RingMaster
-
Posts
2,102 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
6
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by RingMaster
-
-
[...] and I have to wonder what that Plants vs. Zombies ride/thing will be [...]
Assuming they still have one side of their Action Theater up and running (I've never been to Carowinds), PvZ could be a motion simulator film, much like how we used to have Fun House Express in our Theater back in the day before Urgent Scare.
-
3
-
-
Much like Afterburn and Scarowinds under Kinzel Jr., I assume they were able to stray from homogenizing the water park moniker because of Fehnel's input.
-
1
-
-
Sad that Skeleton Crew isn't coming back
Also wish they would've brought a new show instead of HB.
BTW, has anyone heard any more info about Black Out (like the theme, story, setting, etc.)?
Theme: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness.
Story: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness.
Setting: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness.
Meanwhile, Knott's Berry Farm has a maze debuting this year with nods to both Disney's Frozen and HBO's Game of Thrones called Dead of Winter, and another tapping off the success of Ghost Hunters and the Paranormal Activity franchise called Paranormal Inc. They even have roaming scareactors based off the the Seven Deadly Sins.
I wonder if they'll tout Hot Blooded (assuming it returns this year) as a "new" show like they did last year with Ghouls Gone Wild...
-
7
-
-
I remember that. 2005 was a maze called Cemetery Mines in the building for Poseidon's Fury, and then 2006 was People Under The Stairs: Under Construction, in one of the tent buildings behind Men In Black. It was a cool concept, but the problem was that with the constant line of people going through the house, the flashlights were given to one out of every 20 or so people. So folks right in the middle were kind of screwed out of that experience.
And that last part, killed it for meFox19 interviewed Don Helbig (from within the building that will house Blackout) and he said it will be pitch black and the scareactors will be wearing night vision glasses.
. I have a very difficult/nearly impossible time in "regular" Haunts that contain scareactors, handling them in that type of environment would be impossible. I was genuinely hoping for the type of experience I described.
One haunt that I attended (I think at Universal Orlando....cant be sure, I've been to many) several years ago provided the leader in the group with a flashlight....however it was rigged to work for a while then it would shut off at strategic points to allow the group to experience total darkness. The groups were small but the effect was totally awesome....because when the darkness occurred the monsters came out and their faces were slightly illuminated by glowing paint. Plus it was always the leader that got the scare...so the most afraid individual in the group moved to the front to hold the "security flashlight" that turned out to be their undoing....LOL
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
-
2
-
-
That blog post does not state it will be a simulator attraction
The post is very vague on the exact specifications, but it should be assumed that it will be a carbon copy of Hollywood's Supercharged "attraction". Hopefully Florida's version will be a hybrid of screens and practical effects in the main ride portion, like what the upcoming Skull Island attraction is rumored to be.
-
3
-
-
If the maze is pitch black then it will be interesting to see how they handle capacity.
Very interesting. I remember a section of House of Darkness in the early years of Haunt (FF) that was pitch black. Great part of that house.
It's a fairly small building to begin with, and Club Blood only took roughly four minutes to get through. I'd almost assume they might use CB's layout and wall structure and just remove all the props to be a super cost-saver.
-
4
-
-
If it's trending on Facebook...
...then you know it must be a big deal.
(POSTER'S NOTE: Facebook users that want to check this out will notice several "trending" items omitted from this screengrab because this is, indeed, a family-oriented site, and ain't nobody need to see stuff like dat.)
-
10
-
-
In Fall of 2011, I went into an all black maze at Scream Park in Lexington, KY. I made it about 12 feet into the maze before the person I was with had to grab one of the actors in the maze to get me out because I started having a panic attack. It's a wonderful concept but unfortunately, the all black was a bit overwhelming for me.
