Kings Island Halloween Haunt 2025 Discussion

[disco2000]

19 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

The expanded Halloween Haunt hours make me hopeful that we'll see a better event this year, but all of the drops in park quality over the past few months make me doubt that. Maybe things like the Haunted Attractions Pass will thin out the amount of young children at the event. I'm sorry to say, but I don't think young children (especially those in strollers) should be allowed into the night time event. Haunt has suffered from being made more family-friendly, and it's about time for it to return to its gory goodness. 

Tricks and Treats should still exist and be a high-quality event, but there is a separation between the daytime and nighttime Halloween events for a reason. 

Those new operating days/hours could either mean that guests spread themselves out over more days (lessening the crowds overall), that the budget will be spread even thinner (upping the chances of a bad event), or that there are some good plans for this Haunt season that may entice guests to go more often. 

You know they will be watching the metrics closely.

If 4 days of Haunt weekends doesn't move the needle more than the historical numbers, it will go back to previous the following year.

We tried Thursdays once and it failed miserably, but weather played heavily into that and times are different this time.

I think it will move the needle enough to justify it, but who knows how much the needle needs to move in their eyes...

[super7]

Thursdays will be great. Cedar Point has been doing Thursdays for several years and they are very pleasant nights without a huge crowd.

this is going to spread the paying customers out over four days and allow the non-paying season pass holders to use their past more for this event  

We should enjoy these hours this year because they probably won’t return IMO Because of the way the company operates. It’s going to provide a much more pleasant experience for everyone by spreading the crowd out over four days, but we know that Six Flags is not about providing a pleasant experience there about cost cutting and cramming as much profit into one day as possible.   So this is not going to work for their current formula.

 

[Timchat2]

I wonder if the shows (presumably Ghouls Gone Wild and NyteWalkers) will run on Thursday nights at Haunt. Cedar Point's HalloWeekends Thursdays generally don't have much live entertainment.

[disco2000]

And, dare we joke about it, what if this is a ploy to try to encourage season pass sales with the buy next year, get the rest of this year free promotion and the season pass sales do not meet expectations and they decide to remove those additional days from the fall lineup....

[Tr0y]

On 7/17/2025 at 2:33 PM, DonHelbig said:

You get into the park with a Gold Pass for Haunt. You just have to open your wallet if you want to experiences the mazes.

I wonder if the roaming scare actors will be eliminated. No more "free" scares. 

[robintodd]

11 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

I wonder if the roaming scare actors will be eliminated. No more "free" scares. 

I would expect the roamers and the scare zones to still be around. 

[DJSkyFoxx]

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I wonder if the roaming scare actors will be eliminated. No more "free" scares. 

The scare actors will all be carrying Square card readers so you'll have to pay them after they scare you 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Canada's Wonderland saw a massive spike in attendance after their 2026 passes went on sale. Whether or not Kings Island's passes are able to penetrate the market any more than they already do, I think we'd see the extra days remain. It also looks like the November 2nd Haunt date on the park calendar has been corrected to only mention Tricks and Treats. 

I hope the Haunted Attractions Pass works more like a tasting card rather than a Fast Lane. If it's one time through each attraction, it would be much better to let guests come back to use the rest of it. Rather than force them to buy a pass and stand in long lines only to not experience everything, make it a punch card system like I've seen Fright Lane have in the past. 

 

All of this being said, the overall Haunt experience at Kings Island will need to be much better for 2025 than it has been for the past five years for any of this to be worth it. I don't think they'll see many repeat HAP/HAEP customers if they keep the mazes at the quality level they're currently at.

Both Carowinds and Kings Dominion have released teasers for SCarowinds and Halloween Haunt, respectively, while Kings Island has only put out hiring flyers. The most we've seen for new mazes/attractions at Kings Island are photos from over a month ago and the new flyer. I have to wonder when they are expecting the right time to be to release the news about the new upcharge. 

[DonHelbig]

38 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Canada's Wonderland saw a massive spike in attendance after their 2026 passes went on sale. Whether or not Kings Island's passes are able to penetrate the market any more than they already do, I think we'd see the extra days remain. It also looks like the November 2nd Haunt date on the park calendar has been corrected to only mention Tricks and Treats. 

