Eastern State Penitentiary: Terror Behind the Walls is one of the better haunts in the Northeast. It has the bonus of being a great place to visit during the day and a good haunt at night. I go every year.
The only thing about ESP is that it does not change that much from year to year. The review I had done in the past remains true. There are some slight differences. For 2012, they have gotten rid of the flashlights for Night Watch and they now pulse people at the end so that they can all see a final scene that is pretty awesome. In past years you may have missed that final scene due to your timing.
They got rid of “Break Out!”, a small attraction which took place just before the exit to the street.
The new attraction this year is Detritus. “The all-new Detritus expands the event into areas of the penitentiary never entered by the public. Visitors walk through an original 1800s cellblock, past the historic prison greenhouse, and into an outdoor labyrinth of overgrown plants and twisting vines. Detritus is unlike anything seen before at Terror Behind the Walls, or anywhere else….”
Detritus was a good start. I do believe it needs some tightening up before it will come into it’s own. We walked through most of it with not much happening. There were some fenced walls with plants and behind them were some actors in plant costumes. It had some cool effects toward the end that actually made me duck. I hope to see more from this in the future.
If you go this year (and you should), let me know if they have made any changes since I experienced the attraction.
4 responses to “Philadelphia: Eastern State Penitentiary: Terror Behind the Walls 2012 review”
Terror Behind the Walls was my first professional haunted house to visit in 09 and it remains my favorite haunt now. As you said, seeing TBTW is not complete without an eerie daytime tour of the cell blocks, we got so many great pictures and there are parts that I cannot enter till this day.
I loved the experience this year but, as I told Isaiah, Detritus was a waste of space and time. I hope that they do something with it to make it great.
We were lucky to visit on a quiet night but there were too many areas that other groups bumped into us.
I was scared the MOST this year because I think the actors have amped it up big time. HOORAY on their part!
My opinion,the last part of the attraction was the best, by far. I really did enjoy that they kept you there for the whole show, I was scared out of my mind.:)
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