AmyUD06

I can't speak to IG, but as of February 2021, no ride had mandatory lockers IIRC.

I'd argue the original (Walt) was in it for more than the money.

It's been 21+ years since I've done a Build-a-Bear, but I believe that indicates that the speech box is located there so that's where you squeeze.

Great report so far, keep it coming! Dollywood runs the entire park during the Christmas season?

Wow that hotel and the entire area looks so cool. I'm jealous that you got to experience it...maybe one of these days I'll get myself over to Europe. Thanks so much for the report!

On the way back from Kings Island (normally a 9-10 hour drive), I decided to "stop by" (ignore the fact that it adds 6 hours to my total drive time) Kings Dominion to try to catch the full Queen's Ball show, that I missed during my initial Haunt trip here. Was I successful? Read on. BONUS! Kings Dominion Sunday, October 16th. I arrived at the park around 4:00 PM, grabbed my FL+ wristband, and then made my way around the park. I had some time to kill until 7 PM, when the show would begin. The skies were overcast, and the weather forecast called for a good chance of light rain, but I figured, "hey, shows should still happen in the rain, right?" Winterfest preparation had begun: I grabbed a "quick" ride on Reptilian: 17 minute wait, with Fast Lane, for the front row. Yeah, they really need to put a grouper in place to manage this station. Here was the standby queue on my way off the ride. After that, I decided to just plop myself down in front of the main stage to make sure I got a good spot for the opening ceremonies, Blood Reign. Despite the same name, this show was different from last years. I know I provided some pics and videos in my initial report, but this time I was a lot closer! Note that a slight drizzle had begun. As a bonus, here's videos of pretty much the entire show: M4H03298_Trim.mp4 M4H03299_Trim.mp4 858818504_BloodReign3_Trim.mp4 Now, Queen's Ball was supposed to immediately follow this show, but the Astaroth character (so dreamy), said something to the effect of "come back later, I melt in the rain." Uh-oh. I asked one of the ushers if that meant that the show wouldn't be happening as scheduled, and they confirmed: try again at the 8:30 show. Bummer. With some extra time to kill, and the rain increasing slightly, I took another walk through Grimm Woods with my not-the-right-color Fast Lane band, and noticed a really cool animatronic dragon at the end which I hadn't noticed last time. Unfortunately, the oven prop in the Hansel & Gretel section was still not illuminated. I then took another walk through Trick or Treat, and it was good as always, but was a pure conga line. With the crowds at the park, and many rides shut down for weather, I guess they didn't have a choice. Winterfest lights in place. I made my way back up to the International Street Bandstand, and plopped myself down in the still-increasing rain, waiting for the show to hopefully start up. The ushers first began pushing the water from the stage in an attempt to dry it, but around 10 minutes before the show was to start, some of the entertainment managers came out, walked over the stage, and shook their heads. Alas, it was not to be. Sad face. Now properly soaked, I depressedly made my back to my car, and began my 4 hour drive home. *sigh*

