Room 13, you must make it to Room 13—it’s the only place you’re safe. A hidden door slides open, revealing a long, claustrophobic hallway lined with rooms. I look forward and see that each room is labeled with a 13. This will be harder than I thought. I open the first door, revealing a woman screaming as loud as she can. I quickly slam the door and try another, but the path is boarded up by bricks. One by one the doors provide no answers, and no safety, until a previously blocked door opens, and the screaming woman emerges behind me. I try one last door, hoping it provides me some solace. Las Vegas Haunt’s Asylum and Hotel Fear are a great way to enjoy Halloween.

Las Vegas Haunts, home to the Asylum and Hotel Fear mazes, is a Halloween fixture in Las Vegas. Taking up residency in the Meadows Mall parking lot, this haunt is one of the best Vegas has to offer, evident of it’s over twenty-year history. With a strong narrative, clever theatrics, and strong actors, this is a must-see for anyone spending Halloween in Las Vegas. The attention to detail and heart that went into making these mazes ensure you really feel like you have stepped into a working Insane Asylum or a Run Down Hotel and that is why the mazes have been used as sets for multiple horror films.

ASYLUM

Celebrating their 22^nd year, Last Vegas Haunts is back this year with a completely new version of Asylum. The previous Asylum maze was sold and a new Asylum experience was designed and built from the ground up, expanding from a 6 trailer haunt to an 8 trailer haunt. With the additional size, Asylum was able to completely change the maze layout leaving you totally disoriented just like the patients in the asylum. To keep the narrative going and further expand it, the new Asylum continues the story of the Vander family.

In the original Asylum, Dr. Vander ran Meadview Health Sanctuary where he treated the Mentally Insane. Yet, while treating the insane, a patient murdered the Vander family—except for his son Adrian. With a new resolve, Adrian sought to cure the patients, instead of simply treating them. The new asylum jumps to the modern day, where a government agency has taken over the asylum and continues Adrian’s dream of curing the patients. For those with a sharp eye, there are numerous Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout the maze alluding to the story and providing further context allowing for those brave enough to return to find something new with each trip through the asylum.

The Asylum is themed as a typical insane asylum with padded patient rooms, treatment rooms filled with medical equipment, and disorienting visualizations of the mind. This haunt excels with their use of optical illusions and well-placed actors. The amount of hidden passages and sliding doors serve to quickly disorient audiences. This, combined with strong actors, ensure that scares are consistently coming from alcoves, hidden holes, and inconspicuous areas. One of our favorite areas, a room completely full of fog, returns allowing guests a chance to get lost in the foggy minds of the patients of Meadview. Although there were only about 15 actors in this maze, you never feel like you are alone. There is always an actor right in front of you waiting to scare you or following you out of a room.

While a traditional maze haunt, our group never ran into the standard conga-line issues. The use of locked doors and actors to space out the groups ensured we never saw a scare happen to the people before us. The hidden passages only open when the actor opens it, often leading to surprises, as well as ensuring groups are spaced out and socially distanced.

If you have been to asylum before, don’t worry the new maze brings back some of the best rooms from the previous version, while updating and expanding it. As a testament to the staying power of the Asylum, the façade looks very much the same, with it now a bit wider and taller. And don’t worry—the chainsaw exit is still there. Those waiting in line can still watch patrons nearly tripping over their own feet as they run from the haunt in terror.

HOTEL FEAR

Hotel Fear is Las Vegas Haunt’s second maze. Themed as a gothic hotel, the hotel is beautifully decorated in lush, vintage décor. The attention to detail that the asylum brought is replicated here, replacing the Asylum’s medical equipment with dusty leather books, flickering lights, and old beds. You’ll navigate through the hallways of the hotel in search for Room 13, entering various rooms, the employee quarters, the hotel bar, and even the spaces between the walls. It’s a claustrophobic journey into a hotel, with a desperate goal: find Room 13. Why? Well, we’ll tell you the story.

Hotel Fear connects into the Asylum with the Feoray’s, friends of the Vander family and proprietors of a local hotel. They had problems with their son Mortimer, who was committed to the asylum. After applying his techniques, Dr Adrian Vander declared Mortimer cured and returned him to his family at Hotel Fear. Unfortunely, the cure was ineffective and Mortimer suffered a relapse, slaughtering everyone in the Hotel except for one guest: Adrianne in Room 13. They only way to escape the Hotel is to find Room 13 and Adrianne.

This haunt furthers the optical illusions of the Asylum with numerous fake-outs, hidden passages, and drop-panels. These panels will often give actors numerous chances to scare you as you move among adjacent rooms, allowing one actor to scare you upwards to three times. Further, this maze will play with darkness, entrapping audiences in pitch-black areas that they must traverse for safety. Actors interact with the audience here, consistently telling you to hurry and find Room 13, providing a strong motivation to this maze. This is easily a favorite, and with hints that an expansion may take place next year, we are even more excited to return.

COVID PRECAUTIONS

Las Vegas Haunts’ Asylum and Hotel Fear have done a great job of implementing safety measures in the wake of the pandemic. The biggest change this year was offering times ticket slots and not selling tickets on site. This helped ensure that the crowds remain manageable and socially distanced. Upon entering the area, everyone has their temperature checked and then told to stand in large numbered circles. The circles were big enough to include the entire group and were spaced more than 6 feet apart from each other. Employees monitored the lines and ensured everyone was wearing their masks properly the entire time they were on site and kept the groups at safe distances. Prior to entering each maze, everyone in the party was required to use hand sanitizer as there were multiple doors that needed to be opened throughout the mazes. After each group passes through, the rooms are wiped down before the next group enters. Throughout the wait, I felt extremely safe and that this haunt was taking their Covid precautions seriously.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For those who are looking for a classic Halloween Haunt experience, look no further than Las Vegas Haunts’ Asylum and Hotel Fear. The walk-through mazes have some of the best jump scares, optical illusions and misdirection of any haunted house we’ve been to. It’s frightening, scary, and the attention to detail showcases the love this team has for their craft. This is also one of the only actual haunted houses you’ll be able to experience during the Covid-era, so if you’re missing those scares and want to experience them safely, this is your best option. Just make sure you find Room 13 and don’t get lost in the hallways of Hotel Fear.

For more information about Las Vegas Haunts, check out their website, Facebook or Instagram. Check out our Event Guide for more Halloween and horror events throughout the year.

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Las Vegas Haunt’s Asylum and Hotel Fear are a great way to enjoy Halloween. Don’t Miss Asylum and Hotel Fear if you visit Las Vegas this Halloween. Seriously, Asylum and Hotel Fear in Las Vegas are great haunted houses.