We’ve been visiting Fear the Woods almost every year since 2013 but, sadly, missed the last two years. COVID kept them closed last year and 2019 was a really rainy haunt season in GA. Being that Fear the Woods is mainly an outdoor attraction, they were closed due to the rain a lot that year, and we just couldn’t seem to catch them open. Needless to say, we were SUPER STOKED to restore our tradition and check them out in 2021!
Fear the Woods offers 3 separate attractions – the haunted house, a laser zombie shoot called Infestation, and the Terror Transport that takes you down to the final attraction, the haunted trail. But before you experience any of these attractions, you enter into a midway area that puts down the fall vibes hard. There are games, concessions, a pumpkin patch, and a stage that features some great entertainment, like fire dancers.
First up, as always, was the haunted house. While they’ve made improvements over the years, we still love the original bones of this house. Tight corridors, interesting and uneven floors, low areas that require ducking, dark spaces – all features that require you to not just walk through the attraction but interact with it.
When exiting the house, you’re back in the midway area again and get to enjoy the atmosphere and entertainment, before taking a little fall stroll down to Infestation. We were REALLY excited to see that they’d added a lot to the zombie shoot since our last visit! They’ve created a much more immersive environment by adding building facades in the corn field that the zombies can hide in and that you sometimes get to walk through. We really LOVE how video gamey their whole experience feels! We’re still sold that Fear the Woods offers one of the BEST zombie shoots we’ve ever done!
After an exhilarating survival adventure of killing zombies in the corn stalks, we boarded the Terror Transport to take us to the last attraction of our 2021 GA Haunt Tour, the Fear the Woods haunted trail. Unfortunately, the “Terror” Transport was more like a party bus with dance music blasting and laser lights illuminating the interior. We remember past experiences on this bus being really fun and serving up additional scares on the way to the haunted trail. This time we felt like we just stepped into a mobile rave that no one wanted to attend. We love the idea of the bus ride, but we really hope in the future they’ll continue the Halloween/haunted attraction atmosphere during this short trip.
The haunted trail at Fear the Woods has always been their main attraction and with good reason. The trail is long, a good 20-minute trek, and features multiple detailed sets built along the way.
We have a feeling that Fear the Woods was experiencing the same issues that many haunts complained about this year including lack of actors. There was a lot of dead space throughout both the house and the trail, and the majority of the actors we did encounter were simply not scary - no jump scares, no creepy banter, just a lot of screaming. The actors’ costuming and make-up were always scene appropriate, but nothing really stood out or wowed us.
There were a few new things they instituted this year including timeslot ticketing and very strict hours. When they say last tour at 11:30, they mean it! Don’t show up 4 minutes late even with a purchased ticket and expect to get in. Also, groups of 8-10. We understand needing to stay within the confines of the timeslots, but for a haunt of their size there is absolutely no way a group of 8-10 people is going to have the best experience that Fear the Woods usually offers. We’re not sure if they will continue with these policies next year or if they were due to COVID.
This year, Fear the Woods just did not live up to our expectations, and we left feeling disappointed. For a haunt that we have watched evolve over the years and have always been huge fans of, it just wasn’t the same. The environment didn’t have the usual energy, and most importantly, the scares just weren’t there for us.
Despite our personal feelings, Fear the Woods still serves up a full haunted fall experience. Their three very different attraction experiences plus the midway provide a full night of Halloween fun for the whole family!
