2023 Halloween Haunt Discussion

[TheBeast54]

As the time rolls by this summer season, we are inching closer to Halloween Haunt for this year. Since this is apparent, I have decided to create this thread for any speculation before the season, discussion during the season, reviews of mazes and scare zones, or any other thing pertaining to Haunt.

As far as we know, we are rumored to be receiving one new maze and two new scare zones for the 2023 season (I would link the SOB station thread where this was disclosed but I do not know how to link quotes from a thread ).

Returning mazes so far as of 7/10 will be C.H.A.O.S., Cornered, Hotel St. Michelle, KillMart, Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror, and Slaughterhouse.

Returning scare zones so far as of 7/10 will be Alien X, Coney Maul, Pumpkin Eater, and International Street Fear.

[SonofBaconator]

This won’t happen in 2023 but I would like to see a few changes in the future:

I wish Haunts could be incorporated into the rides. For example, bring the train back somehow, bring back the monster that you see while riding The Beast, put spooky colored lights in the tunnel for BLSC, add haunt props to Adventure Express and Mystic, etc. 

Also have a transition between the kids event and Haunt. If I recall correctly, last season Planet Snoopy closed right around the time Haunt began which overlaps the events. 
 

Finally, and this might be the comment that gets me tarred and feathered, but I’d put the roaming monsters in the mazes and scare zones. There are so many people who attend haunt that I feel like the roaming actors and actresses get lost in the shuffle. If they could pull them and possibly open up even more mazes, that would ideal in my opinion. Again a controversial opinion.

[TheBeast54]

2 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

For example, bring the train back somehow,

From what I've heard, the trains can only alledgedly run so many hours a year (not sure why, something to do with regulations or such) which makes some sense; but I do believe that is why Tombstone Terror-tory was removed besides the construction of Mystic/rerouting of WWC's entrance. If the restrictions are true, I believe KI would've rather run the trains during Winterfest instead of Haunt, given the 12 Days of Christmas attraction.

6 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Also have a transition between the kids event and Haunt. If I recall correctly, last season Planet Snoopy closed right around the time Haunt began which overlaps the events. 

This, as the events just abruptly shift with no warning; except for some announcements before Haunt begins. Usually Planet Snoopy closes I believe at 6 PM, which is when Haunt begins. I would personally like to see an event where everything can be slowly "fazed" out the last hour before haunt, such as having a wrap up and getting last riders in at Planet Snoopy before Haunt starts. It's hard to explain, but I just don't prefer the sudden transition it has, as @SonofBaconator stated.

 

10 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

If they could pull them and possibly open up even more mazes, that would ideal in my opinion.

Lastly, I'd love to see some of the monsters be put into the mazes, such as the wendigo-like monster last year that was tall and looked infernal. It would add so much value to the mazes and provide a unique scare, as it would be hard to tell if it is a scare actor in stilts/a tall costume, or an animatronic. However, there should still be a balance of monsters in scare zones, lest a repeat of Rivertown Reaping/Zombie Mall occurs.

[SonofBaconator]

55 minutes ago, TheBeast54 said:

From what I've heard, the trains can only alledgedly run so many hours a year (not sure why, something to do with regulations or such) which makes some sense; but I do believe that is why Tombstone Terror-tory was removed besides the construction of Mystic/rerouting of WWC's entrance. If the restrictions are true, I believe KI would've rather run the trains during Winterfest instead of Haunt, given the 12 Days of Christmas attraction.

I’ve been told this isn’t the case when I asked an engineer in passing but that could be inaccurate. From what I gather, it comes down to staffing and audience.
 

The railroad is not part of the rides department in the sense of staffing, a Mystic Timbers ride op couldn’t just hop in the cab of either locomotive- the operators of the railroad are locomotive engineers that work for just the trains if that makes sense. I’m sure operating the train for long hours into the night might be hard to staff. At least with Winterfest, the event opens later so you can get enough staffing as opposed to trying to schedule train crews from 11am-12am for Haunt. On top of that, with the platform gone the train would have to run like it would for Winterfest where it goes throughout the whole course with passengers so you would have to either put scare actors along the route or add a bunch of props that they’d have to tear down for Winterfest.

As far as the audience goes, Haunt draws in a different crowd than Winterfest. Winterfest brings with it a family atmosphere where as Haunt does not. I could imagine people trying to hop off the train and go into the woods (I’ve actually seen people go into the woods while waiting in line for Field of Screams years ago.)

With all that said, it’s probably for good reasons that it doesn’t operate for Haunt but in a perfect world it would be cool to see it brought back in a way that works.

