Haunt - Tricks & Treats Reviews 2023

[IndyGuy4KI]

Let's use this thread to discuss your experiences at Haunt for 2023!

[Taylor.B03]

Must of ran out of poles so this looks half janky

[beastfan11]

Hearing a lot of incredibly disappointing things coming out of the event tonight. Makes me sad. 

My wife and I haven’t renewed our passes yet and we’re now thinking about taking a year off. That would be my first since 2004. Too much “lackluster” as a result of this season. 

Cedar Fair- Do better. 

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, Taylor.B03 said:

Must of ran out of poles so this looks half janky

Wow… bad bad! 

[SonofBaconator]

I went tonight….things seemed very PG-13. Not sure why the DJ couldn’t play Halloween music in Coney Maul.

[Taylor.B03]

The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that they did not let anyone into the park until 6pm. No preshow at all. I was in line since 5:46 and didn't get into the park until 6:11.

[chad_1138]

1 hour ago, Taylor.B03 said:

The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that they did not let anyone into the park until 6pm. No preshow at all. I was in line since 5:46 and didn't get into the park until 6:11.

Yep.  Totally agree.  We pulled into the lot at 545 and I figured we’d be good to get up and scan in pretty quickly.  We scanned in about 610.

The new haunt (alien) is pretty decent.  However, the line was HORRIBLE.  There is about 3 minutes in between groups due to the pre show, rules, etc.  We were 2 1/2 queues back in the line and it took an hour.

Also agree about the PG-13-ness of the atmosphere.  I mean, when you have a family with a dad carrying a 1 year old through a haunted attraction, that says it all.

[Taylor.B03]

There were a lot more strollers and young children there tonight. I can't help but think that it all comes back to this chaperone policy. It essentially forced parents to be there which in some situations required the whole family to come in since you can't leave a 3 year old at home by themselves. This in turn further neuters everything. 

[shadowscare]

I was there tonight. I'll write up a full review later but it can pretty much be summed up like this:

It's not what it used to be. Don't get me wrong, we had fun. I mean, it's Kings Island! But this event used to be so much more immersive. Last time I left the Haunt I recall wanting to tell everyone how awesome it is and looking forward to returning. Now? Eh, it's nothing to get excited about. It's a major step down from years past. If I wasn't a passholder and had paid the $45 online price, I would've been very disappointed.

And to the poster above that mentioned the Alien Abyss line... holy smokes. That is the longest line I've seen for any attraction all year long. We skipped it and based on your experience with the length, I'm so glad we did. We probably would've been there two hours because the queue was absolutely packed.

 

 

[BoddaH1994]

Curious as to what people think of this year’s Nyte Walkers vs last year’s. 

[WoodVengeance]

If you plan on getting to the park around opening for Haunt this year, be prepared to wait. They moved the chaperone checkpoint towards the front entrance and caused a huge bottleneck going in.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining that the park has a chaperone policy, as it is ultimately done for the safety of everyone and I do appreciate that the park is taking these steps to improve its security, but the delay getting into the park is definitely worth noting.

[Winterfestguy]

Getting in the front gate at opening time is ridiculous as everyone crammed shoulder to shoulder in a small, tight space along with the the secondary age/chaperon check.  Lots of little kids, wagons and strollers.  Lines for houses stretched over 70 minutes in some cases.   Monsters Rock just needs to be retired (monster costumes were the worst in years and the band is louder than the singers).  Nytewalkers had pretty much capacity crowds for all but their first show, a little better than last season.  With a lack of a main show on the fountain stage, Haunt lacks the feeling it used to (miss the fire eater/spinner).   I only saw two monsters on Coney Maul, and in general less monsters everywhere, even in the scare zones - budget cuts are very obvious.  They are pushing alcohol this year as there is a new bar made from shipping containers in drop zone and a portable beer stand by the Eiffel Tower.  Agree, it is an entirely different atmosphere than previous years (with all the little kids and strollers making Haunt almost family friendly).  Time will tell if this new direction of a more family friendly Haunt is just as profitable.

 

 

 

[Tr0y]

They really need to charge more for season passes.

[robintodd]

6 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Curious as to what people think of this year’s Nyte Walkers vs last year’s. 

Saw the last show last night.  Overall the show was fantastic and a change from last years.  I missed the "main" female dancer character from last year but I think the characters omission I believe was to try and make the story easier to follow.   

Overall the energy and choreography was fantastic and I look forward to seeing it again.

Finally my biggest complaint is the same as last year.  Whereas during the show the video screens were not nearly as distracting attention away from the performers they still have "Mr. Baldy" and "Mr. Devil" dancing in the video in the final song.  For the life of me I don't get how this fits the stroy and completely distracts attention from what I'm there to see:  the live perfomers.  Simply omitting all the "dancing characters"  and just having the firey background would be so much better.  (The "Mr. Devil" is just disturbing with his gyrations in my opinion).

