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Why are you just so eternally bitter and unhappy and negative? I just don't get it... Everyone is scared by different things, just like everyone enjoys different things. Is that wrong? Does not finding chainsaws scary make you superior in some way? And is your superiority so great that you just needed to share your bravery, and now need to berate anyone who opposes your view? I just don't understand why it's worth bringing up how "cliche" you think it is, much less to be unkind when others call you out on being so negative. You immediately go into crazy defensive testosterone mode. It's just... pointless?

God knows...and so does AZ, that I certainly call him out when I disagree with him...which seems to be about 80% of the time...so it's only fair to stand up for him when I do agree with him. I don't get the whole chainsaw thing either. I'm sorry, but it makes about as much sense as being scared of someone running around with a leaf blower reving it up. Anyone with a smidgen of intelligence knows that it has to be harmless...especially in this lawsuit happy world of ours...how anyone is SCARED I have no idea...I can understand startled, but NOT scared. And by your logic, anyone with a smidgen of intelligence also should not be scared by ANYTHING they encounter at Haunt...or anything else for that matter that's inside the park as they know it all to be harmless. But we all know that not to be true. Haunted attractions play off the fears of each individual. Some people might be afraid of blood and guts, zombies, small places/rooms, chain saws, mutant animals, clowns, children toys, and just the fear of the "unknown" of what is coming up in the maze. Some people are scared by all of these things, others are scared of none, but most people fall some where in the middle. So by using as many different techniques to try and scare someone, Kings Island is trying to make it enjoyable to the largest number of people possible. No one expects you to be scared with everything that you encounter at Haunt. But even though you find something stupid, it doesn't mean that it isn't worth having at Haunt (and from what I saw at Wall of Monsters last Friday, the chain saw was scaring a large number of people and I would consider it a worthy "scare item")

What the hell are you talking about? My wife and I haven't even been to Halloween Haunt this season and since you brought it up, the two times we have been to the park, we haven't paid a dime to get in. So get your facts straight before you try to show up "people like me." Right, because people like you who haven't paid a dime to get into an amusement park without going to its Halloween-themed event know more about how to scare people and what actually is scary than people like Mr. Spade who push their bodies to their limits making sure the people who DID pay a dime to get into an amusement park's Halloween-themed event got their money's worth during the entire run of the event. I'm kinda glad I didn't get myself a Platinum Pass else I'd turn into an inconsiderable jerk.

