Haunt Constructive Criticisms

[SonofBaconator]

I decided to make this it’s own thread because I think is needs attention. 
 

I’ve shared this before but I’m not a huge fan of the idea of roaming scareactors. I think the practice is an inefficient use of labor and therefore should be eliminated from Halloween Haunt.

It’s been stated on here that there will be less scareactors this season. This could lead to less immersive mazes/scare zones. Why not simply pull these employees from the pathways and put them in the mazes and scare zones where they could be better utilized? I argue there’d be more value for guests if the mazes and scare zones were more immersive as opposed to spreading the staffing so thin around the park.

Regarding value, I think guests should be allowed to choose whether or not they want to get scared. If people want to get scared, then they should go to the mazes/scare zones. I don’t agree with the idea that you should have to pay more to not be scared via the “no boo” necklaces. It comes off as an unnecessary cash grab. 

I don’t think I’m alone in this but I’m not confident that this will ever become a reality unless attendance drops to the point where they would need to take action.

[KI Guy]

2 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I’ve shared this before but I’m not a huge fan of the idea of roaming scareactors. I think the practice is an inefficient use of labor and therefore should be eliminated from Halloween Haunt.

Roaming Scareactors have been a unique part of Haunt/Fearfest since the beginning... over 20 years. If most people at the Haunt didn't like them they wouldn't have them. 

2 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

Regarding value, I think guests should be allowed to choose whether or not they want to get scared. If people want to get scared, then they should go to the mazes/scare zones. I don’t agree with the idea that you should have to pay more to not be scared via the “no boo” necklaces. It comes off as an unnecessary cash grab. 

To that guest I would say, "why are you at Halloween Haunt if you don't want to be scared?" If being scared is that bothersome, he has the whole spring and summer not to mention the time earlier in the day before Haunt starts to enjoy Kings Island without being scared. Yes, the "no boo" necklaces are a cash grab, but people buy them which seems to be what the park cares about.

That guest has to realize that there are some people who look forward to Haunt all year as it's configured and it would be selfish to try to change it just because it's not entirely his cup of tea.

[johnjniehaus]

I personally don't like being scared but it's not a big enough deterrent for me not to go to the park and get lots of awesome night rides during haunt. Would I prefer the monsters/actors only be in the mazes? Yes, because I prefer not to be scared/jumped. However, I do understand that Haunt is it's own event and that people who are really into that stuff would be disappointed if the roaming monsters/actors went away all together because then their only option would be waiting in the long scare maze lines. I see both sides of the argument. As for me, the last two years I've attended haunt solely for the purpose of getting lots of night rides seeing as scare mazes, actors, monsters, etc is not really my thing. 

[SonofBaconator]

Also more food for thought:

If I’m part of the park’s front office, I’m looking at where the dollars are going. Look at ride ops: you know you need a certain amount of people to operate a ride and you know the operating cost to staff it. You can calculate ROI based off of the number of riders per hour. You can’t really calculate the ROI of a roaming scareactor.  If I’m Dent Schoolhouse, I know I’m getting my money’s worth with my staff….if I’m employing roaming scareactors in an amusement park setting with “no boo necklaces”, I don’t know if I’m getting all that I can out of them. If you put them in a maze or scare zone, you know they’re being used as effectively as possible.

The no-boo necklaces certainly invite a more family atmosphere that I don’t see going away. More and more parents are taking their kids to Haunt because they see it as a less scary alternative to Dent Schoolhouse, USS Nightmare, Land of Illusion, etc. Also, with Haunt being open for late hours, enthusiasts are able to catch night rides on their favorite coasters later than they would during the regular summer season. The event is certainly evolving but I personally don’t think they’re making as much money off of employing scareactors as they should be.

[BeeastFarmer]

Just a rumor but it makes sense with the way Cedar Fair has cut the budget this year...lots less scareactors this year are going to be employed. So the event is continuing to spiral downhill IMHO.

 

At this point, just have Oktoberfest weekends and put lederhosen on the employees and sell brats and let haunt die it's miserable death.

