Touchdown’s 13 Nights of Halloween 2024

Introduction

Greetings Foolish Mortals and welcome to my, with a few exceptions, absolute favorite time to visit parks. The summer heat is gone, we get a lot more opportunities to do night rides (thanks to later hours and earlier sunsets) and you get all the added seasonal entertainment with houses, scare zones and shows. This year thanks to having to work extra this past spring I had the time and money to do additional more trips then I’ve ever done. In the next month and a half I will visit 6 different park’s Halloween events. How I get to 13 nights is how many nights I’ll be attending each of them (I repeat some):
-Cedar Point Halloweekends (3)
-Universal Orlando HHN (5)
-MK Not So Scary (1)
-Universal Hollywood HHN (1)
-DCA Oogie Boogie Bash (2)
-Knotts Scary Farm Halloween Haunt (1)

In addition I’ll be spending the day of the events at all these parks during normal ops (except MK, but I will be “rope dropping” the party at 4pm) as well as 3 additional non HHN days at Universal Orlando and 4 non OBB days at DLR. Ok enough with the introduction, it’s time to break out the black t-shirts, blast some heavy metal/horror movie main themes/dark musical soundtracks and Halloween Pop Classics and hit the spooky shores of Lake Erie:

Part 1 Cedar Point Halloweekends Thur Sep 19-Sat Sept 21

This park was my first haunted event ever as a sophomore in college after spending my entire childhood never having seen a horror movie. I loved going through the haunted houses (should have known with the Haunted Mansion being one of my favorite Disney rides) and became hooked. From that trip on I started focusing on doing more haunted events. So needless to say, this event holds a special place in my heart and I try to go every year. I missed out last year so this was my first trip in two years. Ok here we go:

Thursday: If you can swing it, I highly, highly recommend getting to CP on a Thursday during Halloweekends. I also got a perfect weather day with no clouds, no wind (meaning fog lingered) and temps in the 70s. I also stayed at Breakers and love how they decorate for Halloween. All the old timey black and white photos of people on the beach are replaced with old timey kids in creepy masks. Besides the skeletons riding the carousel horses and creepy carousel clown carvings they also replace the pictures on the second floor from CP coasters to shots of rotting and abandoned amusement park rides Inside the lobby Everything is under 30 min wait, and if you wait until after 11pm you can go through scare zones by yourself. I did this with Blood on the Bayou this year. It was amazing, however be aware limited rides and no shows occur on Thursday, it’s just the headliners, scare zones and haunts. Also something was wrong with Steel Vengence Boom trucks were up around the lift fly by. I lost track of how much I accomplished but boy was it fun.

Friday:
Another beautiful day, started off sunny but became overcast in the afternoon and there was a wind that dispersed the fog. Crowds were still light through twilight when things definitely picked up but the lines for the coasters stayed short as everyone was here for the Halloween stuff. Sadly Maverick went down right at dusk and never reopened. Steel Vengeance also remained down all day. Magnum however, was running three train ops and the crew was hustling despite being a walk on.

Saturday: Perfect weather on Saturday means only one thing, gigantic crowds. The wait for the train on the Main Midway stretched out of the station and down the midway, it appeared to be long enough to require three trains to load (thankfully I boarded in Frontiertown.). I believe some of the crowding issues comes down to poor park decisions. None of the adult shows ran during the afternoon and the indoor haunts opened at 6:00pm. It really makes you rush (and need fright lane) to try and pack in seeing all the seasonal stuff. It’s understandable on Friday but not Saturday. I’m old enough to remember when indoor haunts opened at 2pm and Halloween shows started about the same time too. With the haunt actors now having to work 4 days I can understand why they have to open the houses later but there is no reason why the shows can’t run all day if they aren’t going to run on Thursday. Steel Vengence did manage to open late Saturday afternoon. Maverick again went down early for the night. Ok now on to the specific reviews:

Coasters:

You’ll have to forgive me but, seeing as this is probably the most reviewed park and virtually everyone reading this has been to this park a million billion times I’m going to skip it, the CP coasters were their normal excellent selves. I’m not sure if I’ll review the coasters in detail for the other parks yet (I’m leaning towards no as most of these parks are old hat for me and focusing on the Halloween stuff but we’ll see) anyways on to the spooky offerings:

Scare Zones (ranked from best to least best)

This is the reason you come to Halloweekends and this is by far their best offering. It continues to be.

Frontier Trail Zone (5 stars): I’m not sure why CP stopped giving this zone a name but it continues to be the best. This zone has the most sliders, all the trees and the talking skull. I don’t mind grabbing a seat and watching the mayhem. This zone is Halloweekends to me. I miss when there was more monsters back here but you can tell the top talent still gets assigned here. Also most of the No Boos tend to avoid the area based on its reputation.

