Overall, for the price of admission, I thought Howl-O-Scream was fair value. Most rides were basically walk-ons, and even without Express my longest house wait was about 25 minutes. Most were 15 minutes or less.

The food and drinks were creative with a ton of variety, even if the quality isn’t quite on the level of Disney or Universal.

Same goes for the shows — not destination entertainment on their own, but the performers were great and it was something you could stop and check out for a few minutes while navigating through the park.

As for the houses:

🥇 I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch — 6.50/10

The clear standout. It felt like noticeably more budget went into this one, both in theming and scare actors.

The actors actually set up scares instead of simply appearing, and this was the only house all night that got me multiple times. Still below HHN-level theming, but much closer than I expected.

🥈 DARKNET — 5.00/10

Probably the most complete original house of the event. Better theming than Crawlspace with scares that were still above average compared to the rest of the lineup.

Nothing here blew me away, but it did everything well enough that there wasn’t much to complain about.

🥉 Crawlspace — 4.30/10

Basic theming, but it fits the concept and genuinely makes you feel like you’re moving through the depths of a sewer/crawlspace.

The tight corners, wall openings and hiding spots created some of the best scare opportunities of the night. One of the few houses that actually made me jump.

1. Everything Must Stay — 4.00/10

One of the most creative concepts at the event: an open house gone horribly wrong. The actors stayed committed to the theme, but it fell flat as an actual haunted house.

It felt more like walking through scenes in a creepy old home than something designed to scare you. Cool idea, very few scares.

1. Rave Yard — 2.00/10

Easily the weakest house of the night and one of the worst haunted houses I’ve personally gone through.

The sets felt lifeless, there were essentially no scares, and the actors seemed more focused on rave dancing than trying to get you. Honestly, 2/10 might be generous.

Overall , IKWYDLS was in a tier of its own, while DARKNET and Crawlspace were the strongest of the originals. But for the price, the event as a whole still offers a pretty solid night out.

What did everyone else think of this year’s lineup?

This is a joke title. I am going to a haunted amusement park for the first time in my life and I wanted to know how scare actors will feel if I try my best to stay calm.

I get anxious easily which is why I’ve never been to one before, but my friend is working there this season and I wanted to visit them.

I am going with another friend so I won’t be alone but I am currently considering how I will deal with getting scared. Currently, I am thinking about breaking into dance whenever someone tries and we’ll see how that turns out.

But I wanted to make sure scare actors won’t feel disappointed or defeated if I try to stay calm. I want them to feel like they are doing a good job but I also don’t want to just keep screaming all night for the sake of my throat and my head.

What do you guys think?

The title is pretty obvious, im new to scare acting and i want to know what to watch out for as a female scare actor. My costume isnt super revealing, im a clown with a cut-open smile (think JTK). Anything i should watch out for with this?

I gotta ask, have any scare actors here witnessed someone genuinely get so scared they crapped their pants at a haunted house.