Friday, October 4, 2013
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Coming Soon
Shocktoberfest and Building 24 Halloween Club Night reviews coming soon. Hurricane Sandy delay people.. it's hard to write and post when there's no power.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Shocktoberfest TONIGHT!
Going with some friends tonight. We'll see how much has changed... crossing my fingers. At least our friends are guaranteed to have a good time. They're all newbies.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
2012 Bates Motel Review
We left our house on Saturday, 10/13/12 at 7PM and made it to Bates parking lot by
8:30PM. We would have been there by 8PM but
haunt traffic had Rt. 352 backed up about a mile before the entrance both ways. This was definitely a sign of things to
come.
Once parked (surprisingly close to the entrance) we made our way to the ticket line and found two long rows of stanchion completely full. Holy crowds! Despite the huge line the wait wasn’t actually too bad… 15 minutes or so. The pre-paid ticket line of course was empty but for the 5 of us it would have cost $12.50 in surcharges which is craziness. The VIP ticket line was also empty because the VIP ticket is majorly overpriced. Almost double to skip the lines??!! I don’t think so. And honestly I don’t think I was the only person to feel that way since we hardly saw anyone do VIP the whole night.
Anyway, tickets in hand we made our way to the House (our usual order is House, Trail, and Hayride) and found the line completely full and spilling out of the stanchion and into the courtyard. We said “what the heck” and hopped in line only to hop right back out to get away from the group ahead of us which was rowdy, immature and annoying. Idiots.
Westward Trail
We scooted over to the Trail line to avoid the a-holes in
the House line and ended up only waiting 20 minutes. Guests were being sent out in intervals which
was awesome since it allowed for scenes and actors to fully reset between
groups. I think some people were skipping
this attraction which was truly sad since it was, IMHO, the best of the night.
The sets and layout sadly didn’t change much from last year with the exception
of the mine area which is now a circus but both were still good enough for it
not to be a huge problem. The shining
star of the attraction this year was once again was the actors. They were beautifully made up and costumed
and they all played their parts perfectly.
Yes monkey that wiped his ass with my hat… I’m talking to you. Hopefully they’ll totally revamp the sets and
layouts next year while keeping the same quality to freshen this one up. Eh… I’m not gonna hold my breath.
House
After the Trail we again joined the line for the house which
was way less assholey but still outside of the stanchion. The wait ended up being 30 minutes and we
felt glad of this until we got to the door and realized why. They had pretty much abandoned the idea of
groups and were letting a steady line of people stream through the House. This really doesn’t work… it blows to be
blunt… since most of the scenes have to be reset to achieve the desired scare. Luckily I ended up seeing most of the rooms
in their full glory but my poor sister who was 5 people back saw pretty much reset
after reset. She said this completely
ruined the experience for her as all of the scares were spoiled or worse…
totally missed. I understand a long wait
is not ideal but paying for an attraction and only seeing 10% of it is way
worse. Please go back to groups Bates. It IS worth the wait since the house was quite
good this year. There was a lot of new banging
and noises which really worked and also some new, cool lighting effects which
were subtle and spooky. The end room was
a bit underwhelming compared to years past but I think we may have stumbled in there
during the reset. The actors looked
surprised to see us. Haha. I am hoping for some more changes next year
since a lot of the rooms were exactly the same as the last few years but
overall I enjoyed the House. Why I didn’t skip the Hayride this year I’ll never know. We waited 1 hour 30 minutes and it was of course sooo not worth it. Year after year I say I’m going to skip and yet year after year I somehow end up on the damn wagon, in the middle, shaking my head and this year was no exception. I ended up sitting in the middle, cursing the stupid soundtrack and not seeing a single new or different thing.
ATTENTION RANDY BATES: The hayride sets and scares are REALLY tired and predictable. Also, you really need to add sound effects to most of the scenes and scares… a falling sign that doesn’t bang is just plain stupid. Thank you.
Sorry... back to the review... it also seemed that there were less actors in the woods but maybe that was just me. You don’t get much action in the middle of the wagon unless you count people’s feet in your ass. Honestly, I don’t think more actors would have redeemed this one anyway. I did want to mention that the zombie slinking around the line was spectacular and the stuff on the projector was entertaining although with such long lines a longer loop would have been nice. Overall I hated this attraction but then again I always do. Boo! Oh… and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Happily I can say that I did enjoy most of this haunt this year. If it had been less crowded I think I’d be able to say that aside from the stupid hayride I had a great time. Of course that’s not Bates fault. Can’t hate them for wanting to bring in as many people as possible. Oh… a couple of random things… when you go on a crowded night remember to bring your own drinks and snacks. The line for the concession stand was 25 minutes pretty much the whole night. Not even the most delicious hot chocolate on the planet is worth that wait. Sorry. Also, be prepared to secondhand smoke at least an entire pack of cigarettes throughout the night. The smoking in the lines was absolutely out of hand. Hope Bates doesn’t add a surcharge for black lung in next year’s pricing. Haha.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Schedule So Far...
