Went to SW HoS last night! After flying back home to LA, getting some food in my belly, and getting a short nap in, I will post my thoughts on HHN later but start with this. Here are my thoughts on the houses in order of which I've done:
Beneath the Ice: This was my most-anticipated as I was really interested to see how they would repurpose the Wild Arctic structure to accommodate the house. I really liked this! Although the sets weren't anything to write home about, they were pretty detailed and gave me "The Thing" vibes.There was pretty good scares and energy in this house. I will say I was a little disappointed how they didn't use any of the exhibit that was at the end of the ride. I mean, would it have killed them to just put some props here and there, throw in a little lighting, and let the scareactors work their magic? Oh well. I still really liked this. Not a bad way to start the event.
Water's Edge Inn: Another pretty solid house. There was surprisingly creative scares in this one (Ahem, the laundry basket). Probably the weakest scenic-wise for me, but the amount of scares I got here made up for that. It was kinda weird how the exit was positioned and how they made you go all the way back to the entrance of the event.
Captain's Revenge: The only house with a facade and it was a decent one! This was by far the strongest house for me. Got some great scares in here. Also liked some of the scenic and detail they put in here. Don't have much more to say here.
Dead Vines: I liked the backwoods and greenhouse theme in here. Probably had the best scenic of all the houses. Also got some good scares in here as well.
Overall, my house rankings would be probably 1) Captain's 2) Dead Vines 3) Beneath the Ice 4) Water's Edge. Scarezones were also really good! There was some really good energy from the talent, but it was clear that there were a good handful that got turned down from HHN. At least they were fun and there were definitely some that weren't afraid to get up close and personal. I love that. Also great to see sliders!
Also, we got to ride Mako: the only coaster operating at the event. First time riding it at night. Apparently, Monster Stomp had gotten out because I had to wait 20 min. I go for my second ride and it's almost a walk-on. Go figure. Anyway I love this ride and there's a good reason it's still on my top 10. It was my friends' first time on it and they enjoyed the heck out of it. It was great to finally get them on a B&Mhyper since we don't have any of those rides in our neck of the woods.
I went in expecting an "okay but fun" event. This also happens to be the first HoS event I've ever attended. (Hopefully will get to go to the one in Tampa some day!) For my first HoS event, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed at SWO's first attempt at a haunt event. It felt to me like a mixture of the vibe of Dark Harbor at Queen Mary and the scareactor energy and house scenic of Fright Fest at SFMM. It felt much more "small scale" than other haunt events, but I feel that works to it's advantage. It "knew it's place" by knowing it isn't HHN and embraced it. It allowed the scareactors a lot more freedom to do whatever they want and let them have fun at scaring. I looked down at my phone for a couple minutes while waiting for dippin dots, only to look up and find a scareactor scream in my face. I loved it. One of the sliders jumped out and scared one of my friends leaving the restroom right when he opened the door. No way you would see that at HHN! It was also neat seeing an entrance plaza and bridge made specifically for the event. It really succeeds at embracing their more personal and old-school at their style.
Also, we were at Epcot for the day but enjoyed ourselves a little too much so we got a late start headed to the event. It was Saturday night and the soonest we were able to get there was 8:30. We didn't do the "fear pass" as we didn't feel like spending more dough after having Express for two nights at HHN. I was a little apprehensive as to what the crowd situation would be as our late arrival on a peak night should've spelled doom for our evening. The crowds were surprisingly reasonable for a Saturday night and lines were only about 20-30 min. max. Even when the lines looked long, they moved very quickly. We had a great time and were able to comfortably do everything we wanted by 11:15/11:30. Although it would've been kinda cool to see Monster Stomp, we really didn't have the chance to see any of the shows. Perhaps this will change once we get deeper into October, but if you're concerned about ridiculous crowds ruining your night, we arrived late and were able to knock out all of the houses and easily and ride Mako twice with no fear pass. All before midnight. On a Saturday night.
So yeah, I really enjoyed HoS at SWO! It's really more of an event for the Central Florida locals and for the out-of-towners who happen to have an extra night to spare while showing up for HHN, but I say check it out! Just show up to expect to have a good time and for some good ol' fashioned haunted houses. If you have an evening open on your HHN trip, check it out! Would I sacrifice my second night of HHN to go to it if it was my only other night I could go to HHN? Ehhh.....probably not. But after two straight nights of HHN with express, I liked seeing something different and more "old school" and I enjoyed it! Oh, and go on Mako while you're there.
I do plan on attending the San Diego event, so I look forward to checking that out as well and comparing the two!