Dimensions of Darkness, located at Parkway Plaza in Maumee, opened its doors for the first time last Halloween season. While last year’s walkthrough was well-produced and loads of fun, this year’s updates have made it one of the most hardcore haunts in our area.

Co-owner Mike Stiles said the walkthrough is 50 percent longer this year.

“We were able to almost double the walkthrough time,” he said, “while using the same space.” Thanks to one season of experience and a new walkthrough design, the 15-20 minute tour is intense.

“How long it takes you to walk through depends on the person,” Stiles said. “It all depends on whether you run through or take your time and soak it in.”

While many walkthroughs still rely on black-walled, dimly lit rooms to build tension, Dimensions of Darkness has paid remarkable attention to detail. Each room, hallway and prop is so well-crafted that if you’re not being stalked by one of the resident ghouls, your focus is on how real everything feels.

“We shrunk the hallways down by 12 inches this year,” said co-owner and walkthrough designer Matt Thierry. “That gave us a lot more space for more hallways and extra rooms.”

“With the extra hallways we’re able to rebuild tension after each scare,” Stiles said. “A lot of places leave too much space between rooms, but that’s not the case here.”

With narrow hallways and cleverly designed shortcuts for the actors to use, the intensity of the walkthrough never subsides. Pitch-black corridors and unexpected “attacks” keep visitors on their toes and ultimately misdirected.

“The hallways amp people up and they get scared,” Stiles said. “Then ‘boom,’ it happens and it’s over. We designed the hallways to be a reset button to build the tension for the next scare.”

“Last year was about invading personal space,” Thierry said. “The energy is the same as last year and your comfort zone is still challenged but the production value and attention to detail is higher this year.”

Thierry and Stiles said operating a haunted attraction isn’t so much a sound business decision as a labor of love.

“You leave here with money in your pocket,” Thierry said. “This isn’t something we do to make money. We have fun with this.”

Stiles added, “It’s a fun show at a low price. It’s old-school, haunt-style screams and scares. The real payment is when people come out laughing or screaming in terror, that’s what makes this worthwhile.”

“This year we have a sponsorship deal with Signature and Toledo Harley Davidson,” Stiles said. “Anyone wearing any Harley shirt will get $1 off their admission. Anyone wearing a Signature or Toledo Harley Davidson shirt will get $1 off their ticket and they’ll get to use the VIP line to cut to the front of the line.”

Dimensions of Darkness is open Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to midnight and from 7-11 p.m. on Sundays.

“We don’t actually close until everyone has gone through the line,” Stiles said.

Dimensions of Darkness will also be open from 7 to 10 p.m. on Halloween night.

“If you’re aren’t looking for candy on Halloween night, we have the scares,” Stiles said.

Tickets for Dimensions of Darkness are $10 but discount tickets can be purchased at 1217 S. Reynolds Road, at The Loonar Station at Cricket West and Mr. E’s Smokin’ Gift Shop for $8.

Tags: Dimensions of Darkness, Halloween, haunted houses, Maumee

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 at 9:44 am and is filed under Halloween, Star.
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Leaders Family Farms in Napoleon is a destination for families and hardcore thrill-seekers alike, perfect for those who have kids but still want to experience some high-quality scares.

“The maze is different each year,” said Kristin Leaders. “The average person takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get through.”

This year’s maze is in the shape of a camel and is so large that its full design can only be seen from a bird’s-eye view.

“We have ‘corn cops’ walking through the maze helping people find their way out if they get lost or need to use the bathroom,” Leaders said. “There are also other really fun things associated with the maze. We have passports with questions on them. If you answer the questions correctly, you’ll find areas within the maze that will point you in the right direction. If you answer the questions incorrectly, you’ll be sent in the wrong direction.”

If the full 7-acre maze is too much for you or your kids, Leaders offers a “Munchkin Maze.”

“There are different animal-related questions throughout,” Leaders said. “We have a lot of kids come from the city that get to learn about animals and farming. They have fun learning about where their food comes from.”

Leaders isn’t just about corn mazes. This family destination also boasts a kids’ area.

“We have straw tunnels, a zip line, straw jump and a corn box. There’s an area for kids 5 and under so they don’t have to worry about playing with bigger kids.”

There’s also a very large “jumping pillow,” Leaders said. “For $3 a person you can get on the jumping pillow all day. Parents love it too, because there’s no size or age limit for it so they can get on with their kids. No single kid walks on this farm and doesn’t get to play.”

Also free with admission is a petting zoo.

“There’s feed available if the kids want to feed the animals,” Leaders said. “We also have something called ‘Close Encounters of The Bird Kind’. You can walk into a cage full of birds and if you take a feed stick in with you, the birds will land on your arm and eat. It’s a lot of fun.”

In addition, Leaders offers hayrides, gem mining, a “coop shoot,” a live DJ every night and plenty of food options.

“There’s so much for the kids to do, the average family will spend three to four hours here,” Leaders said. “There’s tons of free stuff to do and lots of kids, so they can play while adults can sit back and enjoy their time, perhaps go through one of the haunts.”

While Leaders is family-friendly, its two haunts, ScreamAcres and The PanDEMONium Project, are not for the faint of heart.

Scream Acres takes victims through a combination of haunted buildings and unlit, eerie paths through tall corn that spans nearly three acres. It is safe to say that there are things at ScreamAcres that you will not see or experience at any other haunt within an hour of Toledo. The Pan

DEMONium Project is smaller but just as intense as its larger cousin.

Ticket information, pricing and directions can be found online at leadersfamilyfarms.com.

Tags: Halloween, haunted houses, Leaders Family Farm

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 at 9:34 am and is filed under Halloween, Star.
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First things first: guys, don’t take a date to the Dimensions of Darkness (DOD) at the Parkway Plaza in Maumee.

“We’ve actually had two people crap themselves this year,” said DOD co-owner/operator Matt Thierry. “The actors get a bonus for making that happen. The problem became we couldn’t determine which actor made it happen, so we’re just going to have a party at the end of the season.”

A Dimensions of Darkness villain wants you to have a bloody good time.

For its first year as a local haunt, Dimensions of Darkness is belligerently entertaining, well-crafted and clearly geared for the more hardcore fright fan. According to Thierry, “About 10 percent of the people come right back out. Sometimes I feel bad but people don’t believe us when we say it’s scary.”

The show is on as soon as the front door is slammed shut.

“I enjoy working the door,” said co-owner/operator Tim Farnham. “I love people’s reactions, it’s instant high-energy.”

It’s apparent from the start that the production value is relatively high and the actors submerse themselves in character.

Dimensions of Darkness boasts energetic, involved and convincing cast members.

If you’re one with personal space issues, you might want to wait outside and hope your friends make it out. Part of what makes the DOD so intense is the proximity to the zombies, demons and general-purpose freaks.

“We really push the personal space bubble here” Thierry said.

For that reason, DOD makes sure to space  out “victims” and ensure they’re not pushed through like cattle.

“We will let six people in at a time,” Thierry said, “but if there are two together, we’ll send in those two.”

Farnham and Theirry said this attraction is “not about the money, it’s about he experience.”

“I’ve wanted to do this for 20 years,” Theirry said. “This is my ‘red convertible’.”

Farnham, Thierry and two other friends who operate the haunt gutted the storefront and built what is there now in less than six months. The roughly 4,000-square-foot maze of madness is certainly something to experience.

For dates, hours of operation, and ticket information, visit dimensionsofdarkness.com.

Tags: Dimensions of Darkness, Halloween, haunted houses

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am and is filed under Halloween, Star.
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