Thrillvania - A Haunting Inspiration for Writers

On Saturday night, my husband spontaneously decided we should all head out to Thrillvania theme park. Me being the photo nut, I took my camera along. It was pretty dark and dusty and sometimes pouring rain on our visit, but I managed to get a few good photos out of the trip.

Thrillvania is rated by Fangoria and Haunted Attractions Magazine as one of the best. It was also voted one of America's Best Haunts in 2011.

Here are my tips for travelers:

1) Come as early as possible. There are 8 attractions to see.

2) The bigger your group, the more fun you will have. So bring EVERYONE!

3) Be prepared for mud. It poured while we were on the Trail of Torment. It was slippery and messy, but a great time. Don't wear clothes or shoes you care about.

4) They only take cash, but there is an ATM. Save yourself the time and get cash ahead of time. Better yet, order your tickets online and you can avoid waiting to buy them there.

5) Parking is not free. It is $5. There is no handicap accessible parking available, which is odd. Ask and they will tell you to follow the guy on the cart to see how close to the front you can get. If you don't have cash for parking, they will comp it. They're nice about that or at least, they were to us.

|6) If it looks like it might be raining part of the time you are there, either plan for a different night or bring a parka. Otherwise, you end up shivering and wet while standing in line.

7) Get the VIP pass. It's only $5 more and it means you have shorter lines and can see the attractions more than once.

8) Skip Six Feet Blunder. The other attractions are good, but this one disappoints. You spend five minutes watching animatronic theatre and then go through a boring hall with hardly any creepies. There are a lot of pressure tunnels, but that's about it.

9) If you get motion sickness, you might want to skip the 3D glasses in Cassandra's Labyrinth of Terror. The art is cool without them and the monsters are still freakingtastic.

Without further ado, here are my photos. Please excuse the dust orbs. It was windy out. I hope these inspire you to write something creependous! And if you are looking for writing inspiration this October, you might try visiting a local haunt to scare your imagination into action. Of course, if you're like me, you might be too busy being frightened to use your camera much, so take a few mental notes.

Enjoy!