Photo TR: Valleyscare Opening Weekend

[Vffreak07]

Saturday night I worked the Opening Night of the 5th annual Halloween Haunt at Valleyscare in CarnEvil. It was a great night full of many great scares, and overall it kicked off what I'm sure will be a great season of Haunt! Before heading over to get makeup/costuming done, I strolled around in the park to see everything from a guests perspective. Got a ride on Wild Thing that was pretty darn impressive, Flying Trapeze, Monster, Mad Mouse, and Power Tower. Everything was running swiftly, and the weather was ideal for a nice walk around the park. In terms of Haunt, overall, the park hasn't received too many general upgrades as far as new props, houses, etc., but if to all the diehard Haunt fans, there are quite a few upgrades in the current Haunted Houses & Scare Zones.

 

After I got cut from work early on Sunday night, I went through all of the open mazes. Chateau Du Damne, our vampire maze, didn't open for Opening Weekend, but it will be open this weekend for Haunt.

 

I started out in CarnEvil, the maze I work in. Now it's kind of hard for me to get scared in it considering I know the maze like the back of my hand, but regardless, the talent was spot on & I got 2-3 scares out of it. The new ending is VERY memorable and definitely worth checking out.

 

After CarnEvil, I headed over next door to Hellside Farm. This maze is returning for its 4th year, and it seems to get better and better each year. This year was no exception. Complete with an extremely intense chainsaw scene, great tag-team scares, winding cornrows, some cool characters, and some horrifying dude with a bucket, Hellside (in my opinion) thus far gets my vote for outdoor maze of the year. The atmosphere is unlike any other maze at the park, and the talent was VERY into it, despite short staffing & less than satisfying weather.

 

The Mangler Asylum was the third stop on the Haunt tour. This maze was the same as usual. Incredible detail, horrifying monsters, same layout, and as always, the horrifying Big Boy who is infamous at Valleyscare for his tendency to tickle rape other employees & diehard Haunt fans. Memorable as always.

 

Heading out of the Asylum, I walked through Blood Creek Cemetery, Valleyscare's only Scare Zone. New route this year, but overall nothing too different. I headed over to Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed, our Slaughterhouse Haunt after Blood Creek. Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed, MCBS for short, improved in detail a LOT this year. New scares (including a one of a kind underneath the floor scare), a talented cast, and like I said, astounding attention to detail made this a very cool maze. Can't wait to see the talent expand on their scares later in the season.

 

The last maze open for the night was Carnage at Crimson Isle, the Pirate Maze. I haven't been a fan of Carnage since the Haunt started in '06. In general, I don't find pirates scary, and the maze just seems to get worse and worse every year. For some odd reason they added a spinning tunnel to Carnage this year, and while out of place in the mazes overall theme, it does do a great job of throwing people's balance off. This maze had a much improved layout in comparison to last year, and had 1-2 scares that were very unique. Overall though, not impressed as usual with this one. Hope it gets axed next year, but somehow I doubt that will happen.

 

Overall Haunt is fantastic as usual, and once Chateau Du Damne opens, it should be a busy & fun year for Haunt once again! I snagged a few daytime photos of the park for you all to see, so make sure to check them out below! Come out & visit the Haunt if you're in the area. Definitely worth admission. Thanks for reading!

 

*Note* Also I apologize for the size/quality of the photos. I had to upload them from a different host seeing as they were too large to attach on TPR

 

 

Valleyscare's Entrance Area.

 

A new prop added on top of the Gift Shop.

 

Hellside Farm's Entrance Plaza.

 

The Exit to Hellside Farm.

 

Hellside's Entrance Area.

 

My Home Sweet Home.

 

The Mangler Asylum.

 

Blood Creek Cemetery.

 

Chateau Du Damne.

 

Here's our Fat Troll named Connor. Baller.

 

Mr. Cleaver's Bloodshed.

 

Carnage at Crimson Isle.

 

And last but not least, here's a bunch of pumpkins.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[jynx242]

Thanks for posting these. I love this time of year!!!

 

David

[Looty]

Good Stuff, Matt!

[deathbydinn]

Great pictures, really getting me excited for my (possible) visit next month. I do have one question, on the haunt site it says that several thrill rides open at night and family and kiddie rides open during the day. I was wondering if you knew what rides are open when, if all the coasters open at some point and what rides don't open at all. Thanks!

[Vffreak07]

Great pictures, really getting me excited for my (possible) visit next month. I do have one question, on the haunt site it says that several thrill rides open at night and family and kiddie rides open during the day. I was wondering if you knew what rides are open when, if all the coasters open at some point and what rides don't open at all. Thanks!

 

All coasters except for Excalibur will be open at around 7pm. None of the water rides are open, for the most part all of the thrill rides are open, and the kid rides within KidWorks are all closed/shut down for Planet Snoopy construction. Here was what yesterday (Saturday) was like ride wise:

 

RIDES OPENING AT NOON

Scrambler

Carousel

Antique Autos

Monster

Ferris Wheel

Corkscrew Tot Spot

Corkscrew

Supercat (open at 1 pm)

Xtreme Swing

High Roller

Half Pint Park (excluding Convoy & Rub-a-dub Tubs)

Tilt-a-Whirl

Wild Thing

Mad Mouse

Renegade

Power Tower

 

RIDES CLOSING AT 6pm

Carousel

Corkscrew Tot Spot

Half Pint Park

Monster

Ferris Wheel

 

RIDES OPENING AT 7pm

Steel Venom

Rip Cord

Go-Karts

Enterprise

Flying Trapeze

Looping Starship