Since I'm basically boycotting Shocktoberfest this year there won't be a 2011 Leslie review for that haunt. That being said I am not a total hater so when my Cousin Ryan sent me a review of his 09/29/11 visit I thought "Why not?". Hope you all like it. If not then Ryan's home number is...
SHOCKTOBERFEST 2011
A first-timer's review
With spoilers
Hi all! First and foremost I must let everyone know this is my very first time to Shocktoberfest so I can not compare it to other years. This review will contain spoilers. If you wish to be scared to the fullest please do not read this review. I will however have a conclusion section at the bottom of this page that will not contain any spoilers.
Shocktoberfest is located outside of Reading Pennsylvania on Willow Glen Park. Willow Glen is also the name of the town where most of the rides "take place". Shocktoberfest was named one of Americas' top 13 haunts by Haunt World Magazine in 2006. There are 5 attractions that this haunt advertises; The Biohazard Hayride, The Prison of the Dead, The Unknown, The Monster Midway and Club Shock. The Monster Midway and Club Shock are free attractions where it will cost you $15 for 1, $26 for 2 or $34 for all 3 of the remaining attractions. They also offer a skip to the front of the line pass, aptly named RIP Pass, for an extra $15.
Finding the "Fest" was easy enough with the address provided on their site and a GPS. I wish that they had better signs to point the way as you got closer. There was only 1 sign outside the park that didn't even have a light on it. Seeing how this is mostly an after dark haunt some light up signs would really help point the way. My group arrived at 7:20 pm on a Friday night. All though we were some of the first people to get to the Fest the parking attendants where just horrible. We where waved on by one attendant at the front of the parking lot just to find no other employees down in the parking lot. Lucky for us there was still plenty of parking. Unfortunately as the night went on parking became much more sporadic as people just got to decide where they would park. Very disorganized, especially when it would only take 3 people who know what they're doing to ensure that everyone parked where they needed to.
After we locked our car we made our way to the ticket booth. The lines at this time were empty. The ticket windows were marked for buying tickets and picking up internet tickets. My party had preordered tickets online so we heading to the corresponding line. We did hit a little snag at the ticket window… apparently 2 of the tickets didn't have a bar code print out however they did have the serial number for the ticket. This caused some confusion so it took about 5 minutes for the ticket counter to locate and manually punch in the ticket numbers.
Turning your back to the ticket office, the lay-out of Shocktoberfest is as follows; to your right is the entrance to the new Unknown, straight ahead is the Midway, at the end of the midway is the entrance to both the prison and hayride. Club Shock is between both of the lines for those 2 rides. Also to the right of the ticket office was a stage where employees had groups stand in front of a Shocktoberfest banner and have their picture taken for the Facebook page.
I was intrigued by the thought of a "Monster Midway". I had visions of midway games hosted with zombies or some kind of horror theme to the games. Alas it's nothing more than a small carnival midway at best. They had 3 games to play; pop a balloon win a poster, knock down these metal milk cans, and shoot paintballs at this guy. Three games hardly makes a midway in my option. The one saving grace was that food options were plentiful on the other side of the midway. Anything from cheese steaks to tacos were available for your purchase and consumption from one of six vendors. Shocktoberfest's site warns “Beware of the Scare Zones as there is no safe place at Shocktoberfest!" There was not one thing scary about the midway. A disappointment from what I thought it would be.
The Monster Midway: C
My group then decided it was time to go to the Prison of the Dead. The line was short and it took us about 5 minutes to get on the bus to transport us to the prison. While on the bus you get an audio warning that's pretty much the same for all attractions. No lights, no smoking, no cell phones, NO TOUCHING THE ACTORS. Also included with the pregame warning was a small bit of back story on the prison itself. Once we arrived at the prison, a tour guide fleshed out the story of the prison more. The main points where that it was closed due to corruption and murder. You then enter another line to actually enter the prison. As you go though the door a guard yells "Fresh Meat!". The prison has 3 different types of areas that are prominent throughout; tunnels, woods/swamp and prison cells. I am not going to go into detail on every part of the walk though but some of the highlights are as follows… there are a ton of dark rooms in this walk through, bumping into walls and other people while not being able to see anything is always a favorite of mine.
