As fall rolls in and Halloween is coming up, fall activities are on everyone’s agenda. People are excited for pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hikes, and, most importantly, haunted houses. Nightmare on 13th, Fear Factory, and Castle of Chaos are the most popular haunted houses in Utah. Below are pros and cons of each, based on reviews.
Fear Factory
The best and biggest haunted house, according to Mallory Bell, is Fear Factory. Fear Factory is one of the biggest haunted houses and takes awhile to get through. It has lots of scare actors inside but also while people are waiting in line. There is a lot of diversity between rooms and they also take people up and onto a bridge where they can see everything below them. Based on reviews, the cons are that it has a very long wait to get in and it’s on the expensive side. They also have a lot of smoke in multiple rooms, which is something that was frequently mentioned in the reviews. One review by Mylan D. states, “The smoky room idea is cool at first, but it’s a ton of smoke.”
Nightmare on 13th
The entirety of it is inside and the wait to get in isn’t very long. Their rooms change drastically year to year and they always have lots of animatronics, as well as amazing visual effects and lots of stuff to look at. A reviewer named Joycelyn C. said, “Nightmare has changed up the layout over the years as well as props and scenes.” Additionally, It’s not very expensive. The cons of Nightmare on 13th is that they don’t separate groups as well, so people are often crowded as they go through, and they don’t have very many scare actors. If someone prefers jumpscares instead of visuals, it doesn’t have many. Hailey Buehner, a Senior, states, “I’ve been to Nightmare on 13th and it was way overrated.” About the quality, she added, “It was super short and not scary at all.”
Castle of Chaos
The actors are really good and make the experience feel realistic. They make sure to interact with everyone and people are spaced out throughout the entire thing. The rooms are creative and they have a lot of different themes. A review from Taylor R. states, “There were so many creative touches in this haunted house along with many surprises.” They also have different levels people can choose from, based on what level of scare they want. Ranging from level 1 to 5, they can either go through without being approached by the actors or have hands-on experience. The cons are that this haunted house is pretty short, and people are usually rushed through the rooms in order to get people in faster. Additionally, there aren’t very many safe places to park and it’s not as clean as other attractions.
