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Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year. Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day. Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area). From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls. It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful. At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band. Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14). We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes. Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday: At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line. I think because it was new and not many people knew about it. The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing. As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark. If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze. I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this. The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic. Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while. Next we went to Alien Abyss. Very short line (10 min). Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel. The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through. In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one. It's old and tired. After that we went to Kill Mart. Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics. I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of. Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe. LONG line about an hour. Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night. Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago. Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line. I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone. Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better. Seemed a better experience than last year. Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on around 10:15. Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year. For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around. Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap. Seemed a bit overdone. A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor. Moving instead to using darkness to mask them. Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening. Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast. Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season. They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable. Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10). Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday. That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early. Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend). Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion. The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic. The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show. Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call. It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows. Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows. Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own. Well done. Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned. The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself. I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it. It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss. Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale. Definitley and upgrade from last season. Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year. Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.

Here are some photos I took at Sweet Spot.

While I don't know if it even has a name, it wasn't on the map last year either. It's probably intentional, since the scare actors over there are pretty well disguised as bushes,

Interior demolition of Boo Blasters has begun, in strangely public fashion (Note these were taken in public guest view areas, if this breaks rules let me know) I know they probably wouldn’t tell us, but I’m curious if Sally Dark Rides take all the props from Boo Blasters and reuses them to create another ghost blasters attraction somewhere, considering I think they’re still making boo blasters as of like 2022 I think??

Could be maybe that they don't want to "highlight" it and have people wondering about it while its down and out for the count. Maybe I am just being too optimistic. Really hoping it gets at least one or two more seasons and that they will do the full repair when the park is closed for the off season.

We went up Saturday and my son rocked his 2024 Ghost no boos necklace. We were there for only the rides and avoided the haunt stuff (and it makes him feel better). One of the scare actors outside of Stunt coaster pulled us to the side and said that the park told them to ignore the 2024 no boos necklace, but some actors will treat the ‘24 as the same as ‘25. So we are now proud owners of a 2025, but figured I’d give you all a heads up just in case you plan on going with little and have the one from last year.

Three more that I found. These are back at Potato Works: This one is at Juke Box: And I believe this was a Coney BBQ: All photos taken by me.

I walked through that today and it honestly reminded me of the old vine tunnel KI used to have and what KD has. I would honestly not be opposed to enclosing this walkway with a permanent vine tunnel especially if The Vortex plot is going to remain empty going forward.

Now THAT is the kind of show Im talking about... THAT is what I want to see when I sit down for a show!!

Nyte Walkers in 2025.

Being the first night of Haunt and just as expected, many season pass holders came out including lots of families with their large buggy wagon strollers, children under 10, and even saw several babies maybe 1 year old in their mothers arms. There did not seem to be many lines at the houses unlike other years likely because like me, refuse to pay for something that used to be free and pretty much the same every year. However, I do agree it is worth the money to do the Conjuring Beyond Fear experience and wanted to see for myself after reading about experiences at CP. Conjuring Beyond Fear was very well put together and you could tell a lot of thought went into it. I was disappointed in the scare zones as the scareactors were playing up to the little kids instead of scaring folks walking through like me. I walked behind a father of a 5 year old filming his little boy going through Hooked as the little boy chatted with each pirate instead of being scared by them (or maybe they are supposed to be very friendly pirates and in pumpkin eater, friendly pumpkin gut eaters?). Ghouls Gone Wild and Nyte Walkers seem to be more G content rated for families and pretty much the same with a few different songs (and there were lots of kids and families in the audience of both, so seems like Haunt has moved away from the adult theme for mature audiences only. I do miss Dead Awakenings and Hot Blooded for sure.) Exceptional pub burger at the Brewhouse as expected but the place wasn’t super busy. The longest food line seemed to be at Skyline but then again, that place always has a long line being so slow. Considering all the budget cuts lately, my Haunt experience was just okay, not the best and not the worst.

I think there is at least some market for a Stricker's Grove-sized park up there near where Geauga Lake was, but who knows how big it could actually get at this point. If Ohioans think Six Flags is running Cedar Point and Kings Island into the ground, maybe they'll start going to a new GL and it'll be a nice little regional park in 20 years. Just in time for Six Flags v8.0 to buy it up and run it right back into the ground from whence it came! Just kidding I'm sure someone will have understood the Six Flags curse by then and changed the company's name altogether. The site redevelopment is looking good from the photos I've seen so far. Lots of new housing, including a ton over on the old SeaWorld Ohio parking lot. The municipal park that's supposed to take over Wildwater Kingdom also looks very promising. I think all that's left of the park is all of the water, some of the parking lots, and the part between where Villain and Dominator used to reside. I wonder if anyone still has a trademark on the Geauga Lake name or if they could pull off a Coney Island-Kings Island type deal... Things to ponder.

