Do you have any grades for the mazes and your overall experience?
Last year, I was wearing my "Come Play With Us" hoodie & the cast in Willoughby's was all like "We'll play with you! Stay with us" lol1) Willoughby's Resurrected: and the cast here was on-point. Easy favorite of the night.
4) Aftermath 2: Appreciate the effort on the preshow video, though the acting quality was pretty lacking. I was most enamored with the sheer scale and openness of the sets here... they absolutely do not skimp on the fog, and at times we were wandering around aimlessly, which led to some brutal scares. The fireballs led to a number of "wow" moments, as did the pockets of more contained, fog-infested quarantine areas. The only thing holding this maze back was the ratio of soldiers to zombies/monsters; two-thirds of the maze was (effectively energetic) soldiers telling us to run or keep moving, but I didn't really get "why" until the very end. The more Lovecraftian beasts were super compelling when they did appear, I just wanted more.
My biggest complaint is the scare zones; with the exception of City Under Siege, none of the scare zones were staffed. No joke - did not see a single scare actor in Nightmares, Shadows, Witch's Lair, or the steampunk one (there was a stilt exiting when we walked in). To anyone more familiar with their operations - what was going on here? Staffing issues?
I don't remember what exactly was new/different from 2016 last year but it was so great. As for the mazes, they actually have at least 2 other locations that have been used in the past they could put into action. I actually want them to up the maze count only because the park really needs a maze in the back of the park. Also keep in mind their production value is accomplished by repeating mazes for several years (thankfully, the good mazes with the most scenic detail- willoughby, reds, etc). The park/event suffers in not staffing enough people.Fright Fest review from last night! I went Sunday night and the crowds were very light! Got an awesome runthrough on everything! Bare in mind I haven't been through the mazes since '16. Fright Fest was surprisingly good this year. I enjoyed this a LOT more than WB. They really stepped up their game with the production value and scares. I really like how there are just six mazes as opposed to eight for quality over quantity. It was so good, I feel like HHN needs to learn from Fright Fest with their scare tactics. For an event that's "go for the coasters, stay for the scares", it's super underrated and a great value.