So my October 2012 haunt schedule so far is as follows...
Bates Motel- Saturday, 10/13/12
Shocktoberfest- Friday, 10/26/12
Subject to change if it rains, if Bob is cranky, if I get pissed about haunts in general and decide to boycott, etc. Haha. Just kidding. See you guys out there maybe!
Bates Motel- Saturday, 10/13/12
Shocktoberfest- Friday, 10/26/12
Subject to change if it rains, if Bob is cranky, if I get pissed about haunts in general and decide to boycott, etc. Haha. Just kidding. See you guys out there maybe!
2012 Jason's Woods Review
Jason’s Woods... not bad... not good.
We left the house on Friday, 10/05/12 at 4:45PM and hit mega traffic. Google Maps was soooo right about 422 to 222. Too bad we didn’t listen. We hit a few Wawa’s along the way for coupons and finally found them in Lancaster. Yay $5.00 off! We had planned to grab dinner at Fuddruckers but alas it is out of business so we settled for Sonic under the stars. It was a beautiful balmy evening so it worked out in the end. We got to Jason’s woods around
8-ish and were happy to see a moderately filled parking lot. There were a few concessions, a band, some roaming monsters and zero lines. The spooky girl by the ticket booth was a nice touch. 5 Show Grand Slam was $40.00 ($45.00 less our $5.00 Wawa coupons).
Theater
The first attraction you’re sent to is one of the “bonus/ freebies” called the Theater. It’s basically a huge blow up frontage that looks like an old movie theater. It butts up against some scaffolding and a tent. Inside there were movie monsters, movie posters, props, a balcony and a big screen. A costumed guy comes out and basically makes corny jokes and then directs you to watch the movie which is back story for the rest of the attractions. Since everyone talks through the movie and there are monsters roaming around distracting you… uh… I mean trying to scare you…. you end up missing the details. It doesn’t matter though… the haunt is standard fare. Oh… kudos to Beetlejuce… we asked for the “nice fucking model” line from the movie and he delivered although he did forget the “honk, honk”. Haha. Oh… and shout out to the Haunt Rater guys.
www.haunt-rater.com bitches!! We saw them in this attraction and then ran into them a bunch throughout the rest of the night. The were super cool.
Mystery Maze
The next attraction you’re shepherded to is also a “bonus/ freebie” called the Maze. It’s basically a wooden maze that is completely dark and on our night was somewhat muddy. The gist is Freddy, Jason and tons of dead ends. About ½ way through we realized that the Nightmare On Elm Street rhyme was split up and written on the walls. If you follow it you get out. If you don’t, don’t know it or don’t see it then you better buddy up to Jason or Freddy or you’re gonna be in there for a while. Anyway by following the rhyme and… hate to admit it but with a little help from Jason Voorhees… we were finally out. Overall I kind of liked this attraction. Especially since it’s free.
Hayride
The next attraction was the hayride and I wasn’t impressed as usual. I will say that Jason’s does it right by not putting anyone in the middle of the wagons but otherwise blah. Seems like there were maybe 3 actors in the whole thing and honestly the set pieces were whatever. Oh well. Oops… almost forgot… I have never seen so many fire blasts in a hayride as I did in this one. Maybe they got a good deal on natural gas?
Lost In The Woods
This attraction is pretty self explanatory… it’s a walk through Jason’s Woods. The trail intertwines around the hayride route and overall I liked this attraction. I guess I liked it the best now that I think about it. It was dark, a little spooky and the trail was a bit treacherous. I don’t remember there being many props or actors but it felt surprisingly creepy. Hmmmmm? Less is more?? Who would have thought? Ugh.
Barn Of Terror
There were a lot of changes to this haunt since the last time we visited. This is appreciated as it makes you want to come back year after year to see what’s up. The new set pieces were not bad though I have seen better. The floor activated scares were fun but soon felt overplayed. Also, there weren’t many actors and honestly there needed to be. There were a lot of sections that were just a dark maze which felt annoying instead of creepy after a while. It’s a cheap trick IMHO especially since those sections were not punctuated with scares from actors or props. Maybe next year a little more set and actor scares and less dark maze would be better. Overall though The Barn wasn’t too bad.
Pirate’s Revenge
The entrance of this attraction was very Bates Motel but unfortunately that was where the similarities ended. The 3D glasses were awful which was perfect since the 3D artwork was awful too. The props were boring and there were hardly any actors. Also much of the attraction was dark maze. Crutch anyone? Overall I was quite disappointed with Pirate’s Revenge.
Carnival Of Fear
After the pirate crap we’d just finished I didn’t have a lot of confidence in this one. That changed as soon as we made it to the entrance. The clown at the door was excellent. His makeup was very cool and his attitude and dry, witty banter was even better. Sadly that was the only good part of this attraction. Once inside the layout was weird, again featured a lengthy dark maze and was sorely in need of more engaging props and actors. It’s sad because there was a lot of promise for this one in looking at it and talking to the clown out front but it just didn’t deliver.
