Pennhurst Asylum Review 9/25/21

Friday September 25th, 2021

THIS REVIEW IS FOR OPENING WEEKEND, AS A PREFACE ITS ALWAYS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT ACTOR STAFFING, FOOD OPTIONS, AND GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING IS NORMAL AT THIS STAGE IN HAUNT SEASON. ALL REVIEWS ARE DONE BY PROFESSIONALS WITH OVER 12+ YEARS OF REVIEWING HAUNTS UNDER THEIR BELT. WHAT WE SEE AS REVIEWERS DOES NOT DICTATE WHETHER OR NOT THE GENERAL PUBLIC WILL FIND A HAUNT TO BE SCARY, OR GOOD. MAKE SURE TO ALWAYS SUPPORT AND VISIT HAUNTS WITH THE GOAL TO ENJOY YOURSELVES!

Pennhurst Asylum

Located at: Bridge St & Church St, Spring City, PA 19475

https://pennhurstasylum.com/

3 Attractions (Pennhurst Asylum, The Morgue, Containment “The Tunnels”)

Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 9/10

Acting Overall: 10/10

Costumes/Makeup Overall: 10/10

Entertainment On Lines: 9/10

Food Options Overall: 7/10

Set Design Overall: 10/10

Props & Animatronics Overall: 10/10

OVERALL FEAR SCALE: 9.5/10

WARNING: You will be touched here! There is no waiver to be signed, if you don’t want to be touched I would not suggest coming here. They will not hurt you, and the scare levels are not over the top. They may touch your hair or graze your face. It typically does not get too intense, but again If you do not want to be touched, do not come to Pennhurst Asylum.

FREE PARKING

We arrived at Pennhurst Asylum around 8pm. Before entering the grounds we were sent through a security checkpoint. You will have to enter through metal detectors and you will be waived down with a wand. There is an officer standing by for security. It was nice to know that the grounds are protected and there was a safety protocol in place for visitors’ safety! Once through the security checkpoint, we made our way up the long-wooded pathway. Be prepared for a lot of mud and dirt. I would suggest wearing comfortable shoes. Also, this year there was a bit of a foul smell as you made your way up the path, I would also recommend bringing your mask for this purpose even if you don’t plan on wearing it the entire time. The smell is quite bad! It is only in the walkway section leading up to grounds. Once up the path, we were greeted with a maniacal clown, that charged at Matt and tried to eat his cellphone; all in good fun of course! We managed to get a few pictures and videos. This actor did an amazing job entertaining the crowds! Just outside the ticket booth, 2 food trucks can be found. Food consists of Pizza, nachos, pretzels, funnel cake, deep fried Oreos. PB&J with a fried option (seriously, DO ITTTTT!). A merch stand with several shirts and sweatshirts for sale, and a booth where you can sign up for a Paranormal tour after the haunts close for the evening. These tours run from 11pm-2:30 am. This is an amazing opportunity to explore the grounds and have a chance to explore the real like paranormal phenomena that happens here at Pennhurst Asylum. There are porta potties scattered all throughout the grounds. They are even placed right before entering haunts if the need arises. This was Opening night for Pennhurst, so the ticket lines and overall haunt lines weren’t terribly busy. As the season progress, prepare to wait in very long lines. If you prefer to skip the lines you can always opt for their VIP pass: $75 which gets you front line access to all 3 haunts. There isn’t much of a “midway” section at Pennhurst. Once you enter past the ticket booth you immediately get in line for the Haunts. As it was opening night there weren’t many haunt actors walking around or occupying lines. Truthfully there was practically zero lines for them to entertain to begin with! The roaming actors we did see were AMAZING. We can’t rave enough about the actors here at Pennhurst. They are all extremely professional. They take their roles and characters very seriously. They truly do an excellent job every single year. Our favorite roaming Actors of the evening would have to be the Crazed Evil doctor and his Psych Patient. He was literally walking her around in this giant decorated cardboard box. The Patient Began to take her box and put herself and the box over Matt. She then dumped Grass all over his head while under the box.. LOL. The doctor collected her promptly then leading her onto a large plot of grass for some yard time. She began making “snow angels” in the grass, all while holding onto her potty pan and a large carrot stick which she began to eat. When it was time to leave, she threw her carrot and some grass into her potty pan, climbed inside the box and walked away. It was Truly a sight to be seen!!!! While we were waiting on the line for the Asylum and the Morgue, we had the pleasure of catching up with performer Josh! Although the lines were super short we didn’t get much of a chance to see him perform this time around. From future experience he puts on an amazingly gruesome performance, that is an absolute MUST SEE. You can see a video we did of him from 2019 on our youtube! Please Make sure to show some love if you see him!

