Tiffany (earthangel129)

The Haunt and Field of Terrors at Pearce’s Farm Stand were my first haunts on Saturday evening.  Pearce’s Farm Stand was easy to find with help from our phone’s navigation system and once we were near there were large lights and signs identifying the haunts.  There was plenty of parking and everything was very well lit.  When we walked up from the parking lot, there was a large building where you could buy your tickets and some great concession items including some tasty hot chocolate that I tried.  We purchased our tickets and then we took a look around the attraction area.  There is a huge hay bale climbing structure and a small maze for little ones.  There are cut-outs for picture opportunities and many fire pits to sit near and keep warm.  The fire pits were just what I needed on Saturday because it was cold.  The cold wasn’t keeping other visitors away from Pearce’s, there were lots of people there enjoying the attraction with us.  We decided that we would go through The Haunt, a haunted barn, first.

THE HAUNT

The haunt at Pearce’s Farm Stand is a haunted barn.  When we got in line and waited at The Haunt the line seemed short, but quickly we realized that at this attraction, very small groups go in at a time.  So, although the line seemed short, our wait time was a little longer than I first thought it would be.  That being said, when we did get to go in, just the two of us got to go in all by ourselves.  This is not something that you get at every attraction.  Many times you may walk around a haunt with a group of five to seven people, many of whom you may not know.  I thought it was pretty exciting to go in by ourselves.  This haunt lasted about ten minutes and includes a lot of disorientating dark winding passageways and quick thrills that startled us.  This haunt is creepy and effective for young and old alike.  We saw a variety of ages of people going through the haunt and all seemed to be having a great time.  When we exited the haunted barn, we decided to go get into line for the haunted hayride.

FIELD OF TERRORS

The Field of Terrors at Pearce’s Farm Stand is a haunted hayride through a winding, creepy corn field.  When we got in line for the hayride, I thought we might we waiting a long time, the line was long and there the ride seemed long.  Then we saw they were bringing in another tractor to pull us along and our wait time only totaled about 20 minutes.  When our ride approached, a large group of us were allowed on, in the entire group there were probably about 25-30 people on the ride.  When I got on, I realized you get to sit on hay bales that are set up against the walls of the ride, as well as, along the middle of the bed.  We sat on the ride and waited for the tractor to start up.  We waited another ten minutes or so before the ride began.  Make sure you wear extra layers if it is cold outside, because I was very cold.  The ride lasted for about 20-25 minutes as it wound around twists and turns in an eerie cornfield.  The cornfield is very dark and there are not a lot of other lights around.  As I rode around, I found to my delight several displays set up throughout The Field of Terrors.  All of the displays include sound and light effects, as well as actor interaction.  There is also sound set up through the duration of the ride.  I don’t want to give too much away, but the actors in The Trail of Terrors are great.  Super surprising and creepy, there were people jumping all over the ride.  I really enjoyed the ambiance of the ride and the fact that you get to sit and be pulled the entire time you are being scared, really is a treat that I haven’t often encountered.

The Haunt and Field of Terrors at Pearce’s Farm Stand are great attractions and Pearce’s has so much more to offer.  Pearce’s Farm Stand strikes me as one of the best places to go haunting with a large group of people or with the family.  The bonfire atmosphere screams sit and chat awhile, catch up with an old friend or with your children.  I thought that the area was beautiful and very professional.  The attractions were fun and creepy and I hope to go back next year to see Pearce’s again.

Abandoned Haunted House Complex was everything I had been anticipating and more when I visited last Saturday night.  Abandoned is a huge two haunt attraction that reeled me in the moment I saw it.  We arrived at about 9:15 p.m.  There were bright inviting lights with a large parking area, with many signs and people guiding you onto the grounds.  The minute we stepped out of the car, I could not wait to get into the haunt.  As you walk up from the parking lot you see a clearly labeled ticketing area.  There are also a few areas that are decorated and a really great little store front that has sweatshirts, T-shirts and other cool Abandoned gear.  Also featured prominently are some amazing masks that are for sale as well. We walked right up and purchased our tickets.  As we made our way around the grounds we quickly realized we were not alone when we decided it was a great night to visit Abandoned. 

Once you walk around the side and to the back of the ticketing area, there is a huge waiting area and on Saturday it was packed with people chatting, laughing, eating concessions they had just purchased at a vendor on the grounds, and many were watching a myriad of macabre and other entertaining video clips playing on the complex’s huge movie screen which has an explosive secret. The lines seemed organized and controlled
and there were plenty of employees and security around if you needed to ask a question.   

