2020 Haunted Houses - Reviews & Spoiler Talk

[shiekra38]

I'm not going to rate the houses. I consider this a preview as they were not presented the way that they were intended to

Tooth Fairy is my favorite probably. The beginning was so creative with the pop-up book type walk through. I'll be honest, my only gripe is I wish they would have continued that aethetic at least one more time throughout the house...it really felt unique to me. Also, the story being narrated throughout was a lot of fun.

Bride was awesome and classic feeling (naturally). I loved seeing Gillman in the tube and it just hit the right notes in terms of fun. I do have to say though, for me, it doesn't hold a candle to the Monsters house last year...BUT...There were several moments I said to myself "oh yeah, there's totally supposed to be a curtain here to divide this scene"...Same with Tooth Fairy.

I'm just glad I got to experience them tbh

 

[HandsomePete]

NGL, I don't understand the hype around the Tooth Fairy facade :shrug: it's like 2020 has erased Dead Waters from everyone's memory.

 

[Brian G.]

NGL, I don't understand the hype around the Tooth Fairy facade :shrug: it's like 2020 has erased Dead Waters from everyone's memory.

Not every facade needs to be a grand entrance to be beloved. Some can appreciate it for its creativity and set-up for the haunt's story.

 

[SeventyOne]

<Standard "this was a first run thru an understaffed test house" disclaimer>

I liked, but didn't love, Tooth Fairy. Facade is the highlight, but like a lot of 2019 houses, the orcs got repetitive. I'd love a lights on tour of this one next year, I suspect there's a lot of Easter eggs.

Really enjoyed Bride. You can just tell this was the "pet project" house this year. Sets look great. Cast was clearly limited in number but they were giving it their all. People ahead and behind me broke down screaming, so it definitely brought the scares.

On a technical note, noticed plexiglass a few times, especially toward the end of Tooth Fairy, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't bother me at all. Like an exit sign, I found it easy to tune out. Only one "COVID mask" distupted my suspension of disbelief--the first Bride. Otherwise didn't even notice them.

What does hurt the experience is going thru the houses during the day -- even an overcast day like today -- kind of wish they'd bring the interior lights up a little, just for this year. And also the lack of street-mosphere. It may seem silly, but coming from the Halloween decor and Midnight Syndicate music and a scare-zone puts you in a certain mood. Just didn't feel that today with normal park ops going on. Hard to get in that spoopy mood.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

NGL, I don't understand the hype around the Tooth Fairy facade :shrug: it's like 2020 has erased Dead Waters from everyone's memory.

The facade stands out because it’s something completely original. Everybody expected it to be a book or a mansion or something we have seen before so when you walk down that hall way and hear the narration and see the book cover and you turn that corner and truly step into a book it was unlike anything I have ever seen before! And that’s why the entire house is great in my opinion it keeps that same faint yellow color in every room like you just keep continuing the story until you enter the fairy jubilee which is in color to indicate that in-fact the fairies are real and you can see what happens to the boy from the beginning. It’s easily the best story telling I’ve seen in a house!!!!

 

[PlatinumFate]

I went through each house around 7-8 times yesterday and both were really great.

Tooth Fairy is probably now in my top 5 houses of all time (consider that I’ve only done 28 and 29 though). The facade caught me by surprise and I loved it due to that. The design of the Tooth Fairies were creepy and the set design and colour palette really gave the feel of the classic pop-up storybook. I was worried I would get tired of the same scares over and over again but I found that in my 8 times of doing that house, I just couldn’t get bored of it and the scares still continues to get to me.

Brides was fine to me. It was a great house, but compared to some of the previous ones it really wasn’t spectacular to me. I will say though that the actors brought it and did fantastic. The facade effect with the bride lifting the wood was super neat. I felt like Brides was repetitive though, and I got bored with it after my 4th run. It really felt like the same scares in the same settings, unlike Tooth Fairy which was the same scares in different settings. But like Tooth Fairy, the costume design, set design, and lighting was fantastic.

This rating takes into the fact that they weren’t fully operational right now, so I’m also kinda predicting how it will rank when fully operational.

