Last weekend we visited San Antonio, Texas, including Sea World, the River Walk as well as the six small Ripley’s entertainment museums located nearby the entrance of the Alamo, including Ripley’s Haunted Adventure. This is not the small horror section included with virtually all Ripley’s Wax Museums but a dedicated three floor year-around professionally created and managed haunted house.
 
Contrary to what many teenagers believe haunted houses are not primarily about being “scary”, just like amusement park rides are not primarily about getting dizzy and feeling nauseated. Haunted houses should above all be entertaining. For example, it is easy to make people jump by having them walk in complete darkness and then suddenly jump out in their faces while making a loud sound. That is an effective and cheap but ultimately boring scare. It is a more uncomfortable than entertaining approach to scaring people. The same is true with having teenage boys dressed in scary costumes trying to get a scream out of 12 year old girls by being in their faces. It is cheap and annoying and we see a lot of that at the many crappy haunted houses around Halloween.

A good haunted house could have some tasteful “jump/shock moments” as well. However, the focus of a good haunted house should be on the imagery, the foreboding atmosphere, the creepiness, the story, and the artistry and the acting. It should be an experience involving fun, amazement, and entertainment, as well as the right kind and the right amount of “scary”. Creators of great haunted houses know this and the creators of Ripley’s Haunted Adventure in San Antonio clearly knew this.

The haunted house looks a little foreboding already from the outside. An old rusty noisy metal coffin lift/elevator takes visitors up and into the top floor of the run down ominous looking building, which is supposed to be a haunted mortuary. Beneath the metal cage lies a manikin depicting a half rotten corpse and a dressed up scary looking staff member tries to get customers to come in.

There was no one in line when we entered and we soon began our ascent to the top floor. At the top floor we were ushered into an impressive room where we were met by a young woman looking like a Zombie and dressed in all black. She told us that she was the descendent of one of the long gone owners of the mortuary that now was haunted because of an old terrible dispute between the owners. By walking through the entire mortuary and coming out alive we could help resolve the situation.

The first room we entered was filled with plastic see through body bags (bloody on the inside) and one of the bags was shaking violently as if someone was trying to get out. As you walked between the body bags you had to push them aside to get through. It was dark but it was not so dark that it was uncomfortable or dangerous. As we continued we walked through various hallways and we passed by various rooms, cells, cages and sets. There were scary manikins and props, animatronics, sounds and sights as well as actors. At one point we passed through one of those rotating tunnels with a bridge that makes you lean over as you walk.

The sets and the décor were professionally and elaborately created. A few times an actor jumped out to scare you or he suddenly popped out through the wall or a window. However, those kinds of effects were not the focus of the walk through. It was not a labyrinth and it was pretty clear at all times which direction you should walk. I hesitated at one point because a sign on the door said not to enter. An actor popped out and told us that we were supposed to go through that door. There were only 4-5 actors but they had multiple roles and in my estimate you saw a real actor about 20-30 times.

The walk through was long and creepy but not filled discomfort. This haunted house featured the right kind scare effects and I was impressed by what I was looking at. It was good entertainment. The acting was decent in the sense that it was not teenage boy acting. The actors were adults who had been practicing their roles and they did not exaggerate.

However, I’ve seen some professional year-around haunted houses that were even more impressive, for example, the House of Horrors at Universal Studios. One problem with reusing the same actors over and over is that it limits how much they can change between appearances, and it was obvious that it was the same people over and over.


In summer they are open:
Sunday – Thursday 10 am – 11 pm
Friday – Saturday 10 am – 12 am

The rest of the year they are open:
Sunday – Thursday 10 am – 8 pm
Friday – Saturday 10 am – 10 pm

The price for an adult is $20.00, for two attractions $23.00 and three attractions $28.00. For children (3-11) it is $12.00, $15.00 and $18.00 respectively. They also have combo tickets for all six attractions at the location.

The address is

329 Alamo Plz  San Antonio, TX 78205

This is their web site

http://www.ripleys.com/phillips/ripleys-haunted-adventure


In summary I think this was a great haunted house. It was pretty scary but not uncomfortable. It featured the right kind of scare in the right proportions and above all it was entertaining. I was impressed by the sets and the special effects, it was long, and I got my money’s worth. However, the actors were obviously and frequently reused and I’ve also seen some really elaborately designed and expensive haunted houses that impressed me even more. Therefore I think a less than perfect but positive rating of four stars is appropriate. I can definitely recommend Ripley’s Haunted Adventure.

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May