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If they do end up doing an up charge for the mazes, they better have them better staffed and upgrade all the decorations. Otherwise, I see Guest Services line stretching back to the Eiffel Tower.

Now that we are halfway through July, it may be time to give the 2025 Halloween Haunt season its discussion thread. Seasonal events like Halloween Horror Nights, Howl-O-Scream, and Halloween Haunt all have parts of their websites published already. A number of the HHN houses have already been announced with Fallout, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Terrifier being notable standouts. Carowinds has also released a teaser for SCarowinds 25 Years of Fear, celebrating the event's 25th anniversary (delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). I would love to see Kings Island put on a similar celebration since this will also be their 25 Years of Fear celebration, whether they advertise it or not. Kings Island is rumored to receive at least one new haunt maze in the building formerly occupied by Club Blood and Blackout, built by the trusted Plague Productions team. Rumors speculate that it could be themed to a story from The Conjuring, while some park-goers hope for it to be themed to vampires, gothic horror, or even a pirate maze. 2024 saw the addition of the new "Hooked" scare zone between Viking Fury and Adventure Port, as well as a new unnamed themed area along the path between the Rivertown LaRosa's and Jukebox Diner. Additional rumors are circulating around the former Tomb Raider: The Ride / The Crypt building, formerly home to Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror, as it has been cleared to begin construction on Kings Island's 2026 attraction or for a new 2025 Halloween Haunt maze. Online sleuths recently discovered a new Haunted Attractions Pass and a Haunted Attractions Express Pass to be available at Kings Dominion. Playing around with the URL also reveals the same program coming to Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, and Kings Island. The same website for Valleyfair still has dates listed as available for their Haunted Attractions Passes, with Friday and Sunday prices at $10/HAP and $55/HAEP. Saturday prices are currently set at $20/HAP and $60/HAEP. Prices at other Legacy Cedar Fair parks appear to range from $10-$40 for the standard pass and up to $70 for the Express pass. A similar program existed at Fright Fest throughout the Legacy Six Flags parks, where park visitors would need to purchase an additional pass to enter indoor walkthrough attractions during the event. These new tickets will hopefully bring some calm to the crowd levels and allow for Kings Island to begin receiving some well-needed upgrades to their Halloween Haunt event. What do you think Halloween Haunt will look like in 2025? Will you be attending? Halloween Haunt at Kings Island will be held select nights from September 19th to November 1st, 2025. This event is intended for mature audiences and is not recommended for children under 13. Kings Island will maintain its no re-entry after 6:00 PM during Halloween Haunt for 2025. It's time to get excited! Event Website: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/haunt

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.

If? They’re going to do it. The product is set up to sell online.

I could see doing this next year but a product was sold and now we are getting something different.

There's rumors it'll still be included with the gold pass and only a required add on for tickets. We don't really know for sure until it's all released. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet...

Shared last night that it looks like KI will be having the haunt attraction pass:

I’m curious what the lines for haunts will look like with the upcharge now Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While I am not a huge Haunt guy, I try to make it out there twice every season. I am excited this year, and look forward to what is coming this next season. I love the fog, lights, and sometimes the music (it can get repetitive). But...not really looking forward to the long lines. I'm going to try and get lots of rides in the coming months before Haunt season starts. But overall, looking forward to this fun and scary time of the year!

I thought it was already confirmed a Cheesecake Factory and Burger King

Not sure exactly what you are wanting....but we talk about the dining plans and food here:

In line for Beast: "This is probably their giga coaster. I can tell!" A few moments later... "Is this the ride that goes straight down into a tunnel?"

Went with Giordano for lunch. Kept it simple with pepperoni pizza. Its kind of an inverted pizza,- thick crust (close to an inch thick) which kinda acts like a bowl of sorts. The 'toppings' end up more as bottomings as they go at the bottom, then cheese (a good bit) and sauce on top. Kind of locks in the cheese and topping flavors. Kind of if pizza and lasagna had a food baby. Very good. Also, now that I've had both types, I can say Chicago style beats NY style.

