FEARFEST

[StXsteven]

This goes down as the worst night in fearfest history. All of the haunts were not at all scary. There were so dull, that alittle kid that grouped up with us, toild his mom he was bored, must be a problem.

[Delirium13]

Care to give a little more deatail?

[FOF/Z 4-ever]

I didn't go to the Park b/c I had to work. However, my job is a five min walk from Kings Island, so I decided to drive by to see how it looked. The Tower lights were off and it was very very foggy. Infact, It was soo foggy that it covered 71. I hope it was not as bad as you say it was. I have a few friends who are there and I will check w/ them to see how it actually went.

[coastergirl]

We went tonight also. We went through the Maze of Madness and the Headless Hollow. I have to agree that they were not very scary. The one thing that I did like was that the Headless Hollow had pass only admission which kept the lines way down. I do have to admit that they got a few good screams out of me. There was a group behind us that had very little kids with them, I'd say 3 to 4 years old tops and they didn't seem very upset when they came out of the path. I hope that the monsters saw they were small and toned it down. The scariest part of Fear Fest for me was the Michael Jackson video that was playing on the monitors.

I hope to go back next week and hit a few more haunted houses to see if they are better then the ones we went to tonight.

[The-Snapper]

They houses are ok but the fog was amazing! Way to go PKI!!

[CoastersRZ]

Yes, the fog was amazing. It was especially thick in the cornstalkers path, where at time you could not see more than a few feet in front of you! Also, in one of the better points of Headless Hollow, they had the bridge (over the WWC trough) covered in fog, so that you could not see more than a foot in front of you, which was disorienting. Unfortunatly, the fog drifted out into the parking lot and 71, and not back towards The Beast!

[Captain Nemo]

::cough::

What is fog doing in the bathroom!!!

::cough::

But really, This is the first time I ever was in the park during fearfest and loved the fog effect. Man I bet it would look awsome from the plane!!!

[hauntguy]

My entire group was scared in all the houses numerous times... The overall scariest with the "startle" factor has to be PsychoPath. All the attractions were awesome and very scary!!! I will try to right a full on review of Fearfest later. We were also able to do every attraction except Friday the 13th (did that last year). -Hauntguy

[CoastersRZ]

The one problem I had with Headless Hollow, was that there were long dead spots, where it seemed there should have been scaracters. It was as if they didn`t have enough scaracters working the haunt. Not to mention that the ending was very anti-climatic and not very scary. Cornstalkers was realyl good, especially with the amount of fog they had, you would become disoriented just with the fog, not to mention the scaracters in there.

[StXsteven]

I went through Maze of Madness, Psycho path, and Headless Hollow

Maze of madness first, usually I am scared in this one, I feel like it's real. Last night I didn't even jump, I just walked through like it was a normal maze.

Psycho path- people were actual hand to hand fighting with each other, and they didn't break up the groups. You just kept walking, so about 150 people went through together. I was the only one to crawl, which by the way was the only scary thing on the trail this year.

Headless hollow- had so much potential, but I left with a frown, they keep screaming he's coming for you! Then at the end, he just sat on the fence post. The only thing scary about this haunt was when you walk through the bridge, you can't see at all, I kept feeling for a wall but couldn't find one, I followed the ceiling lights, you can barely see them, but I followed them.

Cornstalkers- at first this was a one way path, but then it was both ways, none of the actors came out at us even though we walked through 3+ times.

I think all of the actors were tired because they had to work really hard on the dry run. So I'm going to give them another try.

[CoastersRZ]

Well when I went through Cornstalkers, the actors were jumping out at people and us, and following people. In parts of CornStalkers, the fog was also extremly thick, and you had to stop and wait for the fog to clear to make sure the people who were ahead of you had moved on and also weren`t still standing there. Yes, the bridge on Headless Hollow was pretty disorienting as well with the fog.

[StXsteven]

Oh and headless hollow needs a sign that says extreme fog, some lady that went in with us, she was crying, and couighing so hard from the fog, I honestly thought she was dieng(I have never seen anyone have an asthma attack before) I was scared.

[CoastersRZ]

There is a sign right in front of the train station, and all the other haunts for that matter. It says something to the effect of Warning: Artificial fog and special lighting effects are used on this attraction. Also, it warns that kids under 12 should not partake in the haunts. I saw numerous small kids in the 5-8 range (or younger) walking through CornSTALKERS crying with fright from the scaracters.

[StXsteven]

Yeah, but it says artificial fog, which sounds like as much fog in maze of madness. She said she knew there would be fog, but that bad?

