RingMaster

Too bad there's not an option to redo the entire Haunt event to bring it to the same caliber seen at its sister park in California (less "blood, terror and gore" marketing gimmicks and more attention to the mazes and atmosphere) or even local rivals such as Land of Illusion (whose Haunted Trail and Haunted Estate mazes beat Trail of Terror and Massacre Manor by a landslide).

^ And actually fares much better in its current spot than in the Festhaus. During the years it was in the Haus, the bright lights took away from the experience, particularly on nights when there was football being played on the televisions. Always conflicts there were over who was louder - the screaming of girls from the sight of evil clowns, or the screaming of guys from the sight of their team losing.

And here I thought Diamondback would've put an end to any and all complaining. Guess we need an Intamin coaster to actually do the trick.

PAINTING GUY - Are you ready kids? KIDS - Aye, aye, captain! PAINTING GUY - I can't hear you! KIDS - AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN! PAINTING GUY - Good! In you go! MR. KRABS - SpongeBob, me boy, it's time to give them a crash course in Krabby Patty making! SPONGEBOB - Welcome, trainee! The foundation of the Krabby Patty is as follows: bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, sauce, and secret recipe patty... MR. KRABS - Trademarked by Mr. Krabs! SPONGEBOB - But, like anything in life, it's not complete without a pickle. Hey, the last one! Come on, little fella, fulfill your destiny. (random gobbledygoop) (chases pickle) CUSTOMER - Hey, what's taking so long? SQUIDWARD - Oh, believe me, it's worth it. SPONGEBOB - Come back! Fulfill your destiny! Patrick, stop that pickle! Weird, I didn't even know Patrick owned a pogo stick. CUSTOMER - Hey, is that my patty? SPONGEBOB - Not yet, it isn't. For you see, this patty is incomplete! Come on, new guy, we've gotta get that pickle...FOR THE CUSTOMER!!! (blows up bubble bike) Get on! In the history of the Krusty Krab, we have never served an incomplete patty, and we're not gonna! Not on MY watch. (rides through town) Now, let's see, If I'm gonna catch Patrick, I must first think like Patrick. Duh, look, hole! (wreaks havoc upon town, then runs into Jellyfish Fields sign) Doh! Look, jellyfish! Trying to say hi! Aren't they pretty? You know, if you're gentle, you can pet them. (gets stung) Look, it's Patrick! Hey, Patrick, I need that pickle to complete the patty! Hey, that looks like the back of the Rock Bottom sign. ROCK BOTTOM?!!?!?!?! Neptune on a needle! This is gonna get a little vertical! (one long scream) You okay, new guy? Well, at least the bubble bike made it. GAH! Hey! Let go! CUSTOMER - Hey, is that my patty? SPONGEBOB - Not yet. No, don't...pop...the bubble bik- (another long scream) By the way, you're doing great for your first day (yet another long scream) Hey, look, there's Patrick! He's going into the Chum Bucket! PATRICK - Hey, SpongeBob! SPONGEBOB - Patrick.... PATRICK - What are you doing here? SPONGEBOB - Why did you steal my pickle? PATRICK - Pickle? Wasn't me. (sees Patrick) It's me! (more screaming) SPONGEBOB - Am I seeing double? What's going on here?! PLANKTON - Isn't it obvious? SPONGEBOB - Plankton! PLANKTON - That's right, Plankton! My robotic Patrick has lured you and that delicious patty right into my fiendish hands. Now hand it over! SPONGEBOB - Never! You can't make me! PLANKTON - Maybe I can't, but the Pat-Bot 3000 can! BEHOLD! A hydraulic metal arm to crush your bones. A titanium-tipped ripping saw to cut your flesh! And A PADDLEBALL!!!! Made from rubber and wood. Ahem, and a staple. Anyway, get him! (incessant screaming and chasing ensues. Pat-Bot gets unplugged) PATRICK - Oh, sorry. Can I use this outlet? PLANKTON - Well, at least I still have the pickle! (gets flattened) Well, this stinks. SPONGEBOB - Come on, little fella. That's right. COMPLETE!! CUSTOMER - Hey, is that my patty? SPONGEBOB - Yessir! CUSTOMER - Uh, I asked for NO pickles. SPONGEBOB - No pickles, hahaha. CUSTOMER - No, you don't understand...(blows up)...I'm allergic to pickles. SPONGEBOB - Well, that was pickle-culiar. (annoying spongy laugh) END. ......yeah, I think it's time for a new show inside the Action Theater.

Not to mention the discolored flags from Coney MAUL are still on the Subway building in the TwitPic. Also, now that I think about it, I think the old Magnum Energy Drink sign is still on the Action Theater rotating sign from 2008. Maybe they ought to bring the whole "energy drink is the cause of small-town viral outbreak" theme back to make fun of the recent backlash against Four Loko.

