Haunt 2025 Reviews

[IndyGuy4KI]

We will use this thread for you to post your haunt reviews for the 2025 season.

[Diamondback_Is_King]

48 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

We will use this thread for you to post your haunt reviews for the 2025 season.

The facade looks really cool! Does anyone have a picture of the queue in the Skyflyer plot? Does it really take up the whole space?

[disco2000]

I don't have a pic but the front half near the lockers is a roped off traditional queue and then the back half is an open walking path, but yes it takes the whole skyflyer plot.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I had a wonderful time at Halloween Haunt at Kings Island presented by SNICKERS tonight! Most of the haunted attractions had a 3 minute (or less) wait time and there are some good improvements and some definite let downs to talk about. I'll also give some thoughts on my Haunted Attractions Pass and ticket for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear that I purchased online. A couple of things to note: tonight is the Homecoming football game for some local schools (so staffing might've taken a hit from that) and it is opening night for an event that is going through a big change (so some guests may be waiting to see if it is worth paying for).

Spoilers ahead, if that wasn't obvious.

 

I decided to be one of those people who waited for the parking lot to open and found out very quickly how nice it was when trying to park near the central berm (between the big sign and the entrance). The park opened security lines relatively quickly and seemed to be doing well at moving people through them. It looked like there are somehow still some issues with the chaperone policy though. Turnstiles opened around 5:30 or 5:45 and they let everyone onto International Street with the paths out roped off until 6:00 PM. Our good friend, The Undertaker, was back to calling himself "The Undertaker" this year — something I haven't heard in years! The new set on the International Street Bandstand looks really good; although it'd look better with a real show to go with it. 

At 6 they blasted the cannons and rolled up the ropes, releasing us into the rest of the park. My first ride of the night: el baño next to Diamondback. As good and clean as it's been since its renovation. Next, I went to the DB Trading Post and got my HAP wristband. It was a quick and painless experience. Next stop was an ice cold Coca-Cola from the Refresh Station. Spoilers for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear are hidden below in case anyone is trying to avoid them like I did.

Spoiler

We waited about 30-ish minutes for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear (TC:BF) and got through the line quicker than I thought we might after hearing tales from Cedar Point last weekend. I absolutely loved it and think it was worth the $15 that I paid for it (and even the $30 I might pay later this season for it). The queue line is mostly in the White Water Canyon pathway and goes past the train tracks, then wraps in front of the fence, and dumps you into the normal Crypt building entrance. Here, more associates are there to scan your ticket and to allow the Exit line to leave. From there, you queue up one last time and enter the building through a side door in one of the antechambers. The first room they bring you into is up on the main level where you watch a video, and then head down into Ed Warren's office. If you're familiar with the Warren's cases, I think it includes the Smurl family haunting and a few others. You have different "guides" during most of the experience and there are more things to pick up than just Annabelle. I got to hold one artifact throughout the experience. 

You get to see a ton of characters like The Nun and The Crooked Man. The Crooked man scare was actually really good and he got right up in my face!! They took one guest away from the group for a minute to build suspense. They don't make everyone crawl through a tunnel either, so if you want to do it then try to be at the front of the group. 

There are still a few parts where you can see the Tomb Raider stuff through the nonexistent ceiling, but I really just looked up there to see if anything was visible. 

My only complaint is that I think the music/SFX are a little too loud and cover up the guides mics a little too much. There is also one trigger activation where I could clearly see the button on a ledge and watched the guide press it. Those are very nitpicky though! My top 3 favorite scares were The Crooked Man, the museum room, and the one at the very end. Go experience it for yourself, it's worth the money!

Throughout the night I was able to do all of the mazes and will do my best to give a rapid-fire review starting... now.

