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If the mazes themselves receive upgrades and they actually pour in the effort, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit shorter lines to actually be able to do the mazes for a change. But like some of you have said, this move may end up driving up the ride lines even more. And I definitely do not envy guest service folks roles with all these changes. I know people are going to be absolutely livid when the see upcharges for Haunt. The reality we are currently in is this: these places are no longer an easy thing to just walk in and enjoy anymore. The parks are 100% pay to play if you truly want to have a good time, and this right here is yet another example of that. Gone are the days of "just' buying a pass and tolerating long lines here and there. There is quite literally an upcharge for everything. Everything will cost you. I actually feel the most sorry for people who buy single day tickets and realize that ticket is literally only good to get you in and anything beyond that its "cha-ching cha ching cha ching!"

The other benefit I could see is it may stop the hoards of children and adults pulling kids in wagons thorugh the mazes. If charging keeps so many kids who just giggle and run through the mazes only to bump in to an adult pulling two toddlers in a large red wagon, I'm all for it. It puts the scareactors at a disadvantage because who can do a proper scare job under those cirmumstances. I'll hold off judgement until I experience it. Another thing I've noticed is (I didn't check them all) that at Kings Dominion Cedar Point Magic Mountain Six Flags over Georgia Six Flags Great America Six Flags over Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas All have their halloween events presented by Snickers. Kings Island Knots Berry Farm Valleyfair Darian Lake Canada's Wonderland Don't have it. Probably just haven't updated the websites yet, but I found it interesting.

Double posting because I wanted to post this little guy from when WEBN sponsored FearFest back in 2002 He's one of the reasons why I love the WaybackMachine (https://web.archive.org/web/20021001214200/http://www.pki.com/fearfest_info_2.jsp)

Now with Haunt 4 hour waits brought to you by Snickers

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

That is the call center.

SCarowinds and Halloween Haunt at Dorney Park are also presented by Snickers this year. It seems most of the big Legacy Six Flags parks have their Fright Fest sponsored, while around half of the Legacy Cedar Fair parks that have a Haunt event also have their event sponsored. If it brings in money to make the event better, then I'm fine with it. Same with the upcharge for mazes. We haven't seen much work besides the new maze and the demolition of Madam Fatale's. I hope the company has decided to sink some serious initial investment into Halloween Haunt that they can compensate for using the funds raised by the new Haunted Attractions passes. Guests will not be happy if they now have to pay $20 for the mazes that will now be 6-11 years old. It's possible they could get away easier if they change up three-ish mazes (not even changing the theme, just the decorations and routes), but I do not have faith in this company for that. The downside to up-charging for mazes, as everyone has stated, is that it will drive the wait times for everything else up. Like I said in another post about rides and things to do in the park during the normal season, Kings Island simply does not have enough Halloween Haunt attractions to be able to hold the amount of people who attend the event. As of 2024 Kings Island has, what, six mazes with minimal staffing? Three shows, one of which being a glorified costume contest (run by a marvelous actor) at an event where most guests aren't allowed to wear costumes? The scare zones have been getting better, and have been one of the only things that has consistently been changed over the past 5 years. To mitigate the crowds the park could use at least eight mazes, five nightly shows (not including opening and closing ceremonies), all of the normal rides open during Haunt, and a number of additional attractions (with maybe one or two being an up-charge). Remember the casket "live burial" experience? The nightly Haunt-cert with local bands? The interactive lanterns were a new way to play during the Halloween season, and then they split them into two separate products for Winterfest. Why should I spend $35+ on an interactive item that only changes color? Hopefully we will see an upgraded Halloween Haunt event this year. Hopefully it will continue to reap the benefits of the increased revenue. Unfortunately it cannot be guaranteed that we'll see any of that. I wish they would make the event an up-charge for non-passholders and have the Haunted Attractions Pass be a slight up-charge after that. SCarowinds was an up-charge for one season, and then they pulled the plug on that because it didn't meet expectations and the execution was kind of sloppy. Close the park at 5:30PM, funnel passholders and Haunt ticket holders into a few designated areas around 6PM, and release everyone in time for the opening ceremony at 7PM. Other parks are super experienced in transitioning from the fun by day to the fright by night model. Why not take some pointers from them? Other haunts have been charging much higher amounts for events like this (albeit with a better product) for ages. Why not upgrade to justify the costs? There are a lot of opportunities that the new Six Flags could be taking as a company, but are not. There are also a lot of things that the new Six Flags should be doing to mitigate the harm done by these new changes, but are not. Halloween Haunt is not and will never be Halloween Horror Nights. That being said, it is not yet should be far above the average home town haunted house.