[Timchat2]

It will be interesting to how (or if) the entertainment budget cuts across the chain will show up for Haunt and WinterFest. Kings Island managed to hold onto a good number of productions and performers for the main summer season, so hopefully that means Haunt will be as close to "normal" as possible.

[TheBeast54]

51 minutes ago, Timchat2 said:

It will be interesting to how (or if) the entertainment budget cuts across the chain will show up for Haunt and WinterFest. Kings Island managed to hold onto a good number of productions and performers for the main summer season, so hopefully that means Haunt will be as close to "normal" as possible.

I hope everything will be good Winterfest wise and especially Haunt wise. After the pandemic, half of our mazes were removed and my guess was to save costs; however I really don't know why. There's times when I miss mazes like Field of Screams and Urgent Scare. Those were really fun.

[Snowball]

4 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

This might be the comment that gets me tarred and feathered, but I’d put the roaming monsters in the mazes and scare zones.

No thank you, I enjoy my freedom. 

[brenthodge]

5 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

This won’t happen in 2023 but I would like to see a few changes in the future:

I wish Haunts could be incorporated into the rides. For example, bring the train back somehow, bring back the monster that you see while riding The Beast, put spooky colored lights in the tunnel for BLSC, add haunt props to Adventure Express and Mystic, etc. 

Also have a transition between the kids event and Haunt. If I recall correctly, last season Planet Snoopy closed right around the time Haunt began which overlaps the events. 
 

Finally, and this might be the comment that gets me tarred and feathered, but I’d put the roaming monsters in the mazes and scare zones. There are so many people who attend haunt that I feel like the roaming actors and actresses get lost in the shuffle. If they could pull them and possibly open up even more mazes, that would ideal in my opinion. Again a controversial opinion.

I never understood why they don’t do

lighting, projection and minimal

prop theming to rides. These wouldn’t be that obvious in day or could be uncovered right at 7 and it would be an easy way to increase the marketable “haunt attractions” with little to no additional staffing. Also never understood why they don’t really do any true “world building”-meaning have the pirate treat station and the pirate scare zone by the pirate ship. Let each build on each other to make a greater experience throughout the day. They do it a bit with AlienX and seemed to be heading that way a few years ago with RivertownReaping and PumpkinEater both in Rivertown area with a similar aesthetic and backstory, but then that was abandoned and the “old world village” of pumpkin eater moved to the “modern” concrete wasteland that could actually be s cool urban vampire scare zone. It feel like random stuff here and there outside of a few areas  

 

[TheBeast54]

Off topic from the main talking points but I'm hopefully planning on picking up a position as a scare actor this season. Any tips or recommendations? I do want to return for the next few seasons or more as well.

[Tr0y]

I hope they bring the fog machines back to the rides. Fog before you drop into the first tunnel on Beast would be amazing!

[MDMC01]

Fog in The Bat’s station (or Orion/Diamondback’s drop would be awesome. Also, Banshee covered in fog would also be cool.

I once rode Vortex and Beast in fog (natural fog - it was on a summer Midnight close) and it was epic. Going up Beast’s second lift was surreal.

[Snowball]

17 hours ago, TheBeast54 said:

Off topic from the main talking points but I'm hopefully planning on picking up a position as a scare actor this season. Any tips or recommendations? I do want to return for the next few seasons or more as well.

For auditions they’ll ask you all the typical job questions, they might have you improvise a character (Not as hard or involved as it sounds), and they’ll probably have you scream or yell.

If you get the position, the biggest tip I can give is to pace yourself. You’ll probably hear this over and over again from your supervisors. You’ll want to go wild on Friday nights, and then when Saturday night hits, you’ll be completely exhausted.

Drink water. Seriously. You’ll hear this one all the time, too.

Try not to use overused lines. (“Boo” and “get out” are the worst ones.)

There’s plenty more advice I can give if you need it. The biggest thing is just have fun, enjoy it. This will be my 8th season scaring, sometimes it’s the most fun you can have at a job. Break a leg!

[FUN&ONLY!]

5 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I hope they bring the fog machines back to the rides. Fog before you drop into the first tunnel on Beast would be amazing!

I hope Kings Island adds more fog in general throughout the park. The fog really adds to the atmosphere, but it was lacking last year. Some areas had no fog at all.

[Timchat2]

https://www.kingsdominion.com/events/haunt

Kings Dominion updated their site with details about Haunt as a separate ticket event.

Will other Cedar Fair parks go this route?

[Taylor.B03]

Hope Kings Island doesn't, sounds like an absolute mess to implement for a park that has never done separate before. 

[Timchat2]

https://www.worldsoffun.com/events/haunt

Worlds of Fun has posted similar information about a separate ticket Haunt.

