855 Mayflower Road, Niles Township, MI
year: 2014
When we judge haunts, we not only judge them on tangible qualities, such as the amount of props or actors or the quality of the props, but we also judge on the more intangible qualities, such as the enthusiasm displayed by actors or even the overall “feel” of the haunt – was it welcoming (as welcoming as haunts get, that is)? Did it have a good atmosphere? Did the people there really act as though they cared about their visitors and about putting on a good show? While any haunt can have good props or sets, it takes some effort and time to get the feel just right.
By the time one gets to the professional haunt level, finding that welcoming feeling can be difficult. In our experience, the bigger and more hyped a haunt is, the easier it is for it to feel impersonal. Haunts that make visitors feel welcome (as opposed to just part of the crowd) and that strive to make every visitor’s experience an enjoyable one are sometimes few and far between. We’re happy to say that Niles Scream Park is a big haunt with a small town feel – a professional operation with a lot of heart, and that heart is what makes it so enjoyable for us. Last year was our inaugural visit to Niles Scream Park, and it came about almost by accident, as we were looking for haunts that were open before the season officially began. We enjoyed our visit so much that we made a point of kicking off our 2014 season with another one. This time we were invited to take a look behind the scenes, and we were given a private guide who talked to us about the history of Niles and showed us a couple of the smaller houses with the lights on, as well as some hidden parts of the big haunted house during operating hours. All of this was great fun, and gave us a feel for how much work is put into running a haunted house. It also gave us a great feel for the employees of Niles and just how dedicated they are. We ran into quite a few of them, and all of them were friendly and courteous to us, and genuinely curious as to what we thought of the operation. Additionally, we found from talking to the employees that many of them had been working there for years, if not decades, and each had a story of how Niles felt like family to them. We had to agree, as our visit made us feel as though we were part of one big family, too.
While hard to describe, that “family” feeling is what pervades the atmosphere at Niles Scream Park. While it’s not the most modern of operations and it’s not the flashiest, either, it’s definitely a place where families can visit and people of all ages can enjoy the entertainment on offer without concerns over content. We could easily see grandparents and little children alike having a great time here, and that’s a wonderful thing, especially in this day and age. The haunt itself consists of five main areas: two smaller haunted houses (Curse of the Dark Walker and Tomb of the Undead), a main house that has seven different ways of exploring it, a haunted trail (Field of Screams), and a haunted hayride. |
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In addition, there are carnival style games, places to eat, a small carnival sideshow, and even movies played on a big screen. It’s definitely fun for the whole family, even if you are not into haunted houses and such. Each year all of the events are updated and changed to differing degrees, so even though you might visit one year, you will see something different if you visit another year.
This year we started out with the two smaller houses. Each of these takes about 10 minutes to go through. Curse of the Dark Walker starts out in front an the facade of an old house. The house theme continues inside, as visitors make their way through the various rooms of an old Victorian mansion. along the way they are greeted by various live actors and animated props. Our favorites this year included a little spinning demon baby on a canopy bed and a live actor who appear to float out of an old staircase. Overall, this haunt features more startle scares (where actors or props jump out at you or loud sounds frighten you) than animated scenes and such, giving it a Disney attraction feel - it's not necessarily "scary", but it is interesting and fun.
The second smaller house was completely redesigned for this year. Whereas last year it was a lab setting, this time around it was a 3D Egyptian tomb theme. We have to say that this house was excellent - it was truly a visual treat just to see the object in 3D. We've seen 3D haunts before, each differing degrees of effectiveness, but this setup was extremely well done. The 3D effects came from everywhere, and seemed to float all around us, surrounding us from floor to ceiling. Favorite scenes here were many, but ones that really stand out were the "bridge" that we had to walk over (which was actually just painted onto the floor), that seemed as though we were really walking over an old rope bridge over water; the treasure room that made us feel as though we were underwater; the room with the giant floating pyramids and the life size skeletal Pharaoh-like figure; and the tomb scene with glowing red skeletons on slabs and skulls in the walls that had three dimensional glowing blue eyes that seemed to follow us. Overall, just excellent - a treat for the eyes!
