Some may remember shopping at Sears at Coquitlam Centre as being a scary experience.
But nothing is likely to send shivers down your back like the Vancouver Horror Nights (VHN), immersive experience at the former retailer.
The giant nightmare attraction that was previously held at Giggle Dam Theatre in Port Coquitlam is back but bigger and better than ever.
This time, Mark Friebe and his crew have installed a number of themed rooms and events taking over 100,000 sq. ft. over two floors of the former Sears store.
Described in a press release this week as Lower Mainland's only Hollywood-level attraction, the long-awaited Scream Park is open after weeks of permitting delays.
Costing an estimated $5 million, the Scream Park features eight all-new immersive experiences to terrify and thrill guests this Halloween season.
The themed experience took more than a year to design, six months to build and features more than 100 scare actors, two major haunted house attractions, escape rooms and experiences and even an event just for kids.
It also features a bar and restaurant called the Zombie Bar & Café.
Even the website for ordering tickets is scary, with images of ghouls and creatures of the night jumping out at you, simulating what you'll experience when you enter the House of Fear.
Here's what's on offer:
The House of Fear
The House of Fear is the main attraction. Guests enter the mansion of the Garrison family who has lived in this massive ancestral home for more than three centuries.
Constructed on almost half of the old Sears floor area, the House of Fear takes guests through elaborate sets filled with live actors, animatronics, special and practical effects, and much more as they try to escape the nightmare that lies within.
Tickets for The House of Fear start at $25.
"The twists and turns keep coming, you'll never know what's going to happen next," said Ryan Purdy, creative and casting director for Vancouver Horror Nights.
Sacrifice: Sensory Deprivation Experience
For guests who are a little more adventurous, Vancouver Horror Nights offers Sacrifice: Sensory Deprivation Experience. After being caught vandalizing a mausoleum, guests enter a whole new concept where guests are blindfolded, hooded, and chained together as they're led through a sensory deprivation experience that forces them to use their senses of touch, smell, taste, and sound on a journey to 'hell.'
At the conclusion of the attraction, guests fall backwards, while still blindfolded, into the pit of hell.
Guests are encouraged to touch and will be touched, taunted, and taken on the wildest ride of their lives through the depths below. Tickets for Sacrifice start at $25.
Wesgrave Asylum Escape Rooms
Guests who are more analytical will love the new Wesgrave Asylum, a collection of escape experiences in a new open-world concept, designed by VHN, that uses the entire lower level of the attraction.
In Wesgrave Asylum guests explore the hospital in complete darkness, with only a UV flashlight to light the way to find clues and accomplish their mission. Guests must race against the clock to free a hospital staff member before time runs out. But they must hurry; The patients have taken over the hospital and will do whatever they can to stop them.
Tickets for all three different Wesgrave Asylum experiences are $25 and have various skill levels: easy, medium, and hard.
Jigsaw's Revenge Escape Experience
For those brave enough to attempt it, Jigsaw's Revenge offers an escape experience unlike any other. Inspired by the popular SAW movies, guests place their arm inside a mini guillotine and are required to keep it there the entire game. Guests are asked to solve a series of puzzles with one hand as the clock ticks down.
There can be only one winner. Tickets for Jigsaw's Revenge are just $12.99 for a five-minute experience.
The Boogeyman Bash for Kids and Families
For youngsters, VHN offers the Boogeyman Bash, a less scary event for kids and families from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
The Boogeyman Bash features an inflatable haunted house built just for kids, games, face painting, pumpkin carving, family photos, and access to our Zombie Bar & Café for food and drink.
For older kids, VHN offers The House of Fear Jr. during the Boogeyman Bash so older kids, and parents who are a little too scared to try our terrifying nighttime maze, can experience the haunted house walk-through without scare actors.
Zombie Bar & Cafe
Our Zombie Bar & Café offers guests snacks like popcorn, mini-donuts, and cotton candy, but also provides full-service items like pulled pork poutine, burgers, giant foot-long hot dogs and more. For those 19+ who need a little liquid courage to face the nightmare, the bar offers creative cocktails, such as blood bags, a custom-created IV bag that serves as your cup.
Wearable Technology
Accordng to the press release, VHN is also one of B.C.'s only theme parks that employ wearable technology.
The VHN My Experience Band allows guests to play games, use it as a digital wallet, and have their photos taken inside the attraction and automatically linked to their accounts.
Guests can then use the VHN My Experience App to purchase, view, and share their photos from inside the attraction. VHN developed this technology over the last three years and custom-manufactured the RFID bracelets to enhance the immersive experience.
To help everyone have fun and experience the attractions, VHN is also launching Scream Now, Pay Later, which allows anyone to purchase their experience and pay in four equal installments interest-free.
The service is powered by Afterpay, is seamlessly integrated into our online and mobile app checkouts, and does not require a hard credit check.
With so much to see and do, though getting a late start, VHN is ready to thrill and entertain guests and is open until Nov.5 at Coquitlam Centre mall, on the second level, inside the old Sears store.
About Vancouver Horror Nights
Vancouver Horror Nights was born out of the pandemic when when the cast of the Giggle Dam Dinner Theatre transformed the theatre into a 6,500 sq. ft. haunted house with rave reviews.
"It's 15 times the size of the previous Vancouver Horror Nights in Port Coquitlam," said AJ Thompson, operations manager.
Depending on your scare threshold, "there is something for all ages and all scare levels," he said. "We're across from Lincoln SkyTrain. It's going to be a massive event."
