The Haunted River Float provides a fun, interactive, and scary cast of characters that are crawling all over the place. From the moment you arrive on the property, throughout the extra activities, the river float, the maze, and the house itself! You can never let your guard down, not even when you step away to use the restroom, as they may run into you on the way out! We come back every year just to see what the cast has in store.
The actors were very interactive, and there was a diversity in personalities in the physical and verbal acting.
We want to give a specific shoutout to Jason Voorhees, Dexter, and Stitch at the beginning, who playfully antagonize the guests while they wait for the tractor to bring them down to the river. Jason, who was a stand-out character last year, recognized us immediately as we arrived and wasted no time hunting us down. Of course, he also stalked us throughout our entire experience, and it’s crystal clear he loves his job!
Dexter and Stitch were also fantastic. They are bursting with personality and commitment. Stitch, the gas mask-wearing fiend, was having a blast chasing full speed after us, wearing a BOOT all the while!! Dexter, the southern chainsaw-wielding clown, would call you “sugar” and “sweetheart” while terrorizing you. These three are an absolute blast, and pair so well with each other!
This year, we participated in the Zombie Paintball before being brought to the river. We would like to see more zombies spread out in the zombie paintball area and maybe have them wander around their area more to give the guests a moving target to shoot at as opposed to someone standing in one spot. Maybe get some mannequins and dress them up like zombies, too?
Once we got to the river, we had interactions with Cthululu, Jason, and a river clown. They would climb on the side of the raft, spin you around, and also poke at the bottom of your raft with their hands and feet, which made us squirm. We felt that the clown character, while he did provide us with a ton of fun back and forth interaction, may have lingered on just a feeeew minutes longer than necessary. We weren’t sure if he was sticking around to either slow us down or wait for the group behind to catch up, but when he was a non-verbal character to start, we were basically asking outright if we could move on as politely as possible.
We do think that there could have been more actors spread out in a few areas, particularly in the field on the way to the haunted house. In years past, the grass was taller, which made it easier to hide actors and make it more of a maze than the direct path that it was this year. Though we have to say, there was an excellent jump scare done by Dexter in this section. It is easy to let your guard down in this section, and since we were already familiar with Dexter as he terrified us in the queue, we didn’t hesitate when he welcomed us warmly and asked for us to come in for a hug. That is, until two of his other chainsaw-wielding pals come out on either side to attack. He proclaimed, “Welcome to the River! Welcome to Hell!” as we all screamed. It was an amazing reveal, and one of the best scares in the maze section to date!
The trail leading up to The Haunted Float was also greatly improved this year, with the cult doing their cult thing in the graveyard. The suited-up chainsaw jump scare in the tunnel was great!
There was also a good mix of different personalities in physical and verbal acting, as best displayed in the house. The Wonderland scene was excellently done, where the Rabbit was nervous and aggressive, the Mad Hatter was mysterious and creepy, the Red Queen was regal and demanding, and the poor playing cards were screaming their heads off. Art the Clown was a new addition this year, who we got to see at the very beginning and end. He was playful, creepy, AND let us honk his horn! We find that it can be difficult for child actors to be effective in haunts, BUT Art was accompanied by The Pale Girl, who played her role as an eerie little clown girl perfectly! The clowns were lively and aggressive, and the inmates were rambunctious. We also must give a shoutout to the wicked Witch who cuts your wristband before entering the haunted house. She is always a hoot!!
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