Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
- Messages
- 13,825
We attended the Scareactor Dining Experience which was held at Monsters Cafe as part of the 2015 Halloween Horror Nights. I thought I would share our review, as posted in my trip report, in case anyone was interested in seeing what it was all about:
We made our way over to Monsters Cafe to check-in for our Scareactor Dining Experience. This special event, being held for the first time at HHN 25, was only being offered on a small selection of dates (6 nights total, if I remember correctly, and all but two were in September) so we were completely delighted when we found out that October 14th was one of them. You had to be either a pass member or have an RIP tour booked in order to be able to purchase tickets. We qualified on both fronts, and quickly reserved our spaces when the event details were released. The price was $49.99 per person, plus tax.....steep, yes, but it seemed like it had the potential to be a cool experience so we figured, what the heck?
Check in was handled very well. They verified that each person had both an HHN ticket for that evening as well as their ticket to the dinner, crossed-referenced us on a master list, and we were escorted inside just a few minutes later. I want to give a huge shout out to ALL the staff involved in this specific special event: they were quite possibly the friendliest, most delightful bunch of park employees that we’ve ever encountered. Everyone from the greeters to the buffet servers were so sincerely welcoming, it was truly a great experience.
One of the inclusions of the dinner was a free Photo Connect download of one of the pictures taken with the Scareactors. Before being escorted to the buffet line to make our dinner selections, we stopped to have a photo taken with The Caretaker , who was stationed near the entrance door for this purpose:
He was a quiet fellow, rather an introvert....he didn’t have much to say. Creeeepy
.
From there, we were directed to the line up for the buffet. We were trying to remember what food items were on the menu when a TM came through the line with these handy dandy cards that listed all the buffet choices on the back:
These would have made just the most awesome souvenirs. They were super well made....not cardstock, much heavier and sturdier....and I jokingly asked one of the TM’s if I could keep one. She laughed and said I wasn’t the first one to ask that very question!! (but the answer was still no ...
)
They had an abundance of servers behind the buffet that were serving up the foods you selected onto your plate. Being a fussy kind of gal, I really appreciated that they took the time to ask if I wanted certain things all on one plate together, or if there was anything I wanted kept separate. The food smelled delicious and looked equally yummy, and the servers were generous with their portions (giving you as much or as little as you wanted). They reminded us we could come back up for seconds (or thirds, or fourths) of our favourites, desserts included.
Steve’s tray:
My tray:
The menu included 6-7 different types of salads (spring mix, romaine, pasta, etc.), rosemary pork, beef striploin, rotisserie chicken, chicken marsala , gravy, hot pasta (it was vegetarian, if I remember correctly), corn on the cob, broccoli, rice pilaf, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, 2 "warm" desserts: peach cobbler & banana chocolate bread pudding (both served with ice cream) and 3 "cold" desserts: chocolate layer cake, strawberry cheesecake, and key lime pie. A really nice selection of choices (something for literally every taste), and we enjoyed it all. Unlimited fountain beverages were also included and provided.
We sat down to eat, and it wasn’t long before the creepy assortment of Scareactors started making their way from table to table. In addition to The Caretaker (who they rotated out of the entranceway and into the restaurant from time to time), we also got a chance to get up close and personal with the Pumpkin Man (who proceeded to try and choke the life out of us with his deadly vines
):
The Body Collector was skulking silently about, wearing his bloody apron from his most recent endeavours
:
There was a chainsaw-wielding clown in attendance (and yes, that chainsaw worked
....she ran it continually!!):
But our hands-down favourite was The Usher. This guy was incredible
.
The Caretaker spoke very little (which was absolutely true to his character). The Pumpkin Man and Body Collector didn’t talk at all. The Chainsaw Clown was quite entertaining and engaging, but The Usher was in a whole league all his own. We had the most awesome (though unsettling) conversation with this fellow, who made a point of telling Steve that what he thought was beef on his plate was actually Richard, his most recent victim. He assured us that the meat should be tender, because “quite honestly, he was a little soft” .
The Usher truly made the meal for us. One of my favourite moments of the entire night!
There was apparently also a sixth Scareactor who was in attendance at the meal, but we didn’t spot him until we were literally walking out the door....and considering we got individual time with five of them, we didn’t bother trying to track down the final fellow. Between the great food and the fantastic character interaction (plus the Photo Connect pics....have a Photo Connect AP, we got them all on our Star Card, and not just the freebies) we felt very much like we had got our money’s worth.