I hope the Haunted Attractions Pass works more like a tasting card rather than a Fast Lane. If it's one time through each attraction, it would be much better to let guests come back to use the rest of it. Rather than force them to buy a pass and stand in long lines only to not experience everything, make it a punch card system like I've seen Fright Lane have in the past. 

 

All of this being said, the overall Haunt experience at Kings Island will need to be much better for 2025 than it has been for the past five years for any of this to be worth it. I don't think they'll see many repeat HAP/HAEP customers if they keep the mazes at the quality level they're currently at.

Both Carowinds and Kings Dominion have released teasers for SCarowinds and Halloween Haunt, respectively, while Kings Island has only put out hiring flyers. The most we've seen for new mazes/attractions at Kings Island are photos from over a month ago and the new flyer. I have to wonder when they are expecting the right time to be to release the news about the new upcharge. 

Inexperience behind the wheel with timing misses on several fronts. 

[super7]

21 hours ago, Timchat2 said:

I wonder if the shows (presumably Ghouls Gone Wild and NyteWalkers) will run on Thursday nights at Haunt. Cedar Point's HalloWeekends Thursdays generally don't have much live entertainment.

The first years of Cedar Point operating on Thursday night, they had full live entertainment. 
 

Of course, they cut it out to save costs.  

[disco2000]

3 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Canada's Wonderland saw a massive spike in attendance after their 2026 passes went on sale. Whether or not Kings Island's passes are able to penetrate the market any more than they already do, I think we'd see the extra days remain. It also looks like the November 2nd Haunt date on the park calendar has been corrected to only mention Tricks and Treats. 

I hope the Haunted Attractions Pass works more like a tasting card rather than a Fast Lane. If it's one time through each attraction, it would be much better to let guests come back to use the rest of it. Rather than force them to buy a pass and stand in long lines only to not experience everything, make it a punch card system like I've seen Fright Lane have in the past. 

 

All of this being said, the overall Haunt experience at Kings Island will need to be much better for 2025 than it has been for the past five years for any of this to be worth it. I don't think they'll see many repeat HAP/HAEP customers if they keep the mazes at the quality level they're currently at.

Both Carowinds and Kings Dominion have released teasers for SCarowinds and Halloween Haunt, respectively, while Kings Island has only put out hiring flyers. The most we've seen for new mazes/attractions at Kings Island are photos from over a month ago and the new flyer. I have to wonder when they are expecting the right time to be to release the news about the new upcharge. 

 

KI always sees a spike in attendance when new passes go on sale because they allow all the pass add-ons to work immediately, so everyone wants to use their shiny new pass.  The first couple of weekends that passes go on sale is a tough time to visit the park because the food and FL can get overwhelmed at times.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

New 2025 All Season Haunted Attraction Passes have been added to Discovery Kingdom and Magic Mountain's purchasing websites. The one at Magic Mountain is $69.00 (nice) for unlimited access to mazes at Magic Mountain's Fright Fest ONLY. The same is available at Discovery Kingdom for $65.00 for DK ONLY. Knott's is offering a new Knott's Scary Farm season pass add-on. It doesn't look like they will require a Haunted Attractions Pass, which would be good considering Scary Farm is already a ticketed event. No official word yet about the Haunted Attractions Pass from any other parks. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Something to note: the Halloween Haunt page on Kings Island's website currently does not contain any body text. 

The header image (with the hand) and the image gallery are there, there is just zero body text or anything on there to describe the event. It's very likely that there's just a delay in publishing an updated version of this webpage. Who knows, maybe with the new Six Flags app and websites, we'll see the Legacy Cedar Fair websites get a new look as well. If that's the case I'd assume parts of all of the websites might be in some kind of weird flux until they're officially needed. 

Cedar Point's website apparently briefly showed a description for their new The Conjuring: Beyond Fear attraction, though currently the HalloWeekends page is just a bare bones description of the event. 

