gabelogan99

Thanks for the info. However, I now have more questions than answers.

So for the third conesecutive Friday, I went to Halloween Haunt. It is so strange how all three trips have been so different, and all have been great. This week was better than last week and almost as good as the first week. I'll start by saying it was indeed very chilly last night, but if you were dressed warm you didn't notice it all that much. I was dressed warm but I wasn't dressed like it was winter like my aunt was. So me and my aunt were the ones who went this time. We got there right at 7, as always. (I insist on being there to see the wall of monsters.) So we get there and we start wondering when my cousin and her boyfriend will be there because they were supposed to be there at 7 as well. This gave me a head start as to what to think about doing as far as rides vs. haunts because my cousin is a couple of months pregnant and can't ride any of the rides so we planned on focusin on haunts for the majority of the night. When they didn't show at 7, and it was discovered they wouldn't be there until at least 8, me and my aunt decided to do some rides first. I'll take this time, instead of at the end, to say that the atmosphere of Halloween Haunt was as good as it has been. So after a bathroom break to Festhaus, we went to one of her favorites and mine: Delerium. We waited one rotation and we were on. Now, of course, this one got pretty chilly. Sure, it hadn't been dark for long but the cold air was in the air and was hitting us at over 50 mph, so our faces were a little frozen. But I really liked it. Next, quite simply and logically, we went on Adventure Express. This was quite a cool ride too in both senses of the word. A nice dark, cold ride on one of my favorites. We waited a little extra time for the front seat, but for all intents and purposes, it was a walk-on. Following the logical path, we walked through the midway and to a walk-on ride of Vortex. Again, as always, a great ride. By the time we get off of Vortex, it's not even 8:00 yet. We decide to go on Backlot and there wasn't but about a 5 minute wait for that. So right as the clock was striking 8, we were getting off Backlot. We walked into Rivertown and then made our way to CarnEvil. Before we went into it, however, we got a couple of blueberry ice cream cones. Right about the time that we finish our cones, here comes my cousin and her boyfriend. CarnEvil was right there, they hadn't been in it before, so we figured that would the perfect thing to do. The line for this wasn't long at all. In fact, as we sat there eating our cones, I noticed that the line wasn't gettiing longer, it was actually getting shorter. It was shorter than it was when we first saw the line so we got in the line at a great time. The line was just barely spilling out over the queues. CarnEvil was as good as I remembered it. Great 3-D effects. After that we headed to Dead Awakening, and it was perfect timing too because it was right around 9:30 that we got out of CarnEvil. We sat in the second row. This was the closest I had ever sat. There was a woman in the front row with three small boys, all 5 and under, and a baby. This was odd enough. During the pre-show playing of The Automatic's "Monster", the oldest of the boys, who was wearing wearing some makeup on both of his cheeks, got up and did a dance that was rehearsed and contained provacative moves. So he put on his little show and everyone who saw him applauded at the end of it. It was actually good and entertaining. Then during the actual show itself, he got up from where he was sitting and, during several occasions, mimicked the moves of the dancers on stage. He knew a lot of the dance moves. I thought it was a tad distracting myself, but it wasn't like this was my first time seeing the show. When I saw him do his little dance before the show, I figured that this had to be sponsored or somehow "approved" by the park. But then when he was doing all that he was doing during the actual show, I figured there was absolutely no way that anyone would have approved that because, like I said, it was a distraction to the crowd and I would assume the actors, especially if they didn't know he was going to be there. Everything was just too weird, and I knew there had to be something more going on than what met the eye. The lady he was with, who I have to assume was his mother, must have been somebody. I say this because nobody stopped or said anything to the kid, but there was no usher in front like there usually is. The lady was sittiing right in front of me and all I had to do was ask her, all while being coy about what my angle was, but I chose to just not ask anything. Maybe