Features:
✓-Paid Parking✓-Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site✓-Handicap Accessible✓-Food/Concessions✓-Gift Shop/Souvenirs✓-“Hi-Tech” Attraction✓-You will NOT be touched✓-Original Characters✓-Uncovered Outdoor Waiting Line✓-Indoor/Outdoor Attraction
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: 8.87
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 8.21
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 9.01
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 9.83
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 9.65
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 8.75
(5% of Final Score) Theme: 9.38
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 8.13
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 8.99
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Summary:
Pirates of Emerson Haunted Themed Park returns for their 27th year in the city of Pleasanton, California, at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. They are laid out as a theme park featuring 5 main haunt mazes: Holiday Horror, The Haunted, Pirates of Emerson, Prison Panic and Psycho Path.
The rest of the compound is set up as a pirate-themed carnival. This year they changed some of their traditions. Instead of adhering to strict labyrinth designs, there were some haunts that had open areas which gave guests the freedom of choice to walk around scenic structures. Also, instead of their chain link fence maze being its own individual attraction, it was placed in the middle of the Psycho Path haunt maze. We applaud their artistic decision to try something new, but on the other hand, the haunt mazes seemed shorter than previous years and it felt like they were short of actors. As a result, this visit didn’t seem as scary as previous years, but we still love the artistic design in terms of costuming and set.
No other haunt looks or feels like Pirates of Emerson. They are a true original. Holiday Horror and Psycho Path were our favorites.
Cast: 8.21
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 7.75
(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 8.5
(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 8
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 8
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 8.75
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The line actors of Pirates of Emerson are always great. They interact with guests and pose for pictures. They represent the company brand well.
The actors were believable and portrayed their roles well. There wasn’t a lot of dialogue, except the hillbilly cannibal girl in the barn at Psycho Path, who was sizing us up as part of her dinner menu. In the chain link maze of Psycho Path, a hillbilly girl taunted us as we were trying to find our way out. The most interactive moment was in Prison Panic. In the prison ward, an inmate was operating on a dead body, then looked at us and sprayed compressed air at us. He was using an airbrush, and it did startle us.
Overall, there were various characters in the themed park, but in the individual mazes, Psycho Path had similar hillbilly characters and Prison Panic had similar inmate characters. The main haunt mazes did need more actors. Holiday Horror and Psycho Path felt like they had enough, but Prison Panic, The Haunted and Pirates of Emerson mazes seemed short on them.
Costuming: 9.01
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?: 9
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 9.25
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 8.75
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: N/AExplanation:
Not Available
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 9
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Pirates of Emerson always delivers in the costuming department. Their line actors are best dressed with elaborate outfits and detailed makeup. The actors in the haunts wore appropriate clothing for their particular scenes and themes. Their makeup was appropriate as well, but they stuck to more primitive styles. We don’t recall any prominent masks used anywhere in the haunted mazes.
Customer Service: 9.83
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?: 10
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 9.75
(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?: 9.5
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Pirates of Emerson is easy to find since it’s located at the Alameda County Fairgrounds and the city of Pleasanton has plenty of signs directing drivers to the property. The compound is easy to spot. From outside, you can see the lights and fire shooting into the air as well as the ticket booth and entrance area.
We found the whole attraction to be very safe and nothing dangerous could be found. Staff and security were both readily available throughout the compound. The entire staff was very friendly and helpful. Pirates of Emerson’s information is easy to find because they have an excellent website and are on various social media sites.
Atmosphere: 9.65
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?: 9.75
(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 9.5
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Pirates of Emerson has a party vibe, part spooky and part rock-n-roll. From the parking lot, you can see the lights, hear the music, and see flames shoot into the sky at various intervals.
Inside the entry gate, the compound has a pirate/carnival theme. The pirate ship performance stage had a classic rock band playing cover tunes. Those flames come from the two masts of the ship. There are various photo opportunities with staged life-sized dioramas for selfies. There are other activities that require paying carnival tickets, known here as ‘Monions’. They are good for carnival games, an oddities museum, a ‘Misfortune’ Teller, gift store and a 90-second mini haunt. The atmosphere does give guests some insight into what they will see.
