Zangz's Yearly Haunted Attraction Review 2015

It's getting more and more difficult to squeeze in time and spending money to visit these wonderful dens of darkness every year.  Back in the day I was able to fit in quite a few during the Halloween season.  Sadly, as time passes, schedules get more clustered and prices on everything go up.

Luckily, I was able to squeeze a good one in this weekend when I grabbed my buddy, Mr. Bones, and headed south to a place called......

Abandoned Haunted House Complex - Our last visit to this Haunt was a couple of years back when it first opened.  You can read my review HERE.  

The freaky folks  at Abandoned have a special treat for the people that get there around opening time.  They have a whole big production pre show that includes a giant video screen that plays a creepy, prison themed video that goes over the rules and regulations of the house.  There's also a countdown clock on the screen counting the minutes before the haunt opens and all hell breaks loose.  Once it hits zero, explosions go off, flames shoot into the sky and then the doors under the screen swing open, unleashing dozens of denizens of the dark ones who swarm the guests waiting outside.  They just keep coming  and coming out the door.  The buzz of chainsaws rip through the night's air.  Demonic laughter and shrieks can be heard within the line of customers.  It's quite the beautiful experience.  So, I suggest you get there early to witness this grand parade the macabre that has become a bit of a tradition to Abandoned.

The haunt itself has gone through a few improvements since the last time we visited.  They've added a lot more rooms as well as upgrading the scenery within the last couple of years.  There was a great amount of variety when it came to the areas of the haunt.  We went through rooms that looked like traditional, old Haunted House rooms, but there was a lot more.  Some of the other areas included a haunted mine, a post apocalyptic subway system, a swamp, a mad carnival (complete with the severed heads of demonic clowns that hung from the ceiling that you had to traverse).  There was also the funeral parlor with an attendant who really wanted us to invest in our futures.

It was evident that they really invested more in the detail of the sets.  I remember that last time going through there were rooms with little else but barrels.  This time around every room and area had a theme and a purpose.

In even better news, it looks like this haunt is growing quite quickly.  On our way in, going through the line, it looked as though they wear building another addition to the building.  There was also s sign advertising a corn maze for the 2016 season (there's a cornfield behind the haunt).  Looks like things will only get better.

The price is still $20 a shot ($30 if you want the fast pass treatment).  I was a little skeptical of the price last year.  But, this year I think it is warranted.  The haunt took a good solid 30 minutes to get through and with all the improvements and concentration to detail these folks have put in for the last year or so, this is a pretty solid haunt that is already taking advantage of it's potential.  I'll be keeping my eye on it in the future to see how it will grow.

A great, creeptastic time was had by all.  Mr. Bones was also quite impressed.

In other Halloweenesque related stuff and things.....

I'm still working on my Halloween visit to the infamous Gracey Manor in Liberty Square this coming November 1st.  I'm no seasoned paranormal investigator, but I'm still working on my game plan on my investigation of the reportedly haunted house.  I do not have all of the electronic gadgets and equipment that most of the professional ghost hunters work with.  But, I do have a copy of  a book called Necronomicon.  My understanding is that all I'll  have to do is read from it and that will stir up some activity.  Let's hope that works out well.


In less Halloween and more geeky news, the final poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been released today.  It can be viewed HERE.

There are three things I would like to point out about this poster.  First, it's wonderful and is in true tradition of a lot of the Star Wars posters that have come before.  

Second, I find it interesting that all of the main cast are represented in the poster except one.  Where's Luke Skywalker?  My understanding was that the plot of the movie revolved a lot in a search for his character.  Are they trying to keep something about his character a secret?  Is he not that pivotal of a character in this episode of the saga?  Perhaps he's important, but not in that much of the picture.  Lots of conjecture there.  

Third, I think the folks at Lucasfilm have finally revealed the look of the super weapon the First Order (new remnant of the Glactic Empire)will be using to destroy planets.  In the upper right hand corner of the poster you can see something that resembles what looks like a more organic Death Star.  Is this the rumored Starkiller Base?  From what I can tell it's an actual planet that has Death Star like weaponry built within it.  While this looks pretty cool, I do worry a bit that they are using a lot of ideas that have been used before.  I'm hoping for a storyline that is original and different from anything we've seen in the Star Wars universe before.  I agree that it better have that old school Star Wars feel to it.  I truly believe that JJ and Kennedy want that as well.  I'm just hoping that I don't get that, "I've seen all of this before" feel that I got towards the end of Phantom (Space battle against the command center, anyone?)  I could be wrong.  And I'm still anticipating the hell out of this movie as is the entire geek world.  I know in my heat of hearts that they'll do a darn fine job.  I just want to get that old school Star Wars feeling with something fully original.


