New Change To Fright Lane

[gforce1994]

Word around the block is that the Fright Lane won’t include the Skeleton Room keys. I was curious to which maze had the best Skeleton Room.

[CoastersRZ]

So will the Skeleton key rooms be a separate upcharge?  Or are they doing away with the skeleton key rooms altogehter?

[gforce1994]

35 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

So will the Skeleton key rooms be a separate upcharge?  Or are they doing away with the skeleton key rooms altogehter?

Doing away with them altogether.

[JubJester]

Where are you hearing this? Link?

[Honorarius]

I know I saw it on CP Foodblog… http://cpfoodblog.com/things-to-r-i-p-be-excited-about-at-the-2018-cedar-point-halloweekends/

[BoddaH1994]

Yeah I had heard that Skeleton Key rooms were going the way of Dinosaurs Alive too.

Budget cuts?

[Winterfestguy]

As Cedar Fair continues to cut costs, I am not surprised the Skeleton Key rooms have been discontinued.  It did take several people to run each special room along with the cost of the souviner skeleton key.  Sad to see this experience go as it was always us a tradition to collect the cool souvenir skeleton key attached to the fright lane lanyard.  Wonder what cost cutting measures come next?

[King Ding Dong]

53 minutes ago, Winterfestguy said:

Wonder what cost cutting measures come next?

Probably closing even more drink refresh stands.  

[Gannersdaddy]

2 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

Probably closing even more drink refresh stands.  

Don't you have to open it first?

[gforce1994]

8 hours ago, Gannersdaddy said:

Don't you have to open it first?

You can’t close down a stand if it never opens.

[Oldschool75]

I’m sure some Haunt items will continue to be cut in order to allow more room in the budget for Winterfest. I’d rather the park split the allotted budget space outside of the regular operating season between these events.


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[CoastersRZ]

And how do you reason that the elimination of the Skeleton Key rooms is a result of allowing more room in the budget for Winterfest?  Have you sat in on budgetary meetings and know that this is what is happening at KI?  Just curious.

[JubJester]

34 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

I’m sure some Haunt items will continue to be cut in order to allow more room in the budget for Winterfest. I’d rather the park split the allotted budget space outside of the regular operating season between these events.

Didn't think about that, could be a possibility. This also allows to move all the people who would of been in the skeleton key room into the main part of the maze.

I do hope skeleton key rooms eventually make their way back when the time is right.

[Oldschool75]

And how do you reason that the elimination of the Skeleton Key rooms is a result of allowing more room in the budget for Winterfest?  Have you sat in on budgetary meetings and know that this is what is happening at KI?  Just curious.

Simple business practices. Redistribution happens all the time in the corporate world. I guarantee you they were watching daily numbers from Haunt last year and looking for what they could cut. I’m sure they came to the conclusion that they could reinvest the money spent to run skeleton key and get a much bigger return on a Winterfest program. Winterfest was a smash last year, Haunt has aged. Get the profits while Winterfest is still new. I’m not saying that what is happening, but I’ve worked enough years in the corporate world to know how they work.

 

 

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[Kenban]

I was just wondering, is anyone who purchases the fright lane passes actually disappointed by this change?  I see speculation as to why it is being done, but no one is actually saying that they will miss the rooms.  Also this change is chain wide and not something unique to Kings Island.  How many parks which are having the skeleton key rooms cut do not have a Winterfest event?

I never felt like the extra rooms were must see additions and this change does not bother me.  Maybe this is being driven by surveys of park guests?  Might be just general cost cutting.  It is very hard to pin the change down to a reason without some comment or inside source.  But as someone who typically buys the fright lane pass, this change does not make me any less likely to purchase one since I buy it to bypass the lines, not for the extra room, which on its own might be a very good reason to get rid of the rooms, if the rooms do not sell more fright lane passes, why have them at all?

[Magenta Lizard]

Personally, I'm rather happy about this change this year because it puts a certain Haunt performer who I am fond of back into the main maze so I can see him every time I walk through rather than the two or three times in a season where I've either purchased Skeleton Key or been invited into the room. It's especially important to me since this will be his last year performing for a few. I did enjoy the somewhat extended scenes in the key rooms, but they were never enough for me personally to shell out $ for it more than once a season.

Assuming they have tended to group their best performers in their other mazes into the other Key rooms as well, removing Skeleton Key should have a positive influence on the experience for the average attendee in all of the mazes.

[purdude86]

I kind of agree. Only did the Skeleton Key a couple years but always felt that most of the rooms weren't that amazing. They weren't bad but didn't enhance stuff that greatly. The only one I ever really loved was Slaughterhouse. And I'm hoping that like JubJester said this will just put that many more people into the mazes themselves. Many of them usually felt understaffed and like they could use more scare actors, so if they are closing the Skeleton Key rooms then that is just that is at least 2-3 additional scare actors for the mazes that had them.

[MDMC01]

Good point, @Magenta Lizard and @purdude86... eliminating the Skeleton Key rooms will mean more scareactors (and perhaps a better experience) for the main maze as no one is tied up in Skeleton Key. I was originally bummed about this change (as this is the one year I was considering buying Fright Lane for a night, specifically to experience the Skelton Key rooms), but now I understand that the mazes will be stronger as a result.

Just a few more weeks until we see KIC's favorite butcher...

[purdude86]

This reason is why i'm glad they've been seeming to scale back the number of houses the past few years. Initially liked the idea of them having a dozen or so mazes each year but they would be sparesly populated and feel lacking overall. Now this year we are down to 9, wouldn't mind seeing them keep it around 6-8 (especially if have one like Blackout that doesn't really require many people to staff). This can allow them to put more effort into and have more actors in each maze and even the scare zones. So while it might seem more limiting having fewer overall attractions I think the experience would improve and make it a better event.

[BoddaH1994]

Haunt is a simple formula:

Open the gates and people show up. Lots of people. You could have 10 new mazes or none and it wouldn’t move the needle by any measurable amount. Notice how Haunt is marketed but new mazes aren’t? It only comes down to one factor: weather. 

If they are going to make cuts, Haunt is a good place to do it.