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HHN 29: Graveyard Games

This house is getting plagued with the “Insidious” effect of having bad pacing issues where the conga line moves extremely slowly throughout the whole house, which is probably because of “that” scene near the end where people refuse to move forward. I’ve been through it 7 times so far and 4 of which had multiple complete stops in the line, so hopefully they’ll modify that scene before next week because it’s a phenomenal house (I got a run through at he end of the night by myself and it was incredible).

Reminds me of Scarecrow's issue, I bet they'll adjust it.
 
Which scenes? You can spoiler tag

Not sure how in-depth you want/need me to go (not sure if you've gone yet), but:

The candle lit section where the gust blows them out section-by-section until the room is pitch black

The completely black scene where the audio comes at you from different sides and it truly feels like someone is right next to you. I get straight up chills in this scene every single time. It's such a wild sensation and perfectly gives a claustrophobic feeling.

Probably very basic scenes, but just so well executed.
 
Would anyone mind posting a spoiler rundown of this maze, in a tag? I'm not going to be able to make it to Orlando this year and this maze really intrigues me... I'd love to know more. (I've watched the highlight POVs, but they obviously don't capture everything.)
 
Would anyone mind posting a spoiler rundown of this maze, in a tag? I'm not going to be able to make it to Orlando this year and this maze really intrigues me... I'd love to know more. (I've watched the highlight POVs, but they obviously don't capture everything.)

I can give it my best shot.

You enter the graveyard through cemetery gates to immediately find a teenager jumping out and mocking you for being so jumpy. A flashlight shines through from the right side and examines the graveyard. You then continue on through the mausoleum which is covered in spraypaint from the teenagers. You continue past vandalized tombs to find a teenager trapped behind a cemetery gate begging for help as a ghost appears behind her via a strobe effect. You turn the corner to immediately find a statue scareactor. You continue on through past some urns that rattle in place and a skeleton/zombie jumps out at you. You continue on past more graffiti covered walls and benches to find more cobweb covered artifacts (more skeletons actors here). You go back outside briefly and pass a tunnel or fireplace esque effect (not really sure what it's supposed to be?) with a strobe. You continue back into another mausoleum esque section to find skeletons poking their heads out of their wall on both sides of you (both active scareactors). There's a floating ghost (I think static?) ahead of you that lights up purple almost immediately after. You continue past more candles, graves, etc. to find an effect of a girl spirit(?) appearing, screaming, and reaching out for you. It vanishes and a skeleton is in its place. The next room shows more candles before you turn and find a now dead teen still holding their cell phone while standing in an open coffin. She's somehow on Facetime call and the person on the other end is freaking out. Immediately after, there's a skeleton puppet to your right coming out of a wall/maybe a tomb(?). You continue on past a small fountain and other props before turning to find a great screen/musion(?) effect that shows a long road of candles in front of you. More skeletons pop out as you now turn into a room filled with 3 rows of candles on each side of you as well as statues. A voice speaks over the room from one of the spirits asking "why you've defiled their place of rest?" She then turns the candles off, one row at a time, and the statues jump out from where the candles previously were. You exit the room to come face-to-face with a wall full of spirit figurines almost (similar to the one found above you at the end of Haunted Mansion). The female spirit from earlier exclaims "My children" and all of their heads move around at once. You continue into the next room and are introduced to more playful children spirits that laugh and start chanting "red rover, red rover" or "ring a round the rosie". The lights flicker and children ghosts can't be found on both sides of you (some real, some fake). You turn to your right and find another dead teenager above you tangled in vines with his phone resting in his hands. You walk outside and almost immediately walk into another mausoleum. You turn into another room and hear children laughing again. The room you enter is pitch black and suddenly you hear a little girl's voice to your right. It then immediately transfers over to your left. It genuinely sounds like she's a scareactor right next to you talking in your ear. You leave the room and see one last glowing statue with a hand appearing below it before exiting the house.

There's one more dead teenager with a cell phone somewhere in the house with a "dead battery" iPhone message, but I don't remember where.
 
I can give it my best shot.

