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I have it on good authority that the facade will be an overlay of the existing exterior.

I've been missing this entrance, what a nostalgia trip if they brought it back!

So, the Conjuring ruled so much, BUUUUUUUT Order of the Dragon MIGHT be better. It gave off huge HHN original haunt vibes. Just beyond the usual KI stuff. ill gladly pay extra for next level haunts like those two. Just tremendous.

Check out the absolute EJECTOR airtime coming from some of those quad downs! it’s the Great Recession Charlie Brown Dive Coaster concept The 30ft KA k’nex model has bigger numbers But for real… I’m not very “thrilled” by these graphs

I had this exact same experience this past Friday. Went to the Order of the Dragon early and they let us walk around the ropes. Then with KillMart later the yelled at our group for cutting around when there was no one else even close to the queue or in the queue. Order of the Dragon was great, the Conjuring was next level. Multiple of my friends who aren't huge haunt or KI people said the experience was top notch and that they'd happily attend a similar experience in the future. The rest of the mazes were a bit of a dissapointment, other than having some great interactions with some of the Slaughterhouse crew

Plus it if it follow the original concept art for it's facade.

The loud CLANG of the poles falling over in the KillMart queue is almost as much a sound of Haunt as the Undertaker's laugh on International Street.

I started thinking to myself the following, what if The Racer had a story? Classic Americana, red and white, a by gone era, the smell of grease, ratcheting lap bars, it’s a period piece. Something that lacks from the ride is a story, some sort of lore if you will, right now it’s just a coaster. I propose that they retheme The Racer to Bruce Springsteen and call it the Boss. Picture this, that iconic entrance is demolished and turned into an indoor queue, the facade? The entrance would be designed to look like Asbury Park and the entrance would replicate the Stone Pony. You would go inside and there would be an animatronic Bruce Springsteen being like “JERZEEEEEEYYYYY MAKE SOME NOISEEEEEE” (the ride takes place in Jersey now) In the queue there would be a bar and pumped out smells of cigarettes to fully seal the ambiance. The ride experience would remain the same, just that they install off board audio to play Glory Days. You just rode The Boss. Thoughts?

The Racer may not have a designated story, but the ride has a story built into it. The Racer is perhaps one of the most iconic rides at KI (behind Beast) and has such a rich history with the park. If anything, the ride tells a story about the park. The Racer needs no story, the ride is a story itself

I like the Bruce Springsteen idea and during Christmas you can play his famous "Santa Clause is coming to town" but Billy Joel is my literal favorite of all time both are great ideas however I think The Racer is perfect the way it is.

I think this would be a great idea, but I think it would be even better if they emphasized the racing aspect and themed the other side to another classic artist. Like Billy Joel or Jimmy Buffet.

The exact same thing happened to us on Killmart/Dragon, too. And then it was more annoying because the lady didn’t say anymore to people on Killmart doing it after us

Do we know what this pile of rubble was before it was rapidly disintegrated by a Boo Blaster? There's nothing in the photo that looks damaged in that way, and I didn't see anything missing above it when I saw that pile on Thursday night. I'm glad that the castle may be coming down. Hopefully the new Phantom Theater can balance the more realistic style of the original with a little bit of the animated style of newer dark rides.

Guessing that probably means the castle is coming down. Fingers crossed we get something similar to the old Phantom Theater entrance.

Or they don't feel the part will be here this season and took the train off to get a jump start on maintenance...which any little bit they can get started on helps...

By the looks of it, I’d guess it’s a surprise, ground up RMC Son of Beast revival.

Outside of BBoBH today. Nothing crazy, but still cool to see. Crazy this is even happening.

My idea is a multi level station structure like Time Traveler where the queue is one and/or 2 levels below the station platform. Also if they go with a high capacity 3 train operation coaster, that could make it where they don't really need a long queue outside of busy weekends. Even on medium busy days, rides like Banshee and Orion are rarely longer than a few switchbacks. I also would like to see an under the station queue as A) it provides shade and B: there's theming opportunity I really wish more parks in the chain used the under the station area for queuing as usually when they don't it's dead space under there.

