So I went on a camping trip this weekend with a few friends, one of whom is just as into haunted houses as I am. We got tickets for "Devil's Nightmare" (the haunted house portion), "Blind Madness" (the pitch black maze), the coffin simulator & their new "Zombie Massacre" (interactive laser tag).

I have to say this experience was the highlight of my trip.

I'll throw out the only two criticisms I have though first: 1) the coffin simulator is in the waiting area and there's a black & white camera angled on your face which broadcasts on a small tv screen next to the coffin -- basically people waiting to get in are able to watch your reaction(s) as you go through the simulator ride. We didn't really like that element so we opted out (definitely more just a matter of personal comfort thresholds there though). 2) The "Blind Madness" maze was more funny than scary to us. There were a few great surprises but mostly we were worried about getting disoriented (we got disoriented anyway) and hitting the walls too hard (which we did anyway & broke a couple nails in the process lol). We kept bantering/bickering at each other about which way to go too so that was pretty campy & funny. The very end of the maze was A+ though and found us screaming and laughing in equal measure (well, more the former first and the latter immediately after).

These two things pale in comparison to the absolute blast we had overall though. The haunted house itself was totally thrilling. Without giving too much away, the sections of the haunted house featuring taller-than-normal actors was SUCH an AWESOME surprise. Freaked the hell out of me because I did NOT see it coming. Furthermore, I flipped out when I got to the section that referenced a certain horror flick. That movie scared me so much when I was a teen - I can't explain how much respect I have for that flick and, by proxy, this haunted house for featuring that segment.

Last but not least, my FAVORITE activity of the night - apparently it was new this year : The Zombie Massacre interactive laser tag game. It seriously left my friend and I sweaty and adrenaline-punched for the rest of the night because we were SO into it. I think it only lasted about five minutes but so much happened in those five minutes. My friend and I have known each other for well over ten years and so one of the best aspects of this game was the level of natural teamwork and camaraderie it pulled out in us, where we were gleefully freaked out but basically in it to win it (which we did btw), super amped and ready to kill us some zombies and make sure our little cabin room's windows stayed boarded up. Favorite parts of the laser tag game: 1) while my friend was reloading I was watching her windows and suddenly my friend screamed my name and I felt a hand scrabbling at my shoulder. I twisted, ducked a bit, and shot upwards at the zombie that'd managed to get his entire arm through the window to touch me. It was such a friggin awesome rush of fear seeing that he'd managed to reach out that far while I hadn't been looking -- I got him within one or two shots & managed to get the board right back up. 2) While I reloaded, watching my friend holding a board up against the window against a zombie as she tried to shoot him at the same time. She also started shouting one-liners after each kill like "HEADSHOT! YEAH!" lol

Needless to say, it was basically one of the coolest experiences we've ever had at a haunted house (and we've been to many, many haunted houses).

Minor things that make all the difference: the security and staff were A+ friendly and on task. The entire warehouse location was perfect - set design was superb (the lighting! OMG you people the LIGHTING was fantastic!) - the actors and actresses never broke roles... best of all though, the actors and actresses never over-talked. They were damn good and creepy -- they didn't heckle you or engage with you too much. I've been to places like that and the heckling/overtalking can get relatively cheesy - you start to register their voices & recognize they're actors, not actually ghouls or lunatics with chainsaws, etc. This was nothing like that. This was basically perfect & super-respectable fear tactics of tense fearful anticipation, wonderful surprises, and spooky as hell settings.

Last thing: I LOVED that my friend and I were allowed to go alone (just the two of us) through the haunted house. I don't know if that's standard or not but I can't tell you how many Haunted House experiences we've had where the strangers in our group are rather incompatible with the way we want to enjoy the haunted house. It ranges from fake-over-screamers to genuinely-terrified-people-who-don't-seem-like-they're-having-a-good-time to obnoxious-hecklers-at-the-actors (one time we had a guy who kept "white-knight" telling us what was going to happen next "so we wouldn't be scared" and it literally ruined our experience; we didn't really have the time as we went through the thing to tell him politely to leave us alone). The two of us, on our own, years of friendship, have an understanding: get spooked, try to find where Scary Thing is, scream in fright when Scary Thing happens, & laugh our asses off as we move to the next section to start the whole thing over again. It was SO NICE to be able to do that together and enjoy the hell out of everything without the distraction of strangers in our group.

All in all 5/5 best Haunted House experience I've ever had. Y'all are nailing it.