I try to hit all the haunted houses I can each year, and no matter how much I've not enjoyed the previous year I try to give another chance.
One year, I left soaking wet and with a headache. There were way too many things coming from above that kept bopping me on the head, plus a bubble room where the actor sat and giggled and soaked my jeans up to my knees. I'm short, too. It was miserable leaving out to the cold autumn air.
The next year, I went with a friend. It was enjoyable up until the seemingly endless mazes. We were starting to get upset (we had other haunts we wanted to hit up) and actors were extremely unhelpful even after we were getting bored and irritated. The last maze we were in, we simply told the actor we needed to leave and had tried everything. On the 3rd try, he still said no and made a move to startle my friend, and ended up wacking her in the face with enough force to re-break her upper palate which she previously undergone painful surgery to fix. This of course cut our visit short-EMTs were very responsive, and the place took responsibility for the incident.... but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Despite this, I attended the year after that. It was pretty enjoyable until the clown room, where an actor was frustrated that I wasn't scared, and held me away from my group and wouldn't let me pass. I didn't want to get left behind from my group, and it was already obvious the actor wasn't getting a reaction from me. My friend asked him to please let me pass, and the actor called security on us. There was no yelling, no physical contact, just a simple request. We had to deal with security before being able to finish the haunt.
Also, there was a year where some people in my group were wearing Rocky Point shirts-we had gone there previously in the season and bought them. We ended up getting spat on, told Rocky Point sucks, and was followed by security the entire time. I've also been mooned by what I assume are Nightmare actors while wearing the shirt at a restaurant, and was verbally assaulted once on Trax by who I think might have been actors.
On the plus side, I enjoy the Nightmare Theater greatly. I wish it would change more from year to year like it used to. It's a great lead-up, and seeing all the clips from movies always get me into the Halloween mood!!
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