Sandyland Acres Haunted Hayride-“The Trilogy Contines”
Petersburg Kentucky is home to one of the best hayrides around and every year Sandyland Acres Haunted Hayride seems to bring something new for people to enjoy. Are you ready to experience Kentucky’s best hayride, Sandyland Acres Haunted Hayride?
Length-10: Your ride through the dark and mysterious woods will take 25-30 minutes to complete. A few of the dead spots that are present are there to build tension before the next scene.
Design-9: This year a few scenes have been removed such as The Killer Clowns tent, Michael Myers House, Wrong Turn car crash and more. But while you may miss these entertaining scenes they’ve been replaced with creative rooms that are sure to put a chill down your spine. New scenes include a brand new Saw torture room, Freddy Krueger’s Boiler Room, a frightening zip line and even a funeral procession. Overall the best new scene at Sandyland Acres is the frightening funeral procession. You’ll suddenly stop at a church where floating corpses can be seen carrying a casket next to a foggy graveyard. While this is a creative scene, it’s been done before at Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride in Pittsburgh, PA. The vast majority of scenes at Sandyland Acres are straight from classic horror movies and for the most part are replicated pretty well. But some rooms that don’t take place inside barns are a little too dark. Colorful lighting would help in making some key scenes more dramatic.
Props/Animatronics-8: The majority of haunted hayrides in the US use their farm equipment to their full advantage and Sandland Acres is no different. Sandyland Acres features a galloping headless horseman, fast farm equipment and more. But while this hayride features everyday farm equipment there are also some homemade props and animatronics that are incorporated in the haunted hayride. New this year is a group of floating corpses who carry a large casket during a funeral procession. This is a pretty impressive and complex effect that has only been seen at a few other hayrides around the country.
Acting-8: The actors at Sandyland Acres are an enthusiastic bunch to the say the least. Not only do many of them jump on the tractor with you, characters like Freddy Krueger, Leather Face and others interact with people and get up close and personal. But while the actors obviously love to scare, the overuse of rubber masks makes some of the characters unrealistic. The use of more makeup and prosthetics would help in making people forget that this is a haunted Hayride and make them think it’s real. Famous horror movie icons you’ll meet are Freddy Krueger, Leather Face, Jig Saw, Ash (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) and others. One key character missing this year is the energetic Ring girl who says the rules before the tractor drives into the dark woods. This actor will truly be missed since she was a key element in getting people pumped up before the hayride started.
Scare Effect-9: Haunted Hayrides are much different than haunted trails of haunted houses. If the tractor is full of only a few people who are frightened at the slightest sound then it makes the whole experience that much more entertaining for the rest of the people on the tractor. The night we visited it wasn’t very crowded, but the people on the hayride were wanting to get scared and ultimately they were. Nothing beats venturing into dark and secluded woods not knowing what lurks around the corner.
Fright Value: Sandyland Acres is one of the most reasonably priced hayrides around. $10 gets you nearly 30 minutes worth of frightful family fun under the fall moon. An extra $5 gets you ahead of the line on those nights where its crowded.
Final Stab-8.8: Sandyland Acres has proved that great atmosphere and fresh ideas makes a haunted hayride that people come back to year after year.