Dent Schoolhouse

If you know me at all, you know i live for Haunted Houses and Halloween time! And a day shy of Friday the 13th, I felt Dent Schoolhouse was the perfect kick off!

This is a pretty accurate description actually

Dent is in my top 3 of haunted houses anywhere! And my favorite in Cincinnati! Especially this year. They’ve changed a few things, going off of the amazing effects they added last year. There’s creepy crawly bug effects (gross but effective), creepy hallways, and it sticks with the school theme throughout. I will admit, in years previous they did what a lot of other houses do, and that’s throw all the scary stuff at you to get someone in someway, whether it actually fits with the theme or not (I’m looking at you USS Nightmare). This year they outdid themselves! There was not a spot in that school where i didn’t once think I wasn’t in a school.

I loved this guy creepily roaming around… and the scares from people were hilarious!

The acting was super great even for the first day. (Full disclosure, i used to work for Haunted Houses, i know when to expect to be scared, not much makes me scream, jump yes scream no) I screamed like a little girl at least 4 separate times that I’m willing to admit… There’s some new animatronics that are pretty awesome (and again 1 of which caused me to scream and cower like a girl-and i only admit this as some of the managers saw it happen so I can’t deny it… jerks) But there are some other effects that are TOTALLY worth checking out and even had me backing up to see them again they were that cool!

This actor was so creepy! and so awesome!!

 

Pay attention to the details in the themeing here. It’s amazing! You’d think you were back at that time it happened in the 50’s!

 

This may be the single greatest idea ever!! GO TO THIS NIGHT!!!

 

Now, if you haven’t gone in a few years and think “Oh Dent, its the same thing blahdy blahdy blah. It doesn’t scare me” 1. you should really go check out the rethemeing. Yes a good chunk is kinda the same, but the additions are well worth it. 2. I DARE YOU to go on Lights Out Night. I will be going back for sure. They introduced this last year and it was the best thing I’ve ever done haunt wise! We had about 10-15 people in our group, ALL of the lights were out (minus the safety lights on the stairs-safety first), and there was ONE glow stick for the entire group. Let me tell you what… glow sticks aren’t that bright… They’re bright enough to light your way and that’s about it. If you’re in the back of the group, forget it, every time the front person turns a corner you have no idea where you are. And the green light makes everything even eerier!

“No Refunds! You paid us to SCARE you! If you get SCARED in the line or in the first room and want to leave, we’ve done what you paid us to do very quickly. Be happy with prompt service!” I FREAKIN LOVE THIS SIGN!!

So if you haven’t gone in a few years, seriously, GO! Not only has the schoolhouse got a retheme, but the area out back did to! No more Detention Hall. It’s the Queen City Slaughter Yard. I’ll leave this one be a complete surprise 😉 But in the meantime, check out the teaser trailers for it below. This is some pretty professional grade stuff right here! Who’s up for them making a movie?

See all the photos here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.572355112811951.1073741825.129327087114758&type=1&l=a913c3fd84

Halloween

Ok, so if you don’t know me by now… I’m kind of a Halloween freak 🙂 I live for this holiday! But this year I’ve been a little off… I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t really had the money to go shopping, or maybe because my fiance has done all the grocery shopping before he goes to work. I haven’t bought a single Halloween decoration this season! Tonight that will change… just wait.

But I didn’t even decorate as much as I normally do though either. The stuff was out in like 15 minutes tops. My fall leaves are still tucked away, my big light up spiderweb isn’t in the window, cauldrons still in the box. Maybe it’s because I’ve been sick as hell all last week, with my allergies acting up the worst they’ve been since I was in jr. high! Or maybe I’ve just been so preoccupied with my house hunt that I haven’t really gotten into it. Or the wedding planning. Or maybe I didn’t have any big/new/far away haunted houses to go to and look forward to. Or maybe because I didn’t have a bunch of people to go with all the time to Kings Island for their Haunt. Who knows. But its kinda depressing.

But I did make the most of it, even in the funk I seemed to be in. Friday night was my last night doing makeup at the Springboro Haunted Hayride and Black Bog. Sad. I did have a blast making everyone all scary looking, and a few of those guys loved the blood… and I love covering people in it 😛

And after that it was off to a girls night at Kings Island! The boy tagged along long enough to go through the 2 houses he hadn’t done yet (Urgent Scare and Carnevil) I’m willing to put money on the fact that Carnevil is no longer there next year. It’s one of those trippy neon clown mazes that you’re supposed to wear 3-D glasses in… except the greedy Cedar Fair people were charging you a dollar for them! when they used to give them out and recycle them, and reuse them. 1. Not worth it for one trip through. 2. the house sucks without them. 3. going downhill like this is one of the reason I couldn’t work there anymore. All the fun was sucked out of working 😦 But we all made the most out of it, and I got to see my old co-workers, and even got a ride on Racer in and a glorious fogged filled ride on Diamondback and Beast. Where you literally could not see the track in front of you from the 2nd seat, until you were at the tops of the hills. I loved it!

