Located on the Scarborough Fairegrounds, Screams provides a wonderful place to "get your haunt on" and is fun for all ages. The atmosphere at Screams is the best in DFW, complete with food, drinks, games, rides, fortune tellers, excellent roaming characters, and other vendors. Screams is the only place in DFW that can actually call themselves a Halloween Theme Park, because there is so much to see and do while you are there, and you can easily spend the whole evening walking around the fairegrounds. Kick back and relax with friends, or go through the haunted houses as many times as you want.
Set Design/Detail/Floor Plan
Screams has made many changes this year. The graveyard at the entrance has been extended, the 3D Clown House is gone and replaced with a 3D Pirate house, the Maze has a new saw theme, and all the attractions seem to have more actors with better timing. We have always loved the Maze at Screams, and I think it has gotten longer and much trickier. The theme is not as important in the maze, since it is really about getting lost and making your way out. But the Saw puppets roaming around were a nice touch.
The 3D Pirates of Peril Point was by far the biggest and most remarkable improvement. The completely new paintings and theme design is so much better than the clowns, and the characters are so well hidden that you should get quite a few startles and scares, too. The 3D glasses must stay on for you to get the full experience, because it is all about the eye-candy here. But beware, you are not safe from actor involvement while you look around at the awesome artwork on the walls… I was actually startled (and I screamed) by someone toward the end that I was not expecting.
The Arcane Asylum and the Castle of darkness did not change as much as I would have hoped, but they are both still fun. I would have like to see more realistic Asylum features to make it feel more like a hospital, but overall it was fun. The Castle of Darkness has great quality scenes and textured walls to keep you feeling like you are in a real dungeon. Both very effective haunts, and both are growing more and more into their full potential.
Live Actors (Performance/Enthusiasm/Costumes)
The haunted attractions at Screams uses a great amount of animatronics, and although they own some of the very best animated props I've ever seen, we also feel that there must be plenty of live actors mixed in with the animatronics to make it effective. Thankfully, we are seeing more and more talent at Screams, and their acting staff is definitely showing signs of improvement each year. There is still a chance to grow in this area because I still think each of the haunts could use more live bodies to counter-balance the use of animatronics, specifically so in The Castle of Darkness. The roaming characters around the Screams park are all excellent and highly entertaining to watch, and we would love to see this strong of talent throughout the haunts as well. 3D Pirates did an excellent job of blending in with the scenes and provided some great startles, but some were a little off on their timing (which will naturally improve through the season as they get into a routine). I would have liked to see more insanity in the Asylum characters, and probably MORE actors to make the theme more effective. I think the Asylum requires several actors with different psychological issues developed into their character and polished so that it really seems like the actors are actual crazed inmates instead of pretending like they are (if that makes sense).
Admission Price vs. Length (Entertainment Value)
You could easily spend an entire evening at Screams, so this makes the admission price very reasonable for the entertainment provided. Make sure you bring some extra cash for Trail of Terror, too!
Overall Experience/Summary/Misc. Information
Screams is a huge place, and they can accommodate large crowds. This means you most likely will run into long lines, so make sure you have some good conversation topics to discuss while you wait. Either that, or go ahead and purchase the VIP pass. We love the overall atmosphere at Screams, and wish we could spend the evening just enjoying all the different things to do… but unfortunately we usually have more haunts we have to review on the same night. But as for everyone else, go ahead and plan your evening to be at Screams all night, and hang out a while to take in the great surroundings.
Screams is slowly but surely improving all their haunts and performances, and we are very pleased to announce that they are almost there. I swear it gets better and better every year, and this year has been just as remarkable in the improvements department. The best part about Screams is that it is a very family friendly place, too. There is nothing too intense or gory, and even if you have a family member that it is too scared to go in one of the haunts, it is still tons of fun to just hang out and walk around the Screams theme park.
