- Oct 1, 2010
- 121
- 287
This shot is FANTASTIC! I assume it's from Nightmare Fuel? Trying to think of any of the scare zones it might be from and I'm coming up blank
Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos
- Thread starter Brian G.
- Start date
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This shot is FANTASTIC! I assume it's from Nightmare Fuel? Trying to think of any of the scare zones it might be from and I'm coming up blank
- May 6, 2019
- 583
- 1,572
- Dec 7, 2017
- 99
- 261
and can we discuss how GREAT the tribute store was this year??? LOVED it. Its basically another house that you arent rushed through. Love the gritty comic book style.... and Jack the Ripper as a CREATURE???? Loved walking through and spending stupid amount of money.
And did anyone venture upstairs in the Dead Coconut Club? It was REALLY cool too!
And did anyone venture upstairs in the Dead Coconut Club? It was REALLY cool too!
- Sep 9, 2019
- 716
- 2,443
They did a great job with the Coconut Club this year, but the upstairs got really crowded last time I went. Could barely move around.
- Dec 7, 2017
- 99
- 261
I dont remember what night it was but my wife and I had the whole upstairs to ourselves for like the 30 mins we were up there.
- May 6, 2019
- 583
- 1,572
I just don’t like how it has nothing to do with this year’s theme. It could’ve been Oddfellow’s circus or a coven :-(
- Sep 23, 2013
- 4,160
- 3,765
Both times I went I was the only person sitting in the 3D theater lolol. I watched the mini movie.
I took pics with bride and Frankie.
I really like the alien statues. They are amazing in person. They are life-size and there's like 8 of them. They are so funny to take selfies with
Besides the hhn tribute store is not themed to Oddfellow either. It's is own comic book thingy.
Coconut club is really cool with the space theme
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- May 24, 2018
- 1,775
- 2,378
I understand what you r saying, but I liked how it had other HHN eatsereggs.
- Sep 23, 2013
- 4,160
- 3,765
the 4 main unviversal monsters should always be part of dead coconut club, should become tradition
Y’all. Review thread. How many times do I need to keep hammering the point? 
- Jun 17, 2021
- 68
- 150
I expected the worst tonight since it’s the last weekend for ROF and it was an announced sell-out, but we had the most efficient night of the season so far. With Express, we got in the park around 7:15 and finished the 10th house at 11:40. The most surprising thing was Chucky, which has been awful with Express waits. It had a 100 minute wait time, and we made it to the merge in about 8 minutes.
My final rankings after 8 visits and 3-5 runs through each house:
1. The Darkest Deal
2. Universal Monsters: Unmasked
3. Yeti: Campground Kills
4. The Exorcist: Believer
5. Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings
6. Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins
7. The Last of Us
8. Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate
9. Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
10. Stranger Things
My final rankings after 8 visits and 3-5 runs through each house:
1. The Darkest Deal
2. Universal Monsters: Unmasked
3. Yeti: Campground Kills
4. The Exorcist: Believer
5. Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings
6. Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins
7. The Last of Us
8. Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate
9. Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
10. Stranger Things
Some more pictures from 2 weeks ago
HHN32 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr
HHN 32 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr
HHN23 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr
HHN32 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr
HHN32 by Mike Sperduto, on FlickrHHN 32 by Mike Sperduto, on FlickrHHN23 by Mike Sperduto, on FlickrHHN32 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr
- Jun 7, 2016
- 1,183
- 2,225
Will post more complete thoughts when I get home and sleep, but my immediate thoughts after being there this week is:
I felt like ops had most things on point
Best tribute store
I’m done with stranger things
Most of the food was ass. Again. I’ve learned my lesson.
Odd fellow is perfect. No notes.
Dead Coconut Club is perfect. No notes.
Too many people, and most of them are insanely stupid and rude.
I felt like ops had most things on point
Best tribute store
I’m done with stranger things
Most of the food was ass. Again. I’ve learned my lesson.
