Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Legends of the Fog
Website: www.legendsofthefog.com
Location of Attraction: Aberdeen Maryland
Date of Review: 10/17/2021
Total Number of Attractions Available: 4
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 7.5/10
Entertainment & Food Rating: 8/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume & Makeup Rating: 8/10
Overall Cast & Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 6/10
Overall Feedback: Boasting four attractions and a lively midway, patrons can expect to enjoy a full evening's worth of spooky fun when visiting Legends of the Fog! Located in Aberdeen Maryland is Legends of the Fog, which returns in 2021 for their 15th season of operation. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, last season these folks converted their typical haunted attraction experience into a unique & immersive drive-thru experience, which allowed patrons to enjoy some spooky fun from the comfort of their own vehicle. With covid-19 restrictions beginning to ease, the Legends of the Fog team worked hard over the offseason to bring back their usual four attraction experience for the 2021 season! Our last visit to Legends of the Fog occurred during our 2018 season, so we were very eager to revisit and check out the changes and upgrades.
At Legends of the Fog patrons have the pleasure of enjoying four haunted attractions; The Farewell Hotel, Cornstalkers Haunted Maze, Classic Haunted Hayride, and the all NEW Slaughterhouse! Patrons have several ticketing options to choose from, but the most popular option is the four attraction combo pass which goes for $36. Patrons who may not want to experience all the attractions do have the option to purchase just the hayride for $20, or the Farewell Hotel, Cornstalkers Haunted Maze, & Slaughterhouse for $20. Fast pass access is available as an upgrade for an additional $10-$15, this grants you front of the line access and keeps your wait times to a minimum. Legends of the Fog strongly recommends guests to purchase their tickets online, as they cannot guarantee entry to the attractions if purchasing onsite.
We arrived at Legends of the Fog around 6:30pm and there was no shortage of fellow haunt enthusiasts already onsite. Ample free parking is onsite, just a brief walk from the midway. As we approached the ticket booth we first passed under the ominously glowing Legends of the Fog archway (this makes for a super cool photo spot). Patrons who have already purchased tickets online can bypass the ticket booth and head right into the midway area (tickets will be scanned at the entrance to the attractions). Legends of the Fog does an excellent job at providing an entertaining and comfortable midway for patrons to enjoy when outside of the attractions. A large bonfire sits in the middle of the midway, with ample seating surrounding it. Several games along with a coffin burial simulator, snack booth, merchandise stand, and numerous photo-op booths are available for patrons to enjoy. In years past Legends of the Fog often had live entertainment, this go around they had a DJ belting out all sorts of upbeat and energizing tunes, which helped keep the atmosphere lively throughout the night. After taking in the midway and grabbing a bite to eat, we were then ready to begin experiencing the attractions. For 2021, The Farewell Hotel, Cornstalkers Haunted Maze, and Slaughterhouse will all be experienced in a linear fashion (back to back). The Classic Haunted Hayride now has its own separate cue line.
The Farewell Hotel - Be forewarned, checking into The Farewell Hotel guarantees for a sleepless stay and maybe even some long-lasting nightmarish dreams! The ominous Hotel facade perfectly sets the stage for a frightfully fun journey. As you approach the front porch the sinister bellhop “warmly” greets you, quickly immersing you into the experience that lies ahead. Once you step inside be prepared for a 8-10 minute, creepy, & spine-chilling venture. The front desk will see that you receive your room key, and then you’re sent off to find your room. We’ve always enjoyed how well executed the theming is within The Farewell Hotel. Patrons truly feel immersed into a decrepit, unnerving, and haunted hotel. You’ll traverse through a variety of scenes including dimly lit hallways, laundry room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, greenhouse, and many others. Make sure to hold on tight when riding in the malfunctioning elevator, boy was that an exhilarating ride! A massive spider creature lurking from above nearly snatched some of our members when making our way through the bedroom. Not once, but twice we were spewed into a room with nearly a dozen room doors to choose from. That was quite an entertaining experience as our crew laughed at one another as we couldn’t find the correct door. Eventually we’d find the correct door and continue forth on our journey. Cleverly disguised drop panels along with various special effects were effectively utilized to deliver a few “gotcha” pop-scares. Special kudos to the cast throughout The Farewell Hotel, as they were energized and fully immersed into their roles! Across the board at Legends of the Fog, The Farewell Hotel is definitely the best of the four attractions in our opinion - from the theming, to the set design, to the cast, The Farewell Hotel delivers a high-quality experience.