someone on here knows what all of that is about. Anyways, after the show we headed to Massacre Manor but the line, while certainly not backed up all the way to the bumper cars as I witnessed one time last year, was too long for any of us to stomach. My aunt insisted on checking out the line to Urgent Scare even though I told her it would be as long and probably longer. We did anyways, and, sure enough, it was pretty long. We instead went into the arcade. I usually don't play any games or have any noteworthy experiences while in the arcade but this time both of those things happened. I'm very intrigued by the T.V. show "Deal or No Deal" (can you guess where this is going?). Even though I don't watch it religiously, I always thought it would be cool to be on it. I've even played versions of electronic games of it, but none where you actually won prizes. So, for those of you who don't know, there is a Deal or No Deal game in the arcade in Coney Mall. You can spend one dollar and have the chance of winning a top prize of 200 tickets or you can spend two dollars and have a chance of winning 400 tickets. I went for the big prize and with only two cases left I took a deal of 90 tickets. My case contained 150 tickets, but I couldn't turn down a good offer like that. I'm sure a lot of people just play it through and hope they have chosen a really good case and take it to the end. However, I had to play the odds. Anyways, my cousin and I put our tickets together at the end and got a couple of small thing and I got a really neat dinosaur that cost 150 tickets. (Yes I know. Apparently I'm 6 and I think dinosaurs are cool.) It was so weird that playing that, which I did not really intend on doing, was kind of the highlight of the night just because it was so much fun. And my family was right there cheering me on, just like in the real game. I didn't necessarily always follow their advice. I will say that I wish the top amount was 1000. Even if you do win 400 tickets, there aren't hardly any good prizes that you can get with 400 tickets. But, it was a lot of fun nonetheless. And I figured that 90 tickets is probably a lot higher than the average payout, at least the odds would suggest that. After our little arcade trip, me, my aunt, my cousin, her boyfriend, and my dinosaur went to Club Blood. We went in back of a group of three and my cousin's boyfriend, Bil, was the last one in our chain. Halfway through the maze, one of the vampires yells at Bil and says "Is that Billy Ray Cyrus on your shirt!!?" It indeed was, and I didn't hear this take place but he told me about it because it held him up and he almost lost us. That was one of the funnier things that happened last night. I liked Club Blood but nothing besides what I just mentioned happened that sepparated it from other times I've been in it. There wasn't really a line for it, which really surprised me. The line wasn't even to the tunnel, which it was last week when I went through it. I almost forgot: before going to Club Blood we were walking along, away from the alien exhibit. A mosnter was walking towards the exhibit near the ice cream stand. Two kids came up behind the spook and decided to give him a little tap from behind. The monster took off, turned around, and man was he on a mission. The kids ran but figured it was no use and gave up and were standing in the grass near Days of Thunder, or whatever it's called. I didn't really hear what the monster was saying, but those kids really got schooled I think. After Club Blood we didn't do much of anything else. We may have checked out the lines for the mazes I mentioned above at this time rather than the time I mentioned, but I can't really remember. That was the last thing we did before calling it a night. At one point late in the night, we were walking down the midway when a spook scared the crap out of my aunt and wasn't even trying. The spook was running in the opposite direction we were walking. My aunt thought that it was a regular person running, and when she looked up and saw the person's face it really scared her. Another funny thing was I saw a spook go into the bathroom around F 'n F. Here I thought the bathrooms where a safe zone! Actually, he was there on official "business." I spent a lot of last night thinking that next week was Halloween. It is not. I'm really busy during Halloween weekend with stuff not having much of anything to do with Halloween, so I think a trip to KI is out of the question. Besides, I anticipate what could be a record crowd Halloween night. Next Friday, however, I think that, once again, there is a strong possibility that I might make another trip for even more rides, scares, and deals. (Weather permitting.)