Odd fellow is perfect. No notes.
Dead Coconut Club is perfect. No notes.
Too many people, and most of them are insanely stupid and rude.
- Jun 8, 2022
- 53
- 112
While is not my all time favorite year, it is the first year I have really liked all 10 houses. Here are my current rankings( I’m having a lot of trouble with 1-7 this year)
1. Monsters Unmasked- Love this house and I think it could have been an all time favorite if they had stuck to 2 or 3 monsters, 4 does feel a bit much.
2. Oddfellows- I’ve never been one for circus/carnival themed haunts but I really love this one. Also, really digging Oddfellow as an Icon.
3.Yeti- Loved Yeti Terror On the Yukon but I think this one is even better. Love the scares, love the humor, and I love the design. Every run I’ve done the Yetis have been intense.
4. Exorcist- I thought this was going to be the worst house this year but was blown away by how good it is. It doesn’t make me want to see the movie but the house has blown me away.
5.Bloodmoon- I love houses that feel like you are walking through towns. This house would have easily been #2 for me if there were a bit more variety when it comes characters in the house.
6.Last of Us-Great house, I wish there were a few more Joel and Ellie characters but still very good
7.Darkest Deal- Awesome house with perhaps the most intense actors. I’m a little confused on parts of the story but love the house.
8-10 I’m firm on
8. Dueling Dragons- I didn’t need a ton of actual dragons but I was hoping for a bit more. I love the sound effects and the visuals they used for the warlocks.
9.Stranger Things- Very good house, love most of the scenes but I do feel like a couple of rooms/scenes look cheap.
10.Chucky- The scenes aren’t the best but I do think it is a very fun house. I think they could have done a bit better with the few animatronics they used. I feel like I like this one a lot better than most people.
Ad far as scare zones, I think they are good this year but they are a step back from last year.
1. Monsters Unmasked- Love this house and I think it could have been an all time favorite if they had stuck to 2 or 3 monsters, 4 does feel a bit much.
2. Oddfellows- I’ve never been one for circus/carnival themed haunts but I really love this one. Also, really digging Oddfellow as an Icon.
3.Yeti- Loved Yeti Terror On the Yukon but I think this one is even better. Love the scares, love the humor, and I love the design. Every run I’ve done the Yetis have been intense.
4. Exorcist- I thought this was going to be the worst house this year but was blown away by how good it is. It doesn’t make me want to see the movie but the house has blown me away.
5.Bloodmoon- I love houses that feel like you are walking through towns. This house would have easily been #2 for me if there were a bit more variety when it comes characters in the house.
6.Last of Us-Great house, I wish there were a few more Joel and Ellie characters but still very good
7.Darkest Deal- Awesome house with perhaps the most intense actors. I’m a little confused on parts of the story but love the house.
8-10 I’m firm on
8. Dueling Dragons- I didn’t need a ton of actual dragons but I was hoping for a bit more. I love the sound effects and the visuals they used for the warlocks.
9.Stranger Things- Very good house, love most of the scenes but I do feel like a couple of rooms/scenes look cheap.
10.Chucky- The scenes aren’t the best but I do think it is a very fun house. I think they could have done a bit better with the few animatronics they used. I feel like I like this one a lot better than most people.
Ad far as scare zones, I think they are good this year but they are a step back from last year.
Here we go again! After a fun HHN 31 which was a favorite of mine, I was very eager to see where A&D would take the event next. With several big IP's, the 1st new Icon we've had in years and a unique batch of originals, it was clear this year wasn't going to be taking it easy. This was my 5th HHN, and the 2nd one for my Friends and Mom who joined along. So how did it all shake out? Let's start with the houses, complete with where they ranked in my initial anticipated list. Starting from the bottom up.
