A Harrowing Escape — Attraction in Winter Park

Getting straight into it, I write my reviews for constructive criticism only. I'll give as many details as I can recalling my experience.

"A Narrow Escape" was offering a 50% discount, which I couldn't refuse. It was about forty-five minutes from the house, so we made the drive. We were a party of two, and due to the current situations, it was a private experience. We were required to call in to get the discount and pay over the phone. Not a problem, I had no issue with this. I was greeted by a young lady on the phone and explained that I saw the discount on their website. She acknowledged the cut in price, asked which game we would like to do, how many in the party, and personal information for the booking. She then asked if we wanted "Hands off or Supportive." Okay, I appreciate this factor. I hate when people just come over the microphone and assist when I'm already working on the puzzle. +1 on this question.

The next question was what type of personality we would like. I can appreciate this too. This could make the experience more fun. Choices were the director, the riddler, or the ego. We chose the riddler. That way, the answer wasn't just blatantly given to us. We still had to think. This I was disappointed with, and I'll explain why later. The booking was made, and we were all set up. I got the first email, which showed a different total price than what was told to me on the phone. I called back and asked about it. She explained the booking system does not reflect the discount but the full price of the experience. I acknowledged and ended the call. Shortly after, I received the receipt from Square with the correct total. This could be fixed, so it doesn't confuse customers. Not a significant factor in my rating.

Fast forward to arrival at the location. Easy to find, right off of Semoran, seemed to be a newer shopping center. Their building did seem small, and with three experiences, I knew the rooms were going to be small. We walked in, and a large party was already in of eight people, which filled the lobby for the most part. It took a few minutes for the girl to acknowledge our arrival, and she asked for us to sign waivers. The tablet was the same one she was using and was not "COVID" friendly. Sharing tablets and not being cleaned is going to cause concern for others. The waiver signing system could be better. We signed the waiver, and we then waited. We were told to arrive 15 to 20 minutes early, and we had to wait for the entire 20 minutes, which was annoying. I felt like they could have used this time better. Go ahead and have us put our stuff away, interact with your guests, start immersing them into the experience. Instead, it was a TV with corny riddles and jokes, pictures of the owners and college degrees they have, and a bunch of carnival hats all over the lobby wall. The lobby was confusing and not themed, really at all. Quickly assembled and very little thought put into it—one out of five in the lobby.

Once they were ready for us, she had us put our cell phones in the locker and any other things we wanted to stow away. We then walked down the hall to the end to a random TV that played the story line for us. Again, no theming to the chosen storyline. Video was very basic and the graphics were below average. The actual story was okay, if you're into Zodiac Signs and Astrology. Once the video was over, we went into the experience.

The game master was dry, not themed to the experience, and was just ready to go back to the control room. She pointed out not to touch any of the real wood, don't touch any red locks, or electrical outlets. Okay, lets stop there for a moment. Design your rooms so this is not even a topic. No reason why you could not have taken the extra time to theme the outlets to be hidden, to hide your maintenance areas, and to make your room as immersive as possible. The timer was bulky and generic. We entered, told us good luck, and the timer counted down from ten to start.

Read more on...

We recently completed their "late night lock in" where you do all of their rooms from 11:30PM-4:30AM. Really cool concept that more escape rooms in the area should try.

Giving a negative review, however, due to staff and unreasonable policies. There was an absolute no phone in the room policy. I understand that people can take photos and post them online and it ruins the games for others. However, during a late night lock in you are the only people in the entire establishment. There are two employees dedicated to watching you play the game - the rule really needs to be changed in particular for the late night escape rooms to "if we see you using your phone for unintended purposes, you are kicked out". I have a young child at home and when I said that, the staff member said "well lots of people say that and then take photos anyways". Essentially insinuating that I was lying. When I got visibly offended, she said that she believed me it was just their policy. Then she said that the phone would be in the lobby...but that doesn't really help me if I get a phone call that something is wrong when I'm in a room 100 feet away. I pressed her to call the owner, which she did and they allowed me to take my phone in, but it really started our game off on the wrong foot. That rule should be changed, in particular for late night lock-ins, as you are essentially going 5 hours without having your phone and there are employees dedicated to watching ONLY you in the building. Not to mention that it is in the middle of the night with all the lights off in a not-so-great shopping center...not unreasonable to think something could potentially happen where you would need a phone to call police/for help if something god forbid happened.

Second, in the first room we did, we were having trouble finding something that was supposed to be there. I won't go into details because I don't want to give anything about the room away, but essentially we had solved the puzzle and something was supposed to present a code to us. We could not find said thing we were supposed to see, so we asked for a hint, the employee kept telling us "well its there so you must not see it". When we pressed that what she was describing was NOT there, it was that "we must have moved it". We did not move it, what was described was not where it should have been. It's not the end of the world if a game was set up incorrectly or they missed something, but own up to it and don't blame the customer.

In all, we had a decent time but the games themselves are not very well put together. Judging by the responses to other reviews, the owner will come back and tell me that I'm wrong somehow or that we didn't follow directions, other people love the games, etc. Our group has played almost every escape game in the Orlando market, and tons outside of this market, totaling around 75 escape games played total. I'm not saying that we can't make a mistake, we definitely can, but having so much experience with others, these rooms and the staff was a disappointment and their inability to take negative feedback speaks volumes.

If you are looking for another escape room in the area that is family-owned and takes feedback well, has nicely themed rooms without having a crazy budget, and has courteous staff, I would recommend places like Dare2Escape or Doldrick's...

As an experienced escape room team (we play frequently), we recently completed all three rooms here. Overall, we had a mixed experience and see areas for potential improvement. The first room started with a really cool effect we hadn't seen before, which was a great hook! However, the puzzles felt quite repetitive throughout the room. Specifically, many puzzles involved finding items and simply placing them on different sensors around the room, a pattern that occurred multiple times. More variety in puzzle types would definitely enhance this room.A significant point of frustration was the sock requirement for the first room. While we had appropriate shoes, one team member didn't have socks and had to purchase them. Crucially, we made our booking over the phone and were never advised of this requirement during that call. We also reviewed the several emails received beforehand, none of which mentioned socks were mandatory, only recommending comfortable shoes. This lack of clear communication upfront was disappointing.The second room had some good elements, but we felt the moments where the "killer" interacts with the group were less impactful without a live actor physically entering the room. We noticed reviews on platforms like Morty from as recently as last year (2024) where other teams mentioned having a live actor take on the killer's persona during these checks. When we asked our game master about this after our game, we were told it had been discontinued since COVID. This felt a bit misleading given the recent reviews suggesting the live actor was still part of the experience for others, and we believe reinstating this element would significantly enhance the immersion and excitement of this room.In the third room, the puzzles were just average; there wasn't anything that particularly stood out as a great or memorable puzzle. We also felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic, wishing the final puzzle or the escape moment itself had a more impactful reveal or conclusion.Regarding the staff, we interacted with two hosts during our visit. One host was very helpful and seemed genuinely enthusiastic about us being there, which was appreciated. However, our interaction with the second host was less positive. Our entire team felt they seemed uninterested and somewhat dismissive of our questions. In a customer service-focused business like this, the staff interaction significantly impacts the overall experience, and this particular interaction was a bit off-putting.Overall, there's potential here, but clearer communication on requirements (especially for phone bookings), some adjustments to puzzle design and interactive elements (particularly bringing back the live actor in the second room and enhancing the third room's puzzles and finale), and consistent, positive staff engagement could really improve the...