halloween at kings island

Hi, I know it might be a little early to talk about halloween but I was thinking of maybe planning a trip to Kings Island. I know this is a cedar point forum but I was hoping for others thoughts. Has anyone been to the halloween haunt at Kings Island? How does it compare to Cedar Point Halloweekends? Would anyone suggest going to Kings Island during halloween?

Thank you to all who reply ( :

I actualy like the kings island haunt better than cedarpoints.

The haunted houses are more "scary", and the shows are killer(no pun intended).

If you have kids, than cedarpoint seems to have more to offer than kings island does as far as haunts go.

I went to King's Island's Halloween Haunt last year for the first time, and I thought it was outstanding...better than Halloweekends, as they made use of their forest setting for eerie walk-throughs (You must go to the Trail of Terror if it's still there!), it was more mature, and that park just came to life with more Screamster enthusiasm at night. They just had more room to work with, and they divided the haunted houses better (Urgent Scare), avoiding the slow line of jammed people moving through the haunted houses commonly seen at CP.

Warning though...I went on a Friday night in early October, and the crowds were much heavier than what I was used to with CP. It was a blast, but there was only enough time to experience about half of what it offered.

So, I'd recommend you go...go in September to avoid the crazy crowds of late October. If you have gone to CP's Halloweekends repeatedly for the last dozen years, KI's Haunt was a breath of fresh air.

KI's haunt is awesome. Make sure you get to the park before it opens. The opening scene is amazing. I didn't know they did that and when it happened I was so impressed. It was awesome chaos. Urgent Scare was the best walk through I have been through.

My Family is thinking about heading there this October. Accommodations, that is if your not staying at GWL, are much more affordable, Tickets seem more affordable, and i think it would make a nice change of pace.

Cedar Point is obviously better for rides, but Kings Island's haunts are better. Much more intense. KI also has the luxury of a woods and undeveloped area to use for haunts as well. If your looking for scarier less family friendly haunts KI is the way to go. I do this CP is making some strides in this area though with the addition of Happy Jack's. Hopefully we will see more additions like that at CP.

One major downside to the KI haunt is the lack of scare zones that you can walk in and out of freely without having to wait in line.

With the exception to the frontier trail, I don't really care for the scare zones anyways. There are too many people, and you can see everything that's going to happen.

I know that kings island has a few scare zones. I think one of them is a construction themed scare zone, and the other is maybe a corn themed zone.

I tried to go to KI's Haunt last year, but apparently their monsters are sissies and don't scare in the rain. :(

A little rain doesn't stop Screamsters. :)

Your mom is to fat to ride TTD. said:
KI's haunt is awesome. Make sure you get to the park before it opens. The opening scene is amazing. I didn't know they did that and when it happened I was so impressed. It was awesome chaos.

Ditto. The chaos at the gates was a very nice, unexpected touch, and that is what set the tone for the whole evening. Within 3 minutes in the park, we were all saying "Man, this is WAY better than Cedar Point."

After this, we were looking for more and more reasons for Haunt to be awesome, and it delivered...Trail of Terror was way better than I was expecting. The Screamsters at Cedar Point commonly give a shake, bang, or growl with obvious costumes. The Haunt Screamsters were very interactive, begging/crying for help with a gashed off leg, twitching on the ground, where you had to walk over them...and they often just looked like battered guests. They even did some smart tricks like what appeared to be normal guests pulled into the forest right in front of you.

I also rode the train themed haunt, where the train stopped in the middle of the ride...I can't remember if the idea was that it broke down or that you were going on a ghost hunt, but it was a cool idea. You then walked through a thick forest on a boardwalk trail. The awesome night rides like the Beast were just icing on the cake.

I might even try to do 2 Halloween Haunts this year so that I can see everything. That evening was the most fun I've had at an amusement park in years...which proves that theming makes an experience!

^Can you elaborate on "obvious costumes"?

If you mean like good themed costumes (pirates bright clowns) then I guess its true. But I just don't get your meaning.

And this is not by any means angry, just curious!

Oh and Ralph, I can't believe they don't work in the rain! That happened at Howl-o-Scream last year to me and it was disappointing.

I've been going to halloweekends for the past 6 years so I am very excited for the future change of pace. Everyone has convinced me to go to the halloween haunt! I just didnt know if it would be worth the longer drive but now I see it is worth it! Visiting the parks in the fall is my favorite time of year & now I am even more excited ( :

thanks everyone!!

Yeah, I might have to attend KI's Halloweekends for the first time as well. :)

Ill never forget the 4 hour drive I made last year only to find that the park was closed due to rain. Epic fail.

dammie16 said:
^Can you elaborate on "obvious costumes"?