[Orion-XL200]

Working in the haunt industry and being trained by some of the awesome heavy hitters throughout the Ohio Haunters Association, I can say that roamers are good to have. At an outdoor attraction, such as KI, to get people amped up to enter the house (maze) or scare zone, you want to have queue actors (aka roamers at KI). Imagine going to a haunted house in the middle of October and there is nothing outside of the house to set the mood that you may get scared including actors. You just walk up to the building and enter with no "setting" being portrayed, no actors giving you information on the place whether rules/history/portraying a character that may be inside...it'd be boring for sure. If they half @** or not even that, the entrance experience you'd likely expect the inside of the attraction to be half @**ed. 

The queue actors not only amp guests up to head into an attraction, but they set the expectations of how to act within the attractions. Yes you have your greeters at the entrances of the mazes for the rules  but in person interactions when a guest touches what they shouldn't touch (actor or prop) queue actors have more flexibility to roam, tell a guest to stop, flag security down, etc. 

I have not worked a Cedar Fair haunt, but I will say that I do know the haunt industry is way more complicated than what meets the eye. 

 

[KI Guy]

23 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

You can calculate ROI based off of the number of riders per hour. You can’t really calculate the ROI of a roaming scareactor.

Cost-cutters have their place in the business, but unlike management they don't have to focus on the full picture when thinking of potential cuts.

Some costs just don't have revenue directly tied to them. How much does landscaping net them in ROI? On paper nothing--actually a big negative-- but take it away and perceived value of a park goes down. A guest feels the park is less special, and may spend less money at the park, make fewer visits, or be willing to pay less to come in. Think of those car dealerships that give away the coffee and donuts in the mornings. There's a psychological effect on the customers that indirectly makes them money. The cost-cutters, doing their job, would just find the cost-cutting opportunity not realizing or caring what the wider effects would be.

The biggest cost-cutting I've seen has been the modest investments for new attractions, and they're industry wide. The economy is not good, but not horrible. The lack of investment though has been worse than what we saw in 2009-10 when it was horrible. Can anyone recall a string of three years when things were this modest in terms of investment? Take next year, the two biggest park investments are a modest Dive coaster (Cedar Fair) and an "off-the-shelf" large boomerang coaster (Six Flags).

Regarding day-to-day- cost cutting at Cedar Fair, I'm sure the orders are coming from the board in Charlotte. The "best day ever" Ouimet strategy from several years back is out and the strategy of cost-saving and mostly status quo is clearly in. Hopefully, this is just echoes of the pandemic and they'll be pulling out of the ultra-conservative pandemic "survival" mode soon. Large, top-tier amusement parks need continuous maintenance and re-investment just to maintain the status quo let alone grow the business.

[Tr0y]

9 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

Also more food for thought:

If I’m part of the park’s front office, I’m looking at where the dollars are going. Look at ride ops: you know you need a certain amount of people to operate a ride and you know the operating cost to staff it. You can calculate ROI based off of the number of riders per hour. You can’t really calculate the ROI of a roaming scareactor.  If I’m Dent Schoolhouse, I know I’m getting my money’s worth with my staff….if I’m employing roaming scareactors in an amusement park setting with “no boo necklaces”, I don’t know if I’m getting all that I can out of them. If you put them in a maze or scare zone, you know they’re being used as effectively as possible.

The no-boo necklaces certainly invite a more family atmosphere that I don’t see going away. More and more parents are taking their kids to Haunt because they see it as a less scary alternative to Dent Schoolhouse, USS Nightmare, Land of Illusion, etc. Also, with Haunt being open for late hours, enthusiasts are able to catch night rides on their favorite coasters later than they would during the regular summer season. The event is certainly evolving but I personally don’t think they’re making as much money off of employing scareactors as they should be.

Agreed. There is more money to be made from families than there is with young adults and teens.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a future of a highly decorated Halloween event with no scare actors or mazes. Much like what Dollywood does. It’s much more inviting for families, which is we’re the money is at.

 

[super7]

There’s nothing scary about any of the actors.  They are people dressed up.   The ones coming at you on the midway are annoying.  Not scary.  
 

I agree with the original post.  If people like being jumped at the better use for the employees is at the mazes.    
 

We all know that Haunt  does not bring in a high quality crowd (the reason for no re-entry) .    If they didn’t have these annoying actors jumping at people through the park, they might perhaps increase the quality of the crowd with people who don’t care for that stuff, but would like to go to the park for night rides. 
 

