SFWoA Haunted House Reviews

Hello Coaster Fans Who Are Pondering The Potential Of Glow Gear,

A few people have been asking what the haunted houses at SFWoA are like this year. I finally got to do them all, and here is a somewhat in depth detail of them…enjoy, and let me know if you have any more questions.

Overall impression: While SFWoA does charge for their haunted houses, I still say this park is the best “Halloween Value” including park admission, and haunted house admission. PKI and Kennywood have overall better haunted houses but no one beats SFWoA for the feel. And I’m happy to pay the $ if I leave happy. On to the reviews

Sherlock Holmes (aka: Scary Oldies): This is a free attraction included with admission. It takes place of Merry Oldies antique car ride. In years past just the employees have jumped out right before you got off the car. Now they have this whole “story line” set up that you see a murder, have to find the police, find Sherlock, and then figure it out…all while driving. In truth there’s nothing really to find out. There are little scenes while you drive and some you actually have to stop at (though the only reason we stopped was because the police jumped on our car and started talking to us.) I think we were suppose to stop at one other scene but there was no way of telling. These actors started talking and we kept driving. There is no one to jump out and scare you…just some strange actors here and there with scenes from London times. The police was a pretty good actor, and carried on a very funny conversation with all four of us. The lines do get VERY long since this one is free and can take quite some time to load since it is antique cars.

House On Hell Street: This and Fearanoia share the same building (making them both on the small side). This is a wristband attraction. I was expecting something pretty lame like last year to be honest. There was next to no wait (it was Sweetest Day though.) We actually liked this, it was a little short, but well laid out, and VERY good actors. I was quite impressed with the shaking/levating/real actor/bed. There was a lot of look over here while I scare you over there tricks. I liked it.

Fearanoia: While nothing like last year it shares the same building at House on Hell Street, it’s pretty short, and requires a wristband. I also liked this one. It has good actors and neat props. I liked this one HUGE bat looking thing that had an actor on it. While it scared you they had huge rubber bats come flying down at you from above…scared a lot of people LOL.

Haunted Gauntlet: Wristband attraction of which the line starts this year between Mr. Hero’s and Double Loop (the pathway that is always closed in the summer). This attraction takes place in the pavilions by the Villain. This had a HUGE line!! I was expecting mazes of some sort like the others through the pavilions or something. VERY VERY LOUD Heavy Metal music started it off. Some of the actors were pretty good, but the proble is, this attraction is a straight shot through all the buildings, no turning, nothing. That leads to being able to see everything and everyone that is coming up. Since it was a straight shot right through, it took VERY little time making it shorter than House on Hell Street, and Fearanoia. Advice for next year, add some easy “L” bends into it next time so you can’t see what’s up ahead. Not worth the 50min wait.

House of 3-Dementia: This is a wristband attraction with pretty long lines. This is a pretty good 3-D haunted house. It’s not the best or as cool of paintings as Kennywood’s but it’s one of the better ones and worth the wait. This has VERY good actors and some dead ends in it, making it cool. They have a Christmas Light room that is awesome with the glasses also. There is A LOT of “hippy trippn’ music” playing in here which makes the whole experience kind of funny! The best part of the attraction is the ending. Make sure you have a girl for this attraction!

Brutal Planet: This is considered the “Big Boy” haunted house at SFWoA. It requires a wristband and is located way back in Hurricane Harbor in the abandoned ball room. They have VERY good actors in hear as well, and a pretty good story line or themed rooms all filled with some neat special effects. There are also a few good scares in here. I really liked the hanging body bags that just start shaking when you walk though the meat locker. This is pretty long, and worth the usually long waits. Either hit this right of the bat or right before it closes for the shortest lines.

Trail of Terror: This attraction DOES NOT require a wristband. It starts by the Texas Twister and ends by Raging Wolf Bobs. This is more or less a fog filled path with some props, lighting and some funny actors out to scare you. It’s much like Cedar Point’s Fright Zone.

Journey on Lost Lake: Free with paid admission. Your board the spooked out Cuyahoga Queen (which looks really cool) and you take a boat ride around the lake. While riding you get told a somewhat creepy story all while you’re out on the quiet and eery lake. This attraction is worth the wait, and enjoyable.

There are also a few “sideshows” at SFWoA. The main two are the Headless Woman, and Zambora of the Amazon. Both are the same as in the past. The Headless Woman has been moved though over to the picnic area by Mr. Hero’s. Both are free with admission and usually have around a 15min wait. Some girls get scared easily by these. The Headless woman has pretty good actors this year.

SFWoA also has a few “haunted shows.” I did get to see the Phantom of The Otter which is a DIFFERENT show than the summer show. It’s very funny and worth seeing for those that a big fan of the summer show. I didn’t get to see the Haunted Dolphin show. Fright Fever features live singers in costume and a lot of familes seemed to enjoy this.

Hope you enjoyed and See you/ Scare you on the midways!

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"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
Haunted Ohio Parks...you've been warned!!
*** This post was edited by RollerCoasterGod 10/21/2003 4:19:01 PM ***

Thanks for the review. I am glad to see some Six Flags parks are doing something for Fright Fest unlike Six Flags Great Adventure who does the lamest hayride in the world and nothing else. I wish I lived closer to SFWOA. thanks for the report

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

The first time I went though the houses I HATED them, but the second time I LOVED them. I don't know why, but it probably has a lot to do with who you are with when you go through. I'm glad to hear you had a great time in them. I liked Brutal Planet the best. You are right though about the Gauntlet, it is way too much 'out in the open'. The best part about that one is when I went though it the second time there was NO wait at all and the 'punk kid' at the beginning made us Skip the WHOLE way though it. He actually followed us though to make sure we were skipping. If we stopped he took his blower and got us with it. It was so funny!

My favorite 'attraction' this year is the Krusty Ice Scream man. He is the best part of the park. He scared a lot of girls when we were there and he was funny too. :)

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October 28, 2003--Nickelback in concert with Trapt in Akron!

I saw the dolphin show. The dolphins are accused of being sharks of some sort. The Phantom of the Otter show is great, and is a great throwback to the old Spooky Kooky Castle days of that show in the 80's at Sea World.

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"Step on that lapbar and make it nice and tight!"