RingMaster

Let's hope the level of talent matches the level of scenic design seen on the Ghouls Gone Wild stage. .....show? There's a show for Urgent Scare? And it'll be 20 minutes long?

The only way I can see them doing the whole "close then reopen the park" bit is if they only have a certain chunk of the park open during the daytime - namely Nick Universe and International Street. From 11am to 5pm is Nick or Treat (or whatever they plan on calling it this year ) that would encompass International Street, Nickelodeon Universe (and possibly the Picnic Grove ), and Rivertown up to the train station for the Pumpkin Patch Express. Then, from 5 to 6 is when the kids' attractions start closing down, they herd everyone out of the park, and begin the preparations for the....nightly...portion of the event. 7pm is where the other areas of the park (Action Zone, Coney Mall, the other half of Rivertown) open up and the monsters begin to pour out. And thus, the Haunt begins.

They don't normally acknowledge the zones that encompass themed areas of the park (Action Zone, Coney Mall, Rivertown), only the fear zones are said for some reason (worksite, cornstalkers, cemetary drive, etc). Of course, 2005 marked the debut of the official 2nd scare zone alongside Coney Maul, The Curse of Sleepy Hollow in Rivertown. Oh, and that walkway that goes right behind Congo Falls and beside Drop Zone's queue line is where CornStalkers will be. It's the same path that is used for outside vendors to sell concert merchandise during TimberWolf. ....so up until last year, had every one of the mazes been designed by a higher power (i.e.: Paramount Design) and not the individual Entertainment Department themselves? And this and last year mark mazes made by our own Ent. teams (ClubBlood and UrgentScare)?

The WasteLand's gonna get even MORE demented now that a collection of scarecrows have made their abode within the confines of Ol' Shantytown (TimberWolf pathway). I think that will be my old home this year again. And the insult house is not returning this year. At least, not in the form of it was last year. It's now like 2006's Heckle and Howl, but more kid-oriented, for the upcoming Howl-O-Fest, and it's set up in the Picnic Grove. Again, I didn't get to take pictures of it, but I will swear up and down that it's there, fully set up and everything.

I did, back in 2005 when they remodeled it to Fear Street Nights and actually made the lighting, sound and scenic appeal worse than when it was the House of Darkness, one of my favorite mazes from 04 (second only to Sleepy Hollow Horror). They made almost everything way too bright and took out almost every bit of creepiness/scariness the house originally had, in favor of a more up kept appearance to help add to the house's story of it being for sale (fat lot of good that did) and also trying to tell the story of Emily at the same time (also fat lot of good that did). Ghouls Gone Wild is, essentially, a Halloween-themed Girls' Night Out, with the country music and singers replaced with undead girls all scantily-clad singing either today's pop music or trying to ripoff 2006's Monster Bash and sing old-school Halloween-themed songs (Monster Mash, Twilight Zone, Devil with the Blue Dress, etc.). Or it could be a mixture of both scantily-clad guys and girls dancing and singing, and perhaps a live band will be playing alongside them. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter, but I'm expecting just girls singing. But I love the comment about Godfather vs Gigli there, Boddah. That made me crack up.

Hauntguy's got a point-the big reason Haunt drives in massive crowds is the fact that it has both coasters AND haunted houses in the same location, something Nightmare Estates and Nightmare at the Beach didn't have and thus went under very quickly. Plus, you're also talking about a bunch of locals who attend the event every year, who know the old mazes inside and out, and who are also clamoring for a newer experience. So it should come as no surprise that crowds had doubled last season due to advertising marketing it as an entirely "new" event, when it technically wasn't (although the advent of an amazing amount of outdoor themeing around the park and more roamers can make the event seem all-new to some). But, of course, Ryan's right about the crowds; we definitely don't need 40,000 people running around the park on a Saturday night. We have enough trouble as it is dealing with 30,000 drunk adults, whiny parents, and obnoxious teens in the dark confines of an amusement park. And Hauntguy and Boddah are both right about the quality of an attraction versus the quantity of the people in line for or attending the attraction. I absolutely hate The Hills show on MTV (along with the channel itself), but every one I know and their mother watches it and can't get enough of Lauren Conrad, Spencer Pratt, and Heidi Montag. Same thing goes with all the other reality shows that have sulked their way into mainstream media. So, again, it should be no surprise to see shows like Flashback: Totally 80's, Girls' Night Out, or the upcoming Ghouls Gone Wild draw in big crowds of people no matter how bad it is. Even though the crowds finally decided to taper off or stop coming in completely towards the end of the main season (which I can see happeneing to GGW once it debuts this Haunt).