Houses
10.) Stranger Things 4 - I will say it was nice to have Stranger Things back, especially since it debuted the first year I went back in 2018. While that version is still my favorite of the IP, I did enjoy this one quite a bit. There are some unique set designs which I did appreciate more than others, and Venca could definitely get me here and there. This one is at the bottom of my list since this has the least amount of scares baked into it, which is a little disappointing considering the season is the most horror centric. Anticipated House Rank - #4 (Not the biggest drop I've had, but a house with a low number of scares will get pushed down fast by a strong lineup.)
9.) Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count - I'll say it before, and I'll say it again. I didn't find this as bad as others have made it out to be. *shrug* I dug the pre-show video, the overall goofy nature of the house, and the cast was going for the scares with what they had. That's fine with me! Anticipated House Rank - #5 (As with ST, not the biggest drop I've had, and this one was merely pushed down by a strong lineup.)
8.) Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate - Man, this house brought back so many good memories of DD/Merlinwood etc. From the facade and various recreations and callbacks to the queue, this was certainly a passion project from A&D, and this felt like the first "vs" house where it honestly felt like there was a fight going on! The various fire and ice blasts were not only really neat, but they helped convey the battling aspect quite well. I also dug the heck out of the costumes, especially the mid-transformation versions of the warlocks. While yes, it would be neat if this had various giant dragon puppets, but I knew from the get-go that wasn't gonna' happen as any puppet would have to be giant sized (anything smaller wouldn't make sense), and Uni only puts one in the house if they do. Guess what's not happening for a property that would require at least two? Anticipated House Rank - #7 (Very close to my initial rank, and a few "eh" runs was enough to knock it down one.)
7.) The Last of Us - As I've said before in the anticipated house thread, it's a great game but not the kind of themes etc. which I clamor for, so I don't have the biggest attachment for this as a house. That said, I enjoyed the big sets, the sound design with the clickers (especially in the sound muffling room where you just hear them), and there's some pretty darn good scares, especially the finale which consistently had me running thanks to an absolute MVP of a Bloater! Anticipated House Rank - #8 (Increasingly better run throughs during my trip helped bump this up, which is a nice little win in my book!)
6.) Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings - Before the event started, this house was definitely a wild card with the sheer lack of info about it. But as it turns out, A&D clearly had fun with this one, as it boasts a real nice set design as it feels like you're traversing through a village with various indoor and outdoor sections, with various landmarks you see from multiple angles. This house also boasts some wonderful macabre set pieces and an overall cast that was both intense and downright creepy. All in all, a very nice surprise! Anticipated House Rank - #9 (Here we go, a nice jump up as it lived up to its wild card reputation!)
5.) Yeti: Campground Kills - Ah, it's good to have the Yeti's return. My history with them is simple. Loved Attack of the Swamp Yeti in 2018's Slaughter Sinema. I wanted to love 2019's Yeti: Terror of the Yukon, but unfortunate timing in my runs prevented that. This year, I had much better run throughs, so I honestly enjoyed the heck out of this one! This house had some great sets, and was chock full of good scares and camp both figuratively and literally! This house also gave me an all-timer of a scare for my very first run through as it left me crawling out of a room, so that's one big bonus right there! Anticipated House Rank - #6. (A nice little bump up thanks to consistently solid runs!)
4.) Universal Monsters: Unmasked - It's no secret that I really enjoy the UCM houses, and this one is no exception. It's great to see a house feature a cast of monsters not as used like some of the main ones, and this has a great facade, some impressive big sets, and some damn good scares, too! I will say it's focused pretty heavily on the Phantom for the beginning, and it does feel like that section could've been trimmed a bit. But once the other monsters show up, the house ramps up and delivers one great moment after another! Anticipated House Rank #1 (The beginning does hold this house back a tad, but man oh man did I have some great runs that easily kept this in the top 4!)
