Scarywood has teens looking over their shoulders

The question means different things to different people, but it’s an obvious one: Is Scarywood actually scary?

Yes. It’s definitely scary.

There was even a lawsuit from a couple of years ago to prove it.

But for an issue that is a little more nuanced than one our legal system could ever possibly pass judgment on, there is a higher authority: teenagers. Yes, those loaded with a false sense of bravado that only comes from never having voted in a presidential election are the real gatekeepers of such terrifying knowledge.

And the teenagers who crowd Silverwood during October nights are scared.

They walk the park in tighter groups, keeping much closer than they normally would, often holding hands, continually looking around and over their shoulders. They’re generally worried that the refill on their 32-ounce pop was a fearfully wrong decision that could lead to something even more horrific than the scares provided at the park, located about 50 miles from Spokane.

Mark Robitaille, director of marketing and communications at Silverwood, knows this demographic well. He has a teenage son.

“My son just visited the park on Thursday night, so I got the full report,” Robitaille said. “And the first thing he told me was: ‘You know what, Dad? It really is scary. We were scared.’ ”

Robitaille’s son is not alone.

Silverwood’s annual transformation for Halloween draws huge numbers. Last year, the park packed in more than 67,000 people over 13 nights for Scarywood. It was more than an 8 percent gain over the previous year. And Robitaille says this year is tracking to beat 2015’s record-setting numbers. The park is open Thursdays through Saturdays until Oct. 29.

Since it claims this region’s best collection of roller coasters, screams have always been a big part of Silverwood’s DNA, but it also made its mark as a place the whole family could enjoy together.

With that in mind, the first version of Scarywood in 2009 also included a day session with fewer frights so smaller children could attend. Yet, it was when the sun came down and things got literally and figuratively darker that the bigger crowds showed up.

It was then that Silverwood officials knew nighttime was the right time, and the park went all in on putting the scary into Scarywood. By 2010, the day session was gone and the park debuted one of the event’s signature attractions, Blood Bayou – a permanent building that only operates during the Halloween events.

So, what’s the most popular attraction?

Robitaille said that’s an easy answer: the Zombiewood Express, the park’s iconic 30-minute train ride that is transformed into a trip through a zombie-infested battle zone.

The Zombiewood Express even got the star treatment in the Travel Channel’s 2014 look at the scariest Halloween attractions at theme parks around the world.

That leads to Robitaille’s advice for visiting Scarywood. Get in line to ride the Zombiewood Express first. The lines get bigger and bigger throughout the night, and the train has limited seating and can only make a limited number of trips each night.

The biggest crowds are on Friday and Saturday nights, and they get even bigger the closer it gets to Halloween. It’s not unusual for waits to be more than an hour for some attractions on those evenings. That means the best time to visit is sooner rather than later, and on one of the Thursday nights, if big crowds scare you more than the undead.