[kikid74]

I did KI Haunt in 2023 and Six Flags Great America (Illinois) FrightFest in 2024.

KI, as you know, has had the mazes included with admission. There’s an upcharge for FrightLane which allows you to join the shorter line once per maze. My experience in the houses especially were a little lackluster, as folks here have shared regarding theirs.

The FrightFest event you could be in the park on a regular ticket or pass. This included active and fully staffed scare zones. The mazes were $40 for a night and $80 if you wanted an express line. Both maze passes were unlimited. We did Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 times. Three of the five houses were popular IP, like Texas Chainsaw, Stranger Things, and Saw. In addition to the upcharge for houses, during the day they had Octoberfest area setup with punchcards for food and specialty drinks. 
 

The FrightFest mazes and scare zones were done much better. I’d compare it to WinterFest at KI where your pass can get you into the park, but they also have a lot of upcharge items (ice skating, cookies, specialty food, etc.) which allows them to do the event. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The new Haunted Attraction Pass and Haunted Attraction Express Pass have been returned to the Kings Island ticket purchasing website with dates lining up for each night Halloween Haunt is open. Prices are currently set to (HAP/HAEP) $10/$29 for Fridays in September and Thursdays in October, $15/$34 for Fridays and Sundays in October, and varying prices on Saturdays throughout the event. The first Saturday of Haunt is listed as costing $20/$39, while the next Saturday is listed at $30/$54, and the following and subsequent Saturdays listed at $30/$59. November 1st is listed as $30/$54 as well. 

So it is all but confirmed that Kings Island's mazes will be upcharge attractions this Halloween Season, and that the new HAP/HAEP will not include admission to The Conjuring: Beyond Fear. This information is currently only available by going directly to the website and cannot be found on Kings Island's Halloween Haunt webpage or on the normal ticket purchasing portal. 

Are you excited? Does this throw a wrench in your plans? I remain hopeful that the mazes will be upgraded this year, at least in terms of staffing. I will have a second post about tickets for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear.

 

Kings Island's ticket purchasing website where this information can be found: https://cf-ki.store.cffunki.com/fastlanewizardstatic/HauntedAttractionsPass?_cid=1750345194.1744563098 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

A new purchasing website for Kings Island's new The Conjuring: Beyond Fear experience has been found. Ticket prices range from $15-$25 based on date of admission and do not include admission to the event or to other attractions. 

I'm going to withhold from posting a screenshot and from giving out the link out of respect for the park, but I have seen it with my own eyes. I'd like to allow them to provide more information and to release that specific ticket link on their own terms. 

[MeredithGrey]

15 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

A new purchasing website for Kings Island's new The Conjuring: Beyond Fear experience has been found. Ticket prices range from $15-$25 based on date of admission and do not include admission to the event or to other attractions. 

I'm going to withhold from posting a screenshot and from giving out the link out of respect for the park, but I have seen it with my own eyes. I'd like to allow them to provide more information and to release that specific ticket link on their own terms. 

Has anyone contacted the park to address this & get an official response? And if so, what was their response? I don't like to speculate. 

[DonHelbig]

Someone on a podcast about Kings Island said after the merger was completed last summer this was one of the things guests would see coming to Kings Island and the legacy Cedar Fair parks.

[shark6495]

I’m split on this. The KI haunts and mazes were great for the kids because they were not the scariest and because of the large crowd the kids saw the scares coming. 
 

if they don’t upgrade the way they do it, it’s going to be a hard pass for me on paying to walk through a cattle call maze. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

According to a poster between the Kings Island Theater and the newest refresh station, Kings Island's Halloween Haunt is now presented by Snickers. While no sponsor is currently listed for the event on the park's website, it can be believed that the event website is currently under extended revision/maintenance. There's no body text on the Haunt website right now either. 

As I've said before, I'm mostly fine with the sponsors and ads because they are a way to generate more money for the park. I think the logo with the sponsor looks a lot better than the Fright Fest logo with the sponsor. My main qualm would be how they go about attaching a sponsor sign to the big gravestone-esque event I.D. sign. It would be a travesty if the big sign was either heavily modified or replaced entirely just to add a sponsor's logo. 

