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Great way to spend a fall evening! |
Donna - Land of illusion provides a fun family evening of entertainment allowing people to visit six totally different haunted attractions within one location. We have been going to land of illusions for many years and, although I wish they would change things up a bit more from year to year, always manage a few new scares and just enough actors and animatronics to keep you on your toes.
Phobia was the newest haunt this year and out of all the haunts was probably my favorite. It was basically a dark haunt with actors placed at all the right spots for jump scares and, without giving anything away, did force you to face your worst phobias. It was fairly long maybe 20 minutes or so to go through with a lot of twists and turns and anxiety inducing dark areas. This haunt gets four out of five stars for scary and five out of five for entertaining.
Temple of terror haunted house was my next favorite. Although this haunted house has been around for a while it was even more intense than I remember in the past. By intense I mean narrower hallways, darker passages, creepier actors and corpses and mummys throughout the haunt. Although It could’ve used a few more actors, this is a really well done and surprisingly scary haunt.
I would give it four out of five stars for Scary and four out of five for entertaining.
Killer Klowns is more of a fun and entertaining haunt than scary. Lots of neon colors and black lights and creepy clowns throughout highlighting the circus theme. It struck me more as a killer Klowns from Outer space type theme this year though complete with hanging bags of cotton candy. This is a fun haunt if you want to take the younger kids in. Don’t listen to the clowns in the chain-link maze however they will lie to you and you will wind up walking in circles for a long time before you can figure your way out. Watch out for Bozo! He was our favorite clown from last year and does not disappoint this year. Most of the actors in this haunt were very energetic and interactive and did a an exceptional job interacting with us. I would rate Killer Klowns a two on the scary end but a five on the entertainment side.
Dr. Psychos Haunted Estate is an old style haunted house that is more fun than scary to walk through. Don’t get me wrong there are a few jump scares and some truly disturbing scenes but I find it more entertaining and mysterious rather than all out scary. The attention to detail in this haunt is unreal and you can tell that it’s been built up over the years. As you walk through you notice more and more mutilated mental patients some screaming some laughing some and just laying there waiting for you to walk past. When you get to the very end you meet up with Dr. Christopher Psycho who wants to inject you with his devilish serum to turn you into a zombie! I really love this haunted house and hope they continue to develop at year after year. I give it a four on the scare chart and also a four on the entertainment chart.
Dysphoria is one of the new haunts this year and although it was a new and fresh approach to the alien creature maze genre sometimes it was a little hard to differentiate between the good aliens in the bad aliens by the markings on their masks. Confusing dialogue but very intense actors who moved about blocking our paths and pointing us in the wrong direction. In this haunt you had to try to determine which friends were real or fake! The costumes complemented the portion of the haunt and camouflage them very well during the walk-through allowing for mainly jump scares. I would give this a four on the scare chart and a four on the entertainment chart.
This year we felt that the Middletown Haunted Trail was more immersive and creative than in years before. It had the most actors ranging from Michael Mayer to Freddy Krueger to actors who jumped and slid through the sewer scene and kept telling us about the catastrophe ahead. This was very entertaining. The actor swinging the giant mallet also stood out and interacted with our group swinging the mallet over our heads. Dialogue seemed very well done in this area and the actors recognized certain people to pick on based on how they reacted to the screams and threats. Missing this year were the hillbillies on the trail but they were replaced by scarier actors who seemed more immersed in the scene and more frightening than in years past. this is a long and scary trail and seems to improve every year with this year being one of the best. I would give it a four on the scare chart and 4 1/2 on the entertainment chart.
Overall this year I have to give land of illusion kudos for their special effects and for ramping up the intensity and immersion in several of the haunts that we went through. The lights, sounds, screams and even quietness in parts (Temple of doom) were very effective and the fluorescently glowing scenery in Killer Klowns was some of the best I’ve ever seen. I feel that the anxiety and suspense was also dialed up this year with parts of the haunts forcing us to feel our way along in total darkness while other parts with fog so thick or strobe lights and even an electric shock to disorient you and confuse you. This is a very well done and put together haunted attraction Park and I highly recommend at least one visit (possibly two or three?) During the Halloween season.
Although land of illusion comes at a higher price tag than most haunts they do offer a lot of bang for the buck with unlimited access to all of their haunted attractions, entertainment in the midway with bands or wrestling going on all evening, a huge bonfire, a full-service bar and some restaurants which all provide a good place just to hang out and enjoy the evening while you’re catching your breath in between the haunted attractions.
