Photo TRs: Amy's Halloween at Cedar Fair Parks 2022! (Finally Complete!)

[AmyUD06]

Edit: Figured I would just make one thread for all of my 2022 Halloween Reports.

Welcome!  Here you will find my TRs from my trips to some Cedar Fair parks for their Halloween Events in 2022.  Click the links to jump to each report.  Please enjoy!

-Dorney Park (Friday, September 16th)
-Kings Dominion (Saturday and Sunday, September 24th and 25th) (Bonus 10/16! & Bonus 10/30!)
-Kings Island (Friday and Saturday, October 14th and 15th)
-Cedar Point (Friday and Saturday, October 28th and 29th) - Coming soon!

**************************************************************************************

(Disclaimer:  The photo quality will vary greatly in this post, owing to the fact that I brought an actual camera on the second day.)

Coming off my somewhat disappointing and samey Haunt trip to Dorney Park two weeks prior, I made my way down to Doswell, Virginia for the opening weekend of...

Kings Dominion Haunt 2022:  Day 1

I had worked overnight shift Friday into Saturday, went home, got about 4 hours of sleep, and then it was on the road to Doswell.  Google maps always estimates this drive as just over 3 hours, but in typical MD and VA traffic fashion, the trip took closer to 5.  Checked in to my hotel (Best Western in Woodford, a much nicer alternative to any hotels that are closer to the north of the park), and made the 30 minute drive the rest of the way to the park.

First things first:  The Fright Lane situation.  Gone is the lanyard with the punch card, as well as the separate Fast and Fright Lane passes if you're purchasing it for the day.  It's now just a wristband, which means unlimited trips through each of the mazes.  Unfortunately, unlike Dorney Park, holders of the All-Season Fast Lane perk on their season pass do not automatically get Fright Lane here; it is available as a $55 addition if you have that add-on.  This is still cheaper than the Fright/Fast Lane that is sold on a daily basis, and is comparable to previous years' "Fright Lane only" passes, and I bought it for the first night.  Amusingly, there was a lot of confusion at both the redemption booth and the entries for each of the mazes as to what color wristband included Fright Lane, so someone may have theoretically been able to bypass the standard maze queue with only the regular Fast Lane+ band on a few occasions.

It felt good to be back at my "home" park!  My summer was very busy, and didn't afford me any opportunities to visit since March.

Yes, you'll see they have the same nutty bag policy as Dorney, but at least here they just do a visual estimation and not the "wooden-box-test" as that park.

One is greeted with Haunt decorations as soon as you enter.

The main International Street Bandstand stage, and the crowd waiting for the Haunt opening show.  I would take this in tomorrow.

My first stop was No Vacancy: Condemned, a somewhat tired theme of a haunted hotel.  All in all, it was pretty good...it seemed like there were more decorations than in the past years, though at points it was far too dark to truly take them in.  This maze had a good amount of actors.

Of course, the giant skull on the waterfall is there.

Log flume not running during Haunt.

I really liked this skeleton-horse drawn pumpkin carriage; I don't recall this from previous years, but according to @cfc's report from last year, it was at the park.

Time for the biggest let down of the trip:  Mac Bowl has become Taco Shack.  As a huge fan of mac & cheese, especially build-your-own types, this was super disappointing.  Hopefully it's only temporary.

I then took a walk through Trick or Treat, which I was very very impressed by.  Awesome artistry here, and a decent number of actors with some of them up at the main stage for the opening act.

The Riff Raff band was back...

...sort of.  This year, it had all new musicians (from what I could tell) from last year, and they just weren't quite as good, especially the vocalist.  Pretty much the same set list.

Continuing on my maze-run, I then took a stroll through Blood on the Bayou, which was pretty well done.  I don't recall if they had the slaughterhouse elements in previous years.  No barely-there Mardi Gras experience at this one.

I then made my way down through the rest of Candy Apple Grove, and into Jungle X-pedition, for my first ride of the year on Avalanche Reptilian.  I love all the little details they added to the station, transfer track area, and exit tunnel.

How was it?  Awesome, of course.  I'm so glad they saved this classic, last-of-its-kind-in-the-US, ride.  Four-train wait for front row.

I took the stroll back up to the front of the park, and partook in Cornstalkers.  You all know my thoughts on corn-maze haunts, and this one does not change that opinion.  I swear this has been here for 15 years with no changes.  I'll sum it up as I did in my notes: Meh.

