Frightland 309 Port Penn Road Middletown, DE 19709
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After work, a couple friends and I headed to Delaware in a truck with no muffler to hit Frightland for the second time. The first time I went we were turned away from the parking lot with the attendant saying that they lost power and that I should turn around. There was a line of angry cars trying to get the 5 dollars back from the parking fee because they were forced to leave. Well, this time I was determined to get into the haunt. As we arrived at the metal detector we were instructed that no bags were allowed into the haunt so my ex-girlfriend had to take her bag back to the car... it would have been nice to see a sign before we got to the check in.
Once inside we headed to the ticket booth and got our full set of tickets for the whole haunt. We started at the haunted hay-ride which had the longest line but we knew we were going to have to wait somewhere. While we were waiting we were bombarded with super loud music videos of 80's and 90's style bands which was fun but they could have adjusted the volume so we could talk easier. We got to the hay-ride and it was the kind with a tractor and the sound system that follows the wagon. The music was familiar to other haunts as we began the journey going across a field and into a barn where the wagon was rocked back and forth with hydraulics. We then went into an area that was a giant drive in movie screen with a black and white horror movie playing with various cars parked watching the movie and one of them had a skeleton stabbing a woman (my favorite scene). We proceeded under the screen and arrived at an amusement park scene that had a roller coaster and Ferris wheel and some random bumper cars, but the best part was we went into a giant clowns mouth. The next scene I remember was a pagan ritual with a pentagram with candles on it As you pass the scene cult members head to the wagon. There was also a devil that comes up to the wagon and was laughing in our faces...my ex was bothered by this scene. I can't get enough of scenes that remind me of the 70's and that was one of them. Then there were some country girls that get on the wagon and start a dance number which was not so much as scary but still fun. We eventually get to a giant castle that has a flying vampire and various other gothic images which was a nice surprise.
The hay-ride came to an end and we were led to the Ravenwood Cemetery which was peppered with terrible gravestones. Unlike the guy named Dante who does reviews and was impressed by this scene, it's horrible and should be removed. They could at least take all the misplaced gravestones from before the haunted barn and put them into this area and get some actors to actually jump out.
We then got to zombie town and it was pretty vacant and, although neat to walk through and look at it, was pretty much without actors and actresses and lit by the old Brooklyn lanterns that run on batteries and have led lights. This was also a terrible zone and should be beefed up so that it has some kind of bite.
The next section we did was the zombie prison, which was basically another copy of an Eastern State Penitentiary type of haunt even to include the penitentiary style bus. We were given a little speech by the guard and led into the prison, little did we know this was the best part. Inside, although it looked large, was just some dark mazes and nothing really but a couple actors jumping out. There was a neat scare they did with characters in total darkness jumping out with lights that turn instantly on to illuminate their faces. This scared a couple of my friends but other than that, this was another section they need to rework so that it can actually be considered a worthwhile part of the haunt.
We then proceeded into the Idalia haunted manor which did have a little line but it went pretty quick. We were greeted by a creepy lady on the porch and she led us to the door where we began our journey into the haunted house. The outside could have been detailed a little better, but once we got inside, it reminded me of a Scooby Doo type of haunted house where we were led into secret passageways and taken into different rooms like the kitchen where there was a little guy squatting on the refrigerator for no reason. This haunted house had lots of supernatural scenes like moving drawers with skeletons popping out, slamming and slanting tables and moving and shaking beds. There were exorcist type scares and various actors and actresses popping out. They also had a lot of video screen scares that got bloody and shot water on you with the illusion it's blood. I really don't like the video scares and I think that they should be ignored by any quality haunt. This was by far the best walk through at this haunt, and has the best quality and character of any of the other zones at Frightland.
We next proceeded into the Haunted Barn which had a whole bunch of real and giant grave stones that were placed throughout the queue line, and I couldn't help but wonder why these were not in the Ravenwood Cemetary, but anyhow, we got into the barn and there was this horrible chainsaw video scene which has a fake chain-saw coming out of a wall. This scene was awful and fake and should be sold to another haunt in my opinion, mainly because it's not scary or believable even with the water blood splatter effect. We were then taken to various other mad scientist scenes and bloody butcher type areas where actors pop out at you. My favorite part was the hanging pig and realistic bodies that all the haunts bought at Transworld. We then began to enter the attic where the girl told us that supernatural things really occurred there. I zoned out because I don't believe in that even though my ex got kind- of scared. We went through that attic in about 1 minute because it was super short and basically a dark maze that had very little inside. They had these guys that would pop out at you in complete darkness like in the penitentiary, then they would illuminate their faces to scare you. This was an effective scare but you can't base two whole zones around it. They also had a carousel of human bodies on a chain that was going around and you would have to navigate around the moving bodies. Lastly they had a vortex tunnel that is almost a staple stunt for any haunted attraction these days, but I still have no idea what it's doing in a haunted attic. This was another example of an inflated added attraction that is far below any type of quality control.
I always have fun at haunted houses but this haunt is far from top of the heap with basically a solid hayride and one decent haunted walk through.