The tunnels allowed some neat effects including trying to walk though it with a strobe light going off and actors hitting the sides with chains. During the prison cell area the amount of actors is nothing short of amazing. Around every dark turn there was a spook waiting for you. During one of the outside areas you realize that walking became more difficult, as you were walking on a trampoline type of floor. Near the end of the attraction you enter a bus like the one you came in on. Very quickly you realized it’s another dark room, with actors on the top jumping and slamming into the roof while you try to navigate through nothingness. As we left the attraction some of the actors fallowed us out to the bus. The highlight of our night came as the bus was playing an up beat pop song for our ride back. We looked out of the window to see a one of the actors in full zombie makeup dancing all out to the song.
Prison of the Dead: A
After such a good time with the prison we decided to give the Biohazard Hayride a try next. We stood in line for about 8 minutes before entering a small stable room. In the room we watched a quick video with the same warnings as the prison, a little bit of back story and on to the hayride we went. First thing that is of note for the hayride is that it’s pulled by a truck and not a tractor. This might not seem to be that big of deal but the truck is much more quite then most tractors. And seemed to give a smoother ride overall. The one thing that sets this hayride apart from other hayrides I have been on is the enclosed rooms that you enter though out the ride.
The ride starts with a girl being laser beamed to death and then the beam gets turned on us with a laser light show going on above our heads. You then wind though the woods, with all types of actors climbing on board pulling at your feet. During the ride you enter other enclosed room that include hydraulics as well as some great stories. The only down side was that in the first room it really felt like the hayride was going to have a story though out and it ending up just being a mishmash of small stories with no real end result. Just kind of left me wanting.
Biohazard Hayride: B+
At this point I would like to talk about Club Shock, but there is nothing to talk about. I don't know if it was because we were early into the season or not but Club Shock was nothing but a floor in the middle of the 2 lines with some benches and lights. There was no music and not one actor in the place.
Club Shock: F-
Finally we get to the new "Steam Punk" inspired The Unknown. Being the new attraction this haunt had the largest line. If you absolutely have to see this hit it first or pay for the RIP. After standing in line for about 15 mins we were let into a small building were we picked up some 3d glasses. We were told by the host for this building that 90% of the attraction was in 3D. You then get treated to a video with the warnings as usual. We then meet the stars of the new show Professor Strangewayes and Melinda Montague. In short they tell you that inside the main attraction that you will be face to face with all your fears. This is by far the best back story for any of the rides and the production for this video was worth note. Once "Eddie" is taken down (you'll have to figure that out yourself), you head to another line to enter the Unknown. They only let in small groups at a time so this line might take awhile to get though. It’s at this time I would like to note that the 3D glasses that are handed to you COMPLEATLY SUCK. They are just cardboard red and green glasses that make it imposable to see out of your left eye. More over they make the dark rooms even worse. The walk though itself has potential to be great but the issues is that all of the effects are triggered by the first person in your party so if you’re the last one in your party you don't get any of the effect. Being the last in a group of 6 I personally didn't see any of the effects at all. I would come in right as the effect was ending. This is a major flaw in the system that needs to be fixed. The 90% 3D was complete BS. As you walk around the labyrinth that is Strangewayes lab you will come across 4 or 5 screen that require you to have your glasses on to get the full effect. The story itself was satisfying in the way that it did have an ending. But basically it’s just a mediocre fun house with a few 3d effects put into it.
The Unknown: B-
Shocktoberfest ends with an overall grade of C. If going to this haunt don't worry about checking out Club Shock or The Monster Midway (aside form getting something to eat). Head straight for the main attractions and you will have spent your money well and be in and out of the park in short time. The cast was great at this haunt, aside from the snag at the ticket window we had no problems. This haunt combines its massive staff and its large area to create a huge scream park that should be fun for young and old adults alike. I would recommend everyone to stop in and enjoy the screams.
- Ryan Gatchel
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