Now it was time for what I was expecting to be another great KD Haunt show, Queen's Ball.  I ranted and raved about last year's major show at length in my report from then.  This show, for what it was, was kinda disappointing - dancers only to a backing track.  I was told by one of the ushers that the full show (including acrobats, musicians, and singers, all competing for the Queen character's praises) would be debuting the following weekend, so I'll reserve judgement until I can get back to the park to experience it in full.  Meanwhile, here's some photos and a brief video of the dancing.  I will say that the lone male dancer was super cute, but the ladies had a tad too much non-halloweeny makeup on.

At this time in my notes videos, I made a comment about smoking zones.  So, as with all CF parks, the only designated smoking areas are outside the park.  Well, for Haunt, with the "no-reentry" rule in affect, the other parks moved the smoking zone to just inside the main gate.  Kings Dominion?  Nope, you're screwed.  Several of the security guards I spoke with agreed that it was not fair, and basically told me "just don't do it in front of me," so that was nice.

I then took a walk through 21, the new Haunt maze for this year, named to commemorate the 21st year of Halloween Haunt.  This maze has a bunch of different themes, that I won't spoil for you, but one thing did stand out:  There's a "broken mirror" room and an actor in a suit made up entirely of mirror fragments.  I thought that was awesome.

Made my way back down towards I305, but not before stopping to take in the Convergence show, which is your typical drummers over a backing EDM track type of show.  Okay I guess.  Am I the only one who misses the original "blood drums" show where they used barrels instead of a proper drumset?

At I305, I had a three-train-wait for row 2 (the front line was just nuts and backed all the way to the dividing point in the non-FL queue).  Great as always; I really forgot how incredible this is at night.  Notably this three-train-wait took 20 minutes; they were running both trains but the dispatching was just extremely slow.  Also, how have they not replaced the "Gentlemen, start your engines!" recording yet?  Seriously, it's 2022...quit making the operator add the "Ladies and..." before the recording.

After that, it was time to head through the Cleaver Brothers Carnival scare zone, always one of my favorites.

The Big Top Band show was back, along with the super-fun Burnette the Barker host character....

...as was the fortune teller.

Mind you, I give zero stock to tarot or any other similar superstitious stuff, but it's always fun.  The first reading tonight didn't really apply, but the second one I got the following night was actually kinda on point.

It's time to talk about their Ferris wheel, Americana.  How they let the lighting package get this bad is beyond me (yes, there are lights installed the full length of every spoke).  I'll let the following video speak for itself.

I bought myself a $16 jack-and-coke and took in most of the set for Riff Raff, and yeah as I mentioned earlier the vocalist just isn't at the same level as last year's. The rest of the musicians talent was on-point, however.

Now that it was sufficiently dark, I took a stroll through Grimm Woods, which was a little disappointing compared to last year.  Don't get me wrong, it's still incredible and the best maze here.  It's the same three fairy tales as last year (but in a different order), the oven prop in the Hansel and Gretel section was not lit up or in use, the overall experience was darker, and there were noticeably less actors.  That said, the Malefiencent-esque actress' costume was incredible.

I strolled back up towards the tower through the Pumpkin Eater scare zone, which is always well done...

...and then double-backed down for the Black Widow Burlesque show, also returning from last year.  Good as always, and still surprisingly risque for an amusement park.

The giant spiders are back as well, of course.

It was nearing closing time, so I made my way back up to the front of the park, passing through the Uprising scare zone, which has been relocated from the Jungle X-pedition section to the long walkway between the tower and the clock/carousel.  I think this is the only CF park that doesn't have tombstones for past rides.  Upon arrival at the base of the tower, and the Masquerade scare zone, I noticed that not all of the chandeliers were illuminated, which I thought was weird.

And with that, I made my way back to my car and back to my hotel to call it a night.  Day 2, and well over a hundred pictures, coming up!

 

[AmyUD06]

Day 2:  Sunday, October 25th.

I was back at the park 15 minutes prior to the opening of the gates on Sunday, to be greeted with quite the crowd.

Thankfully, this was not indicative of the crowd levels throughout the day, which stayed quite light.

To kill time prior to entry, I took a walk over to the designated smoking zone and snapped the same picture that everyone takes of Dominator:

At opening, I made my way inside the park, grabbed my FL+ and Premium All Day Dining writstbands, and snapped this picture of the tower, with both demon eyes lit up (this will be important later).

Walking down International Street, I took a quick picture of one of many wooden jack-o-lanterns that lined the fountain.