3.) The Exorcist: Believer - Back at the anticipated house thread, I mentioned that while I wasn't feeling the trailer, I still felt the house had a chance of being a fun one, especially as the quality of a house is not a 1:1 to the film itself. And boy, am I glad I said that as this house proved to be a beast! This house is nasty and intense, and once it gets going it doesn't let up, and the casts in this house don't allow it to as they were consistently aggro anytime I went through, even during a cast change midway through a run! And then there's this... Anticipated House Rank - #10 (If there's any sign of how strong this house lineup is, this house is one of them. Thanks to consistently intense runs, my anticipated #10 rocketed to #3 and refused to drop. This house is standing proudly with Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw as you can never judge a house by its IP.)
2.) Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins - It's been a while since we've had an Icon house of a new Icon, let alone an Icon house that's as good as this one! This house is demented, zany and chock full of great scares aided by wonderfully energetic casts. And it has wonderful sets that are somehow shoehorned into a sprung tent. Add in some nice easter eggs if you know where to look and/or see it at the right time, a good puppet, some scares you don't really see often at the event, and a very charming ringmaster, and you've got yourself a damn good Icon house! Anticipated House Rank - #3 (I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. It was very neck and neck with my #1, too.)
1.) The Darkest Deal - When this house was first teased, I was very intrigued by the whole concept. This isn't a theme that's played with often at the event, but A&D has shown time and time again that the more unique or underutilized themes can provide the most memorable material, and this house is proof positive of that! This house has some fantastic storytelling both big and small, all seeped in rich and foreboding atmosphere that provides the right amount of dread and paranoia. Add in some great music, costumes and two casts that go all in on the scares, and you've got a stunner of a house! Anticipated House Rank - #2 (As I've said before, I never put my actual #1 anticipated house as #1. The Darkest Deal was absolutely my true #1 anticipated and it delivered in ways I never expected! I absolutely love this house, and I'm so happy that on my final night on my final run through, I was able to have a "solo" run which landed every scare on me. A perfect way to end the event and solidify this is my favorite!)
------
So that's all the houses, I enjoyed all of them and personally for me, this is the strongest house lineup I've seen so far in the five years I've gone! Next up is the Scare Zones and everything else.
Houses
10.) Stranger Things 4 - I will say it was nice to have Stranger Things back, especially since it debuted the first year I went back in 2018. While that version is still my favorite of the IP, I did enjoy this one quite a bit. There are some unique set designs which I did appreciate more than others, and Venca could definitely get me here and there. This one is at the bottom of my list since this has the least amount of scares baked into it, which is a little disappointing considering the season is the most horror centric. Anticipated House Rank - #4 (Not the biggest drop I've had, but a house with a low number of scares will get pushed down fast by a strong lineup.)
9.) Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count - I'll say it before, and I'll say it again. I didn't find this as bad as others have made it out to be. *shrug* I dug the pre-show video, the overall goofy nature of the house, and the cast was going for the scares with what they had. That's fine with me! Anticipated House Rank - #5 (As with ST, not the biggest drop I've had, and this one was merely pushed down by a strong lineup.)
8.) Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate - Man, this house brought back so many good memories of DD/Merlinwood etc. From the facade and various recreations and callbacks to the queue, this was certainly a passion project from A&D, and this felt like the first "vs" house where it honestly felt like there was a fight going on! The various fire and ice blasts were not only really neat, but they helped convey the battling aspect quite well. I also dug the heck out of the costumes, especially the mid-transformation versions of the warlocks. While yes, it would be neat if this had various giant dragon puppets, but I knew from the get-go that wasn't gonna' happen as any puppet would have to be giant sized (anything smaller wouldn't make sense), and Uni only puts one in the house if they do. Guess what's not happening for a property that would require at least two? Anticipated House Rank - #7 (Very close to my initial rank, and a few "eh" runs was enough to knock it down one.)
7.) The Last of Us - As I've said before in the anticipated house thread, it's a great game but not the kind of themes etc. which I clamor for, so I don't have the biggest attachment for this as a house. That said, I enjoyed the big sets, the sound design with the clickers (especially in the sound muffling room where you just hear them), and there's some pretty darn good scares, especially the finale which consistently had me running thanks to an absolute MVP of a Bloater! Anticipated House Rank - #8 (Increasingly better run throughs during my trip helped bump this up, which is a nice little win in my book!)
