Photo TR: HauntMania at Canada's Wonderland

[PCW_NutA donkey is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.]

Last night was a great event hosted by CWMania.com. It featured a Q&A with Haunt staff, behind the scenes tours, etc.

In terms of the New Hotness for Haunt this year let me run down a couple things:

Terror of London: I cannot speak enough about how amazing the sets were in this maze. Walking out onto the streets of London for the first time was like walking into From Hell or Sweeny Todd. Very impressive sets. The scares weren't there, but for this I can forgive them as I was just too wrapped up into the world.

Clowns at Midnight: Not a new maze, but did receive a rather large overhaul and for the better. New layout, new scares, and just plane creepy, especially for me as I'm terrified of clowns.

Mother Noose: Again, not a new maze, but a new location and layout. I found it was much better a maze, however not as well themed as in the past. Didn't feel too wrapped up in the idea of being in the fairy tales as much as I felt I was in a glow in the dark acid trip out of Alice in Wonderland.

Skeleton Crew: This show was pretty good even thought I only caught the tail end of it. Just some trampoline work with the performers dressed up in Skeleton Outfits. I will post a video soon and link it here.

The park was dead, pardon the pun, so they decided to close it early. This was both a good and bad. Bad because we did not get to see The Hanging as the show takes place at 11pm and the park closed at 10. However, it was good because park staff met us at the front gate to hand out return passes for any night of the haunt going forward. Something they did not need to do in my eyes but definitely a welcome apology.

In addition, due to the light crowds we were able to get through all the mazes at least once with no Congo lines at all. In some cases me and my two friends were the only people in the entire maze. It was a very personal and terrifying experience.

Enjoy my photos from the event and feel free to ask anything else.

The event started outside at the registration booth.


The entry plaza/graveyard was very well done this year


First stop...Maple Room. Thanks to Wonderland for letting us enjoy some great pastries and hot chocolate.




Up next was Wonderland Theatre for some Q&A


Mother Noose


Blood on the Bayou


SPOILER WARNING: Terror of London. There are no words that can explain how gorgeous this maze is. The sets are top notch and walking out onto the streets of London the first time is truly breathtaking.


Kingdom of Carnage


Red Beards Rage


Set for Skeleton Crew


Time to see Blood on the Bayou with most the lights on


Time for ERT. Got 8 rides in during the 30 Min session.


Time for the raffle. One of my guests won the grand prize Haunt package.


Now enjoy some random Haunt shots.




This maze really benefited from the new location I think.




Scareactors in the Clowns area are top notch.


My friend even had to read a story to one of them












The new LEDs in the fountain are amazing


An example of how they are using the projector for the Mountain. At one point a giant spider crawls along the top of the mountain as well. Quite amazing


My only complain for Haunt is not even Scare Zones. There are a lot of dead areas in the park that could benefit from a scare zone. They have this one by the washrooms at Wonder Mountain but could definitely use more.


Creepy hanging babies


The set for The Hanging. Due to the early closing the show did not take place but since the park gave out free return passes, I am sure I will get to see it another night.

[asimowalkIndiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Donkey.]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. Looks like they've really upped their game.

I'm both surprised and impressed that they would hand out return passes for the early closing, considering the rest of the Haunt season after opening day weekend is usually insane in terms of crowds. They used to close early for Fearfest when attendance was low, but I can't recall any time the park closing early since CF took over.

[odene497I prefer to mate with donkeys over humans!]

Yesterday was definitely a good day. And I agree about Terror of London, it was so cool! And I really liked the Skeleton Crew show.

[PCW_NutA donkey is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.]

Ya, it was a great move on Wonderland's part and wasn't expected.

Was such a fun night and can't wait to go back to Haunt...mainly for Terror of London.

[ElecterikPermanent Tourist]

I really like that they had models of the houses on display. Thanks for posting this!

[PCW_NutA donkey is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.]

Ya, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Haunt season is my favorite time of year so it was great seeing the models. The fact they allowed photos was even more amazing.

[harper830872 + 2 = donkey!]

I usually dont care for anything that has to do with haunts but this TR is fantastic. It actually made me wonder how I could make it to CW to check it out haha.

[PCW_NutA donkey is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.]

Roll it into next years Haunt and you will also be able to ride one of if not the best B&M hyper out there and the first B&M Giga...sure that sweetens the pot just a bit?

I think the only thing Wonderland's Haunt lacks is any good scarezones. They have 1, 2 if you count the Midway section near Clowns at Midnight, but they aren't really your typical "zone" so to speak. Aside from that this was probably one of the best jobs they've done on Haunt and even the kids Campy Spooky throughout the day was well done.

[kunpc1I wrote the book about donkeys!]

I'll take 10 mazes (most of which are really well done) over a couple mediocre scare zones and just a couple mazes (ala Cedar Point). My group of friends and I found the "scare zones" at Cedar Point to be really weak in general over the past few years.

I'd prefer the extra monsters go in more mazes than have to sacrifice that to fill the midway. Sure there were a couple stretches that could use a little "something" (especially between Splash Works and White Water Canyon)... Maybe some smoke and just a couple monsters in the area would be good enough.

[PCW_NutA donkey is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.]

Agreed, however I just think that a couple more zones would allow more scares through the busy night. Universal clearly does it best, but the zones truly allow those who aren't willing to wait in line on the busy nights the ability to at least get some sort of scare throughout the night.

Again, this is kind of a small nitpick, as the rest of Haunt this year was amazing. I can't wait wait to get back for Terror of London.