We walked around to the area where the FastPass ticket line began, and we were extremely grateful to have our FastPasses when we heard that there was a significant line wait of two or more hours without the FastPass.  I must state that if it is a chilly night or you don’t feel like waiting, I believe this is the way to go.  We walked into a covered
waiting area where a few other groups of people were waiting in the Fast Pass line.  We waited in the Fast Pass line for approximately fifteen minutes where we were kept company by either an extremely funny grounds crew worker, or an actor in a janitor-type outfit, who was conversing with a group behind us in line.  Either way, kudos to you sir, you were funny and helped keep my mind off of the cold!  We made our way into another smaller enclosed winding area where we walked through and found our way to the entrance of the first haunt, Hysteria.

Hysteria

This was the first of the two haunts I experienced at Abandoned.  It greets you with
haunting cackles and eerie laughter, creating an ambiance true to the haunts name.  As we made our way through the amazing and mind-bending haunt I was surprised, terrified, and thrilled. In this haunt I was delighted to find many different areas with a variety of themes and marvelous sets.  While I walked through the haunt I realized that the walls of the haunt had turned from dark creepy passage ways to walls with vegetation growing and cave walls that appeared moist and textured.  Other walls in this haunt seemed to shake along with the floors under your feet.  The sets and props are professional, realistic and unique. I have been attending haunts for many years now and I saw
set ideas I had never seen done before in any of the haunts I have visited.  The variety of different areas is excellent.  Hysteria offers so many things tricking and treating your senses I feel it has something for everyone. The actors were highly interactive and really worked on getting you to jump by creeping up on you when you least expect it.  I really enjoyed the tactile and visual effects of this haunt.  This haunt also seemed to last a long time but every moment of that time I was filled with a great sense of wonder.  I remember thinking, “What could be coming up next?” I was elated by how much fun I had in this haunt. However, I didn’t have much time to contemplate this thought because we walked out of Hysteria and through a short passage way and we were entering Ambush.

Ambush

Ambush was the second haunt that we visited.  This haunt begins with a lot of
dark foggy passages with loud disturbing noises coming from everywhere around you.  I really got the feeling that my senses were being assaulted, thus proving Ambush to be a fitting title for the second half of my journey at Abandoned Haunted House Complex.  Ambush gave me the feeling that I was under attack and I was slowly loosing myself in the haunt.  The actors are coming out of nowhere from every direction.  This provides an atmosphere of chaos.  I heard some pretty chilling
screams during my time in Ambush.  I jumped numerous times and became pretty nervous when I realized I actually might be under attack.  I found this haunt worked on my nerves and made my heart race.  If surprises around every dark corner and a chilling sense that something isn’t quite right, gets you rattled like me, than this haunt will frighten and thrill you.       

As I exited Ambush, I was quickly greeted by the chilly autumn air again.  Around the area where you exit the second haunt is an area with items for sale and one of my favorite characters of the entire evening to greet you at the end of your journey.  I even had my picture taken with this actor. Overall my journey at Abandoned Haunted
Complex was one of my most favorite trips so far this haunt season. I had an amazing time and you should too, shouldn’t you?

Length

Terror on Rural Street was at the top of my list of haunts to review this year so when I arrived on Saturday night I was extremely excited.  Terror on Rural Street is a haunt that I try to attend each year and there is a simple reason.  Each year this haunt delivers true scares, laughs, and fun, and it manages to do so while continuously mixing things up which makes each year uniquely frightening.  My visit this year is quite possibly my favorite of any that I have made to Terror on Rural Street.

Upon arriving at the haunt, the parking lot seemed pretty full, but we managed to find a spot fairly quickly.  We later found out that this is due to the parking lot being a shared lot, but there is plenty of additional parking across the street and on a main street located near the haunt.  As we walked up to the haunt the ambiance quickly becomes spooky.  We walked right up and got our tickets.  There was no line for tickets!  After we received our tickets, we headed into a large waiting area that is warm and dry.  This was a literal warm welcome on Saturday night because the weather was doing its own part to create a creepy setting for our haunt visits.  There is a concession area that that can provide you with a variety of drinks and treats while you enjoy your warm wait with plenty of seating!  Another plus, it is not very often that while you wait in line at a haunt you get to sit down.  I waited for my three digit number to be called, and after a short wait of approximately fifteen minutes, it was. 

We were escorted past a wonderfully decorated outside area and into a dark creepy building with very low lighting.  This is where we waited to enter the haunt.  In this area, our wait
was only about seven minutes during which time we handed in our tickets and learned the rules of the haunt.  Then a door opened and the group was on our way in.  This haunt works on your senses on so many levels.  The sound effects and lighting are spectacular.  There are so many unique areas decorated with clever and realistic props.  The actors at this haunt made me jump several times, as was the case with most of our group, as we passed through the many rooms, passages and mazes that seemed to swallow me in darkness. 