You enter the graveyard through cemetery gates to immediately find a teenager jumping out and mocking you for being so jumpy. A flashlight shines through from the right side and examines the graveyard. You then continue on through the mausoleum which is covered in spraypaint from the teenagers. You continue past vandalized tombs to find a teenager trapped behind a cemetery gate begging for help as a ghost appears behind her via a strobe effect. You turn the corner to immediately find a statue scareactor. You continue on through past some urns that rattle in place and a skeleton/zombie jumps out at you. You continue on past more graffiti covered walls and benches to find more cobweb covered artifacts (more skeletons actors here). You go back outside briefly and pass a tunnel or fireplace esque effect (not really sure what it's supposed to be?) with a strobe. You continue back into another mausoleum esque section to find skeletons poking their heads out of their wall on both sides of you (both active scareactors). There's a floating ghost (I think static?) ahead of you that lights up purple almost immediately after. You continue past more candles, graves, etc. to find an effect of a girl spirit(?) appearing, screaming, and reaching out for you. It vanishes and a skeleton is in its place. The next room shows more candles before you turn and find a now dead teen still holding their cell phone while standing in an open coffin. She's somehow on Facetime call and the person on the other end is freaking out. Immediately after, there's a skeleton puppet to your right coming out of a wall/maybe a tomb(?). You continue on past a small fountain and other props before turning to find a great screen/musion(?) effect that shows a long road of candles in front of you. More skeletons pop out as you now turn into a room filled with 3 rows of candles on each side of you as well as statues. A voice speaks over the room from one of the spirits asking "why you've defiled their place of rest?" She then turns the candles off, one row at a time, and the statues jump out from where the candles previously were. You exit the room to come face-to-face with a wall full of spirit figurines almost (similar to the one found above you at the end of Haunted Mansion). The female spirit from earlier exclaims "My children" and all of their heads move around at once. You continue into the next room and are introduced to more playful children spirits that laugh and start chanting "red rover, red rover" or "ring a round the rosie". The lights flicker and children ghosts can't be found on both sides of you (some real, some fake). You turn to your right and find another dead teenager above you tangled in vines with his phone resting in his hands. You walk outside and almost immediately walk into another mausoleum. You turn into another room and hear children laughing again. The room you enter is pitch black and suddenly you hear a little girl's voice to your right. It then immediately transfers over to your left. It genuinely sounds like she's a scareactor right next to you talking in your ear. You leave the room and see one last glowing statue with a hand appearing below it before exiting the house.

There's one more dead teenager with a cell phone somewhere in the house with a "dead battery" iPhone message, but I don't remember where.

Thank you for this. Man, that does sound absolutely gnarly. I love it.
 
Love the house, but did I hallucinate or did they really:

Stick a plastic skeleton through a hole at you in one room?
 
Love the house, but did I hallucinate or did they really:

Stick a plastic skeleton through a hole at you in one room?

Hah, must have missed that one! I refuse to turn my head when I see peripheral movement (one of my many coping mechanisms), so depending on how quick it was, I might not have noticed.
 
Where to begin with this one?

When it was first teased/announced, I was pretty excited. A graveyard house has the potential to be super atmospheric and creepy, and considering earlier this year I did go through a graveyard late at night, I was ready for a house like this...

...or so I thought.

The set's are beautiful, with some really haunting imagery. The story is easy to follow and worked quite well for me. (The interactive FB messenger was also a nice touch.) An then there's the scares, this house just went for the jugular and didn't hold back. There was a great plethora of scares which ranged from the terrifying to the downright creepy. An both casts were killing it anytime I went through, they showed no mercy. Which brings up this...

Last year, the hardest scare I got was from Attack of the Swamp Yeti which gradually sent me down into a squat. That's never happened before, and I felt that was gonna' be a hard one to beat.
Graveyard Games: Hold my beer.

The scene in question?

The catacomb with the candles that gradually get snuffed by gusts of wind. To which I'll add it was great it didn't feel like a air blast, but a nice gust.

I was already on edge when I got to that scene, and I had no idea what was coming when it was set off, when the scare hit...I was fully flat on my side in total shock. That scene had a killer build up to a devastating scare, and I was really in the right/wrong place when it happened. Hands down it's the hardest hitting scare I've ever gotten so far.

After that scene, I was even more on edge and the scares kept coming. An when I got to that finale hallway, I was screaming "NOOOOOOO!...NOOOOOO!!...NOOOOOOOO!!!" as loud as I possibly could. As for the effect that happens in that hallway, that is wonderfully creepy as hell! (It also wrecked one of my friends as she had her eyes closed in the scene before, so she didn't open them until she was in that hallway and freaked out.)

So after my 1st run through, I was completely SHOOK. An any following run through the cast's just brought it. I was always seeing something new, including one of the skeletons near the end crawling around the tomb he pops around from and that scare killed every time. This was also a house that I heard many a guest at the park mention as one of or The favorite of theirs.

Taking everything into account, this house landed in a solid tie for first with Universal Monsters for me. As well as a personal GOAT. It's the "Total Package" house with set's, scares and great cast's to bring it to terrifying life. An also with Universal Monsters, the walk to and from the parade warehouses felt like nothing due to the house being totally worth it.

Ghostbusters ain't afraid of no ghosts, but these ones are a exception!
 
Has the light up exit sign in the dark hallway always been there? I don't remember seeing it the first time, but it definitely stuck out when I went through again the weeked after.
 
So, funny story. I thought I was in line for Monsters a second time and realised halfway through that I was in the wrong queue!

Glad I did though. This was the best house tonight. Such a variety of different scares, from
walking statues, crypt keeper looking dudes, ghostly kids. Loved that they mixed it all up.

The ghost kid room was so good, but the best room was easily the totally black one with the creepy whispering. What a cool effect.
 
I really love this house, but it seems like it has been the worst for express. Has anyone else noticed that they let in like 20-30 regular guests per 6-10 express?
 
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