Holy crap was that crowded!

Hello PointBuzzers. I know who some of you are from having ridden or talked to you in line and seeing your PB profiles or on the Discovery Channel. Tony Mihalik in line for MF row 9 your air time seat, Mark Small 2006 TTD ERT 8x, Shades 2007 JC HCW on Mav.

I took a video of Saturday Oct 6, 2007. It wasn’t the largest I’ve ever seen either but it was big enough to the point I took videos of it instead of riding. I rode Friday & Sunday. Smoking on the Midways is a problem with large crowds. That’s a concern for another thread. But it’s one thing I don't think has been noted in this one.

I recently uploaded other videos of HalloWeekends 2006-07 for posterity’s sake. It includes Monsters Rock!, The Trio of Terror Poe performances, The King Dapper Combo & The Midway Monsters mosh pit, OSU and Tribe on the big screen, The Fright Zone, CarnEvil and Fear Faire etc. etc. I recognize Ralph Wiggum’s character in Fright Zone Best of 2006 at 1:05 or the same thing in 2006 Fright Zone 2 at 9:00. You can see the Saturday Oct 6, 2007 crowds in the latest Fright Zone videos.

Here's Saturday Oct 6Monsters Rock! for some reason it didn't all show up in the HalloWeekends main link above. The MR! show always seems to be packed whether it's a busy Saturday or not. A lot of people stand in the back during a busy day. I did a quick head count a couple times. Approx 60-75 people can sit at the tables in the lower level. Then there's the beer line from the door to the bar. Frank Thompson the vampire guy walked all the way back there to the end of the crowded line during one performance it was pretty funny.

*** Edited for clarity and getting used to how the external links work here 10/10/2007 9:37:43 PM UTC by HalloWeekends!*** *** Edited 10/10/2007 9:46:24 PM UTC by HalloWeekends!***

I've definitely seen worse crowds at the point on the Saturday of Columbus day weekend. I've been going that weekend for the last four years and have seen it more crowded twice. The worst was in 2003 when you could only walk through the Fright Zone one way. I found it more interesting that Sunday turned out to be a fairly busy day. Bet it had something to do with the heat.

The nice weather and it was open 'til 10pm because of Columbus Day the next day so the outdoor haunts were open. I knew on Friday that Saturday would be packed because of the weather (89 degrees) but I wondered how busy Sunday would actually be and it was pretty decent. Not too big not too small. A good turnout. I rode Mav in 30 and 45 minutes (timed by entrance to ride to exit) in the single rider line at the end of the night. Skyhawk was 25 minutes.

^^^That's some really good video. I always love seeing video of myself in action. :)

*** Edited 10/11/2007 2:46:28 AM UTC by Ralph Wiggum***

Thanx I'm glad I could get in touch with you here so you could check out your Screamster abilites in action ; ) The light shown on you a little bit so I could see the mask well enough to tell which one you were based on your PB profile pic. I like the FZ Screamster who was able to pose for me under the orange light on a slow day. This year he walks with a cane like the ghost groom on the Main Midway. Do the screamsters have kncknames for your characters? Sorry we're vearing off topic a bit. Let's see, Boy was it crowded Saturday for Halloweekends! The Screamsters must have had fun and slept well.

Pretty much everyone gives their characters names. My name is Wart (now that I'm in Fear Faire, it's Lord Wart). The guy with the cane under the orange light is Mr. Kane.

As exhausting as our nights are, we always sleep very very well.

Speaking of which do Screamsters take breaks busy day or not? It seems like the flying monkey guy isn't always in FZ. I walk thru multiple times since it's so cool and short. I'm glad to see the siren CP trash can on wheels resurrected from FZ a couple years ago to CE. I hope they get the Chainsaw working in CE. That would have been good for a packed crowd like Saturday.

Everyone gets one 15 minute break a night, although many people get so wrapped up in what they're doing they never take one. Interesting note about that trashcan, there are actually no wheels on the bottom of it. They just manage to get it to slide like that all on it's own. It takes quite a bit of work.

I actually missed seeing the trashcan last year in FZ. It was there in 2005 and I think 2004 just inside the FZ skull area. Maybe it didn't have roller wheels on it. I guess that hard plastic is slick! The FZ one had a different noisemaker like a louder siren but I may be wrong. I only started videotaping it last year. You might check with the guys.

Btw, tell them to check out the FZ, CE and FF videos. They may get a kick out of if not now in the off-season when they miss doing it. I'm sure they have their friends or family tape it. I like listening to the sounds and screams as much as anything.

Anyway, boy was it crowded Saturday! With the weather turning to normal Fall weather the crowds should thin out a bit. But so far no rain. I've been to all but one weekend of HW when I went to KI. I can't recall any rain to thin the crowds this HW season.

*** Edited 10/11/2007 3:41:13 AM UTC by HalloWeekends!***

Jeff said:
It's not that crowded until they're parking people in the grass outside the tolls. :)

At 3 pm there were already cars in the grass.

It's not that crowded until people start parking in Sandusky and swimming across the bay... :P

**500th POST!!!***

Yes I agree it was SO BUSY that day. My stepdaughter is in the parades and she was supposed to meet at 3:!5 and we did not get her there until 3:55pm (5 min before the parade started). We waited about 15 min just to get into the parking lot. I have never seen it that busy. After the parade our kids were wanting to go home (so you knew it was busy when the kids want to go home).

Thank goodness her parade is on sunday this week. LOL should not be as busy as a saturday.

I dont ever want to go back after Saturday, the 13th.. too busy. *** Edited 10/14/2007 3:15:49 AM UTC by MIA-Mike***

^ I'll second that.

(the "too busy" part, not the "don't ever want to go back" part)

During last Saturday's busy day I saw Mr. Hildebrandt grinning ear-to-ear though : ) Good for CP. I don't care for crowds that large either. Luckily there's Friday nights & Sundays during HalloWeekends.

^I hope you can't use your Season Pas at Halloweekends next year.. I think it would help out a lot. They need to do something, a lot of people seemed pissed. The waits were unreal and a lot of down rides..

MF did not sound too good either.. it keep breaking down throughout the day.

MIA-Mike said:
^I hope you can't use your Season Pas at Halloweekends next year.. I think it would help out a lot.

Yeah, it would completely alienate and p*ss off your season pass holders. Great idea.

Do you need a box of tissues?

It'd be more money for the park, you should be able to go to the regular season only. Same with NBA, NFL, and any other big money maker.. season tickets do not = playoff tickets..

My son and I were there last night and what a GREAT night!! Ride count-

Raptor x 1-walk on front seat

MF x 3 with 15-20 min wait

TTD x 3 with 15-25min wait

Mav x 2 with 30-35min wait

Skyhawk x 1 with 10 min wait

WT x 2 with 5 min wait

Wildcat x 1 with 10 min wait

It was a beautiful night out. a little chilly but perfect with a coat and some gloves! The wind was hardly noticable. We were there 2 weeks ago on a saturday and it was barely worth the drive for the 3-4 rides we got on in 12 hours. Next year I will def be going on fridays!

What good is a season pass if it's not good the entire season?