shocktoberfest

The Shocktoberfest location is *right* down the road from me, and being a connoisseur of all things scary, have spent my fair share of time and money there. I have to admit, though, that the 2014 season left a LOT to be desired. Although they have new attractions, the cost and the wait time do not give the same boo for the buck. My companions and I went the weekend before Halloween. We spent approximately 3 hours there, and only got through 2 of the 3 attractions we had purchased tickets for. First up: The Unknown. What's unknown is how long you're going to wait for the scares to start. We spent a total of 25 minutes waiting to get into the attraction, only to be crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in an "introduction" room for about 10 more minutes. With about 25-30 people jammed together, it was virtually impossible to see the 3D introduction; afterwards, we were led outside for another 10 minute wait to get in to the attraction itself. The Unknown boasts about "the spectacular 3D affects," when in reality, I think we saw maybe 3 screens of footage (the footage in the creepy nursery was the best--even with the glasses on, I had no idea what I was looking at, much less frightened by it).On to The Zombie Revenge Hayride--the highlight of my night. I was really looking forward to this. Alas, it was not to be, as the frickin' line for the attraction was THREE ROWS ABOUT 200 FEET LONG (no joke), with people in line outside of the tent where the line was. So, we begrudgingly spent 40 minutes in line (under the same tent) for The Prison of the Dead. During that time, it was tough to determine whether the line for the hayride moved at all. The Prison of the Dead has made *minor* changes to it, but nothing spectacular except that now staff can touch you, grab at you, and my favorite, ram a toy chainsaw into your kidneys as you leave! Yay for pain!We left the Prison and decided that we check out the Hayride line, just in case it was smaller. Well, it wasn't (still 3 rows deep and not moving). By this time it was almost 11:00 pm, we were exhausted, bored and in pain. We called it a night. Disappointing is an understatement.SIDE NOTE: The "Monster Midway" used to have carnival acts and freaky stuff (you know, geeks that hammered nails into their nose, ate glass, all that cool stuff) that were pretty impressive that is gone now, replaced by carnival games where you can win a huge SpongeBob SquarePants. So, yeah.

Haunted Houses are my favorite part of Halloween and Shocktoberfest has been on my list for a couple years now. I'm sad to say I finally made it. It was dead for a Saturday night, and yet the lines didn't move. We waited for half an hour to get into the Unknown and there were at most thirty people ahead of us. Once we got into the Unknown (and away from the live-action Scooby-Doo movie they played in the line) the house was unimaginative and struggled to integrate 3D videos into the attraction. My group walked out more confused than anything.The hayride was lackluster. It actually seemed like they were understaffed and we ended up skipping a couple stages entirely without an actor appearing. Do not pay for the paintball option. They have one scene on the hayride where they place panels with mounted guns on the side of the cart and you only get a handful of shots. I ran out before the zombies even got into range. All-in-all it left an extra smudge on the experience.The Prison of the Dead Escape was recommended to us by a fellow hayride malcontent. We were actually ready to toss our combo passes and call it a night. Thankfully we decided to stay. They put a lot of work into the prison and it was a lot better than their other events. The same staffing issue appeared evident with an absence of actors in the first few rooms.Overall, I wouldn't return. The lines inched through the few people who were there. If you're looking to do a single event choose the Prison of the Dead Escape, but the other attractions aren't worth the money. With Field of Screams or Bates Motel within the same driving radius of Philly, there's a lot better in the area for comparable or cheaper.

I've been taking my boys and their friends to Shocktoberfest every year for the past five years. They're getting older, but they still want to go back every year. I recommend going in early to mid October on a Friday night. Most of the local crowd is at the high school football games and you could breeze through all three attractions in a few hours. We usually go Hayride, Unknown, and finish with the Prison. The Hayride has some interesting points and nice pyrotechnics. The Unknown has some parts that are legitimately frightening. The Prison is a great layout with some nerve tingling points. It really depends on the actors that are working that night. Some years were so-so, but some years were crazy awesome. I would suggest you try the experience for yourself. Look on the website for coupons on certain evenings.

