Opening night at California's Great America Halloween Haunt

9/29/2016

Last week we were invited to opening night of Halloween Haunt at California’s Great America. This event is one of the biggest Halloween event’s in the Bay area and once again the park did a fantastic job.

Written by Stephen Harrington

There are 8 houses with 5 different “Skeleton Key” rooms, which sound very similar with what Knott’s is doing, and possibly the Cedar Fair chain. Really the fact is that each Skeleton Key room is it’s own little mini-haunt. I will not be giving any spoilers away for the “Skeleton Key” rooms other than to say it is worth it to upgrade to Frightlane plus and include the rooms.

Skeleton Keys!!

The “Skeleton Key” rooms were very strong in their showings. The other nice thing about opening night is the crowds were thin. The next few weekends are probably going to be the best times to visit if you are worried about crowds.

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Once we start getting into October and closer to Halloween, the crowd levels will increase. Another nice thing about coming during haunt is the rides are open and tonight was pretty much walk on for the coasters and very minimal wait for the major attractions.

However, hopefully it was opening night hiccups, there was a noticeable lack of talent in the houses. We will be back before the end of the run to see the differences compared to opening night. Also a majority of the houses are repeat and some of them, hate to say it need to be retired.

Rumor has it, if possible, stay for the evenings closing ceremony for possible spoilers and hints for next season. We unfortunately couldn’t stay last night to hear for ourselves.

CGA's Haunt is RD Friendly

House reviews, no spoilers-

Dia De Los Muertos Same as the last few years, actors and theming were spot on.
Roadkill Roadhouse This house has been around in some form since the beginning year of halloween haunt, nothing new, nothing real stand out
Madame Marie’s Massacre Manor Good House, once again pretty much the same as the past few years .
Cornstalkers They somewhat shortened the length, which was a good thing because before you were walking past a bunch of nothing. And built more more sets to add to the detail. one of the longer lines and a very solid house with great actors.
Toy Factory That song is still very catchy, this house has also been around since the beginning of California’s Great America Haunt and every year still remains one of the best houses of the event. Very strong showing, Actors are into their roles and they own it. Once again one of the best houses of the event.
Zombie High One of our experiences with very few actors present. It may have just been timing on our part, but when we went thru this house suffered from lack of talent. Detail and atmosphere are set up wonderfully and lack of scares just sort of falls flat.
Wax Museum Chamber of Horrors Once again we experienced the same thing here as we did in Zombie High. Detail and ambience were great with just lack of talent. Overall still a strong house.
inSanitarium I believe this house was new last year. there is a scarezone just outside this house which sets up the area up perfectly. Very good, strong, solid house.

New for this year was also FearVR. Samsung Gear VR is taking over the amusement world. It is a 4D $10 upcharge attraction. It is also very unique. If you decide to give it a shot, look around with the Gear on, there is so much to look at. If you missed our review of FearVR and thoughts on it's sudden closure be sure to check it out here.

Skeleton Key Rooms- California’s Great America has 5 Skeleton Key rooms which are their own separate entities. There is “Bone Crusher,” “Dominated,” “Vanity,” “Hoarder House,” and “Sorority Slaughter.” While short, the theming was amazing, and the actors owned their roles. Definitely worth the price to upgrade to fastlane plus.

Halloween Patriot coming in 2017

There also also four shows during the run. Last night we were only able to catch “Blood Drums” so on our next visit we’ll be sure to catch the other shows.

Once again if you get a chance to come out to California’s Great America Halloween Haunt you won’t be disappointed. There were some opening night hiccups, as to be expected, but we will be back later in the run to see the differences and changes.

Thank’s again to California’s Great America for having us out and we’ll see you in the fog!

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Opening night at California's Great America Halloween Haunt

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