Haunted Review - Danger Run (No Spoilers!)

It's finally here! The first review of the 2013 Haunted House season!! And as promised, Aly and I reviewed the Danger Run as well as the two haunts we visited. But no worries - we promise not to spoil any fun on this post!! We will be reviewing the haunts separately, so if you DON'T wanna know what two of the haunted attractions of Danger Run are, I strongly urge you to not read the next two reviews!! This one, however, will keep the secret.

First off, I have to say thank you to Danger Run for the opportunity to win free tickets on their Facebook Page. Aly and I were only able to go last night because of them, and they are SO incredibly appreciated!!

Now, on to the review:

The Clues

I will give major props to the designers of this route, the clues were tough and had us missing a turn because it took too long to figure it out, but they weren't unsolvable. I can't attest to the other routes (of which there are TWELVE!!) but ours was very well done. I will forever and always detest the one about "A liar would tell you a liar would say..." but after a few minutes of arguing and rationalizing (which is tough when you're driving along in the dark in the middle of nowhere with the overhead light glaring and obscuring your night vision) we were able to figure it out. We did take a wrong turn (or two...) but all in all, we were pretty proud of ourselves. The clues to the second haunt were a little...lacking. There weren't many clues, and I would hazard to guess it was because there really was no other way to make that long drive and still make it to both haunts in one night. We were even kind of glad for the mental break, being that it was pushing midnight when we got to the last haunt, but we weren't ready to stop solving clues.


The Route

Omigosh, I was impressed. I wasn't aware certain seemingly populated parts of the area even HAD a boondocks, but we were creeping along these narrow ass roads at twelve mph tops, freaking out about what the heck was around the next turn. One part held a pretty terrifying surprise as we damn near took out a couple of cows!!

Yeah. Cows. Hate them. HATE them. They're unnatural to me. Don't get me wrong, I love steak and hamburger and milk and all that, but in living form, they're terrifying to me. And I simply had to take a picture, although the cows had smartly moved off the road by the time I snapped it. Then while trying to get a better picture, I could have sworn I heard the warning that Jason was approaching. You know, "Ch-ch-ch-cah-cah-cah..." Yeah, I panicked, told Aly, "Uh, we need to go. Move. Now." And yanked my arms in the window again, earning me this shot:

Lol, yeah, I was that freaked. Then, of course, was the bridge. I had to share this one, because I'm not normally scared of bridges, but this one...we were a little worried that we'd be going for a swim or something was gonna crawl out of that water and get us. Yes, it was that scary. [Aly says: I don't think she is explaining this well enough... it was terrifying.  Children of the corn and possessed cows staring at us. TER-I-FYING!! Seriously the best routes they've ever done. They worked really hard to find the scariest roads in the area. Kudos!]

The picture doesn't even do it justice. We had to use the bathroom when we got to the first haunt...


Now, I have to score it. Really, the only thing  that pulled this experience down was the incredibly long drive without clues on our way to the second haunt. It was a bit of a drag, and while I'm fairly sure it wasn't the case, it just felt like the second half the designers gave up and said, "Eh, let's just get em there." Again, I'm sure it wasn't really like that, it was just the way it was perceived.

All in all, I'd say 4.5/5 stars, or 9/10 stars. (Why do I score out of 5 then out of 10? For the sake of the haunt workers to get the most accurate feedback. They read these too!!)

Danger Run really delivered this year, and when we visit again (hopefully soon!) I'm sure we won't be disappointed. Well done, Danger Run!! We had a blast! :)

The Score

Now, in all fairness, we DID review the two haunts on the Run, so you've been warned that the next two posts are SPOILER ALERTS!! Don't get mad at me if you don't heed my warnings and the veil of uncertainty is lifted prematurely!!!

Aly's Two Cents

I'm not going to lie... the Danger Run is what I look forward to every year.  Not necessarily the haunts... but getting in a car with Ashley and having no idea where we are going or how to get there.  No matter what, WE make it fun.  However... this year... it was different.  We really had fun! This was the first year we were scared ON THE RUN! (But seriously, how couldn't you be scared when cows are contemplating eating your brain? I really think that's what they were doing.)  The team went through a lot of work this year finding awesome roads that were scary (much like they were promising on their Facebook page, if you stalk them like I do).

Ashley is always our navigator (which is scary) and I always drive (safety first).  Most times, we get lost, roughly.... a thousand times. I am not sure if we are starting to understand their lingo, if we are getting smarter or it was just more obvious this year, but we only got lost three times. I think it made it more fun as well. Ashley and I didn't feel like killing each other when we got to the haunts and I didn't even threaten to make her walk the rest of the way (not even once!).

I totally agree with the 4.5 star rating on this one. And... since there are FOUR haunts this year on TWELVE routes, I think we will have to go again. The guys at the starting gates are really cool and you can even start from your house this year (I think we need to try that...). I definitely recommend this!!
~A