Location:
******** is located in the Festival Market Place at 3000 E. Pioneer Pkwy. (spur 303) in Arlington, Texas. Follow the search lights and look for the ******** sign on the side of the building.
Atmosphere: 7 out of 10
It’s… okay. The main entry is decorated with above average props which allow you to get in the mood for the haunt. Vendors, concessions, and various arcade games are available for all. But the first steps into the actual haunt (after being told the rules) gives a first impression that drops to a lower expectation. Bare, black walls. Bare, black hallway. Not a perfect set up to get people ready for a haunt experience. Once into the scenes though, there is a good traditional haunt feel if you can ignore the dull in between.
Scare Factor: 7 out of 10
Are you scared of the dark? We were a bit disappointed to find long dark hallways inside the ********. Granted, a few hallways did have some texture on the walls, but most of them did not. In fact, one portion required actor guidance just to know where to go. Long dark hallways do add time to a walk-through, and if you hate the dark, this is an effective scare tactic… but not one of our favorites. The existing scenes have great potential to scare the bejesus out of you given a little more actors, and a little more detail accents to keep a steady flow of realism.
Set design / Props / FX / Animatronics: 6 out of 10
It seemed to us that many portions of the set design were incomplete. There were places that appeared to be built with the intention of having a scene, but alas, just bare black walls. This really disappointed us since the ******** has had an excellent track record for consistency and carefully designed scene detail. Although the completed scenes were AWESOME, there was too much incomplete in between to make the good stuff truly remarkable. We felt there was much more work needed in order to have a consistent flow. One section was nothing but a path of chain linked fencing and a strobe light… no actors… not even a maze… just walking.
Live Actors: 7 out of 10
There weren’t that many actors, but the ones we saw were, again, okay. One room was kind enough to break character long enough to tell us we were no fun because we didn’t get scared. We humored them long enough to give them a fake scream, at almost the same quality as their screams. But we can’t pass judgment on all the actors based on one scene… some of the actors were really good and kept to their script. Then we also had actors that simply led us through the pitch black areas so we knew how to get through to the next scene.
Entertainment Value: 7 out of 10
******** is not terribly expensive, and there is a $3.00 coupon available. The time it takes to get through the haunt is good in comparison to price, but some of that time is spent just walking in the dark, or just walking without actors or scenery to enjoy. If you see many haunts this year, you might check this one out since you might like this sort of thing. But if you only see ONE haunt this year, you might want to consider something else that offers more scares per square inch.
Summary:
******** has great potential, but it almost feels like they are in their first year. We honestly felt as though they should have waited to open if they were not ready yet, only because some people may not visit next year based on one bad experience. We are almost positive that given more time to build and add detail, ******** will grow again to be one of the better haunts in the area. But this year, it just didn’t look like they finished their original vision of what they intended to provide. We really look forward to seeing what they do next year, because we KNOW they can do a lot better. Don’t get us wrong… it was fun, and it was good in most places… but in between the good and even AWESOME stuff, there was nothing but dull walking to keep us amused. And if you are a repeat visitor at DFWHauntedHouses.com, you should know by now that we don’t get amused by walking in the dark, or bare walls. We will definitely visit again next year to see how much the ******** grows!
Side note: Some of you may think that based on our scoring system versus our description of ********, that we should give a lower score. But in all honestly, we don’t think that the ******** needs MAJOR modifications. The decoration and detail needed in the bare and dull areas is really just small minor details that can be done easily and inexpensively, but the task is time consuming. Which is why TIME is what ******** needs to get back up on the higher score scale. We know they are capable of it, and we know they WANT to make it happen, but probably just ran out of time to get it done.
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Arlington, TX
Review Date: Friday, October 6, 2006
Length: 25 - 30 minutes
Location:
******** is located in the Festival Market Place at 3000 E. Pioneer Pkwy. (spur 303) in Arlington, Texas. Follow the search lights and look for the ******** sign on the side of the building.
Atmosphere: 7 out of 10
It’s… okay. The main entry is decorated with above average props which allow you to get in the mood for the haunt. Vendors, concessions, and various arcade games are available for all. But the first steps into the actual haunt (after being told the rules) gives a first impression that drops to a lower expectation. Bare, black walls. Bare, black hallway. Not a perfect set up to get people ready for a haunt experience. Once into the scenes though, there is a good traditional haunt feel if you can ignore the dull in between.
Scare Factor: 7 out of 10
Are you scared of the dark? We were a bit disappointed to find long dark hallways inside the ********. Granted, a few hallways did have some texture on the walls, but most of them did not. In fact, one portion required actor guidance just to know where to go. Long dark hallways do add time to a walk-through, and if you hate the dark, this is an effective scare tactic… but not one of our favorites. The existing scenes have great potential to scare the bejesus out of you given a little more actors, and a little more detail accents to keep a steady flow of realism.
Set design / Props / FX / Animatronics: 6 out of 10
It seemed to us that many portions of the set design were incomplete. There were places that appeared to be built with the intention of having a scene, but alas, just bare black walls. This really disappointed us since the ******** has had an excellent track record for consistency and carefully designed scene detail. Although the completed scenes were AWESOME, there was too much incomplete in between to make the good stuff truly remarkable. We felt there was much more work needed in order to have a consistent flow. One section was nothing but a path of chain linked fencing and a strobe light… no actors… not even a maze… just walking.
Live Actors: 7 out of 10
There weren’t that many actors, but the ones we saw were, again, okay. One room was kind enough to break character long enough to tell us we were no fun because we didn’t get scared. We humored them long enough to give them a fake scream, at almost the same quality as their screams. But we can’t pass judgment on all the actors based on one scene… some of the actors were really good and kept to their script. Then we also had actors that simply led us through the pitch black areas so we knew how to get through to the next scene.
Entertainment Value: 7 out of 10
******** is not terribly expensive, and there is a $3.00 coupon available. The time it takes to get through the haunt is good in comparison to price, but some of that time is spent just walking in the dark, or just walking without actors or scenery to enjoy. If you see many haunts this year, you might check this one out since you might like this sort of thing. But if you only see ONE haunt this year, you might want to consider something else that offers more scares per square inch.
Summary:
******** has great potential, but it almost feels like they are in their first year. We honestly felt as though they should have waited to open if they were not ready yet, only because some people may not visit next year based on one bad experience. We are almost positive that given more time to build and add detail, ******** will grow again to be one of the better haunts in the area. But this year, it just didn’t look like they finished their original vision of what they intended to provide. We really look forward to seeing what they do next year, because we KNOW they can do a lot better. Don’t get us wrong… it was fun, and it was good in most places… but in between the good and even AWESOME stuff, there was nothing but dull walking to keep us amused. And if you are a repeat visitor at DFWHauntedHouses.com, you should know by now that we don’t get amused by walking in the dark, or bare walls. We will definitely visit again next year to see how much the ******** grows!
Side note: Some of you may think that based on our scoring system versus our description of ********, that we should give a lower score. But in all honestly, we don’t think that the ******** needs MAJOR modifications. The decoration and detail needed in the bare and dull areas is really just small minor details that can be done easily and inexpensively, but the task is time consuming. Which is why TIME is what ******** needs to get back up on the higher score scale. We know they are capable of it, and we know they WANT to make it happen, but probably just ran out of time to get it done.
OVERALL SCORE: 7
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See the 2005 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=48)
See the 2004 Review (http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=30)
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