CGA Halloween Haunt TR 10/4

[KGA29]

Forgot my camera, but here's a long review of CGA's first HH! So 4 other friends and I went to CGA to check out the new Haunt last night and we were definilely impressed. We all had a great time and many people seemed to be enjoying their time, both scaring and being scared. Oh and I won't give any spoilers away, but this TR's going to be long so get ready....GO!

 

First we had dinner at In-n-Out. Yummy, then we entered the park after buying 3 tickets (me and my friend have Gold passes) with the coupon from the paper. We first decided to go through the Gauntlet and we didn't know what to expect. One of the clowns scared one of my friends so much that she fell on the ground! hahahaha, then we told her that the monsters will feed off of you if you make a big deal out of it. So she got up and we all got in line for Carnevil.

 

Carnevil: We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for it, but it was worth it. There were clowns entertaining people in line. We entered without the 3D glasses. I don't want to give anything away, but it was just as good as last year. Very long in length and the theming is high quality. 8/10

 

When we left that, we rode Flight Deck with a walk-on wait for the front. The ride lines were pretty much walk-ons all night, even though the maze lines were not (which i guess is a good thing). Flight Deck at night is so much more fun than during the day. Then we kept going and joined the line for Werewolf Canyon.

 

Werewolf Canyon: Waited about the same as Carnevil. This maze has such a good storyline and amazing theming. It's also much longer than I expected and it had some good scares and acting. The atmosphere is really creepy too because it's all outside and the forest is scary at night. The maze was also configured differently than I thought. You start out over by the Orbit and they built a bridge over the dried out Rapids track that takes you over to the turntable. Probably my favorite maze of the night, 10/10.

 

Then a quick ride on Firefall which was fun at night, but our gondola didn't flip a ton because there was like 10 people on the ride. Then we walked through Witch Doctor's Trail which was ok. Lots of fog made all of the scare zones good. The costumes here were really weird and creepy. A quick ride on Delirium and we continued through Dead Man's Cove, which was probably the weakest of the scare zones, except one time we saw a pirate chase these girls for a very long time.

 

Next up was Camp Gonnagetcha. I had high expectations for this and was curious how they were going to pull it off. Needless to say I was not disappointed. The theming was great and the actors were very good too. The only downside was that I was sitting in the front, in a log with 5 people = soaking! Only like a 5 min line here, 9/10.

 

Then as we attempted to dry off, we rode Psycho Mouse with a 15-20 minute line. Then my friends got some churros, popcorn, and pretzels and we joined the line for Cornstalkers,

 

Cornstalkers: Longest line of the mazes at about 20 minutes, but it was well worth it. This maze is ridiculously long and had some really good scares. It was also completely outdoors, which added to the creepiness. The length also adds to the suspense because there are some really long periods where you are just waiting for the next scarer in anticipation. It also does a good job of splitting people up, which ended up in one of my friends being followed ( :shock: ) Good acting, long maze, creepy atmosphere = 10/10.

 

We backtracked to Drop Zone and got a quick ride on that. Then we continued through The Underground which was a pretty good scare zone because it had a lot of actors in your face! Then we decided to ride the Demon, but one of my friends was so terrified. We sat there in the line watching the ride go down the first drop for about 30 minutes (with a lot of peer pressure ) until he decided to ride finally. He was at first terrified of the drop and loops, but after the ride he LOVED it! See what some positive peer pressure can do!

 

Continuing on, we ended up at Slaughterhouse. No line for this so we pretty much walked on. This one had a couple good scares and the theming was good albeit disgusting at times. One actor followed my friend for a long time which was hilarious. Slaughterhouse gets an 8/10.

 

For the last maze, Club Blood, we had to wait about 10 minutes. There were some REALLY good scares here, but the story was kinda weird because all of a sudden the scenery changes from the club scene (which was great due to the hot vampire chicks ). After the beginning it wasn't really scary, however during the whole maze the scenery was pretty good. It also felt really short compared to the others. I recommend doing this one first instead of last. 6/10

 

Then we had about an hour before being picked up so we decided to go through another loop, doing all of the mazes again. Carnevil the second time was pretty good and a walk on. We all agreed that Werewolf Canyon was better the second time around. There was also a chainsaw guy the second time and one part where I could not see anything ahead of me because of the massive amount os fog. Cornstalkers the second time was not as fun, but still got a couple scares. Then we finished the night with a ride on Demon for my friend who loved it. We didn't have time for another Slaughterhouse or Club Blood run.

 

Overall we all had an amazing time getting scared and just having fun! One thing that was different from Carn-Evil last year is the spacing in between groups. At the beginning of each maze, they have a person with a stop watch so that one group doesn't get the effects spoiled by a long line of people ahead of them. Also in the mazes, if your group got too close to another, the actors would find a way to stop you and just get in your face for a while. I highly recommend going this year because CGA really does have a good haunt on their hands.

[Ice101]

Wow! This sounds great! I can't wait till I go. This really got me pumped up.

[jjeerr]

I went Sunday night, and there were maybe 300 people there. Top Deck Flight Gun 2 (well, all the coasters) trains had people in the front and back, no full trains on everything. Mazes, well, they all felt "line-the-ride" to me, though the strippers were good in Club Blood.