Ah! Yet another victim!

I think she does a really good job with "Toxic". I also liked what they did with they rythms of "Welcome To My Nightmare" and "Waiting For Tonight".

I'm assuming you mean the roamer that scared the girl while I was in line for CornStalkers. I can't really remember what he looked like. It could have been the same "fish monster" that I commented on another topic that I saw near Club Blood later on in the night. Edit: Now, of course, UncleHenry, I believe that this was in fact you. I kept getting the fish monster confused with the vampire bat, even though they apparently never coexisted. Actually, to confuse myself even more, I somehow thought that the vampire bat was the fish monster. I guess in a strange way, that's true, but that's not what I was thinking.

Well, I toyed with the idea of making another Friday trip after my great trip last Friday. This trip wasn't quite as good, just because last week was my frist time this year. But I still had a good time. I did end up going by myslef and my aunt and uncle actually went too, and we met up a couple of times, once purely by accident. I got to the park at 7 so I was right on time and I headed into Action Zone. I decided to ride Invertigo first and then Delerium. There were some hold ups on these rides, especially Delerium, that held me up and started to make me a little antsy. But I pushed through and went on Son of Beast next. I had a good ride in the second car and one of the guys in the front car, I overheard, had apparently lost a contact lens. I think the air hits you in a way you don't anticipate when you're in the front of SoB or any ride for that matter. By the time I got of SoB, it was nearly 9. Keep in mind that I did two haunted houses and a coaster in an hour's time last week. Then I decided to go on Drop Tower. I got a great view of everything, a view I didn't get last year during The Haunt since it wasn't spinning at the time. I loved seeing the dark park encaped with fog. I faced my favorite landmark in the park, the fountains, lit up in all their glory, as we stopped spinning. It was the first time that I actually wished we could've stayed at the top a few seconds longer. So, if you're not afraid of falling, definitely ride Drop Tower during The Haunt for a great view. The other tower isn't open. So all of the rides in AZ had been checked off, now it was time to hit the haunts. Just as I was getting in line for CornStalkers, my aunt and uncle were getting in line for it too. So we did that together and didn't wait but maybe 5 minutes for it. I'll be honest, CornStalkers was a bit of a disappointment. But it really wasn't all that bad. I thought the Scareactors did a good job, except for the people at the end who didn't even try to scare us. (I was already a little wise to their antics from standing in Drop Tower's line.) But there weren't any "dead zones" where you didn't have any creepers--the maze was pretty full of scarecrows. I was kind of expecting scarecrows whose costumes consisted of mostly raw hay. The costumes that they were actually wearing were kinda creepy. I was just glad I didn't wait too long in line for it. Next I sepparated from my aunt and uncle as they went to Invertigo and I went to Club Blood. This was my first time in it since last year. The line was backed up to the tunnel, but it wasn't really that bad at all. They do a good job of keeping that line going. I liked Club Blood, possibly maybe even more than last year. When I encountered the bouncer, I kept on walking and said "Later, Gator." But he didn't hear me. Certainly witnessed some R-rated activities in the club, but it was what I was expecting and I liked it. So a positive experience in Club Blood overall. That's basically it. I could've just said "I did everything in Action Zone" and had been done with the thing, but I wanted to go into some details. I did actually venture down the midway and ride Vortex before going to get a couple slices of pizza from Festhaus. Urgent Scare's line was backed up almost to where they do the fast pitch at the time I walked by it on my way out of 'tex. Good thing I did that last week. After my little snack I caught the 11:00 showing of Dead Awakening. This was my second time seeing it this year and third time overall. I can't get enough of it for some reason. I think one of the good things about it is that it's short and doesn't take too much time to just sit there and watch it. That part appeals to me. So after Dead Awakening I decided I had had enough for one night. Enough of the crowd. Enough of the stupid high school kids. It appeared more crowded than last week, which it probably was but not by a really large margin. I wanted to do more haunts and kept asking myself where I went wrong. For one thing, I could've stayed an hour or so longer and at least done Cemetery after leaving Dead Awakening, but I chose not to. I'm not ruling out yet another Friday trip, but next time will be different. I will hit the haunts as early as I can and squeeze in some rides if I have time. I just didn't have much of a strategy going by myself and did things a little willy nilly. I'll plan it out better next time, alone or not. And of course, I have to comment on the atmosphere, which is typically my favorite aspect. Last night was no exception. Lots of fog in lots of spots, lots of creepers walking around. One roamer got this girl really good while I was in line for CornStalkers. As he walked past me, some guy in front of me held out his had to slap the roamer a high five and the roamer responded, which I thought was cool. I liked that better than the actual maze, perhaps. What's the deal with the junior high kids sucking on the place where the fog comes out of the fog machines? That was a little dumb I thought. But the park's overall atmosphere was really cool. I'm not sure why exactly, but I had never noticed the guy in the electric chair and thought that was awesome. It scared some girls really good too, I noticed, as I was leaving. Overall a good trip. Left me wanting more, which is fine. It's not like I don't have time to squeeze in another trip before the year is out. Lots of props and thanks to the people who work so hard to make The Haunt so special.

I saw that monster near Club Blood last night!

