Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Circle of Screams
Website: www.circleofscreams.com
Location of Attraction: Dickson City PA
Date of Review: Saturday September 29th 2018
Total Number of Attractions Available: Three
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 4
Entertainment and Food Rating: 6
Atmosphere Rating: 4
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 4
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 5.5
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 4
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 3
Overall Feedback: Circle of Screams located in Dickson City Pennsylvania is your typical old school/small town haunt. Located at the Circle Drive In Theater, Circle of Screams provides a spooky fun time for the local community. In 2016 we visited Circle of Screams and at that point they were just beginning their third season of operation. Now into their fifth season, Circle of Screams has certainly made some changes to improve the overall haunt experience. Something great about Circle of Screams is the fact that you can go through the haunt while also having time to enjoy a movie on the big screen - this makes for a whole night worth of fun! They definitely have a family friendly atmosphere and something truly for the entire family. Grab some popcorn, kick back and watch a movie and finish the night off with the haunted attractions! Shortly after dusk we loaded up on the hay wagon and prepared to head into the dark woods at Circle of Screams. Once guests set off for the hayride they’ll complete all three attractions in order; Haunted Hayride, Cirque De Peur and Delfino Manor. The haunted hayride at Circle of Screams features several movie characters such as Jason Voorhees, Beetlejuice, The Tooth Fairy The Walking Dead and more. All of the actors portray their characters in a phenomenal fashion. Beetlejuice by far had to be one our favorite actors on the evening. As he climbed aboard the hay wagon he instantly began engaging with the guests causing bursts of laughter. The Haunted Hayride is much more of a theatrical show versus an in your face scary attraction. This makes it suitable for guests of all ages. Throughout our journey there was one actor who stalked the hay wagon. This individual would at times hide along the edge of the hay wagon and at just the right moment pop out and deliver a good scare. The actors possessed mediocre costuming and makeup as well as unremarkable scenes to work in but they didn’t let this stop them from putting on a good show. Kudos to the actors for staying in character 110%! As the hay wagon departed from the scenes the actors stayed in character until we were completely out of sight. We specifically remember one actor being “murdered” by Jason Voorhees and then holding the same position in the mud for a solid 2-3 minutes… the fact that she didn’t get up and hide or even readjust her positioning really made this scene believable. Eventually further down the woods the hay wagon comes to an abrupt stop, this is where guests hop off the wagon to enjoy Cirque De Peur. From the sounds of Circle of Screams website we were expecting Cirque De Peur to be another walk through attraction… well we were wrong. Cirque De Peur is literally a circus in the middle of the dark woods. Guests stand in front of the stage where a handful of performers prepare to put on a show. Sword swallowing and fire twirling are just two of the many things you witness at this circus side show. We did feel that the show put forth was a bit lackluster in energy, there just wasn’t that “wow” moment we were hoping for. But for younger kids and families it will definitely be satisfactory. After about a 5-10 minute show guests load backup onto the hay wagon to venture further down the woods. After a short ride further down the woods guests hop off the wagon one last time to finish out what we assumed to be the second half of the hayride… even though we were walking. The final few scenes were all centered around the hit TV show The Walking Dead. Rick Grimes kills off a walker and gathers our group as he prepares to lead us to safety. Shortly thereafter we ran into Negan and this is where the intensity picked up. Spoiler alert… Negan kills Carl and then sets loose zombies to chase after our group. As we venture through the home stretch of the dark woods zombies of all ages and sizes kept coming out from nowhere. The trails we were walking on were a sloppy mess which made it extremely difficult to escape the zombies. Big kudos to some of the zombies who were crawling through the mud to provide a unique scare! The Walking Dead section of the hayride was a big hit amongst our hay wagon group; it provided a great mixture of laughs and scares. To finish out the evening guests head for Delfino Manor. This attraction is advertised as a adult attraction and is not suggested for younger guests. Vulgar language and aggressive acts/skits will be encountered on your journey through Delfino Manor. Several of the scenes consisted of actors fighting and using aggressive force with one another; it had us truly believing what we were witnessing. Several good pop scares made this attraction thrilling from start to end. Again, set design and actor costuming/makeup is as expected, certainly nothing special but acceptable for a small town haunt. The actors did a great job engaging with everyone in our group and like on the hayride really brought their scenes to life. All in all, Circle of Screams is a great small town haunted attraction. It’s something suitable for the entire family and isn’t terribly priced at $25 (this includes admission to watch a movie and the three haunted attractions). Would we suggest guests travel more than 30 minutes or so to go to Circle of Screams? No. But if you’re local to the haunt or you’re traveling and in the area definitely give it a whirl. There really aren’t many old school/small town haunts around anymore. So when you have the opportunity to attend and support one we definitely encourage you to do it. With all the new high tech props/animatronics and massive set designs it really is nice for our squad to “kick it old school”. We truly enjoy experiencing the uniqueness and creativeness that these small town haunts have versus your big time haunts. A haunt like Circle of Screams really relies on their actors to put forth a solid show… and that they did! Kudos to Circle of Screams for having that special charm; we most definitely enjoyed our evening!
Individual Attraction Review:
Attraction Name: Haunted Hayride
Overall Attraction Rating: 4.5
Cast and Crew Rating: 6
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 4
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 3
Attraction Name: Cirque De Peur
Overall Attraction Rating: 4
Cast and Crew Rating: 5
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 4
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 2
Attraction Name: Delfino Manor
Overall Attraction Rating: 5
Cast and Crew Rating: 6
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 4
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 5