A group of friends and I went last night and honestly not worth the drive .! It is suppose to be like 3rd out of the country most scariest . Most things sucked ! For instance we payed a extra 10$ to get a paintball gun to shoot zombies on the hayride ( it was I guess a new progam thing that they were doing ) obv. They had no idea how to work the guns and pretty much was dumbfounded on them . We stood in the paint ball line for 1hr. ! And their was not that many people in line. Then they came and broke us the news that the paint ball guns vows were freezing and both of there systems shutdown . 10 minutes later after this guy was done with I'm so sorry crap . He offered us our 10 dollars back . Witch was nice and also ended up giving us an extra 10 back. I do give them credit on that , it was supper nice if them. Ok so we got on the hayride and it was not even scary nor did it make me jump. Their was a couple of garages they took you in and in one were sat thief I kid you not , 10 mins sitting in the dark . The lady driving the car started to beep to tell them I'm here come on . Nothing happend and. When finally somthing did it was lame . Their was some pluses though the prison of dead it was long and scenes put together okay. It was kinda cool that they can touch you their ( pull your hood, touch your hair ect, )makes it more enjoyable . So I give this review a poor but very close to terrible .

I would give this 0 stars if I could. I have been to a number of different haunted attractions over the past 5 years to find the best one. I went here about 3 years ago and LOVED it and decided we wanted to come back this year. We were there on Saturday the 4th. Things have definitely changed. We spent over $160 bucks for the 3 of us to do an all access pass. This includes the hayride (with the paintball option), the zombie night run, the unknown, the prison of dead escape and the zombie experience. So we were told to start out with the zombie experience which is where they dress you up like the actors and take you out to the prison to scare other visitors. The experience was a neat idea but at the same time why should we PAY to act in their attraction? When we got there it took a good 30 minutes for the first group of people to arrive so we only stayed in for 2 groups of people. We then went to do the hayride which we waited in line for close to 4 hours. We heard this was because one of the wagons got stuck. Part of the wait was inside the "monster midway" which is a outdoor tent setup with a DJ and small sound system. The DJ must have had a playlist cause we heard every song at least 2 or 3 times. Once we finally did the hayride the last 2 stops were empty with no actors. The wagon even slowed down for something to happen and then kept going. We then went to the prison which was okay but again was pretty empty at most parts. By this time we decided to do the unknown. We were forced to wait because they had already started the naked and afraid visitors. By this time the zombie night run had already closed up and we could not get our money back. Needless to say we will NOT be coming back and wish we could get our money back.

I've gone to Shocketoberfest for the past few years and have never had a bad experience. It seems like they keep getting better and I'm excited to go this year!

I'll start by saying I've been to MANY haunted houses in multiple states and I'm not an easy scare and I generally leave disappointed. Shocktoberfest was a pleasant surprise! We did the hayride, prison and the unknown. The hayride was pretty long and had elements I had not seen before which I really appreciated. I wouldn't say it was necessarily "scary" but it was original and entertaining. My only real negative thought was that there didnt seem to be enough actors. The prison was my absolute favorite. It covered 50,000 square feet and took at least 20 minutes to find our way through. The sets and props were authentic looking and the actors were great, not just people screaming in your face. The areas you walk/semi-crawl through are very realistic and the lighting effects really add a new element to this house. Also, they touch you here which i wasnt sure how i felt about it but when a few of my scares came from a brush of my leg or hair i decided it really added something to the experience. My only suggestions are less pitch black hallways, it got a little old feeling your way, and clearer paths in rooms with an exit, we ended up outside in both the prison and the unknown because it was not clear where we were supposed to go. But other than that it really was great.The unknown was much smaller and delves into your fears, water, snakes, claustrophobia etc. I am a claustrophobic but was okay in all houses. It was a unique idea but did not have as many props as the prison but did have a couple of good scares here and there that evened out the experience.Overall I was very impressed with this place and will definitely go back. Be warned the ticket lines are very confusing and it can get very crowded. Also the bloomin onion stand doesn't actually sell bloomin onions which was a disappointment. This is also a cash only place but there is an ATM. Happy Halloween!