I think the roamers, at least from my experience last Friday, are a great addition to the overall atmosphere of the park, which I have pinned as the single best aspect of the Haunt, but it's important to note that it's a collective aspect. I am actually one of those people that doesn't really want to be scared. It's only because I'm very jumpy and can make some really weird sounds if something really spooks me. I'm always looking over my shoulder and I'm always concerned that some terrible monster is going to get me at the next corner. But I actually like that feeling. I think it's much more of a challenge to the spooks to spook me, and in a moment of weakness on my part, I'm sure one will one day. I think that if I do go by myself this coming up Friday, which so far is the plan, I will be much more of a target. But, I am a guy, and I am a somewhat big guy. So, I've got those two things working for me since the spooks tend to go after smaller females. Of course, if I'm the only one around to spook, I presume that I probably will be. With all if the fog, which is also a part of that collective best aspect of the park, it makes things really hard to see at times--even on International Street. So I always go through the fog with caution. I do like the roamers. I think they all do a great job. They seem to have a large concentration at International Street, but really there is no safe zone anywhere in the park. Walking down the Midway and going through AZ and Rivertown, I saw a roamer every time. (I liked the guy with the shovel! What a prop!) None has yet to get me quite yet, but I'm sure that my time will come--or at least that's what the odds are. My thing is I'm actually a giant 'fraidy cat. I am one of those people, and you've all seen them, that kind of tries to laugh things off to disguise their fear. But it's not like a hysterical laugh, it's more of an uncomfortable laugh that most of the spooks, if trained well, could see right through! Yep, that's me! But I love The Haunt. The spook in the third photo down here: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15119 was the one that I talked about in my Trip Report as spooking my aunt really good, and trying to spook me. I thought it was great because even though she was attacked by a lot of monsters in the front, she never got scared until then. Does anyone know who he is?

Well, here's what scared me the most: Once, maybe twice, I can't remember, you are completely in the dark. I mean, you can't even see your hand in front of your face. I think that's scary enough, but I think it could be better. All you'd need is someone with a flashlight to their face and you've just done the oldest trick in the book. Of course, I know it might not work to have scareactors in a completely dark room because they can't really see what's coming themselves. I'll say one more thing while I'm on this kick--and it employs the same basic concept that I've just described. I think they could easily add things to Adventure Express to make it scary during Haunt hours when it's really dark. Thy could have things light up in the tunnels. Not sure exactly how it would work but I think it could be done.

i have the full list of songs in order from someone who was allowed to record the show one night....here is the list to all of the songs..... Some of the Pre-show Songs: Monster - The Automatic Knights of Cydonia - Muse God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me - Aberdeen City Featured Songs: 01 Welcome to (Our) My Nightmare - Alice Cooper 02 The Bi*ch of Living from the Musical Spring Awakening 03 Ramalama (Bang Bang) - Róisín Murphy 04 Bring Me to Life - Evanescense 05 What I’'ve Done - Linkin Park 06 Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant 07 Rehab - Amy Winehouse 08 I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones 09 Animal I Have Become - Three Days Grace 10 Toxic - Britney Spears 11 Dance with Me - Debelah Morgan 12 Jezabel - Ricky Martin 13 Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John 14 Never Again - Kelly Clarkson 15 Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5 16 Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper 17 Waiting for Tonight - Jennifer Lopez 18 Thanks For The Memories - Fall Out Boy 19 Reprise Welcome to (Our) My Nightmare - Alice Cooper Exit Music The Widow - The Mars Volta i will be saving this as well cause a lot of the songs are still stuck in my head as well lol... Thanks for that list. The one I couldn’'t think of was the Muse song which I knew I had heard before. (Guitar Hero...Duh!) Anyways, I like that one. That’'s the one they play right before the show starts. I like the one they play at the very end of the show too when everything’'s all over--’"The Widow’". I knew and had heard that one before too...live, even. I had forgotten that it was the exit music until I went and saw the show again this year though. It was funny because when I made my Halloween CD mix this year, which I listended to on our way to and from The Haunt, I added a bunch of songs from Dead Awakening. On our way up there, my aunt was like.. what’'s so scary about these songs. She hadn’'t seen the show yet. I told her she’'d see. They make me think of Halloween every time I hear them now.

Waiting for tonight is Jennifer Lopez Add: Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper Thanks for the Memories - Fall Out Boy Never Again - Kelly Clarkson Ramalama (bang Bang) - Roisin Murphy Harder to Breath - Maroon 5 Rehab - Amy Winehouse I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones Also add Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" (the version featuring the guy from 12 Stones). There's a song that comes on right before the show starts and right after The Automatic Automatic's "Monster". (The "warning" comes over the speakers as the song is playing.) It is not played in full. Could anyone tell me the name of that one? There is also a song there that I believe is done better than the original. Can anyone guess which one? (It's not very hard.)

