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Well, given the fact the ride is called BOO Blasters, saying the word BOO is almost entirely necessary if one is a monster in there...

For those of you who may have missed the news, PR legend Ruth Voss will be inducted into Kings Island's Hall of Fame tomorrow, October 8th, 2011. Voss served as the PR director for Kings Island during much of its success in the 80s and early 90s. She was known for pioneering a "grass roots" form of PR for the park, which incorporates local media surrounding the Greater Cincinnati Region. Many ACErs would remember her for initiating The Beast Walk Back, which continued until 2009. I never had the opportunity to meet Ruth, but from all of the stories I've heard about her, I almost feel like I have. Some of the best PR/Marketing people in the world today credit her as their inspiration and one of the greatest people they've ever worked with. Voss passed away in the early 90s, but her induction into the Walk of Fame will serve as a reminder to all of us that sometimes the simplest way of doing things is the best way. It will remind us that every day people sometimes make the biggest impact... and it will remind us that while we look up to our mentors today, our mentors looked up to their own and that the cycle needs to continue forever.

I was packing my bag on Friday to wake up at 2:30 AM on Saturday for the drive to CP with Scott (IBEW_Sparky.) Jesse (Avatar) was planned to join us as well, but he had some issues come up and was not able to make the trip. I picked up Scott and headed out of Indy right at 3:15. We had some great conversation making the drive pretty quick and painless. On the way we ran into rain and we knew to expect a little in the early morning, but thought by the forecast we saw would be gone by the time we got to the park. We got to Sandusky about 8:00 where the wind was terrible and still raining. We decided to hit up Walmart for some more water proof gloves and another layer to add to our wardrobe. We got into the park and was ready for the Mille walk back tour that was to start at 9AM. Mille Sign! The wind was terrible and still raining, but not hard, just enough to be annoying. Here is a small group of us waiting for the walk back. We were hoping to start seeing some trains test as we were on the walk back, but Maintenance was still inspecting the ride. Maintenance is on his way up to the top of the first hill for inspections. Someone will have to post what this car is called. Obviously it is used for evac as well. Here he is at the top of the first hill. I can be up there inside the train all day, but you won't catch me up there like that! We were told by the park that a button has to be pressed every day at the top of the lift before the computer will allow the ride to operate. Back on the ground we were getting some good pictures. Here are a few of the mechanical parts. I got right under crest of the first drop and got a picture! Track that you may not have seen from this angle. This one turned out really cool. Mille is in year 1 of a 3 year repaint job. Sand, water, and winter weather literally sand blast the structure and is hard to keep painted. DA is already being laid out back by this run around. You can see the stakes in the ground under Mille. More cool track! We were standing under this track and it kept dripping water on us. So I thought it was telling me to grab a shot! This one came out nice! Despite the terrible weather we were all enjoying ourselves getting a close up shot of this amazing coaster. More to come!

This is going to be pretty short and to the point! Slaughter House- Usually one of my favorite haunts, seemed to be lacking this past saturday. It was probably because they were letting in huge conga lines. Still good though! The Bat creature at the end was awesome looking! (6/10) Wolf Pack- Definitely an improvement over last year!! Had a couple good scares in here. The sets in this one are really cool, especially the one long "tree" hallway. (7.5/10) Massacre Manor- Really disappointed by this one, this year. Normally it is one of the best haunts, but it seemed understaffed. And the scareactors that were in there, it seemed like they weren't trying very hard. (5/10) Holiday Horror- Best maze we went through so far this year! The concept was unique compared to the other haunts! We had the most scares in this one out of any haunt we went through! Thanksgiving section caught EVERYONE off guard! I love Holiday Horror (10/10) Tombstone Terror-tory-- This one is usually hit and miss each year. Sometimes it is awesome, others....it isn't. Thankfully last night it was great! They had the fog on full blast in the covered bridge pathway. The scareactors were doing a great job, and we had plenty of good scares! I would recommend waiting to be the last group to get off the train. Then when you get sent in, hang back from the group infront of you and wait and go through in your own little group. It gives the scareactors plenty of time to reset, and completely changes the atmosphere of the trail! (9/10) We also rode The Beast and Adventure Express! some pictures Me and Ashley being zombies Trying to be scary but failing lol Me being possessed hahah. Can you tell I used to work at Haunt? Ashley (Ashers) and my mom Ashley and her boyfriend, Dave

