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I play Wayne Deer in The Plight Before Christmas (pictured below in the engineer outfit thanks to Magenta Lizard). Thanks! It's a fun show and I'm extremely proud to be involved in WinterFest in such a way. I love it when the audiences get involved, and there are so many spots in our show for them to do so! In the immortal words of my college band director, Dr. Jack Liles, "Where the hell are all the tubas?" But seriously, even without a tuba, Blitzen's Brass Band sounds great. Is it the cactus that's angry, or is it the ornament that is being stuck by the cactus that's angry? "When you live in a place like Dry Gulch *cough* you gotta make due," and I'm sure the cactus wasn't too happy about being plucked out of the desert only to get just one more ornament than Charlie Brown's Christmas tree...

Only 24 hours to go!!!

Boo! I was involved in the creation of Gate Central. I didn't do any of the coding or anything like that, but I was involved as far as making sure it was user friendly. My manager and I gave a lot of input to the creators of the program as far as what we needed it to do and how we wanted the displays. They would come out with a version, we would play around with it and we would suggest tweaks that we would like to see made. Of course, that was back when Gate Central was only at PKI as a test before it was to be rolled out to the other Paramount parks and visitors from other parks still had to take their season passes to GR to get in, so I wasn't involved in helping resolve the issue that Terpy had at Carowinds (which happened after my original 16 year stretch of tenure at the park). I always loved Gate Central and the possibilities it brought to the Admissions department, so many things that were not possible with the system we had before it, so I still feel a sense of ownership when it comes to that program and am glad to see it still used and rolled out to the Cedar Fair parks when they purchased the chain.

The Great Pumpkin Coaster is on the list of rides to open, so there's that...

This is my 26th season working in the park. Needless to say, I enjoy it. Sure, there are tough days just like any other job but overall I've found it to be a fun environment or else I wouldn't have kept coming back. I've worked in a variety of departments there, in both line and management: 1989: Food Service - Bakery (La Patisserie Francaise on International Street) 1990: Food Service - Rivertown Karts (Frankfurter Factory, Depot Sundae Shop & Thelma's Soft Frozen Lemonade) Winterfest 1990: Food Service - Bakery 1991: Food Service - Rivertown Karts 1992 - 1993: Food Service - Oktoberfest Gardens (formerly Bier Gardens, now Outer Hanks) 1994: Merchandise - Leather Shop (in Rivertown, now the Olde Time Photo shop) 1995: Admissions 1996 - 1998: Admissions & Ecology 1999 - 2004: Admissions 2008: Halloween Haunt - Club Blood (The Bouncer) 2009 - 2017: Halloween Haunt - Slaughterhouse (Sam the Butcher) Winterfest 2017: Entertainment Dept... but not saying where or in what capacity yet! Details to come next month... (I also got to work in Rides for a day on Dodgem & Monster when they needed help on a Math & Science Day sometime during the Paramount years.) I've had fun in all my jobs there and look forward to my new experiences at Winterfest this year!

You must have a great camera... to be able to capture The Flash that clearly and not just him appearing as a streak in the picture is amazing!

Walking by those lights in the dark on Friday night, I thought they were Easter eggs and was confused. It took me a minute to realize they were actually Christmas lights.

I completely understand your gripe. I can only speak for the house I work in, but unfortunately with the way the house is set up it's impossible for us in the skeleton key to know when a group is entering from the main line, and vice versa, they can't tell when we're sending a group in from skeleton key. If the scareactors are good, they can get multiple scares in large groups. It's all about resetting quickly. Most houses purposefully have twisty layouts so there is time to get the beginning, middle and end of large groups. I've done it plenty of times myself. Thanks for liking Slaughterhouse! Sam's the one in the skeleton key with the white coat, white butcher hat and red & yellow eyes. He does most of the talking in the Skeleton Key room most of the time, but sometimes he lets his brother Billy take over. Talking so much does take its toll on his voice. Sory i got 2 cut in heer! Thanx 4 lyking slawtrhowse lyk gatr sed. Saterday my voys wuz ruff n krakin. Win that hapns i mayk a jok n say "pubirtie sux!" U myt hav bin in 1 ov thos groops wear i mayd that jok. - Sam Sorry about that. Sam got loose for a minute. I thought I had him safely locked away until Friday but when he senses that he's being discussed, he gets active. Also, thanks for your concern about our safety. Unfortunately it does happen from time to time. I've been hit a few times myself in my 10 years working Haunt. Sometimes it's a guest's fight or flight response kicking in, you can tell when it's that and that's no problem. But it's those that purposefully hit that are the problem, and luckily Security & management takes that very seriously!

We do whenever we can. If we're busy it's hard, but if it's a slower night and we get someone's name that's coming through and scared, you better believe we communicate it through the house as best as we can!

When I worked Food at KI '89 - '93, including Winterfest in 1990, we had hot chocolate machines that had a hot water line directly into them. All you had to do was push the button and it mixes the hot water and chocolate powder, similar to the hot chocolate/cappuccino machines you can find in gas stations. No waiting for batches of water to heat up. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a similar setup this time around.

I wonder... Is Chick-Fil-A open until the end of Haunt Saturday nights? If so, that means they're technically open on Sunday since the park closes at 1:00 am Sunday morning, which is goes against their company policy of not being open on Sundays. Sorry, random thoughts going through my head...