We really enjoyed the haunted hayride in 2013, simply because our narrator was very witty and comical. We were hoping for much the same this year. While we didn't get the funny narrator this time around, what we did get was bizarrely entertaining for sure. Unlike most hayrides around Halloween time, this one is neither scary nor is it a ride to view some pretty scenery. Instead, it works more as a guided tour through a series of carnival sideshow like vignettes, ranging from the clever to the comical to the downright odd. In the clever category there was a giant moving snake wrapped around a building near a pond, a train light moving towards us down a tunnel as we were stuck in its path, and our personal favorite - a giant fire breathing dragon (with real fire) atop a Medieval style castle. On the odd side there was a giant Moai statue from Easter Island with an equally large moving tongue that it stuck out at us, a slot machine which stuck a long inflated tube towards us when we "won", and a giant lighter that shot real flame. Why were all of these things here? Who knows, but it did definitely make the trip interesting!
Additionally, some of the scenes were accompanied by various musical cues, from Elton John to Garth Brooks to Jethro Tull. Each one was somehow related to the scene being viewed. However, some cues came in too late or were too low to hear to make for an effective complement to the visuals. And one small disappointment with a real combine that came at the hayride wagon last year, looking like some dystopian creation out of Mad Max. Unfortunately this year the combine was there but it was stationary. Overall, the hayride is good fun. It's over 30 minutes long and has a lot of variety. If the narration and music could be louder and timed better it would definitely increase the enjoyment, but it still ranks as something you'll not see anywhere else!
Our least favorite part of our 2013 visit was the Field of Screams, a maze/haunted trail. Last year we wound up spending a lot of time lost in a maze that went around and around in circles, with few actors and not much else to see. This year we were hoping for a better experience, and we're happy to say that the entire layout has been revamped and makes for much better navigation. Although still primarily a maze, it has much fewer dead ends and false pathways, and we were able to walk through the entire thing with only one small incident where we lost our way. The new navigation made for an entirely different and much more enjoyable experience.
That said, we'd probably still have to say that the Trail of Screams was our least favorite one of the five attractions at Niles. Why? Well, for several reasons. First, this year's event was billed as "Legends of Horror" so we were hoping to see some famous movie monster characters within the maze itself. Unfortunately, we only saw one - a sort of non-copyright infringing Michael Myers, standing on a summer camp set while music from Friday the 13th played in the background. It was rather odd to see Michael Myers of Halloween fame in what was clearly a Friday the 13th set (where we'd expect Jason Voorhees), but it was still very cool to see. In fact, it was the highlight of the entire trail. Alas, it was the only movie monster scene there was, and there were very few (under 10) actors in the entire maze. While the maze was long (about 30 minutes) and had some good sets (such as a strobe lit forest made up of black and white trees and a nice new giant crypt set which was excellent), there was a lot of empty space, and some of the scenes could do with some more lighting as it was hard to see anything in them. If there had been more scenes with specific movie characters (as the title of the trail implied) it would have been a five chainsaw setting and perhaps the best of the night, but as it was it rated about three chainsaws.
Finally, we wound up in the main house which, as mentioned, has multiple ways of navigating through it. Those house is very elaborate, and is set back in the woods, with visitors having to walk through a long cemetery scene and a crypt before actually entering the house itself. This makes it seem more realistic, and as visitors navigate the cemetery they can see the entire front of the house awaiting them in the distance.
This year's theme for the house was The Addams Family and it featured numerous rooms based on or named after a character from the Addams Family itself. There was an entire room dedicated to Cousin IT, Grandmama, and even Pugsley and Uncle Fester. One of our favorite rooms was one with a waterfall and a giant snake, as well as an outdoor garden like room with a giant man-eating animatronic plant. After walking through a few rooms, visitors find themselves in the main entryway of the house, which features a large staircase and multiple doors. Visitors are escorted to one of the doors by a live actor - ours was dressed just like local Chicago horror host Svengoolie, which was a very nice touch! The room you are led to determines how you will travel through the rest of the house, which makes the experience different each time you go through. We wound up going through twice, seeing one side of the house the first time and the other side the second time.
