Reindeer Manor Abusement Park

This is my least favorite haunt in all of the DFW area.

Like another reviewers said, I too look forward to October all year long, and plan out my haunts and events the month before, eagerly anticipating the month like the spooky loving big kid I am. There are so many haunts here, it is a pity for anyone to waste time and cash on this one.

The drive in is the very best part, be sure to enjoy it, it is all down hill from there. When we pulled up my husband was convinced we were in the wrong place, lost out in the boondocks, and was already creeped out. There is your one star. They advertise a hayride, but they smoosh you in so much that you are practically sitting on top of one another. It only lasts a few minutes and there weren't any scares. lame. This could be such fun if they put some effort into it, it could really set the mood for the whole evening... and I guess it currently does if disappointing is the mood they are going for.    

When you get to the main area you expect a fun atmosphere, but it all just seems dead, and not in a fun zombie like way, more like everything is poorly planned out and there isn't really any other activities going on. This place had potential, I can see it, but nothing was happening. Where is everyone?! Then I found out why it was so dead.... all the hundreds of people were standing in one giant never-ending line..... Dante's inferno level 10? lol.  

The lines are longer than ANY other haunted house I have been too. I'm talking 3+ hours in line for a single haunt. Well over 3 hours, no potty break people. When we finally made it inside Reindeer Manor the actors all seemed tired. We stood around watching "scenes" and when they were done everyone just sorta stood there. They even said, "That is it. Keep moving." Sigh, real scary there guys, this was worth 3 hours of my life in line. They also make you go in with a HUGE group, so many people that it is impossible to be scared because you can see every scare coming because they did it to the 13 people in front of you. I typically scream my way through haunted houses, this one didn't get a single peep out of me. They were also constantly yelling at us to "hurry up!"  and move, and....well I felt like cattle. By the time we made it out I was tired and upset from the lackluster haunt that we just left. I didn't care to stand in line for another 3+ hours for much of the same.  

I know all haunts have lines, but the ones here are RIDICULOUS. I don't think I even stood in a 3 hour line in the middle of tourist season at Disney, and they have roller coasters people! lol. Why not have everyone draw a ticket upon arrival and have a big board with numbers on it like at a deli and let it count down. This way no one is standing in line for endless hours, and you don't have to send in massive huge groups all at once. From a business perspective even, this would be smart, not standing in line means everyone is instead spending money on concessions and other events. Speaking of which get some decent concessions and other events...

I gave it a second shot, thinking the first time HAD to be a fluke, I mean, other people seem to like it, other reviews here are high. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... well you get it. The second time was no better, the lines were just as long, the scares just as lame, the atmosphere just as empty.

It was a rainy year too so I spoke to an employee before we went out to find out about the "conditions". They assured me it was all dry and to come on out. WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG. It was so muddy that cars were getting stuck. They had another car with a chain, pulling people out of the mud. They had to pull us out 3 times, and we were nearly hit several times by other cars spinning their tires and trying not to get stuck themselves. Our car was covered in mud, there was mud on the freaking roof. The mud was the scariest part of the evening. This is not an exaggeration, I lost a shoe. It was bad. Don't go if it has been raining in the last week.

If you are making it a goal to see every haunted house in the area like I am, then see it just to check it off the list. If you are just looking for a fun spooky night - SKIP IT!!

I really don't like it when my friends build something up and then  I am let down. I ended up going with the husband and a friend and her co workers when they wanted to go cause I missed going with my normal haunted house friends. We all really enjoyed the smaller houses but the big house really ended up ticking me off. had so many people in a group ... 20 ... that most of the time I saw nothing that was happening. A lot of the time I ended up talking to the "bouncer" who went with us cause some of the folks we didn't know were getting roudy.  I ended up getting shoved into a dark hallway corner because they were trying to get us thru the haunt and most of us couldnt see in the hall so I ended up  hitting my head from being shoved and got a massive headake. When we got to the last thing where you go in 2 by 2 or whatever my husband and I just left along with another couple. Nothing was really scary but I guess I'll give it a shot with my regular haunted house friends because they say it all depends on the group you go with.

As far as haunted houses go, they are pretty good.  I didn't penalize them for being a "sloppy" haunted house.  Their score is low due to what went on while we were there.  But before I get into that, let me start by saying Halloween is probably about the biggest holiday in my house.  (We celebrate Christmas too, but Halloween is more fun!)  I always decorate the inside and outside with gore and blood and scary tactics.  My husband and boys built an electric chair a few years back.  So my kids aren't wimps by any means,  So back to the story at Reindeer Manor.....We arrive at the turn off and drive on this gravel road for what seemed like forever.  In the distance all we could see was this huge flare of flames soaring into the air.  Upon parking, we had to be ushered to the "grounds" by hayride via tractor.  For added flair and fun apparently it was super duper cold the night we went and it was lightly raining.  So it was the perfect setting! Anyway my 2 youngest kids aged 13 and 9 had not been to a haunted house in several years.  We make it through the ticket gate and proceed to begin our evening.  I let the boys pick where we would begin.  They choose the Dungeon of Doom.  The bubbly attendant at the door gives us our rules such as we can't touch them, but they can and probably will touch us.  Immediately I knew we'd have a problem.  They only allow like groups of 3 or 4 at a time, so they have plenty of time to "torture" you!  Not long after entering the house, one of the "spooks" grabbed my 13 yr old by the shirt and tried to force him into a room alone so my son was screaming and fighting because he didn't want to be alone.  Basically at that point he was ready to go after that.  But the attendant up front had told us we couldn't exit.  So we keep going until we round a corner and the boys get scared again, but this time my 9 yr (who has asthma) is starting to panic.  He's having trouble breathing (catching his breath) and he's crying.  He's begging me to leave.  We just so happened to stumble upon an emergency exit.

As we prepare to leave one of the "spooks" blocks the door and tell us we can't leave.  To which I replied I could and would because my son's health was in jeopardy.  He broke character to tell me we were literally at the end of the haunt and only had 2 more corners to go.  Then he pushed on around the corner, but he followed us (still out of character) so I thought he was gonna help us on out because of my son.  But I then noticed he ducked behind a freaking wall and we were there to just deal with the brunt of whatever was to come.  So we pushed on through and my son was terrified literally at the end because there was a chainsaw at the end.  I was quite pissed off after that little incident.  My 9 yr old refuses to EVER go back there again.  My oldest son, whose 19, actually worked at another local haunted house in the area around the time we went to Reindeer Manor.  My 9 yr old was quite prepared for what he was gonna encounter.  But the fact he was starting to struggle breathing and I step to take him out of the emergency exit and am then told no and forced on inside the house is a MAJOR problem for me.  I am unsure if we'll ever go back to this one.  I will say its spooky, but our situation could have been a lot worse.  What if my son had a severe asthma attack and needed paramedics???  No haunted house or amusement park is worth my son's health!   Bad experience! :(