HalloWeekends 2023
The first HalloWeekends teasers have started to appear and the sign by the hearse mentions five indoor haunted mazes and five outdoor scare zones. It also mentions two "new scares": Midnight (presumably the house replacing Hexed) and Clownz Death Metal Tour (possibly an outdoor zone).
In 2022 there were six outdoor scare zones including CornStalkers 2.0. If Clownz Death Metal Tour is replacing at least one of those zones apparently one other zone won't be returning for 2023.
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
If the harvest themed zone goes away (I can't even remember the name, it was so bad) I won't be upset.
I could see Harvest Fear going away. Blood on the Bayou is another likely candidate for not coming back but it might depend if they want the capacity that comes with having so many guests walking those paths on the island, not to mention the staffing needs.
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
I thought I remembered Midnight Syndicate announcing their show fairly early last year, so I tried looking it up, and as far as I can tell, it was announced on 8/24/22. Think they'll have a new show for us this year?
Noticed the Boo Hill structure outside the pirate ride building was up today. Looks like that's coming back.
A HalloWeekends casting notice at Playbill.com mentions an emcee character at "The Brimstone Club", which it also the title of Midnight Syndicate's upcoming album. Something appears to be in the works on that front.
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
Noticed some of the gravestones were getting ready to go out near the old dragster trains. Probably just a coincidence, but made me think of some interesting things they could do in the dead rides display.
Midnight Syndicate has become synonymous with HalloWeekends, so I am excited to see what they do with a live show for their new album. The shows over the years have been similar in presentation (Ed and Gavin come out to their pre-recorded video, play some of their tunes, strange things happen in the theater, then the lights go out and monsters appear out of nowhere), yet every time one of their shows is over, I'm standing and applauding. I feel that their live shows have been some of the best Live E that Cedar Point has ever put on, so I do hope that they will once again be a part of HalloWeekends. It really wouldn't be the same without them!
Today was the last day for the summer shows, so I'm interested to see how fast they get to work on the celebration stage. Will they take down all the work they did for summerbration or reuse pieces? If they pull out the shipping containers again, will they have Zamperla tags? Shrieks is a few years old now, (3?). A new show would be nice but who knows with the budget.
Along with the likely return of Midnight Syndicate at Jack Aldrich (although the newly-installed backdrop in front of Jack Aldrich suggests the theater will not be used for HalloWeekends), Wake the Dead is almost certainly going to come back at Lusty Lil's.
I could see a new production happening at Celebration Plaza while dropping Raging Inferno and the Skin & Bones Band to streamline productions there.
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
Just a couple progress notes. The south shipping container stage has been put up, but only the one side (so far?) The bleachers are gone. Didn't see any changes to the stage yet, the drum set was still there. The gazebo for one of the signing animatronics was put up where Dive In used to be. The singing pumpkin tent near Dragst.. TT2 is up.
Red Garter has the stone backdrop and hanging bats up on the stage. No frontier trail stuff scare zone stuff yet, but Thunder Canyon is closed with a halloweekends sign, guessing cornstalkers & slaughterhouse are back. The big Frontier fling sign has a covering over it, maybe bayou or something else on the island? Didn't notice anything in frontier town yet, and didn't visit the new boardwalk area.
The description on the Festival of Fear page has been changed to mention a new character named Eve (presumably part of the Brimstone Club). Raging Inferno and the Skin & Bones Band are no longer listed. The Shrieks are still mentioned, so they might return as a group on the shipping container stage.
"Thank the Phoenicians!"
Hoping they can sort out the crazy long walk to blood on a bayou, it makes it not worth the time and effort. I do enjoy the haunt though and hoping it can remain with its old entrance after tt2 is finished.
First ride; Magnum 1994
GL2CP:
Hoping they can sort out the crazy long walk to blood on a bayou, it makes it not worth the time and effort. I do enjoy the haunt though and hoping it can remain with its old entrance after tt2 is finished.
It would be cool if they could find a way to actually lean in to the length/layout. I imagine just adding staff/props is probably impractical from a $$$ perspective, but fun to imagine. Could be an opportunity to actually use the length to tell a story of sorts, which you don't really have time to get in the condensed layout of a maze. Maybe even throw in a few more interactive areas/moments.
I did hear Tony on Coaster Radio saying there would be some changes with new ways to look at things this year, and while I'm not at all hearing that as a tease for Blood on the Bayou / Forbidden Frontier area, I did take note that the tenor of Tony's PR announcement seemed to be there would be a fresher look/feel ... at least somewhere lol
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