Overall fantastic show and the performers are top notch!  My grandson (12) and I enjoyed it very much.

[robintodd]

1 hour ago, Winterfestguy said:

Getting in the front gate at opening time is ridiculous as everyone crammed shoulder to shoulder in a small, tight space along with the the secondary age/chaperon check.  Lots of little kids, wagons and strollers.  Lines for houses stretched over 70 minutes in some cases.   Monsters Rock just needs to be retired (monster costumes were the worst in years and the band is louder than the singers).  Nytewalkers had pretty much capacity crowds for all but their first show, a little better than last season.  With a lack of a main show on the fountain stage, Haunt lacks the feeling it used to (miss the fire eater/spinner).   I only saw two monsters on Coney Maul, and in general less monsters everywhere, even in the scare zones - budget cuts are very obvious.  They are pushing alcohol this year as there is a new bar made from shipping containers in drop zone and a portable beer stand by the Eiffel Tower.  Agree, it is an entirely different atmosphere than previous years (with all the little kids and strollers making Haunt almost family friendly).  Time will tell if this new direction of a more family friendly Haunt is just as profitable.

 

 

 

It really seems like a mixed message when describing the event going in the direction of more family friendly yet they are pushing alcohol more.  Hoever I do agree that it's always amazed me that people are taking strollers and carts with kids in them through the houses.  

[Taylor.B03]

2 hours ago, Winterfestguy said:

Getting in the front gate at opening time is ridiculous as everyone crammed shoulder to shoulder in a small, tight space along with the the secondary age/chaperon check.  Lots of little kids, wagons and strollers.  Lines for houses stretched over 70 minutes in some cases.   Monsters Rock just needs to be retired (monster costumes were the worst in years and the band is louder than the singers).  Nytewalkers had pretty much capacity crowds for all but their first show, a little better than last season.  With a lack of a main show on the fountain stage, Haunt lacks the feeling it used to (miss the fire eater/spinner).   I only saw two monsters on Coney Maul, and in general less monsters everywhere, even in the scare zones - budget cuts are very obvious.  They are pushing alcohol this year as there is a new bar made from shipping containers in drop zone and a portable beer stand by the Eiffel Tower.  Agree, it is an entirely different atmosphere than previous years (with all the little kids and strollers making Haunt almost family friendly).  Time will tell if this new direction of a more family friendly Haunt is just as profitable.

 

 

 

There were way more than 2 scare actors in coney maul. The amount seemed the same from last year in the whole park. You likely walked through when some were on break. It tends to happen alot where a large chunk are on break at once

[Benjamin22]

Do they still have the fountain show at the end of the night???? Also the theming for this years haunt is so bad. This event is a shell of its former self.

[BeeastFarmer]

She is but a shadow

Of her former self.

You can't recognize her

She is someone else.

--Eurythmics, In The Garden. ©1981 Lennox/Stewart 

 

 

[disco2000]

1 hour ago, robintodd said:

It really seems like a mixed message when describing the event going in the direction of more family friendly yet they are pushing alcohol more.  Hoever I do agree that it's always amazed me that people are taking strollers and carts with kids in them through the houses.  

When you have a chaperone policy to push parents into the park, alcohol moves up in the pecking order LOL.

Good thing they left the VIP lounge open later to allow all the new Prestige holder chaperones a place to drink their alcohol in a relaxing setting...oh wait 

[Kifan91]

25 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

Do they still have the fountain show at the end of the night???? Also the theming for this years haunt is so bad. This event is a shell of its former self.

What is missing that makes it so bad? I know it’s popular to **** on haunt on here I’m just genuinely curious what makes it so bad?

[BoddaH1994]

29 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

Do they still have the fountain show at the end of the night???? Also the theming for this years haunt is so bad. This event is a shell of its former self.

I didn’t get to see it up close so I don’t know if it’s like last year, but from afar I could see they certainly did something. I also saw them messing with lasers on the web cam the other night. I don’t think they did the audio to start Haunt that tied in. If they did then I missed it. Hope it stays intact. That was actually pretty cool!

[Kifan91]

We Went last night I enjoyed myself it’s definitely not the greatest haunt event but it’s still a fun time Abandoned is my new  favorite scare zone I love that they brought the chainsaws back! Alien abyss is cool 

Spoiler

There’s a pre show which is unique to Ki I don’t remember the last maze that had a pre show the costumes for the alien creatures were really well done. There were a lot of pitch black sections too.

