WJAA Haunted Woods Review (2021)

First and foremost, we were bombarded with clowns of every shape and size who followed us through quite a few stopping points along the early parts of the trail. Being at the back of the line allowed me to hang out a little longer with them. Boy, did they have plenty of lessons to teach. All in all, we found characters everywhere while on the trail. While we saw a plethora of clowns, both original and well-known favorites like Pennywise and Captain Spaulding, they weren’t the only characters we ran into. We saw our fair share of creepy nuns, both dirtied and bloodied. Schoolgirls were doing what they do, screaming. We got a long look at Michael Myers (and perhaps Hannibal Lecter), butchers, a roughed-up bunny, chainsaw slingers, a raccoon carrying wildman and tarantula loving shrouded lady, a fortune teller, and a few carnies. We also had some bloodied people out and about.

Dialogue varied among the actors, some did not talk at all, some snorted and smelled us, some blocked our path, and several continued to remind us we were moving way too slowly. We had a few share dialogue with us and had a slight conversation, but many didn’t. Some screamed, some sniffed, some grunted and others simply seemed hysterical. The Tall Clown did some fun chit-chat with us as we waited to get to the next area. Hannibal Lecter even had the nerve to warn me to watch my fingers!

We saw evidence of different styles of costumes. We saw some mask-wearing devil with a black long-sleeved t-shirt and black jeans, and later on, saw another masked devil wearing a long cape. Some characters were sporting white T-shirts with blood spatter, and some topless with cuts painted on the body. There were three witches at work with their cauldrons, wearing the traditional attire of long dark dresses and cloaks. The several clowns we came across also were varied, from traditional clown jumpers to street clothes. The nuns were wearing the expected habit and the schoolgirls wore private school uniforms one would expect to see for the scene they were in.

Stand-out costumes here would go to It, Jinxx, the Ringmaster, and the striped vest-wearing snack bar carnie. Their costumes looked the most complete and detailed. Unfortunately, we did see just a few ill-fitting masks, and even some long hair poking out of the back on some of the masks. A little black eye makeup under some of those masks helps hide the person wearing them. All characters and costumes fit in the areas they were placed. The Ringmaster at the end had very nice makeup. We saw makeup on other characters too, all different from each other. Pennywise and Captain Spaulding’s makeup was also nice and certainly allowed us to find out right away who they were. Several characters were dirtied and bloodied with various afflictions.

We used the haunted house’s Facebook page and website to gather any information we could imagine. We were able to plug the address into GPS and had no trouble getting to the attraction. There was a slight hiccup from one of the parking attendants who waved her wands in a fashion that was confusing to drivers. Several drivers drove right past her mostly because they could not tell what she was wanting them to do. All the staff was polite and friendly and answered any questions we had.

This is an outdoor trail, and they warn all customers to ‘be sure to pick your feet up’ while on the trail, as it is made to wind along several trees and their roots.

Driving up to the entrance, there was a well-lit advertising sign with the name posted. A light-up Halloween inflatable could also serve as a marker for people to know from a distance where the parking was located in the dark, as the sign itself looks like a typical business sign.

Once we entered the property, we were pointed to the ticketing booth. There was no music or other forms of entertainment available. Walking around the grounds, we came to the concession stand and a small bonfire (it had been raining most of the day, so this was a feat.) Adding an actor or two at the ticketing area would help set the mood for ticket holders waiting in line to get their ticket and also those waiting to board their wagon.

We were treated to different sounds on the trail. We heard a music box, metal music, sirens, honking, buzzers, and banging.

We saw a spark prop that let out sparks then the actor hit a metal fence. The lit Faris wheel was in motion, and we encountered a few chainsaws. The wheel of fortune was fun, even though they stacked the deck against players with all bad outcomes. There were body parts lying around in the scenes, and some attached to the wall and hanging from the ceiling. There were a couple of places littered with long-abandoned baby dolls. Along the way, there were mattresses partially buried in the ground, angled flooring, and a shifting mini bridge to challenge our balance. Oh, did we mention they had a spinning tunnel that was guarded with a cackling clown? They did, and it was quite effective at making us dizzy. It seemed there were a lot of handheld horns and flashlights, and I got a blast of air from a hidden air hose. We walked through several places with varying thicknesses of fog, strobe lights, and lasers. There was a laser swamp with more than one bog beast waiting for us. At one point, I thought we were going to be undone by a semi pushing its way through. We found a wrecked car and a school bus among the trees.

Scare tactics included a lot of handheld horns, some pop scares here and there, and lots and lots of pounding and alarms. There were bloodied scenes in different areas including a doctor’s area and a butcher’s area. We walked into a club scene with neon accents and were asked for some blood. There were places where our vision was compromised with strobe lights, thick fog, and a blackout room. Creepy dolls stared at us with their moldy faces and dead eyes. We walked through many mazes, some with tarp, wood, or plexiglass and wooden doors. We were followed by somebody at nearly every step. We weaved our way through more than one room or maze with hanging obstacles.

We somehow ended up being at the end of the line the entire time, as we were looking at and enjoying everything, unfortunately, we missed some things that happened with those in our group that were at the front.