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| - My bestie and I are finally back in the same general area, so we decided to get back to our annual haunted house tours this year. She'd heard of Scarehouse, and she'd heard good things, so we decided to check it out. ((Side note: I'm not easy to scare because I've been doing haunted houses since I was wee, and I'm kind of used to them now. I'm kind of known for going through these things and chatting calmly with the actors, so.. yeah. Keep that in mind.))
First of all, we ended up with "RIP Tickets," which are pretty much the best thing ever. She purchased them at CostCo ahead of time, and I don't believe they were more expensive than purchasing a regular ticket online. These tickets allowed us to skip ALL lines, which was great since it was seasonably chilly that weekend. When we arrived at the Zoo, we hopped into the line specifically for RIP Ticket Holders and were ushered onto the first bus that arrived, ahead of everyone who had tickets for specific time slots. When we got to the site of the Scarehouse, we were allowed to pass the hundereds of people standing in line outside and went right in through a back door. Our tickets were checked, and then we bypassed the lines inside, as well. So my take? Find these tickets!
As for the actual haunted house, we did the main 3 parts (no basement for us.. we are not down with random people being allowed to do whatever they like to us in the dark!). The first part was, IMO, just like most other haunted houses I've been to. I've seen other reviewers complain that you are too close to the other groups going through the house, and I agree.. I was at the back of our group (which had ended up running into the backs of the group ahead of us, anyway), and I missed almost everything because the people at the front of our group got it and I was still around the bend. So.. my suggestion here would be more wait time between groups. Part 2, with the 3-D glasses, was our favorite. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before, and it's unexpected and a LOT to look at. I almost wish I'd had more time in there to just wander around slowly. Part 3 was more like a normal haunted house again.. zombies.. mmhmm.. but there were some kind of odd physical sensations (when they send you through that giant inflated thing and you can't see or touch anyone else in your party and you're all squeezed in and claustrophobic.. that's not something you experience everyday!) that were much appreciated.
Not my favorite (late 90's, early 2000's Castle Blood will always have a special place in my heart), but definitely better than most of what I've experienced the past few years. And for my money, it was longer and more worthwhile than a lot of what I've seen recently, too. Kudos, Scarehouse!
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