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Halloween Haunt 2013


dwitb
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The first year of HH at KI, Fearfest, was the by far the best year so far (and probably will always be, sadly). It was a separately ticketed event. The haunts had WAY more detail than the current HH and the actors where top-notch (nothing against current haunt actors, but it's just not the same).

I believe the only backlash that came from ticketing is separately was from season pass holders, who are spoiled KI attendees wanting everything to be free. However, I do believe that the CF's Haunt is a lost cause at ANY park other than Knott's. It's a franchised, mass produced event that is bland and stale to enthusiasts. Why I believe it's a lost cause? Because it makes money. SERIOUS money for the parks. Go to any Saturday night during HH and look at the crowds. The parks are packed.

This is an old idea that several, privately owned, haunted attractions have. Why change anything or put money into the product when the people are to dumb to notice that it's the same old crap. While you're out at HH looking at how packed the park is...also just look at the crowds. REALLY look at them. They couldn't care less if the haunts where made by the girl scouts (nothing against them, love them darned cookies) as long as they are getting a "haunted house" and a chainsaw coming at them. Sad.

So. Don't EVER expect a top-notch UO/HHN style even at ANY Cedar Fair park, ever. They feel to realize that if they would happen to do that, that each park in the chain would sell out every night of HH, just as HHN does. I'd stake my reputation on that fact.

Just my two cents to those who wonder why KI doesn't do a haunt like UO/HHN.

Am I jaded? I might be, jeez. haha.

-T. Forsaken

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This is an old idea that several, privately owned, haunted attractions have. Why change anything or put money into the product when the people are to dumb to notice that it's the same old crap.

Those several, privately owned, haunted attractions have long since buried that "old idea", no pun intended. They realize that, in changing up a fairly large portion of their attraction year after year, they can catch last year's crowd off guard and, more importantly, get them to tell others about the new stuff so that they will go themselves to see what's new. Also, those same several, privately owned, haunted attractions are consistently ranked amongst and have to compete with the top haunted attractions in the nation, so change is good.

KI's Haunt is super crowded only because 1) it's free with park admission, 2) it's at an amusement park, and 3) annoying, spoiled kids get dropped off there with no adult supervision just like during the regular season because 1) it's free with park admission. Not saying putting an upcharge on the event will put an axe to the massive crowds and the annoying, spoiled kids (again, no pun intended), but it would finally give the park a wake-up call when the crowds stop coming in droves because they don't want to pay for an event where everything stays the same.

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I really wish someone somewhere would make a Haunt based on Slenderman!

There are some slight rumors that Universal Orlando will be doing a slender maze this year. A lot of that rumor is coming from the "root of evil" fake blog that they have been doing for quite a while now. Ill get a link to it shortly.

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I believe the only backlash that came from ticketing is separately was from season pass holders, who are spoiled KI attendees wanting everything to be free. However, I do believe that the CF's Haunt is a lost cause at ANY park other than Knott's. It's a franchised, mass produced event that is bland and stale to enthusiasts. Why I believe it's a lost cause? Because it makes money. SERIOUS money for the parks. Go to any Saturday night during HH and look at the crowds. The parks are packed.

This is an old idea that several, privately owned, haunted attractions have. Why change anything or put money into the product when the people are to dumb to notice that it's the same old crap. While you're out at HH looking at how packed the park is...also just look at the crowds. REALLY look at them. They couldn't care less if the haunts where made by the girl scouts (nothing against them, love them darned cookies) as long as they are getting a "haunted house" and a chainsaw coming at them. Sad.

So. Don't EVER expect a top-notch UO/HHN style even at ANY Cedar Fair park, ever. They feel to realize that if they would happen to do that, that each park in the chain would sell out every night of HH, just as HHN does. I'd stake my reputation on that fact.

Just my two cents to those who wonder why KI doesn't do a haunt like UO/HHN.

Am I jaded? I might be, jeez. haha.

-T. Forsaken

In response to this post, I feel the need to highlight the level of detail involved in Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror. The park took an old queue that was already beyond their typical magnitude of Haunt theming and built a house that really blew the rest of the attractions away. It is nothing like the Paramount- and Kinzel-era houses with the thinly-veiled pockets for actors to hide in, like in Club Blood, CarnEvil, or even Wolf Pack. Particularly towards the beginning of the Haunt season, there were a ton of actors hidden in places you'd never expect, even if you'd been in every other house in the park. I'm still creeped out by the flickering hallway with the wrapped figures leaning on the walls that are uncomfortably close to your sides.

