REVIEW: QUEEN MARY’S DARK HARBOR

October 3, 2024

review: QUEEN MARY’S DARK HARBOR

Southern California offers a vast array of Halloween attractions thanks to factors like great weather and the abundance of creativity flowing from the film industry. Large scale productions, like Knott’s Scary Farm, have become holiday traditions for thousands of locals and tourists alike. Therefore it came as a great and very upsetting shock when Queen Mary's Dark Harbor (QMDH) abruptly announced its ending during the pandemic, subsequently replaced by the despised Shaqtoberfest.

QMDH is a collection of haunts that transform the infamous ship every fall into one of the best large-scale attractions we have ever been to. Its infamous characters, based on lore attached to the allegedly haunted ship, are Southern California icons. We love characters like the dead child, Scary Mary - a ghostly, nightmarish entity who giggles as she carries her stuffed animal around the swimming pool where she drowned. Feast tells the story of a World War II chef who serves human remains in his hellish kitchen. Breakout’s maze touches upon the tale of Samuel the Savage and his notorious maritime murders. These grisly and imaginative stories from the Queen Mary’s dark mythology are both terrifying and fascinating and provide a great way to enjoy a Halloween evening. Therefore, we were absolutely thrilled when we found out about the return of the legendary Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor for the 2024 Halloween season.

While we heard from reliable sources that the opening weekend wasn’t the best, we are happy to report that our attendance this past weekend did not disappoint. The characters, multitudinous and relentless, were delivering scares at every turn as we went through the dark twists and turns within the guts of the rusted, Art Deco ship. Offering five mazes total (three on the ship and two on the grounds) Dark Harbor hosts a wonderful variety in its maze experiences. The ship itself offered classics like Feast and the Scary Mary themed Lullaby, and a new surgery-themed maze: Infirmary. The port offered the mazes Big Top Terror (with a musical score by LVCRFT), and the double maze Breakout! and On the Run! In addition, we were excited that one of our favorite secret features had returned - the ship's infamous hidden speakeasies - accessible through the use of mystic tokens dispensed by Lady Mabel.

QMDH is one of our favorite Halloween events ever. While there is a collective sigh of relief that it is back, seemingly burying Shaqtoberfest into the vast resting place of deceased haunts, let's hope they can keep this momentum going. Characters like Scary Mary, The Chef, and Samuel the Savage are absolutely incredible. The setting, the stories, and the characters come together to create a classic haunted attraction that is superb in its historic presence and current artistry - and we hope it will continue to scare all who dare visit for many years to come.

VC

October 03, 2024

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