Pennhurst 10/09/2010

More catch up people.  Here's the Pennhurst 2010 review...

We had heard that lines can get really crazy so Hubby and I decided to go at 9:30PM on Friday the 8th and buy the $25.00 per person ($20.00 if you have a coupon which we did) tickets for our group. If you are a local I recommend this. Not only did we get to check the place out and look at the parking options we also walked right up to the ticket booth. On Saturday the 9th we got there at 7:15PM (heard it was better to go early) and parked onsite. FYI, you can also park on RT. 724 and take a shuttle bus to the campus. We liked the onsite parking better because you don’t have to wait around for the bus and also because you get to walk through the dark, creepy woods. The only thing you do miss by not taking the bus is a view of the haunted house before you get in up to it (bus drives you down the main promenade) but we didn’t care. After parking and trekking through the woods we made it to the ticket area around 7:30PM. There was a moderate line at the ticket booth… about a 10 minute wait. There was also a 10+ minute wait for people with internet tickets as they have to be scanned. Paper ticket line was empty however so we walked right in. There is security and you are searched so make sure you leave your booze and weapons in the car. Anyway, from the ticketing area you walk up a ramp and onto a raised walkway that snakes through the property. The crowd started about half way between the ticketing area and the Admin Building which was not bad. The out buildings are pretty much untouched and still crumbling. The abandoned playground equipment is still there and was lit up. They were playing some kid noises, laughing, music, etc. but it wasn’t really scary since there was a giant bonfire (stories high), a band, a random guy who lays on nails and some fireworks. I know this stuff works well at The Bates Motel but it’s unnecessary at Pennhurst. The entertainment ends up wrecking the mood. My advice… lose the circus acts and add a couple of effects or actors to enhance the mood not distract from it. A swing on the playground that swings by itself, a shadow that passes by a window or a door that bangs open and shut randomly would have been so much better. Also, I would have loved to see a patient and nurse out for a walk around the line or someone else working the crowd. Oh well. The wait in line ended up being about an hour and 45 minutes which was not that bad. The Admin. Building which hosts the haunted house is lit up in a dark and spooky way and the fact that you can see in the windows is cool. There was a fire breather right at the entrance and although he was cool I again think he distracts from the overall mood. Once at the base of the steps you are read the rules and let in with a “See what all the hype was about.” type statement. Liked it. Word to the wise… listen when they tell you not to take you phone or camera out inside the house. They did boot people and took their stuff. Just an FYI. They let about 15 people or so in as a group which is perfect. The very 1st room is a museum complete with a lady who worked at school in the 80’s answering questions. There are tons of pics and artifacts but honestly it was very hard to look at all of them they way I would have liked to. In future I think it would be better to move the museum to its own, separate building so you don’t feel like you have to rush through. Pay attention when you step through the portal into the haunted part… there is a cool effect that you could easily miss. The next room is playing a mini-movie that explains the fake back story that they had to make up to please the PC police. There is clearly a place to stand and watch but it feels weird to stop hang around for such a long time when there is a huge line of people still waiting to get in. Maybe this is something that they could project onto one of the buildings so you can watch while in line. Just a thought. After the 1st two rooms you enter a Dr.’s office and are administered a group Rorschach test. Kind of cool. The rest of the house is basically a mental hospital themed haunted house. As you may or may not know a lot of the rooms contain artifacts salvaged from the grounds like the morgue drawer, operating table, autopsy table, dentist chair, etc. Sadly this creepy fact is often lost. There is too much shit going on the rooms with major artifacts IMO. I would have had the stuff lit up eerily so guests could really get a good look. I would also have had the actors explaining the real stories in character. The dentist actor should have whispered that they used to pull the teeth of the patients who bit without anesthesia instead of threatening people unwanted dental procedures. That’s what makes the chair really creepy people. It also explains the large number of straps. Ugh! Anyway, after you are though the house you enter the underground tunnels. For those of you that don’t know under Pennhurst is a maze of tunnels connecting all of the buildings. This part was really, really cool. It was very dark, cold and enveloping. They pumped lots of fog in and made it so you can see down the dilapidated tunnels that aren’t renovated yet. They also had very good actors in this part including a very F’d up nurse who was jerky like the nurses in Silent Hill. Sooo good. My one complaint here is the placement of the LED and laser lighting. I do not want to see bulbs or fixtures damn it. It really takes you out of the experience. It would have been better if there were industrial/ commercial fixtures on the walls that blinked on and off or strobed when light was needed. This is what they had in the house and it worked very well. Just my opinion. The tunnel part took a while which surprised us. We exited around 9:30PM and were greeted by the smell of sauerkraut from the concession stand. Yum and yuck all at the same time. Weird placement of the food and swag stands BTW… would have been better over by the ticketing area. We were also greeted by a HUGE, GIGANTIC LINE and as we left the complex we realized its full extent. It actually went from the house, through the line on the raised walkway, past the ticketing area, through the woods and almost to the parking lot. We asked security what the wait was and he told us FIVE HOURS. OMG??!! Sooooo glad we went early and bought our tickets ahead of time. I cannot recommend this enough if you are going on a Saturday. Also be warned that the onsite lot closes when it reaches capacity and you are forced to do the whole bus thing. According to security this happened around 8:30 PM on the 9th. If you can’t make it early and have the cash you can pay $50.00 per person ($45.00 if you have the coupon) to do the VIP but the wait for was that was an hour when we left. Overall we really enjoyed Pennhurst. So much so that we may go back before the end of the season. Maybe next year they’ll open another building or two and eliminate some of the cheese. The typical haunted house stuff not necessary… the place is scary on its own. Seriously.