The Great Escape
Ever found yourself trapped in a room with nothing but a few clues to help you get out? Well, now you can do just that in an escape room venue that opened recently in Wilmington.
CAPE FEAR ESCAPE ROOM, 5747 Oleander Drive, features mystery games in which teams have sixty minutes to use clues to solve a case and get out of a themed room.
“You truly have to work together to get out. You have to participate and communicate,” says KIM WILT (above), who co-owns the family-run business that opened in the fall with her husband, Steve.
She says that most of their business so far has come from companies wanting to reap the benefits of this nontraditional team building activity.
Since the Wilt family has experienced firsthand how fun escape rooms can be for all ages, they are now working on marketing the business to audiences other than corporate offices.
While on vacation in Canada, Kim, Steve, their three kids, and Steve’s parents discovered escape rooms.
“There are very few things you can intergenerationally participate in and have everyone really love,” Kim Wilt says.
The Cape Fear Escape Room offers two room options. One is themed “Cape Fear Manhunt,” where participants must solve a murder case. The other room is themed “Time Traveler,” and participants must solve a missing persons case about two love-struck teens from 1919.
The “Time Traveler” room builds heavily on early 1900s interior design. Some of the decor in the ominous and dimly lit room includes red brocade wallpaper, Victorian portraits, candlelight, and an antique wooden desk.
Kim Wilt says the couple spent a lot of time searching local vintage thrift stores, eBay, and Craigslist to find authentic furnishings from the Victorian era.
Thrift stores are not the only local businesses that have been helpful to the Wilts.
During the process of developing the project, a number of local businesses and university officials worked with them by giving advice, Kim Wilt says.
Kim and Steve’s three kids – two eleven year olds and a thirteen year old – lend a hand with some of the daily tasks at Cape Fear Escape Room. This involves taking out the trash, putting all the clues back after a room has been used, and assisting with the front end of the establishment where participants pay.
The kids also give their perspective on new ideas Kim or Steve may have for new clues or concepts. So far, these clues have proved to be quite the brainteaser as only 30 percent of teams have made it out of “Time Traveler” in time, and 22 percent have figured out “Cape Fear Manhunt.” Those who do escape, or come close to escaping, get their picture posted on the Cape Fear Escape Room’s Facebook page.
The Wilts have been proud of their progress so far, and Kim Wilt says plan to sign a lease on a Carolina Beach property. They are looking at another possible location downtown.
“People here embrace new things a lot more than I anticipated,” she says. “They like a new concept, and they like trying new things.”
o view more of photographer Sarah Conely's work, go to sarahconelyphotography.com
