Halloween Park 2015 Review
HRC headed off to another of our repeat haunts this year; Halloween Park in Strinestown, PA. They have 6 attractions, the electric chair, and the band.
This is a great "hidden treasure" in York county; they are just off I-83 exit 28 (Strinestown), but far enough off the exit for an ideal creepy location.
The first attraction we did was the Swamp Mines; this is truly a mine experience. It's narrow, creepy, and filled with ghoulish mine workers and coal cars. We then ventured to the Catacombs, and let us just say, 1 member's claustrophobia reared its ugly head. If you have always wanted to be "buried alive," well this is the ideal place for you!!!
We headed across the road to Creekside Manor and the crazies within. This is a historic building, which just adds to the creep factor! This was the "controlled" setting for the mad Dr. Stampfl's experiments centered on people's fears and phobias. Needless to say, there is "something" for everyone; if you have a fear, or phobia, they've got you covered!! There's darkness, creepy crawly things, insane people, mad clowns, and just about anything else you can think of.
After surviving the Manor, we went to 1 member's favorite part of Halloween Park; the island (a real island), which is now 2 separate attractions. We started on Insanity Island, where many of Dr. Stampfl's "patients" tried to escape. We ventured down very dark and creepy paths with a dimly lit tiny flashlight; lets just say the flashlight seemed more like a target for the escapees, rather than a tool to help us see! As we were walking along, the darkness played tricks on our minds. We could hear the creek flowing and the leaves rustling, so the escaped patients lurking in the darkness were well camouflaged until the very last second. Luckily, we survived our walk and headed over to the 7 Gates, on the other side of the island. Once again we were given our target....we mean lantern.....to guide us through the deep darkness and patients that had escaped the fire in the asylum on Toad Rd. The great thing about the 7 Gates (& Insanity Island) is the darkness alone could scare most people, without 1 single "patient" surfacing during your walk. The island is an attraction all by itself, but then patients lurk in the ideal places. They seem to appear out of the darkness at just the right moment. As we were walking through the 7 Gates path there were props and building structures all over the island; things you wouldn't expect to see on an island, but did because of the fire at the asylum.
The last attraction always amazes us; Terror Behind the Doors. What looks like a small, unassuming attraction, is actually a maze of darkness! We entered this small hallway of about 8 doorways and 2 "helpful" creeps proceeded to "direct" us to the exit; however, their sense of direction, or maybe ours, was lousy. We were totally confused!! It seemed like we walked in circles for hours, but in reality we were in there less than an hour. Each doorway seemed to lead us to an exit, but somehow led us right back to this little hallway; Crazy!!!
After all that, 1 member decided to partake of the electric chair. Let's just say, she was truly shocked and jolted about like a rag doll!! Such a cool side attraction!!
Halloween Park is like a mini haunted amusement park. Every time we go back they have changed something or added something, or re-invented an attraction. And we absolutely loved the new "assistant" the mind behind the madness (Stacey) has this year!!! This is a great place to have fun, get creeped out, but yet still feel comfortable taking your kids (not too young). Please visit Halloween Park and tell them the Haunt Review Crew sent you!!
