Kentucky Kingdom HalloScream 2019

[BoddaH1994]

Last night I had the opportunity to attend Kentucky Kingdom's "Kingdom of Fear" HalloScream for the first time.  Like many of you, I had no idea what to expect since Halloween has never been tackled by the Hart Administration since reopening in 2014.  When it was announced that the renowned Oak Island Creative was involved in the project, I knew that it would be at least worth giving it a shot.  

Let me walk you through my evening.  First you should know that the hours for the festivities are very wonky.  King Louie's Playland, the rides, and HalloScream activities all have different closing times.  The hours when I was there were: the park was open 6-11p, with the kids' rides closing at 9:00, other rides closing at 10:00p, and HalloScream closing at 11:00pm.  I would recommend looking into the hours before you make a visit so you can plan your night accordingly.

Knowing that the rides closed before HallowScream, we decided to do as many rides as we could first.  My friend had never been to Kentucky Kingdom so this was an all new experience for her.  One thing that many people who patronize this site would appreciate is that the opportunity to have night rides on some of their attractions is very rare and they do not disappoint.  Storm Chaser, T3, Thunder Run and Lightening Run are all amazing night rides.  T3 in particular gave you an even more incredible out-of-control feeling... and yes- I am a T3 fan whether it's day or night.  It was incredible to see some of the rides at night.  I believe that T3 even had a "custom" light package of temporary chasing lights going up the lift hill.  Not only did it look cool, but it also assisted in navigating around the park.  Many pathways are blocked off so even if you know the park, it's a little easy to get turned around.  

 

Lightening Run and temporary uplighting for HalloScream

Being my first visit to HallowScream, I wanted to make sure that I hit all that they had to offer.  One new attraction was the live show Predator's Prowl in the venue that normally houses the sealion show.  This was a song and dance show that was performed by a very young troop out of Louisville.  Was it great?  No.  But you know what?  They're teenagers doing what they love, likely performing for the first time professionally, under likely less than ideal conditions.  If you go down there, go see it.  Support the arts.  

Predator Prowl at HalloScream

Next we made our way to the 4D theater to see Friday the 13th in 4D.  They make it clear that this is a PG-13 attraction, and that's very true.  There are a medley of murder scenes that culminate in Jason's final death (or is it??).  The video does show a fair amount of gore and even some language that isn't exactly PC friendly, but if you can handle that then it's definitely worth seeing.  I do really like how Kentucky Kingdom gets more and more creative with their 4D theatre and it really makes me miss ours. 

A display of Camp Crystal Lake from the Friday the 13th movies as you exit Friday the 13th in 4D

Next we decided to eat.  My favorite place in Kentucky Kingdom to eat is their new beer garden restaurant (I'm sure it has a name).  Last summer I had the nachos and they were excellent.  They rethemed the restaurant to Hank n Stein's Laboratory for HalloScream and completely changed the menu.  Everyone was raving about the Monster Burger and I was eager to try it.  Unfortunately by the time we got back there the line was just a little too long (remember, time is at a premium for rides) so we sought out other food options.  I hadn't eaten at many places in the park so I wasn't too disappointed to try somewhere else.  We stumbled upon a pizza place outside of the waterpark and give it a shot.  It wasn't bad.  Typical flat bred, but you felt like you got a LOT to eat for $9.99.  I'd eat there again.

Kentucky Kingdom Flat Bread Pizza

After a few more night rides, we went on to the reason we came: HalloScream.  Again, I didn't know what to expect.  Even the description is a little hard to swallow: a bar, a restaurant, a retail area, and two haunted houses? What one must understand is that their concept of Haunt is very different from other parks.  While other parks have haunts and scare zones throughout the park, at Kentucky Kingdom much of it is concentrated into one area. 

The entrance to HalloScream

Right inside the main entrance leads you into the retail area.  All of this is housed in their picnic grove.  The retail area had your typical stuff - light up things, Minecraft swords, nick knacks, etc.  It did have some hidden gems too.  They had a collection of baby dolls that were supposed to be scary.  They were neat, but one really popped out at me.  It had a big advertisement sticker on the front that says, "My head comes off!"  I couldn't help buy laugh.  Thanks, science!

Retail area of HalloScream

There are only two haunted houses, so I think they knew they had to hit hard with what they had.  Out of respect for the IP (and likely park policy) I didn't take any photos inside the mazes. 

