Verona, N.Y. (NCC News) – Turning Stone Resort Casino’s “Once Upon A Time Halloween Maze” began Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. and will be open until 10 p.m. The maze will be open at the same times on Thursday, Oct. 29 and Saturday, Oct. 31. The event will follow COVID-19 safety guidelines. Masks are required at all times, and certain costume are prohibited, in order to make contact tracing easier.
“You must have an approved face covering,” said Dan Jones, Director of Guest Experience. “We have strict guidelines on what that face covering can be.”
Guests cannot wear a mask that covers the face, face paint, hooded sweatshirts, or hats.
Guests must also present valid identification including a driver’s license or learner’s permit which is scanned for contact tracing. Jones said that hotel staff asks guests to remove masks briefly so surveillance cameras can take an image of the person’s entire face.
“We also created a unit of employees whose sole task is to walk around the floor making sure people are not only wearing the mask,
but wearing it properly,” Jones said.
According to Jones, hosting celebrations for holidays like Halloween is important to Turning Stone. He said that despite COVID-19, he is optimistic that this will be a successful event.
“It’s important for us to try and maintain as much normalcy as possible,” Jones said. “Halloween has always been a big event for us because we do it big, we do it better, it’s a chance for us to show off.”
“We understand what’s involved, we’ve done big events. …We’re confident in our plan, we’re confident in our employees, we’re confident in the protocols that we have in place,” Jones said.
The “Once Upon A Time Halloween Maze” is located indoors in the Turning Stone Resort Casino’s event center. As guests work their way through the fairy-tale themed maze, they will come across sections based off of different fairy tales where they can take photos and retrieve Halloween candy.
