Had an incredible run last night, probably the best I'll have all year.
Hurricane prep and rains meant that by 12AM yesterday, most everyone had left the park already. Lines were so short; Insidious was at a 15, AQP at a 20, and Ghostbusters got down to 10. It was walk-on's the entire time, which allowed for much more personal runs than you are normally able to get. I saw people looping Insidious, which on a normal event night means you're pretty much getting that house done maybe 7 times max from 6pm to 2am. It was some guy's 4th run that hour.
I was effectively by myself through the whole house. The double Bride scare hit me like a truck, both popped out at the same time and it's like every actor here knows to reach right for the face. Lots of very creepy stalking around dark empty rooms from some Brides and Further ghouls without triggers. I saw the shadow on the door misdirect for the first time, as well as the actor that goes with it, and that got me great. The creature from I3 was on the countertop, rocking back and forth, just brushing the faceless persons hair. Incredibly creepy! The mannequin rooms were intense. The curtains with Darth Maul are awesome on a normal run, but they were relentless last night up into the finale where Keyface looked and pointed at me in the darkness. I figured I might know the performer or something, so I point back and smile before getting hit with Keyface, Bride, and Darth Maul all at the same time, each just a few inches from my head. Got damnt, what a freaking scare. Darth Maul even saw it fit to get me one last time from his side boohole. You should've seen the big, dumb smile on my face as I walked out of that soundstage, I kept it on for a good 15+ minutes walking around and into other house queues; that run was absolutely awesome.
The actors in this house put every other cast to shame. So much intensity, and so much knowledge of how to get a proper, incredible reaction out of a guest. I haven't been able to jump all year, because for the most part performers usually stick to just walking out of their boohole, doing their show scene, or the like. There are only a few performers actually able or willing to scare effectively in my experiences and I could probably name them off the top of my head. I get it, it's a hard, uncomfortable, and long job. And for the most part, the easy scare works just fine to make the average guest or high school group jump. But as someone who's been going for awhile and at this point needs more than a loud clang and a slow moving monster to get my heartrate up, I appreciate every performer in this house so, so much. Every run of mine has been so incredibly fun.
This is clearly the best house of the year. Incredibly long, detailed, intense, and varied. This is the one offering this year that I see qualifying as an All-Timer in my head.