6.) Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings - Before the event started, this house was definitely a wild card with the sheer lack of info about it. But as it turns out, A&D clearly had fun with this one, as it boasts a real nice set design as it feels like you're traversing through a village with various indoor and outdoor sections, with various landmarks you see from multiple angles. This house also boasts some wonderful macabre set pieces and an overall cast that was both intense and downright creepy. All in all, a very nice surprise! Anticipated House Rank - #9 (Here we go, a nice jump up as it lived up to its wild card reputation!)
5.) Yeti: Campground Kills - Ah, it's good to have the Yeti's return. My history with them is simple. Loved Attack of the Swamp Yeti in 2018's Slaughter Sinema. I wanted to love 2019's Yeti: Terror of the Yukon, but unfortunate timing in my runs prevented that. This year, I had much better run throughs, so I honestly enjoyed the heck out of this one! This house had some great sets, and was chock full of good scares and camp both figuratively and literally! This house also gave me an all-timer of a scare for my very first run through as it left me crawling out of a room, so that's one big bonus right there! Anticipated House Rank - #6. (A nice little bump up thanks to consistently solid runs!)
4.) Universal Monsters: Unmasked - It's no secret that I really enjoy the UCM houses, and this one is no exception. It's great to see a house feature a cast of monsters not as used like some of the main ones, and this has a great facade, some impressive big sets, and some damn good scares, too! I will say it's focused pretty heavily on the Phantom for the beginning, and it does feel like that section could've been trimmed a bit. But once the other monsters show up, the house ramps up and delivers one great moment after another! Anticipated House Rank #1 (The beginning does hold this house back a tad, but man oh man did I have some great runs that easily kept this in the top 4!)
3.) The Exorcist: Believer - Back at the anticipated house thread, I mentioned that while I wasn't feeling the trailer, I still felt the house had a chance of being a fun one, especially as the quality of a house is not a 1:1 to the film itself. And boy, am I glad I said that as this house proved to be a beast! This house is nasty and intense, and once it gets going it doesn't let up, and the casts in this house don't allow it to as they were consistently aggro anytime I went through, even during a cast change midway through a run! And then there's this... Anticipated House Rank - #10 (If there's any sign of how strong this house lineup is, this house is one of them. Thanks to consistently intense runs, my anticipated #10 rocketed to #3 and refused to drop. This house is standing proudly with Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw as you can never judge a house by its IP.)
2.) Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins - It's been a while since we've had an Icon house of a new Icon, let alone an Icon house that's as good as this one! This house is demented, zany and chock full of great scares aided by wonderfully energetic casts. And it has wonderful sets that are somehow shoehorned into a sprung tent. Add in some nice easter eggs if you know where to look and/or see it at the right time, a good puppet, some scares you don't really see often at the event, and a very charming ringmaster, and you've got yourself a damn good Icon house! Anticipated House Rank - #3 (I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. It was very neck and neck with my #1, too.)
1.) The Darkest Deal - When this house was first teased, I was very intrigued by the whole concept. This isn't a theme that's played with often at the event, but A&D has shown time and time again that the more unique or underutilized themes can provide the most memorable material, and this house is proof positive of that! This house has some fantastic storytelling both big and small, all seeped in rich and foreboding atmosphere that provides the right amount of dread and paranoia. Add in some great music, costumes and two casts that go all in on the scares, and you've got a stunner of a house! Anticipated House Rank - #2 (As I've said before, I never put my actual #1 anticipated house as #1. The Darkest Deal was absolutely my true #1 anticipated and it delivered in ways I never expected! I absolutely love this house, and I'm so happy that on my final night on my final run through, I was able to have a "solo" run which landed every scare on me. A perfect way to end the event and solidify this is my favorite!)
