What has happened to Halloweekends?

Cargo Shorts said:
I am sure they are still accepting applications.

Through the end of September!

Also, since nobody has mentioned it yet, there is also a new live band that plays on the main midway. They're on the small stage directly under Sky Ride that was used for the Peanuts show this summer.

Ralph Wiggum said:

Cargo Shorts said:
I am sure they are still accepting applications.

Through the end of September!

Also, since nobody has mentioned it yet, there is also a new live band that plays on the main midway. They're on the small stage directly under Sky Ride that was used for the Peanuts show this summer.

I went on Friday night (my first Friday night since 2007, I think), and had a GREAT time! The Skin and Bones Band (I think that was the name) was really, really good -- in my opinion. They did a really good version of "Don't Fear The Reaper".

I’m coming up from North Carolina and taking a friend for the first time the second weekend in October. Would it be worth it going on a Friday night and risk only being in the park for six hours or should we just get there early on Saturday?

Cedar Pointer said:

I’m coming up from North Carolina and taking a friend for the first time the second weekend in October. Would it be worth it going on a Friday night and risk only being in the park for six hours or should we just get there early on Saturday?

fd

Depends on how uptight you and your friend are. If you want to do everything, see everything, and leave"no-stone-unturned," you'll want to go both Friday and Saturday. If you just want to hang out and have a good time together, then just go on Saturday and hang out together for thirteen hours.

For sure. It’s his first time at the park. He mainly wants to hit the main coasters.
When I worked halloweekends Friday’s where pretty empty but that was back in 2013. I don’t know what the crowds will be like now

This past Friday night was pretty slow, everything except for Steel Vengeance, Millennium Force, and Maverick were walk on. TTD even only had a 5 min wait most of the evening.

We like to do the Friday-Saturday combo for Halloweekends. Friday's crowds are usually pretty light, so you can get a lot of riding and haunts in that evening, which allows us to take a little more leisurely pace on Saturday and not feel rushed or that we're missing out on things.

Also, if you are a renewing passholder and you wish to use your free FLP, I can't recommend a Friday night on Halloweekends enough. I used mine last Friday and it was incredible. Unlike most of the summer, where SV's FL line was often 15-30 minutes, it was an absolute walk on. From the time I walked into the queue to the time I got back in line after I ridden was only 8-10 minutes. I got 11 rides on SV that night, as well as 19 other rides.

The free renewal FLs are exempt from Saturday use during HWs.

Rugrats2001 said:

4 - The original Fright Zone was EPIC!, ....and now the new theme is limited to a smaller area than ever before.

It starts at Millennium tunnel and ends at Pet Farm yes? Because that is the original length of the Fright Zone when it opened in 2001.

But I agree with you on how Halloweekends isn't going in the direction it should be.

I always thought the problem with Screamworks was not enough scenic/props. They tried to fill it with fog (the most fog machines of any zone in the park) but it's just so large of a space that it's difficult/expensive to fill it. Though Frightzone had little to no scenic the trail itself worked for it. Though as mentioned below the loss of trees really did hinder that zone as well as the current zone.

Making it a smaller area may make it easier to fill and would also require fewer Screamsters to create a much more fuller atmosphere.

And with the loss of trees on the later half of the trail it really limits the over hanging spooky feeling.

On the other hand the trail itself is very well defined and cutting the zone half way through just seems a bit abrupt to me. Though disclaimer i haven't been back to the point during Halloweekends for a few years so haven't seen it myself.

brieeee said:

Missing to is the big pumpkin,usually on the splash pad Not there anymore?Or did it move somewhere else. I always thought that was pretty cool.

We had my son out this past weekend to hit up a lot of the kid-friendly attractions, and the big inflatable pumpkin is over by the Giant Wheel as a part of Franklin's Tractor Trek. All in all, we were impressed with the decor and the kids attractions. Had a great time, and the park and rides seemed to all be well staffed and equipped to handle a pretty big crowd on Saturday.

We couldn’t find the animatronic ghoul/goblin that sings The Monster Mash... Is he gone? My son was irritated they moved the ogre. I noticed he really only loops through 3 spiels now and they are pretty rapid fire. Kinda kills the suspense. Also he’s starting to look a little rough. But I still snicker every time he farts and then says someone needs to take out the trash.

I was looking at the HAUNT maps online. I noticed Cedar Point has WAAAAAAAY less red zone than the other parks I looked at. Some parks were almost all shaded red. CP was pretty much Frontier Town & Trail.

The animatronic is on the midway across from Chickies & Pete.

Ah. I don’t think we made it down that way at all. Thanks.

^^ Thanks Pete, my daughter loved watching him last year. We haven't been able to get out much this season but look to have a couple more weekends so hopefully she will get to see him again.

Shane Denmark said:
I was looking at the HAUNT maps online. I noticed Cedar Point has WAAAAAAAY less red zone than the other parks I looked at. Some parks were almost all shaded red. CP was pretty much Frontier Town & Trail.

Many times this!

Folks should really get to Knott’s and see just how intense of an experience Haunt should be. The wide walkways really work against CP. Outside of the pumpkins over the entrance, it really doesn’t feel like a Halloween event when you enter the park.

Knott's Scary Farm is a totally different thing. It is a separate event with separate admission, with season passes not valid and designed especially to be a more intense Halloween experience with people paying for that. CP has a different audience and the park has to remain fairly family friendly for the entire day, the Halloween attractions can be mostly avoided if desired.

haiderodes01- I completely disagree and you missed my point. I think CP does a FANTASTIC job decorating for HalloWeekends. My point was their outdoor scare zones are way more concentrated in that back corner of the park, and other parks have scare zones throughout and more scare zones overall. I was amazed how immersive KI’s Haunt was last fall. There were no lights on the midways. There were Screamsters all over the park, not just the scare zones. I get CP tends to be much more family focused especially with the resorts. But damn, KI truly transformed in atmosphere from Great Pumpkin Celebration to HAUNT.

While I certainly do not agree with bashing any of the staff at Cedar Point, mostly because I know Jason does care very much (he was in one of the outdoor zones last night observing); I will sadly agree that despite the amazing decorations, the outdoor zones have gone downhill and are extremely disappointing. The Trail of the Forsaken was god awful..what exactly was the point here? I counted ten screamsters. Ten. The decorations...there were none. Plus, I understand ripcords placement but it destroys any idea of scariness by A: still being open at night in the middle of a zone, and B: having it’s incredibly annoying floodlights on..pointed directly at the zone.

The festival by the town hall? Even worse. I counted six screamsters including one sitting on a bench...drinking a pop. The booths are there for what purpose? No one was getting scared. Maybe try putting screamsters IN the booths to pop out? Again, terrible execution although the idea seems like it could be good.

Tombstone whatever...get rid of it. Terrible placement.

Now for the good: the pirate one by Maverick? Amazing! Screamsters on point, fog that actually existed and scenery is still good. Well done. Also the changes made to Eerie Estate this year were great.

I didn’t get to the other ones yet, though I know hexed was very good last year. I’ll check out the new version next weekend. And I hope Cornstalkers is just as good as it’s been in the past.

Very let down though by the outdoor zones overall, fog machine timing needs to be better (there was no wind last night) and I truly think the park should explore the option of at least closing down Frontiertown and making that a separate Haunt attraction where parents don’t take their screaming kids in strollers. Maybe someday.

Food services was great and thank god for hot chocolate.