2018 HAUNT REVIEWS

 Hayride of the Year: Field of Screams

Haunted Attraction of the Year: Bates Motel : Bates Motel and Hayride

Haunt of the Year: Brighton Asylum. 


Spirit, Spirit, Spirit. I really do not know where to start with the 2018 review of Spirit Halloween. On Thursday, The Flagship Spirit location opened its doors for the public. This review will be tougher then normal. Maybe because I am built for tougher scares and left the cute Halloween stuff back when i was two. Or maybe Spirit has really gone down hill. This year being the worst of them all for a while now.

Take a look at the picture below.

Are there really clowns lurking around farmlands? Did i miss something in my years of Haunting. What are they doing here. Ladies and Gentleman, this is what you do as a company when you cannot get a hold of the IT film rights. Sure, there are farm related objects in this "field" but none are scary. There is nothing scary about a scare crow that just moves. These "Animatronics" used to threaten and actually scare you. Now they just move and say some token phrase that has no place.

Going back to my license point. Spirit did come through this year with some Film Animatronics and props. Here is a look at the average Micheal Myers Animatronic.

This plays the Halloween Theme song and moves around a little bit. But, click closer onto the eyes. I am not sure what Halloween movie Spirit Halloween saw but this is ridiculous. The Mask and the eyes are horrible for a license piece. We will take a look at some decent license pieces.

Here you can see some Halloween Door Greeters. Of course, they play the song and the eyes light up for some reason. But it looks a lot better then the full size Animatronic. You can also see the regular Chucky dolls down below also to the side you can see the Chucky and Micheal Myers candy/popcorn bowls.These are pretty cool to leave the candy in for the little ones.

On a little different note. Reaching back into my childhood. Spirit did have some really cool Ghostbuster items.

Seen above and also not pictured is the Full Size Proton pack. It makes noise and has lights and is really heavy for a prop. I was impressed with it.

Since it was the grand opening, there was some things that were not being Demonstrated yet. Such as a Chucky doll that moves around your floor wielding a knife and threatening to take over your Soul.

Our final review of Spirit this year? We have decided to wait until the season is fully in swing to see if there are any more props we have not seen set up yet. We are really looking forward to seeing the Chucky Doll among other things we have received emails about.

Our Haunt schedule is coming along. It will be posted as soon as we finalize where we are going! See all of you soon!



Welcome back to the next episode of Halloween Haunts 365.com. Our first stop on our 2018 Haunt Tour brought us to Field Of Screams located in Mountville, PA. This is the day we wait all year for and it came up huge!

This Haunt brought the pain this year. We had a Newbie in our group to really see the impact a World Class Haunt can have on the unsuspecting. 2018 at Field of Screams brought laughs, screams, dirty knees and some real world tears and fright. I often forget how extreme these Haunted Attractions have become since we have become so desensitized by going through so many each year. But Field of Screams had a good friend of ours calling it Hell on Earth. Seeing her break down like that really brought it all back on why we love this stuff so much. So to start, Stacy, I am very sorry to have you quiver in fright and tears. But you really made me realize why we love this kind of entertainment. You'll be OK!

Lets start this Review with some of the new features at Field of Screams! They added a few 5 minute escape rooms that will add to your night out.

These escape rooms are popping up all over the Haunt Universe. We did not test these out as we had a longer then normal ride home but if the creators of Field of Screams put these together, there is no doubt in my ind they are awesome! This just adds a little extra on top of the fun carnival games set up and plenty of food set up to make it a full out spooky evening! Lets get to the guts of Field of Screams.

As we do year after year, we started 2018 on our favorite Hayride season after season. 2018 was no different. This hayride was extreme this year. The actors were intense and in your face through out the entire ride! They added some new features that you will have to check out for your self. So, when you finish reading this article, get in the car! The scenes were on point and there was very little down time. The increased the thrill this year without a doubt! This hayride is already in the running for Best Hayride of 2018! we outright all voted on the scores seen below and its much deserved! This was easily the most intense Hayride we have seen. This is also where our dear friend decided she was done and wanted to hang out at the tent while we finished the rest of the attractions. Lets get to the scoring.