 

Even with Drop zone/Invertago down, still worth my $20 for an empty park

[the ghost]

club blood and cornstalkers sound the same as they are at haunt. I am going sunday (cant wait)

 

Awesome TR. I hope our cornstakers is as good as yours.

[thrillgeek]

I went Sunday night, and there were maybe 300 people there. Top Deck Flight Gun 2 (well, all the coasters) trains had people in the front and back, no full trains on everything. Mazes, well, they all felt "line-the-ride" to me, though the strippers were good in Club Blood.

 

Even with Drop zone/Invertago down, still worth my $20 for an empty park

 

two questions....Is Drop Zone and Invertigo being down just temporary? Also I only have a regular season pass so do you think it's worth paying the money? I'm going to SFDK's Fright Fest where I'll be paying $10 for two mazes. So I'm just trying to get a since of if it's worth it.

[jjeerr]

Both just broken down, I saw them running earlier in the day. For 20/25bucks, worth it. Don't expect anything amazing, and go on Sunday if possible.

[thrillgeek]

Cool thanks for the heads up!

[Superstar94]

KD's Halloween Haunt is better.

[KGA29]

KD's Halloween Haunt is better.

 

Ya, well this is CGA's first Halloween event since 01 (and I don't even know how serious that one was). Give it time and CGA's Haunt could potentially be one of the better ones out there.

[GhostRider16]

I didn't want to make a new topic so I guess I'll just post here.

 

I went to CGA's Haunt with my friends last night and we had a blast. It wasn't quite as good as I was expecting just because I am so used to the Knotts Haunt, but it was understandable since it is their first real Haunt with Cedar Fair. It has some great potential for the years to come.

 

One of the negative things that I saw was the fact that they were so under staffed. There were places in the mazes that it was obvious that there should have been monsters and there was none. Now that I think about it that was the only real negative thing besides the lack of more mazes, but I am sure there will be more added in the future.

 

As for the positives, I really enjoyed the theming . They did a good job at making the whole park look really cool. The theming of the mazes was definitely up to the standards of Knotts Scary Farm's. The talent that was there was amazing. Werewolf Canyon was the best maze by far. Like KGA29 said earlier, the creepiness factor was definitely there. At one point I really did feel like I was being chased down by a werewolf. lol Also the scare zone over by the bridge (I think it was Dead Man's Cove) was the best scare zone with the best talent. My group pretty much just walked back and forth through it a few times just because they were so good.

 

This year was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see what they have new for next year.

[thrillgeek]

^More mazes? I've never been to Knott's or CGA's haunt but isn't 5 mazes enough? I mean my home park (SFDK) only has 2 Just be glad for what you get.

[GhostRider16]

What I meant was they need more mazes to get up to Knott's standard. What they have now is great.

[Angry_Gumball]

Looks like I'll be hitting up the Haunt this Sunday, as well as a normal CGA visit...then ending my season the following sunday with a normal CGA visit. (Too bad, no second haunt visit...)

[dpxtreme]

Definitely go on Sunday. I went to Haunt this past Saturday, what a mistake. The line for Cornstalkers was probably a good 45 minutes or longer and stretched all the way to the sign/next to Psycho Mouse. Werewolf Canyon was stretched past Flying Eagles, and I heard Slaughterhouse eventually stretched all the way to the Vortex entrance! Club Blood wasn't that bad. I didn't even bother look at the line for CarnEvil.

[laqueefa]

Definitely go on Sunday. I went to Haunt this past Saturday, what a mistake. The line for Cornstalkers was probably a good 45 minutes or longer and stretched all the way to the sign/next to Psycho Mouse. Werewolf Canyon was stretched past Flying Eagles, and I heard Slaughterhouse eventually stretched all the way to the Vortex entrance! Club Blood wasn't that bad. I didn't even bother look at the line for CarnEvil.

 

I agree, Sundays are the way to go! Fellow TPR'r Domm went with me to the Haunt from 9pm-12am and we had a blast. All the major attractions not affected by the Haunt were up and running, including DropTower and Invertigo. Zero lines for rides and Haunts, and I must say the park looks amazing at night.

 

The Haunt is a great effort, CarnEvil is the best haunt there. Very elaborate, definitely on par with the Knotts Haunt, same goes for Club blood *golf clap* I did think the rest of the mazes/haunts needed more scares/actors, it could have been because of the lack of people in the park in general so what do I know

The park has so much more potential for the Haunts to come. As we made our way through the park, CGA reminded me of Knotts in a lot of ways that night. Both parks have limited space to work with, let alone add new attractions. With the park tied together in a common Halloween theme, it reminded me of the GA of old. This park has a lot of charm, and when its themed well (thanks for ruining it Paramount) it moves you.

[skaunit]

Hmm, I have not been to this park since its change of ownership, even though I live in san jose. If i wasn't going to SFMM this weekend, I would make a trip to CGA before the end of the month. I will definately have to attend next year's haunt. Any idea if there's any new rides planned for 2009?