Nightmare At Beaver Lake

Went on Halloween Eve. Honestly it was not very scary at all, but I do appreciate all the efforts that the actors put into this and all the procedes are for a good cause. I want to give a shout out to the guy with the broken arm throwen over his neck. He was the most amusing actor of the night! The entire trail did not seem to be very long but the entire thing took about an hour just because there were lines before entering the trail. There are shuttles running back and forth from the parking lots and they are very easy to find. This event is defintely worth going if you have small kids. I think they would really enjoy the thrill. Older kids and adults? Hmmm… maybe not so much.

It’s really cool that it’s for charity, but it’s just not scary at all. I would have rather just given some money to the charity and done something else with my night. There was just too many people going through at the same time. Also there was a lot of down time where nothing scary was happening. Many people walking through were just chatting not amongst themselves.

If you want a REAL scary experience you have to check this out! I was jumping and screaming the whole way through. I really liked that it is outside and a walk throught the woods in the dark. It was creepy not know what was going to jump out at us next! YIKES! We drove all the way out from Federal Way and it was worth it!!!

Look, before starting my review, let me acknowledge that all of the volunteers should be commended on the fact that they volunteered. .. the ticket takers, actors and actresses, set makers, costume and makeup people, and everyone else on the scene and behind the scenes that make something like this come together. Actors whose jobs include staying in character while enduring rain and cold, and the obnoxious banging noises and strobe lights of the various sets, for several hours per night deserve thanks. Personally, it might be fun to try to scare people in such a setting for 45 minutes or so but I’d think I’d be miserable after that.
OK, that said, I would offer the following:
1. Be prepared for a very long wait in line. And then there are moderate waits at various points along the route, particularly before the large «haunted house» at the end. Hint: don’t show up on a Saturday night at 8:15 PM.
2. There are just too many people in attendance; when you go through as part of one long, steady, unbroken stream of humanity, it detracts from the experience, and you can’t really stop to take in the details of any of the sets or experiences. It’s always onward, onward, onward. Try to find a less congested time to go, maybe very late in the evening or not on a Friday or Saturday.
3. It’s no fun when a haunted house takes only 5 minutes, but this one goes on way too long; you start to wonder «is this EVER going to end?».
4. It’s just not very scary. I’ve seen far gorier, grotesque, and creative props and sets at other haunted attractions (e.g., someone soaking in a bathtub full of blood). They could ratchet it up a bit. After about the tenth time that somebody in a dark corner or behind a tree jumps out and growls or yells «boo!», the gag wears thin.
5. I commend young people for volunteering, but, I’m sorry, it’s just not very authentic for some middle school «actor» or «actress» to try to be scary. It’s just dorky. If kids want to volunteer, let them sell popcorn or direct cars into parking spaces. Save the acting roles for adults, or exceptionally talented high school upper classmen.
6. It’s kind of annoying that when you finish, you are far from the start and have to either walk a long ways or wait around for a shuttle van. Why not design the route as a circle, finishing where it starts?
7. I’ll give a couple of kudos to two performers who played their roles well. One actress portrayed a Lizzie Borden type of character who worked the crowd waiting in line. She had some talent. Given that there were far too many actors working the haunted route, they should have more working the crowd waiting in line. When you’re in a one-​hour line, any such entertainment is most welcome. Another actress who did a good job was a young woman portraying a red-​haired psychotic girl creepily asking, «do you want to play with me?». Something about her facial expression and the way she delivered her lines was pretty legit.
8. Despite the above negatives, overall it was still fun. Just not exceptional.

What an amazing and spooky time we had this year. Loved the theme and the actors are incredibly impressive showing off their «scary skills». «Misery» and «Lurch», you rocked our world. This place is family friendly with an 8p showing and truly scary for fear hunters. Thank you to Jeanmarie Peck for having us.

