Saturday September 8th 2018
Field of Screams Located at: 191 College Avenue, Mountville, PA 17554
(I want to preface this with saying that Field of Screams had absolutely no idea me and my review team would be coming through to see them. That just goes to show what an excellent job they did! They were 100% on there A game, just because.)
Ah, I love the smell of fresh chainsaw fuel in the air!!! It wouldn’t be haunt season, without attending Field of Screams opening night. So without further-ado, I am pleased to share with you our first official review of the 2018 Haunting season!
I have been coming to Field of Screams for opening night the past 8 years, and I would honestly have to say that this year was the BEST opening night I have experienced since my first EVER visit back in 2010. Over the years I made it a point to visit FOS, several times through the season to compare opening nights to mid haunt season, especially if opening night didn’t go quite as planned. There was always a big difference with the experience on opening night/versus mid-season. Typically opening night would have fewer actors; there would be some hiccups with animatronics or lighting not functioning properly, which we all know is to be expected on opening night! But I can safely say without a doubt in my mind that field of screams absolutely killed it this opening night.
As we all know, last weekend we experienced a lot of rain which in most cases would completely ruin a haunt experience - Especially, one that is primarily outdoors for two events. Field of Screams did not let the rain hold them back! Something I do love about Field of Screams is despite the bad weather; they always put on an amazing show. All the pyrotechnics were on point, even the Tesla coil in nocturnal wasteland was functioning! I was very pleased.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, let’s start with the basics! We arrived on the premises around 8 PM. We had purchased our tickets online prior to our visit so the line was not long at all. We immediately got to the booth to redeem our tickets within a minute. After coming here for so many years, I knew exactly where I wanted to go - Which was straight to the Whoopee pie stand and the fried pickles!
The food at field of screams is honestly one of the best selections I have yet to encounter at a Scream Park. They have five different locations where you can purchase a plethora of food options. Anything you can think of from pizza, to hot dogs, burgers, funnel cake, fried foods of all assortments - They’ve got it! Of course we can’t forget the classic apple cider, coffee, hot chocolate, etc. Prices are very reasonable, EX: $1 for a Whoopee pie (GET THE PUMPKIN IT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD. Seriously!) and their most expensive food options being $5 EX: Fried pickles (also phenomenal!)
Field of Screams also offers a bunch of carnival style games for your entertainment. I’ve never played any of them, but they look like a lot of fun! They always have live entertainment on their stage. Different bands play every night, this particular night they happened to have a battle of the bands event going on.
They always have several actors wandering around the midway upping the scare factor. All of which have impeccable makeup, wardrobe, and acting skills. Truly, one of the best I have yet to experience in my 10 years haunt touring.
After filling our bellies with amazing food, we made our way over to the hayride. I absolutely love the new photo op they put on the hayride queue line! Very cute! The line moved very quickly and we were on the tractor before we knew it! Now I don’t want to give any spoilers, but what I will say is I absolutely love the upgrades they made to the hayride this year. I was saying earlier this year that the hayride used to be my favorite when I first started going to field of screams eight years ago, but over the years I felt that they didn’t focus so much on upgrading the hayride. But, with that being said they absolutely blew me away with all the additions and details they put into the hayride this year! Their attractions always call to all five senses! Over the years I felt like they started to shy Away from the “five senses” elements, but this year that was not the case at all. Every single section of the hayride was on point, the actors were on their A game. All animatronics functioned properly and effectively! Overall they did such a fantastic job, for someone who has seen this hayride eight times; I was pleasantly entertained and shocked!
Next we went over to nocturnal wasteland. First and foremost, I want to take a second to recognize the major upgrades that field of screams made on this attraction last year! They absolutely blew the original attraction out of the water. I can’t even imagine how much labor and time they put into accomplishing the final outcome that is now the current nocturnal wasteland. With that being said I wasn’t sure what more they could do to make it better, but with field of screams they’re always upping the ante! I was blown away once again! I don’t want to give away too much detail, as it’s really something you need to see for yourself but they absolutely killed this attraction. They added so many new factors and scenes! I would have to say this is probably their longest attraction; it took at least 30 to 40 minutes to get through it. Keep in mind it was not packed at all so we were walking through at a snail’s pace but the attention to detail is absolutely phenomenal I didn’t want to miss anything! Their use of the five senses, again; was insane in this attraction. I can still smell the stench of death that some of those rooms Gave off. While it is an unpleasant smell, it really added to the scare factor of the rooms and scenes we were experiencing! I can’t say it enough this attraction was just absolutely phenomenal.
Next was Frightmare asylum. Like everything else at field of screams the houses are equally as amazing; if not the showstoppers, in my opinion! There were a lot of upgrades done to Frightmare Asylum this year. All of which were very well executed. There is one room in particular that scares the all living hell out of me, and I never get scared in haunts! Seriously, you just have to experience it for yourself.
Last was the den of darkness, my favorite attraction in the entire park. There were so many changes done to this attraction, at first it honestly made me very sad. Now I say it made me sad, because this haunt was very nostalgic for me. Since I’ve been visiting field of screams for the past eight years I’ve always looked forward to the den of darkness! They made a lot of changes, all of which when I emotionally removed myself from the situation I realized they yet again ...killed it! The upgrades in the den of darkness are out of this world, the new rooms and the attention to detail that they added are absolutely phenomenal. I can’t emphasize enough without giving crazy spoilers you guys just have to check this out for yourself.
I also want to take this time out to recognize the upgrades field of screams took a couple years back to optimize the queue line experience. I would have to say it is potentially the most effective I have seen at any haunt to date. They have everything timed out so regardless of how many people are waiting online everybody gets the best experience they possibly can. Everything is set up almost like at an amusement park with individual lines and a light that turns red or green depending on when it’s your time to go. This idea is absolutely genius! I think more attractions should have something like this as it absolutely makes things flow much more efficiently. This night in particular was not very busy so it wasn’t needed as much in the past. But I have experienced high-volume nights at field of screams since they’ve added this element, and it honestly is a godsend!
When all is said and done, I always have an amazing experience at field of screams but this year they really out did their selves. Field of screams has been number two in my top 10 haunted attractions for the past eight years. They really know how to give an overall amazing haunt experience. I will ALWAYS recommend this haunt to anybody who is serious about getting scared and having a phenomenal time.
We rate Field of Screams a 10/10 on the FEAR factor,
& a 10/10 on the FUN factor!