Unfortunately KI Man, I didn't do The Cemetery, although I almost did last year when I went. The only reason I mentioned it is because it's outside and it's not dark outside until 8 so that's why it and what I'm guessing is the vast majority if not all of the scare zones don't even bother opening until 8. However I will say that, especially after reading Karen's review, I will definitely have to do when I go again some upcoming Friday. Sounds like I might get a good scare!

So I haven't done a trip report in a long time because I've felt like my trips, while good, were only just average. (Does that make any sense?) But the time that I had at Halloween Haunt last night was possibly the best time I've ever had at the park. There was just something about it... everything was on... everything was clicking...the atmosphere was to die for (ok pun intended on that one), and, possibly best of all, there weren't very many people there. There are five key points I would like to make and I will bold those and go into detail on them. We left Jamestown (Ohio, exit 58 if you're traveling north on 71, it's where my aunt, who went with me, lives) around 5:30. It's 45 minutes on a good day, and yesterday was a good day. So we got to the park fairly early because I figured they'd open the gates at 6 and start everything at 7...I thought that I had remembered that from last year. Anyways, of course, I was wrong and we waited around a little but it wasn't that bad whatsoever. The sun was starting to set, and it was getting cooler, but it still never got quite as cool as I figured it would. So as the sun was getting ready to go down, we were getting ready to go in. This brings me to... Point #1: The opening song to the haunt was a brilliant pick. Of course, this is the same song from last year that I'm referring to: The Automatic Automatic's (or, as they're known in Europe, The Automatic) song "Monster" has a great opening few seconds with the strange little eerie guitar parts, and, of course, the song has a very catchy chorus. So catchy, in fact, that it could get stuck in your head for the entire night if you're not careful. I don't think I'll make another Halloween Mix ever again without including it. But, the point that I'm making about the song was something that I discovered last year. Point #2: The opening few minutes of the haunt are incredible. Ok, so 7:00 rolls around, the chorus to the song kicks in, and there it is: the wall of monsters. And yes, my first two points come before I even enter the park. I really think that the great song choice combined with all of the great monsters is just such a nice touch and really sets the pace for the rest of the night. So, I had a little bit of a snafu when I was about ready to walk in because I had forgotten, with all of my pockets, what pocket I had placed my pass in. So quite strategically I placed it in the back one but I forgot that when I got up in the line. Thinking I forgot it in the car, I just started walking and, after already doing an initial search that failed, searched again while walking. After I had passed security, I remembered what I had done with it and had to walk through security again but it didn't put a damper on things very badly. I wasn't even going to mention this, however this set up one of the funnier events of the night when my aunt had already had her pass scanned and walked in and was waiting for me. You guessed it: she pretty much got fed to the wolves. "I was attacked by fifty monsters while you were gone," she told me after we met up in Girl Space after our brief separation. I thought it was pretty funny, but she said that nothing really scared her or made her jump. And by the way, not all the monsters that are in the park are up front, but from what I've discovered from last year and this year combined, most of them are. Our strategy was to hit Massacre Manor first since we missed that last year due to the line being backed up all the way to the bumper cars. We pretty much walked right onto it, or into it rather. I really thought this was a great haunt. The people that were in it were all eager to scare and they did a good job with their parts. I have to give major props to them in fact. They were possibly the best I'd ever seen in any of the houses. Our next move was also a strategic one: hit the new haunt before it gets crowded. So we did just that, heading a considerably short distance from Massacre Manor to Action Theater, or Urgent Scare. (Any of you find it weird that what you're walking in is action theater? How do they do that?) This was pretty much a walk on to, I mean there wasn't anybody