RECAP:  Six terrifying attractions join forces to create Hanna Haunted Acres, all of which are accessed from a central Midway area known as “The Boneyard” that also provides a number of photo ops for customers, as well as food and drink options, psychic readings, carnival-like games to play, escape rooms, a convenient gift shop, and a variety of roaming characters.  Two new attractions make their debut this season, Bitten and Stalker Farms, and it’s all anchored by the OVH Award-winning Hanna Haunted Hayride!

HANNA HAUNTED HAYRIDE:  The action-packed main event takes place on board a tractor-pulled hayride, where shooting flames alert arrival and Hanna billboards fall inwardly toward the wagon as it makes its way by.  Numerous monsters attack within the isolated woods, including a tall mechanical creature that first leans out over the ride, then rises to impressive heights. A spooky funeral procession takes place in a frightening cemetery that witnesses pallbearers carrying the coffin of an undead corpse that’s heard struggling to escape shouting, "Let me out of here!"  Skeletons and witches fly overhead as a life-sized bird sporting a huge beak comes aboard looking for a place to nest! 

More monster attacks ensue, first from a 12-foot tall, red-eyed behemoth, then a gigantic spider that drops down from the treetops directly over top of shocked passengers’ heads!  Others include a dinosaur invasion; a wing-flapping, red-eyed, devil-horned beast that’s surrounded by similarly clad, red-gowned, hooded disciples in the midst of flames rocketing skyward; a man-eating pumpkin; a gigantic, orange-eyed behemoth with ram-like horns; and a flying, wolf-like entity instilling fear into the hearts of those along for the ride.

Several villains climb onto the hayride along the way, while others threaten with a variety of weapons including chainsaws!

Fantastic scares take the form of a deadly pendulum swinging back and forth above the route and inching its way closer and closer to riders’ heads; a horn-blasting collision with an oncoming train that occurs when the hayride suddenly stalls astraddle the tracks just as steam locomotive 550 arrives at the ungated railroad crossing, hammering into the side of the wagon, and knocking it sideways spraying steam everywhere; a junked, misfiring car; a spectacular, spine-chilling, aerial assault from none other than the Headless Horseman himself declaring, “The Reckoning has come!” and a speeding combine chase-out of The Hanna Haunted Hayride!  

- 12 minutes, 19 actors

CANNIBAL CHAOS:  With the ringing of a bell, guests are welcomed into a dilapidated shanty characterized by blood & gore.  Dismembered human arms and legs hang from walls and ceilings pointing the way beyond a CGI, zombie-splattering surprise and into a trophy room displaying various animal kills, like a stuffed moose, warthog, deer, etc.  Flesh-eating cannibals invade from the shadows, gnawing on bones and severed limbs as a horn-honking, near-miss, hit-and-run collision comes out of nowhere!  Another carnivore munches and devours his latest victim, even offering up a bite of ribs to passersby!

Scares continue through a murderous chainsaw shed, a fatal walkway of half-consumed torsos being projected forward out of adjacent opening, and a bedroom that finds a crazed girl biting the heads off her dolls!  A hungry hillbilly stands atop a bunk bed threatening, “Whooweeeee!  We’re gonna have a big bar-b-que party tonight!”

Additional scenes take the form of wildly barking, wolf-like guard dogs that take dead aim on the unsuspecting; a mechanical madman swinging a baseball bat from his wheel chair confinement that suddenly and unexpectedly rushes forward; and a gory kitchen where grandma is serving up human delicacies!   Advancement to a “Mongo” surprise out of a barn door precedes a large, swinging pendulum dropping down to attack from above provoking the wrath of a big, bloody brute who provides a man-eating chase-out of Cannibal Chaos!

- 4 Minutes, 9 actors (down from 5 minutes, 17 actors in 2023)

BITTEN: This tale unfolds inside the once magnificent mansion of Count Zamale.  Mysterious portraits adorn the walls of this cryptic, new haunt formerly known as Acres Manor, where entrance into a frightening funeral parlor interrupts a mourner crying over a corpse lying in a coffin having a wooden stake protruding from his heart!  Departing to allow the solemn paying of respects discovers a shaking chandelier that comes crashing down from above bringing the entire ceiling with it!  From there, it’s onto a spooky dining room, where the table, set with plates of human remains, suddenly begins vibrating on its own and a chair mysteriously levitates up off the ground!  A bloody kitchen is up next, where cabinets and drawers open and close of their own accord giving rise to an attack by a gory, knife-carrying chef who comes popping out of a closed refrigerator!  

Caskets line the walls as the course makes its way into a room filled with more of the same, and passes beneath an arched walkway of still more of the eternal tombs leading through a pair of eerie bedrooms, where an elderly, mechanical man is thrust forward from beneath the sheets, then an empty bed violently thrashes about of its own volition!  Darkened corridors hide a multitude drop-panel startles en route to additional mysterious sights, including slamming suitcases; more casket contained, staked-through-the-heart cadavers; and a candle-lit cathedral, where bodies have been suspended upside down over a visually-impressive altar, dripping their blood down, and thus creating a fountain that’s surrounded by a pair of vampiresses horrifically drinking the blood, chillingly asserting, “I want to live forever!” and offering to share sips of their tragic cocktail as you make your way past!   

Tilting bookcases haunt passage through a dusty, spider web-covered library that’s home to a strange individual clutching onto a wolf puppet that lunges out trying to sink its teeth into visitors, hence running them out of Bitten!