I like the idea of the Monster cars being a different color, so long as the "tentacles" and ride body retain their menacing jet black color. Monster was one of my Aunt's favorite rides at Old Coney and in Kings Island6 early years. She passed away in 2020, but luckily I got to ride it once with her that summer season. With what seems like a major overhaul of the ride, I'm hopeful that the ride will be back next season since the ride holds a special place. When Shake Rattle & Roll was refurbished 2014 - 2015, it was taken off site. Was the refurbishment done in house at the park or was it shipped off to Germany to HUSS? How extensive is the overhaul of Monster? Will all six arms be strong enough to carry the weight, or will they still only load four? My prediction back in April was that Premier Rides may have won a bid to refurbish the ride with their background in this style of work (think Kangaroo at Kennywood) and Six Flags' partnership with them on AlpenFury at Canada's Wonderland. I guess time will tell to see what happens with this beloved flat ride.

Actually, the lady working Order of the Dragon told us to cut under the ropes because there was no line at the time. But there was a staff member yelling at people at KillMart because they were cutting under the ropes

Did anyone else catch that Tower Topics a podcast for Kings Island was being sponsored by Kings Island’s competitor??

Did you experience any issues with people in the Order of the Dragon queue line? When I went through there were groups trying to duck under each rope and getting (rightfully) scolded by the associate at the back of the standby queue line. It would be nice if there were a way to make temporary switchback dividers like they have in the ride queues. Universal uses actual barriers in their HHN house queues, but that also makes it so you have to go through everything no matter how long/short the line is. I believe I heard that Cornered got a new storyline last year and had its layout changed this year. The greenhouse/bad chemicals storyline is nice in that it makes it more than just another corn maze. My theory is that the layout got changed to a) get the exit closer to the entrance, and to b) clear the plaza in front of Invertigo in case any work needs to happen there to fix or demolish the ride.

Foreword: this is basically spoiler-free, so don't worry about me spilling the beans Also, this is coming from a guy who doesn't like to be scared, and has only ever done Killmart and Hotel St Michelle before this trip. Went to the Haunt last night and bought the Haunted Attractions Pass online. When we entered the park at around 6:45, we scanned the QR code given to us and received our wristbands. It was a super easy process, and only took a few seconds. NOTE: You do not have to redeem your online order at the main Fast Lane location, you can do it anywhere that sells Fast Lane. So don't wait in those really long lines when you can go to the height measurement kiosks and have no wait. After that I had dinner at Chicken Shack for the first time and thought it was ok for KI food. Then we did Order of the Dragon first and I liked it. The theming and the whole house was definitely done better than the other ones. I think we took a wrong turn and cut some of the maze off, but I can't be sure. We hardly waited for this one, and moved on to Cornered. Cornered was fine, but definitely one of the weaker mazes. For those who have done it in years past, is the theming a little different? I thought Cornered last year was a hay-maze type thing instead of the greenhouse-type theming this year's Cornered seemed to have. Anyway, we didn't wait much for that one either. Next we did Alien Abyss, which I had mixed feelings about. We basically didn't wait for this one. I really liked the story of the whole thing, especially the pre-show type room before you enter the house. But it was just way too dark for me to enjoy it, because I was constantly lost and trying to continue walking though. The scare actors had to keep telling people where to go. But it was a good maze idea in my opinion. KillMart was the same as always, with a few animatronics. Waited roughly 5-10 minutes. Not much needs to be said, it was the same old KillMart We did Hotel St Michelle next which we ended up waiting roughly 30 minutes for because they were using both lines, but there was no one evenly splitting the lines, so our line took way longer. Good maze overall, probably one of my faves. But basically the same as previous years. The last house was Slaughterhouse. Not necessarily scary, just gory. I also felt like there weren't very many scare actors in this one like maybe 5-7. There were definitely some parts that could have more scare actors in them. Probably my least favorite maze overall, but that's just my opinion. We did Racer (10 minutes) and Diamondback (15 minutes) for rides. And watched the show (twice)! The show was really good and I really wished they advertised it. Overall, very fun night at KI Haunt!

Order of the Dragon was designed and built by Plague Productions (https://www.plagueproductions.com/), a professional haunt/Halloween design company. They were the ones behind Ghost in the Machine at Dorney Park, CryptidLand at ValleyScare, and various things at Knott's Scary Farm. The company has also done work for Paramount Scares and Lionsgate for Midsummer Scream.

