Round two…FIGHT!
Ok, not really, but that’s the general idea! This is the second time that I went out to the haunt over at Great America. But this time, I didn’t go solo (which is good, cause last time was a BAD IDEA D: ). Rolling with Dio (whom was dressed as Miku) and our friend Lantz (as himself), we ventured off into the darkness, ready for whatever would come our way!
No we weren’t D:
First, let me say that it is a really exciting time traveling with a crew rather than soloing. You get a chance to gauge the reactions of those that you’re with, and at times, warn them of hidden dangers (Note: the haunters weren’t dangerous, but definitely haunting.). I let Dio know that a good chunk of the haunters get RIGHT in your face when it comes to scares. A serious “no bueno” moment for the both of us, cause that’s something that creeps me out as well. As with last time, we went through three different scare zones, and two mazes. One of them was new, but two of them were a re-imagining of sorts of the scare zones I went through last time. As for the mazes, well…you’ll see down below… Lockdown
BUT FIRST! Lemme talk about the scare zone we passed. The first one was Lockdown, an area near the bumper cars. The best way to describe this is if Arkham Asylum patients (that weren’t part of the Rouge’s Gallery) broke out of their cells and Batman didn’t come by to squash it. Bloody patients and armed “guards” were patrolling the area. This was also the place where the Insanitarium was, which was one of the newer mazes for the Haunt. We bypassed that one so that we could get as much in as we could (though now that I think on it, that would’ve been a FUN PLACE to walk through.).
We pushed through the fog and guards with relative ease (they were largely focused on those behind us, so we got kinda lucky!), n’ we made a quick stop at Flight Deck (but to no avail :< CURSE MY RIPPLING MUSCLES (nah, I’m kiddin I’m fat D: )) before moving on to the next area. However, our second stop wasn’t a scare zone…
It was a maze.
Wax Museum Chamber of Horror Ah ha…so I'm not good with wax museums. This wasn’t fun…n’ I WAS THE TANK! We largely three-manned this (much to my and Dio’s worry; Lantz was pretty chill wit it), but we did see a few folks following behind us. The place twisted and turned, taking us through various eras of history, and introducing us to the many…friendly folk of that time. Dun worry, they were largely wax…largely. Put it like this, it was honestly a 50/50 guess if the wax dummies that you passed by were ACTUALLY wax dummies or not. One dummy got me REAL good, as I looked at them dead in the eye, and didn’t see any movement. So I thought, we’re good. I step forward a couple of steps, he takes a big step forward just as I turn around to check on Dio and Lantz. I stumbled forward before regaining my footing, much to the amusement of some of the other folk we were rolling with.
Ok, it was pretty fun, BUT STILL D:
Once we passed the body bags (yes) we were home free…we caught our bearings as we walked towards the next scare zone, which was….
Killer Klown Town
Though it was said to be new, it reminded me of the carnival scare zone that I went through a few years back. Walking with Dio and Lantz was fun for this round, and the clowns were both fun and creepy. The first clown we came across was head-banging to the music that was playing roughly ten feet away from us as he snuck up onto a kid. He then focused on us, and followed us for quite a bit. As he was following, I pretty much chanted under my breath, enough for Dio to hear, “Don’tlookatitdon’tlookatitdon’tlookatitdon’tlookatit.” According to Lantz, he was following us for a long time. A few of the other clowns decided to mess with us as well, and there was this cute little mime clown that that engaged Dio as we walked. She guided her eyes away from the taller clown that was RIGHT NEXT TO HER. I saw, and lol'd, though Dio handled it well!
Despite the fun we had, it did not make the clowns any less unnerving.
As we kept walking, we passed through another scare zone that brought back memories of Left 4 Dead 2:
Evacuate! Cars piled up and zombies all over the place. The zombie apocalypse had visited this part of the park. Though this was similar to the zombie area a few years back, there was a new wrench in this: vehicles. Wrecked cars, vans, and buses littered the area as we navigated through the area. One of the zombies was inside a car and would reach out and growl at people passing by. We even got the chance to see a zombie reset himself for a scare after he had made good work of some other park goers. We had hit the end, but both Dio and I kind of wanted to see what would happen (it would’ve been glorious XD).
Once we passed through that, we took a ride on the Berserker; which was a first for me. I wasn’t brave enough to take the front of the ride, but I did take the third seat behind Dio; Lantz was in the 4th. T’was fun going round that ride!
We passed by the Gold Striker, but couldn’t get in as it wasn’t opened yet. When we did pass it, we came up to our last maze of the night, n’ one of my favorites from a few years back:
Dia de Los Muertos 3D Yes, you read that right. The last time I went through this, I was rolling solo, and I didn’t take the 3D glasses. This time I did…and it was an entirely new experience. Taking point, me, Dio and Lantz ventured through the multi-colored halls n’ walls of the Dia de Los Muertos festival, with horrifying revelers greeting us as we came. The colors popped out so well, and at times, it felt like I was having some kind of drug trip, especially since it felt like I could touch them (I think I played a little bit too much Fallout). The most terrifying part of the maze were the crypts. Two rows of crypts flanked either side of us.
Nothing came out of them.
At first, I thought that was a breather. The maze itself is a breather in general, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its scares. I had gotten paranoid by the time we rounded a few corners, so I looked behind to see how Dio and Lantz were doing. There were several revelers walking among them. I pointed to them several times, but neither Dio, nor Lantz turned, giving me weird looks as if I was crazy. Which is why it was both funny and scary when Dio got wondered why there was screaming behind us. The rest of the maze went as it did from last time I went, a nice chill romp on the way out (except for the skeletons…I swear one of them moved.). Towards the end, we were guided out by one of the park attendants.
Little did I know how much of a trap that was.
Bonus points for the fog, as it concealed that final scare completely. Actually, the fog in each of the areas that we were in were utilized VERY WELL!
After that, we did Gold Striker, and by god was that a fun ride. And it's a WOODEN ROLLER COASTER.
We ended it there, but it was quite a treat!
But this...is only one side of the haunt >:3
--Choco
Pics: www.mlive.com (The fuggin metal pic) www.roadsideamerica.com (pretty Lady) www.fanpop.com (for the clown D: ) starpittsburgh.cbslocal.com (for the zombies) teatrovivo.org (dia de los muertos)