[Taylor.B03]

www.visitkingsisland.com/haunt

Safe for the time being! 

[MDMC01]

An interesting thing I noticed in the Q&A for KD’s Haunt was mention that the chaperone policy will still be in effect during Haunt. I wonder how this will affect crowd levels.

[SonofBaconator]

Didn’t Fearfest implement something like that when it started?

[beastfan11]

Hahahahahahahaha. 
Iit’s funny to think that they think that making this event a separate ticket will work. 
 

What the hell is going on? 
 

 

-beastfan11, looking at his 2024 pass renewal a lot closer. 

[CoastersRZ]

Separate ticketed event, but at least on the Kings Dominion page, all Gold and Platinum 2023 and 2024 passes include admission into the daytime events and the Haunt event.  Maybe they are trying to have different tickets for the daytime stuff and then for the evening event?  Not sure if they will clear the park or what.  Carowinds` haunt is already a separate ticketed event, that your season pass does not give you admission to.  Same holds true for Knott`s Scary Farm.  They are actually selling a pass again this year that gives unlimited admission to Knott`s Scary Farm.

I don`t see Kings Island making pass holders pay separately for Haunt.  It has been included with a pass since 2003.  That would be hard to upsell it to pass holders after being included for so long, and it is part of their marketing of the season pass.  Seasons of fun.  The first years of Fear Fest (2000, 2001 and 2002), it was a separate ticketed event and the crowds were a little smaller.  But they also didn`t have all of the rides open.  Flat rides like Scrambler, Monster, etc. were not open during Haunt.  Back then they had Drop Tower, Delirium and a few other rides open for Haunt.

[PKIDelirium]

I know the subject is a dead horse but I’d be okay with a clear-the-park method if it was being done to uncover and set up the edgier theming and whatnot. I miss the more “adult” version that Haunt debuted with in 2007, mazes like Club Blood and shows like Dead Awakening and Hot Blooded.

[SonofBaconator]

4 hours ago, PKIDelirium said:

I know the subject is a dead horse but I’d be okay with a clear-the-park method if it was being done to uncover and set up the edgier theming and whatnot.

I agree, I’m not a current fan of the overlap. I liked when the Great Pumpkin Fest was in Soak City because parents could enter and exit through the waterpark and avoid the chance of running into monsters all together. Only problem was, they’d still need to walk or take the train to the main park if their kids wanted to ride things since the water park only featured select Halloween activities.

[Snowball]

13 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

-beastfan11, looking at his 2024 pass renewal a lot closer. 

I mean, if it makes you feel any better, KD’s website does say that gold passholders (and any tiers above gold) still get in.

[Klabergian Empire]

I will say this though. I am REALLY excited for Haunt this year not for just the spooky mazes,

 

but for the night rides!

[disco2000]

20 minutes ago, Klabergian Empire said:

I will say this though. I am REALLY excited for Haunt this year not for just the spooky mazes,

 

but for the night rides!

This year due to budget cuts that they will only tell you about in DM, it will be only Haunts and no rides 

[Orion-XL200]

Haunt is coming this year on Fridays, Saturdays & Select Sundays, Sept. 22 - Oct. 28, 2023

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt

What do you hope to see returning this year? What do you hope is added? 

If you visited last year, what was your favorite experience? 

Just a rumor on my end but I've heard rumblings of this being the last year for Kill Mart and Slaughterhouse. Would you be upset if they didn't come back after this year? What would you like to see replace them eventually?

[TombRaiderFTW]

Very weird to me that KillMart and Slaughterhouse might leave before Madame Fatale's... Aren't both younger than Fatale's?

Anyway, if the park had an interest in theming its houses to the areas they're located in, Slaughterhouse would be an interesting spot for a house themed to haunted woods or something supernatural, wooded, and "outdoorsy" (that could benefit from actually being inside.) Had Wolf Pack not already run its course, I'd say that's a good place for it to go. Not immediately sure of what to do with KillMart's spot.

[BoddaH1994]

40 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Haunt is coming this year on Fridays, Saturdays & Select Sundays, Sept. 22 - Oct. 28, 2023

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt

What do you hope to see returning this year? What do you hope is added? 

If you visited last year, what was your favorite experience? 

Just a rumor on my end but I've heard rumblings of this being the last year for Kill Mart and Slaughterhouse. Would you be upset if they didn't come back after this year? What would you like to see replace them eventually?

So long as Nyte Walkers returns then I’ll be happy. That show was an awesome part of Haunt last year! The energy was incredible!!

[Timchat2]

All Wheel Sports posted a casting notice for NyteWalkers in July, so it is presumably coming back to Kings Island since California's Great America no longer does Haunt.