I took my sister to Shocktoberfest in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. for her birthday after she mentioned the naked & afraid challenge she saw on channel 6 news.We thought it would be fun so I purchased tickets fir the 2 attractions & the Unknown:''naked & afraid challenge''. The first one we did was the hayride which was pretty good except the workers would scream at people for taking pictures outside while on the hayride which is stupid.they would literally put their hand in front of your camera.Next was the haunted prison, it was about an hour long and had some pretty cool stuff,again no pictures at all not even outside by the attraction.Be Warned If you buy rip passes like I did, it allows you to cut up in line and the crowd gets angry.( I don't blame them)There wasn't much of a crowd so save your money..At 10:30 pm we waited for the '' naked & afraid challenge '' to begin by walking around a while,people were leaving around 11:pm and by 11:15 pm we were asking the workers there when it would start,one girl (who was dressed as a zombie that worked there) said ''Oh I think they arent doing it because they didn't sell enough tickets" then another couple also with tickets showed up and so the 4 of us were concerened.We ask for a manager and the zombie girl say's that this guy PAT is the owner and she gave us all the dirt on him and his '' partner '' who runs the place and how some the local boys with drug problems hang out there to earn extra money..finally we meet this kid who says he's in charge of thae attraction and he is with this big heavy set fat guy who says he looked around and thought that no one showed up.He told the four of us a refund isnt available and they will get Pat to try and do something.20 min later Pat strolls in and is extremely happy and say's were going to put it together for you in a few min,meanwhile all of the employees are going home,it's midnight and were freezing outside,we follow him in we sign waivers,he stands behind a table and says to get undressed and put our cloths in the clear bag he gives us.We walk in the darknot able to see and every now and then someone jumps out and lights flash..At about half way through the challenge there seems to be no employees at all,we go through a few more cheaply put together rooms then out the back door into the cold where our bags are sitting on a pick nick table.We start dressing and then Pat comes out asking ''DID WE HAVE FUN ? no one answered, he locks the door and that's it..We felt robbed.

I am sorry to hear the previous reviewer did not have the best experience. This event is relatively close to me (under an hour) so we purposefully went on a Sunday night to avoid long lines. We purchased all access pass onlne for all three attractions. When we arrived there was no long line to pick up our tickets (you get a single ticket, color coded, for each attraction). There was a sign that said online purchases. The Unknown is right near ticket booth so easy to go to first. Well done. Kids thought it was great and enjoyed the complete darkness of some of the rooms. Once you are finished first attraction there is a "fair" like feel with food, games, etc on your short walk to Hayride. Unlike most haunted houses where the hay ride is the weak link, this one was well done. The characters were great! The hayride is really long so you feel like you get your moneys worth. Kids loved it. Finally the prison. Everyone thought it was great. Really long and everyone came out sweating from trying to run thru it and being scared. It took almost two hours to get thru all three attractions (and talking about them). Worth the $34!

