A Haunting In Hollis — Local services in New York

I visited A Haunting in Hollis twice in the last two days, Oct 30th and Oct 31st, in order to experience the whole event properly. They have a haunted house for adults, teenagers and kids who are big/old enough to decide for themselves if they’ll easily get scared or not. They also have a kiddie carnival section with some attractions, such as pony rides, face painting, bouncy house, and Halloween treats, all only available at specific times on Oct 26th and Oct 31st. The haunted house, on the other hand, was available from 4 pm to 10 pm (though until midnight on Halloween) during Oct 24th all the way through Oct 31st while the kiddie carnival section ran the same dates but with limited attractions like the small playground and some treats, apart from its major attractions dates (Oct 26th and Oct 31st).

I must commend the people who thought of such a great concept and actually executed it in such an entertaining way for the masses! I was quite impressed during my 2-day visit and I’ll explain why. I went to the haunted house first on Oct 30th with my older brother and his wife because we’re all adults lol we also wanted to go during a “normal” night outside of Halloween, knowing from personal experience how (more) crazy people can get on the actual holiday; I was proven right because during my second visit to the event, which was on Halloween itself, I witnessed some rowdy visitors destroying the unfortunate homeowner’s garage where most of the haunted house was set-up. That troublesome incident aside, the haunted house itself was cleverly arranged throughout the front yard, garage, backyard, and part of the first floor of the actual house itself while the kiddie carnival section was on the other side of the front yard and part of the backyard. On Oct 30th around 9 pm, I went inside the haunted house by myself so I could prepare my sister-in-law and brother who, along with being a scaredy-cat like his wife, is also a heart patient hence my extra precaution. I found the entire haunted setup wildly fun and at least somewhat scary for the less cynical unlike myself. From start to finish (which by the way took less than 10 minutes for the whole walk-through of the haunted house), I found myself enjoying everything immensely! My brother and his wife also enjoyed themselves a lot. The next day, I took my 4-year old nephew to do all the kids stuff. I found the kiddie carnival section very cute and age-appropriate for kids. My nephew rode on the pony, played in the small playground, jumped in the bouncy house, got his hands painted (because he “hates” face painting) with spider drawings, ate popcorn, drank bottled water, and collected lots of Halloween treats from the huge candy bin that was catered to all kids on-site. In terms of pricing, the haunted house was only $5 per person and the kiddie carnival section was $5 per kid for all-access to the kids’ attractions/treats. For those kind of prices with everything that was offered and the total experience itself, I would give A Haunting In Hollis a 5+ star rating for an overall outstanding performance, service, and its offerings for everyone! My sincerest kudos goes out to all the people who were involved in this incredible endeavor! I hope we get to see more for years to come!...

Long but please read

The Experience: Me and my partner bought two tickets for a timeslot at 9 PM during Halloween weekend. Upon driving to the house we realized what a enormous line there was but decided to go anyways thinking it would move fairly quickly since there were time slots. Once we got to the line we checked in with an employee and they said that from our point in line (back of the line, before the block's corner) it would be a 45 minute wait. This was a complete lie. We ended up waiting in line for 3 hours, aka we did not get into the house until midnight.

At one point someone was rushed out in an ambulance and the people running/managing the line tried to use that as an excuse as to why there was a 3 hour wait despite the line moving throughout the accident. Weird vibes as someone was hurt.

It truly seems like they oversold the house by way too much, completely defeating the point of selling timed tickets. At the very least the mention that there could be a multi-hour wait before you actually get in could help people plan their nights instead of wasting it all standing in the cold and/or leaving and losing their money, since they do not give out refunds under "any circumstance."

The Actual House: the experience itself was fine, it could have been a 3/4 star experience if not for all the issues getting in. The mazes and house are well decorated, creepy settings for a haunted house, but the main thrills are just people jumping out at you from behind corners. More thought into the different ways people could be scared would've made the experience more worth the wait. Also, only the first maze really felt like it had the appropriate number of actors, there were barely any in the house and the last maze had 1 person that we saw.

The laser guns that we used did not really do much as most actors did not really respond to them and I would not recommend purchasing them. The experience would be much more scary just going with the flashlight as the laser guns and laser beams are just gimmicks.

There were some safety issues as the ladder they have is just a regular ladder propped up against a wall with a large hole in the floor anyone could fall through. The slide advertised is fairly steep and also dangerous - going down it hurts whether you do it correctly or not. Also despite claims that actors cannot touch you and threatening to sue you if you touch the actors, immediately after entering the house an actor touched me.

Overall: I would say it is a scary experience that could use some work to make it truly a great house. For $20 it would be a good deal if not for the 3 hour wait in the cold when under the false pretense of timed slots. It sucks to write this review due to the Black and brown bodies running the event as well as attending, but if this event is for the community, by the community, it shouldn't feel like a money-making scam. Hopefully the owners take the poor experiences this year to make something special for the next ones round, while still taking care of those acting...

As a fellow horror and haunted house fan, I am IN LOVE with how this is a legitimate house that was turned into a haunt for the Halloween season. In all honesty, I was skeptical about my visit but it (almost) exceeded my expectations.

There was hardly a wait and it was scary fun! Turning every corner, in a pitch black maze-like environment, you really don’t know what to expect. It was a truly suspenseful experience with some great jump scares.

I took away two stars for a few minor reasons. Minor enough, that I would visit again if not this season, the next.

Although this isn’t the business’s fault, there is only street parking available - need I remind you the location is in Queens after all, so this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone from NY - and after circling the streets a few times, I got lucky and found a spot across from the Haunt.

That, and I was disappointed with the customer service not once but twice. After entering the haunt, the woman running the entry line was banging on the door (or walls) and yelling at us to “hurry up” because we were “holding up the line” and were threatened to be ejected for doing so. We were in complete darkness and truly were puzzled as to where to go, so this added unwarranted pressure and anxiety to the situation.

Mid-way through, we caught up to the group in front of us (and a group caught up behind us), so the remainder of the scares were spoiled for my group of four, so it did take away from what began as a fun experience. I was especially disappointed to have paid to be recorded throughout the experience and all to show for it was my group and I walking up the stairs after missing what could have been a really great scare and memory for us. Maybe next time find a way to better spread out the duration of the scares for every group whether it be to have monitors throughout the Haunt or train the actors to be more involved and distract each group for a certain period of time to ensure that scares are to not be lost and that all guests have the same experience.

Upon completion of the Haunt, I went to retrieve my video clip as mentioned in the above and found the woman working the camera booth to be somewhat rude. I can’t recall what it was that she asked and nor what it was that I replied with but I was met with a snarky tone and response of, “It doesn’t work with that.” I found that to be a bit unnecessary.

Overall, fun, spooky and horror decor. Definitely a scary haunt and worth the money and time spent to visit. Despite my experience and a few tweaks that I believe can be made to better organize the business, this could be one of the best haunts in the NY area.

Check it out… If...