Haunted Attraction Reviewed: 301 Devil’s Playground
Website: www.301devilsplayground.com
Location of Attraction: Galena Maryland
Date of Review: Friday October 19th
Total Number of Attractions Available: THREE
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 9
Entertainment and Food Rating: 8
Atmosphere Rating: 9
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 8.5
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 8.5
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 9
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 9
Overall Feedback: 301 Devil’s Playground was a pleasant surprise when we visited them back in 2016. In just their second season of operation at the time, we were blown away by the set design and overall phenomenal experience they provided. Now in 2018, their fourth year of operation, 301 Devil’s Playground upped their game and once again delivered a top notch experience! On Friday October 19th seven of our members headed out to visit 301 Devil’s Playground. It’s safe to say our squad was beyond excited to be visiting this haunt! Shortly after 8pm the haunt was in full swing; packing in a good size crowd. As we ventured towards the midway area we were immediately greeted by a crazed chainsaw wielding actor, Pennywise and a few other midway/roaming actors. Each of these actors did a phenomenal job with taunting the guests and setting the mood for the night. Coffin rides, a photo booth, a small merchandise stand and a small food stand round out the midway area at this haunt. After taking in the atmosphere and purchasing tickets we hopped right into line. 301 Devil’s Playground has made some changes with their waiting lines since we’ve last visited. Guests will begin their experience with the House of Hell and then will flow smoothly right into The Barn of Torture. This haunt does offer fast pass tickets which is definitely something we recommend on busier evenings. While waiting in line we had a few moments to chat with Latasha, one of the owners of the haunt. Latasha shared with us some of the exciting changes they’ve made since we last visited. She also hinted at the addition of a new attraction for next season; no spoilers from us, you’ll have to wait and see! First attraction up was the House of Hell. The House of Hell sets up its atmosphere with a house facade that is large and decrepit looking. Open windows on the top floor show curtains flapping in the breeze, which definitely makes you feel as if you’re in a deserted town. The first scene of the attraction was extremely unique. As we entered the first room no visible exit point was found. Our squad began scouring the room, looking for an exit but had no luck. At just the right moment a well disguised actor popped out, delivered a spine-tingling scare and revealed the hidden exit… what an opening scene! The attraction itself is full of densely packed props, well-functioning animatronics and haunt actors who position themselves in dark and unexpected places, or hold extremely still until the perfect moment. When we visited in 2016 we were blown away by the set design and that was once again the case. From floor to ceiling, 301 Devil’s Playground did a phenomenal job creating realistic scenes. Some pretty downright incredible large animatronics will be discovered along your journey. For the most part, the actors are of the pop scare variety. Very little to almost zero skits are utilized by the actors. This lead to little actor/guest interaction which was the only flaw of the attraction. We couldn’t help but notice how much longer the experience was timewise this season. In 2016, the House of Hell was about 8-10 minutes but this season it was a solid 15 minute action packed experience! One of our favorite sections was the revamped clown scenes. A large section of the clown scene is actually a blackout experience and each group is only given one glow stick to utilize to see your way around. As we rounded the maze like passages in the complete darkness, actors had perfect timing and delivered several startles to our members. House of Hell definitely delivered several blood-curdling scares to each of our members! As guests exit the House of Hell you head straight into a small cue line for The Barn of Torture. After our phenomenal experience in the House of Hell we had high expectations for The Barn of Torture. Sure enough, we were not disappointed! The same phenomenal set design that was found in the House of Hell was carried throughout The Barn of Torture. We often had a hard time identifying what was real and what was fake; the set design and props here are so damn realistic! Of course more of those incredible animatronics were found throughout our journey. The actors again possessed very little skits and were just delivering short but terrifying pop scares. We would definitely like to see the actors engage a bit more with guests and possess more of a skit. Like the House of Hell, The Barn of Torture was a solid 5 minutes longer this season then it was back in 2016! A simple yet very effective scene possessed tires and barrels to make large columns and maze like paths. As we weaved through this section a crazed actor fired up his chainsaw which sent some of our members running for their lives. Both the House of Hell and Barn of Torture easily rank on our top 10 best indoor walk through attractions for the 2018 season! These two attractions took us just under an hour to complete, and were long and packed with content. We definitely needed a rest after all the blood pumping scares and the Zombie Paintball Ride was a perfect way to come down. The third and final attraction, the Zombie Paintball Ride, was the only true PAINTBALL experience of our season. No pebble sized, empty plastic paintballs here. They were extremely generous with ammo, and gave us the true satisfaction of watching neon paint splatter on actors, pop-up targets and a simple but well-designed set. We loaded into benches on serious-looking military vehicles and sat comfortably at our stations, able to fire at will at any and everything we wanted to splatter. The driving and paintball team controlling our experience gave us both a sense of safety and warmth that made this an enjoyable 20-some minutes of zombie “killing” fun. Although this type of attraction isn’t for everyone, our members definitely enjoyed ourselves! 301 Devil’s Playground offered the only true paintball experience that our team visited this year, and it is to their credit that they offer both a great haunt experience and a well-designed paintball ride. The Zombie Paintball Ride isn’t of a scary nature but definitely gives you a thrilling experience. It’s safe to say that 301 Devil’s Playground once again blew us away and left us questioning why more folks haven’t paid them a visit yet. The two walk through attractions, House of Hell and The Barn of Torture, are amazing enough to warrant a trip to this haunt! For some guests the Zombie Paintball Hayride will be the cherry on top but for others it’s best left out. For only being in their fourth year of operation, 301 Devil’s Playground is excelling in the haunt industry. They possess great costuming and makeup, passionate actors, incredible set designs/props/animatronics, thrilling and downright scary attractions and much more. With the addition of a new attraction for next season 301 Devil’s Playground could easily become one of the top 5-10 best haunted attractions in the area! If you haven’t made a visit to 301 Devil’s Playground we strongly urge you to pay them a visit, you won’t be disappointed! When you visit make sure to tell them Fright Review Squad sent you their way!
Individual Attraction Review:
Attraction Name: House of Hell
Overall Attraction Rating: 9
Cast and Crew Rating: 9
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 9
Scare/Thrill Factor: 9
Attraction Name: The Barn of Torture
Overall Attraction Rating: 9
Cast and Crew Rating: 9
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 9
Scare/Thrill Factor: 9
Attraction Name: The Zombie Paintball Ride
Overall Attraction Rating: 8
Cast and Crew Rating: 8
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 8
Scare/Thrill Factor: 8