Haunted Hotel in San Diego 2001
Haunted Hotel and Frightmare On Market St
I'm reviewing both of these together because they are (I believe) operated by the same owners and are located sooo incredibly close to one another in San Diego's famous Gaslamp District. See their websites here.
First, let me say that I enjoyed going through both haunts. I didn't consider them to be rip-offs, and I didn't feel like I wanted my money back at the end. So, if you are in the area during the month of October, then by all means give it a go and stop by. But, I will also say that they were a bit on the pricey end for what is offered. They charge $12 for each haunt and did not offer a dual admission fee, as I most firmly believe that they should. Perhaps, I give an email and suggest it! Both haunts are in a "maze" type format, but the interesting thing about these two mazes is that they are located entirely underground. My cohorts and I toured "Frightmare on Market Street" first. The theme for Frightmare 2001 is that of a haunted subway—so many of it's areas are embellished with elements and subway scoundrels and train wreck victims. Being underground, I thought this was particularly clever. The fiendly, I mean friendly, staff warn patrons before entering the haunt that it is possible to be separated from one's group because of the multiple routes down in the darkness. That was a first for me. One of the pro haunts that I had toured a couple of years back had boasted "secret passage ways" which turned out to be nothing but one wall that opened up into the main corridor, but in the case of this pro haunt, it was a bit more accurate. From what I could tell, the routes all end up in the same place, as it is only an illusion that the paths are different—but still more interesting than an "ordinary" maze. Now, some haunt goers do enjoy walking through pitch black tunnels not knowing what's going to happen… but one of the negative things about Frightmare is that there were just too many long stretches of blank, unused darkness. It became apparent that anytime my group was going to walk through a long tunnel in the dark that it was a "scare free" zone, no monsters were going to jump out, and thus it got to be something to get just past. Not a good thing to be thinking when walking through a haunt. There shouldn't be any thought given to a "scare free" zone. All of the actors were alert and did an excellent job with getting the screams. Every one of them was "working" and not just hanging out—and I very much appreciated that. There were a few areas that could have used more spooks; it was possible to tell that the cubicles were designed to hold them—but maybe we just went through when some of the creatures were elsewhere or on break. One of the final sections of the haunt was a 3-D area with a "terror tunnel" (you know, one of those tunnels that make you dizzy, one giant spinning cylinder that you have to walk through to get from point a to point b…). I found it sort of amusing that they have one staff member there to dispense the 3-D glasses right before going through the area and then another staff member to collect the glasses immediately before exiting. It was nice that they offered them at all, but perhaps they could have just been considered part of the slightly steep admission price. The Haunted Hotel was the best of the two. I think it might have been in existence longer because it has a more established feel to it when walking through. There were more props and more attention was paid to detail. The Haunted Hotel for 2001 is very much a tribute to the great horror films of the past and present. All of the boogey men greats make an appearance or two… or three. Freddy and Jason won't be missed. That is not to say that the Haunted Hotel is entirely set up with this in mind. There are a number of other areas that I felt were creatively designed. I won't ruin their surprises by detailing them here… I will say that extra applause goes to the scary puppet(s), the electrocution chamber, and the Leatherface scene. There weren't very many, if any, long passages of darkness to walk through. Should you be low on funds and have to choose between Frightmare On Market Street or the Haunted Hotel, then pick the Hotel. It was definitely my favorite of the two!!! One last thing that I would like to point out about this pair of haunts, they are entirely actor-driven. There are no animatronics props, no air cannons or horns. And since I feel that the actor-driven scare is a better one, the timing is more likely to be *just right*… Also, you won't have to worry about crowd control issues (like line-cutters) because there seemed to be plenty of visible staff members around to make sure that anything of that nature was kept to minimum. Keep that in mind when you're on the prowl for a good haunt to go to!!! Just makes if more fun for everyone involved.