IheartNARWHALS's Review (Updates inbound with more trips)

[IheartNARWHALS]

Disclaimer: SPOILERS! (DUH!) Also my opinions and observations of 19th and 20th of September

HUGE TIP FOR YOUR FIRST TIME GOING!!!!

There is a cluster of 3 houses towards the back of the park and the exits can get kind of screwy. I heard everyone in lines complaining about it so I would like to spare you the agony of unnecessary walking. The 3 houses in question are Roanoke, Dollhouse and Halloween. The order you should do things in is Roanoke first because the exit is by the entrance of Dollhouse, then you would do Dollhouse because Dollhouse and Halloween share an exit (which is by the entrance to Halloween). Then you would do Halloween last in that whole cluster****. Hopefully this will spare your feet from having to walk through Springfield multiple times a night.

Overall Event: 7.5/10 (Adding all ratings and finding average)

The overall event was very well done and the attention to detail was incredible (especially in Halloween). The houses overall were pretty good, I was only disappointed by two houses which I will talk about later. All of the houses were will developed and there were a hardy amount of scares in most houses. The scarezones were so refreshing to see and also its great that it's not all TWD. Scarezones were the best I've seen since 2011 (my first year. Got the ass end of the stick on the scarezone front). Overall I give this year an 7.5/10. I will reviewing the houses in the order I went in them my first night.

Houses (In order of experience)

Roanoke: The Cannibal Colony: 6/10 Times through: 1

Going through this house didn't feel as satisfying as the other houses did. Also the finale room that would have probably scared the shit out of me was ruined because I could see the scare walking into the room. More of a divider than branches heading into the final room would have worked much better. But this house was really brutal and gory which made my inner sadist giggle. There were't a lot of scares but the ones that were there were worth it. So overall I give this house a 6/10. I was sort of disappointed by this maze. The atmosphere was there I just feel we got a bad cast when I went through. Maybe going more will change my opinion on this.

Dollhouse of the Damned: 8/10 Times through: 2

This house was easily the best sprung tent house I've been through (second would be Penn & Teller). This house was so creepy in the best way possible. I would love to commend one scareactor in particular. In the room with all the cribs, towards the end there is an actor in a high chair, this was the happiest grown man dressed as a baby I've ever seen. He made that room both funny and creepy for me. All the scares in this house were well thought out and most of them I didn't see coming. The use of smells in this house added to the eeriness. The atmosphere was incredible, I truly felt I was lost in a demented dollhouse. I gave this house an 8/10.

Halloween: 8/10 Times through: 2

Halloween was the house I was looking forward to the most this year. The attention to detail in this house was incredible. One scare I really did like was seeing young Michael in the room with the stairs, then in the next room in the mirror you see young Michael, then an older Michael comes out of the side room. Seeing the film before going is really a must to understand all the rooms and all the detail that was put into that house. The pacing of the house was very spot on, I saw all the scenes I thought I would see, and I actually thought I was in a soundstage a some points of the maze. The bad things I can point out from the 2 times going through it is that I thought the scares were kind of repetitive. I'm not sure how many people actually saw this but outside of the sprung tent there is a Michael hiding behind a fence, I only saw him after my 2nd time through last night. It was a nice added touch. I give this house an 8/10.

Giggles & Gore Inc.: 7/10 Times through: 2

It's hard for me to fairly judge this house because I am personally horrified of clowns. But I did go through it twice and will try to keep my biases to myself. This house is kind of growing on me if I'm being honest. This house is definitely one you have to go through multiple times to appreciate it in its entirety. This house also made my inner sadist smile along with Roanoke. The gore and brutality was great, the best squeamish factor of all the houses. The opening room sets the tone of this house perfectly, although they could have used that room to put a scare in, kind of a missed opportunity in my opinion. The interaction in this house was amazing. I tried the first one with the crusher but I think you needed to press both buttons for something to happen. The one in the elevator shaft was fairly disappointing. The 3rd one honestly had me terrified to press, all it says is "Call for Backup". Overall this house was a gorefest and brutal beyond imagination. 7/10 in my book.

Dracula Untold: 7/10 Times through: 2

Dracula is a house that will get better when we see the movie that comes out. Everything just felt random to me. The scares were great and for my group they were plenty. Some were very generic like the Turk in the village and the statues but one of them is real. But there were some i appreciated like the guy covered in arrows. This house feels very generic to me. I feel it would do just as well as an original concept. I guess seeing the movie it will make all the rooms make sense. The costumes and props were very well done and the atmosphere was eerie and creepy which I loved. The atmosphere saved this from going down to a 6. 7/10 for me.

Alien vs Predator: 9/10 Times through: Not Enough (2 times)

​ As predicable as this sounds. I'm sure this is getting house of the year. But it definitely earns it, this whole house is a spectacle of it's own. The scares were all great, unexpected and just well timed and planned. The open and dissected Predator (WITH NO MASK ) was pretty neat and I kept thinking it was going to jump up at me. The best room of this house had to be having to crawl through to be evacuated and there was an Alien waiting for you at the end. I felt like I was actually in danger crawling through there. I'm not too sure what happened last night but AvP closed down for a while and when we went through it the tunnel was closed down and the house just ended. I was really disappointed and curious on what could have happened for them to have that. When we saw AvP was closed we went into Dracula and saw an ambulance outside so I imagine someone got hurt or freaked out and hurt themselves somehow. This is why we can't have nice things...My only problem with this house was the lack of Predators. That was the only thing keeping it from a perfect 10. 9/10 for me.

