REVIEW: SHAQTOBERFEST

OCTOBER 10, 2023

review: SHAQTOBERFEST

For as long as we have lived in Southern California, Long Beach's Queen Mary has been a mandatory haunted house destination. The property, along with the ship herself, became a staple of the haunt season with the annual transformation into Dark Harbor. With its amazing mazes (most of which took place on the haunted 90+ year old ocean liner), original spooky characters, and captivating storytelling, Dark Harbor was an incredible experience for everyone who was lucky enough to enjoy the tales this massive, weatherworn ship had to tell.

The pandemic was the death knell for Dark Harbor, which was later replaced by Thirteenth Floor's Shaqtoberfest. Its debut last year was rocky - with some mazes that seemed incomplete and dependent on the overuse of inflatable props. Additionally, the fest felt completely reliant on Shaq's name to get people in - which was somewhat confusing due to his name not really being associated with Halloween. In general it was a lukewarm experience which inhabited the grave of the legendary Dark Harbor - an event that is difficult to replace. 

With last year's experience in mind we didn’t expect much when we went to visit this past week. However, to our surprise, the inflatables and dead space were now replaced with improved mazes, many more scare actors, and a much more fun, Halloween infused atmosphere. There were five mazes, four of which were majorly improved versions from last year, and the fifth was a brand new maze, “The Grey Ghost”.

Located on the Queen Mary herself, The Grey Ghost feels like a wonderful throwback to what we loved about Dark Harbor. As you move about within the innards of the cruiseliner, you will run into the ghosts of sailors and old-timey singers who haunt the ship's dark, musty hallways. The performances and aesthetics of the scare actors captured the spirit of Dark Harbor, which was greatly missed last year. 

We are happy to see that the team behind Shaqtoberfest worked very hard to create a greatly improved event. While replacing Dark Harbor is an almost impossible task, this festival has proven that it is possible to capture the essence of a legendary event while creating something new and exciting for all to enjoy.

VC

October 10, 2023

Hauntsofla.com

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