For 2023, Scarywood will feature 4 haunted attractions, 10 scare zones, and 2 shows. Several rides are also open, including Timber Terror which runs backwards during the month of October. In this post, we give you our ratings for each of these attractions.
With all of this, 2023 will feature slightly fewer attractions as compared with last year. Although it may seem like a lot to squeeze into one night, we still think it’s very doable. The one major change is the loss of Total Darkness, which has been part of Scarywood for many years. We’re not too disappointed to see this one off the roster, as it was always our least favorite haunt.
We are not rating the “regular” rides that are, for all intents and purposes, operating as they would any other day of the year. If you’re interested in our take on those, check out our 2023 Silverwood Attractions Guide.
Chuckles’ 3D Sideshow – 8/10 – Returning from its debut last year, this haunted attraction features – you guessed it – 3D effects and clowns. Housed in a permanent structure behind Aftershock, this maze contains several elements from the former 3Dementia, and Dr. Delirium. The 3D effects continue to improve each year, and the vibe of this particular haunt is always a lot of fun, and very different from the rest of the park.
Blood Bayou – 10/10 – This is the longest-running haunt at the park, now in its’ tenth year. Housed in the old Ice Palace building, this is by far the best attraction when it comes to theming. Despite its age, this is the stuff of legend, and we mean it. The forest scene alone at the start still blows us away as a truly Knotts-esque level of detail. It’s long, elaborate, full of scareactors, and will blow you away. For 2019, we took special note that all of the props seemed to be in full working order, and no space was underutilized. Blood Bayou is truly Scarywood firing on all cylinders.
Planet Zombie – Lights Out – 8/10 – Theatrical walk-through maze featuring Sgt. Buzz as the lead character. This replaced (or perhaps was intended as a “sequel” to) the incredible award-winning Zombiewood Express, likely as a means to increase capacity. We’ll always have fond memories of the train ride, as it was a truly unique experience found no where else. But this is a surprisingly fun adventure in and of itself, and is a deceptively long and elaborate attraction. Although it falls just shy of Blood Bayou in the theming department, it sets itself apart with rich storytelling. You’ll really feel like you’re right in the middle of the Zombie Apocalypse. New for 2023 is the “Lights Out” feature, where the story has now progressed. The electrical grid is out, and guests will be given a small red flashlight to navigate through the maze. This should make for an excellent update!
Pharaoh’s Curse – 9/10 – Walk through maze with an archeological/ancient ruins theme. . The haunt has impressive sets, tons of scareactors, and even an animatronic Pharaoh’s head in the queue. Plus, the fog and dimly lit corridors can make for a very disorienting experience.
Timber Terror Backwards – 10/10 – Being coaster geeks, this is actually our favorite part of Scarywood, and that should come as no surprise to all of you! Timber Terror is a fantastic ride to begin with, so the added thrill of riding backwards just pushes its excellence that much further. Even if you don’t like Halloween stuff, we recommend going to Scarywood at least once just to ride this coaster backwards. Our suggestion: hit this up first thing, as the line can get long very quickly.
Dillusion – An Eternal Encore – 10/10 – This is Nick Norton’s special Halloween magic show. Putting Nick Norton back on the stage in 2018 was the perfect move, in our opinion, especially with the Zombiewood Express no longer in operation. Dillusion features everything you would expect to love from a Nick Norton magic show. Fantastic acts, great humor, and top notch showmanship. The Halloween-time version features most of the same acts that you’ll see during the regular summertime show, with a few special magic acts for this time of year. The recurring acts also feature a few creepy twists and some well-placed adult humor. This is another “Do Not Miss!” on our list.
The Hellbillys – This show is set in the main entrance courtyard near the carousel. It was new last year, but we didn’t get a chance to see the entire show. We’ll be sure to update this with a proper rating after we check it out for 2023!
Clown Town – 10/10 – Well themed, awesome lighting effects, terrifying props, tons of fog and lots of scareactors. This is everything you want in a scarezone, and consistently our favorite of the bunch.
Anarchy – Review and rating coming soon.
Steampunk – Review and rating coming soon.
The Dark Forest – Review and rating coming soon.
Scarecrow Corner – 10/10 – Located in Coaster Alley near Spin Cycle and Panic Plunge, this maze of bales-of-hay mixed with scarecrows is again an awesome sight to behold. The thing that gets us every year is how truly hard it is to tell the fake scarecrows from the real ones. The 2019 version is exceptionally long, full of actors, and even has a few “dead ends”. It’s awesome!
Freak Farm – Review and rating coming soon.
Los Muertos – Review and rating coming soon.
The Toybox – Review and rating coming soon.
Phobia – Review and rating coming soon.
Quarantine Zone – Review and rating coming soon.
Planning a trip to Scarywood? Be sure to check out our Scarywood Haunted Nights Trip Planning Guide as well as our Scarywood 1-Night Itinerary posts to help you get the most out of your time in the park!
