The Dark Knights Terror Trail Review (2016)

Each of the attractions has two or more signature characters that serve as guides on your journeys. Paul Bearer, Rigg Mortis, Sy Ko, Mort, Hunter and others are delightfully creepy and always entertaining. Dirty jokes, foul puns, and creepy demeanors are the order of the night. The other figures that you’ll meet along the way are pretty interactive, either with your fellow visitors or with the guides, but it is always your guides who drive the fun.

As a note: the zombies who swarm you in the different areas of the zombie hunt are quite often volunteers from local organizations. These organizations get a donation from a portion of the ticket sales for the zombie event. It’s a great way to give back to the community, but it does mean that your zombie interaction may vary widely from visit to visit.

Indoor: 8.29
Outdoor: 9.64
Zombie: 7.66

There aren’t a lot of signs pointing you to the Dark Knight’s Terror Trail, but when you pull up outside, you’ll clearly recognize that you have arrived. Be forewarned and wear comfortable shoes for a night of walking ‘ inside there are metal grates, outside you’ll be walking through the woods and, when you’re hunting zombies, it’s always best to be prepared. Be sure to watch your step! Moving from concrete to gravel or trying to evade a zombie in the woods can easily lead to a stumble.

There are lots of staff in clearly-marked t-shirts who will guide you from place to place once you’ve entered the grounds. After you’re inside, there aren’t really queue lines. You head to whichever attraction you wish to try next (based on what you’ve paid for). There are also two short (5-minute) escape rooms in the large, outdoor waiting area. Actors like Paul and Rigg wander through to entertain you with some whip-cracking banter from time to time. You can easily spend an extra hour just hanging out and talking to visitors and staff alike… or even hear a ghost story from grandma by the ever-burning fire pit!

The Dark Knight’s Terror Trail is clearly some kind of attraction. The outside has been painted and decorated to look like a storybook castle with wooden doors and parapets. There’s no music outside, but the occasional, distant scream or roar of a chainsaw. There’s nothing that immediately screams ‘haunted house.’

However, there are nice touches once you’re within the site. The fire pit in the outdoor waiting area is a nice place to lurk near the woods. Likewise, just inside the building (before the entrance to the indoor haunt) is a waiting area with seats and a horror movie playing in the dark.

There’s not an overall theme for the entire site other than entertainment. Looking at each piece individually, the Zombie Hunt pretty much captures two different styles of zombie horror that you can immerse yourself in: an outdoor hunt of walking dead and an indoor survival scavenger hunt while sneaky fast zombies track you down.

The outdoor walking trail hits a variety of outdoor spooky things that you might find slightly twisted with evil; from things over the rainbow to a rainbow-painted circus tent and your biggest fears, be ready to scream and jog ahead of the other victims as you try to escape.

The indoor haunt is perhaps the jewel of the site. There’s an elaborate story for the location, but the story doesn’t last too long into the haunt as you soon get to experience a variety of haunted scenes from movies, media, and who knows what else.

Indoor: 8.67
Outdoor: 8.23
Zombie: 8.27

As previously stated, Dark Knight’s Terror Trail isn’t where you go to get the scare of your life. There are scares to be found here, but there’s also a lot of laughter and entertainment. Rigg even managed to get a shriek out of one of our Team members with a well-timed and well-placed ‘Boo!’; Rigg then had to chide her for screaming over a ‘boo…’ claiming that it’s the weakest scare in the books.

Small groups help; be willing to split your group up if there are a lot of you venturing out. Some of the fun effects on the inside haunt are definitely aimed at one person at a time, but the rest of the group can cringe and be aghast as the chosen victim (usually a different person for each experience) is dragged forward and made to be a part of the haunt. It’s all about immersion; let yourself go and be a part of the experience at the Terror Trail.

Indoor: 8.94
Outdoor: 9.00
Zombie: 7.89