Former Halloweekends Scare Zones and Houses

Does anyone feel as if the former houses and scare zones were miles better than some of the current ones (not all of them, some are great!) or is it just me? I feel like it may have to do with nostalgia and in reality the new ones may be just as good. However, I can list so many that I felt were incredibly good and more memorable than the ones now. CarnEvil was possibly the best and most enjoyable outdoor scare zone followed by the Fright Zone. Let’s not forget about Terror Island or Fear Faire, as those got pretty intense depending on the night! I feel the screamsters were far more passionate about their job or were just in general happier to be there and thus made it far scarier. Something about the atmosphere was also different and more electrifying with some of the older haunted houses, such as Happy Jacks Toy Factory, Club Blood, or Undertaker U. It might just be me, but I’d like to hear from you guys regarding your favorite old Halloweekends attractions that you still question as to why they were gotten rid of.

Steve-O, what are your thoughts on Eerie Estate?

Fright Zone was good in the 2005-2010 era. In the alcove area there was a character that would come out screaming and hitting his noise-maker on the ground as he was running out.

CarnEvil was good when it operated between the stadium and Peanuts Playground. Instead of just having a path to work in, they had a large open area to work in. The support columns for the stadium were good hiding places. When Planet Snoopy started in 2008, CarnEvil was moved to the Camp Snoopy pathways.

little bit of history.

1997 First HalloWeekends
-Fright Zone 2001
-CarnEvil 1997? 2005
-Werewolf Canyon 2003
-Undertaker U 2003
-Toxic Tunnel of Terror 2003
-Pharaoh's Secret 2003

-CarnEvil 2005
-Lair of the Vampire 2005
-Fear Faire 2006
-U.R. Dade School of Mortuary Science 2008
-Terror Island 2008
-Club Blood 2008
-Corn Stalkers 2008
-Happy Jack's Toy Factory 2009
-Eerie Estate 2009
-Dr. D. Mented's Asylum for the Criminally Insane 2010
-Screamworks 2011
-Blood on the Bayou 2011
-Eternity Infirmary 2012
-Eden Musee 2012
-Cut Throat Cove 2012
-Zombie High School 2013
-Tombstone Territory 2014
-Hexed 2014
-Feary Tales 2015
-Slaughter House 2015
-Night of the Living Fed 2017
-Harvest Fear 2017

Fright Zone started in 2001

thanks, updated list.

And found out CarnEvil started in 2005.

I think the scare zones used to be "foggier" than they have been in recent years, but that could be weather dependent based on the weekends that I've been there. I remember times on the Frontier Trail where you literally couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of you.

Also - from the Halloweekends Wikipedia Page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HalloWeekends#Historical , there's a full list of historic attractions, when they opened, when they closed, and what replaced them.

As far as Halloween attractions, the thing that I miss most from Halloweekends past are the Edgar Allan Poe Trio of Terror stories in the Glass Blowing theater.

One of the best, if not the best, attractions ever at Halloweekends.

The video does not do the live experience justice.

A few of those dates are incorrect (and they're incorrect on the Wikipedia page too.)

Carnevil opened in 2004

Cornstalkers opened in 2007

Also worth pointing out, Screamsters debuted along with Freight Zone in 2001, making this year the 20th season (thanks to the year off last season.)

The boxes in the Freight Zone were the scariest boxes ever made. ;)

My random thoughts:

I don't like the newer Freak Show haunt. I think they should revert that back to CarnEvil

I don't like Deprivation.

Blood on the Bayou is the best current outdoor haunt. I am also a little biased there having worked in it back in 2015

Happy Jack's Toy Factory in my opinion has been the best haunt they have ever had.

Kevinj said:

One of the best, if not the best, attractions ever at Halloweekends.

The video does not do the live experience justice.

This was one of the BEST....esp when it was behind the Glass Blowing Theater. You would get so pulled into the story, you would forget you were at an amusement park.

Hi Dave! (Dave was an awesome actor/performer)

If you haven't seen some of our, uh, classic videos, check them out:

https://pointbuzz.com/Content/cornstalkersvideo2008

https://pointbuzz.com/Content/clubbloodvideo2008

Lance was so young, so full of hope then.

He seems pretty happy about rolling out parades at 7 parks this year, all at the same time, coming out of a pandemic.

Oh he for sure is. For the past 3 weeks I haven't been able to scroll through Facebook without seeing a new set of pictures from him about the project. He's certainly proud of it and should be. I'm often jealous that he can post those work pics on social media because I would be fired before hitting submit if I tried that...lol.

Sure beats babysitting Osborne lights! :)

The weather has a big impact on the fog for sure. Any bit of wind blows it away pretty quick. I remember driving up to the park on the Friday night of Closing Weekend around 2009 or so and it was an incredibly still night with a bit of humidity. Coming down the causeway you could see the fog rising up out of the park and just hanging there. It was the best night for the outdoor scarezones I ever experienced. Carnevil was a cool haunt when it was near the stadium but the wind off the lake usually dispersed that fog the quickest.