It was No Doubt 5 blood-splats across the board. So with no surprise, here is the overall rating of the Haunted Hayride at Field of Screams


Now will continue on to the improved Nocturnal Wasteland. 
Last year, Nocturnal Wasteland added a gigantic walk way that took you above the Hayride and integrated it together. I have never seen a Haunted Trail take you to these heights. Walking in and out of various scenes and great props along the way. We think this year they added some cool new scenes and props. Do not worry, that gate will not slam you to the floor while impaling you. The only negative thing we can say about this attraction is lack of actors. It felt a little long between scares and there was not a whole lot of places for them to hide and really get the scream out of you. That being said, it is still a very fun walk through. Just really not the best at Field of Screams. Lets get to the scoring. 
As you can see, Nocturnal Wasteland took a little bit of a dive when it came to Actors and Fear Factor. But you can also see that it is very original. There are zero walk through attractions that take you a good 20 feet in the air. Lets get to the overall rating for Nocturnal Wasteland. 

 Next up, Den of Darkness

Den of Darkness added a few new scenes and props for 2018. This attraction was usually my favorite every year but this year, another attraction won for me hands down! This not take away from the amazing job Den of Darkness did this season. Den of Darkness went hard as usual and literally made my girlfriend run almost completely out of the park. Great use of fear to send a veteran running for the hills! lets get to the scoring.

Lets see the Overall for Den of Darkness


Now! We move onto our Favorite Attraction of the year so far! Lets talk about Frightmare Asylum.

This was the hit of the night. Frightmare Asylum brought it so hard this year. The actors were on straight fire. This generated at least 4 movie quality screams out of the Girlfriend and even caught out other friend Bruce off guard a few times. The new scenes and props were out of this world. Amazing job out of this attraction this year! Lets just get to the scoring which you can already guess!

And If we had a 6 blood-splat award, it would have received it for 2018. Very much in the lead for 2018 Attraction of the year!

Just another amazing year at Field of Screams. Hands down one of the best nights we had out at a Haunt. This is always on our must see list every year. This year is no different. Make sure you plan the short trip to Field of Screams, it is always worth it. World Class Effort this year. A huge shout out to the owners are in order! We thank you so much for inviting us year after year to review your Masterpiece. And to all of you Haunt Actors out there...Great job! you totally killed it this year, we are very impressed. The Entire Field of Screams Family should be really proud of the job you are doing. So go spend the night at Field of Screams, you will not be disappointed. Here are a few more pictures we took and we will wrap up the overall Haunt Score.

 

Always a fun night. Lets get to the Overall Score.

Field of Screams is already in the running for Haunt of the Year, What are you guys waiting for????? Until next time, we are HHN365. We will see you after the next Haunt!



Welcome back to the next installment of HH365! We are so excited to head into the meat of our favorite time of year. Haunt Season! The fog is flowing, the screams are loud, the chainsaws are burning through fuel. There is nothing on earth quite like Haunt Season! So, without further ado, lets head into our next stop on our 2018 Haunt Tour, Nightmare on Gravity Hill!

Nightmare on Gravity Hill is a very unique Haunted Attraction. This is one large walk through attractions with a ton of different scenes along the trail. As you can see from the picture above that they have die hard fans looking forward to getting scared. We were happy to see such a large crowd so early in the Haunt Season. There is a nice jumbo screen to watch some nice horror bits as you wait in line for the terror that awaits you. This attraction is not broken up into different lines and different attractions. The unique perk of Nightmare is that you only wait in line once. After you enter the nightmare, it keeps up the pace all attraction long. Great use of lighting and interesting hiding spots, the cast can fully surround you and bring that scream about.

Nightmare on Gravity Hill is about a half hour walk through with no breaks. We usually do not enjoy these as much as it does not give us a chance to reflect on our last attraction. But! We noticed with the long walk through that it really added to the Horror as you really did not know when you would be safe. It felt like it just kept going and going. We were impressed with how they were able to keep your tension so high through the attraction.