Previous Reviews
See the 2007 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=86)
See the 2006 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=67)
Feel free to post your experiences and reviews in the DFWHH Member Reviews Forum (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17)
http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/images/banners/screams_logo.gif (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=13)
Waxahachie, TX
OVERALL SCORE : 9
http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/images/stars/big/9.gif
Review Date: Saturday, October 11th 2008
Time: 8:00pm-9:00pm
Atmosphere
Located on the Scarborough Fairegrounds, Screams provides a wonderful place to "get your haunt on" and is fun for all ages. The atmosphere at Screams is the best in DFW, complete with food, drinks, games, rides, fortune tellers, excellent roaming characters, and other vendors. Screams is the only place in DFW that can actually call themselves a Halloween Theme Park, because there is so much to see and do while you are there, and you can easily spend the whole evening walking around the fairegrounds. Kick back and relax with friends, or go through the haunted houses as many times as you want.
Set Design/Detail/Floor Plan
Screams has made many changes this year. The graveyard at the entrance has been extended, the 3D Clown House is gone and replaced with a 3D Pirate house, the Maze has a new saw theme, and all the attractions seem to have more actors with better timing. We have always loved the Maze at Screams, and I think it has gotten longer and much trickier. The theme is not as important in the maze, since it is really about getting lost and making your way out. But the Saw puppets roaming around were a nice touch.
The 3D Pirates of Peril Point was by far the biggest and most remarkable improvement. The completely new paintings and theme design is so much better than the clowns, and the characters are so well hidden that you should get quite a few startles and scares, too. The 3D glasses must stay on for you to get the full experience, because it is all about the eye-candy here. But beware, you are not safe from actor involvement while you look around at the awesome artwork on the walls… I was actually startled (and I screamed) by someone toward the end that I was not expecting.
The Arcane Asylum and the Castle of darkness did not change as much as I would have hoped, but they are both still fun. I would have like to see more realistic Asylum features to make it feel more like a hospital, but overall it was fun. The Castle of Darkness has great quality scenes and textured walls to keep you feeling like you are in a real dungeon. Both very effective haunts, and both are growing more and more into their full potential.
Live Actors (Performance/Enthusiasm/Costumes)
The haunted attractions at Screams uses a great amount of animatronics, and although they own some of the very best animated props I've ever seen, we also feel that there must be plenty of live actors mixed in with the animatronics to make it effective. Thankfully, we are seeing more and more talent at Screams, and their acting staff is definitely showing signs of improvement each year. There is still a chance to grow in this area because I still think each of the haunts could use more live bodies to counter-balance the use of animatronics, specifically so in The Castle of Darkness. The roaming characters around the Screams park are all excellent and highly entertaining to watch, and we would love to see this strong of talent throughout the haunts as well. 3D Pirates did an excellent job of blending in with the scenes and provided some great startles, but some were a little off on their timing (which will naturally improve through the season as they get into a routine). I would have liked to see more insanity in the Asylum characters, and probably MORE actors to make the theme more effective. I think the Asylum requires several actors with different psychological issues developed into their character and polished so that it really seems like the actors are actual crazed inmates instead of pretending like they are (if that makes sense).
Admission Price vs. Length (Entertainment Value)
You could easily spend an entire evening at Screams, so this makes the admission price very reasonable for the entertainment provided. Make sure you bring some extra cash for Trail of Terror, too!
Overall Experience/Summary/Misc. Information
Screams is a huge place, and they can accommodate large crowds. This means you most likely will run into long lines, so make sure you have some good conversation topics to discuss while you wait. Either that, or go ahead and purchase the VIP pass. We love the overall atmosphere at Screams, and wish we could spend the evening just enjoying all the different things to do… but unfortunately we usually have more haunts we have to review on the same night. But as for everyone else, go ahead and plan your evening to be at Screams all night, and hang out a while to take in the great surroundings.
Screams is slowly but surely improving all their haunts and performances, and we are very pleased to announce that they are almost there. I swear it gets better and better every year, and this year has been just as remarkable in the improvements department. The best part about Screams is that it is a very family friendly place, too. There is nothing too intense or gory, and even if you have a family member that it is too scared to go in one of the haunts, it is still tons of fun to just hang out and walk around the Screams theme park.
Previous Reviews
See the 2007 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=86)
See the 2006 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=67)
Feel free to post your experiences and reviews in the DFWHH Member Reviews Forum (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17)