BB1

HHN traditionally speaking has some of the most creative, and intense haunts in the industry. Every year there are at least 2-3 solid houses, a few mid tier houses then one or two houses that didn't really work out in the long run. This year, the formula still stands, but I feel like I did eventually get some solid run throughs in every house. Warning this next section will have spoilers, you have been warned! Monsters Eternal Bloodlines - The latest incarnation of the Monsters series, Monsters Eternal Bloodlines takes you through the story of Saskia Van Helsing and her quest to take out a werewolf, mummy and Dracula's daughter. The house concept was something I was really interested in. It gave a strong story to go off of and felt like it could really resonate with the past houses in this series. The problem is that the house, simply put, has some staffing issues. The house would consistently not have 1-2 scareactors not present, however when the scareactors were present the scares would hit. I feel like there were maybe at best 3 decent scares throughout the house. Which, to be frank, is led even more down by the vacancies in the beginning and middle of the house. If there were ample staff, you would get a decent run through, but it wasn't something that I consistently wanted to run through. I even got a solo run after the group in-front of me chickened out midway through, and that didn't even do it for me. Theming and concepts were really the only saving graces of the house. The fact lady Frankenstein got a really solid supporting role was a boon but didn't really do much for me in terms of the scares. Overall, with everything I experienced I'll give this one a 2.75/5, Lil Boo's I feel like it needed maybe one or two more decent scares to really pack a punch, which the theming gave much needed support but that was about it. I would even go as far to say that this was the weakest Monsters series house we had period. Monstrous The Monsters of Latin America - Ah yes, the HHN Hollywood rip off comes to Orlando. I've ran through the Monstrous house at HHN Hollywood and I personally wasn't too much of a fan. There were some decent scares, but it really didn't have a major standout moment besides the bird woman near the end. Even then the scares just didn't cut it for me. There were locations on both run throughs where I felt like there should have been a scareactor, which there wasn't and that was confirmed by friends who live down there who go often. The ending even just felt cheesy, again there was a lot of good concepts but just poor execution. I would even go as far to say that this house didn't really do much if at all for me in terms of delivering an experience worth while. 2/5 Lil Boo's, I didn't care for it in Hollywood, and I didn't care for it at Orlando. A Quiet Place - Arguably the biggest let down of the whole event. A Quiet Place was a horror film I was content with, I never had a need to rewatch, but it's enjoyable to watch when there's nothing else available. This house.....just did not live to expectations. The whole concept is you should try to remain silent. The first hallway with the camo and the monster popping out of the hole with strobe lights was arguably the best scare in the house, one of the better ones of the event; and you want to know what's sad? That's literally the only saving grace of this house. You then went under a sign that said the literal movie name which felt interesting but when you actually started running through it felt like they were so focused on creating set scenes and they forgot it is a haunted house. The scares in my opinion were mediocre, the scenes were well designed but I just didn't get why this house even existed. This was a house I was cautiously optimistic for, but honestly it just didn't live up to expectations. 1/5 Lil Boo's, which is upsetting as the first scare was actually really good, the rest was just okay to say the least. Triplets of Terror - This was one of the houses that made me very confused starting off as it felt extremely rushed and the concept itself wasn't really interesting. That being said, I want to be very upfront on the fact that this house grew on me. The scares got better after the first run and the set pieces were well done. I wouldn't say this house was terrible, but I wouldn't say this house was the best at all. I wish they had a scare in the meat locker scene, I wish they had some more scares in the house where you got into tight spaces, but that simply wasn't the case. The one thing I think this house got right was that it took you along a journey and led to a climax at the end in the sewers, which mind you was somewhat jarring but it at least had a story as for why things would change and the costumes would adjust based on the age of the triplets. 2.75/5 Lil Boo's primarily because I felt like it was practically on par with Monsters. Moving into the next cadre of houses I'll be giving some more nuance in the score, primarily because some houses were based on the fact that the theme was unique, others due to the sheer scare factor!

