Call of the Haunt

Can somebody give me some information about this event at 7:45 PM because i did the overlord in the past through Halloweekends 2008-2012, I just wanna know what its like and how did you like it type of thing.

Not to be nit-picky, but I believe the name is Call of the Scare, but anyway, I found a video of it from opening night. I watched it and immediately knew I liked the Overlord better. This one takes place on a newly built balcony on the old Frontier Lift building (back by Skyhawk) and involves a Witch calling all her minions, while angry townspeople are running around on the midway. It's definitely very different from what has been done in the past. Maybe it will grow on me, but I still prefer the Overlord.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wteEpvoFXzg

When I saw it, it was much better in person. When she deploys the minions, they were much more in character with the crowds, diving in and being quite animated and interactive compared to what they show in the video. I found it to be quite cool and a neat addition overall.

The extra little neat part about it was that this effectively adds (thin) backstory as to why the monsters are in Tombstone Terrortory and Screamworks (and maybe there were some Cornstalkers guys there also).

And of course, since I'm really entitled, I thought it would have been much better to be live-mic'd. The lip-syncing, especially with the lead "good guy," was awful.

Ride On_17 said:
Not to be nit-picky, but I believe the name is Call of the Scare, but anyway, I found a video of it from opening night. I watched it and immediately knew I liked the Overlord better. This one takes place on a newly built balcony on the old Frontier Lift building (back by Skyhawk) and involves a Witch calling all her minions, while angry townspeople are running around on the midway. It's definitely very different from what has been done in the past. Maybe it will grow on me, but I still prefer the Overlord.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wteEpvoFXzg

thank you for the video and it looks decent i guess you cant really tell unless you check upon it in person.

That's what I think. I definitely want to check it out in person.

People entering and exiting the restroom seems to take something away from the experience. Is it distracting when viewing it in person?

From our viewpoint near the gazebo the restroom traffic wasn't too distracting. The square is filled with guests (and then Screamsters) quickly enough.

The lighting could have been a lot better thats for sure. Personally I didn't like her voice at all, sounded more like a teenager than an old witch. Good idea but not executed very well.

Its gotta be pretty funny to be some random guy walking out of the bathroom and being swarmed by monsters. Their expression has gotta be priceless! I would lose my sh*t for sure!:)
But yeah, I like the Overlord set-up better. He looked a lot more menacing and the march of the screamsters down the midway was sweet.

We saw the tail end of this on Saturday night. We had wanted to be there for the beginning but got out of Eden Musee a little too late and then booked it over to Skyhawk.

I'll just say I liked the Overlord in previous years much better than what we witnessed last weekend. For one, the volume wasn't loud enough and you couldn't really make out what the witch was saying. Once we got close enough, the voice was not as good as it could have been. I much preferred the big booming voice of the Overlord, who is a much more intimidating character. I understand that they wanted the tie-in with the new attraction, but it could have been better.

I saw this Friday evening and I'll say seeing the monsters, and the witch go up the ramps into the building about 5-10 minutes before the show definitely took away from the experience of them storming back out down the ramp. They should have some sort of back way to enter. Also, Skyhawk needs to be shut down for that 5 minutes or so that the show goes on. The ride is too loud with the screams and air compressor firing that I couldn't hear what was being said. And as Walt mentioned earlier, the presence of the bathrooms seemed odd. I kinda felt like should be walking out, to a crowd of people, and yelling with outstretched arms "Yes! I washed my hands!"

There are aspects of both that are good, but there are aspects to both that are not so good.

Overlord Ceremony (what I refer to as 'The Summoning') pros:
-Overlord character was awesome! He was scary, intimidating and fierce.
-It was done in the middle of the park around the most people.
-His speech was better.
-He actually summoned the monsters to him and then sent them out into the crowd and to their zones. And all the Screamsters were present for this.
-Get your picture taken with him after the event. That was awesome!
-He led the Screamsters out in the parade when he was on the Skeleton Crew stage.

Overlord Ceremony cons:
-Why was he put on that hideous platform in the middle of the midway? Or off to the side in the scaffolding in the Skeleton Crew show? He could have been placed in a much better position to be seen and to have the Screamsters come out to him.
-Crowd control. Getting people out of the way of the Screamsters. Again, better placement would have resulted in a better situation here.

Witch Ceremony pros:
-Very clear focal point of where the which is going to be.
-Screamsters are able to run through the crowd.
-Screamsters come from where the witch actually is located, either out the sides or from the bottom of the building.

Witch Ceremony cons:
-Not all the Screamsters participate
-What happened to the parade?
-Witch's speech is not as good as the Overlord's
-Witch isn't that scary.
-Witch doesn't interact with guests at all.
-Held at the back of the park.
-Witch is walked to her location by a security guard (and typically only 5-10 minutes before the show is supposed to start). WTF?

I loved the Overlord Ceremony and thought that it brought a really unique aspect to the entire Halloweekends idea, as well as providing a GREAT way to get the Screamsters from Haunt Central to their zones. It is just weird to see the Screamsters, in full costume and make up walking around the park to their zones. Most of them go to their zones as a group and are in character as they are doing this, but it still just doesn't look quite right. I realize they have to get to their zones in one way or another, and they can't be completely cloaked at all times. However, having them walk together in a parade was a great spectacle, and most likely reduced the harassment of them. Having them arrive together as one at a single point and then sending them out was awesome.

I also just think the Overlord is a better character than the Witch. Maybe that is just my personal preference. It's a good concept, but I think they should have stayed with one character and not switched to a new one like they did. The Overlord was much more intimidating, and he was able to walk throughout the zones during the night. I have not seen the Witch do that yet (and it's the end of the season).

So, my final answer, Overlord Ceremony ('The Summoning') is far better than the new Witch Ceremony for this year.

Our Overlord/Witch do a good job, but honestly KI has us beat..We need this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQxvC40Wqrc

The difference is that Kings Island actually cast that role with a performer from Entertainment. The witch/overlord at CP is just some random that lip-synchs to a track and has no improve/acting experience. Cedar Point will never be on par with other events until they turn all of the performance based attractions over to Live Entertainment for Halloweekends.

The Witch is from Live E. Not sure about their experience but I know they have been with the department for a few years.

But yes I agree Screamsters (and all performers) should be under Live E, but don't expect it to happen anytime soon.

You can be from Live E but that doesn't mean you have the experience for the role. That could be a secretary up there that didn't have anything else to do for Halloweekends. Remember the Overlord was a random EMT from the summer who just happened to be tall.

NO WAY!?!?!

I thought he was a real demon they summoned just for the event. ;)

This past Friday and Saturday employees were blocking access to the bathrooms during this event and for several minutes prior. Some of the screamsters acutally came running out of the bathrooms, which I thought was quite funny to see.

They did the same thing on Friday, October 17th.