• SLAUGHTERHOUSE: 0 minute wait. This was my first time going through and I was pleasantly surprised. I know this is normally a good maze, and it was nice and long. Bonus points for getting to go back near the old exit for The Beast. I think I might've even seen a werewolf in there...
• HOTEL ST. MICHELLE: 15-ish minute wait, felt longer because we were already getting tired. A splendid haunted maze, but Kings Island really needs to do something about the queue line. They should find a way to redo that queue to be one big line with zero merge points (besides the Express lane). 
• ORDER OF THE DRAGON: 15-ish minute wait. This is the new one and it is absolutely amazing! The actors and animatronics combine with all of the static stuff to provide one of the best mazes that I've experienced in years at a Cedar Fair park. Very happy to see vampires back at Haunt again as well.
  • My biggest gripe with it is this: the queue line is horribly set up. They are strict about crossing through the stanchions, but they're all made up of flimsy yellow cord and posts in buckets. It's a good solution for something that is quick and cheap, but it's awful in practice. The associate did make a kid (who cut in line to be with his friends) go to the back of the line, but had to warn everyone to not go under them at least 20 times. 
• CORNERED: 0 minute wait. Allegedly an entirely new path this year. It takes you to the right back toward Drop Tower instead of to the left toward Invertigo (go crazy with what that could mean for the inverted blue boy). Very nice sets, not as many actors as I would've liked.
• KILLMART: 1 minute wait. Same old KillMart. Good to walk through it again after taking a break from it in 2024. I would not be sad to see this one go, although if it does I hope they put its replacement in a different location. Not enough actors for 
• ALIEN ABYSS: 0 minute wait. I didn't know they got rid of the spinning tunnel and was kinda sad about it. The alien design is always good and cool to see. It's VERY dark in there (no wonder they call it an "abyss" bah dum tss). Kind of anticlimactic without the mirror maze or the tunnel. Turn off any more lights and add a safety rope to get Blackout 2.0. 

 

REDEEMING AND USING YOUR HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS PASS, HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS EXPRESS PASS, AND CONJURING TICKET:

Spoiler

HAP and HAEP: Go to the checkout counter of any participating gift shop or booth and have the associate scan the QR code from your order. You can also scan it from your Kings Island app if it is there. The associate will give you your wristband and, once you put it on your wrist, you'll be good to go for the night. Neither wristband seemed to have a QR code on it tonight. At each line there will be an associate at the beginning of the line to check that you have a wristband and direct you into the correct line.

THE CONJURING: BEYOND FEAR: Have the QR code for your TC:BF ticket pulled up either from your order or in your Kings Island app. The associate at the front of each line will check that you have a TC:BF ticket and allow you to enter. There is no Express Pass line for this experience. I've heard there are some people who get "boarding passes" (IDK what that is in this context) who can go up the exit, but they join the rest of the line at the merge point.

• You do not redeem this ticket anywhere but at the end of the line for this experience. Some associates seem to still be getting the hang of it (understandable), but it won't process if you try to redeem it for a wristband or something at a store.

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 
Get a ticket for TC:BF. Pay that $15-$30. It is so worth it. If you'd like to see what the mazes have to offer in 2025, buy the normal pass. I hardly waited for anything tonight, which is good for me and a little concerning for the park. Hopefully once October rolls around we'll see higher wait times for the mazes. Setting up a return time system for TC:BF is a great idea. I wish I would've gotten the All-Season express pass for $59 just so I could do The Conjuring once per visit (would've paid for itself rather quickly). 

Good news: each Haunted Attraction ticket is more money than they directly made off all the mazes over the past 15 years combined. Bad news: if everyone stops buying Haunted Attraction tickets then this whole thing fails and we either go back to boring and free or start on a path to losing Haunt forever. I'm all for up-charging for the mazes if it means we'll see more improvements over the years and more changes from year to year. If the trend that's been happening since 2021 continues, though, I can't imagine anyone would want to keep paying for sub-par scares.

I didn't have an Interactive Lantern with me tonight to try anything with it, but I tried to keep an eye out for interaction points. They are still selling the 2024 versions (spider decal) with the new 2025 versions (ghost decal). The 2025's can do a few more things than the 2024's can, including vibrating with the effects. I don't know if it is just this weekend or if it'll be like this all season but Poe's Garden is gone, the giant troll is gone, and it seems a lot of other interaction points may have been removed as well based on Facebook comments.

Overall, I had a really good time because of The Conjuring: Beyond Fear and the short lines for every maze. 

[Winterfestguy]

