Mike (MikeWalczak)

For the first time in years, I made the trip up to Green Bay Fear located in (of course) Green Bay, WI. What I hadn't recalled was how large the event is. I made  the trek expecting to find the typical Haunted House setup of a ticket booth, queue line and haunted house. This wasn't at all what I found at Green Bay Fear; theres a stage for live music, hot cocoa, lots of food/drink options, zombie paintball, a fire pit, haunted woods and of course the main haunt.

Upon arriving to the haunt, I was immediately  drawn to the various character actors walking around. If you've read any of my other reviews, you'll recall that I'm big on this since it helps build up a visitors momentum/anxiety before a haunt. The entire haunt reminds me of a circus/carnival from hell including the freaky clowns walking around.  Of course, he was just one of the many other various ghouls parading around the area.

I was impressed with all the black light enhanced neon colors. In my opinion, this really helped to bring the event alive and make sections (that would otherwise go unnoticed) stand out. This was also carried out through many elements within the haunt which helped keep things themed similarly.

My first stop was at zombie paintball since that seemed to have the shortest line. I love paintballing and therefore used up my 10 shots pretty fast.

My second stop was the haunted woods. It was really well done and I had a lot of fun heading through it. Be prepared for actors to jump out of nowhere and scare you. There were a bunch of them too!  All in all, it took about 9 or 10 minutes.

Finally I headed over to the main haunt where I began my wait to enter. Once I finally got in, I was impressed with how intense the haunt was. There's constantly something going on. The actors were spot on in their performance and knew just who to target in my group to get the best reaction. Each room we entered was well made and unique. All in all, the haunt itself lasted about 30 minutes.

Above all, Green Bay Fear was a lot of fun. Although I'm from Milwaukee, the drive up to Green Bay was well worth it - especially since this isn't just a single haunted house event. You could spend a lot of time just wandering around BEFORE even heading into the main haunt. Also feel free to visit on an empty stomach, there was plenty of food and drink available for purchase (and it seemed reasonable).

Mars Haunted House boasts that they are the, "#1 Haunted House in the Milwaukee Area." Having annually visited Mars Haunted House for the past seven years, I'm always impressed with the new setups their team can come up with. This year proved no different...

It was a chilly Friday evening when my wife and I headed down Historic Mitchell Street on our way to Mars Haunted House. While the building itself doesn't stand out much (although there is a sign attached to it), you cannot miss the hearse and queue line setup along the sidewalk. We waited for about 25 minutes in the queue line before we were allowed to proceed up the stairs to enter the haunt. Fortunately we didn't encounter any rain or else we may have gotten a bit wet since the entire queue line sits outside.  While we waited, there were a couple of actors wandering up and down the line interacting with the patrons. I always appreciate that since it is a great way to built up a persons anxiety before they enter a haunt. My only criticism is that one of the actors and a security guard stopped to smoke  a cigarette for a bit. Also the girl working the front of the line was also chatting away on her cell phone.  Not big problems, but something I noticed.

After the 25 minute wait we headed up the stairs to start the haunt. Be prepared for lots of darkness, fog, tight spaces and disorientating areas. There's also plenty of sudden scares and in your face action.  We had a lot of fun trying to navigate our way through the haunt and I really appreciated all the effort that went into making the various scenes.

The haunt itself took around 20 minutes or so to get through (although it felt like seconds). The special effects were great and each room has something unique and special to offer.

Bottom line, Mars Haunted House has done it again. They've managed to put together a haunt that is a lot of fun yet very scary. If you haven't visited Mars yet this year, try to add it to your list.

On a rainy Saturday evening, I made my way out to Oconomowoc to experience the new Terror @ 212 haunt. While I've heard of the former Haunted High haunts, this was my first time actually experiencing the frights that this team has to offer.