2005 Hartford Jaycees Haunted House Event Reviews

I only vistited 3 houses this year and JAycee's was far the best. Oh and didnt Milwaukee Journal sentinel give it 5 chain saws?

I went to my first Haunted House when I was 10 years old. It is one that is still ingrained in my memory as the best I have ever went to. Probably hyped in part by the evening (a full, huge and blood red moon was rising as we were waiting in line to get in), the circumstances (my grandfather had just died & it was my first funeral) and the particular Haunted House took us almost two hours to get through (I mean the house itself not the wait in line.) It was also a Jaycee's.

Now thirty years later, with my own kids in tow and as a regular part of our Halloween celebration we visit a haunt or two and this was one of the best so far. This is only my second time going to a Jaycee's Haunted House. I have noticed two types of Haunted Houses. One were you hustle from room to room taking in the barrage of scares and trying to get away from them as quickly as possible. The other like the Jaycee's as you enter a room and are made to wait while a tale or skit is relayed before moving on to the next scare. Personally I prefer this type of Haunted House. It allows me to take in all the wonderful work and decoration that goes into making these events. Rather than a quick glance as I get pushed along for one scare to the next I'm able to soak it all in.

I would say there are two distinct types of horror, one, the gothic variety i.e. Ghosts, Goblins, Ghouls, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Mad Scientists, Frankenstein's monster and so on. The other a more modern horror, full of serial killers, surreal nightmarish monsters, demons, twisted clowns and sinister hillbillies, playing more on our fear of mortality (especially post 9/11 terrorists) than our fear of evil, the sinister and the freakish.

This Haunt was full of the modern kind of monsters, a fact I lament (I guess either all the gothic monsters are extinct, off on a long holiday or at some other haunt) but no matter, this was a thrilling attraction. This is not to say it was too gory or over the top with slasher types, just that I would have liked a mix of the gothic and modern. Especially would like to have seen a witch or two boiling up some mischief in the woods. Or perhaps meet a werewolf lingering on the wooded trail as we made our way to the house. They were notoriously absent, although we met with plenty of other scares which had us running out of the woods and into to deeper terror. I have to agree with others here the tank leading into the house was way cool. I also really liked the first & second rooms that you enter in the house. The actors there did a great job & it was one of the more creative mixes of story and effects, in the other rooms I did notice less story and more effects, scary no doubt but it doesn't etch itself into memory as well as a good story. Also a high five to the actor who stood waiting to be seen in front of my wife while she cowered in the corner with her hood over her face. Overall it was a fun & outstanding haunt and I recommend it.

We had high expectations for this event based on the reviews. What we found was a staff overwhelmed and unable to deal with the crowd at every turn and a rediculous wait time for the crowd size. The Haunt itself was OK but like many events we have seen this year they seemd to borrow from other haunts with ideas we have seen done better at the original events in past years. The scare factor was diminished by poor timing and actors that used the basic lines "get out" and "help me" too often. This event was better than past years but still not on the level of some of our favorite haunts in Wisconsin. For an event that was rated well this year, we expected better.

Personally, I didnt think it was worth the 3 hours we waited. There were a couple of scary in-your-face moments but not many. The rooms were really cramped and it was often difficult to get the group in them. I felt the younger crowd would have gotten more of a kick out of it.

The walk in the woods was nice but to short, but set up going into the house really well. Once you got into the house it seemed to be more of the animatronics to scare you rather than the actors, and personally, id rather have the actors use their ability to scare rather then pushing buttons to make things jump out at you. I can't compare this one to other place, but overall I had a decent time despite the extremely long wait that seemed to be unorganized, i didnt care for their ticket calling system just didnt seem to flow correctly, but it was very busy following the review in the Journal. Parking lot was a bit small for the crowd, but the free parking always makes up for it. Maybe a heater in the waiting area, that is always a nice gesture for the people that come from far away and wait for a long time.

Older Actors and the scits were well rehersed.Rooms had alot of Special Effects. Had a good scare.

I've been quite a few places this year so far and this was the best!!!!! this is a must do halloween event will definetly go back they put a lot of effort into this one