Halloween Horror Nights, arguably the best halloween event I've ever been to and a perennial favorite to come back year after year. I always do two trips before I give my true rankings. Why you may ask? September is arguably when most haunts are pumping on full cylinders, the scareactors are typically accustomed to the scares by weeks 2-3 when I typically go. October is typically about when you will see changes to the houses occur, with additions or subtractions being made. That being said, I was able to go the 12th-15th of September, and just this past weekend from the 3rd-5th. My rankings aren't exactly a hey this was 1 2 etc, rather I gave serious thought to the level of scares, theming, quality, story telling and overall guest interactivity. I'll be giving each review 1-5 Lil Boo's, with some context to support and some analysis based on my experience and understanding of house logistics for 2024. Starting out, I wanted to first just talk about this year's theme, which made sense but didn't at the same time. For those unbeknownst to HHN lore, we typically get an icon, then a sub theme for merch that correlates to said theme or scarezone/house. This year we got SIN3STER and SURR3AL, which arguably were brilliant icons, duality of 33, giving each of them a solid scarezone, I feel like this was a very well thought out theme for 2024. The punk rock aspect, it's somewhat highlighted in Slaughter Sinema 2, but I feel like we missed out on a scrapped scare zone as Blumhouse just felt last minute. That being said, I'd give the icons 5/5 Lil Boo's, they were out, they had plots in their scarezones and I felt like this was an excellent reflection of what Oddfellow was last year. As for the punk rock edge I love the idea, I wanted more, but we only got one room in SS2 and that's practically it, which I feel like it was a letdown for what we could have gotten. The merch this year was honestly bizarre. In years past I spent hundreds on merch as HHN has really solid merchandise. This year just felt a bit off. The Ghostbusters Frozen Empire button up shirt and glass were amazing, the Stay Puft and Lil Boo shoulder sitters were excellent and have gotten a lot of positive feedback from other guests at HHN and KI. The battlevest was solid, but everything else just felt really tacky. The Major Sweets bumper sticker is beautiful, but I feel like we could have gotten shirts and glassware with the actual logo, not the artist design. I can't really complain though, I bought the shirt, loved it, I bought the bumper sticker which I finally got on my car today. The flannel was solid this year as in years past, but everything else with the hoodies to the shirts just felt like it was not on the same value line as years past. 3/5 Lil Boo's. The food quality this year honestly wasn't that terrible. The Stay Puft smore was honestly enjoyable, I did have one that was somewhat cold but it was still warm where it mattered most. The charring actually exalted more of the chocolate flavor coming from the hersheys bar but it was definitely a must. The Goblin Hand Pie felt very similar to a raspberry Mcdonalds pie. The Fish and Chips was absolutely immaculate. The cod nuggets were just the right size to dip into the sauce. The sauce, that sauce was so delicious, for something I found unappealing to see, it was absolutely delicious. You had just enough to dip your fish, and your fries and still have some left over. The Pizza Skulls however were lacking the sauce as they did in years past which was upsetting but still pretty good, same could be said for the pizza fries which were amazing. Ghoul Juice, well, it's Ghoul Juice, it's still an amazing drink. 5/5 Lil Boo's, seriously if you aren't eating the event food you're missing out. Next section I'll dive into the houses and scare zones, coming tomorrow night!

Whoever had the brilliant idea to put a loud horn on i street as an interactive station didn’t realize a lot of people eat on I Street. The horn is annoying, way too loud, and for some reason will play constantly for 1 minute straight which makes enjoying your meal on i street extremely uncomfortable.

Icing on the cake.

I've said time and time again, I don't listen to the major "polls" by the "experts". When I know several rank Voyage off of one night ride or the fact that somehow a group of individuals believe Cosmic Rewind is superior to Diamondback, Mako even. Phoenix is a fun ride but to be #1 is a very strong sentiment I simply do not agree on. There are biases in every major poll, regional and national. As for the objective IMO for Camp Snoopy to snag back the kids area crown, they fell flat. There was a distinct lack of foliage, and they honestly created a glorified playground without ample space for parents to actually sit and enjoy a reprieve. It took months for the actual area to get tidied up for guests to enjoy and actually get ample seating. It was very heavily rumored that COASTERSTOCK was cancelled for the ACE event to get those crucial votes that KI wanted, which looks as if it didn't give KI the edge they may have been looking for.

