RingMaster

Glad to see Tombstone Terror-tory back again...for the 8th year in a row (or 10th, depending on if you count FearFest; the park surely doesn't).

Assuming they still have one side of their Action Theater up and running (I've never been to Carowinds), PvZ could be a motion simulator film, much like how we used to have Fun House Express in our Theater back in the day before Urgent Scare.

Much like Afterburn and Scarowinds under Kinzel Jr., I assume they were able to stray from homogenizing the water park moniker because of Fehnel's input.

Theme: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness. Story: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness. Setting: You're dropped into a pitch black environment, and there are monsters that can see you in the darkness. Meanwhile, Knott's Berry Farm has a maze debuting this year with nods to both Disney's Frozen and HBO's Game of Thrones called Dead of Winter, and another tapping off the success of Ghost Hunters and the Paranormal Activity franchise called Paranormal Inc. They even have roaming scareactors based off the the Seven Deadly Sins. I wonder if they'll tout Hot Blooded (assuming it returns this year) as a "new" show like they did last year with Ghouls Gone Wild...

And that last part, killed it for me . I have a very difficult/nearly impossible time in "regular" Haunts that contain scareactors, handling them in that type of environment would be impossible. I was genuinely hoping for the type of experience I described. One haunt that I attended (I think at Universal Orlando....cant be sure, I've been to many) several years ago provided the leader in the group with a flashlight....however it was rigged to work for a while then it would shut off at strategic points to allow the group to experience total darkness. The groups were small but the effect was totally awesome....because when the darkness occurred the monsters came out and their faces were slightly illuminated by glowing paint. Plus it was always the leader that got the scare...so the most afraid individual in the group moved to the front to hold the "security flashlight" that turned out to be their undoing....LOL I remember that. 2005 was a maze called Cemetery Mines in the building for Poseidon's Fury, and then 2006 was People Under The Stairs: Under Construction, in one of the tent buildings behind Men In Black. It was a cool concept, but the problem was that with the constant line of people going through the house, the flashlights were given to one out of every 20 or so people. So folks right in the middle were kind of screwed out of that experience. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

The post is very vague on the exact specifications, but it should be assumed that it will be a carbon copy of Hollywood's Supercharged "attraction". Hopefully Florida's version will be a hybrid of screens and practical effects in the main ride portion, like what the upcoming Skull Island attraction is rumored to be.

It's a fairly small building to begin with, and Club Blood only took roughly four minutes to get through. I'd almost assume they might use CB's layout and wall structure and just remove all the props to be a super cost-saver.

If it's trending on Facebook... ...then you know it must be a big deal. (POSTER'S NOTE: Facebook users that want to check this out will notice several "trending" items omitted from this screengrab because this is, indeed, a family-oriented site, and ain't nobody need to see stuff like dat.)

Ah yes, The Abyss. I remember that attraction. It was a decent maze that really was pitch black (and this was also inside a warehouse that held two other mazes next to each other, Castle of Fear and Insanity), and most of the scares were sound-based. Occasionally there was an air cannon blast and there was even a claustrophobia tunnel at the end. Given the amount of time it took to get through it, however, I would imagine KI would pulse the line harder than normal, and it *might* justify the need for an upcharge to keep bottlenecking to a minimum.

Darn. And there went the potential sponsorship by Ram pickup trucks. Oh well. Maybe a sponsorship deal can be made with Avenger sedans instead. - Me, who actually drives a Focus.