Blood on Bayou (5 stars): aka the MF island/how much longer do I need to walk zone. They changed it up from the last time I was here and put a few scare actors along the first part of the path. I think it’s wasting talent keep them all along the area they normally use. It’s still a great zone, especially when going through it alone. I just wish, with the boats dry docked, that they would bring back the floating bridge to access the island quicker. There’s a guy in a gilly suit now and he’s amazing and you never see him coming.

Cut Throat Cove (4.5 stars): The crew is still great, I’m happy to see quite a few crew members have gotten Davy Jones disease (aka squid face) and bungie Pirate is always great, but for some reason the cannon has been silenced this year and it is sorely missed.

Tombstone Territory (3 stars) Frontier Town is just not a great place for a scare zone, it’s too open has too many shops (light creep) and fog never seems to linger here. The cowboys are no longer dead this year, they now are under the influence of a potion making them mad. They try really hard and that’s what earns them 2 stars above where this zone normally is but I say concentrate the talent more in the zones that work better.

Clownz (2 stars): If Frontier Town is bad this is just, the worst, all the normal lights are on on the Gemini midway and there is no where to lurk. They don’t even bother with fog. Also the ICP/KISS reject look is too monochromatic and gets dull. I wish they would put the zone in Camp Snoopy again and come up with a better theme. This was also the zone most infested with those horrible no Boo Necklaces.

Haunted Houses (again best to worst)

Cornstalkers 2.0 (5 stars): I know I said the Frontier Trail Scare Zone is the signatures experience and I stand by it, but this “house” is just behind it. I was fortunate to have two windless nights this year that allowed the fog to linger and I lead the way most of my runs. I love classic Halloween iconography and a haunted corn field is just pitch perfect in every way. Bonus points for being in the raft ride chute, also they have lengthened the maze since my last visit instead of two split the path moments, you get an extended switchback which is just great. I wish more parks did mazes in raft ride chutes it really adds to the claustrophobia. If you come, don’t miss this maze.

Midnight (3.5 stars): My only new maze this year it’s the home of the park icon Mr. Midnight and is a house full of phobias. This maze, if I hadn’t done its previous house Hexed would be 4 stars but since it reuses a lot of scenes (at least a third of the house) from that house so it loses a star for lack of originality, however it gets a half star back for having a spinning tunnel (which is a welcome return after years of being missing.)

Freak Show (3 stars): This has to be the oldest house in the park, interestingly they flipped the traffic and the entrance is now the exit. It does freshen things up, but what’s better is they added a trio of monkeys to the end which really makes a good finale. That said, it’s time for a change.

The Haunting of Eerie Estates (3 stars): This used to be my favorite house here because the details in this literal haunted house are spectacular but a few years ago they “downgraded” it by adding a ghost
hunter subplot that took away a lot of the more creative costumes (Mr Moneybags) and replaced them with ghost hunters. The bones are still good and there is a bunch of stuff to look at but I wish they would refresh this house again.

Blood Bath (2.5 stars): Stop if you’ve heard the concept before, horny vampire night club. Not my favorite, however, I do appreciate the hand fan snap scares and the transition to a hotel in the second half. It’s just the vampire night club thing has been done to death. Why did they go with club blood 2 over repeating a more original concept (Happy Jack should return!)

Slaughterhouse (2 stars): Gore doesn’t scare me, so this house is already losing points with me. Sadly it also lost its sausage extruder room post Covid that was such a cool transition from the pork/cow side to the human meat side. They also significantly toned down the cannibal aspect with only body bags as a call back which just makes this house more bland. On the plus side, actors in that second half now wear prosthetics that make them appear to have attached a pig snout and lower half of their face to their own which is a nice scary look.

Shows (ranked best to good)

Other than the timing being limiting, I think the shows have actually had a major upgrade this year and think it’s probably the strongest lineup the park has had, despite losing Midnight Syndicate. Bravo to this

Wake The Dead (A Murder Mystery Musical) (5 stars): I was so happy to see this show was still running, as I saw it 2 years ago and loved it. You are invited to the wake and will reading of Frederick Earl Anderson Rochester, 4 of his closest friends and family have been invited to the event, the wife, the son, the mistress and the brother. Each will sing their motive and we the audience will chose who murdered him and who gets to claim their eternal reward. This show manages to use songs by Oingo Boingo, the Cell Block Tango from Chicago, Tainted Love, Britney Spears, Meatloaf and even the Buffy the Vampire Musical episode. I love it. It also has 4 different endings making it highly repeatable. This is also the most popular show in the park and you need to line up for it at least 30 min prior to showtime to get a seat. They probably need to move this show to the Jack Aldrich (which is dark) to let more people see it.

Fangs After Dusk (5 stars): This is the Red Garter Rock show, featuring a 4 piece band and four singer/dancers. It’s the best version of this show I’ve seen in some time. The final set of Wanted Dead or Alive, Crazy Train (complete with added Halloween theme sprinkled into the opening instrumental section,) Come on Feel the Noise, and ending with Highway to Hell seriously kicks. Saw it multiple times, which is a rarity for me (usually once is enough.)

