Haunted Mazes will be Upcharge Tickets!

Overall, from an objective POV the product hasn't changed much at all. Even if we assume someone purchases a pass and only plans on visiting Cedar Point, they're still getting unlimited access to the park and its several dozen rides and world class roller coaster collection for the entirety of the operating calendar, which spans 6 months, for a stupidly low price point compared to virtually any other entertainment product.

The only thing that's changed is that, during HW, a small fraction of additional attractions are now an upcharge, but - and this is the most important part - these can still be included with one's pass at a stupidly low price point!

Where I live, a single ticket to a haunted house can cost ~$40 on the weekends for a single visit. For less than double that folks can add on the Attractions Pass and visit CP's haunted houses an unlimited number of times over the course of 8 weekends. That makes it an absolute steal compared to similar products.

Cousin Eddy,

Don't think that an upcharge for "premium rides" can't be coming.

My initial reaction was very negative. I could be swayed back if it works out well. The more I think about it the less I irrationally hate it but I have a ways to go.

Technology, Halloween Horror Nights is an upcharge. You just have to pay for an extra ticket to get access to the houses. This seems to be more in line with where the market is moving.

Okay, perhaps I'm just not seeing it but now I am a little perturbed. I'm looking and looking and can't find my sons' favorite Haunt listed on the CP site, the fabulous "Boo Hill" over by Blue Streak, errrrr Boo Streak.

I actually saw that at Kings Island this is the end of the line for Boo Blasters at Boo Hill, perhaps CP's Boo Hill is also facing the chopping block. I wonder if that's where The Conjuring will be, or at Town Hall Museum.

My only real complaint is that they pushed the gold pass over the summer pass all season by saying it included everything in halloweekends, and now that isn't true anymore. I bought my daughter a gold pass SPECIFICALLY for the haunted houses.

It's a breach of trust.

Also, the haunted house game in Ohio is crazy strong, and if they are gonna charge extra for them they need to be SIGNIFICANTLY better than they were back in the day. I haven't been to Halloweekends in ages but the last time I did the haunted houses, they were just meh. It's one thing when they are included as an extra with admission, it's entirely different when it's a premium upcharge. Why would I pay extra for them at Cedar Point when I could just go to The Haunted Hydro and have a way better experience.

And they reduced the pay by $1 an hour since last year for the people working the haunted houses so I don't have high hopes. I'd love to be wrong though.

Screamscape just posted their opinion on the upcharge haunts, and unsurprisingly, they were quite disappointed.

They also pointed out that historically, admission to the haunts was always included at legacy Cedar Fair parks.

EDIT: Screamscape posted a follow-up message that points out Ouimet's commentary and suggests that the mismanagement runs deeper than just Zimmerman. That link above now goes straight to the new message, but you should read both of them.

It wasn't always included though. It started at Knott's, which was always a separately ticketed event.

I remember the first years at Cedar Point when it was so low-key. A little cider, a little fog here and there. I didn't know it started (Cedar Fair-wise) at Knott's, but that makes sense.

Knott’s first event was 1973. It was small but scary but it really caught on and the Scary Farm concept grew rapidly. It attracted the likes of Hollywood and entertainers signed on. Weird Al, Wolfman Jack, and Elvira were perennial favorites. Knott’s is credited with inventing the “maze” as we know it.

Next, believe it or not, was Six Flags over Texas in 1989. Universal was late to the game with their first event debuting at the new Florida park in ‘91. It’s now the largest, richest Halloween event in the world. Oddly, Hollywood’s Universal didn’t scare visitors until 1997, then they dropped it in 2001 and revived it in ‘06. I’m not sure what caused the hiatus.

So there’s no denying the popularity of Haunt/Fright nights. It was the perfect way to extend the season into the fall months. A separate ticket makes sense. By Knott’s second year they were selling 22,000 tickets a night. I’m not sure who originally thought to make it free to pass holders and it took a while for it to backfire but it eventually did.

Another similar story with a twist is the theme park water park. Valleyfair had the first one ever and it was an up charge ticket with a limited time per admission. Some places still hold true to the original up charge ticket and some don’t, but just about every park, large or puny, can see the value in offering slides.

Kevinj:

I remember the first years at Cedar Point when it was so low-key. A little cider, a little fog here and there. I didn't know it started (Cedar Fair-wise) at Knott's, but that makes sense.

That is exactly how I remember Halloscream at Geauga Lake in the late 90s. One or two haunted houses that were high school drama club quality (that's not a knock), walk on coaster rides in the cool weather, a few decorations and Monster Mash as the background music, and coasters in Ohio in October for the first time.

This is disgusting...wow. This is what Six flags brought with them to the cedar fair parks. Well, I won't be paying for the haunts. I mainly go for the rides anyway.

For clarification, do we know which haunts are upcharge? Are the outdoor walk through haunts with the fog and lights etc..included or unchanged? Thx

Midway Scare zones are not an upcharge. Just the mazes that have queues.

I guess im not sure what constitutes a "maze." I get that they cannot realistically charge you to walk through a decorated midway. But the outdoor walk through haunts, the trails with fog, lights, props, people jumping out at you etc., that have been on Millennium island, and the one in the back of Frontier town, those arent walking through a midway, are those upcharge now? And what about cornstalkers?

On their site, Cornstalkers 2.0 is listed in the mazes, while Blood on the Bayou and Cut Throat Cove are listed as scare zones.

^Got it. Thanks for the link. Now I understand what is defined as a maze and what is a scare zone.

On one hand, I cant blame them for upcharging for the haunted attractions when they are giving away the gate with $99 Gold Passes and when they need a way to manage the wait times (by reducing demand in this case). I personally would rather pay more to wait less.

But I think they should have included it for 2025 Gold Pass holders as it was at least indirectly implied in advertising that this would all be included when we bought our passes. Not a deal breaker to me, but it does erode trust and goodwill a tad.

On most fall visits I probably spend more time with the scare zones anyway since the mazes are a longer wait. This upcharge could change the waits but it won’t impact many of my visits I suppose.

https://fox8.com/news/hallo...admission/

Love how they state the "Here’s what you get with your HalloWeekends admission ticket: Access to the park’s nearly 70 attractions and rides, live shows and scare zones."

That's if all the rides are open. It's been a few years since I've been there during HalloWeekends but when I went on Friday nights there were quit a few rides that were not open, such as Gemini just to name one.

Has this changed? I hope so. If they charge extra for the mazes and such then I really hope all other rides are open, with exception obviously, rides that are down for issues.

Historically they always listed the rides that would be open and the rides that would not, but now there is no such list that I can see.

And yes things have changed. Thursday is the new Friday, only better. Friday is still good but not as great as it used to be, Saturday is still the absolute worst, and Sundays are decent.