Queen Marys Dark Harbor Reinvents Itself for 2018
Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor
Admit it! You know you are gonna get the crap scared out of you just by the location! Now add months of planning, staging and some serious scare actors that thrive on instilling hair raising terror within every non suspecting victim that comes their way.... makes for quite the fun evening if you ask me! There’s something about the Queen Mary that gives me all the feels and during Dark Harbor they are amplified all the more. Get discounted Admission starting at just $17, see options below.
Dare to know what your future holds? This gypsy is all but happy to tell you.
This year the creative crew behind the mazes has an all new experience waiting for you and they really went all out with the details! Carve out your own terror within the highly interactive mazes resulting in a different experience each time. Search for hidden bars and alternative maze paths on your quest to escape the crazy monsters but don’t expect any help from them, they are more that happy to send you in the wrong direction or into the path of another freak waiting for their next victim. It’s quite the game of cat and mouse.
They are everywhere!
This is my 4th year attending Dark Harbor and it’s one of my favorites. Each year even this haunt gets better honing in the maze themes and paths to keep them fresh. I want to dive into the sheer brilliance that is the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor and why it checks all the boxes for me along with my top picks from this year. Oh and check this deal out, stay where you play! If you are brave enough, you can stay on board after your Dark Harbor experience. Use promo code NIGHT for rates starting at $85/night.
Why Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor is always a must attend haunt for me:
Location, location, location! If the ship at night along with the chill of the fog doesn’t give you the creeps, I don’t know what will. The 3 mazes on board are a special treat taking you into many areas that are normally of limits.
Themes: Inline with the history, stories, and rumors of the Queen Mary. They takes these stories and twist them to play on your darkest fears.
Execution: The spaces alone within the ship is enough to creep you out and the usage of the narrow, dark and winding spaces lends itself perfectly to the deviousness awaiting you.
Gotta love a room with a killer view! The view from the Darkrise lounge was awesome.
How they keep it fresh. The maze design teams intention behind this years haunt was to breath life into the backstory of the infamous residents of Dark Harbor. The addition of hidden experience within mazes is a killer bonus and a refreshing touch. Be on the look out for passages that lead to rooms with more than a view allowing you to be apart of another unsuspecting persons frightening experience! Some you will walk right into, others you will have to keep a keen eye out for and there will be ones you may never find!
Even the madness of it all gets to poor Mary at times. Lullaby Maze
My top pics based on sheer fright, gore and overall execution. If you can I would highly recommend doing these twice!
B340: Hint if you are in this room you have either passed or just exited the “Hidden bar”.
Deadrise: We really had a blast looking for the secret bar with a view to the maze below! The elements of fire and water along with the perfect viewpoint from the secret lounge made this my top maze for 2018. The scare actors were a riot coming in and out of the lounge never missing a beat.
B340: This year Jon Cooke delved deeper into the back story following the murderous spree of Samuel the savage. Featuring a hidden bar that supplies a glimpse of maze goers getting scared from behind a 2 way mirror added a really fun element. The end scene was particularly gruesome and well portrayed sealing it’s number 2 spot on my list.
Feast: Loved it last year and gave it one of my top spots again this year. Cracked me up watching people crawl through the meat grinder all from the safety of the 2 way mirror.
I enjoyed all the mazes but some fell a bit short for me this year: Circus. Even with it’s festive hidden bar that took me two tries to find, this maze fell short for me with the lack of scare actors. Lullaby has always been one of my top pics but the switch from mostly being stalked by Mary at every turn replaced by several “children” characters didn’t work as well for me. I loved the “hide and Seek” of previous years with Mary, popping out at every corner as you would expect from a child toying with you. Intrepid, I did enjoy the cemetery with the snowfall and the church but the train ride transition to the shipyard had me confused. All three of these are still fun and worth the effort to escape from.
Looking to take a breather from all that running? Take a load off and enjoying the 4D theatre on board the ship. Here’s a little preview of Panic: A 4-D Experience. Half the fun of this experience is listening to the audiences reactions as they are poked, sprayed and jolted! Great add on to your evening.
Choose your date from 23 select nights of terror now thru –November 2. Brave new paths and secret rooms, nightly live entertainment, haunted bars and exciting rides with tickets starting at just $20! I also have a couple ways below to h=get in for even less. Your Dark Harbor ticket also grants you admission onto the Queen Mary from 4:00pm to 9:00pm.
3 choices for planning your visit. Fast Fright and Evil Express are pretty comparable regarding wait times.
My suggestions for visiting Dark Harbor. As one of the biggest bangs for your buck when it comes to a local “big” haunts in town, I feel it warrants the Fast Fright pass allowing more time to take in the atmosphere, shows, characters and random freaks! Plus if you missed a hidden room you can quickly get back in and look for it. This year as in previous ones, Dark Harbor is recommend for those ages 13 and older. There is a heavy emphasis on adult beverages as hidden lounges are placed within the mazes so this is something to consider when thinking of bringing younger children. Bottom line, it really is an adult themed event so I recommend getting a sitter and enjoy some responsible adulting. Happy hunting!
