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Haunt 2015


Bradenwhite
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The park insists the event is still immensely popular among the crowds, and it does show that the park is always crowded on a Saturday night.

 

Honestly speaking, we did get a major overhaul...back in 2007, and not in the way that people were expecting. What we wanted was a level of immersion and incredible maze experiences seen out of the grandfather of all theme park haunts, the one the event moniker is named after (and there was even a small markteing push to imply people from Knott's actually came over to oversee the proceedings). What we got was a disheartening campaign to be edgy, risque, and shocking, without delivering the much needed bite to back up the annoying bark. 

 

I've seen several really good maze designs come out of the Island that would be on par with something Knott's could concoct, such as 2008's Urgent Scare, 2011's Wolf Pack (2010 was the inaugural season, but its second year was truly great), 2012's Cavern of Terror, and 2014's Kill Mart and Slaughterhouse II: Electric Boogaloo. They also put some effort into roaming monsters, in both small-scale zones (Freak Street, Backwoods Bayou) and entire areas of the park (Coney Mall, Rivertown).

 

I just want them to stop refusing to fix the things that clearly are not working with the event. Mazes that have been around for 10+ years, like Sorority House, Tombstone Terror-tory, CornStalkers, and CarnEvil. Lackluster maze experiences with good concepts but poor executions and no effort to retool them so that they DO work, like Mysteria, Holiday Horror, and the current Urgent Scare. Poor actor training and staffing issues that render attractions almost devoid of talent at their busiest moments. 

 

The decorations are fine, the shows are alright (could do with less music revue shows and more entertainment in the vein of Alonzo and Blood Drums), and the costuming and wide berth of monster designs is great (airbrushed and painted makeup could be better).

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I can't speak for the others, however I've busted my butt all year every year since 09. Be it Cut Throat, Tombstone, Roaming or now Blackout I've always enjoyed the fun I've had taking Haunt seriously.

I started later than normal this year due to injury and was dissapointed to lose my position as a Rivertown Roamer. I got placed in Blackout and didn't know what to expect. Although, I missed the first weekend which had a few mishaps, we have improved week over week.

This is the first house/trail I've worked in where I continuously hear people coming through my room audibly mentioning how much they are enjoying the attraction. We have mixed things up a little bit each week, and I can honestly say our entire crew is a dedicated haunt family! The amount of screams we've produced has been incredible!

All I can say is I hope those of you that have been in the attraction have had as good of a time as we are entertaining you!

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unfixed and ignored

This sums Haunt up.  When you watch a few yellow shirts walk by multiple scareactors who are socializing and just hanging out and these yellow shirts say nothing, but rather acknowledge them and move on and said employees continue to socialize and ignore the numerous guests walking by.  I understand actors need a break, go behind the scenes and take your break.  Don't do it in the middle of I-Street.  Then again I only witnessed one mohawked roamer trying to scare people, he was working very hard every time I saw him.  The rest I saw just stood around, socialized or broke character and held conversations with guests.

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I got to the park a little before 11pm.  Got a great parking spot. 

 

In just over 2 hours, I was able to:

1.  Eat some pizza on I Street.  Tasted quite good.

2.  Ride The Beast 4 times.

3.  RIde Diamondback once.

4.  Do Urgent Scare.

5.  Do Slaughterhouse.

 

The Haunts were OK--being an RN, I really enjoyed Urgent Scare. One young Scareactor really got me and I think I embarrassed him when I thanked him and told him he did a great job.  (I was literally the only person in sight).  One funny thing was as I was leaving, there was a group who had been about 5 minutes before me.  Big, intimidating, kinda guys.  The "creature" outside of the haunt fell in front of him (purposely) and it scared the life out of him.  Like, "I gotta change my pants bro" kinda scare.

 

The Beast rides were some of the best of my life.

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unfixed and ignored

This sums Haunt up.  When you watch a few yellow shirts walk by multiple scareactors who are socializing and just hanging out and these yellow shirts say nothing, but rather acknowledge them and move on and said employees continue to socialize and ignore the numerous guests walking by.  I understand actors need a break, go behind the scenes and take your break.  Don't do it in the middle of I-Street.  Then again I only witnessed one mohawked roamer trying to scare people, he was working very hard every time I saw him.  The rest I saw just stood around, socialized or broke character and held conversations with guests.

 

 

There are so many department supervisors wearing yellow shirts that it's impossible to tell if a person in charge of the scareactors in Rivertown or a Games Area Supervisor just walked past.

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Okay i did NOT know BDC played the didgeridoo! I was pleasantly surprised tonight to hear a fellow didgeridoo player making memories for all ages. Plus he had some great sounds as well, a few notes of animal noises (vocalizations that mimic calls) would be a silver lining but i was still impressed! I never say this but next year i am going to watch BDC play at KI! Bravo Blood Drum Corps thanks for your performance!

(I didn't stay long to hear all of his part but i bet a few vocalizations were made!)

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