Thomas Family Farm Haunted Hayride – Full Review

Thomas Family Farm Haunted Hayride is a Haunted Attraction located in Snohomish, WA.

9010 Marsh Road, Snohomish, WA 98296
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Haunt Type(s):

Links:

Contact:

Features:

Free Parking, Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site, Food/Concessions, Gift Shop/Souvenirs, You will NOT be touched, Movie Characters, Original Characters, Indoor/Outdoor Waiting Line, All-Indoor Attraction, Family Friendly

This attraction was reviewed on October 17, 2021 by Team Terror Techies.

Final Scores:

(15% of Final Score) Cast: 6.57

(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 7.43

(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 8.84

(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 6.53

(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 6.83

(5% of Final Score) Theme:

(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 6.12

(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 5.86

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Thomas Family Farm is an agritainment destination in Snohomish, Washington. They host a wide variety of family-friendly farm activities during the day, but they embrace their spooky side each night during the weekend with a haunted house, hayride, and zombie paintball. Thomas Fams began started offering their haunted festivities during the weekends in October 2012. In 2019, their build crew completely renovated the haunted house from the ground up.

For this review, we only are covering the haunted house and the haunted hayride. We had visited Thomas Family Farm two years prior after the initial renovation and were excited to see how things had changed in the intervening years. Continue reading for what Thomas Family Farms has in store for this year!

Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):

(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 7.17

(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 6.17

(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 6.67

(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 6

(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 7

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In the haunted hayride, the attraction was filled with actors from the first scene through the last. Admittedly, it’s commonly tricky to interact with the actors on a hayride, especially since this one did not have a guide. However, every actor aggressively banged on the plexiglass shields and trailer bars as the trailer passed through their scenes. (We think that the plexiglass was a COVID safety precaution, but it added to the experience.) A couple of actors even boarded the trailer to creep on unsuspecting and distracted patrons on the top row. The dialogue was limited to victims pleading for us to stop and let them on the trailer or screaming as they ran from their aggressor.

We had the most dialogue with the actor at the beginning of the haunted house. After some small talk, the doctor instructed us to watch the video before disappearing off to grab the next group of victims. Through the rest of the attraction, most of the actors were pop-out scares with very little vocalization. There was a convincing priest that rushed us away from a bucking bed before a demon was able to reach down after us. We also wanted to call out one of the larger clowns that had an excellent mannequin scare, staying perfectly still while two members of our team examined him closely and only coming to life when the last person was walking past. We noticed several areas where additional actors could have been in place for a scare, which might have been a factor of us visiting on a slightly slower night. Overall, several cast members had good timing and energy, but it was a bit hit or miss throughout.

Costuming Scores (15% of Final Score):

(15% of Costuming Score) How complete / finished did the costumes appear to be?: 7.83

(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 7.5

(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 7.5

(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 6.67

(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 7.5

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The costumes were mainly complete, but they didn’t have much customization or detail added. We did spot a couple of characters whose footwear didn’t fit with the rest of the actor’s costume, but not anything too distracting. The priest and the lady in white looked great, but the other characters we encountered were somewhat average. However, while going through both attractions, we quickly distinguished which characters each actor was supposed to be, and few of them seemed out of place in their environments.

This haunt had an even split of characters in makeup and masks. One makeup that stood out to us was the demonic girl on the levitating bed with impressive cuts and scratches. There also was a fun LED clown mask that we noticed. The rest of the makeup and masks that we saw were sufficient, but nothing spectacular that made us take a second look.

Customer Service Scores (10% of Final Score):

(25% of CS Score) How easy was it to locate the attraction, park, and navigate the premises?: 8.17

(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 8.33

(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

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Just off of highway 9, Thomas Family Farms was incredibly easy to locate. Giant banners were advertising the attractions that were visible along the highway. In addition, the main barn sat on the top of the hill, which made it hard to miss. If you have not been in the area, traffic can be difficult on Fridays during rush hour and on busier nights in October. The traffic isn’t something the farm has control over, but it is good to know before heading out. Just be prepared to leave early on those days to account for the delays.

