Halloween season 2017 my husband and I went to a total of 13 haunted houses. We Hit 5 in the Atlanta area the night of September 29th and then went to the remaining 7 (all in the Central Alabama) throughout the month of October.
Here is our favorite haunted houses in order:
1) Netherworld
2) Nightmare's Gate
3) Atrox
4) Paranoia
5) Hellbilly Hollow
6) Nightmare 3008
7) Warehouse 31
8) Hollis Haunted Chicken House
9) Insanitarium
10) Sloss Furnace
11) Mountain Creek Trail of Fear
12) Folklore (only BAD haunt we went to)
3) Atrox Factory- "Best in Alabama" (8.5 out of 10) (Wed night)
Total time on site: 40 minutes....Total time in haunt: 12 minutes
I rank Atrox as the best haunted house in Alabama, but 3rd best overall.
We went on a Wednesday night (10/18/17) to avoid the lines and crowd. It was easy to park, get in, and get our tokens. There were plenty of security as there always is so safety is never a concern. They already had the stage setup for the actress that is coming this weekend. There was also a food vendor truck out back for anyone who wanted to eat as well as the concession stand inside. They have a few sets put together in the waiting area as they do every year and a projector playing an old movie on the wall as they always do. They had a monster walking around scaring people in the waiting area (there are normally more, but I assume with it being a weeknight they only had one). It took 6 minutes from the time we got our tokens for our token (Skulls) to be called.
Because there wasn't a lot of people they let us go in as a couple without any other people in our group. (We prefer this because we don't have to worry about loud, obnoxious people in front or behind us.) Once in the haunt we quickly understood what the theme was and scares started within the first few feet. We also immediately noticed how much different it was this year from last year. For the past few years, the initial setup was similar....creepy guy in an old study who opens a hidden doorway in the bookcase which leads into the actual haunt. This year, however, it was completely re-done. Aside from a few familiar sets everything else was either new or used in different ways. The haunt is really well set up and the theatrics were well done. As far as the actual sets and layout go I would say it rivals our #1 haunt (Netherworld). Many haunts overwhelm you with so many things in each room that you can't appreciate the detail because it takes too long to look at it all before you have moved on, but Atrox did a great job of putting a lot of detail into each room without overwhelming you with too much to look at. I screamed a lot in the haunt, tried to run several times, and was impressed by the amount of physical contact I received from the monsters (the more touching the better in my opinion). I was impressed as well with the amount of time the monsters spent of trying to scare my husband (all failed attempts), because every haunt we have been in focuses 99% of their attention on messing with/scaring me. However, my husband was touched on his head, neck, arms, and legs several times so it's nice that they didn't leave him out lol.
We were in the haunt a total of 12 minutes and that is my only negative feedback. To put it into perspective (only comparing the indoor haunts we have been to)....Netherworlds main haunt is 20 minutes & their secondary haunt is 10 minutes. Paranoia has 2 haunts each lasting 10 minutes. Nightmare's Gate has 1 haunt & it lasted 25 minutes. Insanitarium has 1 haunt & it lasted 16 minutes. So out of all the indoor haunts, we have been to our total walkthrough at Atrox was the shortest. Even though it was the shortest it was still one of the best. Between the great setup, well-done makeup, and good actors I say that it was the best Atrox experience to date (this is our 7th year going to Atrox). read more