I used to scoff at the old KI Haunt commercials featuring KBF's houses because the actual event never featured anything nearly as intense or intricate as the commercials showed. MFCoT actually was that detailed, and it maintained one of the longer lines at Haunt every time I visited. Yeah, it was "the new one," but I'd be pretty surprised if the lines are anything relatively shortish this year. People seemed to figure out in the (two?) seasons Mysteria was at Haunt that it wasn't that good, and the lines showed.

Granted, I haven't visited USO during Halloween Horror Nights, so maybe I'm wrong here. I just really feel like the Cavern of Terror was a really good and unique step in the right direction that shouldn't be ignored. I know it's set the bar high for me this year--particularly with Backwoods Bayou. That seems like a fairly unique chance to reinvent Trail of Terror, and I hope KI takes the opportunity to do so.

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I really wish someone somewhere would make a Haunt based on Slenderman!

There are some slight rumors that Universal Orlando will be doing a slender maze this year. A lot of that rumor is coming from the "root of evil" fake blog that they have been doing for quite a while now. Ill get a link to it shortly.

Well, they've already got one house based on an "Urban Legend" with La Llorona, but I heard the Resident Evil franchise might get the HHN treatment; Universal Japan debuted a scare zone and house based off the video games last year. So far, the confirmed attractions include Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead, The Walking Dead, Urban Legends: La Llorona, Havoc: Derailed, and After Life: Death's Vengeance. Another new house is being announced in just two hours from now, and that's rumored to be based off the film American Werewolf in London.

I don't think we're talking about the same haunts. Of the 4,000+ privately owned haunted attractions in the US, only 100 or so get the concept.

I was under the assumption you were talking about the ones in the Greater Cincinnati area, of which even only a handful of those (Dent, Land of Illusion, maybe Nightmare) change their layouts on a yearly basis.

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I really wish someone somewhere would make a Haunt based on Slenderman!

There are some slight rumors that Universal Orlando will be doing a slender maze this year. A lot of that rumor is coming from the "root of evil" fake blog that they have been doing for quite a while now. Ill get a link to it shortly.

Well, they've already got one house based on an "Urban Legend" with La Llorona, but I heard the Resident Evil franchise might get the HHN treatment; Universal Japan debuted a scare zone and house based off the video games last year. So far, the confirmed attractions include Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead, The Walking Dead, Urban Legends: La Llorona, Havoc: Derailed, and After Life: Death's Vengeance. Another new house is being announced in just two hours from now, and that's rumored to be based off the film American Werewolf in London.

Yup! Personally I love the blog, and think its more so related to the "Cabin in the Woods" franchise more than any other maze they have announced.

Here is the HHN Orlando "Evil Takes Root" teaser blog. (Start from the beginning, and watch all the videos. Kinda freaky)

And here is the HHN Website.

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The sad part about Halloween Haunt is the fact that community standards seems to come into play. When KI tried to push the envelope, they were pushed into changing a display. Granted, it was under different leadership, the same standards aren't being pushed with the Haunts outside of KI. I go to laugh and have fun, and the displays are a part of that.

One thing that could use improvement is the use of all of the side paths in the park...there are so many ways to get around that scare zones are hard to place. I would think the park could shut down some of the side paths to herd people into a circular path around the park and it would be necessary to walk through a scare zone to get to and from a section. (I don't like the idea of waiting in line for a scare zone, it doesn't make sense.)

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One thing that could use improvement is the use of all of the side paths in the park...there are so many ways to get around that scare zones are hard to place. I would think the park could shut down some of the side paths to herd people into a circular path around the park and it would be necessary to walk through a scare zone to get to and from a section. (I don't like the idea of waiting in line for a scare zone, it doesn't make sense.)

On the contrary, I like that there are ways to bypass scare zones. Think of a young person, about 12 to 14 years old, who is visiting Haunt for the first time and is truly terrified. I saw a case of that on KIC night last year with a certain user whom I will not name. They may want to bypass the scare zones for a while to get from one ride to another and choose for themselves when to venture into a scare zone later when they feel they have built up enough courage to face the monsters.