You would be right on CarnEVIL being a "year-round" haunt inside the ol' Enchanted Theater (alongside Urgent Scare in Action Theater and, I believe, Club Blood in Warehouse Alpha). Although, if they removed the stage, they would have a lot more room inside to add on to that particular haunt. The only thing is that portions of it are still used for costume storage for a few of the Peanuts characters (and I fondly recall seeing the original Hanna-Barbera costumes in there as well a few years back).

Considering how much forested land Kings Island owns, I'm surprised they don't transplant trees, although I would expect said process to be a pretty expensive and lengthy process, what with finding mature trees and figuring out how long its roots extend, or something of that nature...

I know, if they hadn't, what would we be complaining about following the announcement that construction on the new ride was starting. The lack of a construction webcam so as we could watch their every move 24/7 as if we had no social lives outside of the time we spend on our computers just like we did with Diamondback? Oh, wait....

There's ways around building indoor haunts outdoors. Don't forget, Cut-Throat Cove originally started out as Sleepy Hollow Horror back in 2004 underneath a giant white tent next to the Showplace stage. Sometimes black tarp or mesh is placed over certain portions of an attraction, although usually this is done to distinguish an indoor from an outdoor scene in the maze (ie: a kitchen scene leading to a backyard scene). So I'd venture to say that it's possible to house indoor haunts in the Bay by way of big white tents. It's just the question of where in the water park could one fit a maze the size of, say, Slaughterhouse or even one as massive as Urgent Scare (which equates to around roughly 3000+ square feet, which is massive in haunted house terms; the average haunt only reaches 2000 or so).

Makes you wonder if the company will want to push Mr. Kinzel's retirement plans up a few months early, what with the constant number of Q's these days: They can't say when the company will get a new CEO, but they were quick to list the names of Kinzel's new "secretaries", so to speak: http://www.sanduskyr...fair110210tjxml ....I've been told to mind my P's and Q's before in the past, but this current situation with the Board leaves me with next to no A's to my very own Q's. Maybe I'll just catch some Z's and wait til this all blows over. EDIT: Font issue fixed.

I know that's where the old King Cobra, Son of Beast, and Flight of Fear cars used to reside, and that's usually where a lot of outdoor Haunt props (particularly the ones from the former worksite that now reside within Urgent Scare) are stored. I also remember an old Paramount tram vehicle and a few pieces of track from Scooby's Ghoster Coaster were back there. The surrounding "countryside" of Kings Island where Lion Country Safari used to be at would make for a very neat haunted hayride for the park, if you ask me...

In all honesty, I believe the surge of guests at the park during the Haunt was also because of the weather and not just due to the Half-Pint Brawlers. I say that because parks all across the country saw a pretty massive increase in attendance thanks to the nicer weather. Yes, there were several shows that were standing-room only for HPB. Yes, the show was immensely popular. But the nice weather was also a contributing factor.

Didn't think they would start charging so late in the run. Figured they would've done that from the very beginning. Do they force people to wear them in order to go through the maze, kinda like how they force people to get their picture taken at the end of Urgent Scare?

Well, there was some potential in the form of Wolf Pack this year. Too bad the maze got shunned to promote the Half-Pint Brawlers. And they technically didn't even create the maze themselves, as the sets and most of the props are from Knott's Berry Farm. And the monsters were more in line with what Twilight deems werewolves should look like save for two.

Less of Paramount and more of just people in general that actually know how to scare and what actually scares people. A few years ago there were tons of actors that knew the ins and outs and knew what got under peoples' skins to get them scared like no other. This Haunt season, however, is an absolute joke with the lack of monsters in the attractions and the lack of enthusiasm from the majority of said monsters to warrant going through the mazes. Save for a small batch of monsters/mazes, I was severely let down with this year's event, and even more upset at the fact that the majority of time and energy went towards getting the Half-Pint Brawlers to come to KI (the commercials have been redone, removing the simple mention of Wolf Pack's name and focusing solely on HPB). Maybe we ought to actually go back further than Paramount, and give the event back to WEBN, like the first three years of FearFest. ...oh wait, I forgot, we can't mention FearFest here; everything up until 2007 didn't exist according to the park.