Being the first night of Haunt and just as expected, many season pass holders came out including lots of families with their large buggy wagon strollers, children under 10, and even saw several babies maybe 1 year old in their mothers arms. There did not seem to be many lines at the houses unlike other years likely because like me, refuse to pay for something that used to be free and pretty much the same every year. However, I do agree it is worth the money to do the Conjuring Beyond Fear experience and wanted to see for myself after reading about experiences at CP. Conjuring Beyond Fear was very well put together and you could tell a lot of thought went into it. I was disappointed in the scare zones as the scareactors were playing up to the little kids instead of scaring folks walking through like me. I walked behind a father of a 5 year old filming his little boy going through Hooked as the little boy chatted with each pirate instead of being scared by them (or maybe they are supposed to be very friendly pirates and in pumpkin eater, friendly pumpkin gut eaters?). Ghouls Gone Wild and Nyte Walkers seem to be more G content rated for families and pretty much the same with a few different songs (and there were lots of kids and families in the audience of both, so seems like Haunt has moved away from the adult theme for mature audiences only. I do miss Dead Awakenings and Hot Blooded for sure.) Exceptional pub burger at the Brewhouse as expected but the place wasn’t super busy. The longest food line seemed to be at Skyline but then again, that place always has a long line being so slow. Considering all the budget cuts lately, my Haunt experience was just okay, not the best and not the worst. 

[Diamondback_Is_King]

10 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

I don't know if it is just this weekend or if it'll be like this all season but Poe's Garden is gone, the giant troll is gone, and it seems a lot of other interaction points may have been removed as well based on Facebook comments.

My last visit (a few weeks back) I'm pretty sure I saw the troll sitting behind Slaughterhouse. When I was there last, you could see it from The Beast break run

[disco2000]

3 minutes ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

My last visit (a few weeks back) I'm pretty sure I saw the troll sitting behind Slaughterhouse. When I was there last, you could see it from The Beast break run

He still sits behind Slaughterhouse...

[BeeastFarmer]

Poor Ernest.  Ya know what I mean, Vern?

[IndyGuy4KI]

A peek at Haunt last night. Photos incoming soon.

 

[IndyGuy4KI]

19 hours ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

The facade looks really cool! Does anyone have a picture of the queue in the Skyflyer plot? Does it really take up the whole space?

 

Here you go!

 

 

 

[Kylewestreviews]

 
Here you go!


 
 
 

So how does this work with express? Does everyone enter the first part together and then separate closer to the front? Or does express enter a different area all together?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Diamondback_Is_King]

24 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

 

Here you go!

 

 

 

Thanks! Looks interesting for sure-the fence looks a little out of place

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

3 hours ago, Winterfestguy said:

Ghouls Gone Wild and Nyte Walkers seem to be more G content rated for families and pretty much the same with a few different songs (and there were lots of kids and families in the audience of both, so seems like Haunt has moved away from the adult theme for mature audiences only. I do miss Dead Awakenings and Hot Blooded for sure.)

There is a theory that the guest trend is shifting toward wanting more PG experiences than PG-13+ events (generally as part of another trend of wishing for lighthearted things to do in dark times). Some "family" events even appear to be getting more G rated than PG as well. I think there is still enough of a market for scary Halloween events to be successful at regional parks, but it seems that the poor quality associated with the Six Flags name and the downward trend Cedar Fair had been on before the merger were not helping to show that. Universal and United Parks seem to understand how to properly run a good Halloween event with good scares. Maybe if someone ever figures out how to gut SF management and replace them with people who actually know how to run parks & resorts we'll finally see some improvement.

I can't express just how much I wish they would bring back the PG-13 shows as well. Having all three of your live entertainment options be PG only further contributes to people thinking it is A-OK to bring their children to an event like this.

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

You can see some of the yellow string queue lines here. The whole thing looks better at night, but there is nothing besides actors and associates to stop someone from line jumping.

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, Kylewestreviews said:

So how does this work with express? Does everyone enter the first part together and then separate closer to the front? Or does express enter a different area all together?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The express entrance is over by the entrance to the building across from the Banshee exit.

[robintodd]

Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year.  Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day.

Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area).  From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls.  It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful.  At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band.  Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14).  We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes.

Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday:

At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line.  I think because it was new and not many people knew about it.  The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing.  As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark.  If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze.  I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this.  The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic.  Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while.

Next we went to Alien Abyss.   Very short line (10 min).  Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel.  The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through.  In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one.  It's old and tired.

After that we went to Kill Mart.  Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics.  I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of.

Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe.  LONG line about an hour.  Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night.  Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago.

Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line.  I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone.  Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better.  Seemed a better experience than last year.

Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on  around 10:15.  Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year.

For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around.  Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap.  Seemed a bit overdone.

A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor.  Moving instead to using darkness to mask them.

Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening.  Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast.  Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season.  They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable.

Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10).  Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday.  That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early.

Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend).  Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion.  The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic.  The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show.  Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call.  It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows.  Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows.  Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own.  Well done.

Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned.  The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music.  It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself.  I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it.  It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss.  Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale.  Definitley and upgrade from last season.

Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year.  Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.