If they were forced through scare zones to get to every ride in the park, they may very well turn tail and ask their parents to leave early. That's a lost opportunity for revenue in the form of a meal later in the night or even Fright Lane passes, as well as a bad guest experience that may prevent that family from coming back to Haunt in future years. So forcing everyone through scare zones is bad for business.

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^ Also, scare zones would become even more crowded if people were forced into them. Fog and scare-actors aren't good for moving crowds.

The thing I'm really looking forward to this year is Ed Alonzo's show. And just to think, two years ago, midgets were bleeding. (I was actually planning to visit KI for Haunt one of those years, until I saw details about that particular show.)

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The sad part about Halloween Haunt is the fact that community standards seems to come into play. When KI tried to push the envelope, they were pushed into changing a display. Granted, it was under different leadership, the same standards aren't being pushed with the Haunts outside of KI. I go to laugh and have fun, and the displays are a part of that.

One thing that could use improvement is the use of all of the side paths in the park...there are so many ways to get around that scare zones are hard to place. I would think the park could shut down some of the side paths to herd people into a circular path around the park and it would be necessary to walk through a scare zone to get to and from a section. (I don't like the idea of waiting in line for a scare zone, it doesn't make sense.)

There's a difference between pushing the envelope by creating attractions that are well thought-out and creatively scary (Madame Fatale's, Urgent Scare), and pushing the envelope by resorting to shock value (Afterlife Idol, Half-Pint Brawlers). The latter is worse if you have nothing to back up the rest of your event should you get any kind of recognition from it, and even then you run the risk of putting your event in a negative light and/or turning potential customers away altogether, much like the whole Steve McNair fiasco.

I think we might be leaving behind the use of attractions meant to get a rise out of people like Club Blood (although now I'm growing increasingly wary towards Delta Delta Die if what I'm thinking might actually come to fruition) and start to build houses that are meant to actually SCARE people and have creative elements. 2011 was the start with Holiday Horror and the new fear zones (Nightmare Alley & Cemetery Drive), and last year's Cavern of Terror knocked everyone out by delivering an incredible Haunt experience, so this season we should hopefully see more examples of this new direction they're going into.

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You guys have some really valid points, and I agree with you. Halloween Haunt is not for everyone. You should also get to Busch Gardens Tampa to attend their haunt. It's a giant circle and you can't avoid the scare zones no matter...and the place is packed to the hilt every weekend with teens and families. Universal is the same. Every street has a zone, the big difference there is you can walk around the outside of the zone in a couple of cases but not all of them. You have to walk through them and the scareactors do just fine merging into the crowds. They usually pace from one end of the zone to the other walking against the crowd. On one trip, we walked to the top of a raised plaza above a zone to watch the folks get scared....we thought we were safe but a scare actor came up from behind us and scared the crap out of us....oh well that's what we were there for.

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Anyone else working Haunt this year??

im Auditioning Friday.. wish me luck? im scared that ill mess up haha.

It's not so much an audition as it is just an interview TBH. Auditions are more for their more permanent entertainers.

I was a little baffled since I was expecting to be asked to scream and crawl around and such. :lol:

It only made sense to me since the LEADS auditions had you perform similarly to how you would during employment, when I auditioned.

The most "acting" I did was when I was asked, during my interview, what kind of things I would say in that particular haunt. So more of testing the cleverness of your improv? I don't know, you'll be fine as long as you don't do something inconceivably weird or unacceptable. Haha :ph34r:

So did you actually get the job after you interviewed? What kind of things did you actually come up with that you would say when they asked you this, if you don't mind sharing? Also, what do you mean by "permanent" entertainers? Are these just entertainers that have been there year after year or what? Sorry about all of the questions, I've just always been curious about the interview process and what it's like. I'm also surprised that you didn't have to crawl around and stuff and act a fool, lol!

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The first year of HH at KI, Fearfest, was the by far the best year so far (and probably will always be, sadly). It was a separately ticketed event. The haunts had WAY more detail than the current HH and the actors where top-notch (nothing against current haunt actors, but it's just not the same).