Edit: And I can't forget to add, she thought it was a haunted train, and she thought it really broke down.

[hauntguy]

I loved all the fog!! I think Coney Maul needed ALOT more and something done with the Action FX Theater line! But overall... this is the best Fearfest year ever! -Hauntguy

[CoastersRZ]

They had more of the old Phantom Theater animatronics in the line this year than they did last year. The only disappointing thing is last year they actually had a couple of them operating! This year they were all just sitting there. They were playing the Phantom Theater music in the line and theaters though.

[Captain Nemo]

I would have to say tha the fog that goes through the park really makes the fearfest feeling come out.

[PKIbabe89]

Lol Chicken (regular path) Brave (Crawl through tunnel) REALLY GOOD IDEA! I really wanna go through Pycho Path!! THat has always been one of my favs

[FOF/Z 4-ever]

Also remember that this is the very 1st time for fearfest this year (except for Dry Run), so they are just getting the feel. They will get a lot better. I have faith in PKI. Only if I could get a day off and I would love to go. From the highway, the fog looked amazing. I imange if you saw it from a plane, you would see nothing but a foggy area with lights, lol.

[RingMaster]

^Yeah, usually the second or third weekend is always the best due to everyone really getting a good feel of scaring the heck out of people.

I went through Massacre Manor, cornSTALKERS, and Headless Hollow. MM was much darker than last year, so much so that I couldn't see a vast majority of the maze itself, which was the most beautiful maze of last year. Of course, almost all of the scareactors used this to their advantage to get some really good hiding spots and get our group bad (mind you that it was just me and four other girls behind me). I guess the only bad thing was it was WAY too dark in there to see anything.

cornSTALKERS was the best out of the three for Sleepy Hollow for me. I just wish that they would have enlarged it to the point of it covering all of Rivertown. The fog is what really made this shine-at one point, you could not see in front of you AT ALL. Add to it the scareactors that were camoflauged well in the area that also used this to their advantage. The extra props in the center of the walkway also added to extra hiding spots for them, especially one that slid out from underneath one of the wagons and got our group in the back. Great job.

Headless Hollow was a bit of a head-scratcher. I enjoyed the overall storyline of it-taking a train to the Western Woods when it breaks down and the only way back is to go through the fabled Headless Hollow still haunted by the victims of the Headless Horseman-but it seems as if they didn't really care much for it. It really just wasn't scary at all. Compared to how much the girls screamed in both MM and cornSTALKERS, this was nothing like those. The worst part was the Horseman; I went through twice (once during Dry Run and again last night), and BOTH times he just stands there and does nothing. I liked the idea of using the train for part of the maze, but it just doesn't make any sense waiting in line for the train, and then waiting in line AGAIN just to walk through the maze. If it were me, I would just have people wait in line for the train, and then set up HH like cornSTALKERS to where it would be like a midway where everyone could walk.

Anyway, last night was okay, just not great. The only real complaint I had was Sleepy Hollow. It was EMPTY. Not empty as in no guests, empty as in no scareactors. And there were only six going around to begin with. I'm sorry, but if this is their sixth year running FearFest and they're adding a new scare zone, at least hire more scareactors. Because the 100 actors total for FearFest just doesn't cut it. Especially when other haunted events have 250-300 actors (Halloween Haunt and Halloween Horror Nights have 1000) and are not up to the sheer size of FearFest.

I also have faith in Paramount Parks; I just think they're spending their money on and paying more attention to all the wrong places (IJ:ST, IJ:SC, MI:SS).

[flightoffear1996]

I love this years Fear Fest

[hauntguy]

Also remember that Fearfest is FREE with park ticket. Halloween Horror Nights (Universal) is a seperate ticket event... allowing them more money to make better haunts and hire more people! With PKI as packed as it is during Fearfest.... even a small $15 Fearfest ticket is enough to make the next Fearfest alot better! I would pay for it! -Hauntguy

PS: I know this is talked about alot, but it's a point worth making!

[geekzapoppin]

First of all, to the workers at PKI: No matter what you're paid, it isn't enough to have to deal with the calibre of folks who were in the park last night. Without exception, every park employee with whom I dealt was courteous and friendly. Thank you. However almost the reverse is true about a good number of park patrons. There were people smoking everywhere: in line, walking around the park, at the food stands, etc. We were around more smokers this year than in years where people were pretty much allowed to smoke wherever they could make fire. It was awful. We also saw a bunch of perfectly healthy teens who had rented scooters because they were too lazy to walk around the park. To top it off, they got ****ed off at having to wait in line for the Fearfest attractions and scooted off, sometimes two to a scooter. We also saw one of the wandering performers get punched by a snotty teenager. The two got in each others' faces and almost started a real fight. A security guard walked right past and never batted an eye. Those are just a few of the many things that ruined our day at the park. I honestly felt that PKI really dropped the ball when it came to policing the park.

