Archive for the ‘Travel Terrors’ Category

Scare Zone’s 2012 Top Haunts

Sunday, November 25th, 2012

Another Haunt Season has passed away, so now it’s time for us to reflect back and rank the best and worst of our 2012 haunt stalking.

As you all know, haunt experiences can be a highly individual and subjective experience; what may scare one person might not be frightening at all to another, and what scares you one night might fall flat on a return visit. In addition, this season, like horror movie victims, we split up and did some individual haunt stalking so we will feature separate rankings from both Scare Zone ‘terrorspondents’ M. Leota and Matt E. Horn.

We visited a few great haunts across the country, so this year’s rankings will include haunts we visited in California, New York, and Florida. For a list of all the places we visited and to read our full reviews, please click here. Now, on to our 2012 Top Haunts   

To understand the ratings please see our ratings guide.

 

M. Leota’s Rankings

Best Maze Design:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Haunted Play Presents Delusion: The Blood Rite
  3. Trick or Treat (Knott’s Scary Farm)
Best Maze Theme:
  1. Trick or Treat (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. La Llorona (HHN Hollywood)
Scariest Maze:
  1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law (HHN Hollywood)
  2. Reign of Terror
  3. Sinister Pointe

Coolest Scene in a Maze:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors – magician’s quarters
  2. Los Angeles Haunted Hayride: church
  3. Haunted Play Presents Delusion – Blood Rite: hallway/bathroom scene

Best Maze Name:

  1. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Deadrise (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw Is the Law (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors/Monsters:

  1. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. The Walking Dead: Dead Inside (HHN Hollywood)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2011):

  1. Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Fallout Shelter (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  3. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Scare Zone:

  1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Klownz (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Toyz (HHN Hollywood)

Most Unique Haunt Experience:

  1. Trapped (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  3. Blumhouse of Horrors

Best Value Haunt:

Knott’s Scary Farm

Best Maze of 2012:

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Stand Alone Haunt

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Theme Park Haunt

Knott’s Scary Farm

Matt E. Horn’s Rankings

Best Maze Design:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Alone (Howl O Scream)
  3. Tie: Dead End (HHN Orlando) & Gothic (HHN Orland0)
Best Maze Theme:
  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  3. Tie: Gothic (HHN Orlando) & Circus of Superstition (Howl O Scream Tampa) 
Scariest Maze:
  1. Gothic (HHN Orlando)
  2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Sinister Pointe

Coolest Scene in a Maze:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors – Finale magic act on main theater stage
  2. Alone – Stretching steel hallway with machete man (Howl O Scream Tampa)
  3. Gothic – Cathedral balcony overlooking the church (HHN Orlando)

Best Maze Name:

  1. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Deadrise (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Times Scare

Best Scare-Actors/Monsters:

  1. Alone (Howl O Scream Tampa)
  2. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  3. Blumhouse of Horrors

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2011):

  1. Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Village of the Damned (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Fallout Shelter (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Scare Zone:

  1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Toyz (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Klownz (HHN Hollywood)

Most Unique Haunt Experience:

  1. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. Tie: Alone (Busch Gardens) & Trapped (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Value Haunt:

Knott’s Scary Farm

Best Maze of 2012:

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Stand Alone Haunt

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Theme Park Haunt

Knott’s Scary Farm

Scare Zone’s Worst Rankings

This is where we load up the buried skulls and drive them off to the crematory. Of course, being in the world of horror, we’re aptly aware that not everything will die immediately or forever, but until the sequels here’s our call for the worse of 2012.

Worst Design

  1. All Haunted Hollywood Sports Mazes
  2. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Evil Dead (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Worst Theme

  1. All Haunted Hollywood Sports Mazes
  2. Tie: Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm) [Matt E. Horn] & Alice Cooper Goes to Hell [M. Leota]
  3. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)

Least Scary Maze

  1. Tie: All-American Armageddon & Cannibal Caverns (Haunted Hollywood Sports)
  2. Penn & Tell New(KD) Vegas (HHN Orlando)
  3. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)

Worse Value

  1. Haunted Hollywood Sports
  2. Haunted Grimm House (Orlando)
  3. Tie: Times Scare & L.A. Haunted Hayride

Worse Haunt of 2012

Haunted Hollywood Sports

2012 Repass

This year we observed that the Haunt industry is rapidly growing with more haunts (good, bad, or worse) opening up all over the country and with Theme Parks extending their haunt offerings and calendars between September and October. There’s also a growing popularity with the general public as we saw, and experienced, some of the biggest crowd attendance at haunts across the country. Haunting is really a   popular world-wide pastime now.

