Haunted landmarks often make the perfect place for Halloween Festivities, and the Queen Mary is no different. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to experience Dark Harbor, and I will say I was not disappointed. We had a fairly large group for an attraction like this, and in my opinion it made the night that much better.
The wait in line wasn’t too bad, and some of the talent came out in character to allow patrons a quick photo op. As we were being let in, we had a second opportunity to take a picture against a green screen where they would add in various spooky backgrounds. We were then ushered into a small waiting area before the gates to Dark Harbor opened. There we were greeted by the fairly funny captain, and introduced to the Ring Leader. Both characters costumes and make up were very well designed and fit the personas of them very well.
After being let in, we decided to check out the appropriately named R.I.P Lounge. Set up in one of the walkways, they provided complimentary sliders and homemade potato chips and comfortable seating to enjoy the food on. We decided to walk around and check out the sights and find the sideshow bar before heading out and checking out the mazes. Even though I had just had a nice little amount of the free eats (which were delicious, by the way), I was still almost tempted to gorge myself on all of the carnival-esque food stands. Who could resist a bacon-wrapped pork belly kabob?
The first maze we walked through was Voodoo Village. Most of the talking talent had either a Cajun or Caribbean accent…and it was more than just a bunch of jump scares. Each person in the maze had their own character with their own personality and a definite reason for being where they were. This maze definitely had the creep factor, and was probably one of my favorites.
Next up we decided to check out the Creepy Cabanas, which were situated near the swing ride and the hookah booth. It was a great place to kick up your feet with your friends and drinks service was available here as well.
One of the new attractions was the Curse of Anubis paintball attraction. Ten people at a time were allowed in, and situated in front of a row of paintball guns with a handful of ammo in each. Different targets popped up, along with 2 ‘mummies’ running around the shooting area. It was fun, but any longer of a wait, I personally don’t think would have been worth it.
In the huge dome that used to house the Spruce Goose, we found the Circus maze. Everything that makes the circus the circus was twisted up and turned into something extremely creepy. Sideshow freaks, multiple paths to take, a giant ball pit…it was definitely fun and most certainly one of the mazes I was glad to see return.
From there we moved on to Soulmate, which was about a woman named Gale who disappeared while on the ship. Her lonely ghost is now a permanent resident of the ship, and she is out to build her perfect companion by collecting the best parts of the best men and assembling her own. Ever seen the movie ‘Mae’? Yeah, I think she heard about the store of Graceful Gale. The maze looked like something straight out of a horror movie, I was definitely on my toes through the whole thing. Gale was as elegant and beautiful as she was creepy…and the last room of the maze clearly portrayed the madness inside the mind of a lonely ghost.
Next up was B340, which personally I was not impressed with. The idea behind it was good. Guy with a troubled past suffering from severe mental illness and turns into a serial killer…should be easy to make something freaky right? There were a few good jump scares that got me…but I don’t feel like it was executed all that well. I am jumpy and easily scared…and I was laughing more in this one than feeling any bit of nervous, anxious, or any of the other feelings one should get in a haunted maze.
Lullaby was another new attraction, and played off of the story of the little girl ghost that haunts the pool room. It starts off with the funeral of a little girl, Mary. This already had me pretty freaked out considering little scary Mary bears a striking resemblance to my 3 year old daughter. This maze dives into the mind of a sadistic little ghost looking for a few friends to play with. The further we got into the maze, the more creeped out I got by the creepy little girls. I may have been a little biased, but I liked this one.
Last but not least, we have Deadrise. This is my favorite of the 6. Taking place on a sunken WWII support ship, I was hooked instantly being a former sailor myself. The talent, the props, everything was on point. There were explosions, I got sprayed by water, both creepy ghoulies AND jump scares…on my toes through the entire thing. Let me tell you about the last little bit of the maze. White paint, bright white lights, and lots of fog provide lots of area for the talent to hide. I’m not joking when I say this, I was literally almost afraid to go through this last bit in anticipation of the scares waiting for me. (I’d like to take this time to mention that of the group I went with, being the smallest and most skittish of the bunch I was practically a magnet for scares.) I made it through alright….almost. The last ghoulie scared the dickens out of me so bad I’m pretty sure I provided plenty of laughs to anyone in the vicinity.
All in all, Dark Harbor was great….much better than when I came a few years back. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone looking to have a fun night at an awesome Halloween attraction. Food, freaks, and drinks….what more could you ask for?