Sure...that was worded kind of poorly. I meant at Cedar Point...they have great costumes, but you can easily differentiate the Screamsters from regular guests, and their intent is to physically scare you. So, if they're not covered by fog, they're obvious and shallow scares that don't work.

What I found most scary at King's Island were their "Screamsters" that just looked like dirty, tattered, injured guests....begging for help as if they were just injured on the trail, fakely crying...as you walked away, crying for help harder. It was more of a deeper mental scare, which was more appropriate for more mature guests. It was as if their Screamsters were trained to act more, rather than just jump out and rattle a can.

Also, I don't mean to offend any CP Screamsters...many do an outstanding job...I think it's just that Haunt is catered more to adults, whereas Halloweekends is catered more to families...which is surprising actually, as I consider KI more of a family park...

I'll have to find a weekend or two to head down to Kings Island for Haunt. It was tenatively planned, but it looks like it's time to break out the old calendar and book it.

I'm gonna have to cram as much Halloweekends in as possible as well...it'll be bitter sweet with the season wrapping up.

I hope I didn't overhype Haunt. Just go there expecting more of Halloweekends like I was, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Also, realize I've been to Halloweekends twice per year every single year since it started, and Cedar Point is like a second home to me. A big reason why I liked Haunt so much was probably because it was all new to me. It was about a 2 hour, 45 minute trip for me versus 1 hour, 15 minutes for CP, and I felt it was well worth it.

I'm in the same boat. I think I liked it more because it was new to me last year.

Also I was there closing weekend last year and it was pouring even with some lightning and all the haunts and zones were still open. Must have been a good day for me or a bad day for whoever said they dont work in the rain.

Ffej said:

What I found most scary at King's Island were their "Screamsters" that just looked like dirty, tattered, injured guests....begging for help as if they were just injured on the trail, fakely crying...as you walked away, crying for help harder. It was more of a deeper mental scare, which was more appropriate for more mature guests. It was as if their Screamsters were trained to act more, rather than just jump out and rattle a can.

I understand what you mean about mental scare, I think we're (cedar point/screamsters) are certainly in some places, trying to create more mentally disturbing scares, many of us know that the physical scare is good, but is gone within minutes, the best mental torment could last long after somebody gets home. I think it'll be a little better this year in regards to that. BUT, reading what you said about KI that just seems like a liability. The first thought I had was, whats stopping a guest from dirtying themselves up and doing that, and what mess could follow from somebody doing that. That tends to follow what I've heard about KI lacking certain safety standards, I've heard some pretty shady things from KI in the past.

josh88 said:

I think it'll be a little better this year in regards to that. BUT, reading what you said about KI that just seems like a liability. The first thought I had was, whats stopping a guest from dirtying themselves up and doing that, and what mess could follow from somebody doing that. That tends to follow what I've heard about KI lacking certain safety standards, I've heard some pretty shady things from KI in the past.

King's Island has done some pretty silly things that the media ate up... like the dead celebrity scene last year:

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2009/sep/24/kings_island_removes_dead_celebrity_display-ar-17434/

...or the scene with old Son of Beast trains filled with skeletons after the big accident, prompting more media attention and rumors that people died.

...or bringing in live pigs into their slaughterhouse haunt last year until PETA had their way.

But, I think those things were all in good fun and pretty humorous actually...it showed some creativity that maybe wasn't so well thought out...or maybe they were doing it for the publicity, who knows.

But anyway, you could tell the KI Screamsters were hired....they had bloody gashes and stuff. I'm just saying something like Fear Faire at CP...the costumes are so extravagant that you can pick them all out very far away. There were several times in KI's walk-throughs where I was wondering from a distance "Is that one of us or one of them?"

One more spoiler example of how KI's Screamsters were more acting. They had a Club Blood...I went to it to compare to CP's. The entrance people at CP usually ask "How many people in your party?"....run through list of rules ridiculously fast...and then a "Go ahead." King's Island's Club Blood had a cocky bouncer guy with a personality that almost felt more like a club. There were 4 gothic teens in front of us, and he announced "Emo, party of 4...you're up." They were offended, but we couldn't help but laugh, adding to a fun experience. Inside Club Blood, I was approached several times by Screamster whores with some surprising comments.

It was as if CP's Screamsters were much more trained, robotic, and given strict boundaries of what they could do as a whole...more professional, family-friendly scares. KI's seemed to be trained to just act the part...no strict boundaries...just make themselves convincing, even if offensive to some. While this behavior would be frowned upon by some, it just created a more believable, fun environment for an adult.