You were talking about me right there about the claiming to be in this stuff, weren't you? Thanks for making me wanna work Haunt again because I enjoy it.

Actually, your apprehensions will be allayed. Corn Stalkers will be moved to Action Zone and will be bigger and better than ever. Additionally, the ENTIRE Coney Mall section of the park will be transformed into Coney Maul, a gigantic scare zone with a carnival theme. As Shman said, back in past years, they'd simply have the same attractions every year and rename them. This year they're keeping some of the same attractions and making them bigger and better. I'd take that over the previous. "Additionally, the ENTIRE Coney Mall section of the park will be transformed into Coney Maul, a gigantic scare zone with a carnival theme" They did that last year and ruined that by 1) trying a Freak Show theme in the spot where 06's Holiday Horror was by having Microsoft Word-styled billboards of generic characters that you never even saw on the streets, 2) having scareactors dressed up as brightly colored zoo animals (fish, duck, toad, etc) rather than evil circus clowns that didn't even scare people, and 3) dropping the amount of scareactors from 15 to two, with those same two only walking around and talking, not even interacting with guests. Which is why I volunteered to be moved from the Waste Land (Action Zone) to Coney Maul to actually do my job, which is scaring people. "...they'd simply have the same attractions every year and rename them. This year they're keeping some of the same attractions and making them bigger and better." ....EVERY attraction from LAST year is back THIS year. Massacre Manor, Death Row, Trail of Terror, Red Beard's Revenge, Tombstone Terrortory and Carnevil is back, and I'll believe it when I see it if any of the old mazes have anything new added to them. Which probably means nothing new will be added. The only attraction to even remotely have anything new was Red Beard's, which was originally Cowboy Carnage from 2006, which was also originally Sleepy Hollow Horror/Massacre Manor from 2004/05 (which, by the way, CC was never advertised as a new attraction back in 06, which is sad 'cause it was an AWESOME attraction, as well as the whole 2006 event). 2007 was what you and Shman said as nearly every old attraction was given a rename (Asylum to Death Row, Circus of Horrors to Carnevil, Headless Hollow to Tombstone Terrortory, PsychoPath to Trail of Terror, Scream Street to Cemetary, etc.) to make it sound new. So I'd virtually say every one of the old attractions will be exactly the same as it's been before. And unless the Manor will have a new layout as its facade has been given a new coat of paint which actually makes it LOOK scary rather than its old Fear Street paint scheme: I can almost guarantee the maze will remain the exact same since its inception in 2001. Although this new costume may regain my faith in what Coney Maul and/or Carnevil may have in terms of costuming and scare factor:

Massive photo update from GE Weekend on all the Haunt stuff that's been put up: And then, of course, the best one of the bunch: ^A scary-looking clown that actually scared people walking by, including two associates (one of them my manager). I've also got it on good authority that we'll see Nick or Treat get a facelift and a new name as Howl-O-Fest, and that the Grove could be home to some kid-friendly attractions, including 06's Heckle & Howl show and perhaps a new kids' maze.

Meh, I've seen better. Like this: http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/index.html

^ ...so what's your opinion of the Totally 80's and Girls' Night Out shows at Kings Island this year? Also, 2006's Monster Bash was way better than last year's Dead Awakening in terms of the music being played; at least it had music ABOUT Halloween or centered AROUND a horror/Halloween theme. Not just a bunch of current pop music montaged together and then overlayed with dance routines involving scantily clad men and women....and a bed. ....actually, I take that back, they did have Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" as the show's theme song, and that was a most excellent cover of it as well. However, when Mr. Cooper is met with both Britney Spears AND Fall Out Boy in the same show, then that show automatically takes a nosedive. Of course, they also have a bunch of no-talent, emo bands playing alongside Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson in Action Zone (and they only play one Zombie/Manson song in-betwixt seven or eight 'other' songs), so, um, yeah, they TOTALLY have the "play music that goes along with the event/show" part down pat.

