Thursday, October 18, 2012

[Haunted Attractions]/Phantom Fright Nights


Only two weeks off of the trip that Carrie (Insanity Lurks Inside) and I took down to Virginia for Howl-O-Scream and The Haunt, we quickly find ourselves in our own back yard for Kennywood's Phantom Fright Night. Strangely enough, it's been a couple of years since we've been to the event and our memories of it were pretty good. As I've mentioned before, only Universal's Halloween Horror Nights does clowns better and no one else that we've seen should do them at all besides them and Kennywood.

That said, this year Kennywood was upping the ante with a lot more than usual with 3 scare zones and 7 houses. Taking our years of experience in the business and new phones with us to grab some pictures (What? It's not like we make any money doing this!), we set off on Saturday the 13th, to see if they could managed to scare us.




Our night started off a bit weird, sitting in traffic for an hour on the parkway due to the fact that the tunnel had been closed for construction, but we did actually manage to get to the park only an hour late. Not too bad when you really think about it, especially since they had increased the hours this year and were running from 7pm to 1am. So, we had about 5 hours to get in as much as we could, or so we thought. We only managed to hit up two scare zones (parts of the 3rd) and three houses. All in all, not bad but a little less than we had hoped for.

Either way, our first stop? Kennyville Cemetery.

Literally the only prop they had before entering
Located right at the entrance practically this made it an easy target and the line wasn't too horrible so we figured that we'd get our feet wet quickly with things. One of the things that we noticed rather quickly was that while the line was short, it was moving quickly. This kind of confused us a bit as the park was extremely busy due to the weather and it would've made more sense to send larger groups through than they were. Once we got to the entrance we quickly learned why, this was a completely open air haunt with some big lines of sight that would give away scares well in advance. Though, looking back at it, the lack of any real theming at all leading up to the house should've tipped us off that something was awry.

The gate worker was having fun with the crowd at least and definitely in good spirits,  always an important thing and it can help to take people off guard a little before entering. That said, once we entered the winding path was sparsely themed and the lines of sight allowed us to see scares and actors well before we should've. At one point, coming around a corner we even saw three actors having a friendly conversation about something. Considering that these three actors were nearly 50% of the actors in the maze? Extremely sloppy and definitely was disappointing to say the least. Not the greatest way to set the mood at all.

Our next stop was going to be The Haunted Old Mill, but the line there was incredibly long and given the popularity of the house every year it wasn't very surprising. Since we were a bit short on time we decided to pass on it and get a little something to eat instead. Afterwards we got the lay of the land a bit more before heading over to Voodoo Bayou. One thing we did notice as we were wandering through the center of the park a little was that there were very few actors about, which started to make us think a little as to just what this meant since the cemetery house was so unpopulated as well.

On the way we had to pass through the scarezone, Death Valley Ghost Town. Located right by Ghostwood Estates, the theme fit extremely well and the set design was very well done. The cannibal rabbits were especially amusing and while I did try to take a picture of them...it just didn't turn out, so you'll have to take my word on that one. The actors in the area seemed to be pretty energetic and the make up on them was extremely well done as well. One of the things that stood out to me was one of the creatures wandering around with a vast array of wounds and a sheriff's star protruding from his cheek, it really did look lifelike and gory.

Around the corner we found ourselves at the entrance to Voodoo Bayou. Curiously enough, this attraction came with a warning saying that it was trying to simulate a swamp and anyone entering shouldn't be surprised if they get wet. A curious thing to be saying for sure, but as we waited in line...it became extremely clear why they had said this. The wait time had read an hour, but they were pumping people through, so it seemed at least one attraction had gotten the memo about the park being busier than expected. However, we found ourselves witnessing more actors carrying on with each other and what looked like regular park goers at the exit of the haunt. We were still amazed that this was happening at all, why would they be doing this? There didn't seem to be anyone at all around of an official capacity either to stop it.

Less than 20minutes of winding through the path, under the glow of blue work lights, we found ourselves being led down a set of stairs from what was usually the entrance to the ride...down? Yes...down. This haunt was taking place actually inside the ride track for Raging Rapids, a unique and definitely interesting move. Neither of us had ever seen an event go for something like this and we were excited to see just how they've gone about theming a concrete trench that's usually filled water so that they could scare guests as they moved through. Usually no one would try it, but this was Kennywood and we were getting more hopeful that they were about to turn our night around with something that meets the standards we expect from the park's creative team.

Once we were down in the ride track, usually filled with water we found ourselves greeted by a man with a microphone...no, not that kind of man with a microphone, but a devilishly good hillbilly who was giving us the lay of the land (no touching actors, etc). Good thing he had the mic too, without it there is almost no way that anyone would've heard him over the roar of Thunderbolt right next us. Like before he was having a good time with the guests and moving through the crowd as we had become corralled into the area by design.