in line. I got to thinking that this haunt is hidden pretty well, but the die hards know where it is. Or anybody with a map. The people outside of Urgent Scare were all really good. The people inside were equally as good. I loved how, according to the storyline, it is "our" fault that they are all infected. This was a bigger maze than I had anticipated. I had no idea where it ended either, but I loved how it kind of turned into a little bit of an outdoor scare zone after you were actually out of the building. Now this may have been a little better if it was completely dark by then, which it wasn't, but that's hardly anybody's fault. Of course, I understand why things like the Cemetery don't open until 8. Hadn't thought about it before. Point #3: Urgent Scare and Massacre Manor (respectively) are the best two haunted mazes in the park. Now, of course, this is just my opinion. I know most everyone puts Club Blood in their top two, and we didn't do Club Blood, CarnEvil, or Redbeard's Revenge, since we did them last year. If I go again this year, I may change my mind and decide that Club Blood is better than Massacre Manor, but for right now that's just where I stand. Between this year and last year, I've done all of the indoor mazes and those are my top two. The two mazes we did really impressed me this year. I thought they were fantastic and it certainly turned my opinion around of them after almost deciding that it wasn't worth going into either one of them. (The explanation for my logic on this is long and actually pretty faulty, so I won't go into details. Bottom line is I was wrong and was proven wrong and had a great time in Massacre Manor and Urgent Scare.) After that, we walked right to Vortex which is great for night riding and conveniently placed at the exit of our last haunt. So we had a good ride on it and we got cooled down after being sweat out of the hospital. So we did two mazes and rode a ride. What time was it when we exited Vortex? 8:00. We were doing great on time, better than projected. (OK, it was a little after 8, but we certainly would have made it without my little pass debacle to commence the night.) We walked out of Coney Maul and into Oktoberfest and I couldn't hardly pass up Adventure Express without riding it. So, of course, it was practically a walk on and we made our way into Action Zone after that. We decided that it wasn't too cold for ice cream. In fact, as I mentioned, I'm not sure if it ever dipped down to 60 which is what it was expected to do. So we got some blueberry ice cream and had a seat at one of the tables near Ice Cream Zone, if that's what it's still called. I knew not to let my guard down even when I was eating because I knew some terrible, scary monster would get me if I did. In fact, I was right. About the minute that I did let my guard down and had turned my head, there was a monster sitting right next to me with a big grin on his face. I thought it was funny more than anything, and to my surprise I didn't even jump. Props, though. The same monster came back a few minutes later and got my aunt really good. I thought that was funny. I got chastised a little bit because I could have warned her if I wanted to. But I obviously knew it would be funnier to, well, not. We decided to catch a show but there wasn't one playing so we figured we had time to get on a coaster first and we made our way to...ugh...Invertigo. (The ugh is for the name change not for the ride itself.) Invertigo is hardly ever a walk on and tonight was no exception. However, while I was in line I got pretty excited when the video for Mudvayne's song "Death Blooms" came over the TVs in line. Of course, I'm sure the majority of the people there don't even know who Mudvayne is anyway. Excellent choice by the park, though, and really for all of the music that I heard. Anyways, we got on Invertigo and had a good, smooth ride. Then we headed back towards the front of the park and walked down International Street. I made it a point to check out all of the displays in the windows, all of which I thought were pretty good except I didn't really get the superheroes one. But hey, it's not like it ruined my night. In fact, what I was about to stumble on next, the display at the bandstand, would improve my night tremendously. Not only are my favorite characters from Phantom Theatre on display, but they're actually playing the soundtrack to the entire ride. Awesome. I got to thinking that I hope they have enough backups and fail-safes so that soundtrack always remains in tact in some way, shape, or format. We were running right on schedule to catch the 9:30 showing