trick-or-treat

october makes me positively giddy.  i love the feeling of fall creeping in (at least, everywhere but southern california), knowing that the holidays and family time are drawing nearer, and i love love love haunted houses.

the 2013 haunted house season kicked off in september in san antonio, but october brought it back home for a little while.  first up was the haunted play: delusion.

my, now, roommate and i had discovered the experience last year and this year were joined by our friend kristina.

when october 12th arrived, we made our way to los angeles.  first stop, hyperion public, a great gastropub in the area, where we enjoyed such tasty treats as the 'f yeah fries', and the grilled cheese with bacon jam, pear, and mozzarella.  stomachs satisfied and tongues delighted we made our way to the bethany presbyterian church, the new 2013 location.  it promised to be both creepier and lengthier than the previous year.

we were greeted, given wristbands assigning us to a group, and ushered downstairs to the basement to wait for the experience to begin. this haunt is not so much about being scared as it is about 'participating' in the story.  it was fun to have kristina along since she didn't have any basis for expectations, and jami and i were itching to get started.

throughout the course of the experience, we were each given various tasks to perform, and at one point, jami and i were even pulled from the group (leaving kristina behind) to complete a totally separate storyline that involved plague doctors, musical charts, confessing our sins to a drunk priest, a near beheading...and there may have even been some spanking involved. eventually the rest of the group joined us and we completed the adventure together.  similar to last year, i did feel that the conclusion was  a bit abrupt, but over all, it was a fantastic evening.  it was much longer and the writing was more cohesive this year, as was the acting.  it will definitely go back on the list for next year.

the following weekend, kristina (who turns out to be a haunt lover as well!) ventured out to a local favorite, knott's scary farm.

at the same price as the haunted play, you can't beat the value you get from knott's.  with multiple mazes and rides, you can get a lot of bang for the buck.  but, it had been a couple years since i had been, and it was sooooo much more crowded! in previous years i had been able to do all of the mazes and the big rides in the course of an evening, but this year the lines were extremely long and we only knocked out a handful of mazes and one of the coasters during our five hours.  lesson learned if i decide to go back next year - buy the fast pass!

nontheless, kristina was good company, and i was really impressed at the increased quality of some of the mazes.  there were a couple in particular, where i also felt like the creepies inside were dedicated to their scare-craft, watching your behavior in order to scare you at the best time and in the best possible way.

and it was time for the next leg of the haunt tour, heading out of state again, and back to texas!