Let me get this out of the way, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor is the scariest Halloween themed attraction I’ve been to this year.  That’s saying a lot because I’ve been to other theme parks and they just pale in comparison.  Dark Harbor is held at the haunted and historic ship, Queen Mary, in downtown Long Beach.  It has 5 mazes (3 in the ship and 2 outside), with 2 mini mazes  as you enter the attraction.

After going through the mazes, I tried to figure out why the mazes were so much scarier than other Halloween-mazed attractions.  Here are the reasons:

1) No employees with flashlights in the mazes – This made it way scarier because most of the time I didn’t know where the hell I was going.  The monsters will help guide you through the maze but for the most part you’re on your own.

2)  Darkness– The darkness adds a scary atmosphere to the mazes because I didn’t know where the monsters were hiding.  I jumped several times because someone would just pop out of nowhere.

3) Monsters – They were pretty enthusiastic and I could tell they enjoyed scaring people.  They gave it 100% and it showed.

4) Creativity – The Queen Mary was put to good use because of the long corridors.  There were also some new surprises that I won’t reveal but it made my heart stop several times.  The mazes are also long and range from 7-9 minutes (It feels way longer when you’re scared).

Quick glimpse of the mazes:

Here are the best mazes from best to worst:

1) Hellfire – This is the maze where I got lost.  I went in circles because I didn’t where to go.  The theme is fire so there’s a lot of red and dark orange lighting.  This one has a really cool effect that made me want to get out of the maze.  Don’t miss this maze!
Grade: A+

2)  Village Of The Damned – The village reminds me of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.  The creatures reminds me of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  There’s some well thought out new scare tactics in this maze, especially the outdoors area.  I thought it was going to be short maze but it was actually long.
Grade: A

3) Submerged – All I can is LITTLE GIRL.  She got me good and from that moment on, I was jumpy throughout the whole maze.  There’s also a creepy room with a piano.  I also passed by the haunted swimming pool and let’s just say I was rushing to get out of there.
Grade: A

4) The Cage – I got lost in this one too.  It feels like a Hellraiser movie with all the chains and hanged dead bodies all over you.  The creatures blend really well with the props so be careful and expect anything to jump at you.
Grade: A-

5) Containment – This one dealt with crazy patients.   It was brighter than the other mazes so it wasn’t as scary.  The psychos were great and scared me several times, especially when I didn’t expect it.
Grade: B+

Conclusion:
Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor 2011 was a surprise.  I didn’t expect much change from last year but they did a good job with their creativity and scare tactics.  This is the best value as well, where admission can be as low as $24 online ( $20 for group rates) on certain days.  I suggest buying online because you save $5.  Check this attraction out and be prepared to get scared.

Overall Grade: A

 

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