Haunted Hoorah Review (2017)

In keeping with their theme, most of the cast is dressed in military garb or nurses uniforms. There was an outlaw and one clown roaming the queue line area and while they were certainly entertaining, their placement was a bit confusing. We chose the extreme experience, and our souvenir dog tags let the actors know that we were open season for any games they had planned. To say that this is an interactive haunt may be a bit of an understatement- from the moment a patron enters the attraction, YOU are the star of the show. You are their newest recruit, and they are intent on putting you through the wringer in order to test your worth for the Doctor’s latest development- a super soldier serum. The actors are very dedicated to completing this illusion, from barking out orders and demanding your compliance (comply or die, they told us), to limiting your senses and far beyond. Previous victims of the Doctor’s experiments shudder and shriek under the watch of medical staff- while these roles were usually given to static props, the folks at Haunted Hoorah have bucked this trend, and to great realistic effect. I believed they were suffering, and I believed I could be next. There was perhaps one actor who put the illusion in danger of reminding us we were in a haunted house while we waited on another military vehicle to bring us from one location to another, but that one particular actor aside, their cast remained fully dedicated to their roles.

We did not see any billboard advertisements on our way to the haunt, and we did make a wrong turn on the way there thanks to very dim lighting around signs with arrows directing patrons to the location. A parking attendant greeted us immediately upon finding the location and ushered us into a spot. Staff in fatigues roam around the entrance, and they do have a plainclothes security person onsite as well available to help patrons. The ticket booth and merch trailer are in a well-lit area on either side of the haunt’s entrance. When we arrived, we were offered the standard experience, or the full contact extreme version. Patrons who choose the extreme experience are given waivers to sign and dog tag necklaces to signal to the actors that that person is okay to touch. The queue line entertainers took full advantage of this and even used patrons in line to amuse themselves! Jason was told to bark like a dog and do jumping jacks and I was nearly whisked away by a scary clown! Port-o-potties are available for customer use and the haunt is near a gas station where drinks and snacks are available.

Sound effects were few and far between inside the attraction, other than the ones made by props, but on the insides of the military vehicles, eardrum-shattering metal music blasted from speakers under the seats to keep us on edge during the ride. Realism seems to be the universal goal at Haunted Hoorah, so eerie music was ditched in favor of ambient noise. A scene involving soldiers shooting into a zombie quarantine area seemed to be the exception to this, where a soundtrack played in time with the video screen which served as a ‘window’ in that particular set piece. The whole haunt was meticulously decorated with peeling wallpaper, rotting ceilings and intimidating-looking medical equipment. Save for one undecorated thermostat we spotted on the wall, everything flowed together very well.

It is evident the moment you arrive that the haunt has a definite military theme, with particular emphasis given to the idea of top secret human experiments. The backstory available on the haunt’s website goes into much deeper and more disturbing detail, but it’s not necessary to read it in order to grasp what’s going on. World War II imagery is explored, but not strictly adhered to, which made for some confusion as to whether this experience also wants to take us back in time. The commonly seen themes of zombies and medical experiments work well bound together with a military theme and while it may not be uncommon, Haunted Hoorah’s theme is executed uncommonly well.