Special Effects: 8.75
How Did We Get This Score?
Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 8.75
(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 9
(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 9
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 8.5
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 8.5
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Pirates of Emerson has a variety of special effects. Most memorable are the vortex tunnel and claustrophobia tunnel in Holiday Horror, the motion activated props and the animatronic alligator in the Pirates of Emerson maze, the broken circuit breakers that were twitching and making electrical sounds, along with the airbrush gun in Prison Panic. In addition, the sound effects of crickets chirping and the air compressor blast in The Haunted was effective, and the fog machines and laser lights in the chain link maze in Psycho Path. The mini haunt had a video animation of a chainsaw maniac shown from a video monitor disguised as a window that sprayed water at us in the timing of a victim being sawed in half. Around the next corner was a giant boar head growling at us.
The scenes and props were mostly created in-house, so they don’t look like any other haunt. Holiday Horror has many painted scenic flats with fluorescent color designs that glow under black lights. That same artist also painted a large fluorescent painting of a pirate ship in the Pirates of Emerson maze. There was impressive stone masonry walls, cannons, and jail cells, that almost feel like something from Disney. The Haunted scenery had the rustic wooden cabins and swampy feel. Prison Panic’s scenery was appropriate for an institution. Psycho Path is mostly an outdoor haunt, but there is a cargo freight car that serves as a home for hillbilly cannibals, and after the chain link fence maze, there’s a shack with more hillbillies and bloody body parts. We could tell that there was much thought and time spent putting these mazes together and they all maintained the suspension of disbelief. The special effects were successful at creating a spooky and entertaining experience.
Theme: 9.38
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?: 9.75
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?: 9.5
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?: 8.5
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The overall theme of the compound is a Pirate’s Carnival. Each of the five main haunt mazes has its own independent theme.
Holiday Horror has twisted scenes of various holidays, mostly focusing on Halloween and Christmas. There was a tribute to Nightmare Before Christmas with a painting of Jack Skellington and a life-sized mannequin of Sally. Prison Panic is a prison that has been taken over by inmates. The Haunted is a bayou/voodoo themed maze, with a rural and swampy feel. Psycho Path is a hillbilly cannibal theme with an interesting detour into the chain link fence maze. The Pirates of Emerson is of course, themed after pirates.
All the mazes conveyed their themes very well, but the Psycho Path, especially with the laser lights, seemed out of place with the hillbilly cannibal theme. The location is on an empty field of the Alameda County Fairgrounds, so it’s hard to say it authenticates the pirate theme, but it does authenticate the carnival atmosphere.
Scare Factor: 8.13
How Did We Get This Score?
Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 8
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 8.5
(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 8.5
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 8.25
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 7.25
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We’re sad to say this because we’ve been going to Pirates of Emerson for several years, but we didn’t find this year to be as scary as it was in years past. They’ve set the bar so high, that our expectations are high as well. They did provide scares to everyone in our group, and they weren’t predictable. The lack of actors affected our experience, which we know for the most part is sometimes out of their control. The majority of scares consisted of them startling us from hidden corners. A few haunt mazes ended with an air compressor blast, but other than that, there wasn’t any really strong endings.
Entertainment & Value: 8.99
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?: 8.5
(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 9.25
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 9
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 9.5
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Pirates of Emerson does provide a good overall experience for the price of the ticket when you include the atmosphere with the haunt mazes, but we wish a couple of the mazes were longer. Several of them were only 2 to 3 minutes long, but Psycho Path was 8 minutes and Holliday Horror was 4 minutes. It took us about 20 minutes total to navigate all haunts. General admission is $30 online and $35 at the door.
We were very satisfied with the entertainment outside of the haunt mazes. It was clearly obvious everyone was having a great time and weren’t in a rush to leave. We do believe the ticket prices are appropriate for these haunts and all available space was appropriately used. There were no dead zones to be found.
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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Promo Images:
Click to Enlarge
Awards:
2018
