On 8/5/2024 at 11:15 PM, disco2000 said:

 

Nope, we start Winterfest the weekend before Thanksgiving (first time since 2019)...unless they decide to yank it by giving an extra week of Haunt.

 

Thus why @brenthodge points out they now have even less time (only two full weeks) between Haunt to Winterfest and he questions will we get more WF decorations up during Haunt or will they scale back Winterfest, or do they hire mega crews to come in and turn the decorations over in two weeks...

Now they just need to get the website calendar to match the posters in the park:

 

 

 

The park updated the website to show this additional Haunt weekend, but....

Just like that, the park silently took away Winterfest opening the weekend before Thanksgiving and now opens Thanksgiving weekend.

That is why they say on that page:  "Operating dates and times are subject to change without notice. Please revisit this information prior to planning your visit."

 

 

On 8/10/2024 at 12:06 AM, disco2000 said:

 

The park updated the website to show this additional Haunt weekend, but....

Just like that, the park silently took away Winterfest opening the weekend before Thanksgiving and now opens Thanksgiving weekend.

That is why they say on that page:  "Operating dates and times are subject to change without notice. Please revisit this information prior to planning your visit."

 

 

This is a missed opportunity and Winterfest would be really popular that weekend.  Dollywood and Disney seem to have success with their winter event being before Thanksgiving.

On 8/7/2024 at 3:17 AM, Taylor.B03 said:

Here's the (Basic) math on this using what we currently know.

Honestly, I would gladly give up a couple of early Winterfest days in favor of more night rides on The Beast and other coasters.
 

With haunt Saturdays being among the busiest of the year, I'm guessing the business decision to open and get more people in would come into play.

26ish hours of Haunt, if it's Friday Saturday Sunday vs 15 hours of WinterFest.

Of course, that means more payroll, so hopefully it will be good fall weather that weekend.

 

And yet a place like Canada's Wonderland didn't take away any Winterfest when the Halloween stuff was extended another weekend...and their Winterfest goes another weekend than ours does....(yeah I know about the permits expiring 12/31)....

 

22 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

And yet a place like Canada's Wonderland didn't take away any Winterfest when the Halloween stuff was extended another weekend...and their Winterfest goes another weekend than ours does....

 

The Budget Blasters strike again! 

28 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

The Budget Blasters strike again! 

Actually, quite a fitting name for Boo Blasters 

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

And yet a place like Canada's Wonderland didn't take away any Winterfest when the Halloween stuff was extended another weekend...and their Winterfest goes another weekend than ours does....

 

I guess park managers as owners sometimes is good sometimes is bad. 

Better hope we get more horror mazes and scare zones this year, or the near future.

I have a feeling one of the "zones" will be rebranded to be more gory, but I think that'll be the only major change.

1 minute ago, Orion-XL200 said:

I have a feeling one of the "zones" will be rebranded to be more gory, but I think that'll be the only major change.

I believed that would be Abandoned.

1 minute ago, Cedar Fair Fanboy said:

I believed that would be Abandoned.

I'm not thinking that....it'll be a bit morrrrrre apparrrrrrrrrrant! 

Last week a number of the poles used for Grand Carnivale were relocated in front of the Kings Island Theater. Have those been used in that area before?

 

^They have not, seasonably that part of the park lacks hanging lights. Historically that section did have decorations, then a scare zone, then it turned into the main spider section for the park. Maybe we are finally getting a new scare zone for 24?

11 hours ago, Timchat2 said:

Last week a number of the poles used for Grand Carnivale were relocated in front of the Kings Island Theater. Have those been used in that area before?

 

That would be a good area for PumpkinEater. It’s always seemed a bit crammed in in Action Zone. That area has a clear “path” through and can also be avoided more if people don’t want to go through it. 

1 hour ago, BB1 said:

^They have not, seasonably that part of the park lacks hanging lights. Historically that section did have decorations, then a scare zone, then it turned into the main spider section for the park. Maybe we are finally getting a new scare zone for 24?

A new scarezone located near the Kings Island Theater? Hmm, could we be getting a Phantom Theater Scarezone?!(Absolutely not, but I’ll always try to interject that ride into any conversation)

13 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

A new scarezone located near the Kings Island Theater? Hmm, could we be getting a Phantom Theater Scarezone?!(Absolutely not, but I’ll always try to interject that ride into any conversation)

My hunch is that International Street Fear is going to be connected to this place.

