Midway thru the even thoughts...
Dead End has grown on me some--actually, the second half has grown on me a lot, I'm still "meh" on the first half. My friend nailed it, calling it the "recycled" house. The facade (which has a handicapped ramp and lit Jack-o-Lanterns, suggesting it is neither old nor abandoned), the out-of-place tunnel, the photo room, nothing we haven't seen before. From the bathroom on, some innovative scares and effects. I really like the arboretum and the library.
TWD probably has the best cast. That alone has it dueling with Dead End and Alice Cooper for my #2 spot.
P&T not working for me at all. Too difficult to hear Penn's commentary, 3D a wash, and, as I've written about elsewhere, not enough humor or scares. In fairness, lines have been consistently longer than HoH and AC, so I guess those who doubted P&T's relevance were wrong, those who doubted AC's were right.
I really enjoyed The Naked Mentalist. Seen him twice, was the same show, wouldn't mind seeing some of his other tricks. As for the rest of 20 Penny Circus, I liked the guillotine trick but it takes a lot of detours building up to it. The rest was just standard freak show stuff we've seen other HHN peformers do better. Even with TWD at 75 minutes next door, this did not play to a full house.
Lines have been bad given it's still early in the event and weather has been less than ideal. Not sure how a rain-free Hell Week will be, but I'm guessing 90 minute or longer waits will be the norm.