Dark Harvest Haunted Hayride – Plainfield, Illinois (Review)
Visited on Friday, October 18th, 2013
Location: 508 E Schoolhouse Rd, Plainfield, Illinois 60544
Dark Harvest Haunted Hayride is a mixture of both indoor and outdoor environments. The main ride is outdoors and does not run during inclement weather. There is a large building where you buy your tickets and wait inside for the next ride that is warm and offers food and drinks in a warm and hospitable environment in case of bad weather, so that is a plus.
Hours: Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays 7 pm – 10 pm
Admission Price: $15
Parking: Free
Length: 25 minutes
Fright Factor: Low
Review:
I was with a group of about 20 other guests as we loaded onto the hay wagon. An actor in some type of zombie makeup accompanied our group on the wagon for the length of the ride. She did a good job of staying in character for the duration of the ride. She carried around a bottle of green whisky and a gun for protection, telling guests not to drink it.
The story goes…a long time ago, Annabel and her family came here to search for gold, but what they found definitely was not gold, it was a green substance. The green substance turns folks in zombie-like creatures, and they’re still here, but the green substance is very valuable.
The main actor, Annabel would continue telling her story while the ride continued. At certain points, actors would jump out of the corn and attack the hay wagon. The main actress would use her gun to shoot the creatures dead. As the hay wagon rolled past a few scenes, other actors would continue to chase after the wagon and the main actor would continue shooting them. It was pretty much the same scenario every time.
At the end of the ride, we approached the hut of the main actor’s father. We were instructed to get off the hay wagon and finish the last section on foot. We walked past her father’s hut with no fanfare or final scare, not sure what was supposed to happen here.
Unfortunately, the Dark Harvest Haunted Hayride was a bit of a letdown for me. There really weren’t any great scares here at all. There was great potential while being pulled through some creepy, dark cornfields but nothing scary really materializes. The actors and creators of this haunt have their hearts in the right place, they really did try, and I just think there needs to be more in the way of creativity and design for next year. Special appreciation to actor Bella Highwire who did a wonderful job portraying Annabel for the ride! I was also told by one of the creators of the attraction they didn’t really get a start on building and designing the ride until after July of this year, so that doesn’t really leave much time to put together an effective haunt. I’m hoping that for next year, they put a little more time and effort into making a really great haunted hayride experience. Kudos to all the actors and creators for really giving it their all!
3 out of 5 Pentagrams!
A very special thank you to Dan McGrail and Bella Highwire for everything!
