My Honest Review of Funtown Splashtown USA’s New Haunted Hotel Ride in Saco, Maine

Locked away deep inside all of our core memories (at least if you're from Maine) are all the trips we took as kids (and now as adults) to Funtown Splashtown USA. Pretty crazy how most of us can remember hot summer days at Maine's largest theme park as kids, and now we're all still going, but with our own kids now. It's a little bitter sweet and nostalgia all rolled into one.

And, as the sands of time have flowed freely through the hour glass of life, so too have the changes that have come to the Route 1 Saco amusement park. Over the last couple of decades we have seen a massive expansion to Funtown's sister park, Splashtown USA. And now, Funtown is beginning to see some changes as well.

Take for example the major overhaul of the incredibly popular Astrosphere, the construction of the oddly terrifying Wild Mouse Coaster and, most recently, the addition of the Whispering Pines haunted hotel ride.

The Haunted Hotel has taken over the former arcade location behind the Tilt-A-Whirl and over by the antique cars and it literally just opened this weekend- so obviously we had to give it a try.

Even though I'm in my mid-30s, I still feel like a kid again whenever there is a new attraction to try at my favorite Maine amusement park. While we were there over the weekend, I jumped in line with my five-year-old, Gavin.

For starters, I love how even the décor outside and around the ride is completely 'Haunted Hotel' themed. Secondly, even waiting in line is super-fun! Once you enter the que, you're guided by velvet ropes through a dark hotel lobby where a VERY convincing animatronic is explaining how the Curse Eradicator remote works and how they needed our help clearing the curses out of the old hotel.

Once you get through the line (it moves wicked quick!), you board the car and are off into the abyss. Now, I don't want to give anything away before you ride it for the first time, but the entire experience is amazing.

The best part of the ride is that it is equal parts spooky and dark, but it's all put together in such a way where my five-year-old thoroughly enjoyed it and wasn't too scared. And at the end you get to see which person in your car eradicated more curses. And, for the record, I won ;)

So I definitely give this ride a A++. From the theming to the ride itself, the Funtown USA hit this one out of the park on the Haunted Hotel ride. Next time you have a chance to go to the park, this is a MUST-RIDE for the family.