, you probably know what the cast members should look like. This attraction did a great job designing costumes for each room. The Queen of Hearts costume, in particular, perfectly matched the theme, with large card cutouts decorating her entire set.
Shady Grove: Inside Shady Grove, you’ll find all the features you’d expect in a real hospital. The costumes for this attraction were well done and fit the intended theme. It was also the only attraction of the night where we saw a lot of prosthetic makeup. Some cast members even appeared to be missing an eye, and the makeup throughout was very well executed.
Dark Shadows: Scoring this attraction was really hard because we couldn’t see anything. The only things we actually saw were blackout robes and masks. Another thing that didn’t make sense was seeing Michael Myers. However, the costumes fit the theme very well, since they were clearly aiming for a complete blackout effect.
Kennyville Cemetery: The costuming for the cemetery could have used some improvement. Since zombies are known for crawling, limping, and dragging themselves, their costumes should have been more ripped and dirty to match the effect. One costume that really impressed us was the lady playing the statue; she truly resembled the real statue across from her and delivered a convincing performance.
However, there were some inconsistencies with the overall theme. Notably, a cast member wore a very professional-looking plague doctor costume, which, while visually impressive, did not fit with the attraction’s storyline. These details prevented the costuming from fully immersing us in the cemetery setting.
The staff at Kennywood was excellent! Friendly, attentive, and always in good spirits. Parking is straightforward, but be mindful of where you leave your car. The VIP lot costs $25 and can be tricky to leave if you didn’t mean to park there, so the upper lot is a better, free option if you’re willing to walk a bit.
All the attractions felt very safe, with no noticeable tripping hazards. Additionally, the website is easy to navigate and provides all the information you need on ticket prices and operating hours.
Kennywood made a real effort to immerse guests throughout the entire park. The experience features eerie soundtracks, atmospheric fog, dynamic lighting, and cast members who interact with visitors at every turn. However, most attractions felt pretty bland on the outside, except for Detached.
Detached: The initial atmosphere for this attraction is somewhat dull until you reach the front of the house. The facade they’ve created is quite detailed and resembles the exterior of an old theater. Peeking through the window, you can’t help but feel uneasy seeing all the dolls and doll parts inside. The storyline for this attraction was fairly obvious but executed very well. They kept us in suspicion the entire time.
mAlice In Wonderland: The building’s exterior was a bit confusing because there was nothing notable except the attraction’s sign. However, once inside, the experience changed: the storyline convincingly immersed us in Alice’s Wonderland. The attraction maintained our attention the entire time, thanks to its excellent portrayal of what it would feel like to be in Wonderland.
Shady Grove: The attraction’s storyline felt a bit disjointed. Initially, we were told they wanted our eyeballs, but by the end, it seemed like they would take any body part. Despite this inconsistency, we always remained interested. The attraction did a great job of keeping us off guard and immersed throughout.
Dark Shadows: The storyline in Dark Shadows was clear for the first half of the attraction, but then it veered off in a different direction. Although we didn’t know what to expect, we felt immersed for most of the experience. The story became somewhat disorganized, and a few elements didn’t quite make sense. We did, however, really enjoy the black light skeleton room.
Kennyville Cemetery: Inside the cemetery, the storyline made sense, but there were some areas that felt pretty empty. For instance, we passed a scene with a decent number of tombstones and caskets, but then there was an area where nothing was really happening except for some trees and bushes.
The effects across the park varied between attractions. While some featured impressive lighting and fog effects, others offered very little in terms of special effects.
Detached: We thoroughly enjoyed how Kennywood incorporated a wide variety of effects into their new attraction. The flickering lights, dense fog, and a moving chain belt adorned with body parts added excitement, while the aroma of popcorn in the theater area created an immersive experience. We were very impressed by how well all these effects were executed.
mAlice In Wonderland: During our time in Alice’s Wonderland, we didn’t encounter much of a soundtrack or many animatronics. However, the room featured some impressive details, particularly the dinner table decorated with body parts and heads on the plates. There was also a laser swamp effect that was well-executed, especially since it was the best feature of this attraction.
Shady Grove: Shady Grove offered a selection of sound and visual effects, with the most notable being a series of TV screens displaying various content. Unfortunately, the smoke detector effect was unusually loud and didn’t make sense in the context of the attraction. We felt it would be better if the soundtrack was more prominent than the smoke detector noise.
Dark Shadows: On our night out, Dark Shadows featured the loudest and best soundtrack. Despite being powerful, the volume wasn’t overwhelming. In terms of effects, there wasn’t much beyond plenty of fog and a black light room filled with green skeleton heads.
Kennyville Cemetery: As we walked through the cemetery, we noticed there wasn’t much happening with the soundtrack, which left the experience feeling a bit empty. The props also seemed too far apart, resulting in too much dead space throughout the attraction. On a positive note, the fog effects in the cemetery were well done.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 4.77
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 5.42
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 5.87
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 5.95
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 2.47
The Scare Factor was consistently the lowest-rated category all night. Most haunt finales were poorly executed; typically, the ending just meant walking to the exit where a cast member stood in plain sight, or the final scene lacked any engaging activity.
Detached: Of all the attractions that night, this one was the scariest. Cast members were coming at us from every direction, making it hard to predict what would happen next. While there were a few effective jump scares as we tried to escape the puppet master, we felt there could have been even more to heighten the thrill.
Malice In Wonderland: Of all the attractions, this was the least scary. There didn’t seem to be enough actors inside to generate genuine scares, and those present were too often out in the open, which made the experience less frightening.
Shady Grove: We really appreciated the effort put into delivering a variety of scares throughout the attraction. From drop doors to cast members appearing from all directions, there was a dynamic and energetic feel. However, the number of actors was insufficient to achieve the level of scares we had anticipated.
Dark Shadows: Dark Shadows is perfect for anyone afraid of the dark. We didn’t find it especially scary ourselves, mainly because we didn’t encounter many cast members. A handful emerged from windows, and a few others lurked in the attraction’s shadowy corners.
Kennyville Cemetery: We encountered zombies emerging from the eerie fog and from behind bushes and trees. Many of the cast members were out in the open, which made it difficult to get a genuine scare. We also came across a few drop doors, but since they were in plain sight, they weren’t effective at all.
Tickets are priced steeply at $74.99. In total, we spent 29 minutes inside the haunts, putting their MPD (minutes of entertainment received per dollar spent) at 0.39. While we know this is expensive and less than ideal, there are frequent sales throughout the fall season, as well as Groupon deals. The value would also be higher on a night when all attractions are open.
When it comes to additional entertainment included with admission, there were plenty of photo opportunities in the four scare zones and other areas of the park. Near Dark Shadows and Shady Grove, a DJ played music all night.
If you’re new to haunted houses, Kennywood is a great place to start! If you don’t enjoy them, you can always enjoy the rides all night instead. We also appreciate the variety of food options, including Halloween-themed treats!
We enjoyed the recent changes at the park and are excited to see what Phantom Fall Fest offers next season!
4800 Kennywood Boulevard, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania 15122