Cedar Point limits their midway actors to Frontiertown/Trail.   The majority of the park midways are just normal night operations.    This works great and seems to bring a better quality crowd as they allow re-entry. 
 

 

[robintodd]

13 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I decided to make this it’s own thread because I think is needs attention. 
 

I’ve shared this before but I’m not a huge fan of the idea of roaming scareactors. I think the practice is an inefficient use of labor and therefore should be eliminated from Halloween Haunt.

It’s been stated on here that there will be less scareactors this season. This could lead to less immersive mazes/scare zones. Why not simply pull these employees from the pathways and put them in the mazes and scare zones where they could be better utilized? I argue there’d be more value for guests if the mazes and scare zones were more immersive as opposed to spreading the staffing so thin around the park.

Regarding value, I think guests should be allowed to choose whether or not they want to get scared. If people want to get scared, then they should go to the mazes/scare zones. I don’t agree with the idea that you should have to pay more to not be scared via the “no boo” necklaces. It comes off as an unnecessary cash grab. 

I don’t think I’m alone in this but I’m not confident that this will ever become a reality unless attendance drops to the point where they would need to take action.

Roamers are a great part of the experience.  Not only for the atomosphere but from the aspect of having employees among the crowd that can report anything "unruly" going on.  It's like having more security around, not just for unruly behavior, but to help out people with question, problems, etc.  Also I'm sure there are several people who only work haunt at night.

In my opinion haunt should be intended for adults (18+).  This is why the kids area is closed.  They are open during the day and on Sunday for the family crowd but, in my opinion, Fri and Sat nights should be for the adults to play.  In all we're talking about 12 nights out of the year for adult haunt.  In the past when they first started the event you never saw kids.  They closed the park at 6 and re-opened at 7 (literally clearing the park).  Nowadays people are pushing strollers at 11pm at night.  As far as the "no boo" I would love to see those go away.  It does look like a money grab.  If you don't want to be scared then leave before 7.   I think some of the scareactors "edit" themselves because of the chance of kids being around and I think they sould be free to do their best.  

It's only 12 nights out of the year.

 

[brenthodge]

On this note -and with budget cuts - I cant for the life of me figure out why they don't look for creative ways to PLUS existing rides and attractions with lighting, fog, minimal animatronics and projection mapping to up the HAUNT attraction count without increasing run cost significantly outside of initial investment in tech.  These things could easily be hidden (or not - knowing how sloppy the park is with tech equipment the rest of the year) and quickly uncovered and turned on at the start of haunt. Glowing eyes following you on The Beast. Cursed skeletons come to life on Adventure Express. Demon aliens take over Flight of Fear. Almost all of the major rides could have overlays that would make it feel WAY more immersive without hiring tons of live cast

[CoastersRZ]

The one thing that immediately comes to mind, is Mystic Timbers.  They could change the movie in the shed to something a little more sinister during Haunt with relative ease, I would imagine.

[Tr0y]

1 hour ago, CoastersRZ said:

The one thing that immediately comes to mind, is Mystic Timbers.  They could change the movie in the shed to something a little more sinister during Haunt with relative ease, I would imagine.

I always thought they should’ve done that for Winterfest. The background should show snowing and maybe the abominable snowman and or an angry Christmas tree be the ones attacking the shed.

[standbyme]

In my opinion the roaming scareactors are one of the best things about Haunt. Not only do they add to the Halloween feel, they are great photo ops…plus they give everyone an easy chance to (possibly) be scared without waiting 2 hours on a Saturday night for one of the haunts! 
As for the No Boo necklaces…why are no many people upset with these? It’s not like it affects anyone other than the person wearing it?! 

[SonofBaconator]

10 hours ago, standbyme said:

It’s not like it affects anyone other than the person wearing it?!

That’s not always the case. I’ve seen actors avoid certain groups altogether because one of the people was wearing a necklace. If there’s a group of say 5 people and one of them is wearing a “no-boo” necklace, I don’t know how an actor can do their job properly in scaring the other 4 without indirectly scaring the one with the necklace that they’ve been instructed to avoid.

