Let me start out by saying this: I am horrible with scary things. So, of course I jumped at the chance to scare myself half to death at ValleySCARE. Tickets were $35, which seemed pretty reasonable because most of the daytime rides are open during ValleySCARE, as well as six mazes–which are basically haunted houses–and three “scare zones”, which are areas of the park in which monsters try to scare you.

I went with a friend and we got into the park before 6:30 p.m., which is when Valleyfair becomes ValleySCARE. We got some food and sat at a table where we saw a big log cabin that looked pretty creepy. We were minding our own business when suddenly hordes of creepy and terrifying monsters ran past us. We later found out that at the beginning of the night, the monsters awaken from that log cabin and run to their positions for the night.

ONE: The Château

Marlee Baron

The first maze we went to was called “The Château.” To get there we had to walk through a scare zone called “Carnevil: Ringmaster’s Revenge.” It’s located where the normal carnival games are in Valleyfair, and it was a little bit of a letdown. A fair number of the carnival games were still operating, taking away from the evil vibe. There were only two monsters stationed in this area and it’s very big so most people don’t actually get to see them.

It was a bit of a hike to get to “The Château,” but since it was still pretty early we arrived to find no line and were greeted at the door by a very creepy monster and escorted inside. The inside looked like a fancy house that had been abandoned and was now inhabited by scary, bloody ghosts. All the monsters were dressed up in a Victorian style with bloody makeup. They were out in the open, which made them a little less scary because generally you could see them before they jumped out at you. However, it was still terrifying when they did because they could follow you around. My friend said my name at one point, and after that a really scary guy followed me around for a while saying my name–I actually had a nightmare about that guy that night. The maze was pretty long, which would be good for someone that enjoys being scared out of their mind, but I was very ready for it to be done.

TWO: Mad Mouse

After the haunted house we decided to take a little break from the scary stuff and go on some rides, several of which proved to be almost as scary as the haunted houses. We went on “Mad Mouse” first and the ride itself was very fun; the 30 minute wait to ride a 30 second ride was not.

We went to “Wild Thing” next and waited about 20 minutes. The wait times were so long because all the rides were only sending one cart at a time, even though they have the capability to send several.

The park was less crowded than it sometimes is in the summer but the wait times for rides were longer. We had several people tell us when getting off a ride that the line was so long that the ride was not worth it. ValleySCARE is really good at scaring people, whether with scary monsters or with absurd wait times. The lines were so ridiculously slow we considered buying “fast passes”, which allow you to skip the line, only to find out they cost an additional $50 on top of your admission. If you are planning to go to ValleySCARE for the rides, go earlier in the day when the park is less crowded.

THREE: Renegade

Finally, we went to “Renegade,” another roller coaster, at the very end of the park, where we thought we might find the shortest line. On the way there we passed though another scare zone.

This one was even duller than the last. Not a single monster jumped out at us the whole way. We saw one very far away from us, so not at all scary. When we finally got to “Renegade” we had to wait in line for over for our turn to ride.

The ride itself was super fun: the first climb to the top looked like you were riding the roller coaster straight into the clouds because of how the lights shone through the wooden coaster. After the first climb there were no lights so we couldn’t see where we were going.

I have a pretty high tolerance for roller coasters because I’ve ridden so many, but not being able to see was a feeling like no other—it was amazing. However, even though the ride was very fun and unique, it was not worth the wait.

By the time we finished “Renegade” we didn’t have enough time to go to any more attractions, because as we passed them we saw that every single one had a ridiculously long line that would take upwards of an hour to get though.

Overall, ValleySCARE lived up to my expectations of being so scary. I’ll have nightmares for the next year or so, but it fell short mostly because of the long lines making it hard to do everything we wanted to.

This story is reprinted from The Rubicon print edition: Oct. 24, 2017