Once we turned into the drive onto the farm, there was a massive parking lot with many available parking spots. There was signage in the parking lot directing us to the main barn, but we just followed the lights until we saw the ticket booths. The staff was friendly and helpful with assisting us through the timed ticket process.

The website and social media for the farm tend to focus on their daytime attractions. There is enough information to figure out basic information such as ticket prices and operation hours, but there isn’t much more. It would have been nice to know additional information that customers could find on a FAQ. Even though the two haunted attractions are covered attractions, be sure to dress for the weather and wear good boots to enjoy the bonfire pits and nighttime corn maze.

Atmosphere Scores (10% of Final Score):

(60% of Atmosphere Score) How obvious was it that you were at a haunted house before entering?: 6.67

(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 6.33

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The queue line for each of the attractions was in the main barn. The decor was very family-friendly – with skeletons crawling on the beer garden structure and lots of spiderwebs covering all the interior framework. There were a lot of friendly scarecrows scattered around that complemented the fall harvest look. The Seahawks game was streamed on multiple enormous screens around the areas with tables and chairs.

Despite these decorations, we did not feel like we were in line for a haunted house and, instead, the atmosphere had a more laid-back Sunday vibe. We spotted one photo op mural at the end of the haunted house when we were in the outdoor queue line. Periodically, the final clown would loop around with a chainsaw to scare the part of the line waiting outside. The hayride loading area ran outside the haunted house, which gave it a bit of an unfinished look. Having more queue line actors would have helped create more of a spooky atmosphere while we waited.

Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):

(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 7.33

(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 7.17

(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 6

(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 6.83

(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 6.83

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In the hayride, loud rock music played while we waited and at the beginning of the ride. The music eventually became spooky background noise once we approached the first scene. We were pleasantly surprised with how the scenes transitioned nicely into the next, with very little dead undecorated space. Enough decorations adorned the scenes to get a sense of what they were, but nothing stood out as particularly exceptional.

There was a good black light optical illusion in the haunted house that was used in a hallway. We also liked the chapel scene where we first encountered the lady in white running into the adjacent room. Similar to the hayride, sets were minimally decorated. However, noticeable dead spots would have benefited from either an actor or a mechanical scare.

Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):

(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?:

(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?:

(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?:

This score is left “N/A” when we believe the haunt is trying to target a random variety of themes or phobias, rather than a single overarching “Theme” or “storyline.”

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There wasn’t an overarching theme to either attraction. Instead, both the haunted hayride and the haunted house had a mix of classic and original scenes that kept us on our toes. We were never sure what was coming our way next.

Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):

(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 6

(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 6.5

(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 6.17

(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 6

(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 6

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Actors on the hayride were constantly appearing along the side of the trailer. However, it was difficult not to feel like we were in a protective bubble as we watched each scene unfold from the trailer. The actors did a great job of breaking this a few times by having actors climb up onto the trailer to get up close and personal, but that was the exception rather than the rule. The house had a wider variety of scares, but the lack of cast kept taking us out of the experience. Though both attractions had good scares, we felt they were mostly predictable and came at us from eye level.

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?: 6.17

(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 6.33

(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 4.5

(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 7.17

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The hayride took us 13 minutes to complete from the moment we boarded to when we exited. It took us 7 minutes to complete the haunted house. So we were in both attractions for a total of 20 minutes. The price of the Double Dare combo ticket cost $45. Thomas Family Farms equates to .44 minutes per dollar, below the national average of 1 minute of entertainment per dollar spent. The Double Dare combo also included admission to the flashlight maze, which would have extended our time there, but we did not cover it. It has been a couple of years since we have visited the farm, and we were excited to see the improvements they have made to their haunted attractions.

We look forward to seeing how Thomas Family Farms will continue to grow in the years to come.

How Did We Get These Scores

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