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I visited the park again tonight to get another run through of each maze and see if anything might've changed since Friday night. After a brief issue where I was initially handed a regular HAP instead of an Express wristband and didn't notice until it was already on my wrist, I made my way around the park to start going through the mazes. (BTW the associate and the supervisor were very understanding of what happened.) Overall the mazes seemed to have less actors than they did on Friday, but this is to be expected for a Sunday night Haunt. There are a lot of actors who probably need to be home early because they have school or work in the morning. Jason: Blood Reign still had a good amount of actors, though I did notice a few missing. I think there needs to be some more fog in the marsh scene, but other than that it was great. I managed to not hit the pole like I did the previous two times I went through it. There was a family in front of me with a little girl (age 10 at most) who was really scared to go through it and ended up hiding in her mother's shirt for about half of it, but I think the parents handled the situation well and made sure she was okay after we all got out. I still have an issue with children being at Haunt, but this family seemed like one of the good ones. KillMart was still how KillMart always is. I'd have liked to see something new in this maze to spice things up a bit. The actors did a really good job of scaring myself and everyone around me. Alien Abyss was kind of the same as ever. This maze would be my next pick to get rethemed. The hallway that used to have the spinning tunnel (years ago) is now just a bunch of "alien growths" on the walls with not much movement or intrigue. The very middle part of the maze is what needs the most help IMO. It is just a winding path down the darkest hallway you've ever seen. I think there's a story reason for it being dark (especially since the fictional facility is called D.A.R.C.), but it would help guests if the park put some glow tape on the floor along one wall. The science theme can stay, I just wish it was a better maze. Order of the Dragon threw me for a little spin tonight because I think the Express entrance was moved between Friday night and tonight. It is now right up with the entrance to the standby queue. Now for my journey through Metal Massacre: it was a-MAZE-ing! I went through by myself because there were no other groups ready at the entrance and basically got a zen ride through the maze. I have to knock it a little bit because there were no actors in the first half. The record sales room is a personal favorite of mine so far because of the different maze logos used for each record. It's super cool to see these simple references to the history of the event. The second half of the maze is where I really had fun. As soon as I left the first half I walked right into a dense wall of fog and emerged into the concert scene(s). All of the actors went crazy when they saw that I was alone and I even got a "private tour" of the backstage and recording studio sections. One new thing that I would like to see come to the event is an area (preferably Tower Gardens) dedicated to the history of FearFest/Haunt at Kings Island. It could feature signage about each year of the event and old props that could be turned into lantern activation points. Keep the ride tombstones in a separate area — and please put a fence up around them — but this would be another nice thing to have. I'll withhold further comments disparaging the maze queue lines until next week in case anything else changes. We still need more/better shows overall. Despite my complaints I had a good night.

Mike Baxter for Outdoor Man talking to you today about... civil responsibility. Or, the total lack thereof. You know, I try to spend time encouraging folks to get outdoors, enjoy nature, and build some character. Well, I just got back from Kings Island, where character apparently went to die at the Coney BBQ. I wanted some pulled pork, not a side order of disgust. Look at the pictures of the eating area, it'll show you what some "modern families" consider acceptable behavior. One of the tables- They ordered macaroni. Then, apparently, they decided to paint with it. In another, it looks like they ordered a radioactive milkshake and tried to contain the meltdown then left a single cup as a monument to their failure. It's a biohazard. Then another table didn't have a meal; it had a conflict. The pile of napkins is so big it should have its own zip code. Is that paper plate empty, or did someone just finish consuming a small animal? Seriously, who does this? Who walks away from this mess with their kids and thinks, "Yep, that was a quality dining experience, and now it's someone else's problem!" You see this mess? This isn't the Coney BBQ's fault. This is parents failing. It's laziness. Disrespect. It's teaching your kids that you're too special to clean up after yourselves. If you can’t manage to throw away your trash at Kings Island, I’m scared to see what your living room looks like. Having sat there for 30 minutes+, we got to watch other families detour around these in search of clean tables, and happened to see two different employees: one emptying the trash can the other one had a broom- you know, the thing you "sweep" with? They swept right past the carnage and kept sweeping the ground. Apparently didn't see Mount Napkin and Blue Lake. It’s like they were wearing blinders tuned specifically to dodge work not in "the description." You can buy new tables. You can buy new trash cans. But you can't buy common decency from guests and apparently can't buy staff with peripheral vision. For a late September Saturday evening at the Coney BBQ, they seem to be fresh out of both. I'm headed off to find some hand sanitizer. And maybe a power washer. Baxter, out. (I'm not really Mike Baxter, the TV character - he's fictitious (or ABC, for that matter), nor the baseball player... I've borrowed the persona to make a point through humorous observation).

As much as they’re cutting costs — and it shows around the park — I don’t believe this is a cost-cutting measure. There has to be an issue with the train for them not to be running all three trains. Same at The Bat with a train issue seeing them operate with only one train in recent weeks. Restaurants and drink locations closed, theaters dark, not having the staffing scheduled to keep ice machines stocked, trash can overflowing? That’s a result of cost-savings efforts.

Or maybe as part of the more detailed inspection that can happen when daily ends, they found issues that needed addressed. Same with The Bat. Same with Drop Tower. I think the entire train would be gone if it were scheduled off-season maintenance. Maybe they pulled the cars with issues off and will fix and get back on yet this season? I think even with the financial issues the chain has, they wouldn't cripple rides for the sake of getting a jump start on the offseason during busy Haunt season. It just doesn't save them anything. Much better to start the early season down a train than do it during Haunt. Likely we will never know for sure as the park probably wouldn't make a statement. And let's hope it hasn't got to this that they shut down or cripple rides during their busiest season just to get a jump start on the offseason!

