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| - A little about me: I moved to Phoenix from Tucson about three years ago and, while I'll never defend anything about Tucson beyond college basketball (if they'd just move the home games to US Airways Center, it would be perfect), one item of "culture shock" I've had with Phoenix is that so many establishments are in strip mall shopping centers. It's not a criticism and I understand why it makes sense to have a bar/club with metal bands playing share a wall with a dry cleaning business or Kindercare facility -- but I still just find it interesting.
I bring this up because COF is in the anchor store location of a Surprise/Sun City shopping center so it was funny to pull in and see the entrance actors meandering among the shopping center vehicles and I immediately wondered if they ever get crossed up with the general public just trying to pick up their dry cleaning or grab a taco. Maybe -- but it's all in good fun. And being in a shopping center didn't take away anything because, once you are inside, it's all haunted house business.
I won't give anything away but the haunt itself was impressive. As others have mentioned, it's three parts and the first is definitely the "strongest" in the sense of a conventional haunted house attraction -- but I thought the other sets were still enjoyable, even if they weren't as scary. I may sound like an old biddy, but it's nice to see some really cool props and sets in addition to the actors popping out at you.
Across the board, the props and sets were impressive (some really cool uses of lights and character interaction), the actors did a good job and, most of all, weren't obnoxious/screaming in your ear/lame. I'd say some of the best actors were the ones who didn't say anything because that's just eerie sometimes.
In short -- it's a haunted house. So let down your guard enough to give this attraction the opportunity to scare you and I expect you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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