Haunted Attraction Reviewed: The Valley of Fear
Website: www.valleyoffear.com
Location of Attraction: Feasterville-Trevose, PA
Date of Review: 10/22/2021
Total Number of Attractions Available: 3
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 9/10
Entertainment & Food Rating: 9/10
Atmosphere Rating: 9.5/10
Overall Costume & Makeup Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Cast & Crew Rating: 9/10
Overall Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8/10
Overall Feedback: Located about 30 minutes north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one of the states longest running haunted attraction scream parks, The Valley of Fear! After unfortunately being closed last season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these folks returned to action in 2021 for their 31st year of FEAR! Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Valley of Fear team persevered and were hard at work over the off-season making a massive overhaul of changes! Patrons will have the pleasure of experiencing essentially three completely revamped attractions - The Original Haunted Hayride, Miles Manor Haunted House & Willie’s Shipwreck Cove! Tickets can be purchased online ahead of your visit or directly onsite - standard general admission tickets include all three attractions for $45. A two attraction combo is available for $45 or a single attraction pass for $23. For an additional $20 patrons can obtain VIP passes, which significantly decrease your wait times on busy nights!
Friday October 22nd arrived and our squad was eager and excited to return to the infamous Valley of Fear; we’ve always enjoyed our visits at this haunt! As we neared the main parking area we got backed up in a massive line of cars, stretching nearly a mile in length from the attraction parking lot! Definitely arrive early, before 7pm, or be prepared to sit in this backlog of traffic! It was clear that it was going to be a crazy busy evening for the Valley of Fear team. After around 30 minutes of crawling our way towards the parking lot, we paid our $5 parking fee (benefits Phoenix Club Youth Sports Teams) and parked in the massive lot across the street from the attraction. It was truly a perfect weather evening to attend a haunted attraction with clear skies, nearly a full moon, and sweater/hoodie temperatures! After a short walk and journeying across the roadway, guests are funneled directly into the midway area at Valley of Fear. It was great to see such a massive crowd of fellow haunt enthusiasts already onsite to support this well recognized haunt, especially after their closure during the 2020 season. The Valley of Fear has a solid midway setup that provides a lively but relaxing environment for guests to enjoy while outside the attractions. A massive bonfire possessed ample seating around it along with the ability to purchase s’mores kits. Several food vendors and stands were serving up all sorts of scrumptious food offerings ranging from funnel cake to pulled pork sandwiches to italian/shaved ice. Several photo-op booths were available for your picture taking pleasure, our favorite was the massive pumpkin creature photo-op. Several roaming scare actors were making their rounds, engaging with guests and providing frights and laughs before even entering an attraction. Can’t forget to mention the DJ who was doing an excellent job engaging with the crowd and had several dozen folks showing off their dance moves throughout the night. We’d love to see Valley of Fear add a merchandise stand with VOF clothing items and other fun commemorative merch items.
Our squad had already pre-purchased general admission tickets online, so we hopped right into the “Online Ticket Redemption” line. We had connected with the owner, Tom, prior to our visit and he graciously upgraded our crew to VIP passes, allowing us to bypass the lengthy general admission queue lines. On a busy night like the one we attended, we strongly recommend making the upgrade to VIP, it’ll be worth its weight in gold! Once you’ve snagged your tickets you’re free to begin your experience at Valley of Fear. Based on the recommendations of Valley of Fear staff, we experienced the three attractions in the following order: The Original Haunted Hayride, Miles Manor Haunted House, and Willie’s Shipwreck Cove.
The Original Haunted Hayride - Prepare yourself for a 20-25 minute thrilling and action-packed haunted hayride experience! At Valley of Fear you’ll sit on the haywagon facing outwards with your legs dangling over the edge, which in our opinion further immerses you into the experience. On the evening we attended it ended up being Valley of Fear’s “80’s Horror Icon Night”, so it sure felt like we were watching a horror slashers movie marathon on the first half of our journey! We encountered a whole slew of iconic horror slashers including Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Ghost Face, Freddy Krueger, Chucky, and even Pennywise the Clown! These iconic slashers weren’t messing around, as their kills were intense, borderline realistic, and occurred in a non-stop fashion. The scenes these folks possessed to work within were elegantly crafted and possessed various special effects and animatronics to help further enhance the scare and thrill factor! On the 2nd half of our hayride journey we encountered an eerie and bone-chilling graveyard, loaded with vicious and relentless zombie-esque spooks. A freak-show style circus featured several exhilarating acts, including a fire-breather who sent bursts of flames soaring into the sky! A medical testing facility of sorts had some sort of “malfunction” which sent crazed test subjects swarming towards the haywagon. Can’t forget to mention the iconic finale scene, The Toy Box, where you’ll encounter one of the best scare actors we’ve ever encountered in our travels, The Jack in the Box - this fellow is creepy and has mastered the herky-jerky body jiration movements to simulate a robot, which always has “first-timers” at Valley of Fear questioning if he’s real or not! After a brief skit from The Jack in the Box, he sets his fellow friends loose allowing for one final in your face startle! From start to finish we were impressed with the detailed and high-quality set design, there’s certainly no shortage of eye-candy on this hayride adventure. We also have to give major kudos to the cast for being extremely energized and relentless in their attack, providing personal and in your face engagement throughout! 2021 was by far the best we’ve seen the Valley of Fear hayride, as it was truly an exhilarating experience!