Phobia was the newest haunt this year and out of all the haunts was probably my favorite. It was basically a dark haunt with actors placed at all the right spots for jump scares and, without giving anything away, did force you to face your worst phobias. It was fairly long maybe 20 minutes or so to go through with a lot of twists and turns and anxiety inducing dark areas. This haunt gets four out of five stars for scary and five out of five for entertaining.
Temple of terror haunted house was my next favorite. Although this haunted house has been around for a while it was even more intense than I remember in the past. By intense I mean narrower hallways, darker passages, creepier actors and corpses and mummys throughout the haunt. Although It could’ve used a few more actors, this is a really well done and surprisingly scary haunt.
I would give it four out of five stars for Scary and four out of five for entertaining.
Killer Klowns is more of a fun and entertaining haunt than scary. Lots of neon colors and black lights and creepy clowns throughout highlighting the circus theme. It struck me more as a killer Klowns from Outer space type theme this year though complete with hanging bags of cotton candy. This is a fun haunt if you want to take the younger kids in. Don’t listen to the clowns in the chain-link maze however they will lie to you and you will wind up walking in circles for a long time before you can figure your way out. Watch out for Bozo! He was our favorite clown from last year and does not disappoint this year. Most of the actors in this haunt were very energetic and interactive and did a an exceptional job interacting with us. I would rate Killer Klowns a two on the scary end but a five on the entertainment side.
Dr. Psychos Haunted Estate is an old style haunted house that is more fun than scary to walk through. Don’t get me wrong there are a few jump scares and some truly disturbing scenes but I find it more entertaining and mysterious rather than all out scary. The attention to detail in this haunt is unreal and you can tell that it’s been built up over the years. As you walk through you notice more and more mutilated mental patients some screaming some laughing some and just laying there waiting for you to walk past. When you get to the very end you meet up with Dr. Christopher Psycho who wants to inject you with his devilish serum to turn you into a zombie! I really love this haunted house and hope they continue to develop at year after year. I give it a four on the scare chart and also a four on the entertainment chart.
Dysphoria is one of the new haunts this year and although it was a new and fresh approach to the alien creature maze genre sometimes it was a little hard to differentiate between the good aliens in the bad aliens by the markings on their masks. Confusing dialogue but very intense actors who moved about blocking our paths and pointing us in the wrong direction. In this haunt you had to try to determine which friends were real or fake! The costumes complemented the portion of the haunt and camouflage them very well during the walk-through allowing for mainly jump scares. I would give this a four on the scare chart and a four on the entertainment chart.
This year we felt that the Middletown Haunted Trail was more immersive and creative than in years before. It had the most actors ranging from Michael Mayer to Freddy Krueger to actors who jumped and slid through the sewer scene and kept telling us about the catastrophe ahead. This was very entertaining. The actor swinging the giant mallet also stood out and interacted with our group swinging the mallet over our heads. Dialogue seemed very well done in this area and the actors recognized certain people to pick on based on how they reacted to the screams and threats. Missing this year were the hillbillies on the trail but they were replaced by scarier actors who seemed more immersed in the scene and more frightening than in years past. this is a long and scary trail and seems to improve every year with this year being one of the best. I would give it a four on the scare chart and 4 1/2 on the entertainment chart.
Overall this year I have to give land of illusion kudos for their special effects and for ramping up the intensity and immersion in several of the haunts that we went through. The lights, sounds, screams and even quietness in parts (Temple of doom) were very effective and the fluorescently glowing scenery in Killer Klowns was some of the best I’ve ever seen. I feel that the anxiety and suspense was also dialed up this year with parts of the haunts forcing us to feel our way along in total darkness while other parts with fog so thick or strobe lights and even an electric shock to disorient you and confuse you. This is a very well done and put together haunted attraction Park and I highly recommend at least one visit (possibly two or three?) During the Halloween season.
Although land of illusion comes at a higher price tag than most haunts they do offer a lot of bang for the buck with unlimited access to all of their haunted attractions, entertainment in the midway with bands or wrestling going on all evening, a huge bonfire, a full-service bar and some restaurants which all provide a good place just to hang out and enjoy the evening while you’re catching your breath in between the haunted attractions.
Questions? Have a story to share? Leave it in the comments!