Am I jaded? I might be, jeez. haha.

-T. Forsaken

You know, I always thought it was just me, but good to hear I wasn't the only one to think this. I also went the first year of Fearfest and then went to it again about 2 years ago and thought that it just didn't seem as good as before. I'm must throwing out things thoughts here and I have no idea if this has any bearing on it whatsoever, but I wonder if it was better under Paramount because they had access to top-notch make-up artists, designers, acting coaches, etc? When Kings Island was owned by Paramount, did Paramount bring in some of their staff that worked out in Hollywood?

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The first year of Fearfest was completely done by another company (Lynton V. Harris's Sudden Impact Entertainment Company). They produce MAJOR events worldwide and is known for producing very high-quality shows.

...that's why.

Oh wow, I didn't know an outside company ran it. Interesting. Thanks for the info.

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The first year of Fearfest was completely done by another company (Lynton V. Harris's Sudden Impact Entertainment Company). They produce MAJOR events worldwide and is known for producing very high-quality shows.

...that's why.

Oh wow, I didn't know an outside company ran it. Interesting. Thanks for the info.

I wondered why there was a "Pumpkin Jack" mascot that first year.... KI could still do this better, if they push for detail. Until last year some of the houses were wearing down a bit, in my opinion. Some of the houses were from the second year of Fearfest. Dark house and Carnevil were original, I think. Hope they bring back the tower attraction someday...That was so cool and the front gate release of the monsters...that was fun too.

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Anyone else working Haunt this year??

im Auditioning Friday.. wish me luck? im scared that ill mess up haha.

It's not so much an audition as it is just an interview TBH. Auditions are more for their more permanent entertainers.

I was a little baffled since I was expecting to be asked to scream and crawl around and such. :lol:

It only made sense to me since the LEADS auditions had you perform similarly to how you would during employment, when I auditioned.

The most "acting" I did was when I was asked, during my interview, what kind of things I would say in that particular haunt. So more of testing the cleverness of your improv? I don't know, you'll be fine as long as you don't do something inconceivably weird or unacceptable. Haha :ph34r:

So did you actually get the job after you interviewed? What kind of things did you actually come up with that you would say when they asked you this, if you don't mind sharing? Also, what do you mean by "permanent" entertainers? Are these just entertainers that have been there year after year or what? Sorry about all of the questions, I've just always been curious about the interview process and what it's like. I'm also surprised that you didn't have to crawl around and stuff and act a fool, lol!

I did get a job, but I don't feel comfortable giving details that could or could not help you in your process for the job. And when I said "MORE permanent" I meant just that :P - The people that spend the entire regular season performing shows most everyday; not necessarily returners. (technically no one is guaranteed a spot every year)

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Anyone else working Haunt this year??

im Auditioning Friday.. wish me luck? im scared that ill mess up haha.

It's not so much an audition as it is just an interview TBH. Auditions are more for their more permanent entertainers.

I was a little baffled since I was expecting to be asked to scream and crawl around and such. :lol:

It only made sense to me since the LEADS auditions had you perform similarly to how you would during employment, when I auditioned.

The most "acting" I did was when I was asked, during my interview, what kind of things I would say in that particular haunt. So more of testing the cleverness of your improv? I don't know, you'll be fine as long as you don't do something inconceivably weird or unacceptable. Haha :ph34r:

So did you actually get the job after you interviewed? What kind of things did you actually come up with that you would say when they asked you this, if you don't mind sharing? Also, what do you mean by "permanent" entertainers? Are these just entertainers that have been there year after year or what? Sorry about all of the questions, I've just always been curious about the interview process and what it's like. I'm also surprised that you didn't have to crawl around and stuff and act a fool, lol!

I did get a job, but I don't feel comfortable giving details that could or could not help you in your process for the job. And when I said "MORE permanent" I meant just that :P - The people that spend the entire regular season performing shows most everyday; not necessarily returners. (technically no one is guaranteed a spot every year)

Got the job!

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Got the job!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Don't need to know the details, but are you happy with the position you got? Is it what you wanted?

Yes the lady even worked with me so i didn't have to wear a mask! look for me haha

You'll have to give us details the night before opening, I'm certain everyone here that goes to the Halloween Haunt will stop by! Have fun!!!

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