First on the agenda for today was Dominator, open during the standard half-hour not-early-entry period.

A one-train wait for back row, left wing.  Notably not as rattle-y as I recall from the past.  I tried to get another shot of the train at the crest of the loop, and missed it once again.

At the full park opening at noon, I headed over to Woodstock Express to find it closed with some maintenance workers fiddling with the ride, so I instead made my way down to the Outpost Cafe, one of the new restaurants for this year.  I opted for the Citrus Fried Chicken with sides of mac & cheese and fry bread...

...which was not only a much bigger portion than I imagined (I couldn't even finish all of the chicken), but was also delicious.  For a normal guest price of $19, I guess it better be haha.  Very impressive, KD.

I then took advantage of the non-existent lines and hopped on Reptilian again, twice!

One-train waits for both the front row and back row.  Man, this ride is so good.

Poor Volcano queue/station building...

Hey, look at that, the scrambler has lights now!  Sadly, later in the night I would learn that they're not even LEDs :(.

The only other thing left to remind us of what once was...

Next up was another ride on I305.

A 13-minute-wait for front row, the best place to ride this and any other coaster that's all about speed.

Grabbed a few pictures of the Site X scare zone, in the day time:

Some more of the decorations surrounding the fountain.

Boo!  Change this already!

Am I the only one who remembers when the line for Days of Thunder would get so long, they needed to use this bridge to route the queue to the overflow area on the other side of the pathway?

The entrance to No Vacancy: Condemned.

A better picture of the giant skull.

Shenandoah Lumber Company log flume was running today! It would close with the arrival of Haunt later on.

A better shot of the horse-and-carriage.

Unlike last year, when Grizzly ran during the day but closed at Haunt, this year it appears to be closed all together.  Preparations for Titan track or RMC?  The world may never know. Though in actuality, we all know the answer is a decided "no."

Entrance to Grimm Woods...

..and one of the spooky trees out front.

I always loved this feature, though they didn't do any kind of Halloween decoration on it this year.

Riff Raff stage in daylight.  I'm not sure if I preferred this to the "on-top-of-shipping-containers" of last year.

Next on the rides agenda was...

I've never noticed this ACE Landmark plaque before, somehow.

Holy crap, it was actually racing!

I also never noticed they returned the paint scheme of old, which was obviously done a few years ago.

..,nor have I noticed the non-body-color covers for the restraint locks.

Anyway, this was a train-and-a-half wait for the left side (which I hadn't seen open in quite a while).  Great ride, very smooth, and we won by like a whole train length (the lift synchronizer was working).  Enjoy a fun video using my proper camera and clamp-having tripod.

 

Closed for wind.

Entrance to Blood on the Bayou, in daylight.

90 minutes had passed since my last meal, so it was time for another!  I stopped in the Jukebox Diner and grabbed a double-cheeseburger with fries.

Burger was decent (not as dry as they usually are at this location), but the fries were great and seasoned with something.

Next up was my #2 at this park, Twisted Timbers!  About to do its thing...

...And there it goes...

Two-train-wait for the front row (I told you crowds stayed light!), and awesome as always.  I'm warming to the stupid locker system, especially now that I realized I don't have to remove everything out of my pockets, only the big metal stuff.  I was playing around with the clamp tripod again, so enjoy

The Ferris wheel doesn't look as depressing in the day.

Now, I'm not a huge carousel connoisseur like @bert425is, but I did take some time to appreciate the one here at Kings Dominion.

Some history:

Some details:

They even have an old-style ticket booth!

Daytime shot of the outside of Trick or Treat.

The always-cool signs for Candy Apple Grove.  Sorry, Kings Island, I get the history behind Coney Mall, but this is a much nicer rendition of a classic park midway.

Following are a whole bunch of pictures of the Cleaver Brothers Carnival scare zone, including every booth and decoration.

Jack is back!

As is the bar truck...

But Drop Zone is closed for the year.

I grabbed a quick walk-on ride on Bad Apple (their Troika) and continued down Candy Apple Grove.

I get it that the Pizza Parlor and Dodgem are park-originals, but they could use a little love.

As could the Wave Swinger, which was my next ride.

One-cycle wait for what's always a nice relaxing way to catch some breeze.  Enjoy yet another video.

Everyone loves the singing mushrooms!

Even the unattended brat that knocked over my camera mid-filming.  Seriously folks, if you chose to reproduce, keep your kids on a tether (literally if you have to).