Funnily enough we’re spending a half day at AK explicitly for Dinosaur. I’ll swing by for the magnet but I’m already at one disney magnet one Disney license plate frame and one UOAP magnet so I’m not about to add another to the menagerie .

Luckily I’m going down next weekend so I’ll probably have to talk to guest services. The stitch magnet gets comments from people out and about but I’d rather have the Mickey magnet for my car the stitch for the fridge.

I became a pass holder in may and have yet to receive my WDWAP magnet (I did snag a Stitch one in EPCOT in may), if you don’t mind me asking when did you become a pass holder vs when you received your magnet?

….I approve of Rhinegeist, Sonder not so much. BB1, more than willing to ride the Intamin green TRUTH sponsored by Rhinegeist coaster that ends with a micro brewery where one could get a Truth after riding TRUTH.

My problem is that the team that focuses on Haunt has done away with so many good pieces for haunts and just dumped them. We had some amazing scare zones only years ago that outperformed what we have today, same for haunted houses. I'd even go as far to say that everything after Slaughterhouse 2.0 has been a miss in my eyes.

As per sources close to me, the PT animatronics have been (for the most part) scrapped. I’d love to see something like that come to KI which IMO would go over well with the pass holder base but I would need some more scares than just thematic effects.

^They have not, seasonably that part of the park lacks hanging lights. Historically that section did have decorations, then a scare zone, then it turned into the main spider section for the park. Maybe we are finally getting a new scare zone for 24?

The fact that KI has an actual Oktoberfest section and isn't getting an Oktoberfest is honestly depressing on so many levels. The problem with Kings Island's implementation of the food events is that the selection was just bland for the wine festival. Oktoberfest, if done as a limited seasonal run from the end of September to the early part of October would do fairly well in my eyes in terms of a park event. I will pay dollar for dollar for a Hoffbrauhaus beer at the park, or even have local craft breweries showcase their Oktoberfest beers as several are kicking off their rotations now. Kings Island has what should be the easiest slam dunk opportunity to create a very unique event that showcases local flair and celebrates the Cincinnati Oktoberfest tradition, as there's dozens of events in the area and I know every single one was packed every year. If Kings Island made a legit event, working with local bands and German communities, this could go over extremely well.

Sarcasm, Cincinnati has the largest Oktoberfest every year and has a ton of smaller Oktoberfests in the tri state.

While riding the Blue Racer and Adventure Express yesterday we were able to see most if not all of the Winterfest floats set up in the float tent behind The Racer. It looks like we will still get some amazing family experiences but I'm curious to see how this year will compare with next year. What are some of your thoughts on what you would like to see/anticipating for this year? Winterfest is set to debut on November 29th opening up at 5 PM est!

Water coasters in their simplest forms are slides, in which a tube or some form of vehicle like a mat, is propelled up a hill with some form of propulsion in contrast to traditional water slides that rely strictly on gravity and do not have propulsion up hill. To nit pick what constitute a water coaster as bringing tubes to the station is simply put is flawed. I've been to several waterparks, I have been on several water coasters, I'm probably one of the few people who actually counts their water side credits. You can have Infinity Master Blasters, Master Blasters that end and you have to pick up your tube and you could also go the ProSlide route which has a station and lift like what you get at Holiday World's attractions. I didn't hear anyone pipe up about the fact that MASSIV, which was touted as the world's TALLEST water coaster, you had to carry your tubes up to the station, thus disqualifying it from being a water coaster. Extreme Water Slide | MASSIV Monster Blaster | Schlitterbahn Galveston . But wait, there's more! Even White Water West, the producer of this new water coaster and MASSIV, has MASSIV on their website as a water coaster, the Master Blaster Model. Master Blaster Water Slide - The World's First Uphill Water Coaster (whitewaterwest.com) . The langua franca of the water park scape is different than what you have in the parks. Just like how you have B&M's and Intamin, you have White Water West and ProSlide Technologies. If you're looking at this as "hey this is a new coaster credit" don't, it's not a roller coaster, which necessitates different parameters to be considered as an actual roller coaster. It's a slide, called a water coaster, it doesn't mean Aqua Trax, which is entirely different.

