RingMaster

Nightmare Alley isn't a maze, but since they don't list the other Fear Zones (in Coney, Rivertown, and Action Zone) I omitted it from the map.

Even with the map, they won't show where the lines for the actual maze are. But here's a quick list of where the attractions are located at, with the queue lines following: Slaughter House - Stunt Crew Grill. The queue line is on the left hand side of the restaurant where the giant umbrellas usually are. Club Blood - Warehouse 69 (behind Skyflyer). Go down the exit path of SBNO/Flight Deck. When you reach the overpass, three signs will point to their respective attraction lines. Club Blood should be the leftmost side and utilizes part of Flight Deck's queue. Wolf Pack - Son of Beast Station. This attraction uses Son of Beast's queue, so the regular entrance to the ride is the entrance to WP. Cut-Throat Cove - Outer Hank's. The queue line uses the exit of Viking Fury and wraps around its backside and behind the Airbrush Shop. Massacre Manor - Attitudes Warehouse. Skyline Patio is the queue's entrance, and goes behind Scrambler. Mysteria - Warehouse 13 (beside Flight of Fear). The clearing opposite Flight of Fear's hangar is the queue line. Urgent Scare - Action Theater Side B. WindSeeker has taken out US's queue situated right outside the original entrance to AT. The new entrance juts into the Theater's exit and is the queue. Tombstone Terrortory - KI Railroad/White Water Canyon. The regular queue for the train is part one of two queues for this attraction, with the overflow line situated right in front of the Dippin Dots Depot. The second part is after you get off the train and is a small wooded trail behind WWC's observation deck. Holiday Horror - Peanuts Playhouse. Not entirely sure about where the queue will be. My guess is that it will be where the blue shade structures are in front of the theater. CarnEvil - Enchanted Theater. Queue line uses the entrance/exit to Great Pumpkin Coaster underneath the big shade structure. CornStalkers - Tower Gardens. In past years when it was Cemetery Drive, the queue wrapped around the Carousel. I'm led to believe the same will be used for CornStalkers. And here's a cruddy rendition of where the attractions are located (now with attraction names):

I know this Friday marks the start of Halloween Haunt XI, but I'm not a fan of going to a place right when it opens (Land of Illusion on Sept. 2nd notwithstanding). I'm instead going the Friday afterwards, the 30th, and wondering who all is going/would like to go. This also begs the question of if people want to buy Fright Lane passes or just run from one house to the other like real coaster/haunt enthusiasts do. 1. RingMaster

I'd be down for getting a Fright Lane pass. As I said before in another thread, this is the one event at the park a system like the Fast Pass would benefit the most from. And with as many attractions as they have, being able to cut to the front at least ONCE per house is a godsend. That way, if a maze is really good the first run, THEN I'd wait in line to do it again. But only after I've gotten through everything at least once, and only if the attraction is worth waiting in line. Speaking of which, gotta go ask a question....

And here I was thinking Universal Studios had bagged AVATAR. But it makes sense as the first thing I thought of when this announcement debuted was, "Oh this is definitely going inside the Tree of Life."

Best Amusement Park Kennywood Best Theme Park Tokyo DisneySea Best Value Park Cedar Point Best Wood Coaster(s) Thunderhead The Voyage Prowler The Raven The Beast Best Steel Coaster(s) Intimidator 305 Bizarro (SFNE) Millennium Force Diamondback Mystery Mine Best Flatride Barnstormer Best "New" Ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Best New Ride Barnstormer Best Park Food Disneyland Most Beautiful Park Busch Gardens Williamsburg Best Water Ride Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls Best Waterpark Blizzard Beach Best Park Staff Holiday World Best Kids Area Planet Snoopy (KI) Cleanest Park Holiday World Best Halloween Event Halloween Horror Nights (Orlando)

In other news, Kings Island's Halloween Haunt was knocked off the list of best Halloween events, according to the list. Interesting to see that both Kennywood, Knoebels, AND a park in Germany beat both Howl-O-Scream events at the Busch Gardens parks, Uni Hollywood's HHN, as well as our own Haunt. Also interesting that Eruopa Park's event only got 5% of the vote to make it into the top 5...

...you pretty much brought up the EXACT reason why the "push" for bringing back Winterfest is dead in the water.

