In this episode of the Haunted Attractions and Horror Glore podcast, host Sydoney Banks reviews the Scare-O-Zona Scaregrounds, sharing insights from a recent visit. The conversation covers the behind-the-scenes experience, the quality of the attractions, and the passion of the actors involved. The episode emphasizes the importance of heart and soul in haunted attractions, contrasting corporate entities with family-owned operations. The review concludes with recommendations for future visits and reflections on the Halloween season. scarizona.com https://qrco.de/beJjEa
takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Haunted Attractions and Reviews
02:20 Behind the Scenes at Scare-O-Zona Scaregrounds
05:41 Exploring the Attractions: Complete Darkness and Mayhem
08:28 The Heart and Soul of Haunted Attractions
10:51 Final Thoughts and Recommendations
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Sydoney Banks (00:01.422)
Hello everybody and welcome back to Haunted Attractions and Horror Glore podcast. We are getting closer now to the day of Halloween and we are still continuing our 2024 reviews of Haunted Attractions. Sadly we are based out of Arizona so we cannot really do any out of Arizona right now. Now that can change if you'd like for us to come and review your haunted attraction.
Let us know. Or, if you live in another state and you would like to be a reviewer for USA Haunt Search, please let us know. You can go to USAHauntSearch.com and go ahead and go to the contact email list and let us know you're interested. Alright. So today's review is about Scare-O-Zona Scaregrounds. So to start off with...
We were invited by a friend. We have recently done a documentary with Yuzea Sinister Sin and the documentary is called Haunting with Heart. It just came out on the 13th of this month and is on YouTube. All you have to do is Google Haunting with Heart documentary or you can go to hauntingwithheart.com
And all the information is there. It is free to watch. It's for educational purposes as well as for entertainment and fun. Now, Haunting with Heart pretty much goes and talks about the haunt industry and the individuals who make haunted attractions special from actors to managers to creators and all in between. Now, like I said, that haunt- that documentary is now out and
You can see it for free, anybody can see it as long as you have access to YouTube. You can see Haunting with Heart. Now that being said, if you do enjoy it and like that documentary, you can donate to Audity 13, which is a charity that is based for leadership, diversity, and education for anti-bullying purposes. It is still newer and trying to get funding to get it start.
Sydoney Banks (02:20.482)
So if you're interested in helping with that, please go to oddity13.org. Now, that all being said, we're gonna talk about ScareZone and ScareGrenzen. Why did I bring up Haunting with Heart? Well, like I said, we were invited by Darryl, our devil, who we interviewed in Haunting with Heart. And we are getting ready to start our second documentary, I guess you wanna say? We were gonna do one, but he's kinda pushing us to start it now.
So he invited us to ScareZone of ScareGround where he is scaring this year. And to kind of do a behind the scenes look at, you know, ScareZone of ScareGround and getting ready and the cast and crew and such. So we went out and we asked some questions, looked around the backstage, watched some makeup get done, interviewed a couple of peoples and then...
We were out in the midway watching, you know, how they interact with people and the different scares and watching the devil do his fire breathing and scares and then we went through the attractions. So, this is the interview part. So since we kind of got to see backstage and stuff it's pretty cool. And I can say this from the last time we went they totally have stepped it up and has done a great job.
I think the last time we went it was like, I think it was an off day or something. They didn't have enough actors, but this time it was really good. All the actors were on point. The makeup was great. The acting was great. The costumes were pretty cool. And it was awesome to see them interact with the customers as they came through and the different things that they did. The different scare tactics, or being silly to being scary to being terrifying.
And how they go about doing that in the midway is very interesting. have multiple characters working different parts and different, you know, things that they do from like crawling around and jumping up on the barricades to, like I said, fire breathing to chasing with chainsaws. And I mean, it's it's total chaos in a good way. So for sure, it was really interesting.
Sydoney Banks (04:45.45)
and to get to see them actually have fun and play with the audience. And I believe we went on a Thursday, and it was quite busy for a Thursday, which was pretty interesting. They don't have, like, the biggest cast ever, but you wouldn't be able to tell, and they play the areas very well. Now, the first haunt is Complete Darkness, and you can't really see anything, so it's very...
scary because you don't know what's lurking in the dark, if there's any actors you don't know, and they do have a couple of little jump scares and scenes and stuff, but it is total dark. Just be very careful when you're walking your steps and stuff. The ground is a little uneven still, but as long as you're careful and you walk, you know, and kind of just be aware.
you should be fine. And like I said, you don't know what's lurking or hiding in the corners, but it is complete darkness and if you're afraid of that being in dark spaces and enclosed and whatnot, this would be terrifying for you. And I'm not gonna give a whole lot away, but there are some surprises and whatnot in that attraction, but it is quite
creepy, especially when you think about total darkness and the unknown. Your imagination plays a big part in that and your mind can play tricks on you seeing shadows or figures. So you never know if it was actually there or if it was something your mind was putting there. So it's quite unnerving and like they say you can't really run away from the darkness or avoid it. You have to go through it. So there's that. The second one is more of like a
mayhem, circus, junkyard, chaos, craziness. And we went through that one and that one was really, really interesting. Again, the characters were really well hidden in great hiding places, did really good pop scares, some really good acting. There was a couple of actors who were really outstanding and really played the part and were really in character and played around with you as you went through.