The girls all trying to stay warm 😛

Saturday night was my parents annual OSU Chilifest! Its a Saturday in which the Buckeyes are out of town, in October (we had it late this year) and our backyard is full of tents and tv screens, and lawn chairs, and even a bar! Everyone brings a bowl of chili to feed the family and we combine it into one big roaster. My huge extended family comes over, all the neighbors, and even some of the old neighbors who have moved away! It’s a great crazy time full of games, a poker tournament, and normally someone in one crazy get up.

Forgive the crappy dark phone camera. But you get the idea with the huge projection screen, and another small tv, and the lights and seats and heaters, etc. And this is only half the tent...

The garage with 3 different food tables, and 2 fridges, and you can see one roaster full of chili on the right, and the fridge with tv #7 or so, has all the different games that go on during thee game.

Too many beers or jello shot, or pudding shots, or whatever the neighbors were throwing at us, made for a late morning… ok… ok, early afternoon. But then I got to help pass out candy to the trick or treaters! Yay! My youngest brother is a senior this year, so he brought up all the costumes that were in a huge basket from the basement from over the years to try to make one. I know, you’re going “But he’s a senior! He’s too old to go trick-or-treating!” Not true. Every year, since my senior year, the senior civics class has gone trick-or-treating…. for canned goods… for the food pantry 🙂 It’s a great philanthropy project, and those that want to dress up can, and about half of them do. And normally when you stop at the little old ladies houses they ask if you’re there for cans or candy… the correct response is both! I don’t know how he did, but I know I made bank in the candy dept back then!

Boo as Super-Chicken-Cow!!! and our neighbor as Super Woman. Funny thing? It was totally unplanned. Too bad they weren't in the same class to go around together.

Then it was off for home, but a stop for dinner at Applebee’s (only cause we had a gift card) and then we met some friends at Dent Schoolhouse. Dent is my 3rd favorite haunted house, after Lewisburg cave, and Haunted Hoochie in Columbus. I love that its actually haunted 🙂 And I love that they seemed to make some major changes to it, and almost made it longer? It was definitely a good time. Even if I did have a younger one trying to take my arm off 😉

"Carrie" before 😛

And then yesterday was Halloween! It’s depressing that I can’t even dress up a little bit for work 😦 It’s not like anyone else sees me! And I think it would help some people loosen up. 😛 but I instead opted to don my old prom dress and my old college homecoming tiara, nix the blood and just go with the prom queen/princess/beuty queen/whatever the kids decided I was that night. It was originally Carrie from the “Carrie” movies, but I decided to be nice to the kids. Last year I only got maybe 5 kids that made it up the hill to me. This year I totally ran out of candy in an hour. But that made me happy 🙂

Yesterday was also a great day in Ohio for another reason…

Yuengling debutes in Ohio!!

It’s such a good beer… and the four of us so should have not gotten 2 pitchers… it is interesting to see who carried it and who doesn’t last night. I figured the Molly Malone’s chain would, but nope. The tiny dive bar Gas Light Cafe in Pleasant Ridge did! (Neon’s won’t get it until tonight… booo…) and the stores won’t have it until the 14th. I believe Arnold’s has it already as well. So go, drink up, enjoy and hope everyone had a great Halloween! 🙂

I’m going to enjoy the sunshine in Disney this weekend 😉 So a few posts might bombard you.

Day 12 of 30 Days of Photos

Day 12 – A picture of something you love

Nom nom nom

1. I LOVE me some Halloween

2. Its the only time I can find decent candy corn (which I just so happen to also love 😛 )

Win-Win right? 😛

Haunted Cave

Holy freaking Satan, Batman! The Batcave has been infiltrated!

Forget anything about haunted houses you know! Heck, forget any haunted house you’ve ever been to for that matter! I can attest to Lewisburg Haunted Cave being Ohio’s number 1 haunt according to Ohio Valley. This place almost doesn’t have words to describe it! But I’m going to try anyways.

You start off descending 100 ft into the cave with the lights flickering and shorting out on you while you wait your turn to climb down into the depths of Hell itself.

Rickety bridges guide you over underground lakes as demented souls pop in and out of nowhere and everywhere. You walk through forests and graveyards and walk between moving walls to ultimately make a sacrifice to be able to proceed on your journey… if you’re lucky…

And then the demented come out to play as you attempt to make your way through 3 caverns of chain-link and strobe maze… never knowing if your coming or going or if you’ve seen the same people 17 different times. Warning: this is the first of 2 places where you’ll most likely spend the majority of your time.

