Newberry Cornfield Maze
Laugh by day....SCREAM by night..
Gainesville, FL- We arrived shortly after dusk on a Saturday night. The completely dark and near empty bumpy dirt road that led us to Hodges Farm got us in the mood to be scared that's for sure. We arrived and parked in a huge lot beside the cornfield, parking was free which was a plus. We got into line and waited no more than 10-15 minutes to purchase tickets. If you purchase tickets online, you can skip the line when you arrive. The cost is $9 for adults and $7 for children 10 & under and an additional $5 for the hay ride. We opted not to do the hayride, though they do have a haunted house which is included with admission. Once inside we made our way to the cornfield as the sound of chainsaws roared in the background.
As we approached the corn maze, we were unable to tell where the entrance or exit was because people were both entering and exiting from the same place. We were told by security it didn't really matter where you did what. This was slightly disappointing since the point of a maze is to enter one way and find your way out through the other. Slightly disheartened, we entered the maze. Immediately we were greeted by a gentleman in a Michael Myers mask and a chainsaw, while we don't scare so easily, others didn't take so well to our greeter and ran past us screaming. This became a main point of frustration with the maze, other people screaming and running by, therefore taking away the element of surprise or fear when you approach the person they are fleeing from. The maze was a letdown in that aspect, as well as the fact that it was very hard to actually get "lost" in the maze. It seemed no matter what you would end up back at the entrance, or exit, whatever it was. We went through once rather quickly and later decided to try again. The second time we did get further into the maze, and even had a few points of isolation from everyone else. One time in particular as we walked, shining our flashlight at the corn around us, looking for one of those chainsaw wielding scare actors, the light landed right on one and he immediately burst from the corn chasing us quite a bit through the maze. That instant of running, slightly scared and hearing a chainsaw roaring behind you, is the feeling we were looking for this whole time. Unfortunately, those instances were few and far between. We never did accomplish the feeling of being lost in the darkness of a cornfield in the middle of nowhere, which was the goal we had in mind. That was a major let down in our opinion.
