Sorry for the lack of content. Working haunt season is rough because you're just drained & tired. I've got A TON of pics to go through from the entire run (seriously, there's probably close to 600-700 pics). So I'll slowly go through all those & post them over the next month or so. Anyway, until then here is a review/rant/recap of my experience:
LA HAUNTED HAYRIDE 2024
So after working 29/31 nights, this year's event has come to an end (Nov 2nd). I haven't set foot in LAHH since 2015. Back then, it was within the old LA Zoo area of Griffith Park. The event was a total dumpster fire & the quality did not match the price (to be fair, it probably still doesn't)! Working it was rough because the budget & professionalism just didn’t exist. 9 years later, it has drastically improved in some aspects while still failing epically in others. It's still a disorganized, dysfunctional, poorly handled mess as far as operations go (sometimes minimally unprofessional), but outside of that, it was actually tolerable for the most part.
The 3 houses they had were really good, definitely a major improvement from the past. Having worked the original
"Trick or Treat" when it was "NEW", i was curious about this version that was a major budget upgrade. The first two times I did it, it was So. Damn. Good. I was happy! Unfortunately, by weekend 3, staffing diminished with many scareactors quitting. So it became practically empty with maybe 5 scareactors on set resulting in the ones present having to put more unnecessary effort into trying to give a passable experience. This house had 2 (maybe 3?) GATs (guest activated triggers), something i haven't seen since my old Orlando years. And also, if you were lucky, you could also end up with candy from the monsters (but that aspect kinda died when most of the cast became non-existent).
"Hellbilly Halloween" was the cliche redneck farmhouse haunt & was VERY LONG! You'd think it was over, but NOPE! Unfortunately, it was never staffed with a proper amount of scareactors (something all SoCal events suffered this year). I did have a good run-through the first two times, but like "Trick or Treat", it was a victim of being severely understaffed, so it never reached full potential. At least when I went through it again the last 2 weekends, the janky werewolf animatronic was finally working. While it has Halloween in the title, it lacked any sort of actual Halloween vibes or decor (even of the twisted variety). Also they were supposed to worship animals or pigs or something, I don't know.
Lastly,
"Monae Manor", which was your typical rich old manor/funeral parlor cemetery house. It started out kinda weak & understaffed, then when I did it again during weekend 3 or 4, it was so well staffed that it became my favorite! Plus these damn scareactors actually got a few good scares out of me too! Still not exactly sure what the actual premise/concept was for this house, but it reminded me of the Haunted Mansion at Disney- go through the manor, get killed, end up in the cemetery lol.
All three houses definitely could use some technical upgrades/tweaks. Probably some set redesign. But overall, they weren't terrible, just terribly understaffed.
The skeletal horse carousel wasn't just a spooky prop this year, guests actually could ride it now. I did twice on the two nights I had off. I liked that it had a fog machine in the middle to make it extra spooky. I will say that it definitely has a weight limit because I saw it shift/lean as people got on/off.
The Madame Aurora Seance was an interesting experience. I was surprised how much they could cram inside that tent! Basically, if you're not one of the first 6 people inside, you won't be sitting at the seance table, you'll be sitting in bleachers. However, with that being said, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by all the special effects used for this: fog, compressed air, wind, lighting, moving table & objects gimmick + jump scare. I do feel it shouldn't be an upcharge experience (even if it's only $5-10), it needs to included with admission.
The food offerings were the generic snack stand with limited options & drinks. But also about 6 different overpriced food trucks. I got pizza fries though, so I consider that a win. No alcohol at the event, only non-alcoholic light up "kool-aid".. Meh.. there's also a S'mores station. Those weren't terrible, but not great either. We did give side-eye on Saturday night at the fact they were from "Magic of the JackoLanterns" event instead of our own lol.
Never watched the stage entertainment, so can't really comment on that, but people seemed to gather for it. However the roaming characters of "Midnight Falls" were fun to interact with. Sadly, I never got to see our stilt scareactor(s) in action before they were axed. We definitely could've used more roaming monsters.
As for the Hayride itself.... YIKES!! Honestly, the concept isn't terrible, but the execution is. It has potential, it is definitely an upgrade from years ago, but still needs an overhaul, some areas more than others. One issue is that most of the "action" happens on one side, barely anything on the other side unless it's double-sided. So it does kinda suck for guests sitting on the "less active" side. Most scenes don't exactly work in their current format, some just make you scratch your head in confusion (flying zombie.. just why??), but then you've got a scene that literally has no business being the highlight (drive-in theatre). The drive-in was by far the most "complete" scene, as well had the most consistent scares. It was far from perfect though, but it made everything before/after kinda "meh". The "Alien Encounter" (yea I'm calling it that), is definitely the toughest scene to work with, especially when you're missing specific set pieces (UFO .....& cows). It didn't take long to figure out a scare tactic routine, but when fog, C02, or the electro zapper weren't functioning it killed it real fast. It was a constant battle with tech too. *sigh* Anyway, it was an interesting experience trying to scare a moving vehicle, not as easy to do as being inside a house scaring guests in closer proximity.
Okay I think I covered everything (if not, it'll be included in future posts), now for the sappy part. Obviously, I auditioned for this because I wanted to scare this year even though i said i just wanted to enjoy haunt season. I didn't get cast for HHN, Knott's was being lame, & Six Flags was too far for my broke a$$, so I decided to give LAHH another shot. Honestly, I'm glad I did. After having recovered from being in the hospital last year, I needed this physical push. I wasn't going into this expecting to really bond with anyone or make new friends. But if the bond is there, it will happen naturally. With that being said, I had great castmates for my Hayride scene who made our hell go as smoothly as possible. They made me the "lead" for our scene so i made sure breaks were taken & relayed tech issues lol. The Midnight Falls Theatre & Arboretum inhabitants were also a solid pack I ended up bonding with since they're before/after my scene. It was great. A few of the house scareactors were friends adjacent, since we only got to interact before/after each night. Plus when I'd get tge chance to run through their house on my break. So I couldn't be happier, well.. I could.
Anyway. This wraps up the recap rant for haunt season 2024. It wasn't perfect, but it was what I severely needed. Thanks again to everyone who read this far & keep an eye on this thread because I'll be posting photo updates!
ONLY 300+ DAYS UNTIL HAUNT SEASON 2025!!