Haunt report 10-5-2013

[MidnightBeast]

First, I went both Friday and Saturday. I go to the Haunt every weekend, sometimes Friday and Saturday, sometimes just Saturday, depending on whether I'm working. On Friday, I got there around 23:00 and rode rides. I did Diamondback, The Racer, Monster, Delirium, and went up the Eiffel Tower. I also did Backwoods Bayou, although three of the scarectors were standing around talking right at the front of the fright zone, which made me mad.

Tonight, however, was not a good night to go. Me and my dad had fun anyway, but it rained pretty steadily from 20:00 onward. The forecast said it would stop, so I was going whether he wanted to or not. After all, there's only six more Haunt nights!

We started off walking towards Drop Tower. We saw a few chainsaw guys outside Slaughter House, scaring people pretty well. One woman ran away so suddenly she knocked another woman over. After seeing and filming that (until I realized someone had been hurt), we got in line for Drop Tower. Just before we boarded, it started raining, and we were wet by the time the ride was over. It was very strange to be taken up above the fog and into the rain, and hard to see the ground. The ride was exhilirating, as always.

Next was Wolf Pack, one of my favorite mazes. I let him go first since I've been through it before. I almost fell over when one werewolf jumped out at me, almost tripped over the tree roots. My dad looked like a werewolf with his beard and flannel shirt. There was a real screamer behind me who most of the werewolves were waiting for. Her boyfriend kept shouting "Get her! Get her!" One of the werewolves even blocked her way out at the end. That was funny.

Slaughter House was next on the chopping block, one of the two mazes I hadn't been through yet. It was pretty cool. I liked the gore effects. He wanted to go first, but changed his mind when he got a peek into the "meat locker," and I was nominated first in the group. Most of the characters didn't try too hard to scare me. I was enjoying the gory scenes, really looking around. What I was anticipating was a chainsaw, but no one lunged out of the shadows with one. I was a little disappointed by that. I didn't understand why the car was there, and would have preferred a "killing floor" area of some sort, with a siren and a red light. That's what I'd do if I designed it.

It was still raining after Slaughter House, so we decided to grab some grub at Festhaus. The Graveyard Shift show was on, but I don't think it was really worth seeing. We ate some pizza and very good french fries. I'll have to remember those.

After Festhaus we did Adventure Express. Rain was whipping my face, getting in my eyes, and we were in the back of the train, which is a pretty rough ride. I would say it sucked, but I will remember it fondly, I'm sure.

Next we did Racer (red) and the trains were flying over the track. It was the fastest I remember it being. I love hitting those dips around Urgent Scare and WindSeeker, with all that fog there. The fog patches really improve everything about the park. Our train won, too, so that was cool.

The rain briefly stopped, so we headed for Diamondback, but the line looked to be about 90 minutes long, so we got back out and went to Carnevil instead. The rain started again, and some kind people gave us their 3D glasses. The maze was cool and trippy, but didn't scare me. Clowns don't bother me. I love the bubbles and the rotating tunnel, though. I was still disoriented for about fifteen minutes after I stood in that tunnel for a little while.

We headed back towards Beast, but saw that the ride was down due to technical difficulties. The rain picked up even more, getting a little heavier. We rode Shake, Rattle, & Roll, which was a walk-on. But my dad stepped in a huge puddle and his feet got soaked. I wore boots, so I had dry feet even by the end of the night. But that puddle killed it for him.

We went to ride Flight of Fear, but the line looked like it was 2 hours long. It would have given us time to dry off, so we should have stayed and rode it, but we got back out of line - third time that night. We rode Dodgem instead, but the attendant stopped the ride after one lap, cheesing everybody off. Then we walked all the way back to Urgent Scare, and dad said he was ready to go home. I think if we'd have gone on Flight of Fear, that could have gotten him to stay until closing time. Maybe. For some reason he's running 18 miles today. I don't know why he agreed to go to Kings Island with that plan.

We went through Urgent Scare, but they didn't do the elevator scene or the waiting room scene, which was disappointing, and it looked like they had some brighter lights on. This was the worst time through the maze for me. Given the short lines, fairly cheesy acting, and the way they seem to rush people through, the prognosis doesn't look good for Urgent Scare. I think it may be replaced next season. I think this maze would be improved with either a heavier focus on mutilation and surgery, or a conversion to an out-and-out zombie maze. But I've heard the maze had better years, and maybe it's just time for new blood.

After Urgent Scare, dad no longer wanted to ride The Beast, and I didn't really feel like we had to, either. I was getting sick of the rain. We sloshed over to the Bier Garten where we got a pretzel, some fried pickles and a rum and Coke for me. Then, as we passed the Eiffel Tower on the way out of the park, we saw lightning. Even if we wanted to stay, there would have been no point. I think next time, I'll skip it if it's going to rain. It rained all night after we got home.

[Captain Nemo]

The Graveyard Shift show was on, but I don't think it was really worth seeing

I personally walked out on this show. Trust me when I saw you made a great choice deciding not to see it.

[Hoeter]

Thanks for the report!

Was wondering how the crowds were last night. I went to the Lewisburg Haunted Cave on the other side of Dayton last night and it made for a very muddy time...

[MidnightBeast]

It was definitely very crowded, especially for how rainy it was. Very few people seemed to be leaving because of the weather.

[upstop]

Of all the shows I've seen at the haunt so far, Graveyard Shift seems to be the weakest show. We got a pizza deal and decided to watch the show, but usually, haunt shows try to theme the music to the theme of Halloween in some way....for instance you could have some of the women dancing with Halloween candy bags singing Mandy Moore's - Candy...but the songs they were singing were so random and not themed or related to monsters or a party. It was almost like who ever designed the show just looked at a catalog and randomly picked songs.

[Existential]

Cedar Point was a total poopshow too as far as weather yesterday...and it was the same thing as far as crowd. The weather scared no one away. It was packed.

Friday however ...it was a two or three train wait for every coaster but maverick. You could marathon everything almost.

I will go to the point only on Friday in the October future.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Of all the shows I've seen at the haunt so far, Graveyard Shift seems to be the weakest show. We got a pizza deal and decided to watch the show, but usually, haunt shows try to theme the music to the theme of Halloween in some way....for instance you could have some of the women dancing with Halloween candy bags singing Mandy Moore's - Candy...but the songs they were singing were so random and not themed or related to monsters or a party. It was almost like who ever designed the show just looked at a catalog and randomly picked songs.

Graveyard Shift was a show that the park had during the Paramount years. It was in the Paramount Theater (now Kings Island Theater) and played there during the summer months (not during FearFest), so that could explain the lack of Halloween-y music. The park resurrected it in 2011 and put it in Festhaus, where it still plays today.