------
So that's all the houses, I enjoyed all of them and personally for me, this is the strongest house lineup I've seen so far in the five years I've gone! Next up is the Scare Zones and everything else.
(Pt. 2)
Scare Zones
After last year's stunning improvement to the scare zones, I knew it was gonna' be a tough one to follow, but I hoped this year's zones would still retain whatever made last year's zones work so good. At first during my first night, I was a little worried since it didn't seem like that. But as the night progressed, the energy went up and I was having more fun in them. And all of last week, the zones were rockin' and my fears were tossed out. They might not be fully on the same level of last years as zones like Graveyard were absolutely killer, but they were still heads and tails over the zones from 28-30.
Vamp 69': Summer of Blood - When they put that stage up, I was a little concerned we'd run into another Vamp 85' issue of the zone centered around a show and the rest of the zone suffering due to that, but thankfully that wasn't the case as this zone was a wonderful vibe with periodic mini show moments happening all throughout the zone. I saw a ton of great moments between the vamps and the human survivors, and there was scares a plenty thanks to many of them blending into the crowd with ease. A very great case in point involved my Mom who is a notoriously hard scare, yet one of the Vamp's got her!
Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror - Oh, I dug the heck out of this zone. I loved the theming, the bat eyes in the trees, the little show moment of Oddfellow finding the skull and the said bat eyes changing to green, and the cool creature costumes. This is right up there with Scarecrow as one of my favorite zones in this area!
Dark Zodiac - This one was usually pretty fun to go through, I dug the unique and bizarre costumes, and the casts had some pretty good energy. I saw a lot of good moments with the chainsaws in here, and I even saw some of the main zodiacs get some good chase outs!
Shipyard 32: Horrors Unleashed - This one was the oddball of the bunch, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for me. It featured some more cool and bizarre creatures mixed in with some classics of the past, and my favorite was the one in the hoodie...not only because their mask was freaky as all heck. But because they were always posted a little further away from the rest of the zone, and they caught so many people off guard as they thought they were through it all!
Dr. Oddfellow's Collection of Horror - Look at this adorable little entry zone! It's tiny, but there's a nice batch of creatures and this is a good spot to see Oddfellow be it at his caravan or on the ground. I really appreciated Oddfellow was mic'd up and able to just talk with the crowd, allowing the actor to really portray Oddfellow as the wickedly charismatic fellow he really is.
Food (Normally I'd talk about drinks, too. But I actually didn't get any premixed drinks this year.)
As usual, I'm always eager to try out the new food options. And this year featured some very nice winners in my book! On the 13th when I took my friend, we both tried the Peanut Blooder Burger, and we both enjoyed that! Nicely balanced with a nice bit of heat at the end. And when I was with my Mom last week, we had the Bloody Campground Poutine which was nice, the Sour Apple Pie Funnel Fries which were a wonderful dessert, a great mix of sweet, sour, fried, frozen and gooey. But the main winner for both of us? The Walking Taco. We had the regular version several times, and that would easily sustain us for the rest of the night. And talking with several other folks, that seemed to be a big winner for them as well!
Nightmare Fuel: Revenge Dream - Was able to see this show a couple times, once with my friend and once with my Mom. And we all loved this years version! I've always felt this has been a solid show, but this is definitely the strongest version so far. Some great choices in music, wild acts (seriously, that aerial strap act pulls off moves I've never seen before in that kind of act, especially the first move!) and some various twists which are rewarding for those who've seen the previous shows.
Ops
From my end, I really didn't have any issues with ops. Lines moved pretty smoothly, Express moved steady or was nice and short. The only times we had to wait a bit in Express were for the houses that had a big honkin' standby line such as The Last of Us and Stranger Things. As for food, I had little to no line/wait for the Bloody Campground Poutine and Sour Apple Funnel Fries so I might have hit them at the right time. When me and my friend had the Peanut Blooder Burger, we were told it was gonna' be a 25-30 minute wait...we got our burgers in less than 10 minutes so zero complaints there. (We both ordered separately and just the burger.) As for the Walking Taco, both times it was just a little wait to pay, as most people in front of us wanted to get the specialty drink so they had the do the whole ID check etc. But once it was paid for and we went to the side to retrieve the walking taco, that was really quick as they had an efficient assembly process set up.