I was fairly disappointed for trying this «haunted» maze. They make you go through very close together so it’s not very scary when you know what’s going to happen. There were too many actors outside on the trail. They should put them in the buildings located on the trail. Making one long close together maze I think is better than having pieces of the maze scattered on a trail. This was supposed to be the full scare option but it felt similar to the family option. Fairly lame

I love going to haunted houses. A group of my friends and I have decided to make it an annual thing and go to a couple every year so this year we picked this one based on the reviews.
The scare level is a 1 – 2 out of 10. I maybe screamed twice. The tactics were very predictable, the people on the side of the path were easy to see and not jumping out at you. It would be fun to see walk this at dusk to see the details of the costumes. Now the production part was awesome, all the details put into the different vignette was awesome. They even had a real horse running around. This part of the haunted forest gets a 10. It’s by far the best I have seen. There wad definitely a lot of work put into it, the person who worked on this did an amazing job.
You park in some lots away from the haunt and are brought in by vans. It’s free and very easy to use, just pay attention to the lot you are in.

Awesome job! It was very scary, but mild enough at times during the family walk through for little ones. They communicated well to tailor the scare factor between groups of kids depending on age. Very kind and professional. We will be back again! My kids are 2 and 6. They were scared and loved it.
Side note– that last scene with the flying gargoyle statue and all the satanic writing on the walls was kind of intense. We just moved through it quickly.
Good luck this year. I was very pleased.

When it comes to Halloween Attractions, this place is GREAT!
Why the 4 Stars? Well. As much as I wanted to enter 5 Stars because this is probably one of the Best Halloween Attractions that I have attended in YEARS!
Yet… After reading other reviews… I have to agree with my fellow 4 Star Rater. While the Event was GREAT. The Scare Tactics were just not there. Nothing made us jump or scare us. Only one event, while waiting in line and one of the Cast Members quietly stood behind our friend as I talked with her till she turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs out of surprise for what was behind her. Now if only we could get that type of reaction throughout the entire attraction.
All in All. This is still the best I have seen in years. So. To the team at Nightmare At Beaver Lake, keep up what your doing and keep improving. You are on the right track!

Oh. My. God. I am severely traumatized. I am not exaggerating. Scariest haunted house I have EVER been too. It was not just one house. It was a whole haunted forest and several haunted houses spread out over the DARK forest, with one final big house at the end that took FOREVER to get through and it was INTENSE! Pitch dark in some parts, and it went on and on like a maze with horrible scary realistic monsters of every evil sort you can imagine. Terrifying. My boyfriend almost took me out a couple times, he thought I was about to really freak out. I was so scared. Hyperventilating, almost puking. It was terrifying and relentless.
Oh and we went on Saturday night about 10 minutes before they stopped selling tickets (they stop selling at 11pm) so there was no line at all. Still plenty of guests on the trail, and occasionally we’d stop and wait so that we wouldn’t bump into the group in front of us, but even so, not too crowded at all, so if you want to avoid heavy crowds you should go right before they close.
All the actors were great, but the scariest actors are the adult male clowns and bloody monster things (see my photos of them below). They are relentless and never break character. They chased us and followed us and tricked us and scared the crap out of me more times than I can count. This was one of the big differences between Beaver Lake and The Nile (who I reviewed last weekend): Beaver Lake had tons of actors throughout the woods, and some of them would follow you and keep sneaking up on you when you thought you were finally safe. It was relentless. Whereas The Nile did not have any actors on the trails between the houses/​scenes.
Oh and at the last big house, the creepy doorman broke our party up by making my friend and niece go in first without us, and he made me and my boyfriend wait outside on the porch with him. He talked all creepy to us about what was happening inside and we could hear my friend and niece screaming inside. Then, when it was our turn, he tried to make me go in by myself!!! I actually yelled «Safe word!» so he’d know not to force the issue, and he seemed to know what that meant because he relented and let both me and my boyfriend go in together. I would have died if I’d had to go through that dark house by myself. (I really did almost start crying a few times in this house, it goes on forever and the scenes and actors are so scary).
Okay, so yes, this is a very good haunted house. Totally worth the $ 16 and the long drive out to Sammamish. Took around 40 minutes from start to finish (wear comfortable clothes and shoes, you walk a lot. And it’s cold so dress warm, but I ended up sweating like crazy and having to stuff my hat and gloves in my purse because I got so hot from the fear and running away from the creepies). Parking is kind of hard. You have to park a ways away in lot A, B or C. Remember which lot you parked in because at the end, they give you a shuttle ride back to whichever lot you parked in.
Great job Sammamish Rotary Club!