There were many different scenes as you ventured through the attraction. A pyramid with mummy. An asylum filled with nuts. An amazing screening of Night of the Living Dead. plus, much much more. Also, priced at only 25 dollars, Nightmare at Gravity Hill is very worth the price tag of admission. So grab your friends and head to Jackson, NJ for a great night!

We are just going to give an overall since it was really all together and difficult to photograph different scenes.  But, here is the overall score for Nightmare on Gravity Hill!

Thank you all for coming back. Tonight we will be heading to The Bates Motel and Hayride. Feel free to come say hi! Until next time! We are Halloween Haunts 365.com.




Welcome back everyone to the next review for the 2018 Haunt Review Tour! Tonight's trip took us to the Bates Motel and Hayride. Located right outside of Philadelphia, PA. Bates Motel has been operating for 26 years and still going very strong. Lets get to the bloody meat of this review.

First attraction we hopped on was the Haunted Hayride.

The Bates Motel Hayride is a good time. A decent length ride through various scenes inside and out. There are some pretty unique scenes throughout the ride but there is also a lot of areas that repeat its self and other Haunts hayrides. For the Bates Motel, they love them some rednecks. The actors were great and engaged but the hill billy scenes seemed repetitious. The Actors also seemed to be a little too funny for a Haunted Hayride. Don't get us wrong, this is still the best Hayride in the Philadelphia area. Lets get to the scoring for The Bates Motel Hayride Scoring. 

This was a tough one for us to grade as we have always enjoyed the hayride here. But, with times changing we think they could use a couple more things to bring this Hayride back to a 5 blood splat level. Here is our overall of Bates Hayride. 

Moving on, Our next Attraction for the evening was The Bates Motel. This Haunted House is the real deal when it comes to Haunted Attractions. This Attraction has it all!

The Bates Motel Attraction will rival any Attraction you put it up against. This was our favorite attraction for our 2018 review of Bates Motel. In what seems like that little Motel you will see some of the finest scene designs and props you will see anywhere. From levitating girls to a crazy Annabelle doll coming after you. I don't want to give up too much but here is the scoring for The Bates Motel.

There is no doubt about the Final Score of the Bates Motel Walk Through.

And for the last review of the evening. That brings us to their overhauled Haunted Trail. Revenge of the Scarecrows.

This Attraction is a pretty long Trail Attraction that takes you through many scenes and attractions. Designed around Scarecrows among a ton of other sinister forces along this trail. Not only filled with scarecrows seeking revenge, there are a ton other scenes that will chill you to the bone, especially if you fear snakes and spiders. This was a pretty entertaining walk through. Don't want to give up much so we will get to the scoring.

Lets get to the overall score for Revenge of the Scare Crows.

There are more things to do at Bates Motel and Hayride. You can spend a good amount of time there for an evening out. We were lucky enough to even try out their 5 minute escape room! This was fun and very challenging for only 5 bucks per person. Cannot beat the prices there and it was actually pretty involved for a 5 minute escape room that are popping up all over Haunts everywhere. Bates Motel actually also operates 3 full time escape rooms off property. So get on the web and book your party today!

There is also a good food stand, freshly made doughnut stand, a cool gift shop even though they do not sell mugs so my collection will stay incomplete! Take a look below!

Also, after you are done buying a cool Bates Motel hoodie, take a ride in a coffin!

Well, this was difficult for our crew, but from the beginning we wanted to pride ourselves into honest and full reviews. We want to thank Everyone involved in our visit, it was a pleasure meeting you and we will have some interviews coming from some of the staff from Bates Motel at another date. We do not like stopping the managers and actors from doing their job on Game Night. Here is our final score for The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride.

Everyone should head out to Bates Motel, located just minutes from Philadelphia. Still a Top Attraction in our area!

Thanks for stopping by along our Haunt Tour, We have a few more stops to make starting with Frightland next weekend. Looking forward to seeing you out there!