Overall we had fun at Jason’s Woods but I can’t say that it was a good haunt. There needs to be more actors and props and less dark mazes. Engage and scare us and we’ll tell our friends how good your haunt was. Keep us bumping into strangers for the whole night and we’ll laugh and have a good time but dismiss you.
We left the house on Friday, 10/05/12 at 4:45PM and hit mega traffic. Google Maps was soooo right about 422 to 222. Too bad we didn’t listen. We hit a few Wawa’s along the way for coupons and finally found them in Lancaster. Yay $5.00 off! We had planned to grab dinner at Fuddruckers but alas it is out of business so we settled for Sonic under the stars. It was a beautiful balmy evening so it worked out in the end. We got to Jason’s woods around
8-ish and were happy to see a moderately filled parking lot. There were a few concessions, a band, some roaming monsters and zero lines. The spooky girl by the ticket booth was a nice touch. 5 Show Grand Slam was $40.00 ($45.00 less our $5.00 Wawa coupons).
Theater
The first attraction you’re sent to is one of the “bonus/ freebies” called the Theater. It’s basically a huge blow up frontage that looks like an old movie theater. It butts up against some scaffolding and a tent. Inside there were movie monsters, movie posters, props, a balcony and a big screen. A costumed guy comes out and basically makes corny jokes and then directs you to watch the movie which is back story for the rest of the attractions. Since everyone talks through the movie and there are monsters roaming around distracting you… uh… I mean trying to scare you…. you end up missing the details. It doesn’t matter though… the haunt is standard fare. Oh… kudos to Beetlejuce… we asked for the “nice fucking model” line from the movie and he delivered although he did forget the “honk, honk”. Haha. Oh… and shout out to the Haunt Rater guys.
www.haunt-rater.com bitches!! We saw them in this attraction and then ran into them a bunch throughout the rest of the night. The were super cool.
Mystery Maze
The next attraction you’re shepherded to is also a “bonus/ freebie” called the Maze. It’s basically a wooden maze that is completely dark and on our night was somewhat muddy. The gist is Freddy, Jason and tons of dead ends. About ½ way through we realized that the Nightmare On Elm Street rhyme was split up and written on the walls. If you follow it you get out. If you don’t, don’t know it or don’t see it then you better buddy up to Jason or Freddy or you’re gonna be in there for a while. Anyway by following the rhyme and… hate to admit it but with a little help from Jason Voorhees… we were finally out. Overall I kind of liked this attraction. Especially since it’s free.
Hayride
The next attraction was the hayride and I wasn’t impressed as usual. I will say that Jason’s does it right by not putting anyone in the middle of the wagons but otherwise blah. Seems like there were maybe 3 actors in the whole thing and honestly the set pieces were whatever. Oh well. Oops… almost forgot… I have never seen so many fire blasts in a hayride as I did in this one. Maybe they got a good deal on natural gas?
Lost In The Woods
This attraction is pretty self explanatory… it’s a walk through Jason’s Woods. The trail intertwines around the hayride route and overall I liked this attraction. I guess I liked it the best now that I think about it. It was dark, a little spooky and the trail was a bit treacherous. I don’t remember there being many props or actors but it felt surprisingly creepy. Hmmmmm? Less is more?? Who would have thought? Ugh.
Barn Of Terror
There were a lot of changes to this haunt since the last time we visited. This is appreciated as it makes you want to come back year after year to see what’s up. The new set pieces were not bad though I have seen better. The floor activated scares were fun but soon felt overplayed. Also, there weren’t many actors and honestly there needed to be. There were a lot of sections that were just a dark maze which felt annoying instead of creepy after a while. It’s a cheap trick IMHO especially since those sections were not punctuated with scares from actors or props. Maybe next year a little more set and actor scares and less dark maze would be better. Overall though The Barn wasn’t too bad.
Pirate’s Revenge
The entrance of this attraction was very Bates Motel but unfortunately that was where the similarities ended. The 3D glasses were awful which was perfect since the 3D artwork was awful too. The props were boring and there were hardly any actors. Also much of the attraction was dark maze. Crutch anyone? Overall I was quite disappointed with Pirate’s Revenge.
Carnival Of Fear
After the pirate crap we’d just finished I didn’t have a lot of confidence in this one. That changed as soon as we made it to the entrance. The clown at the door was excellent. His makeup was very cool and his attitude and dry, witty banter was even better. Sadly that was the only good part of this attraction. Once inside the layout was weird, again featured a lengthy dark maze and was sorely in need of more engaging props and actors. It’s sad because there was a lot of promise for this one in looking at it and talking to the clown out front but it just didn’t deliver.
Overall we had fun at Jason’s Woods but I can’t say that it was a good haunt. There needs to be more actors and props and less dark mazes. Engage and scare us and we’ll tell our friends how good your haunt was. Keep us bumping into strangers for the whole night and we’ll laugh and have a good time but dismiss you.
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