Castle Dark at Castle Park: 2021 Review
Castle Park, Riverside, CA
Our Inland Empire haunt excursions from the start of October ends in Riverside, where we visited Castle Park and its returning Castle Dark Halloween event during their opening weekend. Though Castle Park did have a modest Halloween overlay last year in its miniature golf side that included an outdoor walkthrough maze, it wasn’t the full Castle Dark experience that we saw the year prior. That was our first time at Castle Dark, so we were interested in seeing how the ambiance and offerings would be this year.
Welcome to Castle Dark at Castle Park!
Expectations were tempered by the knowledge that the scope of professional haunts region-wide was conservative this year, in the continuing wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the decisions and commitments that needed to be made months in advance of the actual operating run. With uncertainty over whether or not a “normal” Halloween event could be run, most places needed to dial back their amenities, lest they over-invest, only to be shut down by health regulations arising out of a possible surge.
On the other hand, Castle Park, on paper, promised a Halloween attraction that would continue the expansion of its scope over the past years, with four scare zones and three mazes—including its largest and longest ever—plus the return of its amusement park side operations after being shut down last year. With the park looking to establish a level that can help present it as a more budget-conscious alternative to the Knott’s and Universals of the world, it would make sense for Castle Dark to buck the industry trend and keep reaching forward on a year that many places held some amount back.
The rides are back open this year after being closed last year.
The park was decked out in spooky colors during our visit, with the amusement park half bathed in eerie blues and purples and reds. There wasn’t anything overt in the theming beyond lighting. For example, we did not see many props or decorations like cheesecloth spiderwebs or tomb stones or even fog other than at select locations. But there was a general atmosphere that suggested something haunting. Plus, it was just nice to see the park fully open after last year’s closures limited it to only the golf component after Castle Park was even allowed to reopen.
Guests can enjoy a pre-scare dinner here, and at night, it’s lit up in moody colors!
There was also an opening moment that we missed because we did not arrive until mid-evening. Fortunately, our friends at Parks & Cons caught the opening ceremony, which gives guests an idea of an ongoing struggle between witches and witch hunters that spreads across a good portion of the park. This kicked off the Castle Dark evening in earnest, though guests purchasing a VIP ticket could enjoy a pre-scare meal with scareactor interaction.
As we wandered the park, we also saw a kid-friendly hay bale maze in the Día de los Muertos area that is a family-friendly daytime offering. Due to time limitations, we were not able to adequately explore the miniature golf side, but we imagine it’s decked out in Halloween decorations similar to last year’s Happy Hauntings.
The kid-friendly maze at Castle Park’s daytime family-friendly Día de los Muertos event.
Although there are three advertised mazes at this year’s event, we were unfortunately unable to explore the Phobias maze, located behind the castle, during our opening weekend visit, because it was not yet available. Thus, our review will unfortunately be based on an incomplete experience, and we will update it if we are able to make it to the park a second time later this season.
Home Sweet Home
Of the two mazes open last weekend, Home Sweet Home carried a darker tone. It was a bit hard to find, tucked away behind a corner at the northwest corner of the Streets of La Sierra (aka the Día de los Muertos) scare zone. But we were able to find it after being directed to the general area.
A general haunted house guarding a demented family with gruesome secrets, this maze contained the better set decoration and theming of the two, although the quality seemed to be generally the same as in 2019 and was a noticeable couple of steps below the premiere SoCal haunt attractions like Knott’s, Universal, or even Six Flags.
A thrilling finale awaits at the Home Sweet Home maze.
The lack of photogenic moments was fortunately balanced by a terrific cast of scareactors that maintained a great amount of energy and provided scares through a variety of methods and different angles. From dark corners to hidden compartments to even under furnishings, the startles kept guests guessing thanks to their unexpected directions. The talent was also enthusiastic and maintained great timing. culminating with a final encounter with a chainsaw-wielding maniac who chased guests out of the maze entirely.
Mama doesn’t like guests sneaking around her home.
Big kudos especially goes out to our favorite scareactor of the maze, a lady we called “Mama” whose grumpy and irritated countenance was matched by her penchant for literally throwing metal kitchen items against the walls as we passed while shouting at us to get out of the room. The whole “get out of here!!” scare can get old fast, but the introduction of projectiles flying near enough to catch our attention (but not so near to leave us feeling unsafe) was both hilarious and fantastic. We really hope to see more Mama in the future!
Mr. Tubb$ Twisted Circus
The other available maze was a familiar site. Located in The Midway scare zone, Castle Dark’s clown-maze was a high-energy, zany, absurd maze that was light on scenic and ambiance but heavy on talented, physical clowns who thrived on interaction with guests and making the most out of their hiding corners through the maze.
This clown is full of jokes of what happened to this unfortunate victim. Or half victim.
