Here are my questions for Theme Park Insider readers:
1) Which Halloween events did you attend this year?
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
3) Which were your least favorite?
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010?
Tell us your answers, and other observations about this year's season, in the comments.
Otherwise, I hope everyone had a great Halloween, and here's looking forward to some great times in the months to come!
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1) Darkness Haunted House (Saint Louis, MO)
2) Creepyworld [Saint Louis(Fenton, MO)]
3) Fright Fest (Six Flags Saint Louis)
4) LIVE Rocky Horror Show Picture w/ Electric Samurai
My first time ever attending Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
Dracula maze was great, Saw maze was atmospheric, but not terribly scary, Silver Screams maze was well done, liked the referrences to multiple recent horror films
Containment, War of the Dead, and Cirque Du Freak zones were done particularly well
3) Which were your least favorite?
Chucky maze was pretty weak
Both shows were honestly terrible. RHPS... it was EXACTLY the same as the film, except for with live action trannies. Boring.
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010
Granted, I like the fact that HHNs is more adult-themed... but do they really have to try and pump booze down everyone's throats so much? I am partial to getting my drunk on, but hell, by the end of the night people were passing out on each other and throwing up... I even saw one dude pissing off of the bridge into the lagoon over by the Simpsons ride. Nobody noticed or cared.
I attended Universal Hollywood HHN & Knott's Scary Farm. As an Australian, these were my first ever Halloween events & I loved it.
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
SAW and Halloween @ HHN, Terror Of London & Doll Factory @ Knott's; Bill and Ted @ HHN, The Hanging @ Knott's; All the Scare Zones were great at both parks.
3) Which were your least favorite?
Chucky @ HHN; Day of the Dead & the Alien one @ Knott's.
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010?
More mazes @ HHN, a little more quality in the lesser mazes @ Knott's & for Knott's - front of line passes.
2) The Wolfman, Leave it to Cleaver, and Silver Screams were awesome. The chainsaw scare zone was fantastic. Bill and Ted show was hilarious.
3) whatever the sewer themed house was sucked, i cant even be bothered to remember or look up the name. Scarezones were a bit lacking. was there a lighting problem for anyone else in the Dracula house? I couldn't see a thing and was most excited for that house because i had heard really good things about it. I probably would have added it to my faves but it was just too dark.
4) Since it was my first year and definitely not my last, i would say expand the scare zones a bit. they were quite cramped. and adjust some lighting so people can actually see. I mean i am for atmospherics and everything, but seriously, i would actually like to see the detail of the houses. but other than those gripes everything was great. can't wait till next year.
Most favorite was CornStalkers and the Asylym. Both were very dark and creative. I also very much enjoyed one of the new attractions Camp Killawee.
Least Favorite were Feeding Frenzy and Final Summons. These two were way over lit and and scareactors were very sedate.
The one show was pathetic and saw many guests get up and leave the 3 times I tried to watch it. The talent was ok, just the writing of the show and the desing were very middle school production.
Great amount of fog throughout the park even on the rainy nights.
There was on scareactor walking the park "Lyla" who was so freaky to talk to, she was great at staying in character.
In all of the attractions the lack of blood and goo was dissapointing, but maybe that will improve with time.
The layout and spacing of the events really helped with crowd control and all lines for the scare events moved smoothly until the last week when they seemed to let fewer guests through the attractions at a time.
All in all I can not wait to see next year!
2) I liked Lair of the Vamp/Club blood, for exactly the same reason the anonymous poster above did not! What's wrong with strippers??? =)
3) I guess the fact that after several years, WoF still has no concept of crowd control! They have a very cool opening ceremony for the Haunts, then a parade, but they allow customers to just meander around interrupting the flow of the parade and destroying any and all immersion that could be gained from such an event.
4) I would love to see WoF apply some Halloween fun to a few rides. At the very least, something should be done to enhance the train ride. Also, a few more things for the younger kids to do would be a plus, but then Cedar Fair in general has no idea what to do with the over 3-years-old, but shorter-than-48" crowd anyway. *Sigh*.
I flew down to Atlanta and visited Six Flags Over Atlanta for the first time since the 70s.
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
They only had one haunted house (Dr. Fright's Frightorium, but it was 17 rooms, small groups (no bunching) and illicted several screams from me. There was an additional charge of $10, but it was worth it for a good scare. The shows were extremely good (yes, I was surprised from a Six Flags property) especially "Love at First Fright" and "Dr. Fright's CarnEvil."
3) Which were your least favorite?
Their new haunt for 2009 (The Last Ride) probably won't be back. (You lay in a coffin which acts like a simulator ride and you "experience" being lowered into the ground and buried alive. Unless you're claustrophobic, hardly worth the upcharge.) And if it comes to your Six Flags - skip it.