Welcome back to the next Haunt Review of the 2018 season. Tonight's travel brings us to Middletown, Delaware. FRIGHTLAND is always one of our favorite nights of the season. Not only is Frightland chocked full of scares and 8 full attractions, there is also a great carnival going on with brand new rides.

As you can see from the picture above. Frightland was packed during our trip! This is a great sign for what looks like will be an incredible season for Frightland.

Lets get started on the Haunted Attractions Review.

Our first stop at Frightland is always the Haunted Hayride. This is important at Frightland because the hayride actually takes you to three other attractions before you return to the main grounds. And as you can see in the picture above, it was a great night for Frightland. This will always be your largest line and should be completed first. The line can get very long but it is well worth the wait. With a DJ setup and a giant screen with crazy images and Horror trivia, the line itself is a pretty good time.

The Haunted Hayride was much improved over last year. We do have to give it the recognition it deserved. The scenes were improved and creepier. The actors were right there in your face and had our whole cart jumping out of their seats. Lets get to the scoring of the Hayride.

And the Overall for the Hayride.

 The next attraction is Ravenwood Cemetery. The Ravenwood Cemetery is a very cool, creepily lit Haunted Trail. You make your way through Ravenwood Cemetery dimly lit to hide the horrors that await you inside.This one actually gave me my first jump scare of the night. Watch out for the dark. Lets get to the scoring of raven wood cemetery.

Very Border line for this attraction, we felt it just needed like one more thing to jump it to a five blood splat. Lets go to the Overall scoring.

Moving on, The next attraction. Fear! Fear is a walk through that tests the most common fear in people. This is much improved over last year and we did enjoy it a little more. We think this could use the most work as there are many more fears to pray on and is one of the shortest attractions in the group. Lets get to our scoring of Fear!

Lets get to the Overall. Like we said previously, Fear is close to a Four blood splat. it is almost there.

Next on the night. Ghost Town. Ghost town is set in the Wild Wild West. This is a well done haunted walk through. The attention to detail is very close to Hollywood. From the smart ass bar keep to the preachers telling you that you will burn for your sins. Lets get to the scoring of Ghost Town.

That ends our Hayride Trail. Now we get back to the main grounds. Next up is always one of my personal favorites. Idalias Manor.

Idalias Manor is straight out of the movies. Set as the home of a crazy doctor who loves to experiment on his victims. This set is right out of the Amityville Horror and even The Conjuring. This is a world class attraction and always worth the trip to Delaware. They did have one change that I did not like and it involved the Doctor and his desk. I liked last years idea better. But that is up to you to go check it out. Lets get to the Obvious Scoring of Idalias Manor.


And now, the overall


This Tour continues on. Up next was the Zombie Prison. Zombie prison is a very dark walk through with a great visual effect in the beginning and a great use of an elevator. You will be locked in with the Zombie Prisoners as you try to make it out alive! 
Next up! The Haunted Barn. This is my second favorite attraction at Frightland. This is a decent length walk through with as much detail as the Manor. This is always a fun walk through and this year it seems like they added just a bit more to keep it a five star Haunt. Lets get to our scoring. 
And of course, The Overall. 
The next and final Attraction, The Attic. The attic, we can take or leave this attraction. It is really just another black out maze that you have to feel your way through. This attraction is a lot like Zombie Prison. The actors do a good job in hiding but it is complete darkness. Lets get to the scoring. 
And for the Overall of The Attic
This wraps up our journey to Frightland. Here is our Overall Score for Frightland

The one idea I had for Frightland. We have two blackout mazes. What if you guys changed one to a White out maze. These things are awesome and hard to navigate. Plus, we have only seen this at one Haunt. Just our little two cents. Make sure you guys get out to Frightland. They just had a record breaking night and everyone is enjoying themselves. Get out there now! We have a few haunts left. The season has flown by like it always has. We want to thank all of you for an incredible Third Season so far! We never thought it could be this big. We will continue to grow with new things coming this off season! We will become more of a website then just a Haunt Review. We want the steady views to flow so we can blow the lid off of next season! We will see you guys out there! 




