There are a lot of interesting deals on the Groupon and Living Social websites. These websites seem to offer great deals on dining, fun activities, products and vacations because of their intriguing descriptions. Recently, Groupon posted a deal for CoCo Key Water Resort, an indoor water resort in Waterbury. The Groupon description reads, “Regardless of the weather outside, CoCo Key Water Resort simulates an 84-degree Key West day.” A Key West setting in Waterbury? This sounds amazing and a little too good to be true. When we scrolled down to the reviews, we noticed 143 reviews with an average two star rating. One user wrote, “The smell inside was horrible who knows if they even use chlorine to sanitize. Asked an employee for the manager and didn’t see anyone for at least 20 min until we asked someone else.” Many of the other reviews mirrored this one. Before buying a Groupon or Living Social Deal, always check the reviews and purchase at your own risk.
Of course, many deals on Groupon match their descriptions. El Flamboyan in Wallingford exceeded our expectations with their savory Puerto Rican cuisine. Groupon offers the catchy descriptions to get the ball rolling on business. Businesses that choose to use Groupon either live up to those standards or fall short of them. We gave Groupon another go with the Historical Ghost tours of New Haven. Connecticut missed out on Halloween last year due to a violent snowstorm. We’ve been craving some creepy fun ever since. This is how our night played out-
Walking Tours of New Haven
Historical Ghost Tours (approx 90 minutes)
Overall Grade: B-
Meeting Place: 1070 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Contact: info@walkingtoursofnewhaven.com.
Atmosphere: 8.5/10-If you’re not from the New Haven area, you might have trouble finding parking. If you can’t find street parking on Chapel Street, we recommend you park at the garage on College Street where the Shubert Theatre lies. Chapel Street is a short walk from the garage. We met our tour guide and our group in front of the Starbucks on Chapel Street. Our tour guide led us to a number of interesting destinations in a ninety minute period. We wished could have gone inside some of the tour destinations. If we were allowed to go inside the Grove Street cemetery or the Skull & Bones society, we would have enjoyed the tour a lot more. Check out our picks for the most interesting destinations:
Skull & Bones Secret Society: Located on High St, this secret society is known for its mysterious rituals and traditions. The ghost of Geronimo, a famous Apache chief, supposedly haunts these grounds. Legend has it that Prescott Bush, our former presidents’ father and grandfather, stole Geronimo’s skull from his burial site. The members of the secret society reportedly require new members to kiss Geronimo’s skull!
New Haven Green: Bounded by Chapel, Church, Elm and College Streets, the green rests over thousands of burials of yellow fever victims that died during the late 1700s.
Grove Street Cemetery: This is cemetery is home to many historical figures such as Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin and Noah Webster, the creator of the Webster Dictionary. Grove Street Cemetery is also home to Midnight Mary. You can read her story on Damned Connecticut.
Service: 8.5/10-Our tour guide displayed vast knowledge of New Haven’s haunted history. She was quirky but did not project the spooky vibe one might expect for this type of tour. Nonetheless, we enjoyed following our tour guide to the various destinations on the tour and listening to her stories.
Price: 6.5/10-Without the Groupon deal, Historical Ghost Tours loses points on its price. $25 per person is steep for a 90 minute tour, especially one that does not venture into most of its destinations.
Variety: 8.5/10-The tour covers a handful of places in a 90 minute period. We found this to be the most desirable aspect of the tour.
In a nutshell: 32/40-Historical Ghost Tours in New Haven-it’s a good idea and has a lot of interesting elements. We recommend you try this tour if they launch another Groupon deal or if you feel the price matches the quality. We would like to look into more of Connecticut’s haunted history and we’ll most likely try this type of tour again in the near future.
CT Snapshot 