They could always take it down if guests stop buying the Haunted Attractions Pass Kings Island has been known to only dip their metaphorical toes in the water instead of jumping right in the pool. I'd be more supportive of it if we knew it worked more like a tasting card than as a one-night pass. It would also be nice to know whether or not the funds raised from these new passes will go toward improving the mazes and staffing them more. Kings Island hasn't made a post calling for scare actors yet, and that has me wondering if there is a plan that we're not seeing. Hi yes this was also one of my posts! LMC here, creator of topics and frequent poster of many things. It's very clear that this is all still in the early stages of being set up. I really hope it works out for Kings Island in the long run.

So wait, is haunt no longer going to be available with just a gold pass? It still says on the website under gold pass that you get unlimited visits to haunt and winterfest.

From the ParkFans.net bluesky account: https://bsky.app/profile/parkfans.net/post/3ltzgtpopsc2r

It's likely KI will have it as well:

Big seasonal events enthusiast over here as well and I gotta say: if this event is half as good as it looks, it’ll really give their competition something to WINE about!

This is one of those things that continues to annoy regular pass holders and any new pass holders. The redundancy, double-speak, clear as mud language they use to explain each bullet point in the FAQ section is an entire mess. It really shouldn't be this confusing considering they have changed the pass structure so much over the last few years. When you read everything over it's like multiple people had their hand in writing out the information and didn't bother to cross reference with one another. The left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand is doing. It all tracks as to why you hear different associates stating different things at different times on different days. There is no real clear language or consistency and that then becomes a major point of frustration for the guests. There really needs to be some serious grip on what the company wants, what their end goal is and a much more cut and dry clear language that doesn't beg the guest to ask so many questions or leave their staff also unable to fully grasp what they are saying/doing. Also. Completely random, but regarding dropping brownie points in the guest experience, I got bored one day recently and looked at Google reviews. Now granted. It's Google reviews. I'm clear that a lot of the complaints can often be just regular ignorance often portrayed by the GP who didn't get their way because they were line cutting and got kicked out. But it was interesting to see from last year that both KI and CP held a 4.6 star rating on there. KI has retained their 4.6 while CP has dropped down to 4.5. I realize this isn't a huge dip. But it is sad to see any dip at all seeing how many total reviews there are for each park. It's just mildly telling that even though we have been seeing so many cuts at KI this season that they must still be doing just a hair better than big brother up north is. Because as it is noted, the GP is what brings the business, not us. We are but a mere drop in the bucket as enthusiasts in a sea of GP. Just sad to see, even if it is just Google reviews/one .1 point lower than last year.

The new family thrill attraction will be some Snicker themed dark ride. Imagine the ride cars

Absolutely! The ride ops and other front line associates are doing the best they can with the limitations handed to them from above. Sadly, those making these decisions collect their big bonuses and never interact with the guests....

We’re nearing mid-July, and let’s be honest—this has been really rough season at Kings Island and for the company. From staffing shakeups to cutbacks, to things like no ice, no cups, and restaurants closed—it’s all added up. Guests have noticed. I’ve noticed. But here’s the part we don’t say enough: there are still a lot of hard-working associates out there showing up every day, doing their best with what they’ve got. And they deserve credit—a lot of it. The message about what’s wrong? It’s been heard. Loud and clear. The park knows. It’s on them to fix it. As we head down the homestretch for daily operation, let’s shift the focus and talk more about the good things happening during our visits.

This right here is a prime example of part of the problem People don't care because they see the item/product in question as "just" this or "just" that and blame the applicable company for not doing enough to stop it. People NEED to care. If everyone cared even a little, I can promise you there would be significantly LESS theft. I'm not saying that there would be zero theft. But if people actually cared about theft, no matter what it is that is being taken, there wouldn't be such a rampant issue everywhere. I am completely fatigued by this apathy problem in our society. It's cool not to care? I will never understand that. Everyone should care. Theft is bad for everyone and ultimately comes crashing down on the honest folk in some way or another which then in turn ruins an experience/opportunity. You can't catch everyone. I would know from first hand experience. But we can, as a collective, call people out. I will say that from the rooftops. If you see it happening? Call them out. Make an example of them if staff won't step in. At the very least they will be seen in the act and it will, inevitably, catch up to them.

Are Snickers bars on the dining plan?