One of my favorite autumn activities is visiting haunted attractions. Last year I became quite obsessed and visited 19 in three states. This year I don't think I'll hit that many, but I hope to try some new ones and focus on visiting the best ones from last year. In South Western PA the season started this past weekend with the opening to two favorites. My friends MaryAnne and Theresa and I first traveled to Portersville, PA in Butler County for Cheeseman's Fright Farm. Cheeseman's has always been one of my favorites because it includes a hayride usually full of scares, a haunted barn and a corn maze. Hearing the dry cornstalks move around you as you make your way through the maze can be quite spooky. Last year the actors made me go alone through the maze and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The restrooms are clean and the food is good. There are pumpkins and souveniers to buy as well and the main barn is lit and decorated for the season. The tractor bed is filled with hay and you ride comfortably on bales while actors scream at you. This was the second year that I've gone on opening night.While I will always love Cheeseman's, I must admit that it wasn't as frightening as in past years. There were hardly any scares during the hayride and the walk-throughs didn't have many actors jumping out to frighten us. The pumpkins weren't in the barn yet, though they were there on Sunday afternoon when my mom and I went for a daytime visit with nachos, hotdogs and picture taking. The Friday night scares were few and far between. Perhaps I'll return later in the season, though, to see if it improves. I did meet two really cool seniors from Laurel Jr. - Sr. High who were fun to journey with through the attraction. The nice thing about opening weekend is that for 12 bucks you can go through as many times as you like. As always, the staff was great.
We couldn't stay for a second trip through the haunt, however, as we needed to hustle to the southern end of Allegheny County to Hundred Acres Manor. On the way we picked up Pat and headed for this favorite which is located in South Park. Hundred Acres costs 16 dollars but benefits two very worthwhile charities, the Homeless Children's Education Fund and Animal Friends. Hundred Acres always has something different. Every year is new. Every year is scary. This year was their best ever.It took nearly an hour to go through a dark maze, an insane assylum, a freaky clown thing, cave and other scenes. The amount of work that goes into this place is unreal. Everything about it was great except for an actor/heckler who stood outside and swore at people. At first he was funny, then he was just vulgar, dropping F-bombs, even.The food was good, I had a pepperoni roll. The bathrooms were better than Port-o-Johns, but they were part of the park itself and so not the cleanest. Still, it was a great time.All in all, it was a fantastic way to start off a spooky weekend!
I went along with Ingrid to many of the haunted houses she visited last year. I think I went to maybe thirteen of them. I don’t go to the haunted attractions looking to be scared; most don’t scare me at all. Having a background in special effects and monster movie stuff I tend to look a beauty of the attraction. The props uses, the set designs and how well they pull off the element if surprise.
ReplyDeleteCheeseman’s fright farm was one I missed, so I was looking forward to visiting the farm. The atmosphere was great, very festive and we had great weather!!! Always a plus when visiting a haunted house that is on a farm. To my surprise I thought Cheeseman’s to be lacking, from what Ingrid has told me in the past I found it not very scary at all and rather short. They did make use of their surroundings on the hayride and has some nice props and effects through out but at some points you felt like something was missing. Cheesseman’s seemed to lack actors, maybe because it was the first night. I think over time and a few more nights under the actor’s belts it will get better!!! I gave Cheeseman’s 5 skulls out of 10 for scary and 7 pumpkins for the atmosphere, the food and bathrooms!!!
Off to Hundred acres manor, talk about going from North to South in a short period of time. Hundred acres is another attraction I missed last year but heard great reviews about. Standing in line I too must agree with Ingrid the heckler became inappropriate when he began dropping the f-bombs. I didn’t see the reason or humor in being vulgar. A group of immature 20-something individuals was in front of us waiting to enter. One member of the group was extremely annoying. Well like most 20 something males he felt he was above the rules and he ended up being tossed out. I know I was happy about this because nothing like having an individual ruin the fun for everyone else. Kudos to the staff for seeing this and taking action!!!
This haunted house was awesome, simple put!!!! I saw effects used here that I have not seen anywhere else in my travels from last year to this year. The atmosphere created inside the haunted house is tremendous, with different themes, good use of props, animatronics, and actors. The set designs are truly beautiful. A lot of work was put into this haunted house. Definitely worth visiting, you will not be disappointed. I would love to go more into detail about this house but I don’t want to give away any of the “scares” . This haunted house took awhile to navigate through and I would recommend taking a friend or two along and don’t let go of each other or you might regret it.. I gave this haunted house 8 skulls and 8 pumpkins, I had a hotdog which is always tasty and I think the staff was great!