Ah yes, The Abyss. I remember that attraction. It was a decent maze that really was pitch black (and this was also inside a warehouse that held two other mazes next to each other, Castle of Fear and Insanity), and most of the scares were sound-based. Occasionally there was an air cannon blast and there was even a claustrophobia tunnel at the end. Given the amount of time it took to get through it, however, I would imagine KI would pulse the line harder than normal, and it *might* justify the need for an upcharge to keep bottlenecking to a minimum.
-
2
-
-
I think the thing it'll miss most is making eye contact with others before the pseudo "race," but we all know that the fun really starts once you come to a complete stop.
Out with the old.
Darn. And there went the potential sponsorship by Ram pickup trucks.
Oh well. Maybe a sponsorship deal can be made with Avenger sedans instead.
- Me, who actually drives a Focus.
-
3
-
-
I'd rather have fewer and better mazes. Quality over quantity. If dropping to eight or so mazes allows more resources to be turned towards improving the quality of those eight, then that would be my preference.
I would suspect with the great popularity of Haunt for Kings Island, having fewer, better mazes would result in 2 hour maze lines on even Fridays.. And who can even imagine the result on the Saturdays that already produce such great lines. The guests love to go into multiple types of mazes, it seems and having a lot of options is good. I don't mean to sound like I'm excusing the park for not always having mazes up to par with whatever other maze you might have in your mind, but It's a more complex art to get the subjectively "perfect" Halloween Haunt experience. That is all I am trying to convey. (And it is all merely postulation)
In its current state, lines have pushed toward the 2-hour mark even on a Friday on the more popular mazes. It's more of an issue on whether or not I'd want to wait 2 hours for KI's Tombstone (I don't) or 2 hours for KBF's Gunslinger's Grave (I do).
Here's the thing: I don't have a season pass. Of any kind. Haven't had one since 2009. I'm looking at Haunt from the perspective of a person paying $35 a ticket for an amusement park event that I've attendant since 2004 (as both monster and victim). I can only afford to go maybe a total of two times during the season because I'm a Spook Enthusiast, and there are a lot more attractions in the area to partake in. As I've said plenty of times before, it would be impossible for them to go the route of Universal and have all-new mazes built ever year. But, as plenty of other people have pointed out here, there are some big issues that never seem to be fixed, and those are things that have been harped on for short of a decade now. So I don't feel completely justified in shelling out over $30 for an event with the majority of its attractions neglected and disheveled. Especially now that other parks in the chain have picked up on Knott's recent trend of rehabbing older mazes with new scenes and effects (Dominion and Carowinds, respectively), and the Land of Illusion (a multi-maze park near Middletown) does the same with mazes three times the size of KI's for the exact same price.
-
4
-
-
Two years is Cedar Fair's typical time before a show is rotated out. Audiences get show fatigue.
Too bad that doesn't apply to mazes at a Haunt stranded on an Island.
Show fatigue? Huh? Every Disney and Universal park has had the same shows for many, many years. People keep coming back to watch them. And I would definitely say many people would come back to watch Cirque Imagine.
I'm extremely upset.
The difference is that Disney and even Universal continuously add new technologies and scenes to some of their longer-standing shows (Fantasmic!, Illuminations, World of Color, 360 Spectacular, Graveyard Revue, Waterworld, etc.) to keep them relatively fresh to newer audiences. Disney and Universal also don't stick to just contemporary music revue shows as their only means of non ride-able entertainment (Cirque Imagine and Skeleton Crew notwithstanding).
-
2
-
-
Disneyland's will almost certainly be located north of the park, west of Toontown (or perhaps including Toontown's land) in the space currently occupied by backstage facilities (which will be relocated to the property Disney recently purchased on Manchester outside of the resort).
Disney World's will likely be built on the land beyond (and most likely including) the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show.
In both resorts, it will be interesting to see what fate befalls Star Tours. In Disneyland, it's currently in Tomorrowland, which is a hop-skip-and-jump from where Star Wars Land will be. In Hollywood Studios, it's just far enough from any available land to make it awkward, unless Disney is planning on flattening the Streets of America there.
