Halloweekends 2012

We went out Friday night. I thought that Pirate cove and Musse were very well done and the weather kept the fog away for most of the night. Fear Fair was horrible and I think this may be the last year we see it. Club Blood seemed to be slipping back to the Vampire's Lair with all the suck you talk. I did find it interesting to see a heavy set gentleman( mabe Bill Spehn) walking through the haunts on Friday. He seemed to be following the path through the park the same as mine.( or mabe he didn't like my Geauga Lake Jacket and he was trying to escort me out... lol). I thought for the most part that The screamsters are getting their scream-on at a faster pace this year. I did not get the chance for Estate, Carn-evil, or bayou sinc the downpour came, but we will be back for another round or three this year.

I went friday and i got so rainy and nasty towards the end I could walk 100 feet without seeing another person. I want to break down the haunts and say how much I liked them

Blood on the bayou - We did this one first. I'm a really big fan of the bayou theme, the guy on the boat just outside of it was really funny too. The props on the inside were pretty good. The screamsters were pretty good, some of them really got into it. I had fun.

Carnevil - Carnevil was another outdoor one we managed to get through before the rain. I think the theme of the haunt worked well. The props weren't all that noticeable in the lighting, I wish I would have walked through it in the daylight because some of them looked like they would be nice to look at. Screamsters were good, some of them got into it, a handful of them were just standing around.

Club blood - By the time we got to club blood I was very cold, wet, and tired, I believe this lead to me being very jumpy. I have never been a fan of the club blood theme. The screamsters inside were going pretty hard though. I did notice a lot of decorations left over from the toxic tunnel of terror.

Cornstalkers- It rained before we got there, looks good though. As long as its nothing like werewolf canyon

Cut throat cove - Made it through this just as the rain was starting. I like the theme, and the props seemed to be the best, although I cannot compare them to terror island because I never got to experience that. This was the haunted house where I experienced the largest accordion effect. So the screamsters weren't focused on scaring us.

Eden Musee - I was really let down by this haunt. It seemed like a haunted wax museum has so much more potential. A few of the rooms were pretty cool, and the wax stuff was cool, screamsters really lacked surprise here. Which was annoying because we were the only people in the haunted house. Seems like most of them couldn't find a good hiding spot.

Eternity Infirmary - Generally a pretty good house, the theme works pretty well, decorations were good. There was a little person standing on a chair that scared the crap out of me because I didn't think she was real. Also where the picture drops down scared me and got my girlfriend to scream at the top of her lungs :) which is always good to see. The one room with the skeletons were coming at you from the wall and you can hear all the pumps working reminded of some cheap carnival haunted house.

Fear faire - We didn't get to do this one because I thought it would be closed, and with most of the park closed riding the dodgems ten times in a row seemed like a good idea. As we were walking past the fear faire exit all the screamsters were leaving and I noticed it just closed at 10:30ish. We did walk in through the exit to look at it the setup and I don't think the midevil theme works for a haunt. Atleast not the way they did it.

Eerie Estate - If you were a screamster working eerie estate at about 11:30 friday you did an AMAZING job. Given the rain and the time we didn't know if the house was open because we were the only people in line and I don't think there was another group in the house because we heard no other screams. It seemed the screamsters were growing anxious and ready to give the next group who walked in the scare of there life. I certain rooms I would get scared as much as three times, I would be scared in most rooms two times. The house is very well done, packed with screamsters and amazing looking. We could walk through slow enough to look at the decorations and they were all very well done.

Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks - This got rained out before we could walk through it ( atleast I hope so or the screamsters and lighting really sucked) I don't like the theme or the decorations for this house. I much prefered the fright zone.

On a separate note does anyone remember a few years ago around 2003 when the fright zone at the end closest to the maverick had a thing about the haunted carousel horse. I also remember seeing some people dressed in gilly suits coming out of the little patch of water on frontier trail and it looked amazing with the fog.

Jason, me feeling Cut Throat Cove was shorter than Terror Island could have had much to do with fog. Terror Island was notoriously the thick-I-can't-see-anything fog throughout, which would slow our pacing down to a crawl. CTC was clear when I went through, so I was probably briskly making my way to Millenium, hence it feeling shorter.

