Kings Island: Boo Blasters To Scary?

Hello Ohio Coaster Fans Rejoicing At The Start Of Coaster Season,

As many of you know, Planet Snoopy has now opened up with Boo Blasters on Boo Hill as part of the new addition.

I went down this past opening day and got to ride it several times (left my kids up North...so I could just ride rides and not get stuck in kiddie land...of course.)

I was wondering if anyone else thought that this ride is pretty intense and scary (especially for Cedar Fair standards?) It started out not bad, but the skeletons and ghosts seem to become increasingly more scary looking rather than comical (which I felt like they should be considering it's in a kid area.) I also felt the ending was pretty "nightmarish" for little ones.

I have a 4 and 2 year old, that I think will either love it or coward with fear ;c)

Granted, I personally REALLY liked it, fun, guns worked, I liked the sound, lots to look at and all. I also liked the Fog curtain to the start of the "boss battle."

Any thoughts from those that do or don't have kids and got to check it out?

See ya on the midways!!

-RollerCoasterGod

My family (kids 8 and 12) didn't mention it at all.

The two topics of conversation following our ride were how they just switched the head on the figure of Shaggy running in circles to a generic one and how it seemed easier as everyone scored higher than usual.

But yeah, it's not a bad re-do. Definitely ok.

So is it really easier, or did they re-hab all the guns and targets? I seem to recall it being like this back when the game system was new..

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I believe they rehabed the guns, I was actually able to hit more then the two nearest targets in the old Peppers Ghost area for the first time on Saturday.

RCG.

Would you say this is equivalent to a haunted house that isn't recommended for people under 12 that we experience during Halloween? I have been on it when it was Scooby.

Meh, we had a time when Scooby and Casper the Ghost were considered to scary for small kids.

If it's still in cartoonish fashion, I wouldn't worry about it for any kid.

Keep in mind I don't have kids so I wouldn't look for that kind of thing but the version I rode at King's Dominion I don't think we be an issue for children.

RideMan said:
So is it really easier, or did they re-hab all the guns and targets?

Don't know. Thought of that too though.

Then again, it felt like there were an awful lot of close targets.

BTW the park now considers Boo Blasters to be part of International Street instead of Planet Snoopy. You and I both know that the entrance is in PS. I am guessing they did this because the ride is a little more intense.

Hopefully I can answer a couple of questions:

First on the Rehab Good AND Bad:

The first thing is the entrance, it looks GREAT! Then comes the waiting area...which is HORRIBLE!!! The waiting area literally looked like the RIPPED everything off the walls. There was still white holes in the wall paper from where things were attached, they had a 6 foot piece of wall paper that was coming down by gravity leading up into the hallway. They had the white house lights on in the waiting area. I had VERY low hopes when seeing this. At least tell the story of what you are going to do. Not NEARLY as good as Scooby or the Phantom. The hallway is still the same as Scooby leading up to the loading area, except they changed the how to play signs and tell about the final boss battle with Boocifer. The cars just got a "green slime paint over" slime green at top then dripping down 2/3 of the way.

The Ride and Mechanics:
Three guns per car. Picture is still located in the same spot at Scooby. The guns themselves...they at least work this year (all I tried.) But it is opening day, and I know those things take a beating all year. I was able to hit all targets far and near this year, EXCEPT when I seemed to be past 30 degrees from the targets or more. There are some MUCH closer targets. Heck there are even some targets where the only way for me to get to them was to shoot BETWEEN where the door closes and the ride vehicle (down by my foot!) The targets have about a 3 second reset. The targets do mostly have some type of effect and all have a good sound effect when hit. The potion bottles seem to be the real point getter...ESPECIALLY in final battle (where we threw on an extra 400 + points alone.)

A lot of stuff threw the first half does look like a cookie cutter job with
pull Scooby out and replace with ghosts or skeleton.

The Ghosts:

The ghosts is what I found to be more scary than expected. Unlike Casper (who of course looks and is friendly) These ghosts looked MUCH more "demonic." I personally didn't mind, but knowing how some kids are with images, I was surprised to see this. Most of these ghosts can be seen when hitting targets and they come out and scare you or hitting a mirror and they appear behind it.

The Final Battle:
You travel through a fog screen that appears to be raining down on you with Boocifer talking in an evil voice at you (pretty cool effect but can be scary for little kids.) Things take a change here. It goes from the colorful blacklight stuff to a kind of all black and purple big room with things moving fast all around and shooting all the skeletons, and ghosts all around and then filling up on all the potion bottles and then going after Boocifer for points. Again, I liked the effect and story and the boss battle, but I can definetly see some little ones under 6 getting scared.

I'd say kids over 7 or 8 shouldn't have a problem. Some kids who remember images pretty well might. I did talk to one mom while waiting in line saying she did cover up her little kids eyes. There were many many many kids riding it, and I personally didn't see anyone coming off crying in fear ;c) A couple people stunned yes...but you come out in Planet Snoopy and it's all happiness again ;c)

The 3D:

I'm upset over this one!! Now even more with the whole 3D craze going on. They have a lady right at the entrance to the hallway after the line. Selling the 3D glasses and saying "3D glasses only $1. The rides in 3D. Get your glasses." I have a problem, because some people don't know the different types of 3D and might think that you have to get the glasses or you won't get to enjoy the ride. And then the kids who REALLY don't know about any of that except they know 3D is cool ;c) All the sudden a normal ride with 3 kids can turn into a cash cow for Kings Island and a pocket drainer for parents.

-RollerCoasterGod

My daughter (13) and friend (11) rode it.

They both said a lot of parts did scare them and they closed their eyes.

But they both said they really did like the fog part.

They too wondered about the 3D but figured if it is a charge, nahh.

Must be just a ploy to get more money (good girls!).

They waited 45 mins on Saturday to ride it.

RollerCoasterGod said:
Three guns per car.

BETWEEN where the door closes and the ride vehicle (down by my foot!)

I thought this was the same ride as Kings Dominion's. Is that not the case? KD's has 4 guns per car, and I don't remember the vehicles having doors.

KI's BB is an omnimover ride. It was retrofitted form Phantom Manor and the cars look just like Disney's Doom Buggies in shape.

Gotcha, thanks TD. I thought they were both Sally dark rides.

Sally did both of the Scooby Doo rides in terms of sets and stunts, but at Kings Island they are still using the old Morgan ride system that they put in for Phantom Theater, still with every other car removed and running at high speed.

It really is a good ride system, even though it is a mechanically simplified rip-off of Disney's Omnimover. Of course, if you go back far enough, Morgan kind of built those, too...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

That's right, isn't the speed 2x what Phantom Theatre was? I seem to remember that was what PT ran on its final day of operation as a test.