‘Stand Alone Haunts’ really set the bar this year, giving us some of favorite experiences this season. In the Southern California area we were very fortunate to have two very unique, celebrity produced, haunts that really impressed and scared us – Blumhouse of Horrors and Delusion: Blood Rite. Both of these attractions seamlessly combined storytelling, state-of-the-art effects and scares. They were able to give haunt stalkers  something fresh and scary instead of just relying upon the standard haunt formula. Other places like Sinister Pointe and Reign of Terror also expanded their respectively unique haunt experiences; making them some of our highest rated haunts of the year.

For the theme park haunts such as Halloween Horror Nights (both coasts) and Knott’s Scary Farm, it was pretty much business as usual. They are still fun and provide quite a few thrills. However, it seems that this year many of the themes were either commercial tie-ins or recycled/remixed themes. There’s no question that Knott’s has made a nice come back and in our opinion is back on top as the best theme park haunt. Universal still has some of the most elaborate mazes in the business at both of their parks but as an overall Halloween experience Knott’s couldn’t be beat this year. We hope that in the coming years the theme park haunts work to refine and create more original mazes that not only capture our imaginations (and wallets) but continue to push the boundaries of fear.

As we’ve said before, we take haunting and our earned dollars seriously, so we don’t have tolerance for the haunts that are more interested in taking people’s money than putting effort into a quality production. While some of our reviews may seem harsh or scathing we’re doing our best to provide the best information on where to spend your money. We realize that for many, they will only choose 1 or 2 haunts to visit so with more haunts to see we want to help you find the best one.  With that said, there were many high-quality haunts and mazes that didn’t make our top list, but they did offer a great time and good scares such as Howl-O Scream, Then Empty Grave, and Fear’s Gate. We also acknowledge all of the great haunts out there that we didn’t get to this season, like The Haunted Hotel, Coffin Creek, and Eli Roth’s Goretorium just to name a few.

We thank all our fellow Haunt Stalkers and Haunt reviewers for joining us on our 2012 scare-ventures. We appreciate all of you who shared your own experiences and ratings with us this season and throughout the year. We appreciate all your support and engagement with our site, and we look forward to having more scare-ventures together.

Scaringly yours,

M. Leota & Matt E. Horn

Co-Founders & Writers,  Scare Zone

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Posted in Florida, Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Haunt News, Haunt Reviews, Howl-O-Scream, Knott's Scary Farm, New York, Southern California, Terror Tips, Travel Terrors, Trip Report | No Comments »

UK Haunts: Horror Camp Live!

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Only in the UK can you spend the night in a haunted hotel room, witness the Human Centipede live, and experience a multitude of year round and traveling haunted attractions. Now, across the pond those “Crazy Brits” are taking the terror to an even higher level with the first ever camping haunt experience called Horror Camp Live. For all of us who grew up fearing summer camps because of Jason and the all other backwoods crazies who stalk them; you better dose up on your anxiety meds or stay at home as this won’t be the camping trip for you.

 

On Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th, in July, brave souls and scardy cats alike can pitch a tent at the overnight immersive experience, based in the fictional Campground Mass Acre (ha, get it?). For 13 hours, campers will become part of an interactive living horror game.

As darkness falls on the campground, campers meet around the fire to enjoy a two course buffet style meal while watching one of the latest horror movies, but all is not what it seems, as the terrifying night ahead becomes all too apparent, and Lockjaw – the demented serial killer, makes his presence known.

Horror Camp Live! challenges campers to undertake a series of dare games, during which they will be split up from the rest of the group. Each campers experience will be different, but all will include content which is intended to shock, scare and entertain. Campers will navigate around a series of indoor and outdoor environments during the experience, with shocks, surprises and scares at every turn.

Suitable for those aged 18 and over, Horror Camp Live! is perfect for stag and hen parties, team building events and celebrations. It is also available exclusively to groups of 30 or more. Those aged between 14 and 18 may attend, but each must be accompanied by an adult over 18.

The experience begins at 8.00pm and concludes at 2am, leaving six hours for sleeping, before breakfast at 8.15am. Survivors leave the site at 9.00am, 13 hours after they arrived.

Bored of traditional camping holidays? Visited all the scare attractions the UK has to offer? Love horror movies, books and games? Then why not try scare entertainment as it has never been seen before, you will have one hell of a time.

Horror Camp Live! Who dares wins…

Click here for more information and to buy tickets: Horror Camp Live

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Posted in Travel Terrors, UK, Year-Round Haunts | 2 Comments »

2012 West Coast Haunters Convention

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

From the desk of Ed Roberts, founder of the West Coast Haunters Convention.

