Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Hundred Acres Manor
Website: www.hundredacresmanor.com
Location of Attraction: Bethel Park, PA
Date of Review: Saturday September 7th, 2019
Total Number of Attractions Available: 6-in-1 & several side attractions
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 8/10
Entertainment and Food Rating: 7.5/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 9/10
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 8/10
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 9/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8/10
Overall Feedback: The skies were clear with a cool crisp air and our squad was ready to kick off a much anticipated 2019 haunt season. On our first official evening of the 2019 review season we had two reviews lined up. We had already visited Demon House and next up we were headed to Hundred Acres Manor. We’ve visited this haunt once before back in 2016 and we were blown away by our experience. We definitely had high hopes coming into our review of Hundred Acres Manor due to our previous thrilling experience several years back. After having some troubles locating the haunt itself we pulled into the parking area around 9pm. Even from afar Hundred Acres Manor easily has one of the most eye catching appearances of any haunt we’ve visited. The searchlights swirling in the sky, the glow of the haunt itself and screams can all be seen and heard in the parking area. This sets the tone for guests before even reaching the ticket booth. As we neared the ticketing area we took notice that this place already had a HUGE crowd on hand for it only being their 2nd night of the season. Fortunately our squad was granted fast pass admission so we were able to skip the solid 60-90 minute general admission wait; although we still easily waited 30 minutes in the fast pass line. But on the bright side, there isn’t any waiting once inside the manor doors as guests will experience the 6 themes all back to back. Hundred Acres Manor is well known for their lengthy walkthrough but they also have several other spooky fun experiences for their guests. A buried alive experience, two escape rooms, the maze (back for 2019) and even a beer lounge! Combine some of these side attractions with the main walkthrough and guests easily have a nights worth of entertainment. As we waited in line we took note too a few things; one being the AMAZING animatronic in their front entertainment area and the other being two top notch line actors! The two line actors were some of the best we’ve encountered in our years of reviewing. They were rather sneaky and relentless in their attack. They certainly had our hearts pumping before entering the haunt. Once inside the manor guests are invited into an elevator by a rather fun but eerie bellhop. As we begin to descend into the basement the elevator begins spiraling out of control, floor vibrating, walls thrashing and lights flickering sure made for one hell of an elevator ride. Once slamming into the basement floor we gathered our bearings and prepared to set forth on our journey. Hundred Acres Manor has always amazed us with their movie quality set design. The scenes guests encounter are extremely life-like and really do a terrific job telling a story and immersing the guests into the portrayed scene! Most notably some of the scenes in “Vodoh” and “The Breach 2.0” had our group drooling in amazement! Too this date the swamp scene is still one of our squads all time favorites. With it being several years since our last visit we were pleased with the significant changes; essentially providing us an all new experience. Not only is the set design impressive but so is the costuming and makeup. We were thoroughly impressed by the life-like costuming and makeup these actors possessed. We recall stopping to stare at a few scare actors makeup in pure amazement. The scare actors themselves came from all different directions to provide scares; there’s no hiding from the spooks at this haunt. They certainly kept us on our toes! With that being said we felt there was a significant decrease in actor engagement with the guests compared to our last visit. This go around the scare actors seemed to be more of the pop scare and reset variety. We’d love to see more of the actors engage with guests to really provide an all around immersive experience. We could definitely tell it was opening weekend as there were a few minor technical difficulties and some of the scare actors didn’t quite seem up to full speed yet. We have no doubt that if we returned later in the season we’d likely receive a more well rounded experience! But still, given it was opening weekend the Hundred Acres Manor team provided a kick ass experience! After completing the manor itself our group elected to give some of the side attractions a whirl. A few members opted for the Buried Alive experience while others elected to give The Maze a whirl. The Buried Alive experience is an immersive burial experience that messes with several of your senses! As you overhear your burial you’re being jostled around in your personal coffin trapped with the smell of death. We’ve seen this type of side attraction offered at several other haunts and we have to say that this Buried Alive experience may be one of our favorites. The Maze was once a part of the manor itself many years back but as attendance numbers grew they elected to pull The Maze from the manor. Back for the 2019 season as a side attraction guests can now test their luck at finding the exit path in The Maze. Somehow our group was able to pretty easily snake our way through the maze with pretty little confusion. Within the maze itself were several scare actors keeping guests on their toes as they lurked around the corner stalking their guests awaiting to provide spine tingling scares. The Maze is definitely a fun 5-10 minute side attraction experience and our only suggestion would be adding in a few more actors to enhance the scare/thrill factor. By this point in the night it was approaching midnight so we unfortunately did not have time to give their escape rooms a whirl. But we overheard another few groups talking about their experiences and boy do these rooms sound like fun. We were once again pleased overall by the experience Hundred Acres Manor offers. And for only $23 Hundred Acres Manor truly is a must-see haunted attraction! It’s hard to find an experience like that of Hundred Acres Manor for that low of cost. If you’ve yet to visit Hundred Acres Manor definitely plug them into your calendar for this haunt season; you won’t be disappointed! Happy Hauntings!