What should come and go for Halloweekends?

Well, I went to King's Island's Halloween Haunt on Friday (first time ever), and it was much better than I was expecting. Does anyone know if all the props & costumes were acquired from Paramount?

It may have been the thrill of something new having been to CP's Halloweekends exclusively all my life, but the haunted houses and outdoor "mazes" were much more thrilling, gory, fun, and interactive [I went to Club Blood (much better than CP's), Urgent Scare, Slaughterhouse, Trail of Terror (an outstanding outdoor haunt), and Tombstone Terror-tory].

I know these types of attractions vary by the actors, but the timing was just spot on at King's Island. I think it was more to do with the haunted house layouts, where KI's used alot of curtains & hanging objects to obstruct your view and divide the rooms. CP's layouts were just too open and predictable, especially with Toy Factory & Eerie Estate (though amazing atmospheres!). It seems that CP's haunted houses were completely ruined by stacking people, whereas KI's still worked because of the separation of many small areas. This is something CP should consider.

Again though, it could be that I'm just too familiar with CP's haunted houses. I just don't remember very much separation in CP's haunted houses compared to KI's.

KI I think puts on a great haunt but I would still put the Fright Zone and Terror Island over Trail of Terror and Happy Jack's over Massacre Manor (which is the best indoor house at KI.) That said, Ive made it a point to make one trip to KI for the Haunt every year since I moved here.

Also most of the animatronics were purchased for the 2007 Haunt.

I just got back home from a wedding I attended in NJ over the weekend and it made me think of something somewhat on the topic of this thread's title...

While I was in NJ I almost had deja vu while I was listening to the radio in the car. -- One of the radio ads started out just like the current radio ads for CP Halloweekend's (the "family friendly" one with the little girl voice, Mr. Ghost, and Mr. Warewolf), and I was thinking to myself why "Why the heck are they advertising on the radio in NJ for CP?" but then at that moment the ad audio cut differently for the Halloween event at Dorney Park (which made more sense).

I know CF is using stock audio / footage for ads of most of their parks to save on production costs.... but what do you guys think about the current ads for Halloweekends this year (especially the radio little girl, Mr. Ghost, and Mr. Warewolf one)? Do they need to stay or go? How about frequency? [Frankly I think radio "family friendly" one is getting a bit overplayed this year, which seems to be about almost every commercial break -- at least on the stations I listen to.]

I'm checking out the Haunt at KI this Thursday for the first time ever. All these years of working Halloweekends at CP has caused me to miss out on seeing haunts at other parks.

That being said, from what I've heard, KI caters more toward adult themed attractions. More gore, more shock value sort of stuff. The CP attractions (both indoor and outdoor) are more about overall atmosphere, high startle scares, and strong, memorable characters. I'm interested in comparing the two after my trip to KI.

You will be amazed by Kings Island's haunt.

2 House videos are up http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm

I LOVE these houses so much!

Nice videos Tony!

Ralph Wiggum said:

That being said, from what I've heard, KI caters more toward adult themed attractions. More gore, more shock value sort of stuff.

This is right on! Check out Club Blood at KI and compare to CP's. You can definitely tell CP took the more family-friendly approach, especially after one of KI's actors asked if I wanted to take her home for the night. Hillarious! That little touch changed the vibe from amusement park haunted house to a shady club scene...

Ohhhhh, loved the videos! Cant wait to see them first hand. After just getting back recently from Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando, I could use some more haunts to get me going.:)

I had the chance to take in halloweekends yesterday in the rain. It was my daughter Leslie's first haunted experiance. We had a great night and All ,I mean all screamsters were great . A few of the monsters asker her name and had a ball with it. By the end of the night she was looking around trying to find people jumping out and she still got caught a time or 2. I have to mention one screamster inparticular, The one in carn-evil with the puppet really got her going! I want to thank everyone for making it a great night for my first-timer Leslie!!

I decided to watch the Overlord on Sunday. I loved how the screamsters approached and took a knee for the overlord. It made for a dramatic scene that really got the mood set. Do you think anything more will come of the overlord character in years to come? I was personally thinking maybe they could use the fire elements from the spectacular to create an even more powerful scene, watching it at night was great! I see great untapped potential in how they could kick off a night of haunts.

Personally I think that the overlord needs a scare zone/house themed to him ala Universal. Either have him be in charge of a hell scape or have it be a maze where every room is themed to the other haunted attractions. I know that rumors are flying that Undertacker U is admiting its final class this year so who knows the Overlord could be coming to the Frontier Carousel Building in 2010...

the overlord just roams the park, as far as I know thats how he does it in the other parks, sort of overseeing his minions.

I didn't want to start a new topic, so I figured I'd post this here. If you got the Fun Times newsletter in your email yesterday, they announced that all the outdoor scare zones will be open from 6-8 on closing day. I'm personally very excited! So don't forget to swing through Terror Island on your last trip around the park this year. :)

I saw that too. It's a benefit of changing back to standard time earlier in the day. I should be pretty dark by 6pm Sunday. They are going out screaming this year.

This is SO awesome! It's always kind of sad the scarezones aren't open on Sunday/Closing day, so this is great news! I have been dreading the time change, it already feels like it gets dark too early, but now there is actually some good in it.

New HalloWeekends related Point Cast is up, whoohoo!

JuggaLotus said:

CornStalk said:
Aside from the Midway Monsters and magic show I have not seen any of the HalloWeekend shows, so I am really looking forward to all of them as well.

I caught about 30 seconds of the Red Garter show. It won't be worth seeing again. Part of the greatness of that show in the past was having a live band performing. With a DJ and dancer/singers they might as well just pre-record it and have them lip-sync.

I hate this mind-set. Its a new show! If you go to see a great movie at the local theater, do you refuse to go again because the next film isn't up to the standards of whatever film you really loved? Go back to Cedar Point this weekend and give it a chance - My daughter and I make a point to experience it every weekend, and the singers/actors are very talented and well deserve a chance to shine. It isn't THEIR fault the band wasn't brought back!

They were given a chance. And without a live band, its not worth sitting through.

JuggaLotus said:
They were given a chance. And without a live band, its not worth sitting through.

I agree, 30 seconds on the first day of a new show is more than anyone deserves...

Last Saturday, I was getting ready to walk through Fright Zone, but then I realized - You guessed it! - No live Fright Zone Band! What a waste of time THAT would have been.

I guess you must spend the day in front of the Big Screen on the Iron Dragon Midway, waiting for the Graveyard Rockers to come out to get your 'Live Band" experience. The rest of the park is so not worth experiencing since it doesn't have a "Live Band".