Halloween Haunt 2022

[Orion742]

19 hours ago, befat said:

Drop Tower is still listed on the main web page but not the Haunt web page. This leads me to believe that even if it does reopen this season, it will be closed during Haunt hours. Drop Tower’s lights ruined the atmosphere the last time they tried putting a corn maze in Timberwolf. I experienced it myself. Just a theory.

Drop Tower is listed 5 minute wait, can’t confirm If open at the park right now.

[disco2000]

5 minutes ago, Orion742 said:

Drop Tower is listed 5 minute wait, can’t confirm If open at the park right now.

It is not open....

[BB1]

Already a lot of people leaving the park to put their bags back in their cars. Have already seen at least 15 people walking back to their cars in the last 10 minutes. 

[disco2000]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:45 PM, befat said:

Can confirm it has been there in the past. Problem was, Drop Tower’s lights made it too bright in the maze. Could explain the closure of said ride during Haunt.

Theory busted lol....the lights are on....and they are using the queue since the ride is down.

[Orion742]

21 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Theory busted lol....the lights are on....and they are using the queue since the ride is down.

Is Hotel St Michelle open? I saw it was closed earlier.

[DoomPlague]

17 minutes ago, Orion742 said:

Is Hotel St Michelle open? I saw it was closed earlier.

Saw a big line for it on racer 15 minutes ago. I think it's being misreported on the app

[disco2000]

The hotel is open.

[chad_1138]

10:30 show of Monster Rock!  Great as always!!

 

[Shawn Meyer]

Anyone know what happened to the Ogre that is usually part of haunt?

[MDMC01]

Yeah, I didn't see "Al" tonight...

[brenthodge]

8 hours ago, Shawn Meyer said:

Anyone know what happened to the Ogre that is usually part of haunt?

He was looking ROUGH last year - maybe he finally met his maker. 

[disco2000]

^But we won best Halloween event the past two years in a row .....

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, disco2000 said:

^But we won best Halloween event the past two years in a row .....

In a rigged sham of a “competition” but yeah… it’s THE BEST!! 

[disco2000]

2 minutes ago, brenthodge said:

That’s what I fear. I almost feel like they are setting this up to go out with a whimper by having a lackluster year, getting poor reviews and ho hum attendance so they can “try a new type of event” next season and not outright cancel it, but blame it on an “overall lackluster reviews last year despite being voted the best event by USA Today”.

There are many that think that....but regardless of what the park puts together, the attendance is still there.  Last night appeared to be one of the higher attended opening night Friday's in a long time...

[Snowball]

Even if haunt isn’t as cohesively themed, it’s still come a VERY long way from what it used to be back in the day and is still a fantastic event. Though I may be biased… 

[brenthodge]

32 minutes ago, Snowball said:

Even if haunt isn’t as cohesively themed, it’s still come a VERY long way from what it used to be back in the day and is still a fantastic event. Though I may be biased… 

It just feel like there are some reallocation of existing assets that would accomplish that though. There are some clear narratives that could be stronger using existing infrastructure, buildings, theming, and ride experiences. I don’t think it needs a “radical reinventing, just a tightening up and leaning into sone of what is already there. Even adding effects and lighting to existing “daytime” attractions like Adventure Express or TheBat would be a way of enhancing the experience without the expense of scareActors. I just don’t feel the park is being very creative or resourceful with this event. 

[Orion742]

So there is no re entry after 6:00pm on Saturday and Sunday and no re entry period on Friday, that is because scare zones start at 8:00pm on Saturday and Sunday right? Correct me if I am wrong please.

[befat]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:36 PM, disco2000 said:

Theory busted lol....the lights are on....and they are using the queue since the ride is down.

You win! Pleasure bantering with you, haha.

[disco2000]

A new blog post about the latest Haunt attraction:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2022/september/an-inside-look-at-the-new-hotel-st.-michelle-maze?fbclid=IwAR03A1_1xXk8XrTy6x3KsB4zhmftEzpwMmvjEJJMqhTiyqJJ8pnoxnK3lDw

 

[chad_1138]

On 9/24/2022 at 1:00 AM, Shawn Meyer said:

Anyone know what happened to the Ogre that is usually part of haunt?

He was back last night!  On the path behind the Tower toward Rivertown.

[FUN&ONLY!]

It’s still very disappointing to see such a small amount of fog around the park. I thought the fog last year was light outside of the official scare zones, but this year the fog is extremely light within the scare zones and practically non-existent outside of them. I remember when the fire would shoot out on Backlot Stunt Coaster, and the whole sky would light up with the fog in the air. The atmosphere is not nearly as good without the fog.

[Benjamin22]

31 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

It’s still very disappointing to see such a small amount of fog around the park. I thought the fog last year was light outside of the official scare zones, but this year the fog is extremely light within the scare zones and practically non-existent outside of them. I emended when the fire would shoot out on Backlot Stunt Coaster, and the whole sky would light up with the fog in the air. The atmosphere is not nearly as good without the fog.

The park as a whole didn't have nearly as good of an atmosphere imo. The theming around the park is not nearly as pronounced. The scare zones with the exception of pumpkin eater don't really feel themed at all. Like coney mall looked pretty much like normal coney mall at night. The fog not being present is a huge atmospheric buzz kill. Only thing Im remembering from my haunt experience thus far are the scare actors on I-Street.