Hey all, So I recently found my video camera and on my last few trips I took it and shot some videos. Instead of doing a separate topic for each, I thought I'd give a link for all the videos and share a little tidbit from each trip. Holiday World: <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hfx5s8S2fYk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I went with some KICers to Holiday World on their closing day for the 2011 season on Oct. 9th. It was such a great day weather wise and wait time wise. We had discovered after riding Voyage the first time (all of us in various rows) that the 1st row was the only one worth riding in. This was also the last day for Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (their Monster). We had gotten into the line which was surprisingly queued. As we got to the point where we'd be the next cycle, the ride went down, but was up shortly! The longest line we had to wait in line for was Rough Riders. Of course we got to see Pat Koch several times and she gave multiple great hugs! Kings Island Halloween Haunt: <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LIbu-BOPycQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This trip was my first back to Kings Island since I've moved back to Ohio. I was excited to see the park after a 5 month hiatus. The lines for the haunts were not really that bad. I got tired though of employees trying to sell me a fright pass. I got my first KI WindSeeker ride this night, although before I got to ride it, it went down twice. The first time was something with the restraints, however the crew FAILED to call maintenance, they told everyone to get off the ride and ran a test cycle. Then they let people on, including me. but then had us get off. So they finally called Maintenance after walking around the seats about 5 or 6 times. Maintenance showed up and restarted the ride, they did a test cycle and we got on to ride. Man it was cold! I was extremely disappointed with the WindSeeker crew. Seemed like all they did was walk around instead of calling maintenance when there was a problem. As a former ride op at KI, I know that should have been done first instead of walking around and pretending to know what was going on five or six times. Aside from that, the haunts that I went through were great. I disliked Massacre Manor, which used to be my favorite. Holiday Horror and Nightmare Alley became my favorite attractions!! Of course I got a night ride on Beast, at most we waited about 30-40 minutes. I rode Diamondback and let me tell you, it was good to be back on my baby! It was a great smooth ride! As the night was wearing on, we went to CarnEvil and Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. BBoBH was so much fun, if you haven't rode during Haunt, do it. With less than 45 minutes left in the park, I sprinted along to X-Base with Nemo. We went through Mysteria which was fun even though the fog was off. We than ran to Flight of Fear. As we got to FoF, we realized that we were the last two on the coaster that night. We rode the front row. It was cool to see the lasers in the launch tunnel! As we arrived in the Mid-Course, we slowed down so much to a stop because of the lack of weight in the train. We had to push forward to get out of the Mid-Course. It was hilarious and a ton of fun! Columbus Zoo <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PmQzG0oJ2nQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The Zoo was a spur of the moment trip. We had a lot of fun, the animals were fairly active and the zoo wasn't too packed! Cedar Point <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8MnCdiw-PAg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Cedar Point started out rainy! To our surprise, Maverick and Millennium Force were operating for ERT. A lot of rides were down early on in the day because of Wind, including get this....WindSeeker. We got a lot accomplished, got to see some friends from KI and I got to see a friend that works at the park. I ended up having the most rides on Corkscrew, which was a total of 3. This trip was the first time I ate at Midway Market. We decided to go through Camp Snoopy/CarnEvil to look at the Haunt props. We got to where Camp Bus is and the Ride Host looked so bored. She asked if we wanted to ride so we got on. I asked her if I could take video of the ride and she said sure! So I added a little bit of footage from that in the video above. As our ride came to end, she asked if we wanted to go again, so we rode it again. As the 2nd trip ended, she said "Ladies and Gentlemen please remain seated as your bus comes to a landing....wait... buses don't come to landings only planes and helicopters do. What the heck?" As she finished that statement she was laughing for a good few minutes. With it being a Sunday in October, we got to go enjoy some of the Halloweekends attractions. Blood on the Bayou still remains my favorite outdoor haunt. I had a screamster come up to me to try and scare me. As she said "hello" I nervously said hey back, she replied "You rode my ride earlier, you rode the bus, where's your camera now?" Haha.The last thing we did before heading home from the park was getting to ride Top Thrill Dragster, last train of the night (2nd in station) in the front row. I had never ridden in the front row and it was amazing! Hope you enjoyed reading and watching the videos! Edited 9:17 pm 10/24/11

I went last Sunday when it was beautiful out. They weren't kidding when they said the longest wait was Surf Dog. Firehawk was a walk on. If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what could. Fridays and Saturdays in October are probably the busiest days of the entire season, so don't necessary think that the Fast Lane volumes you encountered there are typical of a normal day at the park. Also, don't assume you'll see the same number of Fast Lane passes sold on those days next year.

^And at one point there might have been a farmer who thought "You know the Enchanted Voyage is nice...but I liked it better when it was a corn field". (And I won't even go for a Native American joke!)