Long Live the Big Sign

(Photo: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt)

[Tr0y]

On 8/8/2025 at 7:17 PM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

The new Haunted Attraction Pass and Haunted Attraction Express Pass have been returned to the Kings Island ticket purchasing website with dates lining up for each night Halloween Haunt is open. Prices are currently set to (HAP/HAEP) $10/$29 for Fridays in September and Thursdays in October, $15/$34 for Fridays and Sundays in October, and varying prices on Saturdays throughout the event. The first Saturday of Haunt is listed as costing $20/$39, while the next Saturday is listed at $30/$54, and the following and subsequent Saturdays listed at $30/$59. November 1st is listed as $30/$54 as well. 

So it is all but confirmed that Kings Island's mazes will be upcharge attractions this Halloween Season, and that the new HAP/HAEP will not include admission to The Conjuring: Beyond Fear. This information is currently only available by going directly to the website and cannot be found on Kings Island's Halloween Haunt webpage or on the normal ticket purchasing portal. 

Are you excited? Does this throw a wrench in your plans? I remain hopeful that the mazes will be upgraded this year, at least in terms of staffing. I will have a second post about tickets for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear.

 

Kings Island's ticket purchasing website where this information can be found: https://cf-ki.store.cffunki.com/fastlanewizardstatic/HauntedAttractionsPass?_cid=1750345194.1744563098 

Dirt cheap compared to the fright lane passes of old...

[chad_1138]

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

Dirt cheap compared to the fright lane passes of old...

Plus it sounds like express is multi use on everything except The Conjuring, and you get 1 time of that included.  That’s actually a heck of a deal.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I believe the difference would be that Fast Lane and the Express Pass are now completely separate, unlike previous years when Fright Lane + Fast Lane were combined into one pass at a lot of parks. This is looking like a good way to generate more revenue while cutting down on the number of people who use both the Fast Lane and (now) Express Pass lines on any individual night.

[Old_Bearcat]

The new maze (and newly built queue) is going in Action Zone (Blackout Building), the Conjuring is going into the Crypt Building 

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

[disco2000]

And it is official that the mazes are NOT included with entry.  

One can buy a pass per day or an all season add-on for $59

 

 

 

 

[IndyGuy4KI]

What does everyone think about the upcharge for the mazes?

• Will they be better staffed?
• Additional theming?

 

[KIghostguy]

Passholders have been trained that the mazes are included with the event. I can't see this really ending well, unless the goal is to limit attendance in the mazes. Similar to Winterfest 2005, when they forced passholders to pay for the event, nobody came. At the very least, I'm sure there will be very long lines at Guest Services.

The Conjuring is different--as more of an escape room-type experience versus a standard maze, I think people will want to do it and be willing to pay for it.

[beastfan11]

I’m cool with the up charge. Looking forward to Haunt this year. 

[robintodd]

8 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Passholders have been trained that the mazes are included with the event. I can't see this really ending well, unless the goal is to limit attendance in the mazes. Similar to Winterfest 2005, when they forced passholders to pay for the event, nobody came. At the very least, I'm sure there will be very long lines at Guest Services.

The Conjuring is different--as more of an escape room-type experience versus a standard maze, I think people will want to do it and be willing to pay for it.

I, for one, am glad this decision was made.  The mazes were getting ridiculous with the number of small (sometimes infants) being taken in strollers/wagons thorugh the mazes. Most probably voilating fire escape codes.  I've been through alot of mazes at KI over the years and NOTHING beats riding The Beast at midnight.  Scare zones will still be available and will make the lines more manageable without having to let groups in so often as to spoil the experience or having groups of 30 people.

It has been proven this model works because it has been done at Six Flags for a long time.  Change is inevitable, but I believe this is for the best.

[kikid74]

There doesn’t appear to be enough of a price difference between the express pass price and the regular maze price given that the express also includes the Conjuring experience. 

The express price is very close to the base maze ticket + base conjuring ticket.