The Walking Dead: End of the Line: 6/10 Times through: 1

WHY MUST THIS BE THE LONGEST HOUSE??? Again it is hard for me to fairly judge this house when you are sick of seeing TWD and I hate what the series has become. Again I shall try to keep my biases to myself. This house felt like it dragged on. I haven't watched TWD since the end of season 2 so I was very confused on what was going on. One thing I did like about this was the amount of scareactors in a given room. I would say they had at least 3 or 4 per room which is very nice and should be implemented into all the house. The last room was supposed to be scary but made me for disoriented than anything. I literally was confused on where to go and ran into a fence. The scareactor was laughing really hard at me xD. Overall 6/10.

From Dusk Till Dawn: 8/10 Times through: 2

I personally enjoyed this house a lot. Having the doorman in the first room made me smile. On my first walkthrough, the group in front of me had their little daughter maybe 13 years old. So the doorman starts doing his thing and they are getting so offended. I was laughing so hard they might have thought I was a pedophile...xD But the rest of the house is amazingly done. The pacing of the rooms felt so right. Also seeing Richie and Seth made my heart happy, Richie said hello to me and I was very tempted to hug him. Although he did cut me off from the rest of my party which is a good way to pulse out the crowds so its not a freaking conga line through the house. But i digress. Seeing the show really doesn't matter. Knowing the premise of your in a strip club/temple with stripper vampires was all my friends needed to get them excited. Although seeing the show does help you to understand why Katie Cakes is holding a chainsaw at the end xD I give this house an 8/10,

Scarezones (order of experience)

Faceoff: In the Flesh: 8/10

This scarezone was just simply amazing. The distractions did their job very well. (I got scared multiple time due to looking at the distractions). It was very 7-esque but that's not a bad thing. They costumes for both the leaders and the grunts were amazing. I love people watching, trying to get pictures of the distractions and watch them scream when a grunt comes up behind them. If you find yourself with nothing to do or some extra time, I suggest standing on the sides and watch them mayhem commence.

The Purge: 8/10

The Purge was a beast of a scarezone. It was massive although the scareactors tended to stay in the area of the bus or on the main street. I did catch a little bit of the auction before going into Dracula. It was hard to hear and a crowd had already formed around the good areas to see. So I will not touch on that until I see it for myself. The props were all great. The soundtrack was pretty cool. The actors were passionate for what were doing. I like the mix between chainsaws and regular people. All in all it was really good and I recommend going through it.

MASKerade: Unstitched: 6/10

This scarezone was a big let down for me in all honesty. I didn't feel immersed in it like I did the other scarezones. It felt kind of half assed. The costumes looked great. But I found the scare actors to just be obnoxious more than anything. This wasn't really scary, just felt like a pain in the ass to walk through. I tried to avoid it if at all possible.

Bayou of Blood: 9/10 (The reason this is after everything because when I went through it opening night no actors were out, I saw them on the second night)

Best scarezone of the year. The atmosphere was amazing, perfect place for this scarezone. The props were well done and the actors makeup and costumes (from what I could see) were pretty awesome and fitting. The stilt walkers towards the end by the hut were perfect. I don't think I saw the Voodoo Queen but I can't be sure lol I thought it was this black lady in the leopard print. Didn't get a chance to see the sacrifice. Will add my thoughts later when I see it.

Edited September 22, 2014 by IheartNARWHALS

[duh1011]

Actually, I kinda wanted to give a shout-out to another Dollhouse scare-actress. I'm not sure if all scare actors do this but I saw in front of me a twisted ballerina lady scare some people so, because I was kinda scared, I looked to where she would pop out so that she didn't catch me off guard, but instead, she was far back waiting to scare, but instead of just standing there, she was in a still ballerina pose, with one foot up and everything. Note that this is when she's NOT supposed to be popping out or even noticed. That alone really stood out in my mind, and I just thought that seeing a scare actor/actress in character even whilst "off-stage" was just amazing. Props to her!

[IheartNARWHALS]

Actually, I kinda wanted to give a shout-out to another Dollhouse scare-actress. I'm not sure if all scare actors do this but I saw in front of me a twisted ballerina lady scare some people so, because I was kinda scared, I looked to where she would pop out so that she didn't catch me off guard, but instead, she was far back waiting to scare, but instead of just standing there, she was in a still ballerina pose, with one foot up and everything. Note that this is when she's NOT supposed to be popping out or even noticed. That alone really stood out in my mind, and I just thought that seeing a scare actor/actress in character even whilst "off-stage" was just amazing. Props to her!

Yeah. I love and admire the scare actors who actually care about things like that. The scare actors who give that extra effort really make the whole experience worth it. I got a really good cast my first walkthrough of Dollhouse, not so good my 2nd time through. You win some you lose some I suppose.

[duh1011]

I feel like I lucked out actually, since a few people are complaining that they felt the crew wasn't so good for them a couple times or so, but in every house I went into the actors were amazing. I guess it helps that my friend was a huge chicken and screaming the whole time

[IheartNARWHALS]

Lmao that would help them scare you. Also if you have a couple and they won't let go of each other. Scareactors love that kind of stuff