MagnumFan

Hadn't seen it mentioned yet this year but I was wondering if the situation with alcohol sales is similar to last year? In years prior to 2015, there was an alcohol stand every ten feet it seemed like. Last year, I brought a friend who likes to drink a lot (while I'm the driver) and I couldn't believe how many of the alcohol stands they had removed for Haunt. Wondered if this was a one-year deal or if it's a permanent change.

It seemed intentional. Even Friday was crowded, and I've been to a lot of Friday night Haunts. I know in years past there have been multiple occurances of the park ceasing alcohol sales earlier than normal. Normally they quit at midnight, but when crowds get rowdy I've seen them stop all sales as early as 10:45.

First thing I noticed this past Friday at Haunt was that the number of alcohol stands has been drastically reduced for Haunt. This was one of the things I always liked better about KI vs. CP for Haunt. The only stands I was able to locate were near the Crypt (Bloodweiser draft), the small stand next to the cafe across from Vortex, of course the bar by Viking Fury, and the sports bar by Diamondback. The stand at Larosas by The Beast was not open, nor was Festhaus, nor any of the smaller carts with Bud/BL/Mikes Hard, etc. I'm figuring this was intentional on the part of KI. Has anyone else heard anything about this via a statement or change in policy?

:Facepalm Nevermind. I'm an idiot. I can't find any evidence anywhere that a death actually occured. I just took my parent's word for it. I was only 7 years old. Parents aren't supposed to lie.

Hopefully nobody dies on this version of "The Bat". As a kid (born in 76) we got to go to KI maybe once every other year. I remember most of my youth getting there and seeing the sign "The Bat is not operating today". I love the new colors and think it's a good name, except I don't see why the park would want to dig into an old wound of a failed ride.

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere, I didn't find it. I've been to haunt the past many years and Fridays were always unique in that there is no early entry for pass holders, presumably due to the wall of monsters upon opening. Ki's site makes it sound like there is in fact early entry all days of haunt, 30 minutes. Is this something new for this year or is it poorly written on their site?

I've never really cared about how far I am from a restroom, because I like walking, and I can hold it. My wife on the other hand, every time we get off FOF or Firehawk, says "Bathroom" and I always comment that, there really isn't a worse spot in the park to be in as far as distance from the bathroom is concerned. To which, she is mad at both me, and the bathrooms!

Four and a half hours from Metro Detroit.

I've been through all the KI haunts and mazes multiple times and, except for Mysteria, think this one ranks right down near the bottom. That's not even considering it has longer-than-normal lines (presumably since it's new) and a very slow-moving que.

I was there this weekend. It was the busiest I have seen Haunt on a Friday/Saturday EXCEPT Columbus day weekend Saturday last year. That was TWICE as bad, absolutely insane. I was quite surprised by the crowds on Friday. It was the busiest Friday Haunt I have ever been to. We didn't get a whole lot done, partly by choice, but the big kicker was that the park was closed on Sunday, which is usually a terrific day to get rides in. I would not, under any circumstances, go to KI or CP this coming Saturday. BTW, what's up with the new metal detector thing for Haunt? You can bring in anything you want before 5PM, but after that, expect to be searched and scanned.

Dang! When did the park decide to close for a private event on Sept 30th? I planned my trip for this weekend a few weeks ago, and it showed open all weekend. One of our favorite things about the Haunt trip is Sunday's ride walk-on-athon! Guess I will have to focus more on rides Friday night and Haunts on Saturday. Speaking of Saturday, does anyone know if the early entry time is a full hour early for Gold/Platinum holders or is it just a half hour like last year?

Great shots, thanks again for your efforts! With CP being my home park, I am extra-sensitive to the concept of removing vegetation and replacing it with concrete, or rides surrounded by concrete. I've watched my park turn into, what feels like, an airport runway over the last 30 years (by comparison). Having said that, no trees were removed here, and I too like the caricatures. So I think I'm with you on this one.

Standbyme, I've been on vacation at Disney for the past couple weeks (which, BTW, gives me a greater appreciation for KI). Had I been home I would have been a daily poster, responding to what is certainly the best thread I've seen on this, or any related forum, in a long, long time. Nice work, and much appreciated! This sure helps pass the offseason blues.

They do not clear the park out. That would take forever. You cannot re-enter after 7pm, period. You can ENTER after 7PM, but not RE-enter.

