TR: Halloween Haunt Opening Night

[DegoRed]

Got to Knotts at 6:30, walked right up to security and walked right in. Immediately my date got surrounded by monsters, and it really freaked her out since she had never been to any kind of halloween event or haunted house. I started to think she might not make it in the mazes, but we decided since the place was dead, to warm up on the rides.

 

Ghostrider - Walk on: Wasn't too painful, and she loved it.

 

Silver Bullet - Walk on: Same ol same ol, but it turned out to be her favorite thing of the night.

 

Xcelerator - Walk on: She was really freaked out by it, but just like everything else, ended up lovin it.

 

Riptide - Walk on and soak mode was off but it was pretty hot tonight so I wouldn't have minded if they left it on. Rode it twice, and I actually got her on it with me the second time.

 

OK now for what you all want to hear about. I'll start with the scare zones then the top 10 mazes.

 

The Gauntlet: Lots of talent lurking around and scaring a lot of people including my date who got bombarded with 3 or 4 monsters a few times, cause she is so easy to scare 5/5

 

Ghost Town: Kind of a let down, the few times we walked through never really a lot of monsters in there. Although we had a couple that followed us for a long time. 3/5

 

CarnEVIL: Awesome talent, and a lot more than usual. We had this one girl follow us all the way from supreme scream to Riptide, and there was another girl on roller skates that scared the crap out of me and my date. 4/5

 

Silver Bullet Mining Town: Yawn, nothing special there, the swamp was way better. 1/5

 

Top 10 Mazes:

 

#1 - 13 Axe Murder Manor - WOW, who thought they could put something in that would just blow Bayou out of the water. Great job on the theming, and lots of talent, and best of all. L O N G 5/5

 

#2 - The Asylum - Same as last year, no reason to change it, we both got the s scared out of us in this one, and we even got lost in the thing at one point so bonus points there. 5/5

 

#3 - Feary Tales - It's no Malice, but all the creepy hot girls in there make it a winner. 4/5

 

#4 - Red Moon Massacre - I was really surprised how many more monsters they added to this one. Got some good scares, and the best part was you weren't always sure where the monsters were gonna jump out from. 4/5

 

#5 - Hatchet High - I really like this maze, lots of monsters and other talent, and good theming, hope they keep this one around for awhile.

 

#6 - Clowns - An oldie but goodie, same thing as last year, and a lot of monsters. 4/5

 

#7 - Red Beard's Revenge - MUCH more improved from last year. Great theming, and lots of monsters and good scares. 4/5

 

#8 - Lore of the Vampire - MUCH MUCH better than last year. Lots of talent, and some good scares. 4/5

 

#9 - Curse of the Spider - Well this one got knocked down a few pegs from last year, just didn't do much for me and too small to get good scares in. 3/5

 

#10 - Cavern of Lost Souls - Good riddance Army of the Underworld, this one was much better. Better theming and more monsters, just grabs the #10 spot. 3/5

 

Other mazes that were kinda ehhh:

 

Terror Vision - Just didn't seem to have it this year, real short not a lot of talent. 2/5

 

Temple of Sacrifice - Can't ask for much in the queue of Jaguar. 1/5

 

Worst Maze/Scare zone this year goes to Dark Realm of the Gauntlet, no theming just L shaped walls everywhere with very little talent in it. 0/5

 

The Hanging - I don't want to give too much away but the title is called " The Happiest Hanging on Earth" so figure out what they were mocking, and they did a damn good job of doin so. It wasn't the best Hanging I've ever seen, but there were a few moments that I was laughing my ass off, definitely worth seeing. 8/10

 

I wanted to check out Alonzo's show but I'll see it next time I'm there on the 13th.

 

Overall, looks to be an improved Haunt if opening night is any indication on what's to come.

[PhishyBrewer]

Aww... no pictures

[robbalvey]

So I have a question for all you 'haunt' people (and this isn't a dig on haunt at all, I'm just really curious)

 

I noticed in your TR Jon (great, BTW) that you mention stuff like "hope they keep this one around awhile....no reason to change it....oldie but goodie, etc, etc.....

 

Do people really LIKE the fact that they are the same mazes year after year? (That's pretty much the question)

 

One of the reasons I don't do haunt ever year is because, for me, I don't like to spend the extra money for a seperate ticket event for the same mazes that have been there for 3 to 5 years. At SFMM, I can understand because it's not additonal money.

 

One of the attractions for me of HHN is the fact that every year it's completely different from what I saw the year before. Now granted, one plus of Haunt's repeat mazes if that if there is a REALLY good one, it will be around for a while. You always run the risk of the next year's replacement not being as good.

 

So yeah, the question really is do people like the fact that there are repeat mazes, or, if YOU were running Haunt, would you rather do 10 fresh mazes every year?

 

--Robb "I know my answer, I'm curious to hear everyone elses" Alvey

[DATman]

I'd do ten fresh mazes every year, but ever few years or so, I'd redo 10 of the amzing mazes, as a kind of throwback to years past

[Jew]

Personally, I think repeat mazes and scare zones is one of the things that makes Haunt great. It's because of that monsters are really able to dial in their characters and really make it their own. Not only that, if you get a good group of talent that stays together, that only makes a great maze or scare zone stay great!