Miles Manor Haunted House - As we exited the hay wagon, staring us down in the nearby distance was the ominous Miles Manor Haunted House. This attraction featured a decrepit appearing and eerily crafted facade, which gave off a rather intimidating vibe! The Miles Manor Haunted House had previously been an attraction at Valley of Fear before a devastating fire destroyed the attraction several years back. But don’t worry, the evil has returned as the Miles Manor has risen from the ashes, giving the evil and demented spooks a place to call home again. The Miles Manor Haunted House features well designed scenes, with creepy scenery and decor that immerses you into the experience. We encountered a skilled cast throughout our journey in the Miles Manor, as these folks did an excellent job bringing the scenes to life and providing countless startles! Special kudos to the nuns encountered in the ghostly church scene, as they were downright deranged and kindly provided several of our members with a blood-curdling startle! A series of dimly lit hallways coupled with props dangling from the ceiling sure made for a disorienting journey. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any more disorienting we stumbled into the curtain maze, which effectively had our crew all discombobulated leaving us susceptible to a well timed spine-tingling scare. Miles Manor may only be a ~7-8 minute walk-through experience, but it sure packs a punch! Beware the manic inhabitants in this haunted manor, otherwise you might just end up as one of them!
Willie’s Shipwreck Cove - Ahoy Matey! Do you have what it takes to safely escape one-eyed Willie, or will he steal your soul in his pursuit of lost treasure? Willie’s Shipwreck Cove is a completely brand new attraction for the 2021 season, and the Valley of Fear team actually had to make massive changes to the attraction just weeks before opening this season due to extensive flood damage. Knowing this ahead of our experience, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect on our journey through Willie’s Shipwreck Cove. It only took a few moments for us to feel fully immersed into the pirate-esque vibe, as ominous audio echoed throughout the dark woods. We began our ~10-12 minute adventure by venturing across a slew of bridges which hovered over the murky swamp. We snaked our way through the dark and eerie woods, venturing through several well themed and decorated shacks, and encountered numerous spooks who provided powerful engagements with our squad. We were pleasantly surprised by how well the pirate theme was carried throughout the attraction - from the scenes, to the soundtrack, to the actors' skits and costuming, everything was well executed making for a unique experience! Kudos to the cast for being on-point, y’all were lurking in the darkness waiting for the perfect moment to deliver that hair-raising startle. Considering Willie’s Shipwreck Cover was a first year attraction, we were impressed, and cannot wait to see how the Valley of Fear team continues to expand, enhance, and further fill out the attraction!
After exiting Willie’s Shipwreck Cove our squad ventured back towards the midway. We took some time to check out the midway offerings and snagged a bite to eat. The food from the BBQ truck was on point, we definitely recommend the pulled pork sandwich and tater tots - yum!! We eventually gathered around the bonfire and took a few moments to converse about our experience. Our entire squad was definitely in agreement that Valley of Fear delivered a phenomenal experience this season! We fortunately had the pleasure of chatting with the owner, Tom, for a few minutes to discuss our thoughts and hear about the challenges they faced leading up to the 2021 season. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic along with weather related damages, the Valley of Fear team persevered and provided a top-notch experience for 2021! Valley of Fear may not be the most terrifying haunted attraction we’ve encountered, but they do an excellent job with providing an entertaining and thrilling experience! If you’ve yet to visit The Valley of Fear this season, you’re running out of time, as their final two operating nights are Friday November 5th & Saturday November 6th. If you don’t get the opportunity to pay these folks a visit this fall, definitely be sure to check them out during the 2022 haunt season, they're well worth a visit!! Once again, job well done Valley of Fear team!
Individual Attraction Ratings:
Attraction Name: The Original Haunted Hayride
Overall Attraction Rating: 9/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 9/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 9/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8/10
Attraction Name: Miles Manor Haunted House
Overall Attraction Rating: 8.5/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 8.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8.5/10
Attraction Name: Willie’s Shipwreck Cove
Overall Attraction Rating: 8/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 8.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 8.5/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7.5/10
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