I have noticed that the line for Massacre Manor, and Carnevil, both move very slowly. I would do those first. As a bonus they are both completely dark inside even if it's light out, so you can hit them at 5PM when they open. The same cannot be said for Slaughterhouse and Wolf Pack. Don't do these till it's dark. Club Blood lines seem to always move quickly, but I have found the experience varies more here than in any of the other houses. So if I had to put them in order, starting at 5PM: Carnevil Massacre Manor Urgent Scare Club Blood (then when dark...) Wolf Pack Cuthroat Cove Slaughterhouse Tombstone Cornstalkers etc You are going to have to wait for Tombstone no matter when you go, so I'd say as long as it's dark it really doesn't matter when you do it. I did go through it right at closing last week though, and it was pretty terrible. Almost nobody left working. That could happen with any of them near closing, so bear that in mind.

While I do like Disney's Fast Pass system, I don't think Cedar Fair has the ability to successfully implement one. This requires staffing. That alone is a red flag. I don't like to have to plan my day around being at a certain place at a certain time... ie, we don't have time to ride another ride right now, because we have to be back to Diamondback in 35 minutes. Disney makes up for this through nearly flawless execution of # of passes, displaying CORRECT wait times (using again MORE staff to continue to monitor/adjust as needed). I'm not optimistic that CF can replicate this experience.

Sadly, no. It was 1:45AM by the time we got done with Tombstone. Plus, the fact that I have had discussions with management at different levels of more than one Cedar Fair park in the past, with no resolution, or even acknowledgment of the problem, at any point. Waste of time. In another thread, someone mentioned the Fast Lane wait for Beast on Saturday to be 1/2 hour. This validates my point, they are selling way too many of these things. Look at the wording of how these passes are advertised. "...front of the line..." is used in multiple places. What does this really mean, then? If I paid for Fast Lane and had to wait 1/2 hour, I'd be upset. Either it's front of the line, or it's not. If the actual reality of it is "80% quicker than the regular line", then advertise it as such. I agree with other posters that part of the problem is the employees managing the ques. I know this was a big part of the problem I saw on Beast at night. The guy up in the station seemed very confused on whether he should be letting Fast Lane people in, or regular people. In short, I reiterate my earlier statement, they sold WAY too many on Saturday. In my simple mind, the correct number to sell would be where there is almost never a backlog of people waiting IN the Fast Lane que, while at the same time not affecting regular patron's ability to visit each attraction. Either the number of passes needs to be more limited, or the price raised substantially. Either way, it is most certainly an art to achieve this, and a moving target from one day to the next.

I wasn't complaining about the lines. The post was not intended as a complaint, we had a great time. I like the concept of Fright Lane and Fast Pass. My only issue is that, it was clear to me and others, that they sold WAY too many of them. Especially when their own advertising says "...a very limited amount..." which was clearly not the case. I spoke to a Fright Lane/FP sales person at the window who told me that they "do not sell out, even when the park is busy". Granted this is only one employee's statement, so take with a grain of salt. Regardless of the lines, it's hard to hate a weekend at the park, even when it's nuts like it was Saturday.

