What changes to the Halloweekends events would you like to see?

I'd like to see a few less "family friendly" haunts. Something with more aggressive, heavily themed and believable scenes. They're on the right path with Eerie Estate, and Eden Musee - and somewhat with Zombie High School, but I'd like to see some up-charge haunts that will really blow those away.

So by you wanting less family friendly haunts, you're saying they should remove Boo Hill?

I don't agree with Exit English - they probably need another G rated haunt for kids other than just Boo Hill (I never took my kids there when they were small - not sure if there ARE any other family friendly haunts), but don't water down the adult haunts.

The adult haunts are already super watered down. They need something more like Knotts' Haunt.

I have to agree with exit on this. I'm a huge haunt enthusiast and Cedar Point's haunts do lack a certain something in the thrill factor. Now I realize how spoiled I've become having been to the best haunts in the world, but there is a level CP could bring to their mazes that would still keep it "family friendly" in terms of content.

But let me go on the record by saying that what Cedar Point does IS fine for the park itself and is nothing short of awesome for what They DO do. I just think the whole "guy standing in plain view" thing is getting old and just isn't scary. I understand it to an extent but the point of getting scared is the element of surprise and immersing your guests into the environment you create. This is the department where I think Cedar Point both succeeds in and lacks in to an extent.

e x i t english said:
The adult haunts are already super watered down. They need something more like Knotts' Haunt.

True, but that just means that CP should improve on the existing adult haunts, and not take away from the children.

I don't think anyone was suggesting that.

If they did a new paid haunt like Knotts does, surprised I haven't seen that elsewhere in the chain

Wouldn't it be scary if they removed Terror Island and put in dinosaurs and charged extra to see them? Oh wait.

Yeah, who suggested taking away from the kids? Notice I used "family friendly" in quotations. That means that their actual haunts, are watered down and a lot of blank walls. Like I said, It's not even so much the startles and things, it's the level of detail. Eerie Estate is a prime example of how well they CAN do it.

Dinosaurs alive closes at dark. I believe a few talented Screamsters could turn that into a scare zone.

I always thought it would be cool if they added some "planted" actors into the groups of people walking through the houses or zones. Picture if you will:

A group goes into Zombie High. Yeah it's scary as they jump out at you but you know they won't touch you. You turn a corner and the entire hall is blocked by the undead. Where do you go? They are stumbling towards you, groaning, arms outreached, and the doors close behind you. All of a sudden someone in your group is grabbed and taken down by zombies! The planted actor screams and thrashes, blood spurts up out of the hoard of the undead as they start to feed... Then they turn and come back towards YOU. A door opens to the side offering you an escape route. Then later at the end of the house you see that same person (another similarly dressed actor) has become one of the undead.

A similar story was perfectly set up in the old Werewolf Canyon. A wolf comes down from the walls and tackles the lead person of a group, there is a bit of a struggle, the wolf tears at the actors throat and there is a giant spurt of blood. The wolf howls at the sky as you make your way past.

Tell me a story. Penny cans don't do the trick. Up charge if you must to pay for expendable special effects. Set up the haunts to be almost appointment based to control crowds. But make it scary, not startling.

Best haunted house I ever experienced was in Myrtle Beach. There was a section that was pitch black, walls and floor were black. They told you if you didn't know where to go then to look for the red laser dot and head that way. So we did just that around a few corners. After a couple turns, there was no red dot to be found. Oh and a door had closed behind us so we couldn't turn around. Suddenly a dim light comes on to our left revealing a hallway. But we can't go that way because here comes Jason freaking Voorhees down the hall, smashing his machete against the walls, sparks flying everywhere. We all FREAKED OUT because where do we go? A light comes on revealing where to go (pretty sure a door opened to reveal the hallway) and we RAN. Later there was another section was very dimly lit with a bit of fog. It STUNK like a dead animal. And there are all these prop vampire/bat creatures hanging upside down from the ceiling, arms crossed in front of them, wings wrapped around them, "sleeping." We had to make our way through them, and they would swing a bit if you brushed against them. I was convinced one was gonna jump at me. I never expected a live actor to come down hanging upside down from the rafters by his knees, upside down, wings spread in front of me, fangs bared, blood dripping, shrieking right in my face, and reaching out for me. I screamed like a little girl. My cousin curled up in the fetal position on the floor (this was our senior year in high school so we were 18 yrs old). We had to literally push him the rest of the way, he was digging his heels into the floor.

That was over 15 years ago, cost I think $15 per person or a group of 4 for $45. I've never been close to that scared at a haunt. Imagine what that mind screw could've done with a couple planted actors in our group? They would've made a fortune selling clean underpants at the exit because I almost crapped myself a couple times. It was THAT scary. And I STILL get goose bumps telling the story. I could hardly describe some of the houses or zones other than a general theme at CP. Sure there are a couple characters who do a great job but will I remember them 5 years later, let alone 15 years after?

Here is why planted actors won;t work like that. You have a group walk through and then all of a sudden they see someone being pulled down or thrown against a wall and you want them to have blood shoot out. Now being a planted actor the other guests won't know of this. This only leads to one thing, having certain people in a majority of those groups see this and then react by becoming violent with the Screamster, not knowing it is all staged. I would rather have semi-scary houses then have something like that that would put one of my fellow Screamsters in immediate danger.

If I saw a planted actor scenario play out like that, I'd be disappointed with how it was executed. The idea of a planted actor should be to provide a quick startle and, hopefully, throw the group for a loop....not create a spectacle. Dragging it out right in front of the group does leave the door open to miscommunication and just wouldn't have a good effect in my opinion.

It should be quick and effective. Essentially something like: the actor is at the end of the group and is pulled into a door that locks on the inside (or some other kind of element that's part of the maze) kicking and screaming. It startles the group, is over in a split second (confusing the group)and allows the actor to make his/her way to the next group.

If "mutilated" in plain view is a must, I would like to see the actor get pulled somewhere that the group can't get to but can see easily. An even better scenario could be to have that actor reappear later in the maze calling out to the group for help only to be killed/tortured/dismembered/etc.

Someones brewing ideas for their haunted house already I feel ;)

Any work/progress on it yet?

Keegan said:
Dinosaurs alive closes at dark. I believe a few talented Screamsters could turn that into a scare zone.

agree with you 100%

^^Nope, probably not happening this year. :(

One thing I wanted to point out is that CP has stayed away from being goreish. 2013 was the first season that fake blood was really used on some Screamsters.

Another thing is that in the haunt industry you don't want to disrupt the flow of the house. As in scaring the front of the line or making it stop will causes longer lines and longer/combined congested groups. I believe plant actors would only add to this. The one plant actor would get more scares and be seen by more guest by actually being in a position such as a drop window. However plants (aka family members) have been used in the past at the fort in Fright Zone during the Screamster gathering at the fort prior to the zone opening for the night.

I agree with that. Mazes that do a steady flow of people would not benefit from planted actors like it might at a regular "by the group" haunt. I went through a haunt in 2012 at Great America where they did planted actors. It was ridiculously easy to tell it was an actor as they had a stupid amount of Six Flags gear on.

what if they made a scare zone on the beach of cedar point and called it dead man bay and made you walk on the beach now that would be intriguing!