Fall Fest Tricks and Treats

[flightoffear1996]

On 9/25/2020 at 6:58 PM, dbackdreams said:

Gross why people want to drink at King's island?  Go ride roller casters and if you need to drink that alcohall, drink home where it is more safe.

I would never drink too many at the park but sometimes you just need a beer.  Sometimes just sitting down for a few minutes and relaxing with a cold one is needed after dealing with long lines, line jumpers and unruly guest during the day.

[BoddaH1994]

3 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I never would have thought I would associate soup with Kings Island.  I really like what they are doing--they are making some very wise decisions in the midst of a pandemic.  

My gf and I discussed the odd juxtaposition as well. What do you want for lunch at KI? Pizza? A burger? Soup of the day? Yeah, let’s have that!

[disco2000]

It would be interesting to hear how successful these offerings are compared to the offerings of Grand Carnivale!  

Personally, I like the food booths of Grand Carnivale better than having these in existing food places - it added to the ambiance and "limited time only" feel they were going for. 

I am sure at this point in the season, staffing is a major reason why they are in existing food places, but I think having them forced into existing food places kinda takes away from the "limited time only" feel.  Grilled Cheese and tomato soup just doesn't seem right at Juke Box Diner LOL.  How come they could pull it off putting a trick or treat in LaRosa's, but not put the grilled cheese trick or treat at Tom+Chee...

Maybe these options will sell better in an existing food place, but I think the ambiance and uniqueness would be better served following the Grand Carnivale tasting event with their own booths.

[SnakePlissken]

4 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I would never drink too many at the park but sometimes you just need a beer.  Sometimes just sitting down for a few minutes and relaxing with a cold one is needed after dealing with long lines, line jumpers and unruly guest during the day.

I love an ice cold draft beer on a hot day. That La Rosa;s stand in Rivertown is always fresh too. I will give you another reason too. Lines. If anyone remembers how unusually warm it was and crowded on day 2 of Coasterstock 2019 they might understand too. Soft Drink refill lines were a mile long but beer lines were non existent. I was like fine I'll pay $9.66 for a tasty beer and not have to stand in a line. Shut up and take my money!

[LuckyluvsKI]

Everything we had yesterday was delicious!  between our group we tried almost everything- both flatbreads, the zombie poutine,  toxic mad, banana fosters crepe ( best when ordered and they aren't busy- don't wait til the end of the day when everybody is ordering sweets) pumpkin spice funnel cake- good doesn't need the full scoop of cream cheese icing that was a bit much, the devil wings, and the chupacabra both super good and so was the brisket from coney bbq.  and that was my parents sharing 1 card and my hubs and i sharing 1 card- we got plenty and were stuffed lol!  he also had the Fat Head Brewery Spooky Tooth and enjoyed it I was treated to the Green with Envy with the Bewtitched Sips lol and it was a refreshing drink with just a nice touch with the Caramel Vodka.  we still used our dining plan one for the kid and myself since hubs wanted the poutine.  The festival is nicely laid out and i love that the treat stations are spread out.  like really spread out i think we only hit 5 because we didn't go back to coney mall or the back corner by WindSeeker.  the kids games are cute and enjoyable- Sooo many stuffed animals LOLOL 

 

i definitely think the overhead of trying to do individual booths outside of existing food places is a cost of covid.  its way cheaper to have an extra employee or two using the existing cookware then to set up all those extra food stations.   I imagine that if this is successful this will be the fall festival next year family fun from 11-7 and the food booths will return- and then 8-12 Haunt will begin.  It had something for every age and  was better than what they did last year for daytime family fun- and leaves room for haunt stuff to be out and  whatnot for the transition next year. will be interesting to see what next year brings. 

[LuckyluvsKI]

22 hours ago, MoreFogPlease said:

The one that I tried yesterday was the funnel cake, and I was disappointed with the portion size. It was good, but super small and not worth $7 or even $5.

yes i got one of them yesterday- it was small definitely not worth 7$ or really the 5. but i was stuffed so it was ok for me but if you were getting it al a carte definitely too small. 

[BoddaH1994]

11 hours ago, disco2000 said:

It would be interesting to hear how successful these offerings are compared to the offerings of Grand Carnivale!  

Personally, I like the food booths of Grand Carnivale better than having these in existing food places - it added to the ambiance and "limited time only" feel they were going for. 