 

 

Granted, some things stay around for too long, but for the most part having a great maze stay around for 5-10 years is what sets Haunt apart IMO...

[robbalvey]

...having a great maze stay around for 5-10 years is what sets Haunt apart IMO...

But isn't this what all the other parks except for Universal do too? Granted I've only been to Fright Fest at SFMM, SFGadv, and SFA and they have repeat mazes year after year. And I'm not sure what the Busch Parks do. But it would seem that having mazes stay around year after year is more of the 'norm' not something unique.

 

--Robb

[Sir Clinksalot]

I think there are good and bad things about having mazes around so long.

 

First off, if it's a GOOD maze (Blood Bayou, Hatchet High, C3, The Asylum, etc) then I don't mind it being around for 3 or 4 years. The talent get's better every year.

 

But, there is something to over-staying your welcome. Army of the Underworld, The Underground and Lore of the Vampire come to mind. Those were/are mazes that just lost it for me. Lore has been ready to be changed for awhile IMO. I LOVE vampires, but every time I have gone through that maze, it just never does it for me.

 

C3 as an example has been there for 5 years now. Great maze, but it's really time for something new. The first year was the best because they used the back-stage area of Windjammer and it rocked.

 

Then there are the newer mazes that haven't really proven themselves over the long haul. Curse of the Spider comes to mind. The first year it was just a "Scare Event" which was cool. The next year was that and the maze, it was just okay. IMO there has only been one REALLY good year of Spider and that was 2 years ago. We didn't go in this maze last year.

 

But I think we are just kind of haunted out. We really aren't planning on going this year. We were wanting to go on the 14th, but I think we will do something else instead.

 

Hopefully next year we will be into it again.

[Jew]

^^Yeah, but with few exceptions (the clowns in Gotham @ SFMM)...none of those parks have the talent, fanbase, or history Haunt has.

 

Believe it or not, lots of people (both hauntfans and regular guests) come back just to see their favorite monsters year after year.

 

Haunt has become something bigger than just a theme park Haunt. I totally see where you are coming from, and it's really hard to explain to someone who is "out of the loop" so to speak when it comes to the culture that is Haunt...But I think part of the reason Haunt has become something bigger than just a theme park haunt is the fact things don't change as often.

 

If they changed things every year, the talent would still be great, the sliders would still slide...but it just wouldn't be the same.

[UberBeavis]

It used to change a lot more from year to year, and there are many of us who used to look forward to the changes.

I'll still be going this year, but not as many times as I used to.

[DegoRed]

To answer Robb's initial question...

 

I haven't been fortunate enough to go to HHN but pretty much all the Halloween events (Haunt, Shipwreck, and Fright Fest) here in so cal, are usually somewhat the same year after year, so you kinda get accustomed to it not completely changing. There is something to be said about the mazes that prove to be good. For example last year, Curse of the Spider, and Asylum were 2 of the best mazes, so I was really looking forward to them again, but at the same time you also build an expectation for the maze to be good so like this year, when I went through Curse of the Spider it wasn't nearly as good as last year, so that was a bummer. On the other hand I'm kinda dreading going to HHN, becuase then it may ruin all the so cal haunts for me, and I don't want that to happen

[jackskellington101]

And I'm not sure what the Busch Parks do

 

The Busch Parks have an interesting approach. For Williamsburg, it's been pretty much the same mazes and exactly same event since it's inception. This year they added a new clown maze, but the others all have been there for years. Same with the scare zones, I believe the newest one is the Pirate one in England, which has been around for 2 or so years now. Heck, the icon Jack the Lantern was created for cross promotion for the opening of Ireland and he's still around as the icon for the event.

 

Tampa on the other hand is trying to be the competition for HHN, but it's approach has looked to be closer to the Haunt style with a little bit of HHN thrown in. For example, the webpage and marketing style changes every year, with a new tagline and a new icon and new maze titles and descriptions, but the mazes are the same. It's same event, new packaging every year. Sometimes even the name is the same, they just add a subtitle. Taking this year for example, all the names have been changed, but by the descriptions the mazes are exactly the same as last year. The only thing I see different is possibly some very minor tweaking. There may be one new maze a season. Like last year they had "Corporate Nightmare", a maze set in a office building, which I thought was really unique idea, but apparently it didn't go off very well because it's not back for this season. The only consistent change has been one brand new pop culture spoof show. This year, though, either the packaging is REALLY good, or the scare zones have been changed. I'll only know when people go to the event and TR.

 

On a purely external, "watching from afar", point of view, I will say that HHN is far more interesting to watch than Haunt. All I have is internet based coverage, but luckily there's a lot for both. It does seem, however, the Haunt is starting to change more rapidly, switching in and out mazes quicker than in the past, but that's only my observation.

 

Stuart "Long boring post " Newsom