The Haunted Hotel has been a Halloween tradition in San Diego for decades. But now it’s looking at creating new attractions that can run all year long, like The Great Room Escape.
Lawrence Garner wanted to bring his friends and co-workers to The Great Room Escape because, he said, "There’s a saying, 'Hell is an eternity trapped in a room with your friends.' So I thought we would try it out for an hour and see what happens."
But in order to get people to go, he had to buy all their tickets.
Shannan Martinez, The Haunted Hotel's general manager, said, "The Great Room Escape is a game where we lock you in a room for an hour and you have to figure out clues and puzzles in order to get your way out."
Recently, the Haunted Hotel expanded its attractions to include The Great Room Escape, which is more of an interactive game than a conventional haunt. Participants can choose from Houdini’s Hidden Workshop, where you help escape artist Harry Houdini pass into the after life, or The Lab, where you have to find a cure for the zombie outbreak.
Martinez assured me, "It’s fun. It’s a great zombie atmosphere but it’s not scary at all."
Teenager Haley Cano disagreed.
"At first I was really scared. I was like holding on, because there’s a zombie right next to us. But as we kept going it wasn’t as scary," Cano said.
It was scary enough on the website, however, to make some of Garner's friends hesitate to sign on.
"There were a couple of people who were a little freaked out about it," Garner said. "Dorrie was a little worried but she worked up her bravery."
Martinez welcomes each group to the Great Room Escape by explaining the rules and a little of what to expect.
She told Garner's group, "If for any reason you feel the need to leave the room, just let the room monitor know and you will be escorted out. But then the game is over for you."
Then she added, "The zombie is locked to a box with a chain and during the hour the chain will get longer."
Maybe that's why Emma Casey came out of The Lab a little breathless.
"Oh it was quite an adventure," she said. "We got sent into a room and there was a zombie on a chain and it was very scary and we had to find the cure, which we did, but then we couldn’t escape the room."
Casey was there with her teenage friends for her birthday, but they had to work with strangers to try and solve all the puzzles and clues in The Lab.
"Once you go into the room you really do learn to work with the people. If you don’t work together as a team you’re probably not going to get out," Martinez said.
The Lab Room Escape is open through September. Then the space returns to being a part of the Haunted Hotel for the Halloween season. But Houdini’s Hidden Workshop will remain open and a third room will be added in 2016, so you can check in for Halloween fun all year long.
You can also check out The Haunted Hotel's Scream Zone in the video below.