The 2012 West Coast Haunters Convention will be held June 1-3 in Portland Oregon at the Doubletree Hotel at Lloyd Center.

This years’ convention is being held in Portland Oregon, at the Doubletree Hotel and exhibition center.

The WCHC is thrilled to announce two keynote speakers; Mike Krausert from Cutting Edge Scenic Design and New England’s Spooky World and more recently The Fear at Fenway park and Ed and Marsha Edmunds owners of Distortions Unlimited and the stars of the Travel Channel show Making Monsters.

Convention highlights will include: A haunt tour and dinner Friday night, a costume ball on Saturday night; Sponsored by Dark Light precision Lighting Systems, a hearse car rally featuring cars from around the northwest and other events throughout the weekend.

Education at the West Coast Haunters Convention is paramount and this year will be no exception. Classes and workshops will take place daily, with over 50 hours of topics related to all areas of haunting and haunted houses!

This years tradeshow floor will feature some of the top vendors in the industry and the new home haunter’s headquarters. The move to the Doubletree allows the tradeshow to more than double the available space for vendors. All this and the opportunity to network with hundreds of haunted house owners and enthusiasts can be found at the 2012 WCHC.

The show was started by Ed Roberts, of The Nightmare Factory, a charity haunt for the Oregon School for the Deaf. They were featured on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

The West Coast Haunters Convention was started because other conventions were too far away or too costly for Ed to bring his students from the school for the Deaf, So Ed decided if he could not take his students to a convention he would bring the convention to his students with the intention of creating a haunters convention on the west coast for all haunters and Halloween fans.

One of the unique things about this convention is that it is run as a nonprofit that contributes to a foundation that provides grants for special education. There will always be workshops and seminars about charity haunting, be because the convention got its start at the Oregon School for the Deaf. Seminars will be interpreted for any deaf or hard of hearing participants.

All proceeds from the convention will go to the West Coast Haunters Convention Foundation, established to help teachers of both deaf and autistic children.

For more details please visit the WCHC web site at www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

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Posted in Conventions, Oregon, Terror Tips, Travel Terrors | No Comments »

13 Haunt Stalking Destinations for 2012

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

It’s a  new year so it’s time to start planning our 2012 haunt stalking. With the haunt industry booming, there’s going to be even more ‘scare-tivities’ to endure… err enjoy in the new year. Looking at our past experiences and the highly anticipated haunt events of  the new year, we’ve complied a list of 13 haunt destinations for 2012. So count up those frequent flier miles, put in for vacation time and keep your resolutions to set out on some terrifying travels. Remember this may be the last year any of us will get to haunt stalk.

 

1. Friday the 13th Haunts: Friday the 13th occurred only once in 2010 and ’11. However, this year, we get 3 unlucky Fridays in January, April and July! A few haunts will be open this month on Friday the 13th and we only hope that even more will be open during the other ‘Friday the 13th’ dates to give us some continuous mid season scares.

2. Valentine’s Weekend Haunts: More haunts are sharing the fiendish love with special openings Valentines weekend. Here are a few of  the top haunts offering Valentine’s day massacres: Sinister Pointe (Brea, CA), Moxley Manor (Bedford, TX) and Blood Manor (New York, NY)

3. TransWorld Haunt Show (March 8-11, St. Louis, MO): For the last 16 years, TransWorld’s annual Halloween & Attractions Show has been a “must attend” event in the Halloween & Haunt industries. This year is no exception! This is the only trade show that features vendors, from across the nation and overseas, that cover every aspect of the business, from ticketing to makeup and sound FX to giant animatronics. In addition, local St. Louis Haunts open their doors to attendees. If you are a pro haunter (want to become one) or a True Blood haunt stalker, you cannot afford to miss this event.

4. Monsterpalooza (April 13-15, Burbank, CA): This is an annual convention featuring Hollywood’s award winning FX Artists, Monster and Horror related art work displays, presentations and special guests from horror and Sci-Fi. For us the highlight is the Walk-thru Monster Museum!

5. HauntCon (May 3-7, Monroeville, PA *Pittsburgh): We attended this event last year and believe it’s worth a visit if you’re a haunter or stalker living on the east coast. This is the first year HAuNTcon will be in a convention center rather than a hotel in Monoroeville, PA which just happens to be next to the Monroeville Mall, most famous for its appearance in the George A. Romero horror film Dawn of the Dead.