The main reason I enjoy Haunt is The Beast night rides. That alone is worth the price of a gold pass in my opinion!

I am torn on this one. If they do charge extra for mazes this year, it's obvious there is a need for cash any way they can get it. Only reason I can think of facing the throngs of gold passholders angry or confused why their gold pass does not include that this fall. I don't envy anyone working in guest services if so. It doesn't bother me too much. The mazes are fun, but no need to stand in a 2+ hour line usually, when I can ride my favorite rides in cooler weather. I'm at a point in my life where just walking through the park in the fall/Halloween time and riding rides is enough. If the mazes were truly scary or had better theming, etc., maybe it would matter more. Saying that, I remember when Fear Fest began and it was a separate gate charge the first few years I think. First of all, I was much younger, so mazes mattered more, the event was better than it is now, and the crowd size was much more manageable. Rides had relatively short lines while the lines for the mazes were not quite as long as they get now with all gold pass members getting access. Weather always plays a role too.

If they put a price tag on the mazes, then people paying for Fright Lane have to pay the $70, the extra for the mazes, and if they aren’t a passholder then the admission. It’s $120 with admission and FL, and we all know the price for the mazes is gonna be crazy, so it’s be about $170 for a SINGLE PERSON!!

Four teenage girls, sitting in row 8, were about to be dispatched on Banshee. They had waited for about 15 minutes in line, and then, right before the drive tires powered on, they asked one of the restraint-checkers... "Does this ride go upside down?" The response was even more funny: "Yeah, 8 times, in fact!"

If they're going to put in a new restaurant, I've got my eyes set on something going in the KillMart building with indoor seating, some outdoor seating along the KMAA fence, and a new kitchen and serving area added onto the back of the building. There's enough space for it and it would activate that area of the park more. Give the inside some good Victorian-ish decorations and it could even bring some of those vibes back to Coney Mall (lost with the removal of Coney Potato Works and the old ICEE stand). Or maybe a new quick-service/refresh station either where The Beast Canyon Cold Drinks stand used to be (you could put a bandstand across from it), or on the side of the path just past Diamondback's train shed. Make it bigger than the Shooting Star Cafe. A larger Brewhouse-style indoor restaurant could fit in the Saltwater Circus plot and be very useful for Winterfest. In all reality, Chicken Shack could have its dining areas enclosed (like was done at Kings Dominion) and a new quick-service location with better flow can replace the Ice Scream Zone if Action Zone ever finally gets redone.

Today didn't start good as I hit a closed I-65 north of Indianapolis due to a semi fire and had to take a 40 mile back roads detour. The park feels like a real life RCT park with the layout and weird ride, queue and RR placements. Great setting by the lake. Operations leave a lot to be desired. Early coaster reviews- Lost Coaster- fun and quirky, especially backwards Cyclone- smooth with lots of laterals, no banked turns Tigrr- probably one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden of that size Hurricane- very meh, gradual floater air, a bit too much jackhammering Cornball- perfect small size CCI Steel Hawg- good layout and elements, hate the restraints Triple Loop is closed with several cranes and parts of another Schwarzkopf looper behind it including loop pieces

Nobody from the park has ever said anything to us about the Tower Topics podcast, except they enjoy it and learned things they didn’t know. As for retiring the Tower Topics X, it simply wasn’t proving enough value for the podcast. We have chosen to put all of the channel’s social media efforts into the Tower Topics Facebook Group. That has been providing us with far more value. We did have good engagement with the content we published on X, better than many of the posts the park makes on X. It just wasn’t proving enough value for us. A lot of what we’d post on X can still be found on my personal X. Ryan and I are not going to be shills for the park. We’re going to keep doing the podcast the same way. Genuine and authentic with honest and frank discussion about Kings Island.

Last week as we ascend the second chain lift on The Beast. The people behind me said.... Person 1: "We are going up another lift." (As the helix comes into view) Person 2: "Oh yeah, this is the triple spin." Person 1: "Oh, yeah!" I chucked to myself, but when we hit the brake run he said it again. Person 2: "That triple spin is so intense."

Speaking of The Beast I've had one guest say "Yeah they removed the loop from Son of Beast and added it to The Beast!" That was quite a few years ago though...