The new Nightmares haunted attraction debuted this month at Scarywood Theme Park. We recently had the opportunity to experience it first-hand. In this review, we’ll share details, photos, and our thoughts on Scarywood’s newest haunt.
We detailed the background of Nightmares in our previous announcement post, so we won’t rehash all of that again here. But to summarize, the new attraction replaced Planet Zombie, which operated for 9 years, and served as the “sequel” to the much-beloved Zombiewood Express train experience. It was billed as the single largest investment in a single Scarywood attraction, so it had a lot to live up to.
The exterior façade of the attraction is massive and doesn’t give anything away. From the outside, it looks like a large airplane hangar. All you can see is a projection with the attraction logo plastered across the wall.
Upon entering the building, we approach the actual façade: a sinister-looking old house that we are about to enter.
We’re greeted by our host at the door – a scareactor with some of the best makeup and costume design we’ve ever seen. Creepy doesn’t even come close to describing this – it makes a fantastic first impression for what is to come.
We were then led down one of two hallways with various old and rustic clocks (including one of Felix the Cat!) before rounding the corner into a pre-show room. This is the first time we’ve ever seen what we’d consider a true “pre-show” experience at Scarywood, and we loved it.
The room gives off vibes similar to the Tower of Terror pre-show at Disney. It’s a short presentation that does a good job setting the stage for the rest of the attraction.
After the pre-show, we are led down a hallway of oddball and eerie photographs, before entering the bedroom scene, which is where things kick into high gear. Here, an innocent child lies asleep, with the incredibly terrifying “Dreameater” hovering above.
The path leads us under the bed, where we enter the world of Nightmares. It’s a clever nod to everyone’s childhood fear that something scary is hiding under your bed – an excellent entrance to all of the phobias that lie ahead.
From here, we proceed through a seemingly endless maze of rooms and corridors, each themed to a different fear. Thirteen phobias are highlighted throughout – some obvious and others more subtle, ranging from dolls and spiders to death, plants, and much more. Every room takes its theme to the extreme, with no space left untouched. Other haunts at Scarywood have their standout moments, but Nightmares nails it from start to finish. We won’t give away everything, but with so many fears covered, there’s bound to be at least one that gives you the creeps. As you make your way through the final corridor in pitch darkness, a distant voice calls for you to “wake up” before you exit the building and reenter the real world.
The sheer length of this attraction really caught us off guard. We knew it would be massive, but it seemed to literally go on forever. Out of curiosity (and perhaps because we’re nerds at heart) we even timed it compared to the other mazes. Chuckle’s and Pharaohs took us about three minutes each; Swine and Blood Bayou took about seven minutes each. Nightmares was a solid 10-plus minutes both times we went through.
And yes, that’s right, we did it twice. Each time was a little different, depending on the time of the evening and how crowded it was both outside and inside the attraction. Our first time through, the pre-show and the claustrophobia tunnel were both bypassed, likely in an effort to get more people through and avoid building congestion, which was a good move. Later in the evening when the line was shorter, everything seemed to be running at full steam. So we’d recommend checking it out more than once if you can, as the experience can vary throughout each evening.
Was it perfect? Almost. We’re theme park nerds and as such we have to nitpick at least a little. Our only minor complaint was the ceiling. There were several scenes where the entire room was fully enclosed, while others left the ceiling exposed. You may have noticed it in some of our photos, but during those “open-air” scenes, it was hard not to look up and see the rafters overhead. It briefly took us out of the moment. We’re not sure if anything can be done about that in the future, but it would really help enhance the immersion even more, and push things to an 11.
Minor grievances aside, we walked away feeling like Nightmares lived up to the hype. The park had been building anticipation for the attraction over the past couple months, and it delivered on those expectations for us. Nightmares feels like a playlist of “Scarywood’s Greatest Hits” in the best way possible. It has the intricate theming of Blood Bayou, the theatrical storytelling of Planet Zombie, and a blackout room pulled straight from Total Darkness. Other nods to previous attractions and scare zones are sprinkled throughout, too. They really took the best of the past 16 seasons and crammed it into one attraction.
On top of all that, the park has indicated this attraction has room to improve and even expand in future years to include more fears. That’s hard for us to grasp with how long it already is, but it’s reason to be excited for the future.
Speaking of the future, let’s pause briefly here and talk about that. We mentioned in our “predictions” post last fall that Scarywood’s future was a big question mark for us, given Herschend’s history with these types of events. There was precedent with their acquisition of Kennywood that gave us hope that the event would continue, but we couldn’t be entirely certain at the time. As such, we were cautiously optimistic, but went with a “wait and see” approach at the time.
Today, we no longer harbor those concerns. Nightmares – which is ironically centered around facing your fears – has done a lot to cure our fear of Scarywood ending anytime soon. It should go a long way towards easing anyone else’s doubts as well. This was a huge investment in the event, which was already incredibly popular to begin with. It’s hard to imagine the park making that kind of commitment if Scarywood’s future was limited. As a result, we feel comfortable saying Scarywood is here to stay.
Suffice to say, we highly recommend checking out Nightmares this year. It’s a noticeable improvement over its predecessor, and one of, if not the best haunts that Scarywood has ever produced. There are still three weeks left to experience it, so summon up your courage and face your worst fears this year. You won’t regret it!
Have you been to Scarywood yet this year? Have you experienced Nightmares? What fear scared you the most? What was your favorite part? Do you miss Planet Zombie or are you glad to see something new? Let us know in the comments - whether you agree or disagree, we love to hear from you!
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