Our grade: A+ !
We made our way over to Monsters Cafe to check-in for our Scareactor Dining Experience. This special event, being held for the first time at HHN 25, was only being offered on a small selection of dates (6 nights total, if I remember correctly, and all but two were in September) so we were completely delighted when we found out that October 14th was one of them. You had to be either a pass member or have an RIP tour booked in order to be able to purchase tickets. We qualified on both fronts, and quickly reserved our spaces when the event details were released. The price was $49.99 per person, plus tax.....steep, yes, but it seemed like it had the potential to be a cool experience so we figured, what the heck?
Check in was handled very well. They verified that each person had both an HHN ticket for that evening as well as their ticket to the dinner, crossed-referenced us on a master list, and we were escorted inside just a few minutes later. I want to give a huge shout out to ALL the staff involved in this specific special event: they were quite possibly the friendliest, most delightful bunch of park employees that we’ve ever encountered. Everyone from the greeters to the buffet servers were so sincerely welcoming, it was truly a great experience.
One of the inclusions of the dinner was a free Photo Connect download of one of the pictures taken with the Scareactors. Before being escorted to the buffet line to make our dinner selections, we stopped to have a photo taken with The Caretaker , who was stationed near the entrance door for this purpose:
He was a quiet fellow, rather an introvert....he didn’t have much to say. Creeeepy
.From there, we were directed to the line up for the buffet. We were trying to remember what food items were on the menu when a TM came through the line with these handy dandy cards that listed all the buffet choices on the back:
These would have made just the most awesome souvenirs. They were super well made....not cardstock, much heavier and sturdier....and I jokingly asked one of the TM’s if I could keep one. She laughed and said I wasn’t the first one to ask that very question!! (but the answer was still no ...
)
They had an abundance of servers behind the buffet that were serving up the foods you selected onto your plate. Being a fussy kind of gal, I really appreciated that they took the time to ask if I wanted certain things all on one plate together, or if there was anything I wanted kept separate. The food smelled delicious and looked equally yummy, and the servers were generous with their portions (giving you as much or as little as you wanted). They reminded us we could come back up for seconds (or thirds, or fourths) of our favourites, desserts included.
Steve’s tray:
My tray:
The menu included 6-7 different types of salads (spring mix, romaine, pasta, etc.), rosemary pork, beef striploin, rotisserie chicken, chicken marsala , gravy, hot pasta (it was vegetarian, if I remember correctly), corn on the cob, broccoli, rice pilaf, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, 2 "warm" desserts: peach cobbler & banana chocolate bread pudding (both served with ice cream) and 3 "cold" desserts: chocolate layer cake, strawberry cheesecake, and key lime pie. A really nice selection of choices (something for literally every taste), and we enjoyed it all. Unlimited fountain beverages were also included and provided.
We sat down to eat, and it wasn’t long before the creepy assortment of Scareactors started making their way from table to table. In addition to The Caretaker (who they rotated out of the entranceway and into the restaurant from time to time), we also got a chance to get up close and personal with the Pumpkin Man (who proceeded to try and choke the life out of us with his deadly vines
):
The Body Collector was skulking silently about, wearing his bloody apron from his most recent endeavours
:
There was a chainsaw-wielding clown in attendance (and yes, that chainsaw worked
....she ran it continually!!):
But our hands-down favourite was The Usher. This guy was incredible
.
The Caretaker spoke very little (which was absolutely true to his character). The Pumpkin Man and Body Collector didn’t talk at all. The Chainsaw Clown was quite entertaining and engaging, but The Usher was in a whole league all his own. We had the most awesome (though unsettling) conversation with this fellow, who made a point of telling Steve that what he thought was beef on his plate was actually Richard, his most recent victim
. He assured us that the meat should be tender, because “quite honestly, he was a little soft” .The Usher truly made the meal for us. One of my favourite moments of the entire night!
There was apparently also a sixth Scareactor who was in attendance at the meal, but we didn’t spot him until we were literally walking out the door....and considering we got individual time with five of them, we didn’t bother trying to track down the final fellow. Between the great food and the fantastic character interaction (plus the Photo Connect pics....have a Photo Connect AP, we got them all on our Star Card, and not just the freebies) we felt very much like we had got our money’s worth.
Our grade: A+ !
)
