Opening weekend experience

[hhnholdem]

On opening night I RSVP'd for the annual passholder party and was admitted into the park at 5:00pm.

The Forsaken: When I went in it was just 5:00 and my eyes didn't adjust. I couldn't see anything and eventually went back later in the night. I thought the sets were great, but I do agree with others that the glowing green eyes do ruin some scares. I was surprised at how the floor was angled when going through the ship towards the end.

The In Between: I thought this 3D house was better than all the previous 3D houses that I've done. I love the vortex tunnel in the beginning of the house and it's always funny to watch/hear other peoples reactions when going through this room. The rune room was good and I actually got startled when leaving that room. When I went through the room with the colored yarn, I saw two different scareactors standing in their positions without moving or making any attempt to scare anybody. I thought they might be resetting and were going to jump out at people behind me, but they never did. When I went through again on Saturday, it was the same experience. The laser room was a neat effect and it wasn't until my second visit that a character actually jumped out at the end of the room. I thought the exit was pretty interesting how you left the dimension and came back through another dorm room.

Nevermore: Throughout both nights I only went through this one once, but it was still great. The downside is that when going through the tell-tale heart room, I could only hear the heart beating sound effect and could not see the set design. I wasn't too upset because I've seen the room through the twitter and facebook posts but I hope to see it for myself on my next visit (if you're wondering how I couldn't see it, I'm blaming it on my eyes not adjusting; it was about 5:45). I enjoyed the hallway with the ravens swooping down at you and thought that scare technique worked well with the sound effects. The pendulum in the Pit and the Pendulum room was a neat effect but I didn't have any scareactors jump out at me (yet again, this emphasizes why you must do houses several times). I like the experience of the ballroom in the Masque of Red Death room: you see all these characters dancing and you know one, if not more, are real and you have no clue which one will jump out at you. I'll have to experience this house again, as it seemed that I didn't receive that many scares.

Saws & Steam: Into the Machine: This house was great and the set design was excellent: if for whatever reason nobody scared you at all, you would be perfectly happy looking at all the props and sets. I especially loved the fish tanks with fingers and flesh floating around. I thought the casts were highly energetic and performed their scares well (Friday was about 6:30 and I don't know when on Saturday; but I'm going to go on the assumption that I saw both Cast A and B throughout the weekend).

Bill and Ted: I was going to see the 7:30 show on Friday, but they cancelled it due to rain. It was horrible outside. There were long flashes of lightening and loud thunder. I stayed in the auditorium all the way until the next show at 8:45. I thought the show was much better than last years, but it felt weird because I barely saw anything that they did a parody of: (I'm NOT blaming anybody but me, I live under a rock and don't get to see many movies in theaters. But at least I knew what they were making fun of).

H.R. Bloodengutz: I saw that the sign stated a 30 minute wait but it looked incredibly long and after standing in line for almost 5 minutes without moving I decided to get out of line and get back in the express line (I try not to use express on short wait times, but I figured what the hell). The themes were done real well. If you didn't hear on the different television sets what movie was about to be playing, you would know what it was based on the sets and costumes. I actually thought the giant grass covered creature was scarier than the Feaster Bunny. I'll admit, he got me good. The use of scents in the Thanks-killing room was very effective.

The Thing: I liked the appearance of the animatronics, and surprisingly, I believe I saw every single one the first time through. The man with the shotgun at the end shooting the alien hanging from the ceiling was an excellent distraction for the scareactor in the corner. This house has me even more excited to see the movie coming out in a few weeks.

Winter's Night: The temperature of the house worked well with the atmosphere. The weeping angel statues had, in my opinion, the best scares in that house. I was amazed at the detail that went into this house and I absolutely loved the effect of the zombie crawling out of his grave.

Nightingales: The design of the trenches and the sound of the gunfire really immersed you into the environment. The appearance of the Nightingales was creepy and this house gave me the most scares. If you noticed, I tried not to use a ranking system in this review, but if I had to state my favorite house, this would be it.

At this time, I'm not going to review the scare zones because I briefly walked through them. I don't want to judge anything based off of one 30 to 45 second experience. After more visits, I will come back and edit this post.