It all depends on the maze itself and what it all entails. Club Blood will generally have a longer line than, say, CornStalkers, on the basis that Club Blood has scantily-clad women pole-dancing. Tombstone Terrortory has a longer line due to utilizing the train as part of its attraction, and its SECOND line once you get off the train!

^ Yeah, her and the first Bride walked out the first night of Haunt 2010. Got to work with them both the year prior and they were a riot to be around. The first duct tape girl just had twins not less than a month ago, and Bride #1 I believe is still at UC. This reminds me (in the weirdest sort of way), KI should give out some construction photos of the two new mazes.

While I agree that the masks are a little less than desirable considering one can get almost the same one at a Party City, they are pretty high-quality masks with a lot of detail put into them. They also aren't cheap. A lot of the ones I remember seeing from the Haunt start at $50 at the minimum and go up from there(go to eMasks for a massive list of purchasable masks/costumes). As for the costumes, they're all handmade from the Wardrobe shop themselves, and most of them are extremely well done and creative. The so-called "duct tape dress" stands out as it uses duct tape in a creative way and the whole build itself is gorgeous (not to mention it would go real well in a steampunk-themed fear zone). But anyway, finally saw the commercial for this year's Haunt. Got to say I'm saddened that the Overlord is still the driving force behind the commercial; I really don't like that character let alone being the corporate icon for the entire Haunt chain (though Six Flags' strategy for grouping all of its Fright Fest locales onto one site isn't a bad idea).

Here is a (small) list of things you shouldn't do if you are actually scared: Don't let your name go public - As per mentioned by TombRaiderFTW earlier, name-calling serves a completely different purpose in the vein of a haunted house rather than anywhere else. Much like living in an apartment, the walls of a haunted house are paper-thin and sound travels extremely quickly from one end to the other (the lack of a roof directly over the maze's walls is the main culprit of this). Case in point, when someone's name is called out by a scareactor, everyone else can hear it and follow suit. Name-calling adds a level of personal terror, as you feel like you have been singled out from your group and the monsters will make a bee-line for you. This works to a lesser extent in the streets, as you have hundreds of people and many more noises bouncing off all over the place, but is still a formidable way to get under someone's skin if you know what their name is. Don't "act" scared - This is the hardest rule to follow if you are actually scared. There are many ways to tell if someone is scared, from both an obvious and a subtle standpoint. The one screaming at the most insignificant thing and hiding behind their significant other? Obvious. The one with a barely audible whimper and quivering lips? Subtle. The less obvious notions you give off, the less you'll stand out from the crowd. Hence the reason why monsters will go after the group of tweeny-boppers that are climbing over each other instead of the lone couple casually strolling through. Don't run - Not just from a safety standpoint, this is the absolute easiest way to get a monster to not leave you alone. A good monster doesn't initiate the chase, because it is the guest who initiates it themselves. It's the most basic primal instinct amongst the "prey" when they notice something is amiss and take off prematurely. So if you see a monster at the end of the street, don't give in to the flight (but definitely don't go for the fight), or you risk being the source of one wicked chase sequence straight out of a horror movie. Don't be the middleman - You've seen/heard the commercials about people eliminating the middleman to pass savings directly on to you. Well, in this case, both the exact same and the exact opposite can be said when being in a group in a haunted house. One of the most important rules of being a monster in a haunted house is to always scare forward. Houses need to get as many people through in a certain amount of time, and line backups hinder this greatly. Hence monsters scare the middle or back of the group to push them forwards. This actually makes things easier for the monster because where do the most scared people in the group go to? You guessed it - the middle. Thus, aim to be the first person in line or be as close to the front as you can. And finally: Don't let your guard down - This goes for everyone, not just the ones who are actually scared. Kings Island is just one big distraction, an instrument designed to get people to look at everything except what's in their immediate surroundings. One second, you look up at Diamondback's 230 foot first drop, the next second, you look back down to find a monster three inches from your face. The creepers are the most notorious at scaring people when they're not expecting it. Just like The Spanish Inquisition, nobody expects someone to come sliding right in front of their feet...especially in a big crowd. So always keep your guard up, but not to the point where you'll point out one monster and keep him away from you, only to have another one come up and scare you from behind (another fine example of killer teamwork).