Overall it was a pretty good haunt not great and the event has seen better days but I don’t believe it’s as bad as some people try to make it seem

[BB1]

Pro: love the new scare zone, it delivers more and gives a different direction with the flow of crowds. Also love what they did with Pumpkin Eater although it is super small. 
 

Con: I’ve been coming to haunt for decades now, and every year it somehow gets worse. The dj’s in Action Zone and Coney Maul zapped the haunt ambience. I’m sorry, but the Macarena or pop is not something I want in what’s supposed to be the best haunted event. Something like this would be GREAT for a children’s event in PS or maybe the waterpark but not the main park. Way too many kids, for an event that used to state publicly that it was not designed for individuals below 13. The chaperone policy is not being enforced and there were as there always is a horde of children running around bumping into my group. The event just feels different from what it used to be. Even looking back 10 years ago it was so much more than what it is now. If you want a family event create a day event that’s at the waterpark, give them that experience like what they used to. Theming is hard to quantify but in some parts it was really good, others it just felt cheap. The park used to use old PT props in coney for the coney maul, we used to have a lot of interesting toxic/alien props which i wonder what happened to them. I’m actually shocked we didn’t get anything in the adventure port area as I thought the park was gung-ho for dia de muertros in the past few years. 
 

I’m not going to harp too much on the scaractors as I know there have been shake ups in the past few years and it’s the first night but I really hope the park invests in the event overall as I feel like it’s just a husk of what it used to be. 
 

I think my biggest irk is the fact that the park used to have unique attractions like Tombstone, Trail of Terror & Carnevil and they’re long gone. It’s upsetting which I know times change I know the park can’t have certain attractions anymore due to recent additions but I feel like we lost something along the way.

[DoomPlague]

I'll mostly echo what others have said:

 

-Having to wait in a mass of people, all waiting to scan into the park, was quite unpleasant especially since there's a proven way to avoid it.

-Even less fog than last year. Basically none.

-We skipped Alien Abyss because of that crazy line. We at least enjoyed Hotel St. Michelle and Cavern of Terror even though I've done both before.

-Park was more crowded than I expected for the first Friday Haunt.

-Abandoned seems like a solid concept. It's almost like a mini-maze that you can walk through on your way between Diamondback and the rest of Rivertown.

-Lines were mostly moving well, including on the rides and mazes.

-Unrelated to Haunt but I tried the Korean meatballs and fried rice at G&G. It was definitely the best meal I've had there.

-Seemed to me like there were plenty of roaming scare actors. But as others have discussed, I think its best to put more scare actors in the mazes and have more mazes. If last night was as busy as it was, I imagine other days could really use more mazes to spread out the crowds.

[Benjamin22]

2 hours ago, Kifan91 said:

What is missing that makes it so bad? I know it’s popular to **** on haunt on here I’m just genuinely curious what makes it so bad?

There seems to be a lot less theming throughout the park, less scare actors. It just doesn’t have the same ambience or magic anymore. Not to mention there’s less mazes then pre Covid.

[jdf21972]

I only did a small taste of Haunt last night of SlaughterHouse and Cavern of Terror and jump scares were good since we got there early and had idea where they were since no one was in front of us. Saw NyteWalkers show which is a great show of dancing, bicycling and trampoline tricks. I must be getting older as I thought the music was a little too loud for my liking. Enjoy a few cocktails at Brewhouse. A very successful night as I plan on doing a few at a time each visit.


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[robintodd]

6 hours ago, Benjamin22 said:

Do they still have the fountain show at the end of the night???? Also the theming for this years haunt is so bad. This event is a shell of its former self.

Yes they did have a fountain show at Midnight.  Looks like it lastst about 5 min.

 

[CoastersRZ]

Yeah, I think for the crowds that Haunt draws, they need to increase the number of houses they have.  Haven`t been this year yet, and with young kids I don`t know if I will make it up for Haunt this year or not.  

[rlentless]

I understand some people's frustration.  But what was the park to do?  What was the chain to do??  The chaperone policy was put in place for a reason.  Too many incidents and I know I started to think I didn't want to come out HH anymore.  Not wanting to inadvertently get in the middle of a brawl.  I'm sorry if that offends but I am sure other people were thinking the same thing.  Maybe I am wrong . . idk.

[SonofBaconator]

I think this is why I think they should relocate all scareactors to mazes/scare zones. With the number of monsters you take off the pathways, you could open up one or two more mazes or scare zones. In my opinion this would fix some issues with the event. I understand people miss being scared and having things be more adult oriented but with the way things appear to be heading with chaperone policies and more parents bringing their little ones, I think opening up more haunts at the expense of relocating scareactors would be a fair compromise for people who still go for the Haunt element.