What does need to improve are the scenic and designed aspects. The talent also is very strong and really helps support the bulk of Castle’s Dark’s haunted experience and scares. There are certainly strengths to be found and solid foundations to build on-the storytelling of the maze has a strong start, and there are moments in both mazes that we experienced that were great. Overall, I’d have to say that this year’s Castle Dark wasn’t quite the continued improvement that we saw building momentum in 2019, but we also understand that the past two years have been very challenging and created a lot of difficulties with planning, construction, execution, and even staffing. But we were able to find it after being directed to the general area.Ī general haunted house guarding a demented family with gruesome secrets, this maze contained the better set decoration and theming of the two, although the quality seemed to be generally the same as in 2019 and was a noticeable couple of steps below the premiere SoCal haunt attractions like Knott’s, Universal, or even Six Flags. It was a bit hard to find, tucked away behind a corner at the northwest corner of the Streets of La Sierra (aka the Día de los Muertos) scare zone. Of the two mazes open last weekend, Home Sweet Home carried a darker tone. Thus, our review will unfortunately be based on an incomplete experience, and we will update it if we are able to make it to the park a second time later this season. With the park looking to establish a level that can help present it as a more budget-conscious alternative to the Knott’s and Universals of the world, it would make sense for Castle Dark to buck the industry trend and keep reaching forward on a year that many places held some amount back.Īlthough there are three advertised mazes at this year’s event, we were unfortunately unable to explore the Phobias maze, located behind the castle, during our opening weekend visit, because it was not yet available. On the other hand, Castle Park, on paper, promised a Halloween attraction that would continue the expansion of its scope over the past years, with four scare zones and three mazes-including its largest and longest ever-plus the return of its amusement park side operations after being shut down last year. With uncertainty over whether or not a “normal” Halloween event could be run, most places needed to dial back their amenities, lest they over-invest, only to be shut down by health regulations arising out of a possible surge. Expectations were tempered by the knowledge that the scope of professional haunts region-wide was conservative this year, in the continuing wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the decisions and commitments that needed to be made months in advance of the actual operating run.
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