How would you rate the haunts at Scarywood differently? What are your favorites/least favorites? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Last but certainly not least, let us know what other topics you'd like to see covered.
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
Anyplace for older people to sit down in the park while attending?
Yes, plenty of benches throughout the park as usual. If you’re looking for a place to sit down inside, we’d recommend Lindy’s or the Magic Theater.
(LONG RAMBLING POST SORRY!)
I just went last Night and it was sooo much fun I absolutely love the atmosphere and near everything about the event!
I first started going last year, and although I had seen everything that I possibly could, the Hellbilly’s show wasn’t playing on the nights I had gone (I don’t know if they didn’t have all the actors or if the show being up front at the entrance was causing problems or what.) so that was my biggest regret. This time thankfully they had it going at the Pavilion area, and I was able to catch it (I went to the area like half and hour early after seeing this years Magic Show) and I made sure to be right up front. I assume they change the show each year, for this one they killed a couple of obnoxious people, and had to deal with the horrifying terror of Artificial Intelligence (In an alluring form!). If you are at the front you will likely get sprayed with the fake Blood just so you know.
The Magic Show was great as always, but it seemed a bit shorter this year, and without the audience participation, and certain aspects were changed a bit, but I assume they change it a little every year to keep it fresh.
For the Planet Zombie Lights Out Haunted Attraction (I assume the “Lights Out” thing is meant to be their replacement for the missing Total Darkness attraction.) there was a new video added in the other queue videos (There are quite a few, I don’t know if they add a new one each year?) with Sgt. Buzz explaining it. The Flashlight they let you use is a little Red Keychain Flashlight. I think the walkthrough was pretty much the same as last year besides most of the Lights being out. They make some good use of suddenly turning certain Lights on in your face loudly as a fun scare (They might have done that last year, but I remember it more this time from the lights being off.). My favorite part was when I shined my Light on Sgt Buzz (I think it’s meant to be him.) in his Gun Tower/Turret thing, to try and get a better look, and he started “shooting” at me.
Chuckles 3D Sideshow seemed pretty much the same as last year complete with the “Princess Clown” hanging around in the queue line, I didn’t notice if anything was really changed in the Attraction.
Blood Bayou also seemed the same as what I remember last year but there’s soooo much to take in for these Haunted Attractions, that I’m not really sure.
I didn’t go to the Pharaoh’s Curse this time, as I get ready to leave after 11:00 PM (I’m worried about everyone rushing out of the Park at once if I wait too long. The first time I went to Scarywood last year I went about half an hour after it opened and the Line of Cars stretched into 95 quite a bit. So I try to avoid the reverse situation going out.) but I’m planning to go again within the next couple of weeks (I prefer going twice, and having a more leisurely experience so I don’t have to try and rush to see everything). I’m assuming it will be pretty much the same as the other returning Haunted Attractions though.
For the Scare Zones it was pretty much the same as what I remember from last year, but I think the “Los Muertos” area was new as I don’t remember it, and I can’t bring up the Scarywood Website from 2022 to check. There was also the listed “Steampunk” area that I was looking around for, but I think maybe it’s just the area around the front of the Park (Main Street and the Train Station basically). For the “Anarchy” zone I noticed at least one of the Actors was wearing one of the Legion’s Masks from Dead by Daylight which I was happy to see as I’m a big fan of the game.
Anyways that’s all I noticed different from last year, I had a blast! I’m planning on making Scarywood one of my traditions for each year they have it, I’m just sad that I never went in the past despite living here since 2006.
Thank you for the awesome trip report, Joshua! Sounds like you had a great time at the event. We will be there this coming weekend and this makes us even more excited!
Thanks for the reply! I went again on 10/13/23 (Friday the 13th!) like I was planning. I used your advice of going to the back of the Park first, and it worked great! I went straight for Planet Zombie Light Out first, and went in immediately. After that I headed to Pharaoh’s Curse but it was so early that it was actually closed! So I went to Chuckles 3D Sideshow which also had basically no line, after that Pharaoh’s Curse was open (With almost no line). The only thing I noticed different from last year was that the Anubis Scare Actor at the end was standing around the room on Stilts. Last year he had been in the Pit on the side of the room, but this year they had an animatronic body flailing around over the pit so I assume that’s why he wasn’t in it. After that it was about 8:00 PM so I went to Blood Bayou which had the long line (I assume it will always have a bit of a line since it’s right near the entrance of the Park). I spent the rest of the Night redoing the Haunts I wanted and walking through/eating in the Scare Zones.
Thanks for the comment – glad you found our advice helpful! That’s very interesting that Blood Bayou had such a long line that early, but that also makes sense. We tend to get to that one a bit later in the evening, and the past few years there has been little to no line around 10-11 at night.