What makes a good, Haunt, Zangz?

I'm glad you asked! I'm a big Haunted Attraction fan and enthusiest and I've been to quite a few of these macabre events the last decade or two of past Halloweens in my time. I've seen both "INCREDIBLE!" and "Jeez, is that all there is?"

I'm not going to make this a big critique on various local haunts, but, I will tell you what I've been most impressed with and what was a big let down (not naming any names, just examples).

Here are some things that I look for in a Haunt.....

• The duration of the attraction being more than 10 to 15 minutes to go through. At least 20, for crissakes! And I mean at VERY LEAST!!!!!
  
• Some really good sets, motifs and themes that give me the willies. I want to get the feeling that I'm somewhat transported from nomal, mundane life and smack-dab in the middle of some place quite foreboding.
• Great actors portraying the creeps and ghouls inhabiting the Haunt.
• Some excellent effects, whether pneumatic or hydrolic. I love to be caught off guard and jump out of my skin as a mechanical corpse pops out from behind a gravestone.
• A "kick-A" facade to the front of the attraction certainly doesn't hurt. It gives off that scence of dread that rippens us patrons and gets us mentally right where the haunters want us, in a state of worry.
• A Haunt with a cool back story can be really cool, yet not really required. But it does help with that whole sence of forboding us patrons need before we go in.

Those are some of the things I like about my favorite haunts of past and present, and I've rarely been let down. However, here are some of the reasons I have been let down....

• The quickie "Let's make a quick buck." haunts that take less than 10 minutes to go through. If I'm paying under $5 to get in, it's not that big of an issue. If I'm paying around $10 or over, then I'm chessed!
• Moderate to lame actors working in the haunt (usually uninspired teeny-boppers that have all the fear factor of a ingrown toe nail).
• The Haunt that hardly has any sets or tableaus and relies heavily on pitch black mazes for patrons to waddle thier way through. I'm not paying to be blinded! If they want to have a few dark mazes throughout the Haunt, fine. Just give me an equal amount of scares that I can see and gawk at and enjoy!

Now you may want to ask, "Zangz, what are some of the most incredible Haunts you've gone to and/or heard of?"

Well, the one I talked about in a recent past blog, Terror on Rural Street (that's sadly clossed this season) is my personal favorite. It's been very rare that I've been more impressed with another Haunt. TORS has always been the one Iv'e rated others against. Every year I was more than impressed! They knew how to make old effects new again and always had a cool facade and tableaus in it! Hope it's back next year!

I visited the Bear Den Haunted Woods and Trail for the first time last year and was blown away. The fact that it's a mixture of wooded trail and spooky, musty shacks that you have to traverse through while freaky zombies and inbread mad men pop out at every turn make it quite frightning. The hearse ride to the actual trail is a nice touch too. Hopefuly it'll be dry enough for us to go tomorrow night. But it looks like rain and we may have to change our plans to an indoor Haunt.

A group used to revamp the historical Pabst Mansion every Halloween and recreate it as a haunted attraction. Not a lot of special effects, but loads of props and victorian embiance really helped this Haunt out. The place has a built in creepiness to it since it is a old, Victorian mansion to begin with. They put this together for quite a few years back in the late 80's/early 90's, but they stopped with the haunted attraction years ago and in its place have a special Victorian funeral exhibit there durring Halloween season. It's pretty creepy.

Of course I gotta put a shout out to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion! If it weren't for the success of this Haunt, I'm not sure if many others would exist. Thoug,t it's a ride and not a walkthrough and there are no live actors in it, just a meriad of animatronics, it's still has a wonderful charm to it. I do have to tuck away one of my rules of a "good Haunt" as it only takes 7 to 8 minutes to ride through. There's boat-loads to see in that 8 minutes, though.

Now, here are a few that I've only heard of or visited on the web that sound absolutley phenominal! Frack, I'd love to visit these!!!!!!!

Years and years ago I saw a news snippet on TV about one out of state Haunt that had a theme of a chemical spill at a millitary base that turned everybody into zombies. The whole Haunt was set up in these man made tunnels and bunkers. It also had a crashed helicopter at the entrance that spewed up smoke and fire. I guess the local fire department was getting called every 5 minutes from passengers driving by on the freeway. Now that's over the top!! Wish I knew where it was and what it was called. I doubt that it's still open.

There's one in Texas called Thrillvainia which is not one but a few Haunts at a haunted theme park. This park has a whole story behind it involving the vampyric owner of the land Baron Verdun and his Verdun Manor. There's the haunted house, haunted maze, haunted trail and haunted magic shows all ready to spook the frell out of visitors. Sadly, the creator of the Haunt passed away a few years ago, but it looks as though the Haunt still goes on!

Every October Universal Studios Theme Parks in both Florida and California revamp their entire parks at night and put on Halloween Horror Nights. Every year is a new theme and as you walk through the parks many undead and evil creatures come after you live and in person. There's usually at least 7 to 10 increadibly impressive Haunted Attractions to go through also. Let's hope hurricane Wilma doesn't defunct the whole Orlando shindig! Beeooootch!

As for others, my mind is drawing a blank right now. Perhaps I'll regale you with more of Haunts I like to, or want to visit before the Halloween season is over. Let's hope I can get to a Haunt tomorrow night so I can have my local Haunt fix for the year. Fer cryin' out loud, I went to 8 of them last year! I'm friggin' due!!!

Zangz.