Red Lantern Escape Rooms is a somewhat newer contender in the fast-growing Southern California escape room market. Their freshman entry, “Midnight on the Bayou”, offers escapees (escape room players) a great combination of challenge, reward, and production value which will surely bring them back for more. We were contacted by Red Lantern Escape Rooms several weeks ago to arrange a visit and review from our website. We love escape rooms, and have reviewed several, so we couldn’t wait to see what this new contender had to offer.
We checked into Red Lantern Escape Rooms on a Thursday evening and signed our waivers then took a seat in a waiting area for a few minutes. In the waiting area, we discovered a couple of newspaper clippings laid out on the table in the middle of the room. One of the coolest things about Midnight on the Bayou is that knowing the story is extremely helpful in figuring out all the puzzles you will encounter. That being the case, you might want to read those newspaper clippings… Just sayin’.
We were then escorted into the Bayou High reunion. The escape room is HUGE… Aside from The Bunker Experience, this is the largest escape space we have encountered. The set design is great and the lighting is excellent at setting the mood. On this dark bayou evening, your group will be tasked with putting to rest some spirits that have never found peace since their fateful demise many years ago. While the subject matter does deal with the paranormal, the escape room was not based in the realm of what I would consider Horror, so it probably won’t scare the young ones in your group if that is a concern to you.
One element that we found refreshing was that a sort of help system is available to you throughout the experience, although not in the traditional way escape rooms do this. Usually, there is a radio or phone that you can call for hints if you absolutely get stuck. In the Red Lantern Escape Room, however, the help came in the form of an actor – a real person who is part of the show. Interact with him, ask him questions, you might be surprised what insights you gleam.
Over the course of the hour, we began unraveling the clues and putting spirits to rest. Unfortunately, we failed to escape, but we got pretty darn close. Apparently, we had just one puzzle left to solve and that would have been that. So, I guess we’ll just have to come back another time and take a crack at it. Also, it looks like Red Lantern Escape Rooms has grande plans in mind as they are hoping to expand the story of Midnight on the Bayou with a second escape room experience sometime in the future. This is a great choice as they keep story as a key part in their experience, so it will be interesting to see how the story evolves. Another cool thing about Midnight on the Bayou is that it can accommodate groups of up to twelve people! This just goes to illustrate the staggering floor space of the escape room. According to the Red Lantern Escape Rooms website, the space measures about 1,000 square feet!
There are, of course, some other secrets and surprises in store for your group at Midnight on the Bayou, but I’ll leave those for you to discover during your own escape adventure. But, I will say that Midnight on the Bayou from Red Lantern Escape Rooms is an excellent escape room challenge for both new and old players of the game which also features some great set and puzzle design. Red Lantern Escape Rooms is located in Anaheim, CA and runs 7 days a week. Tickets are available at their official website and run $32 dollars each for weeknights and $35 dollars each on the weekends. You can book your escape room experience over at their official website!
