is this like Once upon a time?

It's not like Once Upon a Time. Stranger Things draws a lot of its inspiration from the writings of Stephen King, and the films of John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg. It's not quite like anything that's been on TV before - watch the first few episodes and see if it grabs your interest. If you don't have Netflix you'll have to download the episodes. I can't direct you to any links or they'll delete my post, but if you know where to go for that sort of stuff you shouldn't have a problem.

Season 2 was just released so make sure you're watching s01e01, not s02e01.

I suggest watching Stranger Things two episodes per night in a quiet dark room.

After watching the first four episodes, you should know if it is your kind of show.

it's a remix of 80s kids movies like goonies, ghostbusters and some cute horror elements thrown in...

I know this thread is a few months old and you've probably already made a decision on watching this, but thought I'd go ahead and put in my two cents.

First off, I'm not sure why people are saying to download it or find it on DVD etc. You can get a trial month of Netflix. You can certainly watch S1 and S2 of Stranger things in a month's time. Then you can cancel if you don't like Netflix. And you're out no money.

Second, it's like everyone else here has said. It's steeped in '80s nostalgia and the '80s stuff is actually done pretty well. It's got some horror thrown in but all in all is a pretty fun show.

It's nothing at all like "Once Upon A Time." While Storybrook was formed by a spell in another world in 1980s Maine, that's all the two shows have in common. "Once Upon A Time" is much lighter (at least during the first few seasons), doesn't really involve very many kids, and the present story takes place in the early 2010s.

"Stranger Things," on the other hand, takes place entirely in the 1980s, and mostly involves kids and teenagers living in a small Indiana town.