Halloweekends at Cedar Point

[PREMiERdrum]

I was fortunate enough to take my family to the "Behind the Screams" VIP Tour at Cedar Point this weekend, and after seeing what Halloweekends has new to offer this year, I would strongly encourage you all to get to the point this year. I'll try to do this as a pseudo-trip report for the first bit, then details and impressions of the new haunts at the end.

As a member of the media, I was invited to the preview event Saturday, September 12th at the Point. The event didn't start until 7pm, and with the park opening at Noon, we had some time. My wife, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I left Columbus at about 9:30 Saturday morning. We stopped for lunch at the Taco Bell/Long John Silvers on 250 before getting to the park (trying to save some money). We gave the attendant at the booth our parking pass (first time I've ever had free parking at a park), and parked in A33. We went to guest services, picked up our tickets and VIP passes for the event later, then went to spend some time in the park. I should tell you that (for those who aren't my facebook friends), my wife is expecting, so we tried to do more than just hit all the coasters, and tried to find some things we could all do.

Our first ride as Iron Dragon (one of the few that my wife was cleared to ride by our doctor). After about a 10 minute wait we were on the ride. The ride didn't have the pronounced shuffle I've noticed the last few years. It ran smooth, the swinging was pretty good, and the speed was nice. I'm also glad that a live spiel has been added back after the canned spiel of a few years ago. We made our way up towards the Frontier Trail and put our bags in a locker by Millennium Force. We meandered up the trail, really taking some time to soak up the atmosphere. This has definitely become my favorite part of the park in the last few years. When we got to Frontier Town, we checked on Maverick (which had a full queue), decided to skip it for now (since my wife and my sister weren't planning to ride anyway). We hit the Mine Ride (which was one of the longer waits of the day [2 train op]), then Gemini (walked on), and Magnum (15 minutes). Jenn had to sit all those out, though she did have some excellent people watching while we were riding.

At this point I wanted to ride some things that we all could do, do we hit both the Himilaya and Matterhorn, both always a good time.

We walked up to the Wicked Twister Midway and decided for a snack. Jenn and I got some fries from Hot Potato (across from the aquatic stadium), which were good, while my sister and brother in law lined up next door at the Gazebo for a corn dog. After 10 minutes in line with no movement, they came over and got some fries too. I guess the hangup over at the Gazebo, as they overheard, was a customer not getting Coney sauce on his Coney dog. Coneys are clearly on the menu, but the server swore up and down that "we don't have anything like that here, there is ketchup and mustard by the tables." Well, after about :10 minutes of arguing, the server finally offered to put some chilli on it. That's what a Coney is. I was embarassed for him. When they went to get their fries, they ordered the Parmesan Garlic fries that were on the menu, which they were out of. They then tried to get the mini-corn dogs and fries, which they were out of. So they got some plain ol' fries. They were still good.

The 3 of us (sans my wife) then hit Disaster Transport, which looked the best I've seen it in years. I think that the ride actually presents much better when you enter the queue in the "Repair Bay." The worst part of the queue was the cut through Pharo's Secret, so this helps a lot. The lighting in the show rooms of the ride itself was also looking better than it has in a long time. All (and I mean all) of the show scenes were lit (including all the "broken spaceship"panels in the first helix of the big room - I haven't seen those lit in quite a while). It seemed like last year most of the show scenes were blacked out, so this was encouraging. My brother in law and I then hit Raptor (2 train wait for front row), which was running much smoother than it was last year. All 4 of us rode the Cadillac Cars, then grabbed our bags from the locker, made another loop up through Frontier Town, and headed back towards the front of the park. It was getting close to 7pm, which was when the event started. As we walked by TTD, my brother in law and I decided to hop in line, as he had never ridden it. After a 20 minute wait, we were on the red train. That launch never gets old. He loved it too.

By the time we got off, it was time for the event. We put our passes on and headed for GE Boeckling's Eerie Estate, which is in the (already creepy looking) former Admin building next to Planet Snoopy. I won't give too much away, but this is easily the best haunt, from a design standpoint, that I've ever been in. For the event, the house lights were turned on, and the only scaractors were the undead wait staff walking the halls, but it was STILL very scary even when you know nothing's going to jump out at you. First, the haunt has layers of detail unlike anything else at CP or KI. The attention to the little details is simply astounding. You honestly feel like you're walking through an old haunted mansion. For the event, they had quite a spread of food scattered throughout the haunt. In the wine cellar (which is probably the 3rd of 4th room), there was a big tray of cheese, a cheeseball shaped like a severed head (with a dried-beef tongue!), and an undead bar tender serving wine. After a few more rooms, in the dining room, there was a table covered in beef ribs, chicken, meatballs, fruit, cooking, dirt pudding with worms, deviled eggs that looked like eyeballs, and a full bar serving soda, ****tails, and "Bloodweiser" & "Blood Light beers" (I saved my Bloodweiser bottle). I thought that for sure that was the end of the haunt, but it just kept going through several more rooms. We finally stopped in the mansion's "closet" to eat our food. It looks weird, but this is what they encouraged you to do. Just pick a room and eat.

That is (from left) me, my wife (with baby!), and my brother in law. My sister took the picture.

In the middle of Eerie Esate, we got to talk for a while with John Taylor, who designed the new haunts. If you ever get the chance to meet him, do it. I told him how impressed I was with all the detail, and he just grinned ear to ear and said "don't miss Happy Jacks Toy Factory" and chuckled a little bit. Overall, even with the lights on and no monsters, Eerie Estate topped anything else at any other regional park I've seen. It truly was world class. Easily an 11/10.

We then made our way over to Happy Jack's Toy Factory. I'm not going to give away any surprises, but the new haunt can't even be compared with Pharo's Secret (which occupied the same space). If you know your CP history, look around in the first main "room" for a familiar face. Where Eerie Estate was "creepy," Happy Jack's is "twisted."

We also toured Monster Central (in the Colliseum's ballroom), and Boo Hill, which were both cool.

It's obvious to me that they're moving towards "permanent" Haunts that allow them to build things that are 100% believeable (unlike the old Pharo's Secret, or even Urgent Scare and CarnEvil at KI, which both still have a temporary feel because of their design). I would say that seeing these 2 new haunts at CP this year is a must. They are truly the best I've been through. If this is the direction CF is taking their Halloween events, then we don't have anything to complain about.

[KI Kevin]

Sweet! I think my dad and I are going to go to Halloweekends sometime this fall, and I won't miss these haunts.