Given the recent announcement of Toy Story Land @ DHS, I'm inclined to believe you with the southern portion of the park, from MuppetVision all the way down to the former Catastrophe Canyon (which literally sits behind Lights, Motors, Action!), being for SWL, and the former Animation Courtyard, from the Little Mermaid show also all the way down to LMA, being for TSL (using up most of the space previously used by the tram tour). Here's a shot of the concept render:
-
6
-
-
Looking at the overhead of Disneyland, I can already see Autopia and Finding Nemo going bye-bye for Star Wars Land. That seems like a sizable patch to hold 14 acres worth of nerf herding, even though their Star Tours sits on the opposite end near the main entrance to Tomorrowland.
Now DHS, on the other hand, that's a different story. The obvious choice is to place it with Star Tours, but which way would you expand? North to encompass the Indiana Jones stunt show? Or south to replace the entirety of New York Street and attractions such as MuppetVision 3D and the Babe, I Dun Tiny Tots'd Our Tater Tots playground? That still isn't considering the long-rumored overhaul of the Studios into a whole new horse of a different color.
-
4
-
-
We had 11 last year, and 12 the year before. I would really like to see 12 mazes again. But even with 11 mazes last year some mazes were way under staffed(Urgent Scare, Cornstalkers, and Wolf Pack) so I don't know if Kings Island is willing to do that.
Too many mazes and too few bodies to stuff into (no pun intended). The biggest issue that all haunted attractions in general have is staffing; Haunt season falls right into the beginning of both high school football and Homecoming dances, and almost three-quarters of the talent that Kings Island specifically hires are minors/high school kids (most standalone haunts try to circumvent this by strictly hiring 18+). Retention rates are also low as the season goes on once workers realize the physical, mental, and emotional strains that come with the not-so-simple task of scaring paying customers.
-
6
-
-
Nowhere near one percent of guests fence jump.
At approximately 3,000,000 guests that would be 30,000 a year at one park. Bull. In two decades plus of operation, how many have jumped Raptor's fence?
Please don't exaggerate.
Undocumented and without injury, serious or no? One every year. But that's putting every other coaster and ride at the Point into the (very hypothetical and not fact-based) equation.
-
2
-
-
I really hope they drop Delta Delta Die's skeleton key room. It wasn't very good. Neither was Kill Marts.
If it made them money, then it will surely stay, no matter if it was good or bad. They may or may not improve or fix any issues with the rooms (most likely not given the condition of the older mazes), but it's a given that they will return this season.
-
4
-
-
^ Except those are some of the people who purchase single-day tickets and actually spend money in the park on food and souvenirs. As opposed to locals and enthusiasts with season passes who only spend a couple of hours marathoning attractions and leave the park to go eat elsewhere. Sure, they aren't there everyday as they only come once in a blue moon, but when they do show up, you'd best believe they have the funds available to get the best experience they possibly can.
-
4
-
-
[...]I don't know that it would work well in regards to ROI as the general population probably doesn't care so much about the history of KI that they'd be willing to spend an hour or so in there[...]
They care enough to ask if the Antique Cars and the Monorail are still at the park, so the nostalgia factor is there...
-
6
-
-
Like a middle schooler giving a speech laced with vulgarity for shock effect...
That was early Kings Island Haunt.
Shameful and juvenile it was.
Club Blood was symptomatic of that time...
Also the very short-lived Heckle and Howl "attraction" that had customers being thrown insults by an actor while waiting in line for Trail of Terror. The year prior, it was a direct offshoot of Winterfest's Scrooge Haus and was much more family-friendly. Cedar Fair saw fit to inject more vulgar insults and derogatory remarks towards peoples' sexual orientation and history.
They also saw fit to have a group of monsters dressed as (and told to act like) the cast from A Clockwork Orange. I won't bother to personally describe the infamous film on here, but I will say that Google is, indeed, your friend.