You have to view the major demographic that comes to the park once the Haunt rolls around...aside from the parents that believe their underage children (under 12) will be alright for the nightly 'festivities' only to realize they were so very wrong and decide to take it out on either the monsters or Guest Relations. You know those preteening, adolescenting, wannabe-gangstaing, emo-combovering, bubblegum-blowing, short-short wearing, teeny-bopping nuisances that are at the park every day in those groups of either 6-16 with the obnoxious Valley Girl/Thug Gangsta speak you can't help but wanna slap them for? .....take that and multiply it infinitely to get 35,000 of those little buggers in the same place at once. Add in a couple drunk adults, a few parents with young children, and voila! Now you know why KI does the things it does for the Haunt (like the witch making 'rude' jokes at guests) 'cause a majority of, if not all of, those guests truly deserve it.

Of course, ticket prices at the gate cost more than an arm and a leg (no pun intended), with Fridays being $34.99 and Saturdays being regular park admission at $47.99.

More good news and stuff involving the Haunt: http://www.visitkingsisland.com/special/haunt/index.html ^Main site for this year's Haunt has been updated with the dates, prices, and what rides are open on it as well. Also note that the Maze, Shows, and 'Escape Route' pages will be updated with 2008's details at a later date.

.....you guys need to quit blurting out Haunt information in plain writing like that. Like revealing the details of Diamondback, revealing crucial details of the Haunt can cost one his job working at the park, particularly if you're itching to be a monster but can't cause you let your loose lips sink ships, if you catch my drift. EDIT: Dangit, Dane, you beat me to it.

OMG lulz its anuther ringmaster sighting!!1!!!0 hes hidin in da bak FTW LOL: rite DURR!!! hes rite frigin DURRRRR!!! and hes totall3 lik lookin rite at me lyke, omG!!!! i found the blk waldo!1 er, i meen, the ringmaster rotflmfao!!11!?1 .....I wish I were that popular so 13-year-old kids would post pictures up on forum sites and use horrendously bad grammar and spelling issues to point out they found some no-talent wannabe celebrity at some press conference just so he could gain publicity even though it's not even about him. sigh.... EDIT: Indiana Jones is probably turning in his grave at the hearing of this GINORMOUS monster snake creature.

Makes sense in the fact that it's a gigantic Beemer coaster vs. a Halloween event being publicized. EDIT: Now that you mention it: ^That guy from the Screamscape site got a 'prize' from the folks at HHN last year. And I believe he also received a bolt from the Kings Island PR staff this year.

...so you're saying this: is better than this?: http://websites.horrornights.be/2007site/o.../carnirama.html And, really, go and actually LOOK through Uni's site for this year's Horror Nights, then come back and tell me that's not creative and/or imaginative. Don't just sit there at one page and form an opinion from just one page.

Actually, Universal's got everyone beat for the past several years: http://websites.horrornights.be/2004site/index.php HHN 14 http://websites.horrornights.be/2005site/index.php HHN 15 - Tales of Terror http://websites.horrornights.be/2006site_Before/orlando/ and http://websites.horrornights.be/2006site_After/orlando/ HHN's Sweet 16(The Behind the Screams sections of the 'Before' site has been 'rearranged' in the 'After' site) http://websites.horrornights.be/2007site/orlando/index.html HHN 17 - Carnival of Carnage and of course, this year's Halloween Horror Nights: http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/index.html So, um, yeah KI's press release for the 2009 coaster is a great start to having more interactive (and interesting) press release information, and I hope that, in future years, they'll be up to the same caliber that Uni is famous for.

Taken from Screamscape:

Everything's coming back this year, except for that Torture Chamber show. Just so ya know.

^ Well, the coaster is bound to make people squeal like a little piggy.... ....although it's for a completely different reason than what the movie offered, I'm (hopefully) assuming.

Well, here's the thing - BackTrack's splashdown effect was actually a series of water jets hidden in the water that sprayed outwards when the cars flew by to simulate a 'three-point landing' into an aqueduct thanks to sensors on the track. If our new Beemer is getting the same treatment that Sheikra and Griffon received, then the 09 coaster's splashdown will be au natural, thanks to scoops under the train that, when contact is made with Swan Lake (what's left of it, anyway), will allow a nice splashtastic effect that will be simply awesome to watch from the midway.

Inform me when you enter the same club I'm in so I can make sure to leave when those ten minutes are up.

That wouldn't necessarily mean that all of the Paramount Parks would have their Nick-themed areas redone to Peanuts in the exact same year. Remember that Carowinds was the first to start their redesign of their Hanna-Barbera kids area to Nickelodeon in 2005, with KI to do the same the following year. If this were true, then it would be the same thing that Paramount did; next year, one of the former Paramount Parks gets their Nick area rethemed to the Peanuts Gang, then it would go in rotation every year after 2009.