Kings Island Day 2, Saturday, October 15th, 2022 Day 2 started off pretty uneventful, and I grabbed my FL+ wristband and made my way to Banshee for my first ride of the day. Nerd shot. Train-and-a-half wait for the front row, right wing. It was certainly a little sluggish on this chilly morning. Next up was a quick ride on The Bat (walk-on for back row). Man, do I miss Big Bad Wolf. The highly unused VIP area. Some of the fake games booths that make up the bulk of the Coney Maul decorations. I then hopped on the Scrambler for walk-on ride, and continued down Coney Mall. Definite Winterfest preparation underway. Another one of the history boards. How disrespectful of them to put Vortex's tombstone so far back, so unadorned, when Flight Commander and King Cobra get front-row-billing and their own fancy text. The clock, looking suitable decrepit. A hearse decoration, which was quite animated at night. The typical CF ogre. My next rides were Diamondback (one train wait for row 2, right wing), Mystic Timbers (three train wait for back row), Beast (25 minutes for front row - notably they have resolved the stop-and-go when trains come back to the station), and Orion (three and a half train wait for the front row, right wing). On Orion, I caught some sort of bug in my lip at the bottom of the first drop, which hurt a lot worse than you might expect. I then grabbed a ride on Racer (half-train wait for row 2, red side, did not win), grabbed a quick shot of these cool spider decorations... ...and made my way up the Eiffel Tower for some aerial shots. I continued to wander the park, coming across the Fangtastics show, which was pretty decent. Everyone loves Auntie Anne's pretzels... After that, I went out to my car for a quick nap and waited for a friend to meet me at the park. On my way back to my car, I found a cute (but Angry) pup had been left in a car. I of course notified the park Security, but after about 45 minutes they had yet to respond, so who knows what happened with it. I hope the dog crapped all over the interior of that $80k GMC Yukon Denali. Not really tired, and with some more time to kill, I took a lap on the train and grabbed some "everyone takes these pictures on the Kings Island train" shots. Does anyone know how true the story the train spiel-er tells about the "house inside the walls that the park isn't allowed to touch" is? There's too much tree cover to get a good look on satellite maps. She arrived, and didn't have Fast Lane, so we just kinda wandered and caught up on each other's lives, the only ride we enjoyed together was Windseeker (30 minute wait). I did have to take a pic of this cute skeleton brass band on the way back. It was then time for Nytewalkers, the park's acrobatics show. Prepare for a bunch of pictures and videos. M4H03267_Trim.mp4 M4H03270_Trim.mp4 M4H03271_Trim.mp4 M4H03277_Trim.mp4 What did I think? "Wow, this is a Kings Island show?" I was totally impressed. Around 25 minutes long, awesome acrobatics (I was especially impressed with the Razor Scooter rider), a great mix of music, awesome choreography and dancers, impressive video on the screens, cast members running through the audience and taking people's phones for close-up shots, and ,the biggest way to win over my heart: An actual cohesive plot! Which, in this case, was a cheerleader-and-jock couple wandering in to a demon infested area, the main demon girl attempting to seduce the jock, the cheerleader being convinced to join the demon side, the jock attempting to impress both ladies (the slackline bit), and the jock finally choosing to remain with the cheerleader and them walking off together. Very impressive, 10/10. After that, I grabbed a picture of the only thing KI does better than KD in terms of Haunt: the International Street decorations. I guess the lack of trees allows this, complete with flame throwers. Now it was time for a re-ride on... ...Banshee, for a train-and-a-half wait for back row, left wing. By the time of day, it had definitely warmed up, and was flying through the course as normal. It was getting late, and I was kinda tired, so I decided to close out a night at Kings Island the only way to do so: With a night ride on Beast. But wait, what's this? Yep, that was the Fast Lane line at 8:05 PM. It took me 45 minutes to get through it (I believe the standby queue was posting over 2 hours) for front row, including a 15 minute stoppage for something I had never seen at a CF park before: Stopping a train on the lift hill due to cell phone use and an employee walking up the lift hill to confiscate the phone. Guess they're getting SFGAdv serious about it. Anyway, how was the ride? Incredible, as always. There is seriously very little better in the world of coasters than a front row, night ride, on The Beast. Making my way out of the park, I grabbed some shots of the hearse in action (sorry for the poor quality)... ...and the ogre. I thought about taking a trip up the Eiffel Tower to get some night shots, but forget this FL line: Grabbed one more pic of the Terror Rising stage... ...and then it was time to say goodbye to Kings Island for 2022. All in all, a great trip, but mostly for the rides and Nytewalkers show. Most everything else about their Haunt was mediocre at best. Maybe I'm just getting tired of these things? I don't know, but Cedar Point's Halloweekends report is up next, and (spoiler alert!) did not help assuage me of that concern.

So says the person with 3 posts in the past 3 months.

I'm sure I've asked this before, but does anyone know if the SEAS Platinum Pass needs to be activated at the park where its purchased first before it can be used at other parks? $190 is a hell of a deal compared to the $408 that BGW is charging.

New bet, what opens first? This or SFStL's carousel.

I would be very, very surprised if anyone at Adventure Park USA would be able to tell you today whether or not the coasters will be running on the weekend. And yeah, Six Flags gonna Six Flags all right.

I'm "local" in that the parks are like an hour and a half drive for me, but I haven't been in a few years. No idea what's up with Superman at SFA. Typically, when they had Holiday in the Park, the whole back half of the park would be closed, but there is no Holiday in the Park this year, so it's anyone's guess as to if that "Temporarily Closed" is left over from last weekend or was posted in anticipation of this weekend. Other rides in the area don't say that, so I wouldn't think the whole section of the park would be closed. Adventure Park USA is always a bit of a coin flip as to if their coasters will be running, even in the summer. The website indicates that the "outdoor attractions" will be open on Saturday and Sunday, so I'd say your best bet is to call them when you're nearing where ever you would turn off to head there. Be advised that they can only run one 4-person car on the Wildcat, so if there's any kind of a crowd (which there probably won't be), you might have a wait.