Nightmare’s Curse (4 stars): Located at Celebration Plaza this is the circus show. It starts and ends with some acts I have never seen (a pyromancer who takes this metal ball the size of a softball entirely on fire and twists it around his arms and chest, and an aerialist who is suspended by her hair) and also contains more typical (but good) acts (a aerialist curtain tumbler and guy who balances on a series of cylinders and blocks) all tied together by Mr. Midnight spouting deliciously campy things live. Well worth a watch

Opening Scarimonies (3 stars): This was the one show that absolutely should have happened on Thursday night, at 7pm Mr. Midnight arrives at Celebration Plaza to usher in the night and release the hoard of screamsters to their scare zones. A great way to start your night.

The Shrieks (did not see): A female rock band that plays on celebration stage, was never in the area for it

Skeleton Crew (did not see): This is the trampoline act that’s a Halloweekend main stay now located in front of the Giant Wheel. It’s so far removed from most of the haunt stuff that it makes it hard to see, it’s also not scary in the slightest and should have afternoon shows.

All and all a great year, the haunted houses however could really use a refresh, a lot of them are getting stale. If you haven’t been, you should check it out. CP Halloweekends may not be Knotts or HHN but it competes quite well with other parks in that next tier (KI, Busch Gardens, etc.)

Next up is my Florida Hallowpalooza trip with HHN and MNSHP. Look for an update to this post in a few weeks!

Only one day at Knotts? And two at DCA?

Most people I know run out of DCA stuff to do in 3-4 hours.

One day at Knotts is enough, especially with Fright Lane and the fact I’ll be there on a Wednesday. DCA is coupled with DL and I’ll park hop there everyday. Doing two Oogie Boogie Bashes during a 5.5 day stint at DLR.

Everyone online so far seems to rank it above HHN this year and for vibe in general as always (quality of sets, commitment and quality of actors, and food) I would rather spend two full dark nights there for all ten houses and shows, and Ghostrider night rides, and Log Flume especially to me as its the best seasonal thing CF/SF inherited and haven’t messed up, also especially as a lot of DL is under construction. Also nothing compares to Knotts at Halloween.

I love DL but not for multiple days with some of the worst crowds ever and a-lot of construction walls.

Tianas wont open till Nov, Jungle Cruise Is Down, The RR is down, Small World is Down, and HM without a full que, and virtual selling out quickly. Great Moments, Half the esplanade, and the back of Downtown Disney.

Good luck! But I assume you have a CF pass so switching to bonus Knotts will be easy.

Are you talking Hollywood HHN or Orlando? Because the general chatter is that HHN Hollywood is inferior to Orlando, mainly because Hollywood has a weird layout and actually uses their soundstages for filming throughout the year and doesn’t get the benefit of having an indoor space free the whole year to start constructing houses for next years HHN within weeks of the event ending. That and the distance from DL has why I’ve never gone to HHN Hollywood previously. This year however, the pull of Mario, wanting to see the Jurassic World ride, and to a lesser extent SLOP pulled me in.

I love Knotts, it’s amazing, but it is so small. One day there is usually plenty for me to do everything multiple times. I’m coming back for Christmas, Summer, and next Halloween so I’m usually good with one day there. JC will come back up while I’m there, not being able to do the Mansion more then once a day will be a bummer (I usually do it once during the day and once post Fantasmic,) as will missing the train, but I love DLR. I miss most of the crowds by rope dropping, leaving in the mid afternoon to relax at the hotel, have dinner then see the night shows and end strong with another power riding session around close. I do t foresee my plan changing.

Two years ago we finally did both HHN's after basically going yearly to Orlando since 2004... Our general thought was that while Orlando is the overall better event, Hollywood was really not far off... The houses are not as grand, but the zones were probably a bit better (that year)... The layout is a bit funky, but wasn't a big deal. Still felt like HHN, which is a good thing.

The huge downfall for Hollywood were the operations... Every single line crawled unlike any other. Orlando pushes throughput and it shows, because Hollywood is a complete 180 where you are standing more in queues than walking (in Orlando, I feel like you never stop moving). One house that should have been 15 minutes max if in Orlando was well over an hour in Hollywood. They also much greatly favor express priority, basically letting them flow in constantly as they show up and not 'zippering' groups like in Orlando. So if you get express, you will have a much more premium experience in Hollywood compared.

I could honestly go to either/or and be satisfied for my HHN event fill... But at the end of the day, Orlando has much better operations and the house quality is a tad better, so it gets the W between the two.

Already secured a RIP tour, I have one night, and didn’t want to chance it. I’m told RIP access even without your guide is actual Front of the Line as much as you want.

Yeah, sounds about right. The express/tour groups in Hollywood get far more premium/unlimited access at the expense of making standby lines much worse mixed with their operations being slower in general.