Light/vague Haunt Spoilers for those who may care

Will say, this definitely isn't all park specific, but seems to be more of a chain wide issue. Visited Cedar Point this past weekend Friday-Saturday to a very crowded but understaffed park. My hotel experience was great with very kind and attentive staff at Castaway Bay, helped us many times, however had many issues within the park itself. Two of the three food locations I visited had the newer Cedar Fair line style selection, yet both ran out of entrees during lunch and dinner. Pizza took about 25 minutes to make enough to get through the line when I started, only for the soda fountain to have ice, but no soda other than regular Coke or sprite. Steak at the farmhouse was great, but they only had about half the side options available. Had a funny interactions with some volunteers where I won't call out the location, but when a friend asked for a water cup and they didn't have any, he said to his friend behind the counter "the guy earlier today said we aren't allowed to give water cups, I really don't understand the stupidity behind this", which was fine because I just used my drink plan to grab water because only 40% of the freestyle machines were on, of which the ones on only had sugar free root beer or lemonade. Spent Saturday with a good friend with Crohn's disease who had a first time visit. Had a few good experiences with this, but not handled nearly as well as KI. Watched a lady pass out and fall down the stairs after the line reached about 45 minutes just to check in with an ADA pass on Steel Vengeance, but lots of other issues, including another ride exist attendant telling my friend he didn't know how the system worked and it wasn't his problem. Found two bathrooms throughout the day that had soap, swung and missed on 4 out of 6 😑. Also I'm maybe starting to see why they upped the price of their Fastlane, waited almost 70 minutes on quite a few rides with it on Saturday. Overall since we had three days there still had an overall alright time, but quite a few things soured our mood throughout the trip. Will probably return next year with my brother, but the rest of the group didn't really seem interested in returning when they could just visit KI or Holiday World. Also now I'm debating if it's better to have ice but no soda or soda but no ice, leaning towards the latter...

I think the "cool sup" is still a thing today. It's like they get a shirt that says Cedar Fair SUPERVISOR and they are immune from responsibility. I've seen them standing around during WinterFest laughing with each other or try to be Michael Scott with the front line workers, while people are waiting in line for food or drinks. There are hard working folks at the park including some of the Cedar Fair SUPERVISORs, but most I have seen have been more inward focused than customer focused. It's like they don't have leadership guidance and want to be bffs with the front line.

I can also attest that to a certain segment of people in the workforce there is this "its not my job, its this department's job or this other person always does the cleaning or this task they can do it" mindset which is why you'll see people walk by and look right at it and do nothing. I've been guilty of it before and I've been doing whatever I can to not fall into that trap.

Yeah that is probably the reason. I hope it's not something you've seen with my crew.

From what we saw, they didn't need "more" associates in the Coney BBQ area... they needed associates with peripheral vision and the intuition to address painfully obvious stimuli. Where are the Supervisors? Where is the management wondering where the Supervisors are?

No one cares anymore. There's such a sense of entitlement these days that the parents just expect the workers to clean it up. Seriously. If you really listen to these people you'll eventually hear a common phrase "well they're getting paid to clean so why should I have to do it?" This country is going downhill fast.

The park is worth all 3 values they have set their passes.

Pulling a train on one of your busiest rides during the busiest part of the season to "cut costs" is a terrible way to cut costs. If there's a time you need all your trains it's now! I saw reports of the Fast Lane line being longer than the standby line which is an absolute waste of money! So either they found something wrong with the train and it needs fixed which is understandable or those on the board disagree with John Reilly's vision of maximizing guest throughput! If it's the latter no wonder Jana is pushing for more changes!

My Spidey senses are telling me it's because they cut maintenance staff to cut costs and thus off-season maintenance begins now in order to fit everything in before 2027.

I split the reviews into its own thread.

Yes, the immersiveness is why we go to Universal 4-5 times a year and keep a season pass. Every turn you make, any path you go down you are in another world. I know they have big budgets but I think the Cincinnati Zoo does a great job too . . just thinking about there is a street with old houses only 30-40 feet away while walking thru Jungle Trails. But you're in the jungle. Kings Island got me as kid in the 70's walking thru the gate and seeing International Street. The buildings, grand fountains, smells, sounds and then the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing. I miss walking around Swan Lake, The Beast lake, the Ivy Tunnel. I am not trying to beat on KI, maybe I just got too familiar.

Agreed. Part of the guest experience to me is how immersive is the park? Even at places like Holiday World there’s an effort at theming all around, from the buildings to the food to the rides. There’s cohesion that makes you feel like you’re not even in Indiana. For many of us, with so much bad in our lives it’s worth it to get away from things. It’s an escape. That’s why even with how ridiculously expensive Disney is we still yearn to go back.

“What do Disney, Universal and Dollywood understand? The product comes first. They understand that yesterday's great ride eventually becomes today's old ride. Most importantly, they understand something financial engineers sometimes forget. The guest experience creates the financial result. The financial result does not create the guest experience.” Dennis Speigel

It looks really nice, but my biggest issue with it is that the inspiration feels like it was taken from the wrong Coney Island. I think the description even says that it was inspired by Luna Park (at Coney Island in NYC). If we get a renovation of Coney Mall I'd prefer it to at least be in the spirit of our old Coney. A new Grand Pavilion-style restaurant with the look of Moonlite Gardens would be really good replacement for KillMart's building. That would also allow for the midway to be realigned and get rid of that odd kink in the path created by KMAA. Keep Shake, Rattle, and Roll and let The Vortex successor rise above it. If WindSeeker gets demolished then that would be a good plaza for a new big dark ride on the plot of Action Theater.