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010?
As I don't live there, I'm unlikely to return next year.
Praise for the Park
As an aside - I was extremely impressed with this Six Flags property. The park is beautiful (lots of full grown trees and shade), well shielded from the nearby city (only the tall rides and the occasional planes overhead disrupt the illusion) and extremely well run. With the exception of one ride, employees were efficient while remaining extremely courteous. While the queues mostly lack themeing, I would highly recommend a visit. I took the time to write a thank you comment to the park manager on my way out.
2) Bitten, Revenge of Pompeii and The Catacombs. For some reason, I loved how the designers used all that sand in Bitten. It made it harder to walk through, which added an element of excitement.
3) Hunted. Way too short.
4) More mazes please.
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
For MNSSHP, there were no mazes or the such there. I used that day to primarily go on some of the rides with less crowds. However, the fireworks were great.
At BGW, I liked their new indoor scare zone, Catacombs. I only got to it once though because every other time the line was extremely long. I also liked the
3) Which were your least favorite?
Nothing to note for MNSSHP.
I wasn't as impressed with any of the scare zones this year. It seems they brought that down a notch this year. Cavern of Darkness (new) was good, but they didn't have that many scare actors in there. It was long enough that more could have been done (and they may do so next year since it was new this year).
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010?
Increase the thrills of the scare zones, and have more scare actors at all of the haunted houses and scare zones.
Loved the fog machines through the park. Everything was so beautiful during the day, especially Ireland with pumpkins, haystacks, scarecrows everywhere throughout the entire park. But, come 6pm, when the sun goes down, the fog comes in, and the eerie sounds and lights start glowing. Loved the filing ghosts in the trees through New France. Favorite maze was Revenge of Pompeii. Scariest walk was through Italy with the witches. I jumped and screamed more than once. Loved everything about it. Already planning to go back next year.
We were forced to cancel our reservation because it rained heavily the ENTIRE weekend of Oct 17-18. I am sorry we missed it.
Does anyone know how much of a loss Hersheypark endured due to weather????
2) Our favorite was the Fangs show at Dorney park (which is why we drove 3.5 hours each way for the 2nd time). We also love "Club Blood", at both KDominion and Dorney, but we did the Dorney one many many times (weather was bad our 2nd time so the park was pretty empty). And we also love the Monster Stomp Revisited show, which we saw a couple of times while we were there (we did a friday night/saturday).
But frankly, our favorite was just walking around in our "almost costumes" at Kings Dominion, saying hi to all the workers while my daughter got compliments on her hair and hat.
3) our least favorite was #11 at Dorney, "out in the woods" or something. A long walk to then just walk through the woods while occasionally some guy would run around with a fake chain saw.
4) We were sorry that the "Rockin Eve's Halloween show" was cancelled at Busch Gardens. We like the shows, and missing a show there made it less enjoyable (even though the show had gone downhill a bit each year).
And while someone else said they liked the sand in Bitten, it just got in our shoes so that was annoying.
Did I say we really liked the Fangs show at Dorney (which apparently was pretty much like the Fangs show at Knotts Berry Farm last year).
We also set up and ran a small halloween haunt at our house for the 3rd year; we get a lot of my daughter's high school buddies to help out, and it's a lot of fun, although we were rained on.
In fact, what I really hated about this year was the continual rain showers. From our first Friday/Saturday trip to BGW/KD which ended before the KD haunt opened on the 26th because we were too tired to stand around in the rain for another 2 hours for 6pm, to the drizzle at Dorney on October 3rd, to the rain-shortened Friday night (7pm-10pm) at KD on the 16th (didn't have time to see both shows), to the drizzle during our repeat at KD on the 23rd, and our drive through a pouring rainstorm to Dorney on the 24th (which concluded with a sunny sunday in a mudpit at the Maryland Renaisance festival), every weekend we tried was a near-washout.
Then our haunt had drizzle on Friday with high winds, and rainstorms on Halloween, leaving a muddy mess in our back yard and a lot of cold, drenched teenager trapsing around the house.
But not so much that it prevented my son and I from doing 3 hours in the rain Sunday at KD, closing out the park.
Next year my daughter and I hope to work as haunt characters at KD.
HHN Hollywood
Fright Fest at Six Flags MM
Knott's Scary Farm
2) What were your favorite mazes, shows or attraction over-lays?
HHN - Saw and The Crimes of Michael Myers - excellent recreations of the scenes from all the movies! Even Halloween III had a scene!
SFMM - Jokesters 3D - it was really, really well done. We were so impressed, we did it twice.
Knott's - Terror of London rocked. Cornstalkers freaked me out and the Asylum and Club ones were awesome because they were back-to-back. Also loved Dia de Los Muertos and the Log Ride in the dark (Pyromaniax) is always awesome - love the people jumping out of completely blackness while you float by.