45 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

A new scarezone located near the Kings Island Theater? Hmm, could we be getting a Phantom Theater Scarezone?!(Absolutely not, but I’ll always try to interject that ride into any conversation)

As per sources close to me, the PT animatronics have been (for the most part) scrapped. I’d love to see something like that come to KI which IMO would go over well with the pass holder base but I would need some more scares than just thematic effects.

FWIW: Permit BLD24-0762 has been filed with the City of Mason and includes the following statement "Five existing indoor Haunt mazes have not changed from last year.  We'll just require inspections only this year."

Could this area be used for Oktoberfest if Kings Island is hosting the new event like the other parks? Like putting the event on either side of Festhaus?

Why did certain Haunt buildings never reopen for the fall? I’m looking at Blackout, Wolfpack, and CarnEvil. Staffing?

45 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Why did certain Haunt buildings never reopen for the fall? I’m looking at Blackout, Wolfpack, and CarnEvil. Staffing?

The mazes were discontinued....creative teams changed, budget, staffing, new use, etc. 

Blackout ended in 2019.. Covid....? Wolfpack last operated in 2019 as well. Carn-Evil last operated in 2017 and Peanuts Showplace opened in it's place. 

 

15 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

The mazes were discontinued....creative teams changed, budget, staffing, new use, etc. 

Blackout ended in 2019.. Covid....? Wolfpack last operated in 2019 as well. Carn-Evil last operated in 2017 and Peanuts Showplace opened in it's place. 

 

I know a lot of people complain about the event being “watered down” and was wondering if this be worth the experiment or would it be more trouble than it’s worth?: I’ve stated for a while that they should move all scareactors into the mazes. I have no clue what the ratio of characters assigned to mazes is to those that aren’t. 

We know the park won’t turn away kids if they’re with their family, because if they did that would be potential $$ lost- so why don’t they make up for that by intensifying the Haunt aspect? In theory if you had all your characters in buildings, you could add more haunted houses/mazes.

1 hour ago, SonofBaconator said:

I know a lot of people complain about the event being “watered down” and was wondering if this be worth the experiment or would it be more trouble than it’s worth?: I’ve stated for a while that they should move all scareactors into the mazes. I have no clue what the ratio of characters assigned to mazes is to those that aren’t. 

We know the park won’t turn away kids if they’re with their family, because if they did that would be potential $$ lost- so why don’t they make up for that by intensifying the Haunt aspect? In theory if you had all your characters in buildings, you could add more haunted houses/mazes.

That’s a great idea.

I would prefer better Halloween decor around the park than scarezones. Anyone who has been to Dollywood’s Harvest Festival can attest how well they decorate the park. Jumpscares should be left to the haunted mazes and therefore optional to folks. Like any other attraction at the park.

2 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I know a lot of people complain about the event being “watered down” and was wondering if this be worth the experiment or would it be more trouble than it’s worth?: I’ve stated for a while that they should move all scareactors into the mazes. I have no clue what the ratio of characters assigned to mazes is to those that aren’t. 

We know the park won’t turn away kids if they’re with their family, because if they did that would be potential $$ lost- so why don’t they make up for that by intensifying the Haunt aspect? In theory if you had all your characters in buildings, you could add more haunted houses/mazes.

Then you loose out on the basically free revenue from the No Boo scam...er I mean necklace.

3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I know a lot of people complain about the event being “watered down” and was wondering if this be worth the experiment or would it be more trouble than it’s worth?: I’ve stated for a while that they should move all scareactors into the mazes. I have no clue what the ratio of characters assigned to mazes is to those that aren’t. 

We know the park won’t turn away kids if they’re with their family, because if they did that would be potential $$ lost- so why don’t they make up for that by intensifying the Haunt aspect? In theory if you had all your characters in buildings, you could add more haunted houses/mazes.

My problem is that the team that focuses on Haunt has done away with so many good pieces for haunts and just dumped them. We had some amazing scare zones only years ago that outperformed what we have today, same for haunted houses. I'd even go as far to say that everything after Slaughterhouse 2.0 has been a miss in my eyes.

2 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Then you loose out on the basically free revenue from the No Boo scam...er I mean necklace.

Yeah that would be the only loss. Maybe they could still sell them as accessories, like they do at the end of the night during the summer, but be very clear that they do not work as a monster deterrent.

3 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:

Then you loose out on the basically free revenue from the No Boo scam...er I mean necklace.

Hear me out:

You're now a target for scare actors.

This is just a friendly reminder for KI to order the fog juice now. 

Why not string up the Winterfest tower lights early and change them to Halloween colors?