I am sure at this point in the season, staffing is a major reason why they are in existing food places, but I think having them forced into existing food places kinda takes away from the "limited time only" feel.  Grilled Cheese and tomato soup just doesn't seem right at Juke Box Diner LOL.  How come they could pull it off putting a trick or treat in LaRosa's, but not put the grilled cheese trick or treat at Tom+Chee...

Maybe these options will sell better in an existing food place, but I think the ambiance and uniqueness would be better served following the Grand Carnivale tasting event with their own booths.

I agree, but I also have to admit that there’s also kind of a fun element associated with seeing what the “special” food items were for each food location.  I saw several people crowded around the signs outside of each location, which kind of created an attraction in itself. Almost like, “I wonder what LaRosa’s is doing for this.” as you walk by. 
 

I have little doubt that this is making more money than Carnivale... simply because GC was rained out almost every day. I like both concepts, but in different ways. 
 

One thing I do like about this is if you’re into “tricks” or “treats” you can sample almost all of them with the tasting card. I ate the IR meal for Carnivale, but always planned on doing the tasting card but never did. I think part of it was that there was some fear of missing out. I almost felt like I needed to do research and choose what to eat before doing it, which simply never happened. I’m sure I’m alone in that, though. 

[Kenban]

I was at the park Saturday and I have to say even though I like Haunt.  I really preferred this fall festival at least for the feel of the park during the day.  The park feels better when they are not blocking off pathways and putting out random obstacles which are there all day for the scare zones.  Plus I preferred having the trick or treating in the main park, it was nice seeing the kids run around in the main park instead of the water park.

I want Haunt to return when it’s safe.  But I kinda think they should stick primarily to houses and roaming scare actors.  Not sure I want the traditional scare zones to return.  I just prefer when they do not ruin the look and feel of the park during the day.  If they want scare zones figure out a better way to hide items during the day.  For instance at Universal they close the park for about an hour and use forklifts, cars, and on smaller items they just wheel the items out from hiding places.  If needed they will leave them out but typically they do a great job fitting in with the season.  I think Kings Island could do something similar by just closing the paths temporarily as they bring out the props and designing scare zones that blend into the park better.

So the tricks and treats menu, the food looks good.  But I have a meal plan, and it feels like there should be a way to pickup one of the cards at a discount by expending my meals.  Going to the park by myself and buying one of the six item cards and using it solo seems hard to do in a single day.  Maybe next trip I will actually try one of the items.  I did get the chefs plate and it was fantastic, hope to see it continue next year.

[Benjamin22]

31 minutes ago, Kenban said:

I want Haunt to return when it’s safe.  But I kinda think they should stick primarily to houses and roaming scare actors.  Not sure I want the traditional scare zones to return.  I just prefer when they do not ruin the look and feel of the park during the day.  If they want scare zones figure out a better way to hide items during the day.  For instance at Universal they close the park for about an hour and use forklifts, cars, and on smaller items they just wheel the items out from hiding places.  If needed they will leave them out but typically they do a great job fitting in with the season.  I think Kings Island could do something

To be honest I feel the exact opposite. The haunt decorations & scare zones play a huge role in the atmosphere imo. Restricting the decor to just the haunted houses would kill the halloween vibe for someone who just rode the rides and not visit the haunted houses. The scare zones for the most part look fine and play an important role in transforming the entire park into Haunt.

[BoddaH1994]

7 Things You Should Know About Tricks and Treats:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/september/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-kings-islands-tricks-and-treats-fall-fest?fbclid=IwAR1W7yeQ5S8rMqHIwnEGWJuiDCl3-27dGwQbyYnguBpxrYfuzqdgrWosmOk

[brenthodge]

4 hours ago, Benjamin22 said:

To be honest I feel the exact opposite. The haunt decorations & scare zones play a huge role in the atmosphere imo. Restricting the decor to just the haunted houses would kill the halloween vibe for someone who just rode the rides and not visit the haunted houses. The scare zones for the most part look fine and play an important role in transforming the entire park into Haunt.

I agree to both actually. I think the goal would be better designed scare zones that can play both roles. I think pumpkin eater is a good example. During the day it reads as a pumpkin display but at night transforms. The Pirate ship could be the same if they moved it more where the Viking Fury is - during the day it could be "friendly pirates" that transition at night. Revolving panels, doors that flip open etc could be used for all of these to make more family friendly during the day. I think they've already moved more to that by eliminating some of the dismembered bodies and gore junk just thrown around.