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| - This is a review for the main house as I didn't attend the Basement. Also, I'm deducting 2 stars off the bat (1 star for each full hour of waiting) because they just can't seem to get the line figured out.
However, once you do get in (more on the waiting part below), I will say that this is a pretty above average haunt. The 3 main areas with my reviews are as follows:
The Summoning: Standard haunted house fare, but a good use of sets with an impressive attention to detail that creates a nice feeling of immersion. While the "Is this a prop or is it alive?" gag is effective, it felt a bit overused as it was featured in what felt like 1 out of every 4 rooms. 3 stars.
Trick r Treat Hallowed Grounds: This part was the standout by far. The area is essentially an extremely unique & stylized love letter to all things Halloween. The art design was top notch and is a must see for any Halloween nut. It was unlike anything I've seen in a haunted attraction and kudos to Scarehouse (& Legendary) for taking the risk...it really paid off. One suggestion: get a 'real' Sam in there and not a half-animatronic/half-puppet on a stick. Put a kid in a costume and let him loose. Regardless, 5 stars.
Krampus: felt much like a 15 min experiential trailer for the upcoming film. But like the summoning, the sets were well designed and the xmas theme is a fun change of pace. 3 stars.
Parking/line: After parking your car at the Zoo, you wait in-line to get on the shuttle, just to arrive to the site to wait in yet another line! All in, my group spent over 2 hours in line. We bought 9:30 pm tickets (parked at the zoo at 9:15) and didn't actually get into the house until well after 11:30. Pretty piss poor. I understand that you need to pace out the groups so that everyone gets the full experience, but my gut tells me that they waaay oversell each timeslot which in turn creates crazy backlogs. If you're going to go, go early and don't make any time sensitive plans for after.
House review: 4 stars
Overall experience: 2 stars, because 2 hours to wait in line is unacceptable and really sullies the experience once you do make it in.
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