Okay, time to get back to it here. Kings Island: 2022 Haunt Day 1 (October 14th, 2022) After my long drive from Delaware, checking in to my hotel, I made my way over to Kings Island just before 5 PM (for a 6 PM opening) on Friday the 14th. This was the sight I was greeted with: Oh yeah, it was gonna be busy. But it was good to be back for Haunt! The lines of people waiting to get in at 5:15. At 5:45, I was finally inside! I grabbed my all-season Fast Lane Plus wristband and Fright Lane lanyard, and then hung around for rope drop with the massive crowds: The releasing of the monsters! M4H03118_Trim.mp4 You can also see that the preparation for Winterfest has begun, with the lights on the buildings and decorations in the Tower Gardens. An ominous Angel of Death watches over park goers: Hey look, Kings Island has these things too! Except here, the art in them was designed to the various mazes and and scare zones throughout the park, instead of generic Halloween-y scenes like at Dorney. Before proceeding further, I came across one of the history signs I hadn't seen before: The first stop on my agenda here was the new-for-2022 maze, Hotel St. Michelle, way back in no-mans-land at the old Action Theater. I opted to not use my Fright Lane for this yet, and had a 5 minute wait. I was very surprised that they were initially sending guests through alone (or with your personal group); this obviously wouldn't last throughout the night, but it was a nice touch at the beginning of the night. Of course, about half way through I caught up with the previous groups and it became a conga line. All said and done, I thought this was a great concept and there were a TON of actors (though very few were in character, just doing generic groans and screams), but it was definitely too dark to really appreciate the artistry. Next up was an old favorite... Again, I didn't bother wasting my Fright Lane yet, and had zero wait. They modified the layout her from previous years, and changed out the "moving-car" prop for a band(?). As with Hotel St. Michelle, it was far too dark to fully appreciate the artistry, and despite having a lot of actors, all but one were not in character. The one that was, though - a faux mannequin - was absolutely spectacular and actually got me the first time through. Now it was time to check out the new scare zone... I swear Cedar Fair got a group rate on these water-crate-things. No scare zone actors yet, so it was time for... My first use of the Fright Lane. More or less unchanged from last year, but the addition of some very detailed alien costumes was a nice touch. The mirror-suit from Kings Dominion's 21 would fit in perfectly in the mirror maze section of this house (which I mentioned to the staffers outside). This one also had a ton of actors, with the scientists playing their roles well. Next up was... No wait with Fright Lane. Now anyone who is familiar with my reports knows just how over the whole butcher-shop haunt theme I am. That said, this was a very pleasant surprise! Again, tons of actors, all of them in character, and there were a couple of very nice physical prop gags, including a wall-closing-in-on-you thing like at Madam Fatale's Cavern of Terror, which was my next stop. But not before grabbing a shot of this awesome decoration: I guess this was a thing? I didn't take a notes video after it, so from what I can remember it was pretty much the same as last year. Again, a ton of actors, which was an awesome constant at Kings Island's mazes. With all of the indoor mazes complete, it was time for some shows. First up was Terror Rising, their main musical show at the stage at the end of the fountain. This was your typical "drummers over an EDM backing track" type of show, but with the variant of including a guitarist and dancers. I did not stay for the whole show, but here's a video: M4H03152_Trim.mp4 As it still wasn't 8:00, and Cornered (their lone outdoor maze) had not yet opened, I grabbed some more pictures of the decorations... ...and then took in part of the Monster Rock show, held in the Festhaus. Fun Fact: They legally cannot call it "Monsters of Rock," which would be a much more fitting show title, as the name is trademarked by a company that puts on classic rock shows on cruises. Anyway, this was kinda "meh" I guess. It was entertaining enough, but I swear the acoustics of the Festhaus are not suited for this and the vocal talent just isn't there. How Kings Dominion holds such a domain over musical Halloween shows over the rest of the Cedar Fair parks is beyond me. That said, enjoy some videos...perhaps you'll find it better than I did. VID_20221014_200532006.mp4 M4H03167_Trim.mp4 M4H03168_Trim.mp4 With those two shows out of the way, it was suitably after 8:00, and was now time for Cornered. This was a vast improvement over previous years' Cornstalkers mazes, with plenty of wide open areas and a distinct lack of actual corn. It was very long with a lot of actors, with no narrow corridors of corn walls, and was the surprise of this trip. That said, I'm still totally over this theme. Now it was finally time for some rides! First up? Nerd shot. I had a 5 train wait for front row (both trains running). I can't remember the last time I rode this at night, and let me tell you it was awesome. Almost completely black. See? A bat train actually passes right in front of the camera in this video. M4H03180_Trim.mp4 We can all add The Bat to KIs list of awesome night rides. Now it was time to take in the Coney Maul section of the park, their carnival-themed scare zone. Zephyr looking all foreboding... So you see those trees that are all lit up in red? Yeah, not just red! I guess this is where the pixel mapped lights from Kings Dominion's Winterfest ended up. Anyway, it was really cool. M4H03184_Trim.mp4 I always love the light packages that CF parks have on their Troikas. I then took my second laps through Hotel St. Michelle and Madam Fatale's Cavern of Terror, both now pure conga lines. Very poor showing. This was the walkway between Coney Mall and Rivertown, where the Pumpkin Eater scare zone was last year. Are we sure it's not Winterfest already? Ah, here we go! The Beast, at night, front row! 25 minute wait. It took me all fucking year but I finally got my front row night ride, and it was incredible as always. So, so good. Nice little advertisement for the painters of the Eiffel Tower. I didn't realize it had only been repainted three times. The Squishmallows store is back, but moved further down International Street near the Auntie Anne's pretzels. Which, by the way, I took this picture in line for. A rather substantial line...It took me 21 minutes to get to the counter. It was right around 11:00 at this point, and having been up since around 4 AM, it was time to head back to the hotel for a well-needed rest, wrapping up Day 1. Stay tuned for Day 2!

