2010 Hartford Jaycees Haunted House Event Reviews

I have visited this haunt for the past several years and I was pleasantly surprised this year to see how much had changed from the previous seasons. As always, I LOVED the walk into the haunt which takes place on a darkened forest trail where monsters and ghouls lie around every corner. It really gets you in the mood for the haunt to come. Once I arrived in the haunt, I found a few rooms that I really enjoyed. My favorite was probably the morgue (I think that's what it was...), but not because it was scary, but because it was absolutely hilarious. The actress who is in the "body cabinet" was absolutely wonderful - and she and the actor in that room had such a great chemistry. I loved the interaction and script in that room. Also, the makeup, costumes, decorations... it was all quite well done. On the other hand, many of the rooms rely on animatronics for the true "scare" which greatly disappointed me this year again. I actually got hit by a few of them, which really took away from my experience. The hard-rock room was really overdone and I didn't really see the point besides holding us up before we could move on (perhaps crowd control?) but my group got really bored in there. Regardless, we did have a good time and enjoyed a lot of what the haunt had to offer.

If you attend just one haunt this year, check this one out! There are a plentiful supply of scares and special effects here to satisfy even the most discerning tastes. A long dark winding road leads to this venue that features a weathered barn, a terrorizing trail and a vintage 3 story haunted house.

The weathered barn accommodates both the a heated waiting area and a concession stand. A haunted trail complete with graves, tattered shacks, a creepy creak crossing and a tortuous tunnel of terror (...just to name a few of the scares found along the trail...) get your heart racing before you've even entered the main attraction. The 3 story haunted house features an abundant variety of themes, special effects and interactive experiences with ghouls.

This year's edition of the Hartford Jaycees Haunted House had more props and special effects than in past years. Not all of them may rock your world but if you measure the value of your experience by the sheer number of effects this haunt will totally blow your mind.

One cautionary note...if you're adverse to getting dirty or crawling through low passageways this haunt may not be for you.

Here are a few of the highlights from this haunt:

** Length: it took 21 minutes for our tour group of 4 to complete the haunted adventure. (this is nearly twice as long as the Milwaukee haunts!)

** Venue: A terrorizing trail complete with a tunnel of torment prelude your adventure through a 3 story house. The journey through the house takes you from a 3rd floor balcony all the way to the bowels of the basement.

** Sets / Scenes / Props / FX: Both the haunted forest and house are crammed packed with props and special effects. If you have an eye for detail you'll be blown away with the elaborate decorations found throughout this haunt. ...in fact, the venue is almost packed full of props and sets to a fault as some of the rooms become a bit cramped with 6 adult bodies in the room. The house features several secret passages, trap doors, live actors, animated mannequins, holographic images and even a vortex.

** Actors Performance: I wouldn't go so far as to say every acting performance blew my socks off this year but there are certainly some very entertaining performances.

** Sound: Not once was I distracted by the sounds coming from an adjacent room during our tour. Given how many rooms are packed into this house that fact just blows my mind. All rooms appear to be well insulated and equipped with a more than adequate sound system to make you feel as if your group has been totally isolated from the outside world.

I routinely attend this attraction as the producers of the house and trail do a nice production year after year.

There is ample space in their waiting area that is an old barn. One area allows visitors to watch movies while they wait. Last year the movies were projected on a wall. This year the movie while we visited was shown on a fairly small television.

The Haunted House and Trail has one of the better equipped snack bars I've visited with a huge selection of Halloween candy.

Waits at this attraction tend to be long. My party waited appx an hour between arrival and entrance and the attraction was not as busy as I've seen in previous years.

The trip through the attraction begins with a stroll through a torch lit woods. More props and scenes have been added to the woods this year. There are always well placed crew waiting for you in the dark.

One then enters the house after passing through a silo/tunnel that features some effects inside.

The trip through the attraction features three separate episodes where the visitor will need to crawl and that is excessive. In particular, there is a need to crawl through part of the tunnel outside the main entrance to the house and that can become muddy during wet weather.

This year's house is prop heavy and the sets are elaborate, which is always appreciated.

Scenes tend to feature a lot of dialogue from the actors, which can be difficult to hear and don't add much to the effect of the scares.

Also, some sets were dark and it was difficult to appreciate the make up and costumes of the actors.

My party agreed that the best actor's performance was in an area where the "procurer" with a shovel speaks to you in his Southern accent about his purpose before the scares begin. His role was very well portrayed.

It takes about 25-30 minutes to negotiate the attraction.

It can be a bit tricky to find as it is located off of Hwy 60 in the fireman's park in Slinger and the signage is rather subtle at night unless you know where to look for it.