2010 Two new attractions were added to Halloween Haunt in 2010. Wolf Pack (Son of Beast Station) - A haunted house that toured guests through a forest and into a creepy cabin, avoiding the werewolves that stalked them. Included an on-ride photo at the start. --- Half-Pint Brawlers (Festhaus) - Midget wrestling with an excessive amount of blood. Featured ring-side seating for an additional $10. --- --- Returning attractions were Slaughterhouse, Hot Blooded, Cut-Throat Cove, Urgent Scare, Cemetery Drive, Club Blood, Tombstone Terror-tory, Death Row, Trail of Terror, CarnEVIL, Massacre Manor and CornSTALKERS. Ghouls Gone Wild continued performances during the day, but ceased showings during the Haunt hours. Urgent Scare's on-ride photo was moved from the beginning of the house to the end. Club Blood received a new sign. The Beast was "hauntified" with the addition of fog and a "beast" monster. Halloween Haunt 2010 Entrance Display (via KI facebook) 2011 The most recent year for Halloween Haunt and a decent-sized one in terms of expansion. Holiday Horror (Peanuts Playhouse) - A haunted house themed to miscellaneous holidays, including Christmas, Halloween and St. Patrick's Day. Included an "on-ride photo" at the start. Nightmare Alley (Planet Snoopy) - A new scare-zone populated by carnival freaks Mysteria (Red Barn) - A rename and rethemeing of the former Death Row. Featured new lighting effects and an extensive use of Morphsuits. Fright Lane - Not an actual attraction, but instead a new service available to park guests. For an extra fee, visitors were able to shorten their wait for every haunted house/trail. Returning attractions were Club Blood, Wolf Pack, Slaughterhouse, Cut-Throat Cove, Massacre Manor, Urgent Scare, Tombstone Terror-tory, CarnEVIL, Hot Blooded and Half-Pint Brawlers. Trail of Terror did not return. Boo Blasters on Boo Hill remained open during the event and received at least four actors hidden through-out the ride and exit. Cemetery Drive was expanded from Tower Gardens to all of International Street as part of a new scare-zone. Included in this was a minor new attraction, "Buried Alive", with an upcharge of $5. CornSTALKERS was relocated to Tower Gardens. Urgent Scare lost its outdoor segment and its on-ride photo. Club Blood received a new paint job. --- ------------------------------------------------------- - 2012 A new haunted house and several new scare zones were added, as was a new dining experience and a new show. Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror (The Crypt) - A wax museum style haunted house. Utilized various props from Phantom Theater and The Crypt. On-ride photo included at beginning. Madame Fatale's Dead Inn Feast (The Crypt) - A unique dining experience hosted before the start of Haunt and housed in the former antechamber / preshow rooms of The Crypt. Nightmare Alley (Pathway between International Street and Action Zone) - A generic scare zone with an extensive use of eyeballs. Freak Street (Planet Snoopy) - A new name for 2011's Nightmare Alley. Grimm Blvd. (Action Zone) - A steam punk fairy tale style scare zone Death Drums (Action Zone Water Tower) - A unique music show. Returning attractions were Slaughterhouse, Club Blood, Wolf Pack, Cut-Throat Cove, Massacre Manor, Mysteria, Urgent Scare, CornSTALKERS, Tombstone Terror-tory, CarnEVIL, Holiday Horror, Cemetery Drive, and Hot Blooded. Half-Pint Brawlers did not return, enabling Graveyard Shift to be performed during Haunt hours. Cut-Throat Cove was reversed, placing the entrance near Sling Shot and allowing Viking Fury to remain open at night. The queue was reworked for Tombstone Terror-tory so that guests would enter through the White Water Canyon entrance. -------------------------------- So yep. I may get around to editing and expanding this, but that's the basics right there Hope you enjoyed; feel free to leave a question or comment.

I got some shots of Mantis as well! This would have been so cool had that truck not been parked there! My favorite of Mantis We were to have ERT on Mille, but the wind was just to high to operate any of the bigger coasters so we got a different walk back, getting some great pics. We went and got in line for Maverick. Now that I had a few rides on Maverick back at coaster mania, I knew where transitions were and was able to expect transitions much better. We sat in 1-1 and was a great ride. We rode a second time in the back and was the best 2 rides I had ever taken on Maverick. Love that second launch! Even though most major rides were not able to run due to the wind, we did happen to ride a bunch of flats that we would normally not ride. Lunch was provided and I took a picture of the waves that the wind was creating on the lake. You would almost guess this was the ocean. We were told by someone on Sunday that winds were hitting 50 MPH at the top of the WS tower. I can definitely believe it! Got some Halloween picture as well. At this point in the day my phone was starting to die and only took a few select pictures after that. We had a walk through tour of Blood on the Bayou. Darlene (assuming most know who this is) scared Scott and I half to death during this walk through with one of the props. Here are a few things you will encounter in this maze. That's gonna hurt! Shinny! We also got a light on walk through of Eternity Infirmary. This thing is creepy with the lights on! For those that were happy with Mean Streak's Track work last year, they are at it again! You can see the bottom side of the track is gone. Pic not the best zooming in so much blurred it a little! Our after park closing ERT was to be Magnum, but they changed it to Maverick. We decided to skip it and get some rest back at the motel since we had been up since 2:30 AM. We went back to the park Sunday for ERT and the wind had died down and got 2 rides in on Mille. We talked to Single Rider Bob in the queue and headed to Dragster, but 2 trains before our turn it went down and we decided to get out of line and head to the front to head home. Here is our picture under Mille during the walk back. Thanks so much to Cedar Point for being hospitable and adjusting schedules to accommodate us in the weather situation. We ended our trip at about 5:15 back in Indy. We really enjoyed the trip, we were disappointed that Avatar was not able to make the trip with us. Although, when we were in the cold rain early in the day we were thinking he may have been the smarter out of the 3 of us by not being able to go!