Really looking forward to Winterfest this year. I really hope Tinker's Toy Factory is a reworking of Santa's Toy Factory. That was my favorite show that KI ever did. I'll be a little busy that time of year (I can't say why yet...) so I hope I'm able to see Tinker's and all the other entertainment offerings; it looks like a great line-up!

There is no CornStalkers anymore, unless you mean Field of Screams which is similarly themed.

My group went all three days this past weekend and we decided to skip out on Deprivation based on what chugh43 told us about it. That was the only haunt we didn't do at all. Walking through the dark does nothing for me; I walk through my house in the dark all the time so Blackout and Deprivation don't get to me, but I know it does affect many others so they're good for those people. We did several multiple times, the most visited was Sam's northern brethren at Slaughterhouse three times, followed by Eerie Estate, Fearground Freakshow, Manical Mechanical Screamworks and Zombie High School twice each, and Blood on the Bayou, CornStalkers, Cut Throat Cove, Harvest Fear, Hexed and Tombstone Terror-tory once each. During the day they have Hexed open in a kid-friendly mode. Since we had a 10 year old in our group that isn't too fond of haunts, we did this with her and it was very well done. They give the kids a flashlight and they have to solve riddles in each room by looking for a specific item or completing a puzzle. The associates in there have witch hats and capes on, but no makeup so as not to scare the kids; the environment itself is spooky enough.

Love these comments! It's definitely more fun for me to stay in character at Haunt! Although Sam's even been known to come out outside of Haunt every once in a while too... I'm looking forward to having my alter-ego take over soon!

Yes, they always assign specific houses. Your friends that worked there before in the Carnevil/Freak Street area would have been assigned to either Carnevil or Freak Street. It definitely helps to have the same actors in the same attractions not only so that they know the house, the storyline, what type of scares work there, but also for safety factors such as location of the nearest fire extinguisher, emergency exits and procedures, etc.

Wel thank u butt it aynt my playce qwyt yet. Mama stil runs the playce butt if sumthin wer 2 hapin 2 Mama hoo nos... -Sam

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! According to the email just released by Midnight Syndicate, they will be back at Halloweekends this year! It was a great show in 2014, and they'll be taking over the Jack Aldrich Theater this fall. MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE LIVE! RETURNS TO Cedar Point FOR HALLOWEEKENDS 2017 We are thrilled to announce that Midnight Syndicate Live! will be returning to Cedar Point's HalloWeekends this fall! We've got a new show in a new theater that we can't wait to share with you. Stay tuned for show updates, production photos, as well as a few more surprises we have in the works for you this year! CLEVELAND, Ohio, March 15, 2017 – Halloween and horror music legends Midnight Syndicate will bring their critically-acclaimed concert experience, Midnight Syndicate Live!, back to the world famous amusement park, Cedar Point this fall. The horror-themed multimedia concerts blending live music, theatre, and film will run Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays from September 15 through October 29 in the Jack Aldrich Theater at Cedar Point's 21st annual HalloWeekends event. “We’ve developed a new, even better show that we can’t wait to unleash on audiences,” said Midnight Syndicate’s Edward Douglas. “Our new venue, the Jack Aldrich Theater, is a perfect fit for what we want to do. It will allow us to create an intimate and thrilling experience that guests won’t soon forget.” “Working with Cedar Point in 2014 was a great experience across the board, so to be able to team up with them again, especially as a part of Midnight Syndicate’s 20th anniversary celebration, is perfect,” added Gavin Goszka. “We’re excited that Midnight Syndicate is bringing their live and immersive stage show back to Cedar Point this fall,” said Charles Bradshaw, V.P. of Live Entertainment at Cedar Point. “Fans of their mesmerizing music loved their previous run at HalloWeekends – and they’re going to love this latest production.” For the new show, Midnight Syndicate will once again be calling upon special effects legend Robert Kurtzman (From Dusk Till Dawn, KNB EFX) and his Creature Corps, David “House” Greathouse (Faceoff, Mushroomhead), Beki Ingram (Faceoff), director Gary Jones (Army of Darkness, Axe Giant), 529 Films, EFX-TEK, artist Mark Rakocy, and Screamline Studios.

Since Sam's gone back into hibernation, I say "Thanx!" (that's how he would have spelled it) on his behalf.

Wel dun? I kant beleev how many peepl tel me that eech nyt! U looz all tha flayvr doin it that way! Rares tha onlee way 2 go! -Sam

Thank you! It was fun working in there back then. We had a good crew. -Gator aka The Bouncer, Club Blood 2008 (it's second year)

Sam got a great compliment from a guest on Kings Island's Facebook page! "Just wanted to send a huge thank you to the Kings Island Halloween Haunt staff at The Slaughterhouse. A few weeks a dear friend of mine and her daughter came to the Haunt. It was her daughter's first time coming to the Haunt. She did a majority of the houses we went to. However, upon going into the skeleton key for room for Slaughterhouse, she changed her mind about going through. Sam was very nice about it, and let us exit. Thanks so very much for your thoughtfulness Sam. Haunt is my favorite Halloween event in the Tri-State, and I absoutly love Kings Island. I have gained even more respect for Kings Island from the time at Slaughterhouse. I honestly can not thank you enough Kings Island Haunt staff, I'm a permanent customer when it comes to Kings Island!"

^Slaughterhouse is good for a first timer? Not if we're doing our job right...

Yes, they do.

Thanks for the video. It's nice for those of us who aren't able to see the park (or other sections of it in my case) during Haunt.