The Traveling Wheelchair

Ted Williams Camp
28 Precinct Street
Lakeville, MA 02347
Phone: 508-923-0053
Website: http://www.lakevillehauntedhouse.com/
You Tube (2009): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBhvjqO79FM

 
With all the hype of the season and the talk of Lakeville Haunted House, I decided to drop in to see what twisted horror they had in store for me and at the same time do a wheelchair accessibility review.

Lakeville Haunted House is located on the property of  Ted Williams Camp in Lakeville . It is open Friday and Saturdays ONLY from October 10 to October 25. Tickets are on sale at 6 PM and Tours begin at 7 PM. Tickets are $13.00 per person with no refunds and no discount for disabled. A $3.00 coupon is available on their website for first two weekends only.

Parking is FREE and there are plenty of handicap parking spaces located right up front in the main parking lot in front of the function hall of the Ted Williams Camp.  Entry doors are wedged wide open with full wheelchair access into the building. Inside the building is spacious and there is plenty of room to manuever my wheelchair around the tables.

Entertainment, food, music and airbrush painting by Dragons Breath Temporary Tattoos( www.dragonsbreathtemptattoos.com) is available inside while you wait for the horrific tour of the Lakeville Haunted House.

While my friends and I waited, the characters who mingle in with the crowd tried to spook me. I showed one of the characters that I too can spook and scared the ‘hee bee gee bees’ out of them. I had lots of fun!

The restrooms are spacious with a large handicap stall that has the ADA required safety bars and the accessible sinks are at a perfect height for my wheelchair, although the pipes under the sinks are not covered as is now required by ADA.
 
It was now time for us to begin our haunted tour so we traveled outside along side a sports field to a location within the woods. At the entrance of the haunted house, we were warmly greeted by two men with flash lights who offered to assist us during our tour. I thought this was very nice of them!

Throughout our journey of the Haunted House I enjoyed the scenes and characters and thought they did a phenomenal job. It was humorous hearing people scream when they got scared and even at times I would hear Josh, my roommate and our friends give out a good scream too. But I stood brave and tough.

My friends, Tony and Josh found it very difficult to push my manual wheelchair along some of the rough terrain in the woods.  We stumbled over tree roots, twigs, leaves, branches and ground filler.

Our guide helped give my wheelchair a push over the rough terrain too. We were told that some ground filler was just recently spread to fill in the holes in the ground. Since it was recently spread it is fluffy and is hard to wheel on but will eventually get hard and flush. 

My Power Chair would have been much easier traveling along this rough terrain but my Power Chair died and I am still awaiting a new Power Chair. I would recommend you bring a Power Chair or a strong friend to push your manual wheelchair along the haunted path.
 
I give Lakeville Haunted House THREE STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Two Stars they would need to place protective covering around the exposed pipes under the accessible sink in the restroom; level out the trail throughout the Haunted House; and widen the areas of the path where it is narrow and has tight corners.

I give the escorts and characters FIVE STARS for hospitality, sensitivity and for being so helpful to me and my friends.

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Amendment: October 2009

October of 2009, we once again traveled through the spooky and scary hauntings of Lakeville Haunted House. Nothing has changed as far as wheelchair accessibility since we visited here last year.

The terrain is still very tough but the experience is a FIVE STAR Haunting.

Kenny & Company wish you all a Safe and Happy Halloween!!