Covid-19 Precautions: This season every haunt has had a different approach to covid procedures. This Year At Pennhurst Asylum, Masks were completely voluntary which is in alignment with CDC and PA State Guidelines. Folks who wanted to wear them did so, and those who did not want to; did not. As always, you are in control of your own space, if social distancing is important to you, please be mindful of your physical space and keep a distance from those around you. If ever you’re uncomfortable with someone’s positioning in relation to where you are, kindly communicate with them to keep a safe distance. We highly recommend bringing your own travel size sanitizer to use at your convenience if this is of importance to you.

Pennhurst Asylum:

Actors: 10/10

Makeup/Costumes: 10/10

Use of Props & Animatronics: 10/10

Set Design: 10/10

Overall Attraction Rating: 10/10

FEAR Scale: 8/10

Length: 15 minutes

From the moment you step foot into the beautiful Pennhurst Asylum you are throttled into the chaos and psychotic world of the patients that inhabit it! Every set is OVER THE TOP. Beautiful Details, massive scare factor with a sprinkling of gore at every turn. The asylum is a psychological themed attraction at Pennhurst. It’s filled to the brim with deranged escaped patients. They have overturned the Asylum and are now in complete control of everything you see. Everything has gone haywire; all order and structure has been thrown out the window and only destruction and disease have been left. Some notable scenes are the bathrooms, the surgical wards, and the sleeping quarters. Each scene has a demented twist, all the actors are AMAZING, never breaking character and committing entirely to their roles. This attraction is always my favorite! Although you’re only in the attraction for 15 minutes it feels like so much longer due to the complete sensory assault you’re given. Everything about this attraction is utter perfection!

The Morge:

Actors: 9/10

Makeup/Costumes: 9/10

Use of Props & Animatronics: 10/10

Set Design: 10/10

FEAR SCALE: 9/10

Overall Attraction Rating: 9.5/10

Length: 15 minutes

The morgue is very different in comparison to the Asylum. Where the asylum uses psychology and plays on the overdramatic and unrealistic fears of mental health and the darkness that surrounds it the morgue relys mostly on gore and shock factor. Tons of death, and decay set the stage for this attraction. You can expect lots of dead bodies, and an overall theme of DEATH as you navigate your way through the Morgue. As with the Asylum the actors here are Amazing. The sets are beautifully done. Lots of over-the-top props, animatronics and GOREgeous sets. Some notable scenes were the morgue freezers with the icicles hanging off the toes of the deceased, and the heavy set deceased man that spews blood from his wounds as a cannibalistic actor tries to get you to indulge in his flesh!

Containment “The Tunnels”:

Actors: 10/10

Makeup/Costumes: 9/10

Use of Props & Animatronics: 10/10

Set Design: 10/10

FEAR SCALE: 9/10

Overall Attraction Rating: 10/10

Length: 15 minutes

As you enter the tunnels, you are led in by an evil doctor, who tells the story of the infection that has begun to spread. The doctor advises us that this area is restricted and no one is allowed down into the tunnels due to the extremely contagious virus that has begin to spread. BUT, there is a loophole.. It is bring your child to work day! We were instructed to tell “them” we are the doctors children! Our experience started out on a very high note as the very enthusiastic actors led us into the tunnels. We were quickly thrust into a world of chaos, it was clear a virus has broke loose. All inhabitants were either infected, or killed. Those left infected have begun to go insane and will stop at nothing to make you their next victim!!