Snoopy looking festive as always.

Some shots of the Uprising scare zone.

And the awesome flower clock.

Spiders in the light.

A map posted at the entrance to Jungle X-Pedition.  Didn't see any hints for the Volanco-site's future, can you?

Flight of Fear was next.  Part of me prefers the original exterior design, as opposed to the partially-damaged one at Kings Island.

This was a 16 minute wait for front row, and was a quality ride as always.  It always confused me why both CF and SF have kept these spaghetti-bowl Premier launchers in such good condition yet SFGAdv couldn't manage to keep Batman & Robin: The Chiller functional.

After that, the park basically shut down for impending lightning (which never materialized) and rain (which did), so I took a brief nap in my car before coming back in, and heading to the top of the tower.  It had been a while since I've been up there, and even longer since I took pictures, so enjoy!  (Nightime pics will come later, too!)

Nothing going on in the Volcano site, just a bunch of rubble.

It's always fun when you can spot your car from an elevated position.

Took the long elevator ride down the tower, and ducked into Camp Snoopy, snapping a shot of one of the trick-or-treating houses that I thought looked cool...

... and made my way to Woodstock Express.  Nerd shot.

20 minute wait (!) for back row.  Yeah, one train only.

It was now past 6:00, and indoor haunts were back open, so I took another stroll through Condemned (around 5 minute wait without Fright Lane) and took a lap on Blue Ridge Tollway (which should totally be a haunted attraction again!).  Now, it was time for the Haunt opening show, Blood Reign.

This has a substantially different plot from last year's opening show, and incorporates the Burnette the Barker character and a guy who literally catches on fire.  Bigger news!  My absolutely favorite actor from Kings Dominion, who played Astaroth in last year's Heads Will Roll Haunt show and Tinker in the Tinker's Toy Factory Winterfest show, was back as Astaroth!  Who knows what else he was doing the rest of the night, but I'm told that he is involved in the full Queen's Ball show that wasn't performing this weekend.  Even more reason to come back.  Anyway, enjoy some pictures from this show.

As night descended, it was time for some more pictures!

The giant skull, properly illuminated.

Pumpkin Eater zone

Took another walk through Grimm Woods (one minute wait without Fright Lane), and was equally as impressed as I was the night before.

Riff Raff, at night.

Another stroll through Trick or Treat (no wait with my possibly-not-the-right-color Fast Lane+ wristband), and then I stopped to take in the full Burnette the Barker and Black Widow Burlesque shows, with the Queen character watching on approvingly.  Apparently, she roves the park and interacts with shows and scare actors, which is kinda cool.

This was just awesome:  Apparently, one of the scare actors sustained a leg injury, so instead of opting her out of the festivities, they incorporated her kneeling-scooter into an act (a mobile popcorn seller).  Brilliant!

Another walk through 21 (no wait with my probably-not-the-right-color FL+ wristband), this time I saw the other opening part (still no spoilers!).  But, there were some jerk teenagers in the front of the group who made some snide remarks to one of the in-character hosts, who promptly proceeded to send them to the back of the line.  I absolutely loved it.  Every park should implement a "no unattended minors" rule, if not making Halloween stuff 21+ events.

Site X scare zone, in the dark.

See, scrambler does have lights.  But like I said, not LEDs. Better than nothing I guess.

Tiki Twirl ominously lit up.  Oh, and it is on Fast Lane (Plus only) now!  I did not ride it this trip; once back in March was enough for me.

Next it was back to I305 for a one-train-wait for the back row; I was out of my seat the entire first drop.  Only running one train, but it didn't really need more than that.

Back through the Cleaver Brothers Carnival zone, and saw a fire twirler that I hadn't seen before.  Very entertaining.

Grabbed a quick ride on the other side of Racer 75 (half-train-wait for row 2); just as smooth as first ride, and then Twisted Timbers (two-train-wait for the back row).  An awesome, non-stapled ride in the dark.

Stopped back by the Cleaver Brothers Stage for the full set of Big Top Band...

..and then made my way up the tower with 15 minutes until closing, for some night-time shots.

Yes, that is the Virginia State Fair rides midway in the distance.  I did not attend this year.

A few more pics of the International Street decorations...

...and it was out of the park to call it a night.  If you look close, you can see that the demon eyes on the tower were now winking at us!  I don't think this was on purpose haha.