Sydoney Banks (07:04.578)
There was also some really cool sets and scenic designs. They also have some really neat animatronics that actually work. There's some haunts in Arizona where there are haunts that have animatronics that don't work at all. This place actually did have animatronics that worked that were pretty interesting and pretty cool to see. And again, that kind of helps set up the scare for the actors and helps with some dead space or just put some movement in areas that needs movement.
And like I said, they have some interesting artwork and it's a little bit of a Blacklight haunt as well as like I said, kind of like a graveyard meets kind of like a junkyard and just chaos and craziness and clowns and chainsaws and dolls and monsters and just a lot of chaos and fun. And the second one you can see, like I said, there's scenes and there's different things that you see.
There's different effects that they have, and lighting and sound, and like I said, they have all kinds of characters that did a really great job stating character. Like I said, really good hiding spots, some really good scares. totally different from the last time we went, and really, really enjoyed it, and really enjoyed getting to see behind the scenes, and kind of getting to meet some of the cast and characters, and kind of see the passion in here, the passion.
and drive that each of them have and learning that this too is also a family owned and operated business, which is really cool. Again, we really, really love those kinds. We're not really into corporate owned and.
chains and all that jazz. And one of the managers, Madison, said something that really was interesting that I really liked and she said, we don't do it for the money. We do it because we love doing it and for the love of doing it. And I believe that's really what makes and breaks and takes away a real great haunted attraction from one that's just there is the heart and soul. And if you watch Haunting with Heart documentary,
Sydoney Banks (09:25.832)
and drive behind it not just the money and numbers and crunching numbers and how many can we get and how much money can we make how much money can we save how much money can we not spend it's more about the people for the people and doing it for the love of doing it and for the entertainment and all that so Skate Arizona did a really really great job I highly this year would recommend it it was a lot of fun really loud car going by our house
I-y-y-y-y-
did really really great. So again, thank you for having us. We had a blast. We hope to get to go next year and see the changes and what's new. And we're very, very, very happy that we finally got to make it out and see and make that new friendship hopefully that will last for years. So it was really cool to see. And like I said, it's interesting to watch them play off of one another and the crowd.
in the midway.
The only thing that I would say was kind of a little bit I wouldn't say like a downside but a little bit kind of like a pet peeve of me and my other reviewer was they kind of all team up on one group all together which I mean for some people that's great and it works but it would have been nicer to see them more spread out or not just attacking all at once the same group that would have been or what would have been really cool is like give it space let that group move around
Sydoney Banks (11:21.038)
then attack them later instead of all doing it at once. Other than that though, great job. There's some areas in their mad mayhem maze which would be really cool if they lit up a little bit more. There's some details and artwork and stuff that it's hard to see if you didn't have light and it's kind of a shame because again all the hard work and you know dedication and detail that they put into the haunt you know sometimes miss because of lack of lighting.
And therefore, other than that, great job and really had fun and loved it and can't wait for next year. Great. Like I said, a shout out to all the actors and cast. You did great. And we are excited about the footage that we got and looking forward to working, starting to work on the second documentary, which will probably take a couple of years to do, but got some footage and some great interviews of some great people.
Haunters, like I always say, are special breed of people and they're actually very, usually very cool and neat people. Not all of them, there are some weird mean crazies out there, but overall most haunters are really great people. So thank you Madison for having us and Daryl the Devil for inviting us out and we look forward to, like I said, the future for y'all and what comes and it'd be even interesting to like I
to Madison to team up and even do just a documentary on Scarazona and the story and background of how they got started and such since it's been around for quite a while and has changed over the years with different names and different locations and such and yeah so that being said highly recommended great job
And like I said, we're getting closer and closer to Halloween and looking forward to hopefully doing and crunching in a couple more reviews before the season ends. And again, we're very grateful and thankful for all the opportunities and friendships that we get to make over the years and new friendships we've made and different things. So like we always say, every day is Halloween and we hope you have
Sydoney Banks (13:45.326)
a wonderful fall season. Until next time, stay spooky, be creepy, and we'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to Haunted Attractions and Horigalore Podcast. Sid, over and out.