Saturday, September 12th, 2020 (This review is for Opening Weekend)
Shocktoberfest
Located at: 94 Park Ave, Sinking Spring, PA 19608
5 Attractions (Zombie Safari Tour, Midway Massacre, Prison of the Dead, Unknown 2.0 and Ground Assault)
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 7.5/10
Acting Overall: 7/10
Costumes/Makeup Overall: 7/10
Entertainment On Lines: N/A
Food Options Overall: 9/10
Set Design Overall: 9/10
Props & Animatronics Overall: 8/10
For your reference:
We arrived at Shocktoberfest on Saturday, September 12th, around 7:30pm. We waited in line for less than 10 minutes to buy our tickets but we recommend as it gets later in the haunt season to pre-purchase your tickets online as the number of tickets being sold is limited due to covid restrictions. Also it is very important for us to note that everything here is cash only. The only place on site that accepts cards is one of the food place located by the entrance to the Prison and “cash back” is not an option. Before exploring the attractions we decided to grab a bite to eat, between “Shocker’s Café”, “Shocktober Feast” and a few food trucks. There is a wide variety of food options available here at Shocktoberfest, Make sure you come hungry! After a quick meal, it was haunt time.
Covid-19 Precautions:
Froggy’s fog brand hand sanitizer is located at the end of each attraction. Social distancing is being enforced in the lines for all attractions as well as larger time gaps between groups to ensure that you don’t run into other groups inside the haunts. The mask policy is also being properly enforced. We actually witnessed a couple that wasn’t wearing a mask or face coverings prior to entering the Prison of the Dead and the person at front of house made sure they corrected that before entering the attraction.
Zombie Safari Tour:
Actors: 8/10
Makeup/Costumes: 7/10
Use of Props & Animatronics: 9/10
Set Design: 9/10
Overall Attraction Rating: 8/10
Our journey began with the Zombie Safari Tour. During a regular haunt season this attraction would be a hayride, but due to covid precautions, for this season only, it’s a walk-through. Getting to wander through these larger than life sets made for an awesome movie-like experience. This adventure consisted of animatronic falling sets, fire effects, giant worms, tree monsters and of course, the stars of the attraction, the brain hungry zombies.
Midway Massacre:
Actors: 8/10
Makeup/Costumes: 7/10
Use of Props & Animatronics: 7/10
Set Design: 7/10
Overall Attraction Rating: 7/10
Zombie clowns have taken over the midway! The overall size of this outdoor maze wasn’t very impressive, but the interactions with the actors in this attraction were phenomenal. It was the perfect combination of creepy and hilarious. If you see a guy that resembles “Art the Clown” from the movie “Terrifier”, be sure to ask him where the free candy is.
Prison of the Dead:
Actors: 8/10
Makeup/Costumes: 7/10
Use of Props & Animatronics: 8/10
Set Design: 9/10
Overall Attraction Rating: 8/10
Next up we boarded an actual prison bus that transported us right to the entrance of the now condemned Willow Glen State Penitentiary a.k.a the Prison of the Dead. All of the sets in this attraction are amazing and create a completely immersive atmosphere that makes you forget about the outside world. This massive 50,000 square foot mega haunted house is one of the largest on the East Coast and with a seemingly endless horde of zombie prisoners lurking around every corner, you won’t want it to end. Some of our highlights for this attraction include the perfectly distressed hospital room and the actor in the shower scene that moved perfectly with the timing of the strobe lights.
Unknown 2.0:
Actors: 7/10
Makeup/Costumes: 7/10
Use of Props & Animatronics: 8/10
Set Design: 8/10
Overall Attraction Rating: 7/10
After braving the hellacious halls of the prison, our next stop was the Unknown 2.0. This attraction is home to all of your biggest fears and phobias. Chances are, if you are afraid of something, you will encounter it in this attraction. The sets and animatronics in this one are mind-blowing. Our favorite scenes were the clown room and the doll room.
Ground Assault – Zombie Laser Tag:
Actors: N/A
Makeup/Costumes: N/A
Use of Props & Animatronics: 5/10
Set Design: 5/10
Overall Attraction Rating: 5/10
It’s hard for us to give a full rating on this attraction. Unfortunately we were the last group of the night and the actors were not present in the attraction. It ended up being us playing laser tag against each other and when you add that plus the malfunctions we were having with the guns it just lead to a poor experience. Although it didn’t work out for us, we do believe that this is a really cool concept and would love to give it another shot sometime.
Extras:
If you are interested in doing any add on experiences during your time at Shocktoberfest, they offer a 5 minute escape room experience called “The Maintenance Shed”.
Areas of Concern:
-One of the stalls in the female bathroom by the ticket booth was out of toilet paper.
-We bought a soda from Shocker’s Café and it was room temperature.
-No hand sanitizer by the ticket booth
-The line for the zombie safari was knocked over and directions were unclear as to where to proceed to start that attraction.
-General disorganization throughout the theme park.