'Tis the season for pumpkins, cider, and begging strangers for candy. Sure, sending your kids door-to-door to ask for free treats can be a little discomforting, but it's a time honored tradition and loads of fun for the little one. We packed up our little one, Avery, and headed to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday for their first (of two) weekend of Boo! at the Zoo. Believe it or not, even as zoo members, this was our first time at this particular event, and I couldn't have been more taken back with how well done it was. First, this isn't an upcharge: Pay your normal $12 (adult) admission for the zoo and the rest is included. You're handed an event-specific map which notates special candy stops (about 30 of them around the park!), seasonal concession offerings (s'mores, candy / carmel apples, cider, etc), and special entertainment offerings (several new stage shows, roaming characters, parade, etc). The map also lists the special "Boo at the Zoo" animal enrichment times and keeper talks. There were events around the zoo about every half hour, like pumpkins being given to the animals (which is hilarious to watch, including brown bears, polar bears, manatees, gorillas, arctic fox, etc). The roaming characters, from Otterbein University's theater department, brought a nice dose of period streetmosphere to the park. Several other live entertainment offerings were available, including a Marvel-licensed Superhero stage show, storytime with Princesses, and the zoo's awesome "Animals on Safari" stage show. While the event is billed as "merry, not scary", the zoo's train ride in the North America region is transformed after dark into a "Sleepy Hollow" themed experience, utilizing live actors, fog, and theatrical lighting. So, here's how it works: The 30 or so treat stations are spread out throughout the entire park, each sponsored by a different business and handing out free candy (generous handfulls, while we were there at least), as well as different things for their business (dentist giving parents gift cards for free whitening, etc). We didn't hit all the stations, and Avery still came away with tons of candy (we had to empty her bucket 2 or 3 times). Beyond the event-specific activities, there's still a world class (#1 in the country, they say) zoo to explore. The animals were all very active (a beautiful day, sunny and in the high 50's), and we didn't notice a single "no show." All the animals were out and having fun. Some animal highlights: one of the pods in the indoor gorilla exhibit had 3 apes in it sound asleep, while Coco (first gorilla born in captivity, now a great grandmother!) was in her pod enjoying a pumpkin. One of the lion cubs born a few years ago was being "weaned" away from his parents, being put in the second lion yard for 4 hours each day. There was a docent there to explain this, as the cat seemed very agitated and was pacing the yard's perimiter. We got to see Bodhi the male Asian Elephant one last time, he was the first elephant calf born at the zoo but is now going to Denver's Zoo to breed. Boo at the Zoo continues next weekend from 10AM to 9PM (unusually late hours for the zoo outside of the Christmastime Wildlight's event), with Jungle Jack's Landing and Animal Encounters Village open as well. All day ride wristbands are available for only $5, which is a steal considering the lineup of rides and non-existent lines. I seriously, completely recommend anyone with kids try to make this event next weekend. The themeing, the atmosphere, and the animals create quite a unique offering and you won't regret it. Remember that all-encompassing, enveloping, escapist feeling you got at Kings Island as a kid? You can still get it, just a hour and a half north. Onto the pics: Getting ready to head in! (We had just put her costume on in the parking lot, coming straight from her gymnastics class) The lineup of Treat Stations in Jungle Jack's Landing The scale of this pirate ship was impressive, especially considering it's just a decoration! This is NOT one of the Leopards seized from the farm in Zanesville, those animals are in the zoo's animal hospital

So everyone who has a platinum pass is a jerk? BTW, I don't have any kind of season pass either.

Ok , so heres how I feel, everyone is entitled to like or not like something at the haunt. And unless you work there you have NO idea what it takes each night to give people a good scare or what its like when you give all you got and certain people will badmouth you or give attitude. And its true that everyone has there scare threshhold, everyone has that certain thing that they are scared by, I scared someone by smiling at them so it just goes to show that it takes a little something different from person to person. I have to back up Zakk on this ,hes only defending what he does and also defending how much he puts into what he does. Theres only so much a person can take or listen to. We all have our breaking points. Its just hard not to take things personally when you hear it every night. I love the haunt and the public and my only job is to scare you and thats what ill try to do every night ! Its not everyone but I do wonder why those certain very small group of people come if they are NEVER happy with ANYTHING at the Haunt. I think everyone working the Haunt would agree that we want to scare and just have fun and we want the public to have fun as well.

Just so we're straight. I give my opinion on chainsaws at haunted attractions and all of a sudden I'm a bitter, unhappy, negative, inconsiderable jerk?

What the hell are you talking about? My wife and I haven't even been to Halloween Haunt this season and since you brought it up, the two times we have been to the park, we haven't paid a dime to get in. So get your facts straight before you try to show up "people like me."

Any weather forecast for a week away is highly speculative, at best.

And yet ZakkSpadeZ and I, as well as a few others in Slaughter House, have scared thousands of people with them this year. So yeah, they're not scary at all. Your right. Alot of the girls are screaming for attention. I'm sorry YOUR girl is seeking MY attention. The only annoying thing I see at Halloween Festivals are people like you who show up and criticize or try to show your masculinity off by trash talking the haunt actors. It's not impressive that you can go thru a house without being scared. I can too, that's why I do what I do. I know the Slaughterhouse boys are good at what we do, that's why your the one paying to see us.

Did I chase you!?! I'm sorry about that, Mama gets mad when I run with chainsaws. hahahahaah you caught me by suprise today!! I saw one guy standing there with a chainsaw at the end not moving then you just popped out and chased us! You never know where we might pop out from. Us Slaughter boys never up to any good!

That's shocking!