The maze itself is relatively short. Similar to Home Sweet Home, Mr. Tubb$ Twisted Circus is carried by the strength of its cast, which are full of the twisted, psychotic liveliness that one would expect from a clown maze. The scareactors aren’t afraid to be physical in their surroundings, scaling the flats to loom down, slinking along the ground to amplify the creep factor, and play with the props that are in the maze. We definitely wish maze can be more than just painted walls and minimal props, but the most important factor—the monsters—is strong here.
The clowns have a plethora of energy and help balance the scenic shortcomings of the maze.
Scare Zones
Castle Dark boasts four scare zones this year—Dark Harvest, The Inferno, The Streets of La Sierra, and The Midway. Of the four, the first two feel ill-defined, as there isn’t any particular theming or decorations that denote which zone extends where, and the clues relate more to which monsters are where. And even then, the witch and her army of undead scarecrows and the witchhunters that oppose them seem to wander through a majority of the amusement park area.
The witch uses her powers to force a witch hunter to harm himself.
The undead minions of the witch wreck terror in the Castle Dark streets.
The two groups do interact with each other, leading to unscheduled theatrical moments where the witch exerts her power and leaves her crusading pursuers at her mercy. This type of greater level showmanship is a nice step in the direction of what an establishment like Knott’s is doing, showcasing the higher aims of Castle Dark. But we would have liked to have seen more ambiance and placemaking—even with mobile sets or a few larger scale backdrops to help enhance the spaces
The Midway is a little more obvious, occupying the section of the park around Mr. Tubb$ Twisted Circus. The clowns run the place here, and this year, the Lady in White seems to have joined them. The monsters in the Midway are fun and twisted, and they seem to spend more of their energy on scares compared to those in Dark Harvest. Taking advantage of the inherent coulrophobia that some people suffer, they prowl the grounds and work a combination of startle and psychological scares on their guests.
The clowns of The Midway will literally bend over backwards to get their scares.
It is a little odd to see the Lady in White—portrayed more as more of a somber or haunting character in the past—acting more goofy and absurd this year. But she remains an iconic figure, if only because the concept of a bride-like character is so entrenched in haunt culture—especially these days.
The one and only and incredible Zombie Joe poses with the Lady in White at Castle Dark.
Theming-wise, the most beautiful and scenic of the zones lies in the Streets of La Sierra area and its border near the castle, where a series of tombstones and caskets are bathed in eerie magenta and red. This area seems to complement the queue and entrance of the Phobias maze more than it supports the Día de los Muertos-themed La Sierra scare zone, but it is part of what we hope to see more of elsewhere in the park. We were especially amused at a tombstone singing the praises of the death of a Mr. Gagnier, a reference to Castle Dark Haunted Attraction Designer and Director, Matthieu Gagnier. That sort of fun, deprecating Easter egg is a nice nod to fans of the event and continues to subtly reinforce the longterm building that event operators have in mind.
The scene near the entrance to Phobias, near the castle, is moody and wonderful.
The Streets of La Sierra continue the best scenic examples of Castle Dark with their string light coverd tres and hanging lanterns and great use of fog amidst the more woodsy area to enhance the atmosphere and create something that really does feel eerie. The monsters here are also unnerving, often moving methodically before sudden jump scares or just honing in on some guests’ fears and letting imagination and discomfort take care of the rest.
The Streets of La Sierra also look wonderful at night.
From a general standpoint, Castle Dark’s scare zones show a lot of promise and good execution in different areas of the park, and they’re certainly ready to take the next step by combining the storytelling strengths in Dark Harvest and The Inferno with the visual spectacles of the Streets of La Sierra and the overt scares of The Midway. We hope that improvement can continue next year.
The sugarskull scareactors search for victims in the Streets of La Sierra.
Overall, I’d have to say that this year’s Castle Dark wasn’t quite the continued improvement that we saw building momentum in 2019, but we also understand that the past two years have been very challenging and created a lot of difficulties with planning, construction, execution, and even staffing. There are certainly strengths to be found and solid foundations to build on—the storytelling of the maze has a strong start, and there are moments in both mazes that we experienced that were great. The talent also is very strong and really helps support the bulk of Castle’s Dark’s haunted experience and scares.
What does need to improve are the scenic and designed aspects. We will never expect Castle Dark to achieve the complex sophistication and incredible visual density of a Knott’s Scary Farm or Reign of Terror or the immersion of a Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. However, the level of production at Castle Dark is exceeded by many of the prominent home haunts that we cover during the second half of October, and we feel that getting near that level is an attainable and worthwhile goal—if the ownership group is willing to provide the budget for it.
Castle Dark at Castle Park continues its run on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through the rest of the month. Hours are 7:00pm - midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 7:00pm - 10:00pm on Sundays. Tickets start at $35 for general admission and includes access to rides. Upgrades and add-on’s like VIP, miniature golf, and dinner will cost extra.
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