As for the actual attractions, to be honest they were all very similar and none were very imaginative or well-themed. The actors all tried very hard and were fun to interact with, but the actual locations came off looking much like what they were: hastily thown together areas that are meant to be a quick overlay to existing areas within the park. We won't be going back to Fearfest.

[Captain Nemo]

Reply to geekzapoppin.

I'm sorry that your trip was not as good as it could have been. But It is the beginning of fearfest, after a week it will be a very good experience.

[StXsteven]

Captain Nemo- No disrespect to you or anyone on this board, but it sounds more like an excuse/cover up, than the truth. Many of the actors worked there last year, they have had plenty of practice, and they have already had the dry run.

I hope it will get better, because I love fearfest to death, but I think it will fall short this year. I heard hardly any screams, anywhere, last year, the first night, you could hear screams before you entered the park.(not literally)

If they do improve majorly, I will apologize and I will be happy, but I have the feeling that it won't happen.

geekzapoppin-

I agree with you. The staff was beyond nice. But some punks tried real trouble.

Were any of you there in line for psycho path? This older lady in front of us, she later told us she was 48, anyways a group of about 15 kids come from know where and try to cut her. She starts creaming, get to the back of the line. PKI security comes over, and puts the group behind me! So my group is in the middle of these kids and the older lady. One of the girls in the kid group screams some one is PMSing(sorry if I can't say that on the board) and the older lady, says excuse me, do you want a piece of me, and stuff like that, and the girl says shut up grandma with your saggy ****(breasts? can I say that?) and the grandma said at least I have ****, then they got down right nastey, and PKI security just watched. This lasted for an entire hour. Even though the lady said mean things back, I have alot of respect for her, she said this, standing for herself, infront of 15 punk teenagers(punk/goth/emo samething)

[RingMaster]

Captain Nemo- No disrespect to you or anyone on this board, but it sounds more like an excuse/cover up, than the truth. Many of the actors worked there last year, they have had plenty of practice, and they have already had the dry run.

I hope it will get better, because I love fearfest to death, but I think it will fall short this year. I heard hardly any screams, anywhere, last year, the first night, you could hear screams before you entered the park.(not literally)

StxSteven-

There are actually only a handful of returners that come back over the years. The sliders themselves only get 2-3 days of practice to slide and rebound from crashing; the rest of the time is spent walking around through everyone elses' mazes. It's the same with actors in mazes; we only get 2 days of actual practice and the rest is just walking through other mazes. I'm saying this because I was in it last year for Curse of the Crypt.

I hate to keep comparing this, but the Halloween Haunt in California knows how to scare people. Their sliders train for 2-3 MONTHS and perfect what they do. And the maze monsters spend at least a school week doing dress rehearsals for thir own maze.

Last thing, then I'll shut up-

I really don't like the way Paramount Parks runs everything. They're the only reason why PKD is in such a rut, why PGA is getting stripped of their good coasters, and why PCW has such crappy coasters (I'm sorry to all the PCW/PKD/PGA fans out there). I know what you're saying-"If you don't like it, the why don't you do something about it yourself?"-but I can't. I'm only 17-years-old. I'm trying my best just to get FearFest '05 on tape, and even that's not going well. I recently heard that Viacom had split into two companies, and that all of the Paramount Parks are now under CBS. Corps. (TV productions). I just hope that they're smart enough to either change what they're doing and improve, or give the parks to a company that knows what they're doing.

OK, now I'll shut up.

Rico-Finally, he shuts up! God, that ringmaster kid is annoying! Don't you think, Jose?

Jose-Si, amigo.

[StXsteven]

They only get 2 days? They hire in August, I thought they trained the whole month of september.

I saw most of the actors in maze of madness there last year too, which is why I was dissapointed. They scared the **** out of me last year, and they couldn't even make me move this year.

[pkifreak]

i went and thought that it was really good for it being the first week. I did everything but Jason's Exteme Cuts and The R.L. Stine thing and thought they all were great except the Sleepy Hollow thing was really boring and not scary, but pycho path still scared the crap outta me.

[StXsteven]

pkifreak-

Did you go through psycho path last year?

If you didn't then that is why, last year it was crazy. This year was kind of dull, even though it was the best haunt of the night.

[PKIbabe89]

Any thing good happen over Saturday's Fear Fest?