Fear comes from the unknown. It’s a surprise in the dark; the dread of what might come next. Events like Blackout and Alone capitalized on this by sending guests in one by one. But this isn’t a sustainable business model – and haunted houses across the ages have adopted a higher throughput, sending groups in, as a conga-line, to experience the frights from within. While this conga-line approach does work for cars, packing them in doesn’t. It allows us to see too much, to hear the scares far before they get to us, or to miss a surprise altogether. This Halloween is a learning opportunity for us all, and we’re trying our best, but Urban Legends Drive-Thru Haunt at the Orange County Fairgrounds is a good example of what doesn’t work.

Urban Legends welcomes groups of guests (in their cars) to drive through four-five immersive scenes with live actors, decent sound and music effects, and light jump-scares. Each roughly 5-minute scene tells the loose narrative of a different urban legend – trapped miners, Bigfoot, a haunted carnival, and Bloody Mary – before sending guests out into the night. While Urban Legends must be commended for trying something different and Covid-safe for Halloween, haunt enthusiasts might be disappointed with the lack of scares, immersion, and high density of guests. And, with only 20 or so minutes of content, the drive and/or wait in line might not be worth it to some.

Urban Legends does offer VIP tickets, which offer guests separate, shorter lanes and a commemorative photo taken upon entry. However, the shorter VIP lanes only apply to the actual haunt; VIP ticket-holders still have to wait in the general admission lanes until just before onboarding. Merchandise and food are also available to purchase prior to entering the event. At the time of our ticket purchase, VIP tickets were advertised as including an additional immersive scene, but this has since been removed from the website.

The Logistics

Drive-thru haunted houses are popular this year, with many trying out different formulas and forms. The Bite LA offers guests the opportunity to drive through a dark, torch-lit park, with only flashlights to uncover the monsters hidden in the night. Dead Last Drive-In has only one car park in a car-port and watch a movie as actors jump out from behind curtains at key scenes for a scare. And Urban Legends offers six lanes of cars, to drive through, park, and experience four-five unique scenes. While Urban Legends‘ approach might not be intimate, it feels very Covid-safe and socially distant; guests do not leave their cars, and actors wear masks and stay a safe distance away from vehicles.

This high density of cars is the first problem with the event; with cars packed in front of you, behind you, to the left of you, and to the right of you, it’s just hard to feel scared. Further, it’s easy for a car to be forgotten or ignored; so many cars require a quick scare and there are just not enough actors to deliver them. You may get a stare or a slow walk toward your car, or you may not get anything at all, only watching actors pace around the parking lot from your rear view mirror.

With the action and audio all occurring outside of your car, Urban Legends misses the mark on the personalization and intimacy that both immersive entertainment and haunted houses thrive on. One of the strengths we’ve seen with other haunted drive-thrus is the incorporation of FM transceivers to bring the audio and fear directly into your car by tuning into a given FM band. However, Urban Legends does not incorporate this feature; instead, they rely on megaphones for spoken dialogue and blast music for rave-esque scenes. While the music is strong, this lacked the immersion the event promised, making everything feel external and far – not scary or intimate.

The Drive-In

The onboarding of Urban Legends takes place at a 1950s-styled drive-in. Scare-actors, dressed in ‘50s diner attire, act as ushers and inform guests of the proper etiquette for the experience – windows down, masks up. A large projector plays a trailer for the haunt on a loop, giving guests a taste of the urban legends they will experience before it turns to an eerie static that entrances the ushers. There’s some really strong and interesting urban legends here, the narrator is sufficiently menacing, and it’s a good taste of what is to come.

The Mine

Urban Legends begins in earnest with The Mine. The scene is most like a traditional haunt: Scare-actors dressed as miners prowl the darkness, pop up near guests’ windows, and elicit a startled scream or two. Shipping containers and old cars provide ample hiding spots for the actors, the steady dripping sounds from the speakers add to the eeriness, and the flashing lights and buzzing electricity increase the tension. While it may be difficult to see if there is any “main” action in this scene, it doesn’t matter as much, since the scare-actors successfully move around enough to give almost every car some attention.

The Woods

Guests move on from the mine and into the woods, where a Bigfoot lives – as rumor tells it. In this portion, it is clear that Urban Legends is attempting to tell a short narrative. Several hikers, lost in the woods, try to find each other via megaphone, while a mysterious monster in the woods picks them off one by one.

While the Bigfoot story is the most successful narrative in Urban Legends (i.e., it makes sense and there’s a plot), it does not make for an effective scene in a haunt. The sets – trees, tents, menacing creatures with glowing red eyes – are impressive, but there is simply too little action for the amount of patrons. It might work better to have more than one Bigfoot lurking around and scaring guests, even if it skews the urban legend some. Additionally, since Bigfoot’s attention is on the other actors, patrons are almost an afterthought.

The Carnival*

Set in a decrepit carnival, a group of twisted killers hunt a singular female. The clowns rev chainsaws and walk up and down the lines, calling for the girl. Similar to the Bigfoot scene, the action is directed to the girl – and not to the guests. We tried to interact with the murders, telling them we saw the girl, but without much ability to interact, they simply returned to a broken-down carousel to grab chainsaws and rev them up. In the end, they capture the girl and we’re forced to drive forward, just bystanders to a likely murder that we never understood.

*The Carnival was added after initial launch, and thus affected the number of scenes available to early patrons.

Bloody Mary

The climax of Urban Legends takes place in front of a stage and more shipping containers. It’s here that guests are treated to a rave-like dance sequence. Seemingly a tribute to Bloody Mary, the dance sequence doesn’t quite make sense, as it just happens without an intro. The actors/dancers give it their all, but the heavy, pounding beat and occasional thrashing goes on for too long without a payoff. When the dance is complete and Bloody Mary finally makes her entrance, guests might be disappointed that she is just a woman wearing robes – and she doesn’t do anything once she appears. The anti-climax is all the more apparent when guests are unceremoniously directed to the exit upon Bloody Mary’s entrance.

This scene was all the more confusing to me, as I always thought Bloody Mary appears after chanting her name three times to the mirror in a dark bathroom. Maybe I was doing it wrong this whole time! No wonder she never showed up…

Final Thoughts

Urban Legends takes a novel concept and themes, and does quite a good job of capturing each story, even if there are few scares to be had. Sadly, without any audio in our cars, with actors more focused on their scenes than scaring us, and just too many cars, Urban Legends fails to elicit much fear or connection from us.

Despite being impersonal and high density, we are glad that Urban Legends is doing what they can to provide some safe Halloween entertainment for those craving socially-distant, in-person events. The logistics of the event are effective, safe, and easy to follow. The urban legends themselves are interesting and the acting is efficient for what they have to work with. The sets, sounds, and lighting effects are successful in setting the scenes. However, those looking to be either more immersed or more scared best look elsewhere. Urban Legends is best for families of all ages and those who might be too timid to try out a more scare-heavy event.

For more information on Urban Legends Drive-Thru Haunt, check out their website HERE. Check out our Event Guide for more Halloween and horror events throughout the year.

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