Memorable Moment
On my last night, I was going through Vamp 69' and in front of me there was this kid who was being a brat to one of the vamps. The usual kind of harassing/"You don't scare me" kind of routine, the Vamp just shrugged it off but the kid was still doing it...as he was walking straight towards me with his head turned towards the Vamp. Since we were in a busy crowd, I couldn't just move out of the way to the side, so I was well within my right to make myself known so he doesn't walk into me. I did that with one single head snap with a snarl, and that brat was screaming his head off...with his parents laughing their butts off! And that vamp had the biggest grin on his face which made that sudden karma all the sweeter.
Final Thoughts
All in all, this was a very good year for me. With the strongest house lineup I've experienced so far, solid scare zones, good food, a great show and the first new full-fledged Icon in years, let alone a great Icon period...I can comfortably say that's enough to make it my new favorite year!
I'll leave you with a smooth, stunner of a line that Dr. Oddfellow himself gave me at the end of the night on my final night on Saturday. This is after I told him he's been an Icon longer than everyone else. (Playing up that he's been an Immortal for quite some time.)
"Admiration will carry you far...Fear will carry you further." - Dr. Oddfellow
Scare Zones
After last year's stunning improvement to the scare zones, I knew it was gonna' be a tough one to follow, but I hoped this year's zones would still retain whatever made last year's zones work so good. At first during my first night, I was a little worried since it didn't seem like that. But as the night progressed, the energy went up and I was having more fun in them. And all of last week, the zones were rockin' and my fears were tossed out. They might not be fully on the same level of last years as zones like Graveyard were absolutely killer, but they were still heads and tails over the zones from 28-30.
Vamp 69': Summer of Blood - When they put that stage up, I was a little concerned we'd run into another Vamp 85' issue of the zone centered around a show and the rest of the zone suffering due to that, but thankfully that wasn't the case as this zone was a wonderful vibe with periodic mini show moments happening all throughout the zone. I saw a ton of great moments between the vamps and the human survivors, and there was scares a plenty thanks to many of them blending into the crowd with ease. A very great case in point involved my Mom who is a notoriously hard scare, yet one of the Vamp's got her!
Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror - Oh, I dug the heck out of this zone. I loved the theming, the bat eyes in the trees, the little show moment of Oddfellow finding the skull and the said bat eyes changing to green, and the cool creature costumes. This is right up there with Scarecrow as one of my favorite zones in this area!
Dark Zodiac - This one was usually pretty fun to go through, I dug the unique and bizarre costumes, and the casts had some pretty good energy. I saw a lot of good moments with the chainsaws in here, and I even saw some of the main zodiacs get some good chase outs!
Shipyard 32: Horrors Unleashed - This one was the oddball of the bunch, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for me. It featured some more cool and bizarre creatures mixed in with some classics of the past, and my favorite was the one in the hoodie...not only because their mask was freaky as all heck. But because they were always posted a little further away from the rest of the zone, and they caught so many people off guard as they thought they were through it all!
Dr. Oddfellow's Collection of Horror - Look at this adorable little entry zone! It's tiny, but there's a nice batch of creatures and this is a good spot to see Oddfellow be it at his caravan or on the ground. I really appreciated Oddfellow was mic'd up and able to just talk with the crowd, allowing the actor to really portray Oddfellow as the wickedly charismatic fellow he really is.
Food (Normally I'd talk about drinks, too. But I actually didn't get any premixed drinks this year.)
