The Haunt at Rocky Ledge Review (2017)

With some entertaining scaractors bringing interesting personalities to the mix, the cast here range from demented grannies and basketball playing stilt-walkers, to one machete carrying hockey-mask wearing killer, and this was just the line entertainment! Inside, the overall cast were mostly clowns, being that this year their theme was something along the lines of a clown penitentiary that got overrun. We did run into a few scarecrows, gremlins, and other beasts throughout the walk though. A good number of scaractors had good energy, and fun dialogue but there were a handful who just stood there. Numbers wise, we were told in advance that there were a lot of call-outs, so we knew it would be a little short-handed, but the number of cast was still pretty good.

With the exception of a few scaractors, most of the cast had on a mask and a t-shirt, which took away a little bit from the overall feel. Some of the masks looked amazing and blended in very well with the outfit, such as the gremlin. Others kind of felt thrown together. When makeup was used, it was used amazingly though. The blood and wounds looked great, and the burns and such were crispy. We just wish there was more makeup than masks. Their Jason, a Chucky-looking girl, and their Gremlin all looked complete and amazingly done. One of the stable girls had some great wounds on her that were really noticeable when she jumped out in guests faces.

The staff here is not only friendly and helpful, but plentiful. There were a dozen or so workers all easily visible and ready to help just when arriving alone. If they weren’t wearing a haunt shirt, they held a red directing light to guide guests where to go. There are workers directing traffic of cars, traffic of guests, greeting guests, and just walking around for good measure. Their queue entertainment was simple, yet the best I’ve seen so far. A stilt-walker with a mini basketball hoop walked around the line, and let guests take shots at his basket. When guests were way off he’d stare at them, making sure they knew they were no Michael Jordan (or whoever is good these days, I get my basketball info from Space Jam). The haunt is mostly on a winding path through the woods, so some natural unevenness is there, but there is nothing dangerous about this haunt, other than the lurking creeps and creatures.

Before entering, a mustachioed gentleman greets you, stating that you are about to enter some overrun clown penitentiary or home, so you are told that the theme is clowns. For the most part, that is what you get. You start off walking into what seems like an abandoned circus, where two playful clowns come out looking for new friends. Then you walk through a clowns mouth through a small hallway, and then from there the clowns kind of dwindle down in number. You run into a few more as you go, including a few rooms where big blocks and bright colors remind you that the clowns are out for blood.

The scaractors do a good job of catering to the whole group. If one scaractor goes for the person in the front, another gets ready to come out at the back, and they meet in the middle. There were a few jump scares, but it was mostly straight out scares with scaractors coming right at you, with a few distractions thrown in. With mandatory stop points to help break up the groups, there were moments for guests to catch their breath and recollect themselves before venturing into the next area. In these little rest spots, wandering scaractors would come up and mess with the guests, including one point where a couple who wouldn’t stop making out the entire walkthrough, got creeped up on by Jason Vorhees, and on Friday the 13th no less. Needless to say we made some fun comments.

From start to finish, this haunt takes about 37 minutes to walk through. There are some mandatory stop points to help keep guests spaced apart, but even when you stop a roaming scaractor will come out and mess with the line as they wait, so it isn’t like it is wasted time. For only $25, a 37 minute walk through is a bargain! There is no express line ticket, so be sure to arrive early to wait in the line. They make good use of their available space, leading guests through the woods and around open spaces, eventually corralling them into small sheds turned into scare chambers.