This was great. I did the «family scare» session with my almost 10 year old son (Full Scare is the scarier version and that starts at 8:00). The family scare was plenty scary for him but not too scary so that it wasn’t fun. Not sure I would recommend the family scare to kids younger than 9 but it depends on your child since I saw kids younger attending (but I have 7 years olds and I’m glad I didn’t bring them because it would have been much too scary for them).
The set up is very cool. Walking down a dark trail in the woods. The atmosphere is fantastic (especially with the fog we had). Interesting and scary and fun (I’m talking headless horsemen on real horses in the forest). Totally worth it and highly recommend. I would suggest going to family scare on a weeknight at 7 to avoid the crowds as it’s better to be able to go though most of it with your own party and not in a line of people. Also bundle up since you will be outside.

Even at family scare I screamed my head off. Very cathartic!
Can’t wait till next year.

We paid $ 35 for 2 adults. Then spent over an hour in line with a bunch of yelling screaming teenagers waiting to get in. The trail itself was good, with the foggy night enhancing the experience. The actors were well made up and looked great. The houses you traveled through were good, laid out well. The problem — there was no ‘startle’ factor here. You could see everything that was coming up. Seeing it long before you got to it made for no scare quality. There were no sneak attacks, no startling incidents. Overall, I’ve been to much better haunts.

Here’s the deal:
I’ve been coming here since I was in high school, and it’s still just as fun.
You would think a volunteer based haunt would be tacky and homemade, but these people know what they’re doing. The trail haunt is the only one of its kind that I know of in the NW. You get an awesome outdoor experience as well as a poop-​your-​pants scary haunted house at the end.
Bring a warm jacket and enjoy the ride.

Purchased a groupon for this haunt and went on halloween night (the last night of the season).
First off, you park in a lot (A, B, C) and then start your haunt after passing thru to get your tickets. Might I recommend that they more clearly label that knowing which lot you parked in is an important tidbit, maybe mention it to people at the ticket both? I happened to notice, but I can imagine some people did not. Oh, why is this important? Because they have a shuttle to take you back to your lot at the end of the haunt… more on that in a moment.
The haunt was freaking muddy. Muddy mud mud. Like ridiculously so. Maybe even dangerously slow. It starts by going through various classic stories and actors are portraying characters from them. One shot a bunch of mud on my by sliding which was not appreciated, he apologized though.
For next year, I might suggest nixing the book aspect or paying closer attention to the condition of the ground. Put some straw down or make some sort of attempt to tidy the trail up. Also, choosing creepier books would be a good thing. (hunger games, lord of the flies, were two examples of ones used).
After the story books is when things got much better, still muddy. Lots of little houses, at one point I was stuck with 20 other people in a maze of plastic sheeting and fog machine. We did frequently catch up to other groups, but it usually didn’t impact the haunts spookiness.
So at this point, it sounds like I hated it, right?
They won me over at the last house on the trail. It was amazing, very spooky, not much in the way of pop out startle frights, but very creepy, very artistic, nice and long. It was easily the best haunted house we went to this season as a result.
The shuttle coming back slowed down, but did not stop at stop signs. I felt safe and not like they were driving erratically or anything, but I would think stopping at stop signs would be a must. Also, they should have rented a larger vehicle to get rid of wait time at the end of the attraction. Took maybe 30 mins to get back to our car, so not too bad, but with a bus or something it would cut waits in half.
I’d come back, in mucking boots.

This is a really scary haunted house in the woods.