As usual, I'm always eager to try out the new food options. And this year featured some very nice winners in my book! On the 13th when I took my friend, we both tried the Peanut Blooder Burger, and we both enjoyed that! Nicely balanced with a nice bit of heat at the end. And when I was with my Mom last week, we had the Bloody Campground Poutine which was nice, the Sour Apple Pie Funnel Fries which were a wonderful dessert, a great mix of sweet, sour, fried, frozen and gooey. But the main winner for both of us? The Walking Taco. We had the regular version several times, and that would easily sustain us for the rest of the night. And talking with several other folks, that seemed to be a big winner for them as well!
Nightmare Fuel: Revenge Dream - Was able to see this show a couple times, once with my friend and once with my Mom. And we all loved this years version! I've always felt this has been a solid show, but this is definitely the strongest version so far. Some great choices in music, wild acts (seriously, that aerial strap act pulls off moves I've never seen before in that kind of act, especially the first move!) and some various twists which are rewarding for those who've seen the previous shows.
Ops
From my end, I really didn't have any issues with ops. Lines moved pretty smoothly, Express moved steady or was nice and short. The only times we had to wait a bit in Express were for the houses that had a big honkin' standby line such as The Last of Us and Stranger Things. As for food, I had little to no line/wait for the Bloody Campground Poutine and Sour Apple Funnel Fries so I might have hit them at the right time. When me and my friend had the Peanut Blooder Burger, we were told it was gonna' be a 25-30 minute wait...we got our burgers in less than 10 minutes so zero complaints there. (We both ordered separately and just the burger.) As for the Walking Taco, both times it was just a little wait to pay, as most people in front of us wanted to get the specialty drink so they had the do the whole ID check etc. But once it was paid for and we went to the side to retrieve the walking taco, that was really quick as they had an efficient assembly process set up.
Memorable Moment
On my last night, I was going through Vamp 69' and in front of me there was this kid who was being a brat to one of the vamps. The usual kind of harassing/"You don't scare me" kind of routine, the Vamp just shrugged it off but the kid was still doing it...as he was walking straight towards me with his head turned towards the Vamp. Since we were in a busy crowd, I couldn't just move out of the way to the side, so I was well within my right to make myself known so he doesn't walk into me. I did that with one single head snap with a snarl, and that brat was screaming his head off...with his parents laughing their butts off! And that vamp had the biggest grin on his face which made that sudden karma all the sweeter.
Final Thoughts
All in all, this was a very good year for me. With the strongest house lineup I've experienced so far, solid scare zones, good food, a great show and the first new full-fledged Icon in years, let alone a great Icon period...I can comfortably say that's enough to make it my new favorite year!
I'll leave you with a smooth, stunner of a line that Dr. Oddfellow himself gave me at the end of the night on my final night on Saturday. This is after I told him he's been an Icon longer than everyone else. (Playing up that he's been an Immortal for quite some time.)
"Admiration will carry you far...Fear will carry you further." - Dr. Oddfellow
- Aug 13, 2016
- 798
- 2,561
Let's see, I feel like I've given all of the houses a fair chance and can rank them now...
For me, Monsters is locked in at #1.
2, 3 and 4 could bounce around, but fall no lower than 4.
Bloodmoon, Dragons and Last of Us could also move around within #'s 5 through 7.
Bottom 3 are set in stone.
*While I agree with the majority that Chucky and Stranger Things are the two weakest houses this year, I do not agree that either are in the discussion for worst of all-time.
- Monsters Unmasked
- Dr. Oddfellow's
- The Darkest Deal
- The Exorcist
- Bloodmoon
- Dueling Dragons
- The Last of Us
- Campground Kills
- Stranger Things
- Chucky
For me, Monsters is locked in at #1.
2, 3 and 4 could bounce around, but fall no lower than 4.
Bloodmoon, Dragons and Last of Us could also move around within #'s 5 through 7.
Bottom 3 are set in stone.
*While I agree with the majority that Chucky and Stranger Things are the two weakest houses this year, I do not agree that either are in the discussion for worst of all-time.