That's it for now.  Keep your eyes open because we're knee deep in the season of the undead.

Until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.

The Witch's Ride

Even though I've always been a fan of ghost stories and tales of paranormal activities, in most of my forty plus years on this earth I've never had any personal experience that has ever occurred that has ever really been a  real creep out.... until recently.

Sure, I've been plenty spooked by haunted attractions and some horror movies, but not anywhere as much as the experience I had a week ago in the dark, wee hours of the morning while laying in bed.

I was in a state of sleep with my head under the covers when I was awoken by the feeling that a person was getting into bed beside me.  I could feel the covers being pulled and weight being put on the left side of my bed.  Instead of being able to get up and see what was going on I found myself unable to move or speak.

I seemed to have just enough strength to peek out form below the covers, but all I could barley see was the pitch black darkness of my room.  My head found its way back below the covers.  That's when I could hear it's breathing to the left of me.  It sounded as though it was right up in my left ear, but I could feel no breath.

The breathing seemed loud and forced and got louder as I could feel some sort of pressure coming from the left of me.

Once the breathing got louder I could feel my body being pushed to the right side of the bed.  Slower and slower I reached the side of the bed where there is a wall.  Would I be crushed against the wall beside my bed?

At this point there was a palpable loud vibration coming from where the breathing was originally coming from.

Then it all stopped at once.

I found myself able to move and come up from the covers to see a dimly lit room, nowhere near as dark as it was during the "haunting".

I sat up in bed, slightly shaken, but ultra terrified as suppose I was supposed to be.  I guess I was able to rationalize that the experience was a full, blown, no holds barred witches ride, medically known as 

Hypnagogia.  I actually found it slightly entertaining in a very odd way.  I considered it a mind projected virtual reality haunting.  Now if only I could find a way to bottle it and sell it as a the next level of haunted attraction.  Brouhaha....

I'm hoping to visit a haunt or two next weekend, so look out for a review next time around.

Until then, stay vertical.

Zangz.

Something Different in the Darkness: Original Theming In the Haunt Industry.

During my days of rampant visits to haunted attractions of the Halloween seasons past, I visited many a haunt that kept their theming very simple.  A haunted trail or haunted house would be just that.  Walking amongst a dark wooded area or musty walls where all sorts of different creatures, mutants, axe murderers and witches would jump out at you.  No backstory.  No background.  No theme.  Just a good old fashioned free for all.  And I'm fine with just that.  I can see where haunters like to keep their options open and don't want to be bogged down with a set theme.

But, I will say this.  I have to admire haunters who decide to put a theme to their haunts in a bid to think outside of the box.  If you're a big enough entity to afford the licensing of some big name horror movies and characters, you've got a leg up on the competition.  Great for you.  But, there are plenty of haunters out there that bring their own stories and characters into their haunts and that is where I'm particularly impressed.

Lets take a YouTube look at some haunted attractions that put together their own stories of the macabre into haunts.

TheDentSchoolhouse On YouTube (subscribe and give them a Like.)

The Dent School House in Cincinnati Ohio is an actual old school house that has been transformed into one of the midwest's best known haunted attractions.  It's based on a backstory where a psychotic maintenance man went on a murder spree quite awhile back.  Now his ghost and those of many of the students haunt the walls of the old school.

Inside The Magic  On YouTube (subscribe and give them a Like.)

Not all of the Haunted Attraction houses that appear at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights can be themed around their usual franchised staples (Walking Dead, Halloween, The Purge).  They do still step out of their comfort level to bring attraction fans houses from outside of the box.  One such haunt was based off of an old Hispanic legend of La Llorona - The Weeping Woman.  The ghost of a beautiful woman who drowned her two children.

Them Park Adventure On YouTube (subscribe and give them a Like.)

Knotts Berry Farms Theme park's Halloween showcase, known as Knotts Scary Farm doesn't have any access to already existing franchises or licensing that its competition has.  So all of their haunts have to have original theming and storylines.  This one featured is a pretty original idea.  We've become accustomed to the ghost searcher reality shows that have become commonplace within our pop culture.  This haunt brings you on one such paranormal investigation where everything goes horribly wrong.  This show has some pretty over the top (of your head) special effects.  Can you brave Paranormal Inc.?


That will be it for today.  Until the next time, keep your eyes in the back of your heads during the season of dark magic.  You never know what is keeping their eyes on you!

Stay vertical.

Zangz.