Hanna Haunted Acres (Indianapolis, IN)
“75 Acres of Screams”
By Noah Wullkotte: Jollypumpkin@aol.com
Since 1992 Hanna Haunted Acres has been the largest event in Indianapolis. Nearly 75 acres are covered with haunts, a hayride, a corn maze and more. Indianapolis is one of the easiest drives City Blood deals with every year. It’s pretty straight forward with most it being highway. We made it to Hanna Haunted Acres at 8:07 and I figured there wouldn’t be a large line yet. Well, throw that thought out the window. It was packed to the point where they had top open 3 additional lines for people to wait in. Apparently they were trying out a new ticket system where each individual ticket had to printed out. After waiting in the ticket line for close to an hour, we were finally able to get our tickets.
The first haunt we got in line for is Hanna’s most popular haunt, Hanna Haunted Hayride. The line was pretty small for this haunt and after they scanned our ticket, it was our turn to hop on the wagon. I’m surprised at how long it took when there were less than 30 people in line and each hay wagon holds about 25 people. After listening to the rules for the hayride, the tractor started up and we were off. Hanna Haunted Hayride is much different than the typical hayride because it focuses on animatronics more than scenes and actors. You’ll travel through scenes that have a headless horseman, a pumpkin creature popping out of a tree trunk, an animated spider moving on a track, a massive rising giant, a combine chase and lots more. Some of props from Scare Factory and Scare Parts were not working properly mostly due to them being outside all the time. This is a fun haunt, but props are no substitution for real flesh and bone actors.
Blackout is your traditional dark maze, but doesn’t feature actors or many props of any kind. It’s pretty much a straight forward maze that you’ll be out of with no problem. Many of the facades for the haunts are poorly lit and this goes for Blackout as well. Buying some cheap outdoor lighting to light up the outside of the haunts would make it easier to locate them. Scarecrows Revenge is a large corn maze that can be rather confusing if you aren’t used to this type of attraction. It’s great for the family, but hasn’t changed much over the years with the exception of its name.
There aren’t many new additions to this years Hanna Haunted Acres. The Devil’s Half Acre has been removed and replaced with Medical Malpractice. This haunt centers around a hospital with zombies, corpses, sick patients and everything else that makes a hospital scary. Medical Malpractice includes a walkthrough ambulance that unfortunately isn’t lit. Flashing lights and sirens would add to the authenticity of the vehice. There’s nothing really innovative or shocking about this haunt. You’ll experience the lving dead in wheelchairs, manic patients etc.
Carnevil Returns and is pretty much the same haunt it’s been for years. Carnevil is your run of the mill 3D clown themed haunt. You’ll be given 3D glasses to view all of the 3D effects. Because many of the haunts are inside tents, the ground can become swampy. I’m not sure if a few of the tents have leaks, but there were a few areas where mats were layed down so people wouldn’t walk in mud. Carnevil has some entertaining elements to it. You’ll get the chance to see some impressive 3D artwork and some crazy animatronics.. Many of them are from the company Unit 70 Studios in Columbus, OH. The acting inside Carnevil is pretty poor and leaves a lot to be desired. The emphasis is put on the 3D art work instead. Carnnevil does have scenes and effects like a polka dot room, a vortex tunnel, a room full of clown heads and what you usually come to expect from these types of attractions.
Phantazmagoria is one of the longest running haunts at Hanna Haunted Acres and is one of the better attractions at the farm. You’ll experience a variety of scenes like a graveyard, nulcear dump, insane asylum and lots more. Phantazmagoria also has some great animatronics, but they are very loud and the scenes they’re in aren’t very detailed and come off as being put together at the last minute.
Overall, Hanna Haunted Acres is a fun event, but more time needs to be put into the attractions. For $27 you can tour all of the haunts on the farm or tour individual attractions for $13. Please visit www.hannahauntedacres.com for all of the details.
Hanna Haunted Hayride: Length-8 Design-7 Props/Animatronics-9 Acting-6 Scare Effect-7 Final Stab: 7.4
Phantazmagoria: Length-7 Design-6 Props/Animatronics-8 Acting-6 Scare Effect-7 Final Stab: 6.8
Scarecrow’s Revenge: Corn Mazes aren’t rated the same as regular haunts.
Blackout: Dark Mazes aren’t rated the same as regular haunts.
Carnevil: Length-6 Deisgn-6 Props/Animatronics-7 Acting-5 Scare Effect-5 Final Stab: 5.8
http://www.hannahauntedacres.com