brenthodge

Why do they keep sticking that (what I would argue is best show) in the kids area where it gets drowned out. I wish they’d move it to the plaza in front of back lot, there’s seating on planters, add a few benches, leave all the lanterns above the walk from HAUNT, and put the stained glass nativity along the pathway with soft carol music. That way the show would have a defined area, and an entire “world” built around it. Maybe even do a “country church” front entrance set.

With the new TV kiosk and the beverage stand leaning into the existing look of the area - I'd say Action Zone is not changing its core aesthetic. At this point I'd prefer Banshee get a retheme into something flight related (really all the tombstones can just be used as an upgrade to Haunt stuff, and the station - while halfway decent architecture - it's not something that couldn't be reworked. Lean into the "flight" look of Aeoronautica, add a few flats (that have already been designed for that) rename food and merch places and take out Amazon Falls for a "new" flight-related area. (Funny as you could rename The Bat FlightDeck and come full circle)

Those would get too wet, but 2 places that would be MUCH better. BEAST plaza -quiet and more set back (maybe too set back) or Stunt Coaster plaza. Could be off the main path, keep the lanterns from haunt. Add the stained glass nativity pieces along the path and be quite beautiful. Add some benches along with the planters for seating.

Have to agree. Heading home now. Pretty busy night ride-wise as well.

Agree. I was pleasantly surprised Sunday when I walked in and saw it.

Sorcerers of the Kingdom was free. Agent Ps world showcase adventure, free. Yes, they added things, but they also took a lot of things that were originally free effects and monetized them.

Which put behind a paywall a lot of the effects that used to be just part of the experience.

KI has the blessing and the curse a lot of times of being one of the flagship “prototype” parks where a lot of event concepts are tested. Lots of times the “concept year” has tons of corporate support and resources put into it to see what works, what doesn’t, and what can be streamlined for scaling to other parks. KI having a huge local, pass holder base of customers who regularly return works against that since a large % of your base will attend the event year after year and notice the big cuts (often most from year 1-2) where other, destination type parks with a customer base on a 3-4 year cycle won’t notice that as much. Even local park management is aware and frustrated by that as it leaves them “to blame” in the years that follow when they are then charged with hitting certain budget metrics that may have been much higher during the concept roll out phase.

True, true. And Saturday crowds proved it. Face it kids, there’s no incentive for more effort when the gate keeps spinning like that.

When THIS is what DIY people are posting on FB Groups, KI needs to up their game a bit. Halloween has become the new Christmas, and I think places like KI are going to have to try harder to impress these days.

I makes me sad/mad when I see all of that just there… wasted most of the year, but my glimmer of hope is- since they’ve never “needed” the space it’s not been gutted and used for something dumb. Was BY FAR the best queue ever done at this park. Why could the “museum of mystery” idea even be used for a dark ride? Use the monkey room as it was before as a holding /preshow with narration about “tribal relic that brigs the museum to life”. Old pre-show room become boarding for dark ride that uses the ride building. Goes high then comes down past scenes of the museum using simple animation and projection mapping (a much simpler Mystic Manor). Unloads at the bottom of the ride building, returns to load empty. Use 3-4 car trains like a dark ride/coaster combo (like blazing Fury)

Actually Tricks and Treats is sponsored by Kroger and HERSHEY

Glad to see a real world, non park scripted “review” of this. I stand a bit corrected, and am so glad these are adding value to the event, and sounds like adding to a fun time for your family.

Yep. It’s just sad because year one it really felt like a park-wide event. There was an amazing menus with each location having both a treat (normal) and trick (spicy, weird, odd twist) food item. It was this crazy idea called “ thought put into an event”. Now we are basically putting the old animatronics that used to “perform” for free behind the paywall of a lantern you have to carry around.

How is it possible that this event was WAY better EVEN COMING OUT OF COVID, than what we’ve got this year? Less shows, tired faded decor, way less food, and the whole thing seems WAY less “park-wide” than it did those first year or two.

Would be nice if that space was used year round for something like this (better if it was used for a ride, but at least this would activate the building and not have it sit like a big eyesore)

lol. They STILL have the weird Starbucks swirly thing above the cash wrap. Give it up guys!

So, this is a thing…

Well, it’s the haunt opening day and yet the AP still looks like this. Looks like the crack team is on it! Edited-it’s updated now.

I think you hit LOTS of nails on their head with this response.

I don’t know what their reasoning is for getting rid of them. It makes it so much easier for both sides of the transaction.

the storytelling could’ve definitely helped tie the area together since it fell so sort of both substance (one real “new” ride and a budget cut play area) and ultimately style with most of the place making being eliminated. While Adventure Port certainly wasn’t “Disney” quality, at least there was a cohesive narrative (even if the original “mythical village” story never really seemed to be told outside of marketing materials) I think at some level it’s the difference in having a theme-based design firm (like JRA) involved vs. whoever cut and pasted ideas from the concept art for camp snoopy. They couldn’t even allocate funds to stain the entire area concrete- making it actually more of a mess than it was before.

That demonstrates that they clearly missed the mark with those who do (vote) -parents. Wildwood grove has indoor play areas with seating, tons of shaded seating, attractive new restrooms, unique shopping, elevated dining, live music and rich storytelling that all appeal to the adults bringing their kids to yet area. Planet Snoopy has… rides.

The concept art would’ve landed them in 1-2, the execution gave them an undeserved 3. So many missed opportunities with that whole project. If they were TRYING to create an award winning kids area… well let’s just say they weren’t trying too hard!

That’s my point. If they are going to the expense and effort of a very specific column style that matches the others instead of a generic post that could easily have theming added in a year… then there’s clearly not a long term plan to change the aesthetic of this area any time soon. They’ve just added more work and expense if they change something later. Your statement contradicts itself in that you want them to spend money making the area more cohesive and better looking instead of changing architecture, when changing all the architecture would accomplish exactly that- making it cohesive.