Impulsively decided to attend this for the first time! My thoughts & rankings:
1) Willoughby's Resurrected: wow! This maze was legitimately impressive, with a litany of clever effects (some off the shelf, some more lovingly DIY) that together built a consistent, dread-inducing atmosphere. Really loved that the first few rooms were so quiet... you rarely see a maze embrace the value and creepiness of silence. Once the scares started, they were relentless and cleverly placed. The bathroom, fireplace, and organ setups were standouts, and the cast here was on-point. Easy favorite of the night.
2) Sewer of Souls: Really strong 3D maze with effective projection mapping, gross-out elements, and physically-uncomfortable features. The air bladders are always a treat and well-used here, but I especially marveled at their use of the "endless floor" mirror gag! The use of puppets was also commendable for a haunt of this scale; I thought the giant rat was frankly more intense and animated than the wolves at HHN this year. Another enthusiastic cast that made great use of their disorienting environment.
3) Red's Revenge: Beautiful, homemade Scary Tales-feel. The preshow was a nice touch that helped contextualize what follows. The scale of some of the sets were great, and I really dug the overhead, monologuing Red; a great sense of showmanship here. The cast could have been a bit more aggressive, as I felt the environments almost trumped their energy at times, but there were definitely a handful of strong scares here, especially from the wolves.
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.
5) Condamned: Not quite feeling the love for this one. It was packed with details and gorgeous, to be sure, and I really liked the amount of crouching and enclosed spaces we had to navigate, but the scares and cohesiveness just weren't there for me; it wasn't quite clear what the plot or conceit was beyond "random monsters in a house." Some rooms felt more "cool" but random than actually scary, like the mini arcade. Maybe we just hit at an off-moment.
6) Hellfest: Echoing everyone else, this felt like a bit of a hobbled-together advertisement. The cast in here was really trying and I commend their efforts, but the maze design was all over the place, the scare placements so-so, and the main baddie kind of underwhelming (which doesn't spell well for the film).
Many of the coasters ran in the dark and had very short lines; managed to get on Twisted Colossus, Scream, Full Throttle, Tatsu, and Goliath without waiting more than ten minutes for each.
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? Feels disingenuous to advertise "new" scare zones when none of them are populated (and we were walking through from 8 to 10pm, not at the very beginning or end of the night). With that said, the clowns in City Under Siege were effective and entertaining; strong banter that distracted while another snuck up for a scare.