Following the house there is a large outdoor part, where visitor walk through an old greenhouse and then along several winding pathways before finally finishing up. We even noticed the Creature from the Black Lagoon lurking in the outdoor scenes this year! Overall, the main house takes about 25-30 minutes to go through, and has a great carnival funhouse feel - it's a nice contrast to some of the more "in your face" professional haunts that go all out to terrify and freak people out. Niles presents a fun family atmosphere, with some cool sets and some clever startle scares that will not shock but will provide some good laughs, both during and after the haunt. We can almost picture a family on the ride home, laughing with Grandma about how she jumped when a certain prop leaped out at her.
In summary, we loved our visit to Niles. The atmosphere simply cannot be beaten. It was relaxing and fun, and packed a lot of enjoyable things into one event. We spent over 4 hours there, and we barely were able to hit all of the attractions as several were quite long. It's an excellent value, getting five haunts for only $30, three of which are about 30 minutes each - in most cases you're lucky to get one 20 minute haunt for that price. And again, we must give many thanks to all of the wonderful staffers and cast members who interacted with us and greeted us - they really are a big family, and their love for giving people a good experience really shows through in everything they do. So next time you want to pack up the kiddies and grandma and have a nice, unusual night out, we'd highly recommend Niles Scream Park - there's really nothing else like it!
This year we started out with the two smaller houses. Each of these takes about 10 minutes to go through. Curse of the Dark Walker starts out in front an the facade of an old house. The house theme continues inside, as visitors make their way through the various rooms of an old Victorian mansion. along the way they are greeted by various live actors and animated props. Our favorites this year included a little spinning demon baby on a canopy bed and a live actor who appear to float out of an old staircase. Overall, this haunt features more startle scares (where actors or props jump out at you or loud sounds frighten you) than animated scenes and such, giving it a Disney attraction feel - it's not necessarily "scary", but it is interesting and fun.
The second smaller house was completely redesigned for this year. Whereas last year it was a lab setting, this time around it was a 3D Egyptian tomb theme. We have to say that this house was excellent - it was truly a visual treat just to see the object in 3D. We've seen 3D haunts before, each differing degrees of effectiveness, but this setup was extremely well done. The 3D effects came from everywhere, and seemed to float all around us, surrounding us from floor to ceiling. Favorite scenes here were many, but ones that really stand out were the "bridge" that we had to walk over (which was actually just painted onto the floor), that seemed as though we were really walking over an old rope bridge over water; the treasure room that made us feel as though we were underwater; the room with the giant floating pyramids and the life size skeletal Pharaoh-like figure; and the tomb scene with glowing red skeletons on slabs and skulls in the walls that had three dimensional glowing blue eyes that seemed to follow us. Overall, just excellent - a treat for the eyes!
We really enjoyed the haunted hayride in 2013, simply because our narrator was very witty and comical. We were hoping for much the same this year. While we didn't get the funny narrator this time around, what we did get was bizarrely entertaining for sure. Unlike most hayrides around Halloween time, this one is neither scary nor is it a ride to view some pretty scenery. Instead, it works more as a guided tour through a series of carnival sideshow like vignettes, ranging from the clever to the comical to the downright odd. In the clever category there was a giant moving snake wrapped around a building near a pond, a train light moving towards us down a tunnel as we were stuck in its path, and our personal favorite - a giant fire breathing dragon (with real fire) atop a Medieval style castle. On the odd side there was a giant Moai statue from Easter Island with an equally large moving tongue that it stuck out at us, a slot machine which stuck a long inflated tube towards us when we "won", and a giant lighter that shot real flame. Why were all of these things here? Who knows, but it did definitely make the trip interesting!
Additionally, some of the scenes were accompanied by various musical cues, from Elton John to Garth Brooks to Jethro Tull. Each one was somehow related to the scene being viewed. However, some cues came in too late or were too low to hear to make for an effective complement to the visuals. And one small disappointment with a real combine that came at the hayride wagon last year, looking like some dystopian creation out of Mad Max. Unfortunately this year the combine was there but it was stationary. Overall, the hayride is good fun. It's over 30 minutes long and has a lot of variety. If the narration and music could be louder and timed better it would definitely increase the enjoyment, but it still ranks as something you'll not see anywhere else!
