Hauntington Beach Manor: Quarantine Review
Hauntington Beach Manor returned this year after a hiatus in 2017, to fill the void for a large home haunt left by The Haunt at Daisy Avenue; which retired in 2017. Hollywood Gothique was able to attend this seemingly endless home haunt this year. Situated in a quiet neighborhood in Huntington Beach; the street has plenty of parking and there are a couple neat yard displays around the corner.
The exterior boasts an impressive quarantine tunnel; exactly like the one you see in movies. We and a group start the maze in a queue area inside the tunnel while we were given instructions on how to stay safe from the outbreak that is going on. The medical professional/scare actor lays down the ground rules and if you do not follow, you will have to be quarantined and get treated like a zombie. Other than that, the medical professional officially welcomed us to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Center for Disease Control.
A female medical professional greeted us in the first room, which looked like an office that has been run-through by zombies, and warned us: “If you’re brave enough to claim the last of the anti-virus, enter at your own risk. In the 1st room of the CDC, we came across a deranged survivor running amok in disbelief, then another survivor on the phone asking for help, then a human with it’s head blown off on the table with walls surrounded with “missing persons” flyers.
Each turn landed us inside a new room of the CDC where we were either met with a survivor or a person in the process of turning into the walking dead. The rooms were jam packed with real medical devices and machines; either that or they were the most realistic props we’ve ever seen. Hospital beds were occupied with decaying bodies and X-ray films were present. We were fully immersed. There was even a morgue!
We then escaped through the electrical room with circuits, wires, and circuit boards crackling all over the walls. This lead us into a swamp area where we were met by The Witch Doctor. We braved the swamp and marsh then went through an inflatable then found a stranger’s house. He was nice enough to welcome us in then showed us his fridge and exclaimed that he had nothing to eat. After this temporarily hospitality, he sent us on our way and warned us of the Witchy Woman.
We journeyed back into the swamps and were invited by the Witch Woman for dinner, a barbecue. After seeing what was in the pot, no thanks! I think we ARE dinner. We moved on and noticed a sign that read: Caution Bridge Out. No way they have a bridge at a home haunt right? Oh shoot! They really built a bridge in the backyard! A woman, who claims to own the bridge said that we needed her permission to cross the bridge. The payment, is to blow a kiss to her husband which was a severed head on a stick. We had no choice but to blow a kiss and cross. This was an actual bridge, and it swayed like one. Once we got across safely, we were met by a few more pop up scares from actors and we had to survive a revolving tunnel marked with wiccan symbols in order to get access to all freedom. This home haunt was full of surprises; no telling what other surprises await you at the end!
We were extremely impressed with this home haunt. This was definitely one where we felt fully and completely immersed into the story line. Louisiana CDC under a zombie attack: quarantine tunnel, destroyed office, bodies, paranoia, pandemonium, humans in mid change to zombie form, medical devices, swamps, shack in the middle of the woods, and did we mention BRIDGE??? This is highly recommended.
While you are there, check out a nice graveyard display filled out gargoyles, cats, and bats at 19361 Salmon Ln, Huntington Beach, CA. The owner works on it daily, adding piece by piece until Halloween night. Across the way, there’s a smaller graveyard display with a giant home made Jack Skellington head on top of the doorway at:19372 Salmon Ln, Huntington Beach, CA.
QUARANTINE remains open from 7pm to 10pm on Friday, Saturday and on Halloween Night. The donation is $5 a person. Totally worth it! https://hauntington-beach-manor.business.site/