All in all, this was a wonderful day-and-a-half at a park I should have spent more time at this summer.  Overall, Haunt this year was a bit of a step down from last year's event, but was still super fun!  It was opening weekend and should improve as the season goes on.  I will definitely be stopping back for some more rides and shows.

Ride counts:
-I305 x 3
-Reptilian x 3
-Twisted Timbers x 2
-Racer 75 Left x 1
-Racer 75 Right x 1
-Flight of Fear x 1
-Bad Apple x 1
-Wave Swinger x 1
-Blue Ridge Tollway x1

Haunt Maze counts:
-Grim Woods x 2
-Condemned x 2
-Trick or Treat x 2
-21 x 2
-Blood on the Bayou x1
-Cornstalkers x1

Thanks for reading!

[AmyUD06]

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.

[AmyUD06]

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!

 

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:

 

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.

     

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.

 

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.

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!

 

[AmyUD06]

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

[AmyUD06]

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:

 

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*

[Nrthwnd]

^ Ah well, at least you tried, with hope.

[AmyUD06]

Everyone loves when people forget about posting TRs until like 5 months later, right?  Haha...sorry I completely forgot I had these to post.  Enjoy a flash back to October 2022 before the parks open for the year!

Cedar Point Friday, October 28th

Okay, so since this was in fact over 5 months ago, this is just going to be largely a picture/video dump with minimal commentary, which I will cover all at the beginning.

Ride wait times and/or commentary from my notes (all times with FL+, arrival around noon)
-Raptor, 2 train, back row.
-Blue Streak, 1 train, front row - tons of airtime, the train was flying through the course.
-Valravn, 9 minutes locker-to-locker - was denied not only a row request but also a specific location within a row.
-As of 1:00, the only food places observed open was Coasters Diner, Farmhouse, and Back Beat Que, all with massive queues.  This included stands.  Had to leave the park and go to Perkins in Hotel Breakers to get food without having to wait 30+ minutes.
-Magnum XL-200, 16 minutes locker-to-locker, row 2.
-Gatekeeper, 17 minutes locker-to locker, back row.
-Around 3:30, left the park to take a nap in my car.
-Millennium Force, 32 minutes locker-to-locker, row 2.
-Fortune Teller - 16 minute wait, 5 minute reading.  More than what they do at Kings Dominion, but less time with the fortune teller than last year.  Got the Ant card, and had a pretty accurate descriptor.
-Opening Scaremony show - Okay, I guess.  I liked the "audience participation" factor where they had actors in the crowd that would act like they were being controlled by those on stage.
-Skin-n-Bones feat. Vaze show - Not my scene, a little too hard rock for me.
-Slaughterhouse maze - Meh as always.  Not much else to say.  The "inflatable walls" were not fully inflated, making so you didn't have to squeeze through them at all, which kinda makes sense in a post-COVID world.
-Cornstalkers maze - No change from last year.  Highly entertained by a group that was getting scared and stopping and running.
-Fearground Freakshow maze - 99.9% same as last year, but I actually did get got by one of the actors, so good on them.
-Bloodbath maze (new for this year) - VERY well done.  Got a legitimate two scares.  Great artistry; starts as a nightclub and ends as a hotel kinda theme.  Not a lot of actors (a recurring theme), but overall very, very good.
-Steel Vengeance, 36 minutes locker-to-locker, back row.  "I hate this stupid f'ing locker system...it's such an insanely good ride but that locker system is just so f'ing stupid."
-Eerie Estate maze - Supposedly this was all new?  The only thing new I noticed was the Ouija board scene at the beginning where the "employee from the Sandusky Bureau of Paranormal Activity" talked about the place being haunted and then the board thing starting moving on its own.

After this, I guess I left, since my next set of notes videos were from the next day.  Enjoy the pictures and videos of day one!

Yep, good to be back.

At my happy place.

Poor Mantis.

This thing was kinda cool; I'd never seen it before.

 

Fortune Teller tents.  Many more than last year!

I still like how Cedar Point keeps their scary stuff in one area.

Par for the course for food lines on this Friday.

Very detailed mannequin.

Taking a smoke break outside the Magnum entrance (from the "good old days" of when I still smoked haha).

Guess CF got a bulk rate on these things?

This was animated at night; I tried to get a good video of it but failed miserably.

I have a couple of friends who would absolutely adore this shop!