It can get quite a line at the start of the day, being the first or second ride most people see. For the non-coaster-enthusiast crowd, it's kind of a draw. It always seems to have somewhat of a line whenever I pass by it.

The latter. I'd be happy with buzz bars.

Well, nothing too surprising. Just sounds like a near-complete re-tracking. If you click through for the pictures, it does look quite extensive. No mention of who's doing the work. They also mention rebuilding the PTC trains, which is kinda a bummer...was hoping for Millennium Flyers. https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/the-rebirth-of-the-grizzly---part-1

Well, we'll soon know what all that Grizzly lift hill nonsense was about... No hints in the comments.

Mediocre at best. Bloodbath was entertaining enough, kind of a rehash of the old Club Blood theme with a little hotel mixed in at the end (which didn't quite make sense - wouldn't you start in the hotel?). In Eerie Estate, I didn't notice anything new aside from the introduction room with the Ouija board. Hexed was probably still the best one from an artistry standpoint. Slaugherhouse and Cornstalkers were their normal tired selves. Blood on the Bayou took longer to walk to it than it did to go through it. Cut Throat Cove was pretty decent. All were severely lacking in actors. Kings Dominion had the best CF Haunt this year out of the four I went to, followed quite distantly by Kings Island, CP, and then Dorney. That includes shows in the calculations, too. I swear I'll get my TRs up from KI and CP's Haunts one of these days soon.

If Zamperla has anything to do with whatever is happening to Dragster, I will be very sad.

Edit: I'm an idiot who can't read. Wednesdays should be the slowest, then gravitating out from there towards the weekends.

So, I just wrapped up my trip to Cedar Point (full report coming in the future), but there was one thing I had to share: (God damnnit I thought the picture came out better). Anyway, that is all Dragster related merchandise at 50% off. Definitely looking at least at a new name.

In the smokers' defense, KD did not create a smoking zone inside the park during the "No-Reentry during Haunt" period, as every other CF park did, so it's kinda on the park - they didn't leave any option for smokers. When I was there at the end of September, several security officers told me they thought it was dumb too, and just told me to not smoke right in front of them.

Nice little mini-TR! I hope to get back down to the Orlando parks sometime in 2023, after SWO opens Pipeline. I missed out on Montu due to mechanical issues and IG wasn't even close to opening then. Scorpion is a classic and I'm glad you enjoyed. These Schwarzkopfs are a dying breed and really need to be appreciated as much as we can while we still can. I think the issue with Cheetah Chase being so hyped is that Florida locals that don't travel don't know any better, so to them it's an "insane OMG balls to the wall ride !!1!1!" I enjoyed it, but was similarly disappointed. I kinda thought of it like a Maverick-lite. Shame you had a bad experience on Kumba. When I visited in February 2021, they were only running one train too, but the park was completely dead an everything was a walk on. The ride really blew me away (especially in the back-left B&M "magic seat) and quickly shot into my top 10 steel. I am also with you 120% on the "lockers should be free if they're required" thing.

Decided to make this a thread for all of my Halloween park trips. I'll be posting my Kings Island Trip report next week, but for now enjoy the above Kings Dominion report and my one from Dorney Park here.

Looks like a good addition; that part of the park is always kinda dead. Though I'm not a fan of Endeavors (weird since I love Enterprises) or tea-cups-style rides, they will take crowds from other rides, which is always good. I am very excited about the changes to Adventure Express.