Carowinds closed early due to "unruly minors" amid apparently false rumors of gun fire

If you search for Carowinds on Facebook, you can see all of the crazy **** that people posted. There are videos of people running around and descriptions by people who talk about gunfire as fact. I mean folks are adamant that there was a shooting, even though none of them appeared to witness it. But it seems like it was just people at a scare event who let kids running around push their imagination. Herd mentality at its worst.

Also, I think requiring adult chaperones at Halloween events is long overdue, and they should probably be separately ticketed events at parks where that makes sense. Both would certainly change the profile of the people attending. This seems to work exceptionally well for Universal Orlando.

What separates Horror Nights from every other theme park Halloween event I’ve been to is the amount of security and staff presence.

I'm thinking they need to put a Knotts policy in place pronto chain wide, and not save the debate for the offseason. PR is looking pretty damaging right now. Most families/parents aren't going to risk even the chance of an unsafe environment

Last year at the KI Haunt there was a crazy amount of unsupervised kids. KI brought out so many security staff I could see multiple security officers from wherever I was at in the park. They were pretty active escorting multiple group from the park, and seemed to keep things from getting out of control. KI had the issues earlier that year so maybe they are more proactive, but I can see this being a powder keg waiting to go off at any moment.

Also once inside many of the kids aren't really spending money. We felt like the only ones using fast lane/fright lane that night and the only ones in line for food with us were the few families there. Most kids were filling the free water cups with pop and asking for samples upon samples of free fudge.

I saw a post saying that they were selling $30 tickets at one point. If that's true, that certainly didn't help.

CP was mobbed last night but it was adults and families. Still don’t understand why so many young kids are around after dark. The most bizzare thing I saw, multiple times, was families queueing up (in 45+ min lines) for haunted houses wearing those no Boo necklaces. I understand walking through scare zones to go somewhere else but if you don’t want to get scared why in the world are you queuing for a haunted house?

eightdotthree:

What separates Horror Nights from every other theme park Halloween event I’ve been to is the amount of security and staff presence.

That, plus it's triple the cost. And the HHN crowd can still get a little ornery the later it gets into the evening.

What do you expect from a bunch of “little whores?”

Man, you have to dig deep to get to that meme!

These parks like Cedar Fair have made their own bed with these Halloween events and the crowds they have marketed them to. Dollywood manages high attendance in the fall with a special event that’s not aimed toward this crowd. Apparently this is what Hershey wants in the future.

Yes, the parks are surely to blame for this.

Having flashbacks of growing up going to church being told by people that the beat of rock music is of the devil...all while knowing I was a drummer.

Did you ever get a chance to sit with your youth group and watch the special video about the hidden messages in rock music? It was the best - and introduced me to music I didn't know was out there.

Everyone was a satanist in the 80’s. Even more so if you played Dungeons and Dragons.

And as proven during season 4 of Stranger Things

Raven-Phile:

Did you ever get a chance to sit with your youth group and watch the special video about the hidden messages in rock music?

Funny you mention that. Back in the early 80s my youth group was part of the live audience of one of those morning talk shows called Morning Break (I think it was on CBS) where the guests were the Peters brothers talking about all the evils of backwards masking.

Touchdown:
...The most bizzare thing I saw, multiple times, was families queueing up (in 45+ min lines) for haunted houses wearing those no Boo necklaces. I understand walking through scare zones to go somewhere else but if you don’t want to get scared why in the world are you queuing for a haunted house?

Hopefully they caught the fine print on the bill of sale which disclaims that the monster repellent necklaces do not work in haunted houses.

That said I think some people buy them because they think of it as a cool flashy thingy; and I hope the greeters at the haunted houses remind them that the inside monsters are actually attracted to flashing lights (unlike the outside monsters who are repulsed by them), so they'd best shut them down inside.

Hmmm...I'm surprised I haven't seen a "no-boo" necklace designed to look like a flashing clove of garlic. Hey, I wonder if it's possible to get a light-up Gil necklace from that park that FUN doesn't manage anymore.....

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It was sadly working in houses, had to slow down my walking to separate from a group to actually get scares.

FORT MILL, S.C. — Carowinds announced Monday a new chaperone policy following an incident Saturday that set off a panic among guests. Details regarding the new policy are expected to be released Tuesday.

"We are implementing additional security protocols, including a new chaperone policy that will be introduced tomorrow," a spokesperson for the amusement park said Monday in a released statement.

https://www.wcnc.com/amp/article/news/crime/carowinds-introduce-cha...5463ee1411

Raven-Phile:

Did you ever get a chance to sit with your youth group and watch the special video about the hidden messages in rock music? It was the best - and introduced me to music I didn't know was out there.

Link please

eightdotthree:

What separates Horror Nights from every other theme park Halloween event I’ve been to is the amount of security and staff presence.

It's crazy not only how much Security/OPD they have on site, but also their zero tolerance policy they have on causing a disruption. It doesn't take much get a year ban from the park, and not much more for a lifetime ban. When I worked at Halloweekends, they would occasionally toss guests from the park but it usually wasn't up to CPPD to do so. They would still have to ask the park if it was needed. Universal tosses so many people nightly that they set up a OPD "booking" station out in the parking garage during the event.