brenthodge

I’m switching to your camp here. And make the scare zones more focussed so they can do less with more. Then really push the limit with 2-3 “adult” mazes and 2-3 “pg-13”. Make 1-2 more intense scare zones with live actors you can bypass and 1-2 “spooky” but just props, music and lighting -like IStreet and Coney being great theming and save the live actors for other areas. Maybe make I street into Planet Snoopy a pumpkin luminights type area like Dollywood to give a place for the families with younger kids to hang if they have to be in the park for the older siblings. At this point I think they’ve got to give up the park-wide haunted aspect since it seems like they basically have anyway.

Wow… bad bad!

It’s at 7:30, so yeah… at the beginning of the event.

No funeral for Vortex sadly.

Anyone seen parade(s) at Carrowinds? I’m not sure how I feel about it. I was bummed we weren’t one of the pilot parks, but now…? Eh. It’s a bit cringy during the “nightmare” version and a bit weak with the Tricks and Treats version. Almost wish they would combine into one , less scary, better staged, with peanuts trick or treat costumes characters super strong parade. Maybe it just happens at the “end” of daily ops to give a “walk out” to that crowd. I’m surprised with budget cuts they are running or 2x. It’s not working for me having “dancing Freddy” and choreography that’s way too “happy” and not slutty enough LOL. The crowd at least on the clips I’ve seen from Friday night didn’t seem that enthusiastic, but I get that it’s early in the run. I’m sure they will be watching this investment closely, but it doesn’t seem needed to keep people in the park later the way it’s currently structured and timed.

Totally agree. Went to water park 1x this year. So wish it would be reconfigured as a stand alone gate so it would be its own revenue segment and they could use the gate fees to really improve it, give discounted price to dry park passholders, and not have to spread the live as much like now where it is just an “area” of the park.

more like the budget to pay for it all

yeah - thats clearly a budget issue - they already HAD the game show idea over by Hanks - this is essentially a cutback - not an add. Pretty weak overall lineup.

On this note -and with budget cuts - I cant for the life of me figure out why they don't look for creative ways to PLUS existing rides and attractions with lighting, fog, minimal animatronics and projection mapping to up the HAUNT attraction count without increasing run cost significantly outside of initial investment in tech. These things could easily be hidden (or not - knowing how sloppy the park is with tech equipment the rest of the year) and quickly uncovered and turned on at the start of haunt. Glowing eyes following you on The Beast. Cursed skeletons come to life on Adventure Express. Demon aliens take over Flight of Fear. Almost all of the major rides could have overlays that would make it feel WAY more immersive without hiring tons of live cast

Never understood why Dollywood discontinued that. Was wonderful! Especially for first time visits-could check out the park, get a feel for it- have dinner and still come back the next day. By not feeling like you had to “cram it all in one day” I know we spent way more time eating and shopping since we also felt like we got “a bargain” on the park. Seem like short sighted, bottom line thinking that got rid of it.

Right. That’s from Carrowinds if you read the post. That was what the conversation was about.

https://www.facebook.com/100064487422992/posts/pfbid0XKP13cfkhhNVj8cfedaHXdU5oKXV65HYno5nsvRZEMGmhRc6LFqwr4nrqPuPgFCRl/?mibextid=cr9u03

Anyone know anything about this down in Charlotte? Haunt Parade??

No clue. I keep asking and no one answers. It would be wonderful if you could actually hear ANY of these sound cues while on the ride, and why with the sound of pick axes in the mine can we not have at least some flickering lanterns or SOMETHING to give it a purpose. I feel like this whole refurbishment stopped about a dollar short and a month early.

They can, they just choose not to. And I agree. The lack of “build up” shows there is no one creative in control. On the day of Holiday world announcement I would’ve posted “Good Grief, now we’ve got to cook up something good to keep our camp happy” or something like that to hint at what’s coming, jab the competition, throw people off (is it a restaurant?) and just have fun. No, we got a stock pic of the riffle tower with a lame “guess what it’s going to be” attempt at engagement.

Off the rails actually holds together better without the kid. It was a great idea for the 50th, but once the gag is out, it’s kinda cheesy (plus they already had to cut all the “too short” stuff since the twins shot up to like 6’ since last year) . I’d say tweak it a bit better to still pull in the history, you could still have the “you can do anything” awe shucks crap -without the “oops I wandered into a show” act that really doesn’t work any more. Move it into Festhaus with a slightly modified set, good lighting, better sound, no daylight to fight the LED screen and it could run a few more years. Almost a “signature show” since it is tied to the history and thrills of the park.

RMC unloading SOB2- the parade!

PTE was having a blast today. I almost want to be here tomorrow for the final bow just to see how over the top they take it. I think there was even a dig at Vortex when Maestro said “really go out with a bang” Houdelini said “yeah like Vortex” this cast has really owned these roles this season! EDIT- and there’s banter between the Maestro and the audience. Has any show previously spawned this much “ownership” from kids and the audience?

Wonder where Jesus and the critters go for Winterfest now. Was a hidden gem (at least the vocal talent-the animals were distracting)

AGREE - for Haunt show and Off the Rails - which with a bit of tweaking could basically run "forever" as it really is a show about the history of thrills at the park (ditch the "you can be anything, Kid" angle as its already tired this year) but I'd love to see a dedicated venue for these type of shows that doesn't essentially obsure the entire stage (which has a good basic "set" for any music review type show.) Would even work in Action Zone someplace. This type of show needs dedicated seating less that anything they keep forcing us all to stand for at the bandstand LOL Heck - I'd rather the stunt shows move into FestHaus with some real lighting and a runway down the center of the space (like the ice stage used to be). There's plenty of height and width. You'd need to rework the seating, but that might help it a bit. If they would do additional indoor dining options that would take some of the demand off of that space as just an indoor food hall and a show like that could over power the chaos.

Would be interesting instead of making the whole area "Camp Snoopy" if they stuck with Planet Snoopy but created mini "worlds" within the land. Each with 1-2 rides and a food option that tied back into the theme - For Camp Snoopy with a few rides (1 new 1-2 'rezoned') do a "campfire grilled burger and dog" food location. Then look for ways to rework and theme a few rides around SurfDog to a beach theme with a tropical smoothie and swirl food stand. Moon buggies could become dune buggies, Gliders are 'Surf Gliders' etc. theres already Sally Sea Plane Kite tree should probably just move to camp or retheme to SPACE or something. Sort of how a kid plays "dress up" or imagines a world they are plying in - do the same thing with mini lands each themed to things kids play. This is something that could've been developed over the past several years as things have been added, but they seem to have no real long term planning vision for this area (as in you JUST repainted Flying Ace last year in the same colors - that would've been the perfect time to start this conversion.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT RIGHT THERE with PR and marketing. MISSED OPPORTUNITY to have some fun with Holiday world and troll them just a bit - Even if when they announced, KI had responded that way - "Good Grief, we better come up with something to get people fired up in our camp when we announce our 2024 project on August 10th" how hard is that?

I guess I should rephrase. It’s less about hype and more about creative hints. Clearly this wasn’t going to be a major add, but over the last few weeks, there shouldn’t been posts and subtle winks that only now that you know what it is hinted at. That to me is creative marketing when you tease people without them even knowing they’re being teased. This was just lazy and shows no imagination.

Sounds like just that area. Would be nice if they could incorporate RFYLCB into it and even bring a food option (like camp fire burgers and dogs) to make a more complete “mini land”