[standbyme]

54 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

That’s not always the case. I’ve seen actors avoid certain groups altogether because one of the people was wearing a necklace. 

But once again, how does that affect you? Logically those four other non-wearing No Boo people are with the person wearing it…and if they don’t mind, why should you?

[SonofBaconator]

3 hours ago, standbyme said:

But once again, how does that affect you? Logically those four other non-wearing No Boo people are with the person wearing it…and if they don’t mind, why should you?

I don’t personally mind, I just don’t agree with the overall concept

[super7]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:47 AM, robintodd said:  In all we're talking about 12 nights out of the year for adult haunt.  In the past when they first started the event you never saw kids.  They closed the park at 6 and re-opened at 7 (literally clearing the park).  Nowadays people are pushing strollers at 11pm at night.  As far as the "no boo" I would love to see those go away.  It does look like a money grab.  If you don't want to be scared then leave before 7.   I think some of the scareactors "edit" themselves because of the chance of kids being around and I think they sould be free to do their best.  

It's only 12 nights out of the year.

 

It’s only 12 nights but it’s the only 12 nights of the year with extended darkness for night rides.    Summer season only has about an hour of night.  Winterfest doesn’t have many rides 

[BeeastFarmer]

Well, we have been bamboozled yet again by the silly poll and no boo necklaces!

[IBEW_Sparky]

On 9/8/2023 at 5:05 AM, BeeastFarmer said:

Just a rumor but it makes sense with the way Cedar Fair has cut the budget this year...lots less scareactors this year are going to be employed. So the event is continuing to spiral downhill IMHO.

 

At this point, just have Oktoberfest weekends and put lederhosen on the employees and sell brats and let haunt die it's miserable death.

Id be quite OK with that, just keep the fog generators, the fog lingering around the bottoms of the drops is what makes the night rides so good!

[Tr0y]

I fully support them cutting the Peter Peter pumpkin eater song that’s on a 10 hour loop in Action Zone from last season. 

 

 

[SonofBaconator]

Safety would be a concern but Torture Tower seemed super unique: (2:12)

 

[Snowball]

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I fully support them cutting the Peter Peter pumpkin eater song that’s on a 10 hour loop in Action Zone from last season. 

 

 

Peter… Peter… pumpkin eater… (Repeat x10,000)

I only scared in that area for about 30 minutes every night last year when I was sliding but it never failed that I’d be leaving the park with that stuck in my head.

[BoddaH1994]

I’m okay with them charging for No Boo. The event involves scares in the midways. If you want a unique experience then there should be a premium for that.

Also, everyone’s statements about roomers are true; however, the biggest benefit to KI is that even when the house lines are long, people can feel as though they participated. 

[Tr0y]

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I’m okay with them charging for No Boo. The event involves scares in the midways. If you want a unique experience then there should be a premium for that.

Also, everyone’s statements about roomers are true; however, the biggest benefit to KI is that even when the house lines are long, people can feel as though they participated. 

I would upgrade my 2024 gold pass to prestige if they eliminated the roomers.

[disco2000]

1 minute ago, Tr0y said:

I would upgrade my 2024 gold pass to prestige if they eliminated the roomers.

Are the roomers the free-loaders that sneak into the lounge 

[Tr0y]

6 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Are the roomers the free-loaders that sneak into the lounge 

That’s the roomer I’ve heard. 

[BeeastFarmer]

10 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Are the roomers the free-loaders that sneak into the lounge 

They are the ones that were overbooked at St. Michelle.

[disco2000]

4 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

They are the ones that were overbooked at St. Michelle.

Every Haunt Saturday 

[IBEW_Sparky]

I personally wish I could get blacklight active neon fabric paint and wear a black t shirt with "Im just here for the night rides" painted on it, but I know how they play their games unfortunately and I know that would sadly actually make me a target for roamers.

 

Edited to add:  Is this new thing they are constructing by MT going to be a mandatory walk through in order to get to the entrance for the ride, or can it be avoided.  I couldnt really determine just how it was going to be set up when I was at Pride Night.

Also, I dont give a rip about the cost of the no-boo, I would just rather not have the thing dangling around my neck all night bouncing around, although I could remedy that by simply putting it in my pocket when riding.