I have higher standards when a park charges extra for the event than when it’s included as part of the ticket. The conjuring for instance is worth that extra cost, the house is incredible and is overall one of the best houses I have ever done at any theme park, including the huge number of houses I have done at Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando. Over the years I have been to roughly half of all the HHN events at Universal in Orlando, and have also done Knott’s Scary Farm, Howl O Scream, and HHN in Hollywood, in addition to numerous other haunts. I feel like I have a significant amount of experience when it comes to haunts. The houses at Kings Island have largely been decent but nothing special. For actual build quality they are acceptable, and staffing has always been a little weak. But it was a free experience and like I said I have lowered expectations due to that, and Kings Island lived up to those lowered expectations. I went opening night and I started my night at the conjuring, and that house is one of the best haunted experiences I have never had, it is a level of quality that justifies charging extra, and is just as good as the houses at HHN. Probably better due to going through as a small group. I was at Cedar Point the previous weekend and experienced The Conjuring there as well. While the two houses are very similar, Kings Island does have larger rooms, and I am pretty sure I saw duplicates of at the very least the office at the start and the warehouse at the end, so I think it can have a much higher capacity. The line gets long, and moves slowly, but it was worth waiting two hours at Cedar Point, and while I waited less time it was definitely worth the wait at Kings Island as well. If you do nothing else at Haunt buy a separate ticket just for the Conjuring and experience this house. After the conjuring I started doing the rest of the houses, which largely are the same as previous years except for the one new traditional house, and I will cover that last. Hotel St Michelle Is my favorite of the old houses, I feel like the layout is an interesting choice starting at a service entrance and working your way to the front door, overall well done. Houses like Slaughter house, and Killmart are classics, but they are getting old. Alien Abyss is a bigger problem, overall it’s not that old, but the house is just boring, and I don’t care for it. Cornered while I believe it’s a new layout, is still similar to previous years, nothing special except for the length. At this point in the night, I was not really feeling the upgrades that I would expect moving to a paid event, because while the conjuring is worth extra, it’s also not really one of the houses. If anything the staffing felt lower than previous years, and I was not really caring about the scare zones. Then I went and did the Order of the Dragon, not a fan of the walk to the actual entrance, the gravel path would be better as a straight line or if there were walls of some kind, the back and forth especially when you can see the whole path the entire time just did not really do much. But I was already noticing the quality of the props, and they look good. Then I got to the entrance, and it really impressed me even before I saw the inside, and sets the stage for the house. I don’t want to give spoilers for the first room, but it’s something I would expect to see at Halloween Horror Nights, it’s not that a room can’t be built like that other places, but I have seen similar effects and making it the start so the group sees it all at once is a good move. The build quality of the Order of the Dragon is very, very good. I don’t know who designed or built it, but I am pretty confident the park hired an outside company to do so. There are projection effects, recorded sound effects, pretty sure there is music, costumes, it’s an actual professional house. It’s a level of quality that does not fit in with the rest of the event except for The Conjuring. This house feels like what you would see at Knott’s, or HHN. My biggest criticism is just like the rest of the event, it just felt light on scare actors, this might get better over time, or maybe I just kept hitting the houses at bad times. I did not see the shows, or buy a lantern, so not much I can say there. The shows I will catch sometime next month. If the order of the dragon and the conjuring shows what the future of the event will be by moving to charging extra for Haunt, sign me up. I will happily pay for houses of that quality. For me half of the event is basically old, and not really worth the expense and personally I don’t feel like those experiences were that amazing. But if Kings Island can keep this going, and build more houses like Order of the Dragon in the future, charging extra for Haunt makes sense.

Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year. Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day. Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area). From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls. It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful. At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band. Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14). We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes. Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday: At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line. I think because it was new and not many people knew about it. The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing. As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark. If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze. I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this. The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic. Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while. Next we went to Alien Abyss. Very short line (10 min). Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel. The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through. In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one. It's old and tired. After that we went to Kill Mart. Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics. I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of. Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe. LONG line about an hour. Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night. Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago. Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line. I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone. Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better. Seemed a better experience than last year. Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on around 10:15. Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year. For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around. Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap. Seemed a bit overdone. A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor. Moving instead to using darkness to mask them. Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening. Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast. Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season. They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable. Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10). Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday. That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early. Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend). Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion. The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic. The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show. Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call. It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows. Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows. Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own. Well done. Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned. The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself. I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it. It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss. Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale. Definitley and upgrade from last season. Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year. Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.