Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Terror Farm
Website: www.terrorfarm.com
Location of Attraction: Newport PA
Date of Review: Friday November 1st 2019
Total Number of Attractions Available: ONE
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 8/10
Entertainment and Food Rating: 6/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 8/10
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 8/10
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8/10
Overall Feedback: It’s officially November which means haunt season is wrapping up rapidly. We are down to our last few weekends of reviews for 2019. To kick off November with a bang we elected to visit Terror Farm located in Newport PA. We visited this haunt in 2018, their first season in operation, and were pleasantly surprised with the experience they provided. To say the least, the haunt certainly had a deceiving appearance from the outside looking in. After our pleasant experience last season we knew we wanted to return for 2019 to track their growth and progression towards becoming one of PA’s best haunts.
On a cold and blustery Friday evening, the night after Halloween, a group of ten Fright Review Squad members set route for Terror Farm. This haunt is certainly NOT off the beaten path as it’s nestled right smack dab in the middle of a small town called Newport. Guests can actually see the local Weis Market store from the Terror Farm parking lot. So there is certainly no creepy atmospheric build up on your drive over to the haunt. But have no fear, the Terror Farm team takes care of the whole creepy atmosphere bit once inside the haunts doors. Guests have two options for parking when attending Terror Farm; a small lot is available directly at the haunt itself OR a shuttle bus is run from a nearby parking grounds.
Tickets at Terror Farm are priced fairly at $20 for general admission and $30 for VIP (skip the line) admission. In 2018 we gave Terror Farm some grief for their lack of entertainment outside the attraction. By “lack” of entertainment we mean absolutely NO presence of entertainment or food trucks. We were hoping to see the “midway” area possess some life for 2019 but unfortunately we were left disappointed. Besides a small table with Terror Farm t-shirts (which were pretty freaking awesome) the “midway” area we had hoped for was pretty much non existent. After speaking with the owners we did find out that they had a food truck onsite every weekend of operation except for the weekend we attended (final weekend of their 2019 season), this was good news to hear! We’d still likely to see the Terror Farm team create a more lively and entertaining “midway” area for guests to enjoy before and after experiencing the haunt. They don’t have a ton of space to work with but a few food vendors, some midway games, merchandise booth and small fire pit would go a long way.
After snagging our tickets we hopped right in line. It was cold and blustery so we wanted to get rockin and rollin right away. Like in 2018, we were pleased to see Terror Farm was admitting small groups of 4-6 folks at a time with several minutes in between groups. This gave us hope that we wouldn’t encounter other groups on our journey and we’re pleased to say we never did! Our crew waited a good 20-30 minutes in line and that was on a night where they had maybe 100 folks in attendance. So when visiting in the future we definitely recommend considering the VIP tickets on busier nights or coming earlier in the season when lines are shorter. While waiting in line two scare actors meandered about, entertaining and frightening the guests. These two scare actors were the same two roaming spooks from 2018; we were glad to see them back in action as they do a fantastic job engaging with the guests.
After our wait it was finally time to experience Terror Farm. Within seconds of entering the doors we once again knew we’d be in for a special treat. Within the first few scenes we immediately were impressed with the new and improved level of scare acting! The scare actors now possessed true skits and executed them to perfection. Their improv was witty which helped to provide a personable experience. They had clearly perfected their scare techniques as nearly everyone in our crew was on the receiving end of a scare within minutes of entering the haunt. Something we loved about Terror Farm was the mature nature of the haunts skits. Some mature language was utilized, often to playfully insult our crew members. We can truly say we can’t recall encountering a “mediocre” scare actor! We would love to see more scare actors scattered throughout the attraction, but on that note, we never did feel that there was a shortage of actors. We want to give a specific shout-out to the scare actor who was playing with the animal guts and rubbing them all over himself, this was downright spooktastic! Overall, a job well done goes out to the Terror Farm scare actors for putting forth such a top notch performance!
In regards to the set designs, all we can say is WOW! The Terror Farm build team was busy over the offseason as this place received some pretty impressive upgrades and new additions! Last season we were pleased and genuinely impressed with some of the sets but were equally unimpressed with some of the bland and empty feeling sets that the haunt possessed. Well bland and empty is long gone as Terror Farm now possesses some pretty impressive set work. Not only did they fill in the dead spaces that they possessed in 2018, they added in numerous new scenes by now utilizing the second and third floors in several of their barns. Side note, we loved the addition of the voodoo shack and the old mansion facade! For those who have never attended Terror Farm before, they are primarily an indoor haunt but do have some scenes that take place on a small outdoor trail. During your journey guests will weave in and out of buildings encountering some sets outside the buildings. Last season, the outdoor portion of Terror Farm possessed a general lack of wow factor and was essentially uneventful. Well boy have the tables turned! The energy and thrill that the buildings possess was carried throughout all the outdoor portions, successfully making for one LONG and THRILLING experience! We truly mean it when we say Terror Farms set design is now competitive with some of the bigger and more experienced haunts in PA. Words can’t even describe how impressed we were with the major upgrades we encountered at Terror Farm this season. Job well done Terror Farm build team!
After exiting the attraction we weren’t surprised to see that the journey took a solid 25-30 minutes to complete! Terror Farm may be a one attraction haunt but boy it sure is a LONG and THRILLING journey. You definitely receive your monies worth when visiting Terror Farm. Our group was eager to recollect after our journey to chat about our experience. The overall consensus was clear, no one expected the experience to be as top notch and truly amazing as it was! We easily conversed with one another for 15-20 minutes, just rambling on about how impressed we were and discussing all of our favorite components and scare actors. Don’t get us wrong, we enjoyed our experience in 2018 but we certainly never expected the TOP NOTCH experience that we received this season. Terror Farm went from an okay small town haunt to putting themselves on the map among some of Pennsylvania's greatest haunted attractions. And to think that 2019 was only Terror Farms 2nd season in operation truly gives us chills. We can’t help but feel eager and excited to continue to watch Terror Farm grow and flourish within the haunt industry! We had the opportunity to meet up with the owners of Terror Farm to chat about our experience. It was great to meet the masterminds behind this true HIDDEN TREASURE of a haunt! These gentlemen certainly have some solid ideas swirling in their heads for the upcoming haunt season in 2020. One things for certain, Fright Review Squad will indeed be back for more spooky fun at Terror Farm in 2020! It only took two seasons for this haunt to win our hearts over as a MUST SEE haunted attraction. Terror Farm is a true HIDDEN TREASURE in the haunt industry so make sure to pay them a visit in 2020, we promise you won’t be disappointed!
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