Cornstalkers Haunted Maze - After exiting The Farewell Hotel guests will funnel into the cue line for the Cornstalkers Haunted Maze. In past visits this attraction tended to be the weakest link at Legends of the Fog, primarily due to its reliance on scare actors to provide the scare/thrill factor, and there was unfortunately often a lack of scare actors which made for an unremarkable journey. Well this go around things were much more lively within the Cornstalkers Haunted Maze. This attraction features absolutely zero props, animatronics, or special effects, and solely relies on the scare actors to provide a frightening experience. A cornfield with nearly 10 foot corn stalks along with dark pathways certainly makes for an eerie adventure. Our only source of lighting throughout our journey was the moonlight shining down from above. The pathways throughout the maze certainly made for a disorienting journey, as we often encountered dead ends or ended up making countless circles, cycling through the same pathways numerous times. We found ourselves completely confused and downright lost several times on our journey. Throughout all the chaos of being lost, scare actors lurking in the shadows would often pop out to deliver a quick scare and engage with our group. These spooks often played tricks on us, and would encourage us to take wrong pathways. After a solid 10 minutes we’d eventually find our way through the Cornstalkers Haunted Maze. Despite lacking any sort of props, audio & visual effects, etc, Cornstalkers Haunted Maze still effectively provides an eerie journey with several pop-scares.
Slaughterhouse - Legends of the Fog has always relatively kept their attractions “PG”, with very minimal blood, gore, and intensity in order to maintain their family friendly culture. Well they’ve listened to the haunt fanatic requests for a more intense and gory attraction, as Slaughterhouse certainly delivers a moderately high-action and gory experience! After exiting the Cornstalkers Haunted Maze patrons will funnel into the cue line for the Slaughterhouse. Within the barn that acts as the cue line, there are crates haphazardly stacked, bloodied cow skin on the walls, and other farm & barn type props displayed to immerse the audience into the Slaughterhouse. You’ll traverse through a chicken coop, several Slaughterhouse scenes, a butcher shop, and more! Within one scene we encountered a meat grinder that devoured a poor soul turning the victim into ground meat and blasting our squad with the blood of the victim (air & water sprayer). A strobe-light lit fenced area coupled with heavy fog, thrilling music, and energized scare actors certainly made for an exhilarating scene. The fences within said scene were able to be moved to trap patrons as they tried to frantically traverse through. Despite being a rather short experience, only 3-4 minutes in length, the Slaughterhouse certainly packs a gory and intense punch, one that we’re not used to experiencing at Legends of the Fog, which ended up being a pleasant surprise. We’re sure the Legends of the Fog team will continue to enhance and lengthen this attraction over the years to come.
Classic Haunted Hayride - Board the traditional style hay wagon and nestle down into the blanket of hay. Make yourself comfortable as you have a solid 15-20 minute hayride adventure awaiting you. While not the most exhilarating or “scary” hayride attraction that we’ve encountered, the Legends of the Fog team does a decent job at providing an entertaining hayride experience. Patrons will traverse through quite an array of scenes, including a junkyard with cars haphazardly stacked upon one another, several mutant creation & testing laboratories, a ghostly graveyard, werewolf infested forest, slaughter barn, redneck living quarters with a massive man-eating beast, and more! Audio equipment was attached directly to the hay wagon, to allow the audio effects to follow along with the wagon. We’d love to see them notably increase the volume on the hayride, as we often struggled to hear the audio effects. Several of the scenes featured engaging visual effects, especially the mutant creation & testing laboratories! Each scene was well staffed with spooks, allowing for no shortage of engagement in the various scenes. The spooks did a spooktastic job at working the hay wagon, ensuring to interact with each patron and providing some frights. While the overall hayride experience pretty much lacks any real scare/thrill factor, it is still an entertaining, enjoyable, and family friendly experience.
After completing all four attractions our squad congregated back in the midway area. We snagged a few group photos at one of the several photo-op booths and perused through the midway to check out the games, coffin rides, and merchandise stand. We can also confidently confirm that the food vendor cooks up some scrumptious creations. We had the pleasure of chatting with Patrick & Robyn, the lovely owners of Legends of the Fog! These folks are clearly very passionate about providing a spooky fun and family friendly experience! We enjoyed learning about their vision for Legends of the Fog, and wanting to continue their family friendly culture while also providing an attraction or two that satisfies the more experienced haunt enthusiasts. They definitely have solid bones with The Farewell Hotel & Slaughterhouse, which could continue to be converted into more “intense” attractions, creating for an unnerving and blood-curdling experience. While the Cornstalkers Haunted Maze and Classic Haunted Hayride provide more of an easygoing yet enjoyable experience. The potential future combination of two mature and intense attractions along with two easier going attractions could make for an overall experience that satisfies all varieties of haunt goers. Legends of the Fog definitely has all the potential to become a premier haunted attraction scream park in Maryland. If you’re looking for a spooky fun experience that's suitable for the entire family, then be sure to pay Legends of the Fog a visit. They still have 8 operating nights remaining on their 2021 calendar, two of which are blackout nights (November 5th & 6th). Grab the kiddos, bring some friends, and venture to Legends of the Fog for a frightfully fun evening!
Individual Attraction Ratings:
Attraction Name: The Farewell Hotel
Overall Attraction Rating: 8/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 8.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8.5/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 6.5/10
Attraction Name: Cornstalkers Haunted Maze
Overall Attraction Rating: 6.5/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 6/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 5/10
Attraction Name: Slaughterhouse
Overall Attraction Rating: 7.5/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7/10
Attraction Name: Classic Haunted Hayride
Overall Attraction Rating: 7/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 4/10
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