-
1
-
-
*SIDE NOTE: I feel for KD people a little. In the Paramount Era they were the flagship. It is probably #5 in importance to CF and it is clearly not getting the attention or big investments.
Intimidator 305 disagrees with you. Granted, it's five years old now, but in the ten year gap between Millie and Timmy, Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, and Knott's Berry Farm never received a gigacoaster. That says something to have a recently bought park from an entirely different chain receive an attraction that rivals (and in some circles, surpasses) the legendary Millennium Force.
-
5
-
-
^ That sounds as if they may be trying to recreate one of Knott's former attractions, Delirium:
...also known as one of the weirdest attractions they have ever done (but in a good, and very horrific way). It wouldn't be the first time the Island has attempted to "recreate" a Farm haunt (Red Beard's Revenge), but I'm (slightly) hopeful that Blackout will be something truly amazing like Fatale's or Kill Mart.
Or they could simply be resurrecting Mysteria and just turning all the lights off.
-
3
-
-
They can do whatever they want with the haunts. They're cheap and poor wannabes of real houses in the scaring industry.
I'll go in and enjoy riding rides as normal. Just with a very heavy layer of fog.
Have you ever worked in a haunted house or for a themepark during it's Halloween events?
The thing is, amusement park haunts and stand-alone/professional haunts operate completely different from one another and are in different leagues of their own. Not all revenue can be diverted to a park haunt, so they won't have as many (if any) super-detailed scenic elements and high-tech animatronics seen in a standalone that's been featured on the Travel Channel. Also, even in an area like Orlando or Los Angeles, haunts in theme parks still have to operate "normally" during the day so they can't have too many temporary or even excess bloody/gory props that will interfere with daily, non-haunt crowds. Even the crowds themselves are unique; a schoolhouse might rack up 3,500 people on a given Saturday night, while an island haunt can push 35,000.
That said, both variants share one major trait that keeps them in business, which is the need to offer something new every year and respond to customer feedback. Standalones generally go by the rule of thirds, essentially changing up at least one-third of their attraction every season, as rebuilding from the ground up year in and year out is a very costly and time-consuming expense (that hasn't stopped people from trying and succeeding at it). They also listen and respond to feedback from their customers and fans (and just like coaster enthusiasts, haunt enthusiasts are a vocal bunch), keeping things that works, and removing things that don't. If you refuse to update and you ignore the people paying you to be scared, they'll go elsewhere for better entertainment.
-
8
-
-
I still find it hard to believe that KI had bleeding midgets for Haunt
For what it's worth, even the show the troupe did for Kings Island was a toned-down version of what they do on a regular basis. Mainly because:
- Most of their racier stuff wouldn't fly with the conservative atmosphere (again, coming from a park that booked these people in the first place), and,
- They did multiple shows in a single night, often times within an hour apart from each other (so the "brawlers" weren't as fluid with their movements as one would expect).
For comparison's sake, I went to a match at Bogart's, and at times, they rivaled that of a Rey Mysterio WWE match the way they were flying around the ring. Of course, they were also shouting obscenities and swears at the audience - to which the audience would rebound right back at them - but they definitely had much more energy because it was a one-night only deal, as opposed to four to five shows a night for multiple weekends.
That said, Kings Island was the only park in the chain that received midget wrestlers. Not even Cedar Point nor Knott's nor even Carowinds wanted them (the Point instead opted for Midnight Syndicate, and Knott's is famous for having a show dedicated to making fun of pop culture and repeated jabs at Disneyland operations).
-
3
-
That's one of the scarecrow stands for CornStalkers, I believe. They wouldn't dare try to set up a maze themed to a church, given how conservative Cincinnati is.
Of course, this coming from a park who insisted patrons wanted to see midgets bleed and skeletons of recently deceased celebrities displayed as a part of a Purgatory-based game show.
-
6
-
Haunt 2015
in Kings Island
Posted
Glad to see Tombstone Terror-tory back again...for the 8th year in a row (or 10th, depending on if you count FearFest; the park surely doesn't).