I'm surprised you didn't bring up the fact that Planet Snoopy has now finally been annexed to the rest of Haunt, with monsters roaming the new fear zone Nightmare Alley. But anyway, will KICentral be providing Opening Night photos and footage for this season's Haunt?

It may simply be the props from Cemetery Drive (giant graves, tombstones, and mausoleums) that could go over there, but a simple lighting and sound effect package would most definitely suffice for the area. Here's a (rudimentary) sketch of what could be the area used for NA in PS: Up until this year, the only portion of Kiddieland that's been used for the Haunt has been the path from Boo Blasters to Snoopy Grill, with a second entrance from Chick-fil-A/Showplace Theater (red path). Now with Peanuts Playhouse as a Haunt location, the path from Linus Launcher to Playhouse needs to be open to prevent a dead-end to that maze (blue path). As such, a path should connect the two together to offer up space for people and monsters to maneuver (purple path). It's up in the air if they only go around one side or completely circle around Splash Dance, though.

Holiday Horror is inside Peanuts Playhouse.

Possibly the ENTIRETY of Planet Snoopy. Much like how in years past, a group of monsters would be in specific areas like Action Zone or Rivertown, apparently a yet-to-be-determined amount of monsters will be in the PS area.

If Nightmare Alley is in fact a fear zone, why wouldn't they just label that on the website? Cause that's what Scarowinds did. Just sayin'. They may still add to the site and change things around prior to the event opening. But at least now we have confirmation from the park that NA is the Planet Snoopy Fear Zone, much like Coney MAUL is to Coney MALL or Waste Land to Action Zone.

No, those papers (and the Haunt folks) are pretty specific on where they decide to place people. They're not about to go vague on their employees and expect them to automatically know where to go on their first rehearsal night, let alone a costume fitting (especially new monsters). Unless it was a typo/mishearing and he's actually in CornStalkers - as it takes the place of Cemetery Drive this year - then he's in a Cemetery-style attraction that's not listed on the site (much like the Coney Mall, Action Zone, and Rivertown "fear zones").

oh no i didnt mean it like that. ill be pumped up to work there every night and ioll be prepared every night. no slacking on the job for this guy. i wanted this job and i knew what i was getting into before i got it. but thank you for your concern. on another note. since indoor mazes open at 5 pm do all outdoor maze people scare at the front gate until 7 pm when outdoor mazes open? Most likely not, considering the time between 5 and 7 is spent getting families and kids out of the park that don't want to experience the Haunt. I'd hazard a guess to say that the outdoor maze monsters get a later call time than those indoors. I also thought outdoor mazes opened at 8?

Considering CornStalkers has taken its place I was quite shocked to see Cemetery Drive not return this year. But now that there's confirmation of an attraction dubbed Cemetery, it may become a fear zone similar to Nightmare Alley. But again, seeing as how they list NA as an outdoor maze but describe it as a fear zone, it's a very confusing setup. EDIT: From Kings Island's PR: Again, a vague definition of what a fear zone is.

As of right now, the only parks with the new site are Kings Island, Carowinds, and Cedar Point. The rest share the old site with the Overlord as their marketing icon. Of which it kind of sounds like they may be dropping that character completely (I hope).

The last time haunts ever opened earlier than 7pm was way back in 2004 when the indoor houses (House of Darkness, Circus of Horrors, Maze of Madness, and Curse of the Crypt) opened at 3pm.

That's because Graveyard Shift isn't a part of the Haunt festivities; they have it as a daytime/Howl-o-Fest show I believe.

....I just realized something. There's no chainsaw finale scene to a haunted house this year. Where will the chainsaw-wielding maniacs go to NOW?!?!?!

Are they planning on removing/moving the giant electrical tower that lies in the middle of the water park? Because it looks as if the new path connecting Snowy River Rampage to Kookaburra Bay goes right through its spot. Also, they have that huge grassy area to add more parking spaces; that used to be the OVER overflow parking back in the 90s when the park got really REALLY crowded. Finally, I think I mentioned this before but it got lost in the wave pool, the re-theme to Boomerang Bay cost $4 million. The expansion into Soak City is $10 million. So expect to see more than just repainting and renaming attractions. I'd hope to say that most every building in the water park will be getting upgrades of some kind.