A post about Netherworld… I know it’s a little delayed, but I had a lot of other personal projects going, and have had this drafted for awhile. I finally got around to finishing it.
For the first time in my entire life I went to a haunted house. Netherworld to be exact. I have a habit (because I am a IT guy) of trying to find the best of the best when I do anything, or work with anyone. In this situation I wanted to find the best haunted house that I could drive to, and I found Netherworld. It was rated number one in Georgia. My first thoughts were that it wasn’t going to possibly be scary. It was just weird people running around in costumes, I was wrong.
Let’s just go through my entire visit, and you can decide for yourself.
Additional information about netherworld can be found here as well.
Netherworld Parking
Finding Netherworld wasn’t that hard, with the GPS. Parking on the other hand, was a nightmare. It depends mostly on what time you get there. They open the actual haunted house at 7. I think they open the ticket booths a lot sooner. If you come REALLY early, you can get parking inside the Netherworld parking lot. There is very limited parking and they fill up quickly. After that you basically have to drive down the road, and start filling in parking lots. Every single company or parking location down the entire street sells parking, so you need an extra 5-20 dollars in cash just to pay for a parking spot. The later you come, the further down the street you find yourself parking, the more expensive it is, and the further you have to walk. We got there pretty early, had to pay 10.00 for parking and walked close to 3 blocks or better.
People can be seen walking for up to 1-2 miles from parking spots to get there.
Once parking is out of the way and you are on location, then things get started.
Tickets, Lines, and speed passes
Lines are absolutely huge if you have a standard ticket. You buy tickets for 30.00 and they are unlimited use for that night. Then you get in one (of two) lines. Each long is very long, stays long, and overall the later it gets the longer the line stays. You can bypass the lines if you pay for a speed pass. They are 50.00 and well worth it. I plan on getting those from now on when I go for repeat years. It’s easy to get in/out of the ticket booth but there is a horrible line for each section of the haunted house.
If you don’t mind staying in line then go for it, otherwise (if you have the budget), I recommend the speed passes.
Parking Lot + Gift Shop
The Netherworld parking lot (after dark) is filled with a lot of people running around in really cool costumes. I saw a zombie type dude, a lady that was suppose to be blind with a minion she was following around, and much more. Overall the entire parking lot experience was great. Nothing was too specifically scary in the parking lot but because they ran freeform through the crowds, it’s very easy for them to get the drop on you and startle you out of nowhere. They are specially trained at sneaking up behind people and popping up at the worst possible moment. I got startled more than once definitely. They are all good actors with a good sense of humor, and very good at what they do. It makes the entire parking lot experience a lot more fun.
The gift shop is worth it. The items are pretty expensive, but they are things you can’t really get anywhere else and are almost all Netherworld themed. If you have some extra cash, you can find some cool stuff here but it’s not required to have a good time. You can enjoy the haunting house, parking lot and skip the gift shop altogether and still have a great time. If you do have the funds then most of the items I reviewed seem very high quality. We got a shirt and a jacket from them, and so far the jacket has been very high quality, so was the shirt. Everything there seemed very high quality, but still a little over priced (but what gift shop isn’t).
Haunted Houses
This specific year there were two haunted houses, each with a different theme. All I have to say about this is wow. They were both awesome experiences, both were next to terrifying, and very fast paced. The only thing I don’t like was the line format because you have someone behind you wanting you to keep moving. You can’t slow down for much time to enjoy the sites without someone rushing you, especially if you get someone annoying behind you. The first time I went I had a kid that kept poking me and saying keep moving. I was having a great time but very angry about the aggravation. The second time I went through it was at a better more enjoyable pace. So if you have the wrong people behind you, it really lowers the level of enjoyment overall.
Anyway..the special affects were top notch, the actors playing the various scary monsters were extremely enjoyable and VERY lifelike. They were both really good themes, and really great experiences. There were also several times where various environmental affects actually touched you, and certain affects leave you wondering how they are even humanly possible. There was one point when there was a bridge that really felt like it was going upside down. Even now, I cannot tell if it was really twisting sideways a lot, or if i was all an optical illusion.
Closing
In closing I am 100% sure that I will never miss another year of Netherworld. Every year I plan on going to Netherworld, buying speed passes and having a ball. I recommend anyone with the extra cash and some time on their hands to try Netherworld. If you had a choice between any of them in Georgia, I would definitely recommend Netherworld haunted house.