6. Midwest Haunters Convention (June 8-10, Columbus Ohio):  This is the largest Halloween show of its kind in the US serving a primary audience of Haunted Attraction Producers, Actors, Artists and Home Haunters.  It provides regional businesses and residents the opportunity to shop for professional quality Halloween related products along with educational seminars and workshops and networking activities for haunted attraction industry professionals. Of course, the main reason to go is for the world’s largest haunted attraction bus tour.

299641 10150421988157110 525162109 10813190 1431436499 n 1 Tides of Torture: Worlds 1st Horror Con at Sea

7.  Tides of Torture (Dates TBD): We know that seeing Kathie Lee Gifford in a bikini could be scary enough, but this Caribbean cruise promises even more terrors at sea. This cruise convention will feature a Fangoria-sponsored film festival and some of your favorite horror actors including Jason actor Kane Hodder who really enjoys being on a boat.

8. London (UK) Haunts: Last year our friends at Theme Park Tourist shared some great reviews of the UK haunts and with the 2012 Olympics taking place this summer in London we highly recommend the trip over the bloody pond to experience their renowned year round and seasonal haunted attractions.

9. New York Haunts: We now know why this is the city that never sleeps. It’s because everyone is having nightmares! NYC boasts some of the nation’s most extreme haunts and offers haunts in unique metropolitan locations all the way out to the dark woods of Sleepy Hollow in upstate. This is a “not to be missed” destination during the fall.

10. Pennsylvania  Haunts: While in NY, you might as well head down to PA as well. Pennsylvania is home to some of he nation’s most highly rated haunted attractions including; Jason’s Woods, Bates Motel, and Field of Screams just to name a few.

11. Texas Haunts: Texas is a big state which provides a lot of room for haunts. Throughout the year and especially during haunt season Haunt Stalkers can find a haunt (or two or three…) in nearly every town with the Dallas-Forth Worth area and Austin leading  the terror with their renowned haunts such as Cutting Edge, Hangman’s House of Horrors, and House of Torment.

12. Central Florida Haunts: If you’re a fan of haunts and Theme Parks then Central Florida is the destination for you. While there are only 2 major haunts, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and Howl O Scream at Busch Gardens; these 2 offer more than enough mazes and scares to make for a satisfying trip.

13. Southern California Haunts: From Hollywood down to San Diego; Southern California offers just about every kind of haunt experience a haunt stalker would want. There are first class Theme Park haunts, hayrides, stand alone professional haunts, boat haunts, and impressive home haunts. You’ll need to plan at least a week long visit, covering two weekends, in order to sample some of the SoCal’s top haunts.

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Posted in Conventions, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Florida, Haunted Happenings, Howl-O-Scream, New York, Pennsylvania, Southern California, St. Louis, Terror Tips, Texas, Travel Terrors, UK, Valentine's Day Haunts | No Comments »

Travel Terrors: The Shining Hotel

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

For haunt stalkers who’ve been waiting to experience a haunt themed to The Shining, you may want to make reservations to experience the real thing. This October, The Stanley Hotel in Colorado is offering a ‘Ghost Adventures Package’ which will allow you to explore the “haunted” hotel. Hopefully the spirits don’t over take one of the guests, and be careful if you order ‘RedRum’ from the lobby bar.

World’s Worst Night’s Sleep? Stay at The Shining Hotel on Halloween from $262

by Caroline Morse, SmarterTravel Staff – September 16, 2011 at 3:04 PM

Remember when you watched The Shining and couldn’t sleep for weeks? Rekindle that spooky feeling with The Stanley Hotel‘s (click for more information, reviews, and photos) Ghost Adventure package, available on Halloween for $262. The Stanley Hotel (located just outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado), is famous for being the inspirational setting for Stephen King’s terrifying novel, “The Shining”. Numerous visitors and staff have reported ghost sightings, so where better to be if you want to be scared stiff on Halloween? Stay in a Classic Queen room on the famously haunted fourth floor of the hotel, and they’ll throw in a K2-EMF detector (for ghost-hunting), and a $15 food credit (maybe you can bribe the ghosts with food not to murder you?) in the hotel’s cafe. Exorcism not included.

Where to get this deal: Visit the Stanley Hotel’s website and add the Ghost Adventure package to your Halloween booking.

Travel Dates: Price based on October 31 stay, the Ghost Adventure package is available through April.

Days of the Week: Monday

Blackout Dates: N/A

Purchase by: N/A

Minimum Stay: N/A

Notes: The hotel embraces it’s spooky side with a yearly Shining Ball, unfortunately, tickets are sold out for this year’s already. There’s always next year! Always compare prices across multiple properties and from multiple travel providers to make sure that you’re getting the best price with this deal.


 

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Posted in Colorado, Haunted Happenings, Horror Movies, Travel Terrors | 5 Comments »