I had a wonderful time at Halloween Haunt at Kings Island presented by SNICKERS tonight! Most of the haunted attractions had a 3 minute (or less) wait time and there are some good improvements and some definite let downs to talk about. I'll also give some thoughts on my Haunted Attractions Pass and ticket for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear that I purchased online. A couple of things to note: tonight is the Homecoming football game for some local schools (so staffing might've taken a hit from that) and it is opening night for an event that is going through a big change (so some guests may be waiting to see if it is worth paying for). Spoilers ahead, if that wasn't obvious. I decided to be one of those people who waited for the parking lot to open and found out very quickly how nice it was when trying to park near the central berm (between the big sign and the entrance). The park opened security lines relatively quickly and seemed to be doing well at moving people through them. It looked like there are somehow still some issues with the chaperone policy though. Turnstiles opened around 5:30 or 5:45 and they let everyone onto International Street with the paths out roped off until 6:00 PM. Our good friend, The Undertaker, was back to calling himself "The Undertaker" this year — something I haven't heard in years! The new set on the International Street Bandstand looks really good; although it'd look better with a real show to go with it. At 6 they blasted the cannons and rolled up the ropes, releasing us into the rest of the park. My first ride of the night: el baño next to Diamondback. As good and clean as it's been since its renovation. Next, I went to the DB Trading Post and got my HAP wristband. It was a quick and painless experience. Next stop was an ice cold Coca-Cola from the Refresh Station. Spoilers for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear are hidden below in case anyone is trying to avoid them like I did. Throughout the night I was able to do all of the mazes and will do my best to give a rapid-fire review starting... now. SLAUGHTERHOUSE: 0 minute wait. This was my first time going through and I was pleasantly surprised. I know this is normally a good maze, and it was nice and long. Bonus points for getting to go back near the old exit for The Beast. I think I might've even seen a werewolf in there... HOTEL ST. MICHELLE: 15-ish minute wait, felt longer because we were already getting tired. A splendid haunted maze, but Kings Island really needs to do something about the queue line. They should find a way to redo that queue to be one big line with zero merge points (besides the Express lane). ORDER OF THE DRAGON: 15-ish minute wait. This is the new one and it is absolutely amazing! The actors and animatronics combine with all of the static stuff to provide one of the best mazes that I've experienced in years at a Cedar Fair park. Very happy to see vampires back at Haunt again as well. My biggest gripe with it is this: the queue line is horribly set up. They are strict about crossing through the stanchions, but they're all made up of flimsy yellow cord and posts in buckets. It's a good solution for something that is quick and cheap, but it's awful in practice. The associate did make a kid (who cut in line to be with his friends) go to the back of the line, but had to warn everyone to not go under them at least 20 times. CORNERED: 0 minute wait. Allegedly an entirely new path this year. It takes you to the right back toward Drop Tower instead of to the left toward Invertigo (go crazy with what that could mean for the inverted blue boy). Very nice sets, not as many actors as I would've liked. KILLMART: 1 minute wait. Same old KillMart. Good to walk through it again after taking a break from it in 2024. I would not be sad to see this one go, although if it does I hope they put its replacement in a different location. Not enough actors for ALIEN ABYSS: 0 minute wait. I didn't know they got rid of the spinning tunnel and was kinda sad about it. The alien design is always good and cool to see. It's VERY dark in there (no wonder they call it an "abyss" bah dum tss). Kind of anticlimactic without the mirror maze or the tunnel. Turn off any more lights and add a safety rope to get Blackout 2.0. REDEEMING AND USING YOUR HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS PASS, HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS EXPRESS PASS, AND CONJURING TICKET: FINAL THOUGHTS: Get a ticket for TC:BF. Pay that $15-$30. It is so worth it. If you'd like to see what the mazes have to offer in 2025, buy the normal pass. I hardly waited for anything tonight, which is good for me and a little concerning for the park. Hopefully once October rolls around we'll see higher wait times for the mazes. Setting up a return time system for TC:BF is a great idea. I wish I would've gotten the All-Season express pass for $59 just so I could do The Conjuring once per visit (would've paid for itself rather quickly). Good news: each Haunted Attraction ticket is more money than they directly made off all the mazes over the past 15 years combined. Bad news: if everyone stops buying Haunted Attraction tickets then this whole thing fails and we either go back to boring and free or start on a path to losing Haunt forever. I'm all for up-charging for the mazes if it means we'll see more improvements over the years and more changes from year to year. If the trend that's been happening since 2021 continues, though, I can't imagine anyone would want to keep paying for sub-par scares. I didn't have an Interactive Lantern with me tonight to try anything with it, but I tried to keep an eye out for interaction points. They are still selling the 2024 versions (spider decal) with the new 2025 versions (ghost decal). The 2025's can do a few more things than the 2024's can, including vibrating with the effects. I don't know if it is just this weekend or if it'll be like this all season but Poe's Garden is gone, the giant troll is gone, and it seems a lot of other interaction points may have been removed as well based on Facebook comments. Overall, I had a really good time because of The Conjuring: Beyond Fear and the short lines for every maze.

I've been on this 4 times when I visited, and it was pretty forcefully and you were thrown around a bit. I could see how if someone passed out they could get tossed around a bit. But I would think the restraints would keep you in well enough not to hit multiple parts of the train. To answer @disco2000's questions, the only thing that you could really hit would be the headrest and maybe the side of the seats. I heard that someone said a bolt and some screws came off of the restraint, but who knows if that is true.

From the KI passholders group

Too soon?