News: HalloWeekends rises again this Friday night

HalloWeekends, Cedar Point’s annual fall family festival, makes its much-anticipated return to the park on Friday night, Sept. 17, and continues select days and nights through Halloween on Oct. 31. Along with the rides and roller coasters of Cedar Point, more than 50 HalloWeekends attractions and activities are included with park admission. New this year, guests have even more time to scream in the park with expanded day and nighttime hours in October.

https://pointbuzz.com/News/Story/3349

Best time of the year! In my opinion, it’s a better Halloween event than Universal, Busch Gardens or any other that I’ve been to.

Simply based on their ability to handle large crowds in an efficient manner through the mazes, it can't even hold a candle to the Florida events.

It's a great event, absolutely. But their lack of ability to push people through attractions in comparison to an event like Halloween Horror Nights is glaring on a busy Saturday.

I've only been to KI Haunt, CP Halloweekends and Knott's Scary Farm. For me, Knott's seemed a significant step above the Ohio parks. No experience with the Florida offerings.

Knott's Scary Farm and Universal are simply at another level in terms of Halloween events. CP and KI are both very fun, mostly just because it's the same awesome parks, but decked out in decorations and theming, and with the additional haunt attractions. But HHN and Knott's are basically movie-set quality mazes, and they have a new maze lineup every year. As much as I enjoy CP's haunt, it's not even a comparison.

^ this. Haunt is my favorite season at Cedar Point because I get to ride my favorite coasters in the cool fall air with the pretty leaves and fun Halloween decorations. And the Frontier Trail after dark on event nights is pretty great.

But HHN is about movie-quality haunts and a whole other level of experience. The few rides they keep open during the event are just a diversion when the house lines are too long.

Do Gold Passholders get early entry on Friday?

Yes, via the main gate only.

Any reports from anyone that was there yesterday.

I was there, and I couldn’t help but notice and appreciate how decorated the park was (it seemed to be more than previous years). I didn’t do any of the Haunt attractions (frankly, they just don’t scare me anymore haha) but I did get several rides in. My only big wait was 10 minutes for Valravn. Oh, and I did get some food at Backbeat - which, as always, was delicious. Definitely makes the all-season dining plan worth it (especially when you live 10 minutes from the park).

Shrieks - Big improvements over last year, more performers, some song changes.
Fangtastics - Inside this year, seemed better than last years outside show, but not up to previous red garter shows
Midnight Syndicate - Nearly an exact copy, uses the same video so things that changed are now weirdly out of place
Tell Tale Heart - Never saw previous version, simple 1 man show, pretty good for what it was.
Whistlin Willy - Mostly the same, small changes to script.

Blood on the Bayou - Closed, signs near frontier say opening next week
Banished, Tombstone - Difficult to see any changes in the dark/fog. Seemed very similar to past years.

Haunted Houses - Long lines as usual, skipped for now

Coasters and food locations had nice short lines, overall not as packed (yet) as expected.

Looks like no additions to dining plan since they're selling everything new on the tasting cards

Jordan_Vanichek said:

Oh, and I did get some food at Backbeat - which, as always, was delicious. Definitely makes the all-season dining plan worth it (especially when you live 10 minutes from the park).

I couldn't agree more! We've eaten dinner there several different times this past summer. It has three distinct positives: (1) avoids cooking at home in a hot kitchen; (2) living 10 minutes from the park it's not much of a bigger time commitment than going to any of the eateries on the main drag in Perkins Twp; (3) with a meal plan - it is essentially a free meal (but we did often stop at an ice cream shop or the Sweet Spot to spend some cash on dessert).

The three best options for eating at the park factoring in the above criteria (in our unofficial household poll and in no particular order) = Backbeat, Provisions (in Forbidden Frontier), and Crystal Rock Cafe over in the waterpark.

Hudson said:

Shrieks - Big improvements over last year, more performers, some song changes.

LOVED this show, but I am a little bit biased - my nephew from Pittsburgh is the new trumpet player in the Shrieks band. We don't typically get to see him that often, so this is nice to have him in town for a two month stretch while he has a gig in our back yard.