So I went a Haunting last night, ever since my first visit (40th anniversary year) I’ve never been able to say that all aspects of Haunt improved on that outing, until now. What a year! Both new mazes are incredible but special mention must be made for Origins, what a fantastic way to blend the Green Witch, Ghost Town Alive and Ghost town scare zone I can’t imagine any way this maze doesn’t stick around for years to come. I also loved this years Hanging and Puppet Up! To those who felt the Boo-fet has been cheapened I noticed a considerable improvement in the meal, and I was able to hit all 4 backstage mazes prior to opening
Here’s my ranking of the houses:
9. Shadowlands: Don’t get me wrong all houses ranged from very good to excellent but the time has come for this maze to retire, only maze I didn’t do twice.
8. Dark Entities: it’s better then last year, but alien mutation just isnt scary to me, however the cast really gave it they’re all on all my runs.
7. Pumpkin Eater: I really love this maze, it just oozes Halloween.
6. Infected: I know people don’t like the gimmick but I do, sue me
5. The Depths: while the elevator is a bit of an operational mess, I love it from a story perspective, and the scareactors inhabit their roles far better then last year. I still love the green fog room.
4. Wax Works: Both Ohio Cedar Fair Parks have done this theme in the past and of course Knott’s ends up with the best version, I love the hokey wax museum theme, and the artists layer is even better, a great, great maze.
3. Dark Ride: This and #2 are really close, and it frankly came down to my two runs having obnoxious guests near me that caused this maze to fall to #3 this year, so much ink has been spilt on this maze I don’t think I need to add more.
2. Paranormal: I love this maze so much, managed to be the first one to escape both times, I’m not going to Haunt again for at least 3 years I expect this maze to be retired so it was a fitting sendoff for one of my favorite mazes.
1. Origins: The Curse of Calico: I’m not exaggerating when I say this house is in the running for my favorite non IP house I’ve ever experienced, this thing is perfect, but by far the highlight is the one two punch of the appearance of a certain extinct Calico Resident followed by the Green Witch’s grand appearance is the cherry on top to this incredible maze.
If you can be sure to check out the Haunt this year!