2007 Sandyland Acres review by Jim Fletcher
Haunted Cincinnati was on hand for the 2nd year Sandyland Acres.
It was, as usual, a pleasure to spend some time with Brenda and
Gene as they are always really good company. This year there are
some new attractions to Sandyland including a corn maze and gift
shop. The prices are reasonable ($10 for hayride and $5 for the
corn maze). The gift shop carries assorted halloween novelty
items and the Sandyland Acres T-Shirt which was pretty
impressive. One of the things I really like about Sandyland is
that I believe that it is scary enough to keep the teenagers
interested, but not scary enough that some of the little ones
could not also enjoy (May need to close their eyes on some of
it). One of the scenes are clever as hell like the Saw scene
which makes you part of the movie. I don't want to spoil it, but
it was really cool. I also liked seeing Ash from Evil Dead, but
would have liked to see him fighting some kind of demon from the
necronomicon. Overall I think they absolutely improved over last
year and you could tell that they are big horror fans as the
movie scenes they have setup are very nice. For more information
on Sandyland Acres Haunted trail check out their website at
www.SandylandAcres.com.
Actors: 4/5 The actors for the most part were really good
showing good energy. I think that the creepy young lady who
works the line and helps people get situated on the hayride
deserves a 5/5 as she not only was scaring the crap, and pee
(Bonus!) out of people, she also was very entertaining and was
getting very good laughs. The only things I would do are I would
give Ash a little more personality and pit him against undead.
Ash isn't ash unless you are in stitches (no pun intended). I
took my 15 year old daughter who was scared multiple times. She
was thrilled to see Jeepers Creepers character. They also have
some very high skilled "stunt" people who just about crash into
with farm equipment and who circle the hayride on a REAL horse
with no head. I will let you figure out who that is.
Environment: 4/5 The environment was perfect. A cool fall
evening with a sky full of stars and a near full moon set the
stage for Sandylands 2nd installment of the haunted hayride. The
hayride is a good mix of movie scenes as well as scenes you
would expect to find on a farm. Sandyland has lot of new scenes
which are great, the only reason they did not get a 5 was that a
couple of my lesser favorite scenes made it back (graveyard and
clowns) I am really hard on the clowns. I know they scare a lot
of people, but I just don't like them. I really enjoyed the path
they cut this year and had a wonderful time. My daughter wanted
to keep going back through again and again.
Scare Rating: 4/5 The math is pretty straight forward on this.
The scares are there. When you are in a group where someone
breaks down crying and pee's themselves I believe you have done
your job. With a couple of changes Sandyland is heading toward a
5 score. This is the best haunted hayride I have been to in
awhile and really enjoyed myself. Lookout Cincinnati/Northen
Kentucky cause the new kids in town are now old pro's.