<bump> Something that has popped up a lot in conversations with friends (and as well on Tower Topics that I practically listen to every day it drops at this point) is the lack of a tube lift. Just wanted to throw it out there that adding a tube lift adds extra mechanisms that the park would have to maintain to operate the attraction. Zoom Flume around 10 years ago got a new lift system because the old one was having so many issues. Speaking from first hand experience, the lifts cause more long term needs that the park is probably trying to mitigate. Sure, the tubes are probably bulky however from a park maintenance/operations standpoint it is eliminating the need of having someone actively put tubes on the lift, maintain the lift, and better yet it will make it so that guests aren't waiting for tubes to arrive, they should have the tube ready to go. This, in theory, should make wait times less and as well help the park with staffing issues (which is ironic as they have had 2-3 in water positions to assist guests and yet they can't have both sides of Thunder Falls in operation)

Another piece of signage infront of the actual location for River Racers. They also added checkered flags on the main sign as well! Should anyone wish to use these photos please feel free to! Just credit me in one way or another!

So update as per the park: -Benefits carry over to other parks if you have the All Parks Passport so you could use your preferred parking and Fast Lane at Cedar Point, Carowinds, etc. -You can get all the benefits of a Prestige Pass this year when you renew to a Prestige from a Gold Pass in 2024. I went ahead and renewed to upgrade to a prestige pass just because of that clarification. One Fast Lane a day and preferred parking at the other parks on top of Kings Island even with the other benefits have enough value for me to go ahead with it.

Some signage from the waterpark, ironically slapped smack dab in the middle of the main causeway to the other side of the waterpark.

For someone who came to the park often as a kid, without a chaperone because I respected the park rules, I’m sad to see that kids who are responsible are being punished for what other unruly kids do. With that being said, now being an adult I’m glad the park is cracking down on this. I’ve seen several unattended groups of youth just this year. I’ve had a few run ins in the past with kids bumping into my group or just kids running in the midway with no respect to the people around them. This is a minor change but it has some pretty big implications now.

Cedar Point has had it in at least one holiday video, I know they’ve had it on there as a 500ft tall Aqua Trax as it’s been a running joke with Cedar Point for years now. Iirc they had it also at a Winter Chill Out in the past few years as, once again, a running joke that they tease the thoosies with. My main point is that it would be ironic if the park actually got an aqua trax finally (sans the 500ft marker of course).

Does anyone know if the free Fastlane per visit is that only for your home park or can you use it with the All Parks at whichever park you go to? (EDIT It does say you get benefits at other parks as well)

To say that this theme was out of left field is an understatement. I was expecting either a full SC retheme with this or a continuation of the theme we had in the past. While yes there are plenty of coastal villages with rivers, to go with what I would see as a RiverTown style was out of left field. My only concern is the bathrooms on the far side of the waterpark, which is arguably the best place to change as no one uses them so it's easy in easy out. If they get rid of those facilities then the only bathrooms available are on the far side near the entrances. Which at the end of the day, for both guests and associates alike that's going to put a major strain on the other facilities that I would be concerned about. The addition itself was needed, I'm excited to ride in 25, hopefully we get more trees and foliage too as we desperately need more shade!

I’ll find out tomorrow I’m going to the park tomorrow evening and I’m planning on picking up at least one piece of passholder merch. Stay tuned to BB1’s (not financial advice) merch hunt!