Our least favorite part of our 2013 visit was the Field of Screams, a maze/haunted trail. Last year we wound up spending a lot of time lost in a maze that went around and around in circles, with few actors and not much else to see. This year we were hoping for a better experience, and we're happy to say that the entire layout has been revamped and makes for much better navigation. Although still primarily a maze, it has much fewer dead ends and false pathways, and we were able to walk through the entire thing with only one small incident where we lost our way. The new navigation made for an entirely different and much more enjoyable experience.
That said, we'd probably still have to say that the Trail of Screams was our least favorite one of the five attractions at Niles. Why? Well, for several reasons. First, this year's event was billed as "Legends of Horror" so we were hoping to see some famous movie monster characters within the maze itself. Unfortunately, we only saw one - a sort of non-copyright infringing Michael Myers, standing on a summer camp set while music from Friday the 13th played in the background. It was rather odd to see Michael Myers of Halloween fame in what was clearly a Friday the 13th set (where we'd expect Jason Voorhees), but it was still very cool to see. In fact, it was the highlight of the entire trail. Alas, it was the only movie monster scene there was, and there were very few (under 10) actors in the entire maze. While the maze was long (about 30 minutes) and had some good sets (such as a strobe lit forest made up of black and white trees and a nice new giant crypt set which was excellent), there was a lot of empty space, and some of the scenes could do with some more lighting as it was hard to see anything in them. If there had been more scenes with specific movie characters (as the title of the trail implied) it would have been a five chainsaw setting and perhaps the best of the night, but as it was it rated about three chainsaws.
Finally, we wound up in the main house which, as mentioned, has multiple ways of navigating through it. Those house is very elaborate, and is set back in the woods, with visitors having to walk through a long cemetery scene and a crypt before actually entering the house itself. This makes it seem more realistic, and as visitors navigate the cemetery they can see the entire front of the house awaiting them in the distance.
This year's theme for the house was The Addams Family and it featured numerous rooms based on or named after a character from the Addams Family itself. There was an entire room dedicated to Cousin IT, Grandmama, and even Pugsley and Uncle Fester. One of our favorite rooms was one with a waterfall and a giant snake, as well as an outdoor garden like room with a giant man-eating animatronic plant. After walking through a few rooms, visitors find themselves in the main entryway of the house, which features a large staircase and multiple doors. Visitors are escorted to one of the doors by a live actor - ours was dressed just like local Chicago horror host Svengoolie, which was a very nice touch! The room you are led to determines how you will travel through the rest of the house, which makes the experience different each time you go through. We wound up going through twice, seeing one side of the house the first time and the other side the second time.
Following the house there is a large outdoor part, where visitor walk through an old greenhouse and then along several winding pathways before finally finishing up. We even noticed the Creature from the Black Lagoon lurking in the outdoor scenes this year! Overall, the main house takes about 25-30 minutes to go through, and has a great carnival funhouse feel - it's a nice contrast to some of the more "in your face" professional haunts that go all out to terrify and freak people out. Niles presents a fun family atmosphere, with some cool sets and some clever startle scares that will not shock but will provide some good laughs, both during and after the haunt. We can almost picture a family on the ride home, laughing with Grandma about how she jumped when a certain prop leaped out at her.
In summary, we loved our visit to Niles. The atmosphere simply cannot be beaten. It was relaxing and fun, and packed a lot of enjoyable things into one event. We spent over 4 hours there, and we barely were able to hit all of the attractions as several were quite long. It's an excellent value, getting five haunts for only $30, three of which are about 30 minutes each - in most cases you're lucky to get one 20 minute haunt for that price. And again, we must give many thanks to all of the wonderful staffers and cast members who interacted with us and greeted us - they really are a big family, and their love for giving people a good experience really shows through in everything they do. So next time you want to pack up the kiddies and grandma and have a nice, unusual night out, we'd highly recommend Niles Scream Park - there's really nothing else like it!