- Individual Interviewed & Title: Buddy - Owner/Creator
- Name of Haunted Attraction: Lehigh Valley Scream Park
- Location of Haunted Attraction: Orefield, Pennsylvania
- What dates are you open for the 2019 season: “We are open the following dates this season: September 21st & 28th, October 4th & 5th, 11th-13th, 18th-20th, 25th-27th and November 2nd.”
- Number of years in operation: “2019 will be our 6th season of operation.”
- What inspired you to open a Haunted Attraction: “We started in 2013 with our family friendly zombie paintball ride, corn maze and a small haunted walkthrough in our barn. Two years later we built Hillbilly Hell and the Slaughter Barn haunted house. After the 2015 season I knew the direction I wanted to go. For 2018 we took on our biggest build project to date with the addition of Hollow of Horror Hayride. 2018 was our biggest and most successful season to date.”
- Describe your haunt, what makes you unique: “Although many haunts advertise their large acreage most haunts use only a very small footprint for their attraction. Lehigh Valley Scream Park has just over 50 acres and we utilize just about every one of those 50+ acres. The hayride is on terrain like no other haunt; the natural landscape goes from mountains to swamp bottoms with a backwoods feel that creates an unnerving atmosphere before the haywagon even encounters scenes or scare actors. Our Hillbilly Hell attraction is not only original and one of a kind, it is scary and provides a thrilling experience to even the most active haunt enthusiasts. Our barnyard entertainment area is second to none with enough to keep the entire family occupied while outside the attractions. Have no fear, our large parking lot is free of charge.”
- What is new for the 2019 haunt season: “2019 will be our biggest and best year yet in terms of the change and improvements that have been made to the haunts! We brought on two full time build crew members, a light and sound designer, a scare actor coach and a costume and makeup artist. All of our hayride sets have been either redone or enhanced. We completely changed and re-themed our Corn Maze attraction which will now be called Psycho Path Corn Maze. Equally incredible changes have been made to our Ground Breakers Zombie Paintball Ride with a brand new indoor attraction called Operation Bio-Purge which leads up to the paintball ride; this new attraction will amaze all.”
- Any real haunted history at your haunted attraction: “No paranormal activity has been detected at our haunt.”
- On a scale of 1-10 how scary is your haunted attraction: “9 out of 10! We try and keep our attractions as family friendly as possible. Although, while we aren’t an extreme haunt by any means our Hillbilly Hell House and Slaughter Barn will scare the crap out of most haunt goers and enthusiasts. We let it up to the parents on whether their kids can handle it or not.”
- How long is the typical experience: “If partaking in all of our attractions expect to spend at least 90 minutes at Lehigh Valley Scream Park. On our busier operating nights expect to spend more time with us.”
- How many actors are part of your performance each night: “Generally on any given operating night we will have at least 130 scare actors.”
- How has technology helped to enhance the experience your haunt offers: “Although we go to all the popular trade shows and conventions to make sure we are keeping tabs with all the new technology that is available, we here at Lehigh Valley Scream Park are not big on animatronic or technological heavy attractions. We really like to invest our time and money into our scare actors.”
- Looking a few years down the road do you have anything new or exciting coming about: “Though we have a 5 year plan for the haunt we really don’t like giving away spoilers on what we’re planning beyond this coming year. Just know that our primary goal is to become the most spooktacular scream park around!”
- Any final comments to share: “Lehigh Valley Scream Park is still new to the industry. We pride ourselves on being original/unlike anyone else and making continuous changes and additions to our attractions. You’ll never come back to the same old thing. You will be entertained from the minute you step in our barnyard and that’ll carry through each attraction you decide to experience. Fresh off the press we were rated best haunt in 2018 by PAHauntedHouses.com! We may be the new haunt on the block but everybody’s talking and our #1 rating shows why.”
- Buddy asked Fright Review Squad “What do you think makes a haunted attraction a go to destination? What is it that keeps you wanting to go back to that haunt every year?: We here at Fright Review Squad enjoy each and every haunted attraction that we visit. We love supporting all the haunts out their in the haunt world/industry. But the haunts that snag our interest are those who capitalize and put forth a spooky fun atmosphere! Haunts don’t need to have a million dollar budget or a high end scare factor to put forth a fun experience. At the end of the day we visit haunts to have a spooky fun time and if the haunt provides us just that then they’ve won our business for years to come.”