Mental illness advocates criticize Cedar Point's "asylum" haunted attractions

I'm afraid all this has done is increase publicity for the park....

I think that is stupid because almost everyone who goes into a haunted maze is going to get a scare and I'm not sure it really matters what the theme is. Plus I hate how the article went into "what if cedar point did some attraction about people with cancer." They would never do something like that but some abandoned asylums are really haunted so I'm not sure Cedar Point was going for the alive mentily ill people but may be the ghosts of the people who had to live in one of those places.

Might as well just ban Halloween, Just Sayin......... Couldn't have Cobain and Jackson stuff at KI last year

Didn't they try doing this at Knott's at one time for their Asylum maze @ Haunt?

Charles Nungester said:
Might as well just ban Halloween,

It has been attempted before.

“Would Cedar Point ever even consider developing a display or attraction that used cancer patients as a means of instilling fear in their guests"

Hmmm, a haunted house with a prostate exam at the end of the maze or an angry proctologist doing my screening colonoscopy would certainly instill fear into me....

Well this is just CRAZY! You'd have to be nuts to do something like this!

A mental asylum was a place they would essentially cage the mentally ill, in a time where mental illness was not well understood. That seems like something different from your average "mental health care" facility of today.

But are Cedar Point (and all these other haunted attractions) taking ordinary run of the mill things and making them scary to the public? Or are they simply using devices the public is already afraid of?

I think everything that could possibly be considered fun or entertaining should be banned.

Except for bran muffins. Those are okay.

Well, naturally.

Ensign Smith said:
Except for bran muffins. Those are okay.

Oh, are they?
http://www.nataliedee.com/060106/dry-ass-bran-muffin.jpg

So that's what happens when muffins go bad...

I was at the Asylum in Dorney Park recently and I work in a mental health care facility. Although I can see the point as to how this attraction could impose bad judgment on the people with mental health issues...a mental health care facility is a very scary place to be. For the record this haunted house hits it right on the nose ,and for that reason I could understand if by next season Cedar Fair changed the theme. But one important thing I would like to say is why is it that these advocate are so sensitive about the subject? Is it guilt for how they treated people in the past? If no one here knows it was like people with mental health issues were treated very inhuman and this act was practiced well into the 1970's. For the record people know what these attraction are about before they go into the park, so there should be no surprise with regard to the content.

'false stereotypes..."

Cleary, they've never been to a carnival...

Yes, because I go to an amusement park haunted house for the historical accuracy therein. I, for one, think its wonderful we honor the rich history mummies, ghouls and vampires have in this nation one month out of the year.

Well, the problem here is that things like Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease aren't the same type of scary as mentally deranged people. The Asylum is one of the most popular ones at SCarowinds, and has been for the last few years, I don't see it going anywhere.

Well, the problem here is that things like Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease aren't the same type of scary as mentally deranged people.

I don't know about that. I for one don't want to be chased by an angry Wilford Brimley.