HalloWeekends 2019

Honestly I'd love to see that..Forbidden Frontier during halloween.

^^ Kevinj, how the heck are people supposed to know they need to kneel with the blue crystal to get those pull rope ferries to show up?

Nintendo Power!

So I was at the park yesterday and the Freak Show props have been set up outside. With that was a sign that said that it will be opening September 14th... But Halloweekends opening night is September 13th. I don't ever remembering a time when haunts weren't open on that first Friday night.

I try not to complain much about Cedar Point, because I love it. But unless there are still things to be announced, this year's HalloWeekends lineup is disappointing...

https://www.cedarpoint.com/halloweekends/haunt/attractions

No new mazes. Nothing really new for scare zones (CornStalkers just reappropriated into one). A lot of new bands, I guess?

Compare to Kings Island, which has at least has 4 new scare zones.

Maybe the announcement is just incomplete and they haven't added new mazes yet. Want to caveat with that. But hard to imagine where any other houses would even be, given the usual spots are occupied by returning haunts.

The sign in front of Freakshow didn't get updated from last year's dates. Opening night this year is indeed Friday, September 13. The times on the Freakshow banners also haven't been updated for this year.

I wonder if a few of the Haunt events are trying to have more options that don't require standing in line at a traditional haunt maze/house. Cedar Point's Boneyard Battleground, Knott's Awaken the Dead, and Kings Island's focus on new fright zones might be the parks trying to find ways to entertain the large volume of Haunt guests without making them wait in lines that seem to get longer every year.

I hate Halloween Scare, having a pimple faced teenager scream in my face is pointless, but it is good for the parks.

It helps add to the bottom line, if it helps them get a new ride that is record breaking and off the charts then I am all for it.

Have they listed the Friday night ride availability yet? I didn’t see it anywhere.

I really miss the old Halloweekends/haunt era from 2000-2008-ish. It used to be more decorated, more music, theme, lighting effects, etc. The mazes and walkthroughs were a lot better IMO, and I think the park is running out of themes for the attractions. Eerie estate has been there for, like, 10 years now? Cornstalkers sucked from the start and pretty much had NO staff working it. We even have been through it with little kids and they were bored! I used to love Cutthroat cove, but once again lack of staffing and broken and missing props have brought it down over the years. Hexed is boring, as was eden musee and now Deprivation. They need to get rid of Feary tales ASAP. Forsaken trail is just as blah.

Freakshow, slaughterhouse, Zombie, and Bayou are still good. I also miss the Infirmary, but people got offended and they had to remove it.

That's what I've been a bit disappointed in. For some reason I just don't get scared much at halloweekends. I can't tell if it's because of the way I am or the quality of attractions. As far as new ideas are concerned, why not make a haunted house themed to a creepy old lighthouse? What about a haunted house that actually isn't based around screamsters, and instead used illusions to mess with your mind? That would be so awesome. How about also using Cedar Point Shores as part of a haunt?

Given the crowds that the park gets every year for Halloweekends, they don't really have motivation to invest a ton of money into new haunts every year. It'd be one thing if their numbers were dwindling because people were tired of the stale houses. But the fact is, those weekends are some of the most crowded weekends of the year on an annual basis. I'm completely in agreement that some fresh new mazes would be wonderful. But it's a business, and during Halloweekends, business is very good.

Going to Hallowweekends this year - we just went Labor Day weekend and it was packed all three days. Are the Hallowweekends generally more/less crowded than Labor Day? Are any weekends better/worse than others?

Early in the Halloween schedule is less busy, but the attractions aren’t fully ready or staffed yet.
Friday nights are way less busy all the way through, but not everything will be open. Saturday’s are nut-to-butt in the midways and lines are LONG. Sunday’s are pretty decent.
This is based of course on weather and past seasons. This season has a wild card- the gold pass, so nobody really knows what it will be like, but likely more busy than usual.

The Friday Night Rides list is out. No Top Thrill Dragster?! Is that simply due to staffing/cost cutting?

I love Cedar Point, but keeping one of their highest profile rides closed on Friday nights seems absurd to me. And with the influx of Gold Passholders, isn't it safe to assume Fridays this year will be more crowded than ever?

I believe it is not safe to assume anything. But IIRC, Friday nights during Halloweekends have been pretty cold and windy. There really isn’t a reason to schedule TTD to be open, only to disappoint.

^Yeah, totally. In fact just tear it down. /sarcasm

This logic doesn't hold up to scrutiny, however. The difference in weather patterns between Friday nights and Saturday nights is absolutely negligible. By the route of identical reasoning, wouldn't it be ideal to list TTD as closed throughout the entire weekend due to the possibility of inclement weather? Such a thought should easily be denied. Shortage of staff additional to the costs of run-time are most evidently presented as the leading cause for the rides closure. This can be understandably disappointing, but do not forget that Friday remains as a slow point in concern to park attendance. Cedar point exists to make money and yada yada yada. Though with the gold pass deal currently being offered, who knows how this may impact Friday crowds!

If there is one thing I've learned after living in Ohio for 4 decades, Friday is the perfect day to fly a kite. Windiest (and coldest) day of the week by far!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA-g8YYPKVo

What about it's a perfect day to go sailing?