of Dead Awakening. I used the excuse that my aunt didn't see it last year in order to justify seeing it again, but the truth is I would've saw it anyways even if I was there by myself. I can't rave about it or say that it's the best thing I've ever seen, but it is certainly entertaining, interesting, and worth the time that it takes to watch it, which is about 25 minutes. This gave us just enough time to go over to Festhaus to catch the 10:00 showing of "Ghouls Gone Wild". Now, if you're like me and you go into this expecting something even remotely similar to Dead Awakening, you'll be disappointed. That being said, it's not a bad show. I didn't stay until the end of it, though. We got some pizza and ate and watched and then when we were done eating we decided it was time leave--Festhaus, not the park. We had decided to check out the line for...ugh.. Backlot Stunt Coaster and if it wasn't long we would ride it. So we started out at Festhaus and walked towards the Tower and then I realized we couldn't go that way. (Still getting used to it.) So we had two choices and I figured it would be fun to walk through Coney Maul again, this time with it being dark--and that's what we did. So we walked down the Midway and made the turn at the eatery, whatever it's called now, and walked into Rivertown to the Coaster. There was hardly a line and so we rode it and had a good ride on it. I then made the navigatory decision to just do an entire circle and walk past the Coaster into the heart of Rivertown and look at the construction of Diamondback along the way, and or course take in the spooky atmosphere. After a brief stop in a shop on International Street, we left. I really felt like we did a lot even though we really didn't. But I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me because I had an excellent time and I really felt like the things that we did were awesome. If I go again, I will probably do more of the haunts. And the only reason I didn't want to go for a night ride on The Beast was because I was feeling really good and I wanted to stay that way. I just had such an incredible time that I'm already cooking up plans for another trip, either this coming up Friday, or the next one--which brings me to my fourth and almost final point: Point #4: If you're going to Halloween Haunt, go on a Friday and get there early Last year we went later in October which I think contributed to the big crowd on the Friday that we went. The week before that, I had went on a Saturday but only mostly rode rides during the day and opted out of the long lines that I saw at the haunts and ended up seeing Dead Awakening and that was it. The thing I did like about Saturday is seeing the transformation of the park. On Friday, no transformation occurs. It's Halloween Haunt 100% of the operation hours on Friday. But then I rethought it and decided that I liked how it was last night better. I liked the wall of monsters. If you're already in the park, you don't necessarily get to witness all of that. So, you've got three Fridays left, and four if you include Halloween, which I wouldn't even consider but that's just me. I anticipate an even bigger crowd for next Friday than what was seen this past Friday, and then an even bigger crowd the next Friday. Halloween is unfathomable. None of the lines were anywhere near as long as what I witnessed on the Friday I went last year, even later on in the night. Point #5: The entire atmosphere is the single best aspect of Halloween HauntThe fog machines are fantastic, the decorations are fantastic, and the roamers are fantastic. I would almost contend that you don't have to have a good time at Halloween Haunt by doing a couple of the haunted mazes or scare zones, just walk around the park. The keyword there is almost. I wouldn't have had as good of a time if I didn't start of the night by doing two incredible mazes. I can't stress enough how good of a job the park did with the atmosphere, though. It isn't even fair to compare it to FearFest, which seems like it took place on another planet in another galaxy somewhere. So, just to wrap things up, I may not have done everything but I really had a great time. I was like a kid last night because I couldn't sleep thinking about all the cool stuff I had done. The best part about it is, I've got time to sqeeze another trip in and I can get in for free--so what's the downside? If I do go again, it might have to be by myself, but I don't consider that a downside so much. A solo trip to The Haunt could possibly be in store in the near future. ...And they said a Trip Report with zero complaints was impossible.

