Kings Island Haunt Friday

The only bad thing I see on the CF Haunt websites is that on their banner, for some unknown reason, they use an image of some other coaster from some other park in some other chain.

:-)

rollergator said:

Well, see, that's an issue for me, since I don't leave Knoebels until they kick us out. Typically get to DP around 6:30-7:00 Sunday night...

Dorney's Haunted hotel is freakin' AWESOME....I'll miss Camp C U Die (camp cootie?) - but in general I think they do really well.

C U Die was by far my favorite of Dorney's Haunts. The Hotel is pretty well done, but for my money, the best of their indoor haunts is the Asylum, down by Stinger.

My brother and I went last Friday,there is no early ride time on Fridays. They opened right at 6 and the wall of monsters rushed the crowd, they do a great job with their Haunt. It rained all night and most of the rides didn't start running til later. We did get two rides on The Beast in the pouring rain, I can't believe they let us ride. I was extremely soaked all night long, not a good idea. I still don't like their no reentry after 7 policy. I had dry clothes in the car.

All the haunted attractions were open except Cornstalkers, Tombstone Terror-tory and all the Fear Zones. Two of the haunted houses have been retooled Mysteria is now Board to Death and Massacre Manor is now Delta Delta Die. Both are really well themed. They got rid of Cut Throat Cove and Grimm Blvd. and added Backwoods Bayou.

So did you go? Were the rides open?

Sorry it took so long to get back here.

Yes, I made it down around 5:30, and was in line in time for the wall of monsters. I couldn't believe how many parents brought small kids - who were scared to death and crying when the monsters came out.

All of the rides were open. I got near walkons on just about every coaster, Drop Tower, Delerium, and Windseeker by 8:00. I the spent the next couple hours taking night rides on Diamondback and Beast, and just walking around the park - watching the monsters scare people. I decided to leave around 10 for the 4 hr drive home instead of staying and getting a hotel, so I could take my 2 yr old to CP the next day. Overall, a great 4 hrs of riding.

A few observations:
The night time atmosphere seemed much better than CP Halloweekends. There were many more monsters roaming the entire park, the decorations were better, and the fog/smoke was so thick in places, you couldn't see two feet in front of you.

The monsters definetely didn't take it easy on scared children (who probably shouldn't have been there in the first place).

The fog rising above the trees was an aweome site looking down from above.

They had security wanding and patting down everyone before they entered the park.

Oh ... and I got to see a sad little kid sitting on the ground in the "kiddie cage" on the Beast. I never knew they even existed, until reading about them on here. Is it wrong that I laughed out loud when I saw him in there?

Aww man...We were there Friday and Saturday too and I totally forgot to look for the kiddie cage. Had a good time though, crowds were way lighter than I expected.

Really? We were there Saturday and I thought the place was slammed. We were there with our daughter so we didn't do any of the haunts or roller coasters, but the midways were packed and hard to maneuver through. The Beast's queue was completely full, as was Diamondback's primary, "upper" queue (the lower part that's kind of hidden was empty).

Well, Bakeman, we left by 5 PM saturday. Our last ride was Diamondback and we waited no more than 10-15 minutes. But yes, the lines were longer at other, slower throughput rides. What I meant by "crowds were way lighter than I expected" is that I thought they would be Cedar Point on a 70 degree and sunny Halloweekends Saturday level. In otherwords, don't even bother showing up levels of crowded. It was a beautiful weekend.

We got in most of our rides Friday night with pretty short lines. Did no haunted attractions as we were concentrating on the rides. The haunt stuff all had long waits.

Sat morning we showed up early for Platinum bonus time and got 3 Beast rides without leaving our seats. From there we hit up a few Camp Snoopy rides and went over to Action Zone, which we had skipped the night before. Lines there were still short and we got a lot of stuff done. But by the time we made it to OLFOF and Firehawk, those lines were getting long. Around 2 or 3, crowds really started picking up and that's when we started getting ready to make our eventual 5 PM exit.

Met a friend for a quick dinner and hit the road back up to Cleveland.

Well, there you go... sort of an unintentional mini trip report. So I'll end it like one, with a proper conclusion paragraph or two.

This was our first visit to KI in 3 years, and our first since our son hit 54 inches. Beast was his 100th coaster back then, and he's now just 2 shy of hitting 200. He says he wants to make Banshee his 200th, and hey, he could do a lot worse.

I had forgotten how absolutely amazing the Beast is at night! And this was my first time riding Diamondback at night, and I gotta say, I love it too. Something about a coaster that wanders off into complete darkness on a brisk fall night does it for me every time. DB, Beast, MF, Nitro, to name a few.

