"Our visit to WallyWorld" Kensington by 850prc

Kensington is a medium-sized town in middle Prince Edward Island. One of the local attractions, mentioned in almost all the tourist information sheets, is a "haunted mansion". Well, we knew that it was just a tourist thing, but when we found ourselves passing through Kensington, we took a vote and unanimously decided to spend an hour looking it over.

So, we drove through Kensington and asked for directions to the haunted mansion. We found it easily and pulled into the parking lot.... only to see the sign above.

NOW do you remember? At the end of National Lampoon's Vacation, they pull up to "WallyWorld" and it's closed for repairs. Chevy Chase goes berzerk and ends up forcing the park to open for a private family visit, at gunpoint.

I will tell you this... even in spite of the sign you see here, we DID get to visit the haunted mansion. However, I didn't have to take decisive or illegal action. No guns involved, not even any cursing or threats. ;) Read below.

Creepy eyes staring around a corner at the mansion

Like I say, we drove up to the mansion and BAM - there's the sign about the place being closed. Well, we were a bit disappointed, but seeing as how we were passing through Kensington anyway and hadn't made a special trip, we just figured... OK, let's figure out where to head next. We were sitting in the empty parking lot, looking over our map of PEI and reading our visitor's guide. This guy walks up and surprises us with a tap on the window.... we didn't see him walking up. At first, I figured he was going to "suggest" that we move on, ie get out of the empty parking lot.

But no... he smiles and said "so, you want to go through the haunted house, eh?" (Yes, I swear he did say "eh") I told him that it had been our plan, but we saw that it was closed. He explained that they were making some changes and preparations for their big day of the year, Halloween, which was coming up in a little over a month. BUT, he said the mansion was "on" and operating, it's just that there were no visitors. He said that if we wanted to go through and explore, it was perfectly OK. He did say that since they were not technically open, they had no mechanism for selling tickets and collecting money, so..... it was going to be a free visit. :)

So, we spent about an hour and a half exploring the mansion and having a good time. Sure, parts of it were cheesy as you'd expect. But there is some imaginative trickery and all sorts of surprises in store as you wind through hall after hall, room after room. There is also a large and interesting botanical and sculpture garden. And last but not least, it's actually difficult to find one's way back out of the mansion. Kind of creepy in some ways. :)

Thanks so much to the folks at the "closed for business" haunted mansion. The only three visitors they had that day remembered their welcome and kindness, and we had a good time.

I will list haunted mansion information as my only Kensington tip. Enjoy (and rate if you wish). Also please see the accompanying Kensington Haunted Mansion travelogue for some more photos of our "private viewing".

Also, for more information in the town of Kensington itself, I suggest checking out the website at http://www.kensington.ca/portal/

• Pros:As tourist haunted mansions go, this was a good one.
• Cons:It's not easy to find the way out.
• In a nutshell:so you want to go through the haunted house, eh?