Die Laughing: A Clown Funeral couldn't have been named more appropriately. The juxtaposition of something funny like a clown and something sad like a funeral made for some of the funniest scenes I could imagine.  At one point you walk through a section where there are clowns in caskets but many of them are in them the wrong way with giant red shoes sticking out where the head typically is.  Another scene showed a bright red casket being lowered into a ball pit, as if the clown would be interred under a ball pit rather than in the ground.  You only get to go through the mazes once with your ticket, and I didn't think that would be a problem, but I do have to admit that I probably would have done this a few more times if I had the opportunity.

Zombie Wasteland was also as it states:  a zombie maze.  It's incredibly hard to make this stuff unique or original now with the zombie market being so saturated.  Although they went with a cliche' theme, there were some stand out moments in this maze.  One was a section that was completely dark. It was very similar to Blackout in spirit.  The main difference was that this was pitch black.  The thing I never liked about Blackout is that they have a strobe light that goes off every few seconds that allows you to get your bearings.  They also didn't use any fog in the maze that I can recall.  I didn't realize how much I liked that until I experienced it.  You could really see each detail in each scene and it didn't take away from the jump scares.  I feel like haunted houses in general rely way too much on fog and instead of being immersed in the theme, you are more concerned with fumbling around and trying not to trip over things or crash into the other people.  

Mardi-Grave is a voodoo inspired dance party.  I couldn't help but laugh at how many decorations I recognized from Grand Carnivale'.  Great minds think alike, I guess.  This isn't really my scene so I just kind of watched it for a little while but people seemed to enjoy it.  

Mardi-grave at Kentucky Kingdom

One minor detail that added a lot of ambiance to the park was that they replaced almost all of their lamps with special bulbs that looked like it was burning.  It really did give a spooky feeling to the park outside of HalloScream.

Flickering bulbs create an ambiance in the park.

Until next time, Kentucky Kingdom!

Would I recommend this event?  I would!  I am especially fond of the fact that they are open on Sundays, so you don't have to choose between this and Haunt.  I would say that there is enough family friendly stuff to do to bring your family if you want, but enough thrill rides open to get those rare night rides in for you thrill seekers.  I do wish the whole event was open during all of the park hours, but the rides closing an hour before the haunts wasn't terribly disruptive.

I guess I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I didn't say that the best deal for going to HalloScream is by purchasing a 2020 Kentucky Kingdom Season Pass.  However if that's not your cup of tea, there is a special deal in which you can attend Kentucky Kingdom, HalloScream (one time through each maze) and free soft drinks for $29.99 by clicking here. 

Have you been to HalloScream?  What are your thoughts on it?

[BeeastFarmer]

I'm going Friday.  I'm looking forward to it, and I thank you for the information!

[MrPKI]

My wife and I were in attendance on Sunday night. We're locals and aren't super into haunt attractions, but we were curious to see how they decorated the park and to try some of the new food options. I was also looking forward to some night rides.

Now I wish I had waited until after dark to do T3. Like many, I'm not a big fan, but it's tolerable enough for the occasional lap. It probably is the least lit area of the park.

After a stop at Tin Lizzies (which is now has tiki torches!), we started our night at the LaBARatory to try Frank's Monster Burger. We split it, and that was a good plan. It is far too much for one person, but it was tasty. Dr. Frankenstein, himself, will even bus your table and show you the lovely ingredients that went into your meal. 

Later on, my wife tried the pumpkin spice Dole whip, and I had Orange Moon Rising ice cream from Scoops (Spooks). The Dole whip tasted like 100% pumpkin spice and 0% pineapple. Not to say it was bad, but if you're expecting an interesting flavor juxtaposition, sorry, all pumpkin. The Orange was good. I think those who like fudge (which I could take or leave) would really like it.

We didn't end up doing any of the primary haunts, although we did briefly walk through the Bizarre Bazaar and observed the dance party. I was impressed with the level of decor in the areas that had it. I will be interested to see next year if they extend the theme to any other parts of the park.

[Aaron88stang]

Thank you for the report. I am hoping to make it out to KK before the end of the month to check this out for myself. 

[BoddaH1994]

I'm actually really excited for the future of this event.  I hope they continue to add houses. I also hope they keep working with Oak Island.