A few have pondered here and there over the differences between KI and CP haunts and I think there's a couple of reasons.
CP has a general Hallowe'en atmosphere during the day and family related activities, then it kind of 'shifts' into Haunt mode. As we've observed, CP's haunt zones are avoidable, if you will. It's not too inconvenient to negotiate the park and avoid haunted zones or attractions all together. KI actually 'changes' into a more immersive experience- it's lights out, haunts are everywhere, and all bets are off.
Some here might prefer one over the other, (I know which one I prefer), but KI, which is more of a locals park, has a separate ticket for the evening haunt. Many folks probably opt for that short-time visit rather than spend the whole Saturday waiting. At CP we find more of a destination park with hotels and such and not so many locals so it seems to me that patrons would naturally be more likely to show up for the day and then stay thru the night in the area somewhere. And CP probably feels obligated to provide haunt free midways to accommodate customers trying to get to their on-site hotel, parking lot, or one of multiple exit gates without dealing with scary stuff.

That's how I see it, anyway.

I'm actually kind of excited to check out KI's Haunt based on what everyone is saying. I haven't gone during Haunt since 2007 or 2008 and back then it sucked balls. There was literally nothing on the midways other than the same generic decorations (no scare zones, nary a monster or character to be found) and the lines to the Haunts were horrendous.

From what you guys are describing it sounds like they've stepped it up and it seems more in line with what I would enjoy.

Y'all better not be setting me up for disappointment.

Hey, don't blame me. I'm only going by what others have said. You won't catch me near a scare zone, a maze, or a house, regardless.

I'm like the vrf19977 of Haunts. I'd throw right up and they'd carry me out feet first.

(Do not offer to help me, OhioStater, I'm good with it...)

^^The crowd level is what will make or break it. It will be difficult to appreciate much about KI Haunt if you can barely navigate the park.

From what I've read over the years, Saturday nights would usually be a waste of my time. Also, Columbus Day weekend (Oct. 11-13) is typically the peak of Haunt and the entire season. It's comical to see the same issues pop up every year on forums after this weekend (applies to CP as well): the park's customer service is going downhill, KI ran out of parking, the park has a capacity issue, Fast / Fright Lane don't work, and an onslaught of other complaints... The real issue is that without dynamic pricing, everyone just chose the same weekend.

Of course weather rules apply, and conditions look perfect for this Friday, Oct. 4th, but the crowds might still be manageable. After this Friday, the odds are not in your favor for having the best possible Haunt experience.

Like I said though, I usually go on that second Haunt Friday in Sept., and I have many strongly-positive memories. Especially from 12-1AM, I've been there when just about everyone had left. The midways were filled with that thick fog that JOz describes, and it was so eerily quiet that it felt like the park was closed. But, sure enough, the convincing statues through the foggy midways would pop out at us, and the houses were just waiting for us to enter. It felt like they were set up just for us, and sometimes our group of 3 had grown by a couple scare actors upon exit.

Those are the moments when you really appreciate Haunt. It was like a VIP experience through an atmosphere out of a movie. I've had plenty amazing moments at CP Halloweekends too, but with so many coasters & rides roaring around, Lake Erie winds commonly blowing away the fog, and a lack of trees, the environment isn't on the same level.

Was the B&M dive machine open?

I don't know. I was too busy submitting a complaint at guest services because there weren't 10 lightning bolts in the sky.

Yes, there were. You were on FOF when they appeared :)

You would have gotten a 90 degree drop if you rode Banshee. Lots of air at the top and *tons* of positive G's at the bottom.

Jeph said:

Of course weather rules apply, and conditions look perfect for this Friday, Oct. 4th, but the crowds might still be manageable.

Seems like the nice weather just got people out to the football games because Kings Island had practically nonexistent lines for the Haunt attractions tonight. We didn't wait more than 5 minutes for any of the houses. Club Blood had an estimated 20 minute wait and, compared to what we were seeing elsewhere, it looked unbearable and we passed. Perspective, huh?

We did 7 of the 11 mazes, watched three of the four shows and caught a round of Scream Like A Banshee in a little over 4 hours and were home well before midnight even with a slow run through Steak N Shake's drive-thru.

Thanks Gonch. I hope my trip to KI next Friday is as good.

^^Glad you're finally getting to experience KI without the crowds this year. :-)

So did you still feel it sucked like in 2007, or had it improved?

I was hoping no one would ask me that.

It was light years beyond 2007.

It was still pretty boring.

Now, let me explain. I put that on me and not on the park. I absolutely adore Halloween and f'd up things. But, as I've complained about more than 10 times around here in the past, I just don't find the average haunt to be even remotely scary...and Kings Island is full of average haunts. In fact, they were so average, they were practically interchangeable (window panel drops and dude yells, girl in next room talking in slow whister, "Stay with us", walk through a corridor of sliced heavy plastic panels, someone dressed/painted to blend in to the surroundings jumps at you, someone posing like a figure and moving suddenly when you get near them)

This isn't exclusive to Kings Island. It's a problem industry-wide, I believe. It's just that when there's a dozen of those in one place and you get to most of them, it gets a little tedious.

The shows were entertaining enough. Ed Alonzo is just plain fun. Blood Drums was pretty cool. The thing in FestHaus was pretty bad. Didn't catch Hot Blooded.

The park being fog-covered was nice and there were actually monsters roaming the park which what a HUGE improvement over the past.

But still, we got there for opening and were gone a little after 10.

All-in-all, I found it very average. I suspect most people enjoy it very much.