Haunt Trip - 9/29

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

My wife and I went to KI this past Friday to meet our friend who only had that evening available all season to visit Haunt, so the idea was to go from open to close, if we could make it. Our friend wanted to mainly do haunts, and a coaster or 2 if the lines weren't bad.

We got into the park around 5:40 PM and our friend wasn't there yet (busy feeding his family or some such nonsense), so we lined up on the right side of IS so that we could hit a couple rides on Mystic Timbers early.  The "opening ceremony" of Haunt is pretty cool. There was some kind of DEMONstration (get it? get it?) going on in front of the fountains that we couldn't really see or hear, but then there were around 6 concussive fireworks that went off at the stage by the Tower and the music went from Pop to Carmina Burana and a wall of monsters on either side of IS rushing into us. It was a pretty sweet way to open the evening.

We got to MT and we walked up to the steps and rode in a couple minutes, then went around and rode one more time with about a 5 minute wait (Tree and Bats respectively). Then we walked over to Potato Works and had some dinner.

At that point our buddy was rolling into the parking lot so on our way to meet him back on IS we stopped and grabbed some blue ice cream. My wife's cone was kinda average, but the girl who gave me mine gave me the highest stack of ice cream I've ever had. I had to ask for a bowl in case it fell over or the cone's structural integrity failed and I needed a back up plan. Lots of ice cream. I did end up using the bowl and a spoon.

First stop was Madam Fatale's. It's not the best for scares, but I enjoy some of the scenes and decor.

Then we went over to Urgent Scare. Worst haunt of the night. Every year I hope it will return to how it was year one, but it just gets worse and less worth the walk back there. 

At this point it was about 7:45 so we got into the pre-line for Field of Screams and waited around 15 minutes once they opened the actual line.  This one has a lot of potential, but I think they need more people to blend in with the corn and jump out. A lot of dead spots (no pun intended).

Then we went to Kill Mart. This is one of my favorite's and it is still a really good one. Lots to look at and the actors pop out in a few good spots. There's a shopping cart scare that's pretty good and got my wife.

Next we moved on to Board to Death and found that the name would be pretty fitting if they changed the spelling. Not a favorite of ours.

We may our way down Coney Maul and, as I observed last week, the midway here is the best scare zone in the park though it's not an official scare zone. Seem to have the most Sliders here and great costumed characters spooking people out. The new troll was working better than last Saturday with better movement in the mouth and the eyes opened, so that was cool.

Wolf Pack was next for us and it was....it was fine. The new thing at the end was cool to look at, but the rest was meh. 

Blackout's line was super long so we put a pin in it and made our way over to Wasteland. I think this is an improvement on the previous scare zone that was there, but I just wish it extended a bit longer. Seems too short. Also miss the dude that bounced out at people on bungees from last year. That was great to watch. 

We hit Backwoods Bayou next and it was pretty lame. Still think they needed to go with a Christmas or Krampus theme since they had the candy cane structures in there which they discretely hid by wrapping them. So, instead of being red metal candy canes they looked like covered up candy canes.....in a haunted bayou.

We went over to Dance or the Macabre. This area is cute, but they really shouldn't call it a scare zone. It's more of a monster meet and greet. Most of the characters stand around waiting for you to take pictures with them. It's a fun idea, but not a scare zone. 

Then it was CarnEvil's turn. This is always a favorite because of how fun it is. We were not going to buy glasses, but then some kids ran over who just got out and asked if we wanted theirs. Okay, I see the appeal of them now. It made the haunt even better and made the art on the walls really trippy. Missed the black light bubbles, but the tunnel was even cooler with the glasses.

Then we walked back through Freak Street, which had some scare actors wandering but not many and is hardly a scare zone at this point. They really should utilize that path between Backlot Coaster and Diamondback as a scare zone again.

We wanted some night Beast so waited about 15 minutes for it (I think this was around 11:45 PM?). Stuff on the TV in line was lame normal park stuff. What happened to the days when they had spooky movie scenes and dark rock videos on for Haunt? Beast ride was good though.

Ended our night over at Blackout where we waited probably 20 minutes. It's fun, but I think could use some more scare actors in there to mess with you in the dark. Potential there.

We got back to the front of the park where it was more scare actors that normies, so it was fun watching them run around scaring everyone. All of the sliders were there (had to be around 10 of them) doing their slidey things with one even doing hand stands, which was pretty impressive.

Overall a great night in the park. Did all of the mazes and scare zones plus 2 MT rides and a Beast night ride all without any kind of special pass. I'd say we got our Haunt's worth. 

Until next time; stay Smurfy my friends. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

Sounds like you enjoyed haunt!

[MDMC01]

Enjoyed reading the trip report and your thoughts on each of the houses. Personally, I thought Urgent Scare was better than last year. I went in making Spongebob jokes and came out waiting for my group as I got seperated lol. I feel like (at least went I went thru) they focused more on scares this year than last year. Last year was like waiting for a big finale that fizzled out at the end; however, ymmv based on different factors. Also, glad you got the glasses for Carnevil- it makes some rooms a lot more trippy!

Finally, no Slaughter House?

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Oh crap, I forgot about Slaughter House. Thanks for reminding me. We did that one right after riding The Beast. No line at that point. It was alright. It's never been quite as good to me as it was the first couple years when it was in Action Zone and they had chainsaw guys at the end. I still feel gross when I leave there due to all the bloody stuff you gotta walk through, but that's by design.

[MDMC01]

The chainsaws at the end were a nice touch. However, I always love going in there, even if it is a little weird at times. Also, did you notice it was darker (lighting-wise) than last year? The very first tine I went thru and last Saturday night it was dark in some parts,

specifically the corner between the two "hog run" areas - I had to feel the wall to know where to go...

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[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

12 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

Also, did you notice it was darker (lighting-wise) than last year? The very first tine I went thru and last Saturday night it was dark in some parts,

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I didn't notice any real dark issues where I couldn't see well personally. Maybe they had some lighting issues or were trying something out when you went through.

Or they put a bag over your head for extra effect.  

[MDMC01]

lol. I was just wondering as it seemed darker a few times when I went thru. However, these times occurred when the house first opened for the night (for example, this darkness occurred the first time I went thru on Opening Night (which was within 15 minutes of open) and when I was part of the first group to go thru this past Saturday), so maybe they hadn't adjusted the lighting quite yet. When I went thru for the second time on Opening Night, it was back to the regular (brighter) lower light level that I'm used to.