But, I also felt CTC wasn't active throughout the whole path the way Terror Island was. After about 75% of the way through, it seemed to be over, and we were just walking along a prop-less, Screamster-less path back to the Frontier Trail. I don't know...fog, Screamsters, and timing are what make the outdoor zones work well, and it just didn't work out this time through. I can't wait to see how it works out in future trips though. Oh, and bring back that loud cannon from Terror Island. It was creepy hearing that throughout the park in past years, and it worked well with a pirate theme.

The cannon was the best part.

Jason Hammond said:
I spoke with the head designer for Halloweekends. I forget his name.

Mr. John Taylor is his name, scaring you is his game. :)

Jason Hammond said:
He said Cut Throat Cove was almost exactly the same length.

Cutthroat is a few feet longer than Terror Island was. I think the curvy path Terror Island had helped make it feel longer.

The wind on Saturday really killed the fog. At times on Friday it was just as thick as what a good night on Terror Island would be. The cannon is still there, but was not operational this weekend due to the rain.

Great info, Ralph. I'm glad to hear the cannon is still there, the length is actually longer, and that the fog was simply blowing away Saturday night in comparison to other nights. I'll try another wind-free night, and I'm sure the outdoor zones will be much better.

Can you confirm if Boo Hill is now accessible for adults as another poster mentioned? I've always wanted to go in there, but I've been turned away in previous years, even when there was no line.

As far as I know the Boo Hill policy hasn't changed, but I probably wouldn't have heard about it even if it did.

On occasion, if it is a slow night, they will allow adults through. Or if the person working the door doesn't enforce the policy:)

Does anyone know if the bungee things are being used again this year? I know there used to be one both at Terror Island and at Happy Jack's and since these are both no longer existing (but TI relocated/renamed) I wondered if these are still used. It was really cool having someone suddenly jump out in front of you and then they'd be pulled back.

I went last weekend and had a blast. Frog hopper king and I love to bring new people and every time they come back the next year. We had so much fun with Millennium Walk ons and the low crowds from the rain. The only main critic I have this year from Halloweekends is that it seems most of the screamsters didn't even try to scare me. Like most people have said, they seem to go more for teen girls which made the whole "getting scared thing" kinda hard, but I understand its a hard job. I did like the new haunts though!

The Bungee is being used in Cut Throat Cove this year. Its almost under the first drop I believe. Speaking of Cut Throat Cove, I liked it a tiny bit better then terror island. I think its because you are so close to Maverick and the canyon walls set up the "Cove" feel. The fog didn't stay around to much but it still seemed erie back there, the wind from the lake made it feel like a cove.

Eden Musee was good but needs some work. The whole in a room then long hall way with almost nothing cuts up the action to much. They somewhat fixed Erie Estate this year with the long hall ways of nothingness it the new props. But both frog hopper king and I think Eden Musee is worth going in for the "Mirror Room" ( Don't want to give to much away)

The props around the park look a lot better then last year but I would always love to see more!

P.S. If you site on the far right side on Raptor you can get a great view of the construction.

One of my favorite parts of Halloweekends has always been the ride graveyard. It was sad to see Disaster Transport's tombstone, but nice to see it had a little eulogy. The graveyard is getting rather crowded with ride corpses after this season though!

I didn't have time to hunt for Wildcat, Space Spiral, or Paddlewheel. Anything interesting with those?

Wildcat and Space Spiral both have tombstones with a eulogy like what DT has. I didn't notice one for Paddlewheel, but I wasn't looking. I did see Demon Drop was added as well, I don't believe that was in there last year.

When I went this past weekend, I only walked through Cutthroat and Screamworks... I didn't really experience anything that I haven't seen before (as far as scares go).

It just seems like it is getting kind of predictable.

"Hey look, a blinding spotlight... I bet there will be someone underneath it"... or "hmm, why are there randomly places barrels,crates,boxes,etc off to the side of the trail? there couldn't possibly be someone hiding behind there!".

I love Halloweekends, and I have an absolute blast everytime I go. They do an amazing job with the decor and ambience on the season around the park... I just feel that some of the scares are getting a little tired.

^^ IIRC, Demon Drop's grave was in between SkyRide West and Corkscrew. I could be wrong though, but I do remember seeing it last year.

It had an open grave. Perhaps indicating the Demon Drop (now at Dorney) is a zombie. :-)

Speaking of Demon Drop, does anybody know how it's been doing at Dorney?

It's been a little clingy, but doing a good job of picking up the pieces and moving on with its life.

It has had its ups and downs.

Ridership has been consistently falling...