Speaking of Q.... http://www.sanduskyr...an-more-rewards Cedar Fair - (10/18/10) From the sound of this article Cedar Fair's new overlords, Q Funding, just kicked Dick Kinzel where it hurts… his power base. The chain's biggest investor is asking for some big changes, starting at the top, as they feel that the roles of Chairman of the Board and CEO need to be separated… which would leave the soon to depart Kinzel with only one finger in the pie. Even worse however, they are asking that for a new Chairman who would be an independent person who has never served as an officer in any form for Cedar Fair. In other words, it sounds like they want another over-paid exec on the payrole who is completely ignorant of not only Cedar Fair company culture, but possibly of the theme park industry entirely. Oh… and they want a bigger increase is cash distributions as well in addition to putting a new very high-dollar person on the company payroll. Funny, I don't think it was very long ago that Cedar Fair reinstated cash distributions in the first place after putting them on hold a couple of years ago when the economy started to sour. Plus Cedar Fair still has a huge debt issue to pay down, so much like a tick on a dog, it sounds like Q Funding may just be trying to load their pockets while they can before setting sail for greener pastures. I think this whole situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better…

That's just sad when the line for a haunted house in the station of an SBNO coaster is longer than the line for the SBNO coaster itself. As many times as I've ridden Sonny (I started riding in '04), I've never waited more than an hour and not been in more than one switchback. .....I wonder how much it would cost to buy back Lesourdsville Lake from the Couch....

Or Dr. Psycho's Haunted Estate at Land of Illusion up in MIddletown. In fact, after traveling to three different haunts in the area (SCREAMPARK in Lexington, Dead Acres in Columbus, and LoI), I see how "bare-bones" our Haunt is, no pun intended. After ten years (or only four, going by KI's Twitter because of the name change), only four attractions have received a technical upgrade or overhaul - Massacre Manor, cornSTALKERS, CarnEVIL, and Cutthroat Cove. MM underwent a cosmetic rehaul in '05 and added in the dual storyline with Emily and the Realtor, cornSTALKERS was moved to Timberwolf from its prior Swan Lake location in 2008, CarnEVIL was moved from the Festhaus to the old Enchanted Theater in '06, and Cutthroat Cove is the most rehauled attraction of the bunch, with three separate themes and three different locations (Swan Lake in '04 to RVT Mining Company in '06 to Bubba Gump's in '09). Although in some cases (and faeriewench can tell you the same thing with Knott's), most theme park haunts typically keep the same houses around for several years before finally retiring them, yet a majority of them at least add new things to them or redesign said attractions to keep them somewhat fresh. Which, save for 2007 and throwing blood on every wall, I have yet to see Kings Island do, and I don't see them doing next year.

I disagree with this. I have said this so many times until I am blue in the face but Cedar Point has tons of other things other than coasters/thrill rides. There are not one, not two but three great children's areas. ( King Arthur's Court, Planet Snoopy, Camp Snoopy), not one but two antique car rides, the wonderful Cedar Downs ride,three great water rides, a great train, a giant ferris wheel, great shows, etc. When's the last time you heard an average park guest describe Cedar Point and give the things you just listed as examples?

If I'm not mistaken, there was an incident involving a gun at a Pretty Ricky concert a couple years back. I know there was a pretty bad riot that occurred during the concert, but I'm not exactly sure if a shooting took place.

Except those are just boundary lines detailing a particular work area in your department, not the actual boundary lines the park uses for their themed areas. If anything, that would mean Adventure Express is a part of Action Zone, and Viking Fury is on International Street like Boo Boo's Blasters are.

Actually, you have that backwards about street monsters. There were actually LESS monsters on the streets in the Paramount years than there are now (or at least, up until this year). The only monsters that were outside were the sliders and mostly stayed in Coney Mall. You probably thought there were a lot if you counted the "fear zones" from 2006.

We already have annoying Twilight teeny-boppers running around the park thanks to Wolf Pack and their arsenal of shirtless dalmatians. Although considering the clientele of young women that come to the park on any normal day, Miley Cyrus in her "current" state would either blend in with the crowd or even take a step back in shock herself.

^ Technically, neither did the Undertaker in previous years (unless you count Cemetery Drive as the unofficial "icon house"). I'm at least hoping for three brand new houses in place of Massacre Manor, CarnEVIL, and Death Row next year, as they turn 10 in 2011. Although, considering what faeriewench mentioned earlier about their Twitter saying it was their 4th season of Haunt, I'd venture to say we'll be seeing these same attractions unchanged for the next six years.

I would be fine with the idea of unification just because it's cheaper or another event is tamer if Carowinds followed suit. Instead, they have (somewhat) separate marketing systems and are even celebrating its 10th anniversary with a big X in their logo, yet they have the same amount of "blood, terror, and gore" that KI and the other Haunts have: http://www.scarowinds.com Even their site is completely different from the other Haunt sites. If I'm not mistaken, this marks the tenth anniversary of our Haunt as well, yet I see no X in our logo. Nor do I see any banners or announcements saying that they've been here ten years running. Either give each of the parks in the chain their own identity (like Busch Gardens) or completely unify them to where they all have the exact same lineup of attractions with minor changes (like Disney). I find it a bit insulting to not see an anniversary for our Haunt yet see one at another (to which said park is also run by the son of the CEO of Cedar Fair). But, then again (like I mentioned in another thread a while back), this is the same park that essentially shunned the park's 35th and The Beast's 30th anniversaries to promote Firehawk and Diamondback.