Tooth Fairy: 9/10
Brides: 7/10

 

[shiekra38]

What does hurt the experience is going thru the houses during the day -- even an overcast day like today -- kind of wish they'd bring the interior lights up a little, just for this year. And also the lack of street-mosphere. It may seem silly, but coming from the Halloween decor and Midnight Syndicate music and a scare-zone puts you in a certain mood. Just didn't feel that today with normal park ops going on. Hard to get in that spoopy mood.

I agree, the context of the event seems to boost the house enjoyment a bit

i.e. it being nighttime, walking through scarezones, etc

Transition curtains and stuff in face as well

Obviously that can't be held against them, but I felt what you felt as well

 

[Kichkinet85]

What is the brides house facade? And does anyone have any pics of it like we got of the TF facade.

 

[Brian G.]

What is the brides house facade? And does anyone have any pics of it like we got of the TF facade.

The wreckage of the castle/laboratory.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

The wreckage of the castle/laboratory.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[HHNManics]

What is the brides house facade? And does anyone have any pics of it like we got of the TF facade.

Spoiler: Bride Facade

 

[Brian G.]

 

[captainryborg]

Oh man... this reminds me of The Exorcist house (in a good way). I need it.

 

[JoeCamel]

I have to say going through the house so slow, all alone and NOT being pushed by ops is such a treat. Time to absorb and the scareactors still bring it at the right time, very impressive to me.
Ad for scareactors wanting small people. I was wondering where they found them all.
Seasonal House Performers (Scareactors) must meet the following requirements:

• Females – 5’4”- 5’6” with slender to athletic build
• Females – 5’7”- 5’9” ethnically ambiguous, with slender build
• Males/Females – 5’3” and under with slender build

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This past weekend was to be our big friends trip for HHN30 which was unfortunately off the books once HHN was canceled. In August I decided to keep the reservations and make the trip down anyway not knowing what was to come. I was able to attend the Untitle Halloween Event on both Saturday and Sunday and was able to experience each hour 7 times, see the unique offerings, and get my head around the "event".

• Brides - my favorite house, suffered from a little bit of understaffing due to COVID/shifts but still a blast. When this house hits it HITS. Some fun scares but oddly the two houses featured both had narration to them? 4/5
• Tooth - creative facade and intro but the scares never landed even if it was more heavily staffed and more consistent than Brides. 3.5/5
• House ops were as unobtrusive as they could be, only issue i had was one bad placement as a hold in Brides that was mostly in front of a scene. That sucked but not sure what there was to do about it.
• Skeleton Bar - didn't personally have any food but reviews from people I was with was positive. Drinks were hit or miss; Loup-garou was the best, Mango Inferno was an acquired taste with the yellow curry powder, Circus Peanut is rank and terrible.
• Scarecrow Hunt - I did a little bit of this but didn't complete it all due to rain, it was a fun and cute addition that adds about 20-40 minutes to ones day at the park. Free candy too!
• Tribute Store - honestly, not my favorite version. Frankenstein's room was light on the merch, Jack's room was "the best" but obv was for hard core HHN fans, the Attack was fine but clearly just for the food, and I thought Beetlejuice's room was a bit of a let down in terms of stuff to see/buy. I imagine several times were just not ordered once COVID hit and they had to scale back some.
• Didn't eat at the food trucks but everything looked very popular. Beer carts were out in the queues with the amazing Black Widow Original Sin cider so it felt like HHN.
• It's so much easier to wait in a long line at 8 or 9pm than 1pm. It was BRUTAL during the day, just killer.
• Ran into no issues with VL but I understand the frustration with the app. My two cents is the houses die down during the last two hours of the park day, so try then.

I hope some of the things return for daytime operations (costumes, trick or treat/scavenger hunt, food) while the houses and more scary things remain for HHN only.

 

[themeparkgurl]

This past weekend was to be our big friends trip for HHN30 which was unfortunately off the books once HHN was canceled. In August I decided to keep the reservations and make the trip down anyway not knowing what was to come. I was able to attend the Untitle Halloween Event on both Saturday and Sunday and was able to experience each hour 7 times, see the unique offerings, and get my head around the "event".

