I'm not sure if other legacy Cedar Fair parks within the Six Flags chain will follow suit, but Kings Dominion announced this week that their haunted mazes will no longer carry an upcharge for park guests for the remainder of the event. This returns the park's Halloween Haunt operations to the way it's been in previous years with ALL Halloween attractions included with park admission.
It's unclear whether this change was made because of a lack of interest (demand for passes to experience the mazes was reported very low), guest complaints (there was an impression from the passholder community that this was a "bait and switch" because the park advertised Haunt when selling season passes last fall and throughout the off-season), conforming to what BGW does (which is less than 90 minutes away), or some combination of reasons. I can say that when we visited the park last Saturday, the park was generally pretty quiet for a beautiful weather day, but we did not stay for Haunt, because I didn't want to pay extra for the mazes, all of which are very similar to the mazes offered last year.
It does seem like the park is trying to save face with interest in Haunt well below expectations and the likelihood that they've already invested money into the attractions and staffing for the event. From what I've read, Cedar Point and Kings Island have not had issues with backlash against the parks charging extra for mazes that used to be free, and obviously legacy Six Flags parks have already established that their mazes cost extra, but I haven't heard much from other legacy Cedar Fair parks and guests' willingness to pay extra for Halloween attractions, so I'm not sure if this change will find its way to other parks in the chain.
Hi, Russell! My wife and I are actually thinking about going to a haunt event in the area. Do you recommend Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg? We're new to the area, so i don't know much about either event. Good to know that they dropped the upcharge - the pricing was not clear on their website.
Based on which parks are keeping the upcharge and which parks are dropping it, I suspect Six Flags learned the hard way that they've got to offer something new if they want to upcharge the formerly free haunts. Unless I'm mistaken, none of the parks that dropped the charge got any new mazes this year, and while I haven't visited any myself, I suspect most of their attractions have been running for quite some time. If they start offering a new maze every year I think the vast majority of visitors would be fine with a slight upcharge, but very few guests are going to pay more for something they've done several times before.
@Nick M - I would say the 2 parks' Halloween events are pretty even because BGW has slipped in recent years IMHO (I felt that BGW had one of the best theme park events outside of Florida and California, but that's not the case anymore). Also, I would say that BGW tends to be far more crowded, particularly on Saturday nights, though it's likely that KD will get really busy over the next few weekends now that their mazes no longer require an upcharge.
I would probably go with whatever park is closer to you.
Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun and Valleyfair are now including the haunt attractions as well. The four parks that offer The Conjuring: Beyond Fear (Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds) as an upcharge appear to be keeping the Haunted Attractions Pass.