I posted a few days ago asking if this past weekend (Oct 8 & 9) was typically as crowded as my home park, CP, which usually experiences it's busiest day of the year that Saturday. Thanks to those who responded. We decided to go anyways, even though it's a 5 hour drive and I was just there last weekend. My brother and his wife hadn't been there in like 15 years, so it was good to go with "new" people and see their reactions to rides and haunted attractions. We got there Saturday around 5PM to find the parking lot completely full, including the portion that is normally Boomerang Bay. Cars were also parked out on the grassy area, the whole way out to the intersection near the entrance to I-71 south. I have never seen anything like this. It took a while just to figure out where to go. Cars were still pouring in. We later found out from an employee that the park had reached capacity around 7PM due to no more parking. We went in with the intention of doing only haunted attractions on Saturday, and hopefully one ride, Beast at night. Right away we went to Club Blood which was surprisingly no line (at 5:30PM) and then Massacre Manor, which we waited an hour for. Then off to Urgent Scare, which was about a 25 minute wait (remember it's still light out at this point). Got almost up to the entrance and the line stopped moving, and inside lights came on. There was no announcement as to what happened. I figured that, like last weekend, someone bumped one of the emergency buttons and that they had to check/reset the attraction. That only takes a couple minutes. But 45 minutes later, still no news. It would have been really nice if they had made an announcement. We later found out that someone had puked inside, hence the delay. So we lost a lot of time on this one. We decided to do the train (Tombstone) and the line went all the way back to The Beast entrance. We waited for about 45 minutes at which point we were halfway to the Crypt. Emily, a super cool employee, came around at that point and was explaining to anyone who would listen that it would be AT LEAST a three hour wait from that point. Now I had ridden this the weekend before, and had waited from roughly that same point and it had only taken 1 hour, 10 minutes. So I asked her, WHY three hours? She explained that the Fright Lane people were filling nearly entire trains each cycle, and that as a result, none of the regular line people were advancing in the que. We had indeed been moving SUPER slowly. Normally that line moves in good sized batches. I'll finish this pseudo trip report/rant before continuing to my main point about the Fright Lane passes. We got in line for Beast which was two hours total, all ques full, line back out to the Diamondback pond. In the line there was this guy who was 6'10" dressed in MSU basketball gear. Turns out he is a center on their basketball team, Adreian Payne. This toolbag (and his posse) continually line jumped, basically daring anybody to say anything to him. He started off way behind us but ended up on the ride probably 10 minutes ahead of us. Shame on you, Adreian Payne. We finished up the night by heading back to the train, and getting on in about 15 minutes. This was right at 1AM. Unfortunately most of the scareactors had really phoned it in at this point and it was probably one of the worst haunted attractions I'd ever been on. Sunday started off great and got busier as the day progressed. We rode everything, including multiple DB runs. Most lines were not more than 15 minutes at any point during the day. Beautiful weather was an added bonus. Now to my point. I have no problem with the concept of paying to skip lines. That's how our society works and I accept that. Had I known how crowded Saturday was going to be, I may have done the same. What I have an issue with is that KI obviously is selling too many of these passes on busy days. When it affects a non-Fright Lane (or Fast Pass) person from being able to actually participate in an attraction, there is something wrong. The train was a perfect example of this. We experienced the same thing at Urgent scare (once it started operating again), there was 20 minutes where nobody from the regular line got in, just Fright Lane folks. The Beast had a Fast Lane line down the ramp almost all the way out the exit. Not only does it adversely affect the non-paying crowd, but it partially dilutes the experience that the Fast Lane people paid money for. My other gripe is that there were numerous occasions where communication was sorely lacking from the park, causing a lot of people to waste a lot of time. A little more attention to customer service would go a long way towards improving the experience for all visitors. Food service is perhaps one of my biggest complaints. My sister in law waited in line several times 15+ minutes just for a souvenier cup refill. Yes, the lines were long, but the speed and effort of some of those employees was an embarrassment. All in all, we had a great trip, but it's a shame how the Fright Lane and Fast Pass deals are working out. I like the concept but they are being poorly executed by KI. I pray each night before bed that these passes don't make their way over to CP next year. It is always sad to leave KI for the last time each year. Especially on such a gorgeous day like we had yesterday. I have to say that was probably one of my favorite days in the park of all time. Short lines, outrageously good weather, fall colors, etc. Already looking forward to next year!

We were at the park last weekend and the Friday and Sunday crowds were almost non-existent. Saturday was busy, but still not like I remember from last year. My brother and his wife are suddenly able to go tomorrow morning, so we'd be in the park for Haunt tomorrow (Sat) night plus all day Sunday. This is pretty much his first trip to the park in 15 years. CP is my home park, and this weekend (Columbus weekend) is always completely bananas. Even Sunday is packed solid. Does this hold true at KI too? I'm hoping to get through a majority of the haunt stuff on Saturday (assuming we start promptly at 7PM, it should be doable). Then Sunday to ride all the rides, some multiple times. I'm worried that it will be so crowded he won't enjoy it, and never want to go back. They are not enthusiasts like me. It's a 5 hour drive and a fair amount of money for him to spend, if it's going to be a bad weekend, by normal Haunt standards. Any feedback from prior years is REALLY appreciated!

