After a couple years’ hiatus, the Roller Coaster Alley team was able to make it back to Scarywood this past Saturday for opening weekend. In this post, we’ll review all of this year’s haunted attractions, share photos, and offer commentary on how things shaped up compared to previous years.
For those of you who have followed this site for a while you’ll know we are huge fans of Scarywood; it’s quite possibly our favorite time of the year to go to the park. As such, we were sad to see it cancelled in 2020. Fortunately, it made its triumphant return in 2021, but we were unable to make it to the event. Suffice to say, we were thrilled to be able to finally return this year!
Since our previous visit in 2019, there have been a few changes to the event. For starters, 2021 saw Pharaoh’s Curse relocated from its previous home, where the amazing Stunt Pilot RMC coaster now stands. The haunt is now housed across from the entrance to Thunder Canyon. Second – the big change for 2022 – is the all new Chuckes’ 3D Sideshow. This is located where Dr. Dementia’s 3D rock house used to reside. And finally, the least exciting of all the changes – no more log flume during Scarywood. This is fine by us. Until such time that the park is able to invest more heavily in a robust Halloween overhaul, it’s probably best this ride stays closed during October.
After our usual pre-haunt dinner at Meltz in CDA, we headed to the park, ensuring an early arrival as always. The entrance courtyard quickly filled up, with lines all the way back to the turnstiles by about 6:40. Thankfully, they opened the gates to the inner courtyard at this point, allowing us all a bit more room. The rest of the park wasn’t open yet, but in this area was a new set piece of a beat up old camper sporting the title “Hellbillys”.
While we waited for rope drop, this area served as the stage for a “pre show”. As we were waiting up by the train tracks, we didn’t get to see it up close (hence the very distant photo shown above), but it was nice to see the park providing entertainment for those who arrived early.
Once the gates opened, we made our way to Timber Terror. Folks – we can’t say it enough – riding this coaster backwards in October is one of if not the best highlights of Scarywood, and this year was no different. The addition of RMC I-Box track at the far turnaround only served to make the experience that much better.
We then began hitting up each of the haunts. We started with the new one for 2022 – Chuckle’s 3D Sideshow. Admittedly, we weren’t terribly excited for this. After all, Scarywood has now had 3 different iterations of the “3D Haunt” attraction, and various sub-versions of those as well.
Nonetheless, this was a surprisingly good change. Instead of the “fun house” feel of Dr. Delirium, this new haunt had a much more creepy vibe to it. Many of the same effects and sets were re-used from the past, but overall this felt like a brand new maze.
The 3D effects were great, and integrated seamlessly into the practical sets and scare actors. Indeed, we were startled on more than one occasion by very well hidden characters!
Total Darkness was next on our list. It’s been essentially the same for the 9 years it has been around, and this year was no different.
One thing we did notice this year was the addition of a bright spotlight above the entrance. This ensures that your eyes re-adjust to the light before entering the dark maze, which makes it much more difficult to find your way through. They also consolidated the maze into a single walkthrough (as opposed to two paths in previous years), which made for a much longer experience. And more so than in any prior year, we genuinely felt like this one was difficult to get through. There were multiple times where we got turned around or stuck, not knowing where to go. We’d still rank this as our least favorite attraction, but it’s definitely worth doing if you’ve never done it before.
Next up was Pharaoh’s Curse, in its new location. Again, much of this attraction was re-used from previous years, but there were definitely a few new scenes added.
We were impressed with the detailed theming, well-hidden scares, and the overall length of the maze.
Some sections included little-to-no lighting, except for the occasional strobe flash. This was very effective for jump scares, of which we fell victim to on many occasions during this haunt.
Finally we made our way to Planet Zombie. This was largely the same as previous years, and even felt slightly scaled back in the queue. Only one TV screen was showing the pre-show, and a few of the original props were missing. Inside the maze though, everything was still firing on all cylinders.
This maze is still very long and incredibly detailed. Although its been the same for several years, it doesn’t feel stale. We’d love to see the return of a more fully fleshed out pre-show, complete with live actors as was the case in its first year. But aside from that, this is a solid attraction.
At this point, it was only 8:30, and we’d knocked out almost everything on our to-do list. So we decided to hit up Stunt Pilot a few times. As great as this coaster is during the summer, it was even better at night. We especially loved seeing the lighting package in full force. Eventually we had to get on with our evening, so after a couple of rides we pried ourselves away from this RMC masterpiece and headed back to the north end of the park.
Blood Bayou was a literal walk on. Yep, you read that right. What used to command 2+ hour waits had zero line, on a Saturday. And that’s not for lack of trying.
Blood Bayou was as good as ever, if not more so. The attraction was packed with actors and scares at every turn, and every single effect was working flawlessly.
We even noticed a few new effects thrown into the mix. But all that said, this has been around for 13 seasons – that’s a long time for a haunt. Add to that the fact that the other 4 haunts are on the other side of the park (with all the thrill rides), and it’s easy to see why this area just doesn’t get as much attention as it used to.
We have to wonder how much longer this will be around; it’s definitely still the best themed haunt at the park. But it can’t stay forever.
Our last attraction on our list was the magic show: Dillusion – An Eternal Encore.
We’ve come to expect nothing less than perfection from Silverwood’s resident magician, and we were not disappointed in the least with this show.
Hosted by a Demon, guests are taken on a journey through hell and back with Nick performing all of his amazing tricks. We were happy to see the addition of Silverwood’s other magician – Isaiah Daniels – who played the role of Satan himself.
Isaiah works well with the rest of the cast, and was able to show off his amazing fire-eating abilities.
We exited the magic theater with plenty of time left in the evening to hit up a few more rides, so we did just that. Tremors, Panic Plunge, and one final ride on Stunt Pilot, made for a very satisfying end to the evening.
Overall, we had a fantastic time. Crowds were light, weather was perfect, and nothing disappointed. Granted, we would not expect crowd levels to be as light as they were for us this past weekend – indeed, the deeper we get into October, the busier the event will get, so plan accordingly.
One particular highlight for us was the over abundance of actors, which we’ve noticed during our past few visits. All of the mazes and scare zones were bursting to the seams with characters and scares. This really adds to the enjoyment of Scarywood, so we hope to see it continue. In some of Scarywood’s earlier years, there was usually one haunt or one part of the park that felt deserted – but that seems to be a thing of the past.
In closing, we’ll say what we always do – Scarywood is well worth your time. The park does a great job, and 2022 offers enough new surprises to make it feel fresh.
Planning an trip to Scarywood? Be sure to check out our Scarywood Haunted Attractions Guide and Scarywood Trip Planning Guide to help you get the most out of your visit!
Let us know in the comments below what are you most looking forward to this year! Any questions we can help answer for you? If you've already attended, let us know what you thought! Did you like Chuckles 3D Sideshow, or do you miss Dr. Delirium? We love hearing from all of you - whether you agree or disagree with our take - so leave us a comment!
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
Just Wondering If you folks encountered any scare actors that were sliding on their knees with pads and sparks? I thought that was pretty cool new scare tactic they used for the some scarezones.
Hey Drewski, yes we always look forward to seeing the scare actors that slide across the ground on their knees. It is a great effect!