I do like how they integrated the Mr. Midnight character into more than just the dedicated show.  Enjoy some video:

 

 

And that about wraps up day one.  I'll leave you with some videos of rides in action that I can't quite remember when I took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AmyUD06]

And onto

Cedar Point Day 2, Saturday October 29th, 2022.

Same format as before....

Ride wait times and/or commentary from my notes (all times with FL+, arrival around 11:30)
-Iron Dragon, 3 train wait, next-to-last row.  Running kinda slow.
-Millennium Force, 20 minute wait, row 2.
-Gemini, 1 train wait, row 2, red side, did not win.
-Steel Vengeance, 33 minutes (from entering line to locker retrieval), front row.
-Maverick, 15 minutes, back row.
-Raptor, 8 minutes, back row.
-Maverick, 24 minutes, back row.
-Midnight Syndicate show 2022.  "Nowhere near as good as last year's, but very similar to last year's in that it seems to drag on and do nothing and then gets really cool right at the end, and then its over.  So that's kinda meh but still good."  Bonus here!  Actually encountered another trans person in the wild while waiting in line.  Like, I know that other ones of us exist, but it's always refreshing when you run into one at a "normal" venue like an amusement park.
-Blood on the Bayou maze - A long, meandering walk through the Millennium Island with very few actors and very few decorations and kinda a whole lot of nothing going on.  It took twice as long to walk to it than it did to walk through it.  My sympathy to the kid who was having a panic attack near the end of it.
-Cut Throat Cove maze - Not as good as last year; pretty much the same props but a lot less actors.
-Maverick, 19 minutes, front row, to close out the night.

So yeah, that was my experience at Cedar Point's Haunt, 2022.  Overall a good time as always, but not a whole lot of innovation on the Halloween-y stuff front, and pretty much helped solidify my almost-definite decision to not renew my CF Platinum Pass for 2023.

Anyway, may the pictures flow....

My favorite!

Nerd shot.

Busy busy.

This is a panorama, gotta click to view the full thing to get the best effect.

Kinda blurry, but this was the closeout on all of the remaining Top Thrill Dragster merchandise...the first clear indication that the ride would at least be getting a new name in the future.

Motion blur intentional.

And that puts a wrap on my 2022 Halloween park adventures....or does it?

[AmyUD06]

On the way back from Cedar Point (normally a 8-9 hour drive), I decided to "stop by" (ignore the fact that it adds 6 hours to my total drive time) Kings Dominion again to try to catch the full Queen's Ball show, that I missed during my initial Haunt trip here and my attempt after Kings Island to catch the show.  Was I successful?  Spoiler alert:  I was!

BONUS!  Kings Dominion Sunday, October 30th.

My only rides of this trip were Reptilian (3 train wait, front row, maybe my first time on this at night) and Intimidator 305 (13 minute wait for row 2).

But rides were not the purpose of this trip:  I did, finally, on the last day of the season, get to check out the Queen's Ball musical portion of the show.  My review:

Heads Will Roll (the 2021 Haunt show) this was not.  The Astaroth and Burnette characters had almost all of the songs, and it actually had a cohesive plot to it, which is always nice to see, despite being substantially shorter.  I was informed that the show production company that had put together previous shows had backed out of the contract with the park at the end of August, and the in-house park staff were left with two weeks to put something together, and this is what they did.  Massive shout outs to George (Astaroth), Alex (Burnette the Barker), and Sheri (Queen) for putting together an awesome show on short notice, as well as David (unofficial park photographer) for the info on the production.  They all have awesome Instagram profiles, go check them out.

Tons of pictures:

And of course, here is a bunch of highlights, in video, for you to enjoy:

This guy's range will never cease to amaze me.

   

And her powerful voice...OMG.

     

On with the rest of the TR!

Apparently they had been setting up for Winterfest already...

But all of the Halloween Craft Booths were still set up.

I of course had to head down to the Cleaver Brother's Stage for some more of the multi-talented Burnette the Barker, who is always hilarious.

     

Of course I got a picture with the man himself.

Hey look, they fixed the winking tower!

And that closes out my Halloween park trips for 2022!

Thanks for reading everyone, even if some of it was a few months late.

 

[bert425]

nice. . love seeing the pics.

 

and Ocean Potion?  hahahahaha

 

[AmyUD06]

1 minute ago, bert425 said:

nice. . love seeing the pics.

 

and Ocean Potion?  hahahahaha

 

I'm glad that someone appreciated it, all this time later haha.

[bert425]

^ I mean, I'm still working on my trip report from June 2022. . so no judgement here!