7 Gates Screampark

7 Gates Screampark

Good Time Rating: 5 out of 5 shrieks of terror

Accessibility Rating: 4 out of 5 managers with flashlights*

Niagara Falls, NY

10/18/25

After my disastrous experience with Fright World Screampark last year, this spooky season I was in no mood to encounter accessibility issues. We try to go to a haunt every October, and this year's selection was going to be Six Flags Darian Lake Fright Fest. See, big theme parks may not be perfect in terms of accessibility, but they're generally damn good. I even reached out to the park by email, and I was assured that the hallways inside the haunt would be plenty wide enough for my power chair, Virginia.

But then we got there on a busy Saturday evening and realized uh.... I done fucked up. See the haunt at Six Flags is $30, but that's in addition to the price of a regular admission ticket. So our $60 night out for the two of us had turned into a $200 night of spooky fun.

Yeah. We're poor. We had to pivot.

I did some quick googling and figured out that 7 Gates Screampark was open till 11, and it would only take us an hour to get there from Darian Lake. There was just one problem - Virginia. I didn't believe for a minute Virgina would fit through the halls of the haunts at 7 Gates.

"Maybe it will be accessible," my dear husband argued. "Maybe they'll surprise you."

"If 7 Gates is accessible, I will eat my hat," I said.

Well.....

I've never been more happy to be wrong. Now, it wasn't perfect, and we're gonna talk about the ways it could have been better. But if ever there was a reason to give out an A++ for effort - this place deserves it.

Immediately upon arrival I asked the guy working the front door if I was going to have a problem with my chair inside. I later found out the guy I was talking to was the owner - Dakota. Dakota reassured me that the halls would mostly be wide enough, but that I might have a little trouble in the Summit High haunt. He also let me know that while they only provided standard size porta-potties for the guests, I'd be able to use the fully accessible employee bathroom - I'd just need to get the attention of a staff member so they could escort me back there.

I might have also bitched about Frightworld a bit. This is the part where I wish I took better notes, because Dakota told me that Frightworld's halls are only built to some small standard number of inches. By contrast, 7 Gates has much wider halls, built to a standard number of inches that I really wish I had written down.

As we were talking, another group approached and the man asked how scary the haunts were. 

"Is it as scary as Frightworld?" He wanted to know.

Dakota insisted it was, and then I chimed in with a quick, "Plus, Frightworld isn't wheelchair accessible."

"Well, fuck Frightworld!" the man said. His friends echoed a muttered chorus of "fuck Frightworld."

This gave me enormous pleasure, because I am a petty bitch.

But enough about that personal grudge, let's talk about 7 Gates!

It's small-ish, with four haunts and a decent sized lobby area filled with places to take spooky selfies. There were a couple of scare actors working the lobby - including a 7-foot tall scary zombie drag queen I was absolutely obsessed with.

Concessions were pretty standard, with a few snacks and soft drinks on offer. They were fairly cheap too - which is great because blogging is not real lucrative.

What I really want to talk about is the floor manager - Jim. My angel, Jim! Jim took it upon himself to make sure I had a good experience inside the haunts, and he went so far out of his way to do it, I was floored.

We started with The Last Chop. Before we even got in Jim told us there was a small section of the haunt that wasn't accessible, but that he would guide me to an emergency exit and then back into the haunt. Thus informed, we ventured inside...

Y'all, I do not scare easy. I've been a horror junkie since high school. Nearly every night you'll find my insomniac ass watching a scary movie in the dark long after the rest of my family has gone to bed. "It" is my comfort movie.

So when I say the Last Chop was scary, you can take it as gospel. I screamed like a little bitch on no less than 3 occasions. Now, it wasn't the most elaborate haunt. Decor-wise, it was good, but you could tell their budget was only so-so. That said, it's not always about the budget, right? It's about using what resources you have to make the scariest haunt you can. And I have to give it up to whoever designed this one, because it was damn unsettling. In fact, while I did like some of their haunts more than others, all of them are designed like perfect little scream factories.

Back to my angel, Jim. He led us though the bypass as promised, into a hallway. Bypasses may be necessary sometimes, but they're always a little disappointing. There's that FOMO feeling, wondering what terrifying delights were in the room I could not enter. The ables get a scary room, I get a boring hallway.

But when I entered this particular hallway, there was a scare actor waiting there just for us!! This terrifying cannibal woman basically chased us through the bypass and back into the haunt, waving a cleaver and threatening to turn us into bacon. It was a hoot, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated it.

Later as we wandered rooms filled with buckets of gore we got to a spot where the corners were TIGHT. Now, my beloved Virginia can absolutely pivot on a dime, and she's got a fairly slim profile too. My manual chair (I call her Darla) has a footrest that sticks out a bit. I don't think I could have done it with Darla. If you're thinking about attending 7 Gates with a chair, I'd say as long as you have the dexterity for frequent turns, and your feet rest close to your body, you should be okay.

But just to make sure we were extra okay, Jim appeared with a flashlight to guide me through the tricky parts. This happened again and again at 7 Gates. Whenever the corners got tight or a room was particularly dark, Jim would pop up out of nowhere, guide us through, and disappear again.

My personal favorite haunt was The Den of Demons. Very witchy feel throughout. Less gory than The Last Chop - it relied more on atmospheric scares. This feels like a good time to mention the sacre actors at 7 Gates are next level. None of them were phoning this in. And I gotta give a shout out to the creepy witch that I believe was the manager of that haunt. When we had to go through another bypass, she not only led us through, she stayed in character the entire time. She said things like, "Come this way... No, not that way. This way..." in between witchy cackles.

The Void was probably my least favorite haunt. No shade, it just wasn't very memorable for me. Tight corners here too, and I might have accidentally punched a hole in the plywood wall with my foot rest. In my defense, it was a reeeeeeeaaallly flimsy wall.

Which brings us to our final haunt - Summit High. Now you'll recall, I was warned this one might be tricky in the chair, and damn, they weren't wrong. At points it felt more difficult than it was fun, with many MANY sharp corners. I also encountered a lot of objects/set pieces in my way - however, the scare actors were always quick to notice the situation and move shit out of my way, and they mostly stayed in character while they did it!

This one was themed after a high school overrun by zombies, and the scare actors looked like they were having a hoot and a half. At one point a zombie climbed to the ceiling, bracing himself on the walls to either side and growling at us.

I stopped before moving under him (lest he fall on my head) and warned him, "I'm gonna move under you..."

"Graaaah!" He growled back.

"Is that okay?" I asked.

"Graaaah!"

"Does... does 'Graaaah!" mean yes?"

"Graaaah!"

And I rolled on.

Just as a fun bonus, 7 Gates has a killer gift shop. Not just merch with their name on it, but all kinds of horror movie tees, jewelry, enamel pins, and other spooky season goodies. I got a grim reaper jibbit for my Crocs and it brings me joy.

* Folks, I wish this was the end of this blog post - "4 stars, would recommend, roll on in!" But unfortunately it's not. Because I have to report that while 7 Gates was mostly accessible this year, next year they're moving into a building with stairs. The owner, Dakota, told me all about it before we'd even gone inside.

I sent Dakota an email the next day. I told him what a wonderful experience I had. I told him how much it meant to me, just having a normal night out of spooky fun. What a difference a few extra inches of hallway width meant to me and my family. I know that he's likely already under contract to use the new building with stairs for 2026, but I asked that he please use accessible buildings for 2027 and beyond.

I didn't get any response.

As always, I'll report back if I hear anything. Until then, faithful readers, remember that accessibility is a requirement, not a feature, and that it's always spooky season in your heart.