• Brides - my favorite house, suffered from a little bit of understaffing due to COVID/shifts but still a blast. When this house hits it HITS. Some fun scares but oddly the two houses featured both had narration to them? 4/5
• Tooth - creative facade and intro but the scares never landed even if it was more heavily staffed and more consistent than Brides. 3.5/5
• House ops were as unobtrusive as they could be, only issue i had was one bad placement as a hold in Brides that was mostly in front of a scene. That sucked but not sure what there was to do about it.
• Skeleton Bar - didn't personally have any food but reviews from people I was with was positive. Drinks were hit or miss; Loup-garou was the best, Mango Inferno was an acquired taste with the yellow curry powder, Circus Peanut is rank and terrible.
• Scarecrow Hunt - I did a little bit of this but didn't complete it all due to rain, it was a fun and cute addition that adds about 20-40 minutes to ones day at the park. Free candy too!
• Tribute Store - honestly, not my favorite version. Frankenstein's room was light on the merch, Jack's room was "the best" but obv was for hard core HHN fans, the Attack was fine but clearly just for the food, and I thought Beetlejuice's room was a bit of a let down in terms of stuff to see/buy. I imagine several times were just not ordered once COVID hit and they had to scale back some.
• Didn't eat at the food trucks but everything looked very popular. Beer carts were out in the queues with the amazing Black Widow Original Sin cider so it felt like HHN.
• It's so much easier to wait in a long line at 8 or 9pm than 1pm. It was BRUTAL during the day, just killer.
• Ran into no issues with VL but I understand the frustration with the app. My two cents is the houses die down during the last two hours of the park day, so try then.

I hope some of the things return for daytime operations (costumes, trick or treat/scavenger hunt, food) while the houses and more scary things remain for HHN only.

I missed the black widow cider, where is that??

 

[maroonmol]

This past weekend was to be our big friends trip for HHN30 which was unfortunately off the books once HHN was canceled. In August I decided to keep the reservations and make the trip down anyway not knowing what was to come. I was able to attend the Untitle Halloween Event on both Saturday and Sunday and was able to experience each hour 7 times, see the unique offerings, and get my head around the "event".

• Brides - my favorite house, suffered from a little bit of understaffing due to COVID/shifts but still a blast. When this house hits it HITS. Some fun scares but oddly the two houses featured both had narration to them? 4/5
• Tooth - creative facade and intro but the scares never landed even if it was more heavily staffed and more consistent than Brides. 3.5/5
• House ops were as unobtrusive as they could be, only issue i had was one bad placement as a hold in Brides that was mostly in front of a scene. That sucked but not sure what there was to do about it.
• Skeleton Bar - didn't personally have any food but reviews from people I was with was positive. Drinks were hit or miss; Loup-garou was the best, Mango Inferno was an acquired taste with the yellow curry powder, Circus Peanut is rank and terrible.
• Scarecrow Hunt - I did a little bit of this but didn't complete it all due to rain, it was a fun and cute addition that adds about 20-40 minutes to ones day at the park. Free candy too!
• Tribute Store - honestly, not my favorite version. Frankenstein's room was light on the merch, Jack's room was "the best" but obv was for hard core HHN fans, the Attack was fine but clearly just for the food, and I thought Beetlejuice's room was a bit of a let down in terms of stuff to see/buy. I imagine several times were just not ordered once COVID hit and they had to scale back some.
• Didn't eat at the food trucks but everything looked very popular. Beer carts were out in the queues with the amazing Black Widow Original Sin cider so it felt like HHN.
• It's so much easier to wait in a long line at 8 or 9pm than 1pm. It was BRUTAL during the day, just killer.
• Ran into no issues with VL but I understand the frustration with the app. My two cents is the houses die down during the last two hours of the park day, so try then.

I hope some of the things return for daytime operations (costumes, trick or treat/scavenger hunt, food) while the houses and more scary things remain for HHN only.

How exactly did the Scarecrow Hunt work? Is it glaringly unsanitary (eg. reaching in to get the candy)?

 

[LieutLaww]

I thought I read you were handed the candy ? After you picked what you wanted.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

How exactly did the Scarecrow Hunt work? Is it glaringly unsanitary (eg. reaching in to get the candy)?

I thought I read you were handed the candy ? After you picked what you wanted.

The scarecrow hunt involves you getting a paper map and receiving stamps at several locations through the park. Once complete you turn in the map for a choice of bagged candy, the sort of candy you usually see with a UOR logo (think sour rings, peach slices, etc).

 

[LieutLaww]

I know what the hunt is, i was referring to getting the candy after you had completed it.