* Originally published October 22, 2022
Since we are Platinum Pass holders at the Cedar Fair parks, we've spent ALOT of time at different parks this year. Kings Island is our home park, about 10 minutes from our house, so of course we spend most of our time there and our comparisons usually have them coming out on top in nearly every category. So... how does Halloween Haunt stack up this year?
A short but accurate description would be disappointing. The decor throughout most of the park was actually really great, and it's a shame I don't have much more to say complimenting the experience. In a nutshell, here were our issues with Haunt, all things that I think are within the capacity of the park to address for the future:
There was a real lack of talented scare actors. Not only were there very few compared to what I've seen in the past, the ones we did see mostly just walked around not interacting with the park guests. The few that did mostly took smiling pictures with small children in strollers.
Did I mention small children in strollers? The primary complaint I've heard across the board this season has been that Haunt is very tame and not scary at all. Having witnessed that firsthand, I suggest that one of the reasons for this is the hundreds of parents who think a Halloween event recommended for AGES 13 AND UP is a great place to have their 4 year old at 11pm.
Speaking of ages 13 and up... perhaps your group of ten 14-year-olds isn't acting mature enough to be in public without a chaperone. I lost count of how many times we were walked into - or run into - by teenagers either 1) walking aimlessly while staring at their phone in the dark, or 2) running after each other without looking where they were going.
Now I know most parents aren't going to like that I have these two particular complaints, as they believe their precious angels should be allowed in the park whenever they want to bring them because "amusement parks are for families." And normally, I would completely agree with you. HOWEVER. Haunt is a specific event that takes place late into the night. Your tiny children don't belong there. The kid's areas aren't even open anyway. And no, your teenagers are NOT acting right. Chaperone your damn kids. There are like 6 late night weekends out of the entire year that are specifically marketed to an older crowd. Let us have them. You and your tiny kids who need scare actors to hold their hands and take smiling pictures are ruining the experience.
The lines were out of control as well. I expect a large crowd, but having been to Cedar Point last weekend with an equally large crowd, I found it tough to understand why the lines were so much more manageable there and Kings Island had such a hard time. Normally I don't have a complaint about operations at Kings Island, they tend to be outstanding, but waiting over 2 hours for a ride on the Beast or 4 hours to get into Killmart is crazy. And no, we don't get Fast Lane or Fright Lane passes, I have a personal disagreement with "legalized line jumping."
We weren't even happy with the food this trip. Portions were priced the same but were smaller than they were all summer (at the pizza places at least). Yes, I'm trying to lose weight, and yes, I was actually ok with the portion size. What I wasn't ok with was the park doing this and leaving the price the same, as if people who have been coming there all summer wouldn't notice the difference.
Overall we were just disappointed in the entire experience. To be completely honest the whole thing really felt like they weren't trying very hard this year. Cedar Point was a far better overall experience, and even there the scare actors were fewer and more tame than usual. I felt like the park was trying to hard to cater to the wrong crowd (small children and their entitled parents who think this event should be for little kids). I also felt like too many parents treat this event like it's a babysitter for their young teenagers, dropping them off and letting them run wild like little shitheads.
We'll probably make it there one more time for Haunt and give them another chance, because most of the time we love Kings Island. But based on our current feelings, we're actually more likely to just make the trip up to Cedar Point. There were far fewer small children, and there was not a single time when we were run over by unsupervised teenagers with no concern about the presence of other people.
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