It seems as if most of our qualms stem from Kings Island not having enough when it comes to value for Haunt. Whether it be due to administrative reasons, or corporate, making it a separately ticketed event would give the park more revenue for the event to be fleshed out more and could bring more revenue to pay for more scaractors. It would also in my opinion drastically decrease the families and increase adult/teen groups who come to get scared and not get photos taken with every character they see. This would be in line with parks like Knotts and Kings Dominion who have stepped up their game in years past.
 

My proposal would be a similar model to what Universal has: One free night per haunt season, with the capacity to get discounted tickets for the remainder of the season. 
 

What do you think about separating park admission for something like this?

Considering a gold pass is roughly $120 a year. You’re already getting a lot of value for what you are paying for. If anything they should increase the price of passes.

Price increases are a difficult thing. I can safely say that if they made haunt any sort of upcharge/not included in the gold pass than I would never pay extra to go. Same thing for winterfest. I actually think they make the money on those events by pass holders bringing their friends and family up there who don't usually go for the normal season. For example, winterfest attracts more grandparents than the regular season (just based on the park demographic that I observe) I don't think all those grandparents are season pass holders. They just bought a one time winterfest ticket to go with some kids and grandkids who have passes. I assume haunt is a similar deal. At what point though is a season pass too much money? I'd be curious how much people would be willing to pay before the park would make less money by increasing prices due to less people buying passes. Guess they could ask six flags seeing as that's the motto they adopted. Pay more and get less. Hey if it actually works I'd do it too but I just don't understand how marketing yourself to less people is profitable. Maybe this is why I'm not a business owner or financial manager of any sort. As long as my checkbook balances at the end of the month I'm happy!