Tonight's journey brings us up to Passiac, NJ and the always impressive Bright Asylum. Brighton Asylum has an extremely busy off season as they added more into their Haunt then we have ever seen!

 Tonight's trip did NOT DISAPPOINT!!! We were blown away with that our trip up north brought.

Even with the new Attraction, The Bleeding Grounds. We were lucky enough to plan our trip on one of their new Slasher Thursdays. This brings all of your favorite Slasher Movies to life through out all of the attraction. This was a whole lot of fun around every turn. Not that Brighton Asylum is enough on its own, they added your favorite Slasher and Horror movies personas. Lets get into one of the best trips we had to date at Brighton Asylum.

First up. The Tunnel. This attraction always started with a Haunt elevator taking you deep in to the underground tunnels of Brighton Asylum. This year, they made a massive change. We will not spill the beans but this was one of the coolest things we have ever seen put into a haunt in a very long time. Lets just say, your check up is due and they automated the process. Will you pass the test? We shall see if you can continue on to the Tunnel.

The Tunnel is right out of Hollywood set designs. All three Attractions will rival any movie studio in the world. One of the biggest draws to Brighton is their crazy detail at every turn. You will not see a spot in your travel that was painstakingly detailed. Lets start our review of The Tunnel.

The Tunnel is a walk through with so many scenes it is hard to keep track of. Amazing use of lighting and effects makes you jump right out of your skin. This is still one of the Haunts that we look forward to with sweaty palms because we know there is no where safe in the Tunnel. Then you add on Slasher Thursday, This was a hands down full on 5 blood splat. Lets give the Tunnel what it deserves.

 And whats that Overall?  DUH!

Next Stop after clearing The Tunnel. Bright Asylum.

Brighton Asylum is the craziest Mental Ward you will ever walk through at any Haunt. This attraction will prey on every fear your brain can come up with. Then you throw in Horror Movies, this was an attraction among men. Brighton Asylum is a walk through of highly detailed and highly scary proportions. Every room is literally scarier then the next. I am not giving anything away here, you just need to get off the couch and put this on your calendar for tonight! Lets get to the scoring of Brighton Asylum.


As if two of the best attractions in the world was not enough, Brighton Asylum answered the call and added one more! This is our review of The Bleeding Grounds. 

The Bleeding Grounds is a completely new attraction at Brighton Asylum. With us understanding what it takes to complete one walk through of average disposition, we did not really have much thought that The Bleeding Grounds would be as detailed as it was already. We were dead wrong! This new attraction had the same workings of The Tunnel and Brighton Asylum. With a ton more scares built right in!  We could go on for hours about every room in this new attraction but that will ruin it for everyone. So, lets get to the scoring. 
and the Overall, you may have already guessed. 
Now drum roll please.....................................The Overall for the Night................
And that ladies and gentleman, wraps up Brighton Asylum for 2018. 

Also, Remember that Brighton Asylum does open for a few weekends through out the year if you need that Haunt feeling in the middle of the year. September is a long time away and Brighton helps us out with that with certain weekends in the off season. 

Plus, Brighton Asylum also has great escape rooms that you really should try. With the detail in their three attractions, we are sure that their escape rooms are among the best. 

 We want to thank you for everything this season as this will wrap up our Haunt Tour for 2018. Yes, we understand that we did not get to every Haunt we wanted to. This had a lot to do with some personal stuff and a new career. But with that being said. We want to let you guys know that we are planning 2019 better and will have double the haunts next year. Next week we will add some insights that our Correspondent John put together including a second opinion of some we made it to including HHN28. Stay tuned for that as it will all come together and we will name a winner for the 2018 season! We will also be adding Movie Reviews and possibly a podcast to the website. If we can figure out how all of that works. 

To all the Haunt Owners and Staff! It is amazing the amount you guys share with us each and every season. We cannot thank you enough for your amazing generosity and patience with us when you guys are running around so hard. We admire every one of you. Thanks so much for what you do for us and the fans! We already cant wait until 2019. 

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