[chad_1138]

58 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

It’s still very disappointing to see such a small amount of fog around the park. I thought the fog last year was light outside of the official scare zones, but this year the fog is extremely light within the scare zones and practically non-existent outside of them. I emended when the fire would shoot out on Backlot Stunt Coaster, and the whole sky would light up with the fog in the air. The atmosphere is not nearly as good without the fog.

This 100%.  Speaking of fog, did anyone else notice the fog bubbles in Coney Mall?

[Return of the Rotag]

My only complaint about the fog is thos huffing the fog as it comes out. I literally sat in pumpkin eater on Friday for 30 min and watched about 25-50 people (mostly minors) huffing the fog. 

[disco2000]

3 minutes ago, Return of the Rotag said:

My only complaint about the fog is thos huffing the fog as it comes out. I literally sat in pumpkin eater on Friday for 30 min and watched about 25-50 people (mostly minors) huffing the fog. 

That is how they get around the no vaping policy 

[BB1]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:25 PM, brenthodge said:

In a rigged sham of a “competition” but yeah… it’s THE BEST!! 

Anyone who says that is seriously on some heavy stuff. HHN this year blew it out of the water, heck even Halloweekends at CP just this last weekend had a holistically better event overall. The scares were actually there (unlike this year at KI), the theming is amazing, the overall experience is just so much better than what we get at KI. 

[brenthodge]

It’s called sarcasm. Point being winning that award with what they threw out there proves there’s no real validity to the said award. 

[KIghostguy]

11 hours ago, BB1 said:

Anyone who says that is seriously on some heavy stuff. HHN this year blew it out of the water, heck even Halloweekends at CP just this last weekend had a holistically better event overall. The scares were actually there (unlike this year at KI), the theming is amazing, the overall experience is just so much better than what we get at KI. 

I'm glad you brought up HalloWeekends! I'm also super impressed with it, especially compared to how the event was last year. All the mazes seem well-staffed, screamsters seem very engaged and involved. The new Opening ScaryMoanies and Midnight Syndicate show are great fun--the actor who plays Mr. Midnight is FANTASTIC! The event is night and day compared to last year. A lot of the improvements are no doubt because Michael Roddy, who used to be the head creative for Halloween Horror Nights, is now the VP of Entertainment at Cedar Point.

I'm finally making it down to Haunt this weekend and am interested to compare the two. I felt that last year, Haunt was definitely the better, more immersive event compared to HalloWeekends. But I'm with you @BB1, Cedar Point really upped their game this year for Halloween.

[BB1]

11 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

I'm glad you brought up HalloWeekends! I'm also super impressed with it, especially compared to how the event was last year. All the mazes seem well-staffed, screamsters seem very engaged and involved. The new Opening ScaryMoanies and Midnight Syndicate show are great fun--the actor who plays Mr. Midnight is FANTASTIC! The event is night and day compared to last year. A lot of the improvements are no doubt because Michael Roddy, who used to be the head creative for Halloween Horror Nights, is now the VP of Entertainment at Cedar Point.

I'm finally making it down to Haunt this weekend and am interested to compare the two. I felt that last year, Haunt was definitely the better, more immersive event compared to HalloWeekends. But I'm with you @BB1, Cedar Point really upped their game this year for Halloween.

As someone who prides himself on going to a plethora of haunts/haunted attractions across the US I take these callouts pretty seriously. (Currently at 10 events/attractions for this year alone) I get it the first night can be somewhat rough but when practically every haunt besides Slaughterhouse at KI felt like it wasn't as scare inducing it was extremely depressing. (That being said a lot of the Slaughterhouse crew returned this year from what I could tell.) Cedar Point only proved that you could do without the major scare zones and still have an amazing haunt experience.

Of which at this point I would not be disappointed to see KI do away with a scarezone like Coney Maul to recreate Carnevil or make it Fearground Freakshow. The park could easily create a tombstone territory area in the Rivertown section, reimagine backwoods bayou for the walkway once again next to I street, remove pumpkin "what have they done to my Knotts baby" eater and focus more on the houses. Which I should mention here in no way shape or form am I trying to put anyone who is working the event down, I know a lot of blood sweat and tears goes into the event and that the park needs to focus on what it needs overall. With that being said I wouldn't be upset to see the show aspect of the event be whittled down to the drum corps return, and maybe a show in the festhaus. Forget everything else, maybe even theme out some of the 'area' zones to the coasters around it? I E zombie lumberjacks near Mystic, Banshees near Banshee/tomb stones in the midway. 

[eadrewsKI]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:39 AM, BB1 said:

Anyone who says that is seriously on some heavy stuff. HHN this year blew it out of the water, heck even Halloweekends at CP just this last weekend had a holistically better event overall. The scares were actually there (unlike this year at KI), the theming is amazing, the overall experience is just so much better than what we get at KI. 

HHNs storylines and theming are phenomenal. The scare zones are packed with scare actors who make some great acting choices. This includes doing chicken motions towards peoples hiding in shops, or standing right near shop doors getting ready to jump at people. One certain scare zone set to a parade has a wonderful storyline that you really need to understand before you go. Also, as much as I love and appreciate KI’s haunted houses and their fabulous theming, the Blumhouse maze at HHN should have blown the competition out of the water.