My comments were actually posted in another topic closely related to this one but dealing with the same subject. They were not removed. Sorry for the confusion. Anyways, I wonder if they will be doing the BOGO (Buy One Get One) coupons at Wendy's this year. Does anyone know if they did last year?

Reading what I have, I shall recant on my previous comment on this topic, which the powers that be made sure did not make it to many eyes in the first place. But here is the main question: where do these coupons (the legitimate ones) originate from in the first place? How can you get a hold of any original? Maybe that's the topic that really needs to be discussed.

The day after this deal was announced I visited the park and asked a food associate in Festhaus about it, expecting her to know nothing of it. But to my surprise, she knew all about it. And I'm about 95% sure she told me it was just for season pass holders. I wasn't attempting to buy a wrist band, I just wanted to confirm the info about it posted on here. For once, an associate actually knew what was going on. I was impressed, especially because it was such a new thing. If I ever get a wrist band, I'm delieberately not going to show my pass unless it is asked of me, just to see if people without passes are truly slipping through the cracks. I'm also very interested to see if they scan your pass and your picture comes up when you buy a wrist band. Because, if not, the system could obviously also be exploited in that way too. Now, it's still early folks. Some problems may need to be aired out, and I'm sure they will be if you just give it another couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to use this. In fact, I rarely drink soda at the park unless I'm drinking it with a meal. If I ever eat two meals there a day, which, again, is rare, then I might consider it. Otherwise I have to drink water because Coke just doesn't do much for me when I'm really thirsty. However, when I have a hamburger and some fries, I must have a Coke. The same thing goes for pizza. This is truly an unbeatable deal though if you drink Coke all day long. Now here's something that hasn't been discussed. It's something that can't really be exploited by guests but rather employees. I'm not suggesting it would happen, but the cup situations have been policed by the following procedure in the past: An associate's money at the end of the day was counted along with the number of cups they had sold. The cups were dilligently kept track of. If an associate had sold 100 cups at four dollars per cup, then they would have been expected to have 400 dollars at the end of the day. But now that no cash transaction needs to take place in order for a cup to be sold, a system that was once in place to keep employees from giving away free drinks is now pretty much broken. By the way, the fact that I'm a former employee has nothing to do with the fact that I know this information. It was divulged to me one day about three years ago by an employee at Tower Drinks or whatever it is/was called. I asked for a cup of water and she said she had no small cups and thus could not give me free water because of what she described to me as I've just described about their system. (Although she probably would've gladly given me water if I would've forked over about $3.50.) A couple weeks later, I was given some free water in a 20 oz. cup by an associate in Festhaus. However, I was pretty sure that he was new. So a rare free water in a big cup occured. But my only point I guess is that a system that they so actively had faith in is now gone because of this new deal. That reason maybe above all others is why I am kind of surprised they are doing this. So I've commented, I've concerned, and now I will question: what size are these drinks that they will give to you for "free" if you pay a one-time fee of $6.99 plus tax? Can you get either a medium or a large or will they just give you a particular size? And I've read over all the posts on this topic to see if there are any hints about the sizes, but I couldn't find that information.

Speaking from experience, the coupons on eBay are legitimate. Of course, I can only speak for one particular seller...the one who sold one to me. I bought one a couple of weeks ago when I went with someone who didn't have a pass. Being a former admissions employee I knew all about them and they are legitimate if you get them from a legitimate source.

Wow. Apples one day, oranges the next. Gotta love it.

Some people mistake the ship for the actual ride itself if they don't know the actual ride is a coaster.

Here's the right link for the Backyard BBQ.

I'll be going to KI all three days of Spirit Song and I am trying to keep up on some of Boomerang Bay's goofy policies. I know that I had a Season's Pass last year and was able to get into BB early and even get a chair early. Then the next day I couldn't do that because it was Gold Pass only. I could get into BB but couldn't save any spots until it opened to everyone else at 11. So now I have a Gold Pass and it doesn't matter as much but some in my group only have a Season's Pass (or a blue pass). I notice that they're doing the early ride times on Wednesdays this months but I am wondering if they're going to have someone making sure you have a Gold Pass before you go back and start saving chairs. The reason why it's so goofy is because there is a difference between "Early Ride Times" which is only on Wednesdays, and "Early Access" which is every day, and I understand the difference. But my question is: are Gold Pass members only allowed past a certain point every day until 11 AM? (Oh, and I'd like an answer from someone who has actually been there this year and knows for sure what they are talking about--not just some yayhoo taking a wild guess. Not like that would ever happen anyways )

I can say this from experience from working in the front of the park, turnstiles included: people want you to give them the forecast. "Is it going to rain?" "When will it stop raining?" etc. And it's funny because even people who are paid money to forecast the weather are wrong a lot of times.

They are forcasting rain and possibly storms for that day so that could keep some people away. That's the day I'm going too. I'm hoping people will shy away from the park on the 3rd since there's so much going on the 4th and that's the better day for people to go anyways really. I already asked PopWar through IM and he informed me he has a pass and wouldn't be interested in this... but.. If anyone wants to go on Thursday and you don't have a pass I can get you a great deal on tickets. (Better than the $29.99 online rate.) And I can get up to five. Just PM me here or IM me on AOL at the same screen name as here.

Well your TR sounds encouraging since I'm going on a Thursday.. next Thursday to be exact. (Plans switched from what I was originally gonna do, I'll be there all three days of Spirit Song but would like to make at least one trip pre-SS.) Of course I'm guessing it might be a little more crowded since it's the day before the 4th but it really shouldn't be too bad I wouldn't think. They're calling for showers that day too, in Columbus that is, which doesn't mean it will rain at KI necessarily. Really it's way too early for them to say because they wouldn't know yet. We'll be staying at the Kings Island Resort Thursday night. Would anyone else like to go that day? I can get two tickets for just $50 or four for $100.

Yeah.. Wyandot Lake used to have some really good bumper cars. I ride the ones at KI every once in a while but over the past couple of years they have gone down hill. Sounds like the trend is continuing. Oh well.. I don't care much about bumper cars with rides like Flight of Fear and Firehawk nearby.