Haunted Houses

Last night, John and I went out with my brother and a couple of our friends, Jason and JR, to Night Terrors, a haunted house in Mandarin. Although I don't like scary movies or rides, for some reason I don't mind haunted houses and actually have fun going to them (as long as I'm surrounded by a bunch of my friends!). I've been to Halloween Horror Nights several times, and I thought Night Terrors was a good alternative if you can't make it out to Orlando or you simply don't want to spend the money for amusement park admission. Night Terrors was $25/person ($35 for the "RIP" entrance), which is far cheaper than what I used to spend going to Halloween Horror Nights (about $50 for park admission PLUS $50 for a fast pack, which lets you get to the head of every line). So like I was saying, this local haunted house was a good alternative. The setup, costumes, makeup, and special effects were quite comparable to Halloween Horror Nights. We waited in line for about an hour, which really wasn't that bad since there were people dressed in costumes trying to scare everyone in line for our entertainment. Right before we walked into the haunted house, we were told that it would take us about 30-40 minutes to get through the whole thing. I thought, "What?! That seems like a long time to be stuck in a haunted house." So at this point I was getting a little nervous (and it didn't help hearing all the people screaming inside). And of course within seconds of walking in, I already had my first scream. There were sections placed throughout the haunted house that had different themes, from an insane asylum to a doctor's office in which the doctor was "sawing" off patients' legs. Some of the more frightening moments occurred when we were in complete darkness. We honestly could not see where we were walking and I was afraid we'd run into a wall (or worse, someone would jump out at me). Then there was one portion of the haunted house where you had to walk between these huge inflatables. The air was pushing so hard on both sides that it created the most horrifying sense of claustrophobia. And it felt like it took FOREVER - I was so happy to finally come out the other end. 

Probably one of the funniest parts of the evening occurred while one of the employees (dressed to look like a scary deranged patient) came up to my brother in one of the hallways in the haunted house and said, "Has anyone ever told you the Jaguars suck?" referring to my brother's Jacksonville Jaguars hoodie he was wearing. Andrew replied, "Yes, everyday." Aww, poor Jaguars fans!

The very last part of the haunted house was this huge skeletal t-rex head with glowing red eyes that chased you out into the exit. Even though this was probably the most unrealistic thing we saw, it terrified me the most. I don't know why! Maybe because it was so huge and scary looking. But you'd think the people running after me with chainsaws would scare me more, but nope. It was the t-rex. Go figure.

Overall, it was a fun evening. And yes, it did take about 30 minutes to get through the whole thing. So just think - it's like paying a dollar a minute to be completely scared. So if you and your friends are still looking for any last-minute Halloween plans, try out Night Terrors!