When you finally (if you do) make it out, you are bombard by your own senses. You hear drums and cars echoing off of near pitch blackness as you try not to stray off the path and get lost in the 50+ miles of tunnels-even though at this point you’re pretty sure that’s already happened.

And you finally come to Satan himself in his throne of fire and gives you multiple choices on where to wander to next. This would be part 2 of your time consumption. Once you find the path that doesn’t lead you back to the devil, his trickery leads you to even more choices!! I will at least give you a small hint: to always check out a room entirely when you enter it before deciding which way to proceed next.

The demons come out in all the glory and deamonness as you try to make your way out. Some of which are truly an amazing site. And just when you think you will never see the light of day again, along with experiencing mass amounts of deja vu, you realize there really is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I am a person that absolutely  loves haunted house, even though most don’t scare me thanks to years working in a haunt, but this one truly got to me. This isn’t as much a Boo scary as it is a total mind freak scary. All of your senses are tested here and its just crazy! But definitely at the top of my list, as it should be yours!

They also have a historical mine ride done by the historical society with proceeds going directly to the society. This is not a scary wagon ride. They tell you about the history of the mine. It is kinda neat to do… but the pull for this attraction? *shudders* the bats. Here you get up close and personal with the sleeping/hibernating bats hanging literally a foot or 2 above your head or on the walls across from you. Neat but freaky!

I totally 115% recommend you be thee shortly before it opens at 7, or you will be waiting in line. This place gets packed, and for good reason!

Kings Dominion’s Halloween Haunt

Ok so we hit all the Haunts, 2 scare zones and a night ride on Intimadator 305. All in under an hour and a half on a Friday night 🙂 Got there and park was pretty much dead (half pun intended lol). I’m going to put a disclaimer here and let you know I took off a point already for masks. almost EVERY actor had one on. Most houses didn’t need them. Doll Factory was the only one where ot didn’t look completely pathetic… So here’s my breakdown:

Kamp Killauee: 5/10 Theming was awesome!! Great concept but not much follow through with the scares. there were a few but meh. the bunkhouse was the best. one of the few rooms set up along the pathway.

The Harvest (scarezone) 2/10 only a few actors set up like a field kinda cornstalkerish. a lot of just running from one side to the other. not much interaction, which is kinda the point of scarezones

Blue Ridge Bloodbath: 6/10 LOVE the concept of getting to drive the antique cars and go through a haunt at the same time (that gave it an extra point lol) but they had the tops up on the cars so u couldn’t see as well. But I soon found out why as a scareactor hit the top and I’ll admot made me jump. I wanted more from it… like hopping in the seat next to me or the front or back of the car… but i know Cedar Fair isn’t about good scares sometimes lol

The Asylum: 4/10 Again good concept not much follow through. chain link and black tarps. A guy running into padded walls on a doctor chair and a creepy nurse were the highlights. they were crazy but not crazy scary.

Toxic Plague: 7 Awesome concept!!! It’s set up as a sewer with creepy crawlies, bugs, rats, snakes etc. it had some neat blacklight sludge effecrs that were rad. one room had “maggots” that fell on your head as the actor told us. I’m still not sure if it was rice or sand or what but definately creepy. If you don’t do bugs and critters this would definately creep you the hell out!

Club Blood: 6/10 An extra point for their theming!! Holy crap it was the best set up I’ve seen in a Club Blood yet! set in Tokyo perhaps, needed a DJ in the “club scene”. Hard to tell it was vampires tho. They did have “glass cages” after the club which were neat and added a surprise sound and air blast element.

SlaughterHouse: 6/10 This one again had great sets. Half of it was better than Kings Islands other parts seemed lacking. They had a good intro. The tour director leads you through 2 rooms and “just can’t go any farther” It had some good surprise spots.

Medeival Macabre: 3/10 So props to using the scented fog and what not but it was waaaayyyy overbearing throughout. again it would be 2 times better without masks. there was one area of about 15 actors. a little much?! Just not much popping…

Feary Tales (scarezone) 3/10 and only from one of the actors following some dumbasses around trying to steal props and talking about Alice being a whore LOL. much like The Harvest, but more effort.

Doll Factory: 8/10 the best so far! here the masks worked the makeup worked there dolls and doll parts and dollhouse rooms everywhere!!! Very high on the creepyness factor. The actors were good had robotic movements that added to the beleivable factor and overall incredibly well done! the setup was amazing!!

Alien Outpost: 5.5/10 Great concept through the flight of fear coaster queue. Here the costumes were more believable and the masks they did have worked. Actors used the corners and ride props to their advantage. But 2 declining factors. 1. you should get a choice to ride or go through their exit (they had the ride line closed) 2. There is just way too much dead space of going back and forth through queue lines wth no actors even. lots of potential not much follow through.

And topping it off with a night ride on Intmidator 305 doesn’t hurt either 🙂