I would suspect with the great popularity of Haunt for Kings Island, having fewer, better mazes would result in 2 hour maze lines on even Fridays.. And who can even imagine the result on the Saturdays that already produce such great lines. The guests love to go into multiple types of mazes, it seems and having a lot of options is good. I don't mean to sound like I'm excusing the park for not always having mazes up to par with whatever other maze you might have in your mind, but It's a more complex art to get the subjectively "perfect" Halloween Haunt experience. That is all I am trying to convey. (And it is all merely postulation) In its current state, lines have pushed toward the 2-hour mark even on a Friday on the more popular mazes. It's more of an issue on whether or not I'd want to wait 2 hours for KI's Tombstone (I don't) or 2 hours for KBF's Gunslinger's Grave (I do). Here's the thing: I don't have a season pass. Of any kind. Haven't had one since 2009. I'm looking at Haunt from the perspective of a person paying $35 a ticket for an amusement park event that I've attendant since 2004 (as both monster and victim). I can only afford to go maybe a total of two times during the season because I'm a Spook Enthusiast, and there are a lot more attractions in the area to partake in. As I've said plenty of times before, it would be impossible for them to go the route of Universal and have all-new mazes built ever year. But, as plenty of other people have pointed out here, there are some big issues that never seem to be fixed, and those are things that have been harped on for short of a decade now. So I don't feel completely justified in shelling out over $30 for an event with the majority of its attractions neglected and disheveled. Especially now that other parks in the chain have picked up on Knott's recent trend of rehabbing older mazes with new scenes and effects (Dominion and Carowinds, respectively), and the Land of Illusion (a multi-maze park near Middletown) does the same with mazes three times the size of KI's for the exact same price.

Too bad that doesn't apply to mazes at a Haunt stranded on an Island. The difference is that Disney and even Universal continuously add new technologies and scenes to some of their longer-standing shows (Fantasmic!, Illuminations, World of Color, 360 Spectacular, Graveyard Revue, Waterworld, etc.) to keep them relatively fresh to newer audiences. Disney and Universal also don't stick to just contemporary music revue shows as their only means of non ride-able entertainment (Cirque Imagine and Skeleton Crew notwithstanding).

Given the recent announcement of Toy Story Land @ DHS, I'm inclined to believe you with the southern portion of the park, from MuppetVision all the way down to the former Catastrophe Canyon (which literally sits behind Lights, Motors, Action!), being for SWL, and the former Animation Courtyard, from the Little Mermaid show also all the way down to LMA, being for TSL (using up most of the space previously used by the tram tour). Here's a shot of the concept render:

Looking at the overhead of Disneyland, I can already see Autopia and Finding Nemo going bye-bye for Star Wars Land. That seems like a sizable patch to hold 14 acres worth of nerf herding, even though their Star Tours sits on the opposite end near the main entrance to Tomorrowland. Now DHS, on the other hand, that's a different story. The obvious choice is to place it with Star Tours, but which way would you expand? North to encompass the Indiana Jones stunt show? Or south to replace the entirety of New York Street and attractions such as MuppetVision 3D and the Babe, I Dun Tiny Tots'd Our Tater Tots playground? That still isn't considering the long-rumored overhaul of the Studios into a whole new horse of a different color.

Too many mazes and too few bodies to stuff into (no pun intended). The biggest issue that all haunted attractions in general have is staffing; Haunt season falls right into the beginning of both high school football and Homecoming dances, and almost three-quarters of the talent that Kings Island specifically hires are minors/high school kids (most standalone haunts try to circumvent this by strictly hiring 18+). Retention rates are also low as the season goes on once workers realize the physical, mental, and emotional strains that come with the not-so-simple task of scaring paying customers.

Undocumented and without injury, serious or no? One every year. But that's putting every other coaster and ride at the Point into the (very hypothetical and not fact-based) equation.

If it made them money, then it will surely stay, no matter if it was good or bad. They may or may not improve or fix any issues with the rooms (most likely not given the condition of the older mazes), but it's a given that they will return this season.

^ Except those are some of the people who purchase single-day tickets and actually spend money in the park on food and souvenirs. As opposed to locals and enthusiasts with season passes who only spend a couple of hours marathoning attractions and leave the park to go eat elsewhere. Sure, they aren't there everyday as they only come once in a blue moon, but when they do show up, you'd best believe they have the funds available to get the best experience they possibly can.