After his little spiel, we two doors opened before us and our group of about 20-30 people were set to wander through the swamps. Still amazed at the fact that we were walking where so few ever usually do, Carrie and I were quite impressed with how they dealt with the various elements of the ride. Most of this was achieved by putting up wooden walkways and the like over them and they worked, adding to atmosphere in a big way. The theming throughout the haunt was amazingly well done. Every turn led to another great set piece and ingenious use of the space. We literally couldn't get over the detail and work they had put into this very large and long haunt.

Amazing level of detail, but wasted with no actors
However, there was a problem. We were able to see the amazing detail due to one reason, once again there were hardly any actors at all. Throughout the house there was maybe 10-12. Most of them not doing much at all besides startle scares. This thing is huge and there were places all over the place that could've facilitated actors and looked like they should have. Sometimes less can be more but this was less was worse. For something that was this detailed, this well planned and thought out, to be so unpopulated? Unheard of. While it left us with the impression of some great creative work being put into things, it didn't scare anyone. How could it? There wasn't anyone to scare us with actors being nearly 30-40ft apart or more. The only area that had anyone was at the end of the haunt where about 4 actors were and while they were engaging was too little too late. I did manage to get a great shot of a beautiful set piece though, usually they don't like people taking pictures but hey, who was going to stop me?

It appeared that the trend of actors being MIA wasn't just an anomaly, it was the rule. Regardless, we had been a bit invigorated and despite the time of night, we figured that we could get in at least two more, if not more houses in with the lines moving at the pace that the last one had been. Afterall, we still had just over 2 hours left and that should be plenty of time for at least that and with that in mind we headed over to Kiddieland and Dark Shadows.

Well, we definitely found the party once we got back to the line for the house which again, seemed long but really wasn't that bad as they were taking large groups at a time here as well. This time the line was equipped with DJ and a witch who seemed to have drank her own brew a few too many times. Definitely made the wait enjoyable though as her antics were quite amusing and the reaction by everyone else was great as well.

Once our group was called up, we were given the spiel once more about how we shouldn't touch anyone inside and all that. Again, the actor there was great and had a good sense of humor about things. We also learned that this house was completely pitch black, there were no lights anywhere to be seen save for the moonlight filtering in through the mesh netting that was over top of the maze. It was nearly impossible to see where actors were or where they'd come from almost. However, once again we had the problem of too few actors, even if there were more in this house than any other that we had seen so far.

Despite all of this the house was quite enjoyable and the group we were with was definitely scared as we made our way through the black halls, inflating hallways and pitch black corridors with nothing but the screams of guests and the ever present sound of a heartbeat blaring through the sound system. Sure it's a gimmick kind of house and the actors don't have to do a whole lot to get scares, but it does work and was executed fairly well.

Next up we decided to hit up Mortem Manor, only after we had seen that Biofear had been closed for the night. It was only Midnight, but more on this in a few. Seeing that Mortem Manor was also closed we decided to take a leisurely stroll over to see if Kennywood was to keep with our own motto that it's the only place outside of Universal Orlando to be allowed the use of clowns. So to Fear Festival we went. This was a weird area that was a scarezone, but also encompassed the whole carnival atmosphere. Side shows, the kangaroo ride and of course...the clowns.

They were everywhere and anywhere at any given moment. They were high energy, chasing down guests and generally being their bizarre selves. We could've easily spent an hour or two in there just watching the chaos that these actors were unleashing on those foolish enough to wander into their realm. Yes, they really are that good with the clowns...and that says something coming from me.



After a few pictures and amusing chaos we decided to see if we could slip into the Villa of the Vampire, but it too was closed. Now, it wasn't 1am yet. Which is the posted time of closing and while we understand having to cycle your lines...the first line we encountered that was closed was at Biofear...just a few minutes after Midnight. This is a major problem.

So, we have the lines for every house being closed down at midnight basically, we later found out at Guest Services that it wasn't just the houses, it was also the rides. The park says it's closing at 1am, it's Saturday and everything is closed at midnight? I don't think so. This is completely unheard of and extremely unprofessional if you ask me. Toss that in with the fact that every haunt in the park that we saw was almost completely devoid of actors and you have a recipe for a half assed show. Extremely disappointing since we do hold Kennywood to a higher standard and so do the likes of HauntWorld.com and other websites that have it listed in the top 10 theme park Halloween attractions. How in the world can they consider it to be when they put on a show like this? Again, it's horrible and terrible that they would try this. No clue what was going on or why, but the lack of actors and closing everything an hour early is not professional and not how you do things. Maybe they were trying to save a buck? Maybe they had a ton of actors call out? I don't know, but you have contingency plans for these things and you don't have the paying public on a busy night be subjected to this kind of show.

I can honestly say that if you're looking for a haunt to go to and you want to go to Kennywood? Go for the rides, not the haunt. Yes, it's that bad and I really hope that they can resolve this...it would be a shame if a great tradition of haunting on a high level was destroyed so quickly. Will we go back? Of course, it's our job to and hopefully they've fixed these problems next year.

Disclaimer: We did file a complaint and if the park sees fit we will go back at their invitation this year to see if perhaps we just had a bad night. If not we'll just wait til next year to see if they've improved things.

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