- 4½ minutes, 9 actors­­­­

FREAKSHOW:  This carnival begins in the presence of curious clowns inquiring, “You’re not scared, are you?”  Stepping right up soon discovers an oversized, pneumatic Jack-in-the-Box, a clown marionette, a snack bar of not-so-tasty treats, and a "Midway" of treacherous games, including bloody axe throwing, ring toss over severed heads, cranium crush, a whack-a-mole spinoff called whack-a-skull, shoot a human, psychic booth where fortunes are told, and a magic show where the trick of sawing a body in two went abhorrently wrong!

Memorable startles are delivered by a swinging clown loudly kicking his feet into a glass enclosure; toppling barrels; air gun blasts; and distorting, funhouse style mirrors!  A sinister surprise awaits in a room of Jesters, then it’s onto a dressing room of freaks and an animal trainer unleashing some of his “tamed” beasts, including “Bonzo” the ogre. The attraction concludes through a disorienting spinning vortex whapping up The Freakshow!

- 3½ minutes, 8 actors (down from 5½ mins, 21 actors in 2023)

DARK ECHOES:  This attraction explores an isolated cave immediately stumbling upon a giant skull right out of the Goonies movie!  Deep within these light-limited catacombs resides a horned, red-eyed, 6-armed monster that becomes infuriated upon being disturbed.  Skull-lined walls encourage advancement into the presence of some sort of snorting creature that’s heard but never seen.  Skeletal remains and more skulls comprise décor as a sudden cave-in takes place awakening another distempered beast, showing off its enormous fangs as it emerges from a red, swampy, laser-lit underworld!  Some cavern secrets are best kept undiscovered at Dark Echoes.

- 3½ minutes, 8 actors

STALKER FARMS: The corn is high on Ma & Pa’s Indiana Farm!  Rebranded from “The Horror Fields,” scarecrows and skeletons on crosses line the pathway and ghouls run in and out of the surrounding stalks as the journey visits various scenes, including a wolf standing guard over a chicken coop; a misfiring, smoking, sparking car; the moonshine still of a forsaken hillbilly; a covered bridge littered with body parts; a tractor that’s run over human beings; and a pig-faced fiend ringing a dinner bell all building to a hidden, chainsaw chase-out of Stalker Farms!  Loops and dead ends have been eliminated for 2024.

- 12 minutes, 9 actors

ANALYSIS:   Empowered by arguably the best hayride around and winner of 2023’s Best Hayride Award, Hanna Haunted Acres has earned its way onto OVH’s prestigious list of Top 13 attractions!

This hayride is extremely active from start to finish boasting and showcasing an astonishing number of unique animatronic monsters that set the stage for actor assaults, a near-fatal train crash, and a life-threatening combine chase-out!  "Dead spots" often common to many outdoor attractions don’t exist here!

Secondary attractions are top-notch while they last, but remain somewhat brief from a duration standpoint, which is their Achilles heel.  On the plus side, they’ve experienced enhanced detailing over the past few years and include an impressive assortment of pneumatic surprises that contribute to Hanna’s overall success. There’s always something moving, vibrating, shaking being projected into the path, etc., thus reinforcing the “haunted” aspect of the experience.  Spooky music fills the air throughout, except in the corn, and professional lighting likewise lends a hand to compliment the atmosphere.

Bitten makes an impactful debut limited only by its duration and finish.  Vampires steal the show around the new fountain of blood!  Visually displaying corpses having stakes protruding from their hearts also stands out.  Actually witnessing a stake being driven would make a powerful, long-lasting impression, and a stronger ending would better the attraction as well, perhaps in the form of a vampire chase-out!

As for Stalker Farms, the corn “maze” is a straight walk-through this year and doesn’t contain loops and dead ends, as previously mentioned in the recap above, which means there’s no real chance of getting lost in the fields and becoming “the harvest,” as advertised. 

Acting could be improved upon as well, especially when it comes to dialogue as interactions all too often consist of only “rah” or “hello,” and even a “boo!”  Hillbilly cannibal and vampires are the best performers.  Cast size is down significantly in comparison to last season when there were 100 characters including roamers.

Hanna’s impressive collection of mechanical monsters is what sets them apart from the competition.  Memorable props include billboards, train, use of fire, hovering spider, pendulum, headless horseman, combine, staked bodies in Bitten as well as the new vampire “cathedral,” CGIs, levitating chair, crashing chandelier, collapsing ceiling, tilting bookcases, falling barrels, spinning vortex, cave, and of course, all the aforementioned mechanical monsters!

Attractions are accessed from a centralized gathering area called “The Boneyard,” which is entertained by roaming characters, and features cozy bonfires, seasonal photo-ops, a gift shop, areas of covered and uncovered picnic tables, a circus-like "Midway" of games like Axe Throwing, and food and refreshments including The Apple Cilo selling sweets, cider, and frozen drinks. 

Cost of admission starts at $28.95 for general admission with unlimited access beginning at $33.95.  Fast Passes start at $38.95, and Fast Pass Unlimited access begins at $61.95 (service fees not included).  Tickets cost $6.05 more at the door.  Hanna Haunted Acres is open Fridays and Saturdays in September starting Friday the 13^th and every day in October except 10/1.  They’re also open November 1^st and 2^nd with Blackout events scheduled for November 8^th and 9^th.  Parking is provided free of charge.  Check their website for more information.