Coffin Creek: 2019 Review

Coffin Creek, Corona, CA

Happy Friday, folks! Or should I say… FRIGHTday? In any case, today, we’re taking a look at one of our favorite old school haunts as well as one of our favorite just absurdly fun haunts. Coffin Creek has long been a collection of classically detailed haunted attractions, separately owned but gathered along a stretch of property in Corona that also hosts the Koroneburg Renaissance Festival during the summer, and though the haunt has retained generally the same form over the years, it still offers some great, pure thrills and entertainment on account of its mix of earnestly unnerving ambiance and amazing collection of scareactor talent.

We stopped by opening night last Friday to see how this year’s Coffin Creek stacked up to our terrific time last season. And the good news? With the exception of a few disappointing segments, the haunt overall continues to shine bright with its unique, charmingly janky (I mean this in a good way!) brand of spooks.

Uncle Zed’s Extraterrestrial Excursions

This year, we decided to start from the back of the complex and work our way to the front. That meant doing Coffin Creek’s haunted hayride first. Last year, we absolutely raved about this attraction’s retooling into a campy and humorous take on the traditional scary hayride concept by infusing some redneck zombie wrangling into it. Take terrifying zombies and mix them with the innocently incompetent oversight of hillbillies, and what do you get? A ride that didn’t take itself too seriously and provided a really fun twist on the hayride concept.

This year brought a sequel to the hayride, with Uncle Zed now offering an extraterrestrial excursion after apparently coming in contact with some aliens or whatnot. And though the attraction started off well enough with the same slapstick and lackadaisical tone, this year’s version of the hayride fell short of the original. A combination of minimal talent after the second or third scene, a distinct lack of storytelling, a pointless disembark to navigate a brief maze portion, and noticeably missing extraterrestrial elements (other than one alien, and maybe some spider octopus or sometihng) made the hayride somewhat lackluster, especially in comparison to last year’s thoroughly entertaining offering. We were a bummed about the turn of events, but admittedly, there might have been some opening night kinks to work out.

The Dark Realm

Our following excursion brought us to the neighboring Dark Realm maze, the fantasy attraction that recalled allusions to Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons type threats. This year followed the same format that we’ve seen the past two years: a guide takes us into an ancient temple, where vicious orcs lurk. Our guide fights off the enemies as we continue on, and afterward, we’re forced to navigate the maze on our own.

Our first time through this maze in 2017 saw a nice half effort—in that the first half of the maze looked great and had some fun talent, but the second half ended up being relatively dead. Last year rectified this a great deal by scattering more talent on the back half, and this year continued that trend with more monsters, some touch-up here and there, and even the return of our favorite Companion! There was a dawning recognition when I called out “Companion!” immediately upon seeing her, and she slowly burst into an a slow, unfolding smile, channeling her inner Zootopia sloth. This was one of several fun interactive moments in the maze, which restored our enthusiasm about Coffin Creek after the poor hayride opening.

Young fantasy Lando Calrissian leads an adventure into the perilous domain of the Dark Realm.

The Dead Wolf Trail

The haunted trail at Coffin Creek has been known as the Prado Witch Trail during the seasons we’ve visited, but this year, the theme seemed to involve werewolves. The Dead Wolf Trail once again took us through a woodsy jaunt near the middle section of the Coffin Creek territory, next to the first parking lot guests see when they drive in. Last year, we loved the casual revelry that the scareactors seemed to enjoy, and we were curious how the new theme would play out.

The haunted trail at Coffin Creek is howlin’ good this year.

Well, a lot of this year’s haunted trail actually translated similarly to last year. There were familiar elements, such as the raucously entertaining backwoods hillbillies looking to serve us for dinner, ranger station, and tented pass-through area. The naturally eerie ambiance of the nighttime trail providing a chilling environment—literally, as the temperature actually felt clammier in the vegetation compared to elsewhere on site. It almost felt fitting to finally encounter the wolf terrorizing a campground, even if that left a pall in the vicinity.

We also appreciated the greater lighting to more carefully mark a path through the trail. Although the LED lighting didn’t necessarily shine the most appropriate color temperature onto the hike, it provided welcome illumination to help guest make their way through the proper avenue and back out to the parking lot. Overall, we enjoyed how moody and naturally unsettling this haunted trail was!

The Catacombs

Making our way back to the front, we checked out The Catacombs maze. This year, there was a storyline involving a warrior ducking into the dilapidated grounds to find his brother, Alex, who was last seen here and who might be in danger. We followed him through the spaces, attracting unwanted attention as we proceeded. Apparently, within these chambers, a secret society of some sort of occult or unsavory practice held charge throughout the course, and they were quite engaging and active as we went through. Though not every monster encountered tossed back with a hard scare, they did provide a great effort nonetheless.

And we never did find Alex… I suppose he probably died in the Catacombs.

Who lurks in The Catacombs? Apparently a secret society.

Brimstone Asylum

Last but not least (in fact, our favorite every year) was the Asylum maze. This year, it even had an ominous sounding name, but the layout was just about the same as we’ve seen the past two years—with a few welcome changes in the walls that actually threw us off our expectations when going through.

The strength of Coffin Creek’s Asylum maze has always been its talent. Nowhere is that more on display than in the Brimstone Asylum, where every scareactor does an amazing job of convincing guests that they really do have some unstable tendencies that should probably be closely monitored. We ran into several charismatic souls—including the most intimidating nurse I’ve ever met—and each of them really drew us deeper and deeper into this jaunt of a psychiatric facility. Each of them carried a fervor that was just delightful to watch, and as we went through one part of the maze, we could hear screams emanating from another.

That’s right, YOU should come to Coffin Creek this weekned!

At Brimstone Asylum, the somewhat run-down nature of the mazes (at least aesthetically speaking) actually provided a boost for the vibe we got going through this. The mazes at Coffin Creek stay up year-round and are impacted by all the elements—solar exposure, wind, and rain. This means that they’re not in the most pristine conditions, but when it comes to going through a sanitarium that someone burned down once upon a time, Brimstone certainly feels like an ancient, cursed facility that is now falling apart—both from age and perhaps its restless spirits!

The timing and energy of the scares was fantastic, and the emotions that the scareactors poured into their roles was terrific. Each character was so recognizably unique, and yet they all were highlighted by their common enthusiasm for their roles.

Coffin Creek might change subtly enough that many haunt fans might not feel a need to go back year after year, but for us, this maze is worth returning to every year. It represents a really fun iteration of how a haunt used to be, tapping into a bit of nostalgia for its advantage. Along the way, the attraction is charged by the passionate and captivating contributions of its scareactor cast, creating a thoroughly entertaining and scary fun experience. If you’ve never gone to Coffin Creek, well, go check it out!

Coffin Creek is located on 14600 Baron Dr., Corona, CA 92880, just off River Road. There is a $5 cash charge for parking on site (or $5 plus service fees if purchased online in advance), and guests can get tickets at a booth either near the exit of Asylum or at the entrance into the Renaissance Festival area of the town. Come properly hydrated but not overly so. The only restrooms available are port-a-potties. The haunt runs Fridays through Sundays plus Halloween night from now through Sunday, November 3rd. Tickets are $15 per attraction, or all five for $45. Add $20 for a front-of-the-line option.