halloween at kings island

yeah, thats what i meant... more hours of operation after dark .

Kings Island was the best. my boyfriend and I went there this year and I couldn't of enjoyed it more. The actors were great. The haunted attractions were awesome. The decorations were pretty good too. They had a lot of fog everywhere. Actors will run around the park and scare you. The live performances were great as well. And I love the fact that they had the music going throughout the park! The whole atmosphere was super. The best haunted attraction for me was Urgent Scare. Go to that one first! And Club Blood was pretty hilarious/scary at the same time. They actually had bloody strippers dancing up on a pole! Hahaha. Kings Island is definitely more for adults. Dont bring your kids here. My only complaint about it would be the train ride one? I forget the name of it, but it was disappointing. They made it seem like you would have a haunted train ride, but really the train ride lasted 1min and then the zombies scream at you telling you to get off the train and then you go throughout the forest in a normal walk through. Altogether they had 12 haunted attractions. We could only do 8 of the 12. I really loved it and I would definitely go back.

After reading this thread, I really would like to take a weekend to go and check out King's Island's Haunt.

That being said, something that I would like to see at HalloWeekends, that has the opportunity to be amazing would be for them to utilize the empty Soak City. I'm sure it's been brought up before, but it'd be a cool scenario.

I was actually planning on going this past october, but we had a change in plans. I always hear that the haunts at KI are better than CP's. Like some haunted houses are rated R and such, with more adult content and more blood/gore. I really want to see their haunts oneday, as apparently it makes CP's haunts look boring when comparing them. But I still love CP's.

It seems like many CF haunts are better than CP's. For example, the 2011 Dorney asylum haunt's (back by Stinger, it was under construction then) front door screamster told us rules, one of them being "Don't drop the soap". I'm not going to go into any further details.

I would agree Kings Island's haunt is better than Cedar Points.

I went to both twice this season during the haunts.

Why are ex. paramount parks' haunts scarier? It's like the original cedar fair parks didn't want to scare people or something.

The thing to remember is that KI is in a huge metropolitan area, making it much easier for them to find staffing for their attractions, hence why they can have so many of them. CP doesn't have it quite that easy.

I've never been to KI's haunt (because apparently they don't work in light rain. Jerks.) but I've heard mixed reviews. It seems like if you want blood and gore, it's the place for you. Personally I find those things cheesy and unnecessary in a good haunt, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Kings Island also has more time to prepare for Haunt. The park is closed for a couple weeks in September, resulting in more time to transform the park into a rich Halloween environment, train employees, set up the houses, etc.

I think some of the KI praise has to do with the park being newer to the CP regulars here too. After having done Halloweekends exclusively every year since 1997, I was blown away by my first Kings Island Haunt in 2009. Everything was new, exciting, and seemed so much better.

After doing KI Haunt and Halloweekends the past 4 years now, there's not as much of a difference as I originally thought. Kings Island's environment definitely feels more transformed into a Halloween experience, and the haunts are more gory and mature.

But, remember that Kings Island separates their event. It's exclusively Haunt on Friday/Saturday, and it's a family-friendly environment without scares on Sunday. So, with very few young families, children, and babies out and about, KI's Haunt can go a little further.

Ffej, That feeling happened to us this summer. We went down to KI for our first visit and were blown away by their coasters. But while in line the second day, some people saw my CP shirt and said they know their park is alright, but CP blows them away. I let them know they had some really great rides there, but came away wondering if I would be entertained the whole summer, like only the Point can do!!!

I really enjoyed going to Kings Island this fall! I usually go in the spring. It was really pretty the weekend we went! I hope to get to go to Kings Dominion next fall! I was there a couple of summers ago! Very fun!

Went to King's Island's Haunt last year and enjoyed it, overall though I like HalloWeekends better. However, I definitely felt that King's Island's atmosphere was a lot better than CP's. They had a ton of displays all over the park and the area with the Jack O Lantern people display was simply awesome! That right there is a true Halloween feel to me. A lot of their store front windows had some really detailed displays. I could have spent the whole night just walking around looking at all of the displays and decor they had everywhere. They had some pretty good houses, but some needed a lot of improvement (as you will find at most park events.)

We got there a little after the park opened so I am not sure if they do the OverLord presentation, but that is something I love at HalloWeekends! Reminds me of when Horror Nights at Universal used to have an icon show each night. Things like that can really add to an event, I feel it's a great way to kick off the event each night.

There are things I like and dislike about both events. It seems like they are all improving each year which is really great and exciting to see. Like someone mentioned above, I don't think you HAVE to have blood and gore to make an event awesome, it's all about the full execution of an event that can really make or break it.

I am curious about Dorney's event. I was there many years ago, but we didn't really check out any of the Halloween stuff.

We've gone to Wonderland's event the last 2 years and their houses are awesome! They lack some atmoshphere, but even from last year to this year it has improved so I think they're working on that. Their houses more than make up for it though. Some REALLY great sets and detail, along with great actors. They are the type of houses that as soon as we exit we want to get back in line because they were so good.

CornStalk said:
We got there a little after the park opened so I am not sure if they do the OverLord presentation, but that is something I love at HalloWeekends!

On Friday's, KI does something I like even better than the Overlord ceremony.

There's obviously a massive group of guests waiting for the gates to open on Friday. KI has pull-down, garage-style doors that conceal everything behind them.

When the clock strikes 7PM, the doors thrust open, and the park's Screamsters come charging toward the guests...chainsaws, zombies, and just about every Halloween-inspired character you can think of.

The teens all start screaming, and it turns into pure chaos. It might sound annoying, but there's so much energy and excitement, and it's really fun. As you continue through the gates, there are Screamsters everywhere coming at you.

For me, it's one of the most memorable aspects of KI Haunt...the night is instantly a blast from the start. I didn't have a chance to be there for a Friday opening in 2012, but I hope they're still doing this.

Wow, that sounds awesome! Hopefully they are still doing this. I will be sure to get there on a Friday if we go next year. That alone sounds worth the trip.

Yep, they're still doing the wall of monsters. It's awesome. One of the screamsters gets me every single time I go, and I'm NOT an easy scare. There are just so many of them, you can't pay attention to them all at once, and they like to sneak back up behind you after you pass them. Good stuff.

The guy up on the podium with the microphone, just inside the gate, is equally awesome.