Thread: Pet peeves concerning haunted houses, hayrides, mazes?

Tweet

I went to a local haunted corn maze with the wife and the daughter last night. The maze itself was great. They had some little sheds that had different effects going on in them to scare you. They even had a portion of the maze that was pitch black inside an old silo and you had to feel your way around inside to find the exit. But what's with the chainsaws?!!!!! They had about 10 of them. Most being carried by clowns!!!! Chainsaws should only be scary if your are a Douglas fir tree and you are on American Loggers! They had a great effect of the moving headlights that made a noise like a tractor, that even made me jump. They had some characters dressed like children of the corn. The description on the website mentioned revenge from the scarecrows. I don't think I seen a single screcrow! They successfully scared the wife and daughter but I wasn't thrilled. Maybe I just expect too much or have seen it all done before? Anybody have any thoughts on this?

I've been to hayrides/mazes etc that have one guy dressed as Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a chainsaw, so that made sense. But only one guy.

I went to a corn maze yesterday. It wasn't a scary one, just a family friendly autumn themed one with baseball trivia hidden in certain places and you had to find the markers. I was a little bummed because I like baseball (sports in general) but not well enough to know much trivia. It also wasn't much of a maze, because the corn stalks were in geometrical designs and you could easily find your way out.

Terror Tom, I'm with you on the chainsaws. They aren't subtle at all. Too damn noisy for me, truth be told. I mean, I get the whole Leatherface thing, but I don't really like it.

Actually, I don't like when any licensed character is used in haunts - Leatherface, Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, etc. It makes the haunt less scary for me. It kind of kills my suspension of disbelief. These are movie characters. By putting them in a haunt, it makes it obvious (to me) that it's not real. I don't know if I explained that well, but I hope you understand what I'm saying. I can believe that I'm being chased by an evil scarecrow or a vampire or a werewolf or ghost, but when Freddy Krueger starts coming after me, I just have to laugh. I guess what I'm saying is that I prefer the generic stuff over the well-known stuff. (I mean, seriously, even small children who have never seen A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th know who Freddy and Jason are.)

I'm also not wild about how much clowns figure into most Halloween haunts. In the past few years, it seems like clowns are EVERYWHERE. I mean, I do understand the logic behind why people find them scary. I just don't find them scary myself.

Congo lines.

Went to Halloween Horror Nights last year. Been a few years and obviously they'd become a huge success because they were packed. So, instead of choosing to sell out the night (like they say they do) they decided to pack us into it like sardines. There were no groupings, just a huge congo line. You couldn't get scared because you always saw the scare ahead of you. The houses looked awesome but wasn't scared too many times in the haunts. My best scares were in the scare zones.

Video I took of our visit. Shows the entrances, scare zones and the behind the scenes of my namesake's haunt in 2005 (Terra Queen). When you are watching the entrances of the haunts, see the congo lines?

Terra, the congo lines are the worst!!!! Thankfully every haunt I've been to has divided everyone up in small groups.

Congo lines DESTROY a haunt.

And, ACTING, people. That doesn't mean every single teenager in the place jumping out and screaming/banging something.

I am hoping the haunted train ride at Schnepfs Farm is better this year.

The last time I went it was just like You said UnOrthodOx , a bunch of tweens and teens just jumping out and screaming.

Originally Posted by Terra

Congo lines.

Went to Halloween Horror Nights last year. Been a few years and obviously they'd become a huge success because they were packed. So, instead of choosing to sell out the night (like they say they do) they decided to pack us into it like sardines. There were no groupings, just a huge congo line. You couldn't get scared because you always saw the scare ahead of you. The houses looked awesome but wasn't scared too many times in the haunts. My best scares were in the scare zones.

I agree 100%. I went to Knotts Scary Farm a few years back, and although I was so excited to go (I'd been wanting to go since the day I moved to California), I was very disappointed. Conga lines. This place is huge and there are over 13 mazes. It would be no big deal to stagger the groups just a little bit before sending everyone in. My other pet peeve was the extremely large amount of highly visible security guards. Every 30 feet or so was a guard, sitting on a stool with a reflective vest. If you tried to peek your head in the opposite direction of the conga line (like to see what could be hiding around in the dark corner) the guards would flick their flashlights on the floor in the direction you were supposed to go. This was extremely frustrating, it was a maze after all! No mystery, and I wasn't scared once, well once, when I was walking between mazes through fake fog so thick I smashed into another guest and thought I broke my nose. Overall, I loved looking at all the props in the different themed mazes, which ultimately inspired me to decorate each room in my house a different theme for our party. But I don't think I'll be going back to any haunted houses any time soon, unless someone can recommend a stand-out!

I completely agree regarding the chainsaws. I can't stand them. Frankly, I consider them a lazy person's scare tactic. I love a good themed haunt, and would accept it if they did a full Texas Chainsaw Massacre scenario.

Loud music...hate it. I'm trying to check out the detail of the scenes and props and the loud music makes me move on. It's not what they're playing, it's just that they're trying to damage my hearing.

Chainsaws and clowns...not a fan of either, but they make lil girls scream, so until the lil girls stop reacting to them, you can count on seeing them.