Corona Haunt presents A Christmas Nightmare: 2021 Review
Corona Haunt, Corona, CA
Season’s Screamings!! No, wait, that’s next weekend, and there are still tickets left for that haunted holiday festival for those who shun Christmas and embrace Krampus and enjoy the dark side of the winter solstice period.
Today, though, we’re covering something similar and returning to the scene of one of our Halloween season favorites, Corona Haunt. A month and a half ago, they celebrated their tenth anniversary of home haunting with their wonderful Tales of Halloween production, and we were so enamored that we figured we should take all steps to catch up on the fantastic quality hauntings of Mason and Joe, since we had never been before. Flash forward to last night, and it was time for a different holiday story—one of snow and colorful lights and a brisk chill that signaled the impending arrival of presents and delight and warm tidings.
This opening scene is a familiar sight to those who visited Tales of Halloween.
…Except this was the Corona Haunt, and naturally, they weren’t about to just put on any winter dream. Instead, last night marked the first night of a very limited one-weekend run of their yuletide haunted attraction, A Christmas Nightmare. While the legends of October had (mostly) faded away, Corona Haunt’s December production still fulfilled the sounds of terror, as this new and intimate maze wove a cozy, creepy cornucopia of twisted noel terror.
The trip began with a familiar sight from the side yard entrance—a cozy neighborhood home, retained from the October maze build, now decked for the winter holidays. Instead of warm orange string lights, there were icicles and colorful Christmas bulbs and a lovely wreath. And just beyond, a figure, frozen by the window. That’s… that’s not very cozy at all. And this was the first Horror Nights-style jump scare during Tales of Halloween. Would this be a ruse for another startle?
Corona Haunt offers their take on an abominable snowman!
There was little time to contemplate, because a duck into the next scene revealed a Christmas tree farm, with evergreens waiting for visitors to take home and decorate for the holidays. A glance at the sign above showed that this was the Shadow Mountain Christmas Tree Farm, a nod to last year’s Halloween production and a fun Easter egg for returning fans. Of course, this also provided a natural setup for a jump scare, with a frightful snowman emerging to threaten guests with a candy cane staff.
From there, it was a turn indoors, as guests ducked into a festive home scene, decorated for Christmas and looking lovely with a distinctively Haunted Mansion-esque wallpaper, a glowing little Christmas tree, an an antique radio that haunt enthusiasts might recognize from The Pirates Cave this past October. But these details were simply a distraction from the next scare, as Santa burst out of his own portrait with menacing gestures and an insidious disposition!
Keep a sharp eye for Easter eggs from The Pirates Cave Haunt, such as this radio that was featured in the mines of this past Halloween season’s The Curse of Calico Jack production!
A turn around the corner offered some potential warmer holiday spirit retreat, with presents and toys set up and the walls apparently completely wrapped for a Christmas surprise. But a vicious looking demonic teddy bear popping out from an unseen hideaway ruined all sense of holiday cheer. Even the toys had taken a dark turn—a change emphasized by a creepy doll a little beyond.
One last scene change transported guests to the North Pole, home of Santa Claus himself! Or perhaps Santa Claws, for this lair was much more sinister looking, with a skull serving as a candle holder and dark and dingy details. Naturally, just before fleeing back to the safety of the street, guests received one last jump scare from Santa looking for new souls to keep at the North Pole to serve as his toy-making slaves!
Uh oh, scary Santa is definitely here to consume to souls of all the naughty boys and girls!
Though A Christmas Nightmare was significantly shorter than Tales of Halloween (and can you really fault Corona Haunt for not being able to build a completely different yet equally lengthy Christmas haunt right on the heels of their Halloween creation?), it still featured the same fantastic Corona Haunt quality. Of particular notice was the use of holiday scents throughout the maze, from fresh spruce fragrances outside to syrupy sweet confectionary smells inside. Shoutout to Bath and Body works for olfactory experience—they weren’t an official sponsor, but they could have been!
Beyond that, the inventive and resourceful quality we saw from Halloween was back for Christmas, from the paper product textured rock work and caverns to the snowy foliage. The sound design—with help from Jacob Larson of The Pirates Cave—was delightfully creepy, and the entire ambiance was a perfect blending of holidays and haunt. What a wonderful production Corona Haunt provided for those haunt enthusiasts whose thirst for terror could not be contained to only September and October!
Corona Haunt is located at 3161 Nutmeg Dr, Corona, CA 92882. A Christmas Nightmare is only running this weekend, so tonight and tomorrow night from 7:00 - 9:00 pm are your only chances to experience this bit of holiday horror. And if you want more, stop by the nearby Corona Lights for a pretty amazing holiday light show!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