Came from Pittsburgh for his one and visited on Saturday, Oct 12. We travel to multiple states every Oct and hit all sorts of haunts. Based on their website claims and decent reviews, I was excited for this one!Overall, not a good experience. We purchased our tix online and added the RIP passes. We arrived there early, around 7:30. There was no eTicket line, which most places have, but whatever. We waited in line for 45 min, I kid you not, just to get the passes we already paid for. There was a LOT of confusion in the ticket booth and at one point they started added lines so that one person was going back and forth between two lines, doubling your wait time.We get our tix and hit the first one near the door, The Unknown. We walked through the RIP line and right into the building. The girl working the line ignored us and was chatting with folks she seemed to know, so we had no idea we needed 3D glasses from a box out front. No biggie, we grabbed them and went back in. I mean it when I say the 2 people that gave instructions were the rudest people I may have ever encountered in a haunt. Now, I totally understand that giving people instructions can be like herding cats, but most folks that are skilled at this type of position deal with folks in a slightly humorous way. Not her. She was yelling at people to get in a tighter group because "there were 1000 people coming through". It seemed that many folks were doing a decent job and we all huddled up, but hey what do I know. She just kept complaining until people started saying things back at her, which just made it worse. After she eased up and played the movie, we made our way outside again and to the next stop with a second person. While people were gathering in line, she also started yelling about people not moving fast enough and even yelled loudly "why can't you people move faster" to which someone replied equally as loud "maybe because you suck". Not the best way for either of them to handle it, but folks were getting frustrated. Within 5 minutes of entering the Unknown, in a dark hallway with a door that we walked past, I saw a blue light. I looked in the window and saw a zombie texting away on her phone. I called her out on it, and she ignored me lol At this point, I was ready to tap out. About every 3rd area was just hallways with no lights, forcing you feel your way through. Fun the first time, and even the second time, but each subsequent time it felt like they were just filling up space. We move at a reasonable medium pace so the triggered things have time to pop and actors get in place. But many of the animatronics went off after we were leaving the room. Let me say though, several of the rooms were lit with a strobe and the actors did and awesome job moving in darkness and ending up in your face FAST! There were a few cool animatronics, but admittedly I was a bit jaded and wanted to move on.We made our way out and headed to the Prison of the Dead. The girl working the line was awesome and very helpful! She told us that they want people to go through The Unknown first, then the Hay Ride, and finish with the prison because they stop running the hay ride earlier than the others. We were good on time, so stuck with the Prison. You board a school bus that takes you through the parking lot to the prison, where you get off at one of two locations. We were dropped off at the wrong one, but no big deal. Again, folks were berated for not lining up properly, but she was nicer about it. The prison itself was cool! It takes a while to get through and you feel like it was worth the cost. A couple of negatives: there were a lot of places that you could tell someone was supposed to be there, but they weren't. So our 4-person group spent a decent bit of time wandering and trying to figure out which way to go. At one point we accidentally ended up behind the wrong wall where the actors hang lol. Also, some actors were awesome! But many were very unenthusiastic and would lean out with barely a mumble and touch your arm, gently. They may as well have said a quiet "boo" and pat you on the back. But again, many were great! One other thing, I totally fell lol You spend a lot of time bent over walking through tubes. Fun! But at the end of a hall I had to duck into a room with a strobe going and fog. There was a step that none of us saw! My fault for not being more careful, but I've been to enough of these to know that if you screw with people's vision, you can't suddenly change levels with a step. My bad though. The prison itself is very well done and I overall we liked it! It took around 40 min or so. You can wear a flag belt, which we did, but it didn't seem to be a big deal.Finally, it was the hay ride. Honestly, not much to say. There were some killer scenes, particularly the plant room and worm! The actors here were way better and every one if them did a great job getting into it. The only down-sides were that you could see that several of the animatronics were not functioning. You could see the pieces and apparatus and what should happen, like saw blades all lined up, but they were not working. Also, you spend a lot of time driving with nothing going on. Just riding around. It was a nice night for a ride, so it could've been worse, but at least have a few scenes set up without actors and give us something to look at. Overall, it was enjoyable and we had a good time on the hay ride, which is what counts. We saved a long wait by getting RIP passes online for $10, worth it on a busy night.So we had a horrible first 75 min on site with the tix line and The Unknown. We had fun at the prison (by far the best attraction), and had a nifty hay ride to wrap up the evening. The carnival games were ok, no complaints. But FYI - "Club Shock" is an area under the same tent as the prison and hay ride lines. It's a few picnic tables set up between the lines. Yep, that's it. If we lived closer, we would come back and do the prison again, but it's not worth the 4.5 hr drive we took. There were definite issues with organization, timing and staff that unfortunately overshadowed the hard work being put in by many of the actors and well-meaning staff members. If they get those pieces worked out, it could be a much better attraction.

Easy to find and fun for the whole family. It gets full pretty quickly on the weekends, especially in October, so get there early. If you are from out of the area, there are a number of places to stay close by.

i went with some friends not knowing what to expect. I was so scared but had such a good time. Cant wait for 2013

Our first time for this experience. We hate crowds and waiting in line so we went on a Thursday night. We chose one event not knowing what to expect...we quickly purchased the other events after thoroughly enjoying ourselves! It is pricey...so purchase the bundle, and check for coupons. They don't accept credit cards. Can't wait until next year. Oh, they will take your picture and post it on their Facebook page for an added fun experience!