Knott's mazes were fairly lengthly for the most part - which was awesome. Many of the actors followed me throughout the mazes and really stayed in character - spooking the heck out of me!
3) Which were your least favorite?
HHN - they were all good
SFMM - really - Jokesters was the only really good one
Knott's - the alien and quarantine mazes were lame. Jump out and scare me, don't stand there and "act" zombieish. Lame! Plus Calico Mine Ride in the dark was LAME. That one used to scare the pee out of me as a teenager - I think that fake mountain needs a major rehab.
4) What would you like to see changed or added for 2010?
Loved that Knott's had 11 mazes and 2 themed rides - would love to see the other parks just go crazy with the number of mazes - but make them all good and long.
2) Dracula, Wolfman, and Silver Screams from HHN. The HHN masters really outdid themselves this year with these mazes. Also loved the Tales From The Past scare zone added for the nights leading up to and including Halloween. Located in the alley in New York, it was a fun zone with great atmosphere featuring Jack, the Caretaker, and other veteran characters. HHN 19 was fantastic overall. Really looking forward to next year!
As far as Mickey's, it's always a fun time. My favorite moment had to be catching the fireworks from the Haunted Mansion queue. Seeing the boomers light up the sky with the eerily-lit mansion in the foreground was beautiful. No camera...aaarrrgh!
3) Chucky from HHN...some good ideas but overall the execution just didn't work for me. Still a decent house amongst a really strong group of houses this year. Also, Bill and Ted's was not very good this year imho. Only saw it once which was highly unusual for my wife and I.
4) Would still love to have the parade back at HHN. Can understand the logistical nightmare this could pose with scarezones and such, but still the parades used to be so much fun!
Make Silver Screams an annual house featuring sets from a new set of movies each year (the Sean of the Dead and The Strangers set pieces were our favorites THIS year ;)). The movie-theater set was fantastic. The transition from new, pretty theater-front to old-haunted was genius. Great work, HHN-geneers!!
I worked at Six Flags Over Texas for 6 years. When I was there Fright Fest was much more involved and fun to attend. Lots more characters, lots more live performers with shows like magicians doing ghoulishly clever magic. I was in ride operations and several rides were transformed into haunted attractions. None of that remains. During my years there I played as dressed up characters along the railroad, in the cave ride, along the motor car track and near the rapids.
The main show at the Southern Palace is the same one for the last 16 years or so. It has a cult following now much like Rocky Horror has a cult following. the shows in the Crazy Horse saloon and the old Chevy Show building are also gone.
They also used to have a kids maze. It was dark with black lights but had non-scary characters that gave out candy. That is also gone. The kids maze that is out in the open in Looney Tunes land is still there but reduced in size to make room for kids karaoke. I can't tell you how enjoyable that was.............
Even the decorations they once placed in the entry plaza were missing.
In my opinion they pretty much didn't even have a Fright Fest at all. Just a midly themed standard operating day.
There is so much there that can be used to make a great halloween special event. They just totally blew it. Or more likely didn't care.
The last few years Six Flags has tried very hard to improve the park during the normal operating season. And they have largely succeeded. But this event was very disappointing.
I heard lots of other guests expressing disappointment regarding the relative lack of Halloween themeing in the park.
I worked at Six Flags Over Texas for 6 years. When I was there Fright Fest was much more involved and fun to attend. Lots more characters, lots more live performers with shows like magicians doing ghoulishly clever magic. I was in ride operations and several rides were transformed into haunted attractions. None of that remains. During my years there I played as dressed up characters along the railroad, in the cave ride, along the motor car track and near the rapids.
The main show at the Southern Palace is the same one for the last 16 years or so. It has a cult following now much like Rocky Horror has a cult following. the shows in the Crazy Horse saloon and the old Chevy Show building are also gone.
They also used to have a kids maze. It was dark with black lights but had non-scary characters that gave out candy. That is also gone. The kids maze that is out in the open in Looney Tunes land is still there but reduced in size to make room for kids karaoke. I can't tell you how enjoyable that was.............
Even the decorations they once placed in the entry plaza were missing.
In my opinion they pretty much didn't even have a Fright Fest at all. Just a midly themed standard operating day.
There is so much there that can be used to make a great halloween special event. They just totally blew it. Or more likely didn't care.
The last few years Six Flags has tried very hard to improve the park during the normal operating season. And they have largely succeeded. But this event was very disappointing.
I heard lots of other guests expressing disappointment regarding the relative lack of Halloween themeing in the park.
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2) Both Saw ones and Hillbilly Hell
3) Dead On Arrival
4)Take out Dead On Arrival. Everything else was fine.