This haunt brought me in contact with a myriad of characters in an impressive number of areas.  These actors were really working us and we were consistently being startled by someone or something.  I was also assaulted by ear-piercing noises, chills, moving and uneven ground, in addition to an array of completely disorientating light shows.  Then quickly the darkness returned again.  This grouping of special effects had an incredibly successful influence on our group, since as we traveled through the house our group went the wrong way several times.  Our terrifying acquaintances actually
suggested that we change leaders on multiple occasions because we kept getting lost. 

Terror on Rural Street also delivers on every level so there is something for everyone.  The variety of scenes and special effects are too high to count when you are experiencing it.  Stylized areas vary widely from an attack of the insect variety to cannibals with imprisoned victims screaming for anyone to help you.  There were also some amazing special effects that create a brand new way to experience a twisted maze.  I also was lucky enough to experience a great deal of laughs delivered by a group of great actors in the haunt.  The interaction they provided with us as the visitors was amazing.  They teased and followed us, mocked and surprised us and delivered quite a few witty lines.  I felt infected by the atmosphere and the haunt seemed to last and last.     

Eventually we manipulated our way through an amazing spinning vortex and a maze that confused and befuddled us so much that we lost part of our group.  We ended our journey on a scare and with a scream.  My time inside the haunt lasted about twenty minutes and was amazing.  This haunt pulled me in, and during those twenty minutes  I was filled with fright, excitement, confusion, and delight. 

Terror on Rural Street offers an amazing experience that is well worth the price of admission with a very professional mood.  The area is well lit, clean, and the people who work there are courteous and professional. I enjoyed Terror on Rural Street tremendously and am ready to go visit again.  I highly recommend a visit to Terror on Rural Street this year so you can experience this thrillingly fun haunt firsthand.                         

Signage / Visibility / Location

Wait Area / Line Entertainment

Haunted High Presents Terror at 212 and I was lucky enough to attend this amazing haunt opening weekend. Upon arriving in the area of the haunt, there were clearly visible signs and both on and off street parking available. Next, I was excited to see a large white tent which houses the waiting
lines and ticketing area, as well as some concessions. The tent was wonderful because it was rainy and cool on the night I attended but underneath the tent it was warm and dry! There were quite a few people at the haunt but we were able to get our tickets and move through the line quickly. While we waited in line there were creepy characters that made appearances creeping and terrorizing their guest. Our wait time was about fifteen minutes in total.

I was very excited to attend Terror at 212 because I have been a fan of this organization for the last four years during which time, Haunted High delivered wonderfully entertaining haunts. Also, the entire event is created as a grand fundraiser for the Oconomowoc Public Education Foundation so I always know I am supporting a good cause when I attend. Now, in the first year at their new site, Terror at 212 continues the tradition of leaving visitors pleasantly terrified. Although the new location creates a slightly different type of haunt, it still delivers with all of the scares and flare this group has been bringing our way for the past four years. The new facility is a smaller square footage than the previous old high school building they have used in years past but the excitement, terror and laughs are power packed into the new venue creating a slightly shorter total amount of time inside the haunt which creates an effect that is quite possibly more powerful. Now there are seemingly endless twists, turns, and screams back-to-back. The new facility includes great physically challenging effects including uneven flooring, inclines and declines, narrow halls and areas where my advice is to duck or you may just lose your head.

As my group entered the haunt I was impressed by how quickly I felt engulfed by the experience. My trip through the haunt began with darkness and a grouping of hallways and doors that create a dizzying maze effect. These effects are then paired with jarring episodes of darkness or strobe lighting and loud noises, all of which assaulted my senses to create a seriously disorientating beginning to my journey.

After my senses were thoroughly rattled, I traveled through several corridors, twists and turns and a variety of eerie areas with many rooms and passageways with different themes including: dungeons, a jungle, an industrial warehouse, and a chilling home with several creepy rooms and characters and my favorite, a supremely creepy carnival!

The decor is extensive and detailed. I am so impressed with the carnival area of the haunt. You should attend this haunt for this area alone- this is a must see! I also want to give a special thank you to the group of girl clowns in this area-way to keep us on our toes ladies. I also love a vortex room and this haunt has an amazing one. As I finished my journey I had a difficult time readjusting to the outside world. Our journey through the haunt took approximately fifteen minutes, each of those minutes full of screams, laughter and leaps from fright. An evening full of great scares for a great cause, this haunt should be on your list to visit this year.

Signage / Visibility / Location

Wait Area / Line Entertainment