They care enough to ask if the Antique Cars and the Monorail are still at the park, so the nostalgia factor is there...

Also the very short-lived Heckle and Howl "attraction" that had customers being thrown insults by an actor while waiting in line for Trail of Terror. The year prior, it was a direct offshoot of Winterfest's Scrooge Haus and was much more family-friendly. Cedar Fair saw fit to inject more vulgar insults and derogatory remarks towards peoples' sexual orientation and history. They also saw fit to have a group of monsters dressed as (and told to act like) the cast from A Clockwork Orange. I won't bother to personally describe the infamous film on here, but I will say that Google is, indeed, your friend.

Intimidator 305 disagrees with you. Granted, it's five years old now, but in the ten year gap between Millie and Timmy, Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, and Knott's Berry Farm never received a gigacoaster. That says something to have a recently bought park from an entirely different chain receive an attraction that rivals (and in some circles, surpasses) the legendary Millennium Force.

^ That sounds as if they may be trying to recreate one of Knott's former attractions, Delirium: ...also known as one of the weirdest attractions they have ever done (but in a good, and very horrific way). It wouldn't be the first time the Island has attempted to "recreate" a Farm haunt (Red Beard's Revenge), but I'm (slightly) hopeful that Blackout will be something truly amazing like Fatale's or Kill Mart. Or they could simply be resurrecting Mysteria and just turning all the lights off.

Have you ever worked in a haunted house or for a themepark during it's Halloween events? The thing is, amusement park haunts and stand-alone/professional haunts operate completely different from one another and are in different leagues of their own. Not all revenue can be diverted to a park haunt, so they won't have as many (if any) super-detailed scenic elements and high-tech animatronics seen in a standalone that's been featured on the Travel Channel. Also, even in an area like Orlando or Los Angeles, haunts in theme parks still have to operate "normally" during the day so they can't have too many temporary or even excess bloody/gory props that will interfere with daily, non-haunt crowds. Even the crowds themselves are unique; a schoolhouse might rack up 3,500 people on a given Saturday night, while an island haunt can push 35,000. That said, both variants share one major trait that keeps them in business, which is the need to offer something new every year and respond to customer feedback. Standalones generally go by the rule of thirds, essentially changing up at least one-third of their attraction every season, as rebuilding from the ground up year in and year out is a very costly and time-consuming expense (that hasn't stopped people from trying and succeeding at it). They also listen and respond to feedback from their customers and fans (and just like coaster enthusiasts, haunt enthusiasts are a vocal bunch), keeping things that works, and removing things that don't. If you refuse to update and you ignore the people paying you to be scared, they'll go elsewhere for better entertainment.

For what it's worth, even the show the troupe did for Kings Island was a toned-down version of what they do on a regular basis. Mainly because: Most of their racier stuff wouldn't fly with the conservative atmosphere (again, coming from a park that booked these people in the first place), and, They did multiple shows in a single night, often times within an hour apart from each other (so the "brawlers" weren't as fluid with their movements as one would expect). For comparison's sake, I went to a match at Bogart's, and at times, they rivaled that of a Rey Mysterio WWE match the way they were flying around the ring. Of course, they were also shouting obscenities and swears at the audience - to which the audience would rebound right back at them - but they definitely had much more energy because it was a one-night only deal, as opposed to four to five shows a night for multiple weekends. That said, Kings Island was the only park in the chain that received midget wrestlers. Not even Cedar Point nor Knott's nor even Carowinds wanted them (the Point instead opted for Midnight Syndicate, and Knott's is famous for having a show dedicated to making fun of pop culture and repeated jabs at Disneyland operations).

That's one of the scarecrow stands for CornStalkers, I believe. They wouldn't dare try to set up a maze themed to a church, given how conservative Cincinnati is. Of course, this coming from a park who insisted patrons wanted to see midgets bleed and skeletons of recently deceased celebrities displayed as a part of a Purgatory-based game show.