Most of our fall weekends are spent at our home park, CP, but the wife and I like to ditch the kids once a year (they are still young) and come down for a KI Haunt weekend. Here's my report: Friday we rolled into town around 4PM and hit Buffalo Wild Wings happy hour. Over to the park when it opened, and decided to try to do most of the haunted attractions Friday, with the anticipation of purchasing a Fast Lane pass for Saturday and riding all that stuff during the day. We started with my favorite, Club Blood, which was less-than-impressive at the opening. The dancer cages were empty, and some of the other spots were un-manned. Then Wolf pack (since we were already there) which was better than last year also. Urgent scare seemed about the same overall (in terms of our overall impression). Massacre Manor seemed worse than last year. We did not do many of the outdoor walk-throughs on Friday. To be honest, at this point we had had too much to drink (even at $15.31 for every two beers). Money goes fast when you do this. We ended up doing most of the indoor haunts at least twice, except Carnevil which we completely forgot about on Friday. Lines were generally quite short, I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes for Massacre Manor, which has an unusually slow moving que line. Saturday we intended to be at the park for early entry, but our bodies had other ideas. We didn't roll in until 1PM and were surprised to find it less busy than Saturdays in the past. Because we felt less than 100% we did not purchase the Fast Lane passes. We figured we would be able to ride more stuff on Sunday morning, and boy were we right! Saturday evening we focused on hitting all the outdoor Haunt stuff. Tombstone Terror-Tory was probably our longest wait of the trip at 1 hour. Urgent Scare was about 40 minutes, unless you went in the left lane which was only about 10 minutes. Seriously, how do people not figure this one out? Though I do have to admit, the left lane looks like it could be a Fright Lane, but it's not. We finished out the night with more indoor Haunted houses and left the park at closing. Sunday was my best day at the park EVER from a rides perspective. From 10:40 until 1:30 when we left, we rode nearly every single ride in the park, some multiple times. Check out this ride count for less than three hours: Diamondback -5 Beast - 1 Crypt -1 Firehawk - 2!!! FOF- 2 Drop Tower - 1 Invertigo - 1 Vortex - 1 WindSeeker -1 Racer - 1 Delirium - 1 Back Lot - 1 and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.... We could have done a lot more, but were taking our time. It was one of those magical days where the weather was perfect, and it seemed like every ride we walked up to was not only no wait, but literally walk-on. DT, Delirium, and many others we walked in, sat down, and the ride was just ready to start. Amazing. Likely never to be repeated. Some final observations on Haunt stuff... I went through many of the houses multiple times on different days, and have noticed some patterns. First, the houses are not great when the park first opens. They aren't "in-the-game" yet and sometimes not fully staffed. Likewise, at the end of the night, they are just going through the motions, seemingly counting the minutes until they can go home. Who can blame them? They are open for 8 hours on Saturday (5PM-1AM) and that's a long time, especially for those in uncomfortable positions, like the girl in Club Blood who is bent over the gurney, chewing on the ankle of the dead body. That looks really uncomfortable, yet she always delivered a great scare! So my wife and I are torn -- do we wait maximum wait times during the middle of the evening (say, 9-10PM) for the best chance at a good performance? Or do we go earlier or later, when the performances tend to suffer but the wait times are MUCH shorter? Lastly, I think that reviews of the Haunted stuff should be taken with a grain of salt most of the time. One time through an attraction is usually not sufficient data to draw a meaningful conclusion of the overall quality of a house or walk-through. So much depends on the time of day, your place within in the group, etc. Except for Mysteria, which was terrible, no matter how you slice it. Unless you are scared of the color green. -

Heck of a deal, considering how busy these Saturdays can get. My wife loves Firehawk and we never get to ride it more than once, and that's only by going straight to it when the park opens. What seems like less of a deal is the Saturday price for Fright Lane. $40 for 1-2 tickets. I find it interesting that the Saturday tickets cost more than the Friday tickets, seeing as you only get to go through each haunt one time. Not that we would want to circuit any of the haunts, but there are some that I have gone through twice, if the first experience is bad due to stacking, etc.

Another question, which I may have to call customer service for the answer. Are these fast passes good the entire day/night that the park is open? From the website: ".....as many times as you want all day long!" When I was there back in the summer I remember the Fast Lane wristbands were only valid during certain hours, like 12-7PM. Has this changed?

It takes longer to get from the last block back into the station than the ride itself. Just saying. You get plenty of time to memorize where every ladder, extension cord, and rust spot is on that area of the ride...

^ Yes and no. Platinum passholders, as well as ANY resort guest (including campground) gets into CP one hour early all operating days, including Friday's Halloweekend. CP has quite a few rides open for early entry, now including Dragster, though you will not find any documentation of this anywhere. But I have 50 combined rides on TTD the past two Friday's, so I'm quite sure about this.