| HAUNTED
ATTRACTION |
| HALLOWEEN
HAUNT AT KINGS ISLAND |
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| RATING:
9 |
| Reviewed
9/28/07 |
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| LOCATION
& ADMISSION INFO: |
| Exit 25
off I-71 |
| Mason,
Ohio |
| $19.95
Friday Night Admission |
| $24.95
Saturday (all day Park admission) |
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| MAZE
REVIEWS |
| MASSACRE MANOR:
One
of the more popular attractions has a fresh coat of blood...er... paint
on the walls and is back for a return engagement! Take the six minute
tour of the ruined mansion and encounter the evil that lies within.
Search for its previous occupants, and take precautions to avoid Emily,
a former resident responsible for the torturous acts that are still taking
place here. Beware of monster-lined walls that impede your navigation
by closing in from both sides of a clothes closet. Meet the unbalanced
cook in her blood-spattered kitchen, and witness an amazing bed levitation
in a treacherous bedroom, where demented children have altered the words
to innocent nursery rhymes, metamorphosing some well known text into devious
counterparts like, "Mary had a little lamb, it's fleece was red as blood!"
Extremely intense characters rule the murderous, gothic estate, where bodies
are torn in half by powerful table saws, and fry in electric chairs as
you come face to face with Emily herself at CONEY MAUL's Massacre Manor! |
| TRAIL OF TERROR:
The
dark, fog-filled woods is the primary scare of the trail, where scarecrows
come to life, and other hideous creatures lurk in the shadows. A
fork in the road separates the men from the boys, or in this case the brave
from the chickens, as courageous travelers must crawl on their hands and
knees through a pair of coupled sewer pipes, while the timid or physically
challenged ones can simply bypass the scene and walk around. A huge,
appalling surprise soon awaits, emanating from a portable toilet, as
Hanged bodies convulse from trees, and hideous looking zombies, in advance
stages of decay leave their earthen tombs en route to a double chainsaw
chase-out of CONEY MAUL’s 15 minute path of mind-bending terror also known
as the Trail of Terror. |
| TOMBSTONE
TERROR-TORY: Sit back, relax, and enjoy
a spooky ghost story while riding the train, well…, until something goes
terribly wrong. The old iron horse breaks down in the middle of nowhere
and riders must disembark, and hike back to civilization on foot.
Darkness abounds, and gives rise to encounters with undead zombies and
corrupt cowboys as you make your way across covered bridges, through the
foggy terrain, and eventually back to the safety of RIVERTOWN, in this
wild-west style train ride adventure called Tombstone Terror-tory. |
| DEATH ROW:
CONEY
MAUL’s renamed Asylum features an unnerving, fog-filled, chain-link
fence maze, inhabited by convicted prisoners waiting to meet their ultimate
demise, and eager for revenge. Deafening sirens blare, and blinding
strobes flash as various forms of executions are carried out, one courtesy
of an electric chair, and another more auspicious condemnation, where an
inmate’s upper torso has had its flesh torn away, exposing his spine, yet
he’s still quite ALIVE! Intensity approaches near panic levels, as
confusion and disorientation give way to entrapment in this seven minute
sanatorium of torture and slaughter known as Death Row. |
| CLUB BLOOD:
New
for '07, the promiscuous Club Blood looks like a scene straight
out of the movie
Dusk to Dawn! Intensity levels are high,
as blood-thirsty vampires attack from darkened surroundings, while exotic,
fanged dancers perform in elevated cages, dancing to music spun by an intensely
wicked DJ. Take part in a mirror maze, and witness some really demented
sights, including a deranged nurse cannibalizing her victim, painful childbirth,
mechanical surprises springing forth from beds and caskets, and a grotesque
bathroom scene all housed inside the 5 minute visit to this popular nightclub.
Outstanding make-up, and energetic characters throughout. Bikers
and ghouls alike, have your id checked and paint the town red at ACTION
ZONE's Club Blood! Come in for a bite! |
| CARNEVIL:
Put
on your 3-D glasses and join these jovial jokesters in their house of fun
and games. The three dimensional special effects add a degree of
depth perception that really brings the scenes to life. Clowns unleash
their startling surprises by appearing from behind secret, drop-down wall
panels, and springing up out of oversized children’s building blocks.
In addition to the vast array of carnival crazies, you’ll meet up with
a few of their sideshow co-workers, like Fortune Teller Madam Olga,
and a snake charmer, along with her pet python Precious. A
corridor of inanimate clown figures serves up a surprise of its own, when
the walls unexpectedly close in from both sides, propelling the masked
masters of mayhem directly into your path! Then, it’s onto a spinning
vortex, and a series of multiple dressing room doors belonging to some
well known circus performers, as well as horror movie stars, ranging in
variety from The Bearded Lady, to Frankenstein, Freddie,
and Jason. Selecting the correct one ends the brief entrapment,
and leads to freedom from this dangerous, fright-fest under the big top
called CarnEVIL. |
| RED BEARD'S
REVENGE: Venture into this box maze of
fortune and lost treasure as you tour below the decks of a cursed ship,
encountering evil, skeletal pirates that emerge from hidden panels, a sultry
lady of the night soliciting action in the world’s oldest profession, and
ultimately Captain Red Beard himself. Swab the deck, and meet
up with beheaded shipmates in the bowels of this ill-fated vessel.
Dead men tell no tales in Halloween Haunt’s six minute swashbuckling
RIVERTOWN endeavor better known as Red Beard’s Revenge. |
| FEAR
ZONE REVIEWS |
| Not as enduring as the actual
mazes, but much more so than in years past, are all located along INTERNATIONAL
STREET. These short, few minute walks are still well worth mentioning.
The
Cemetery is somewhat self-explanatory, consisting of, tombstones, crypts,
monuments, fog, and undead corpses. Cornstalkers is mostly
an intimidating walk through a darkened cornfield connecting to RIVERTOWN
that's overrun with evil, killer scarecrows, who have come to life, and
leave their posts in order to protect their premises. The Worksite
revisits a long forgotten construction project where something once went
terribly wrong, resulting in site abandonment. The wreckage shows
skeletal remains of many of the workers, who were still on the job operating
various pieces of equipment when the disaster originally occurred many
years ago. Access to certain areas of the catastrophe have been restricted
with caution tape and orange barrels, and give rise to deadly encounters
with various undead members of the work force along the closed road.
Hard hats, the construction trailer, and portable toilets, exemplify the
meticulous detailing that has gone into creating these Fear Zones,
which to reiterate, are much more complex this season, and inhabited by
numerous creatures of the night. |
| ATTRACTION
REVIEWS |
| Dead
Awakening debuts it's live, adult-oriented musical performance at the
SHOWPLACE THEATRE, that features provocative song and dance, and culminates
with an innocent young lady's brutal murder. Torture Chamber at
PARAMOUNT THEATRE showcases The Great Baldini engaging in various
"freak show" style acts, including walking on glass, and lying on a bed
of nails. Elvira's Superstition returns for a spooky, simulated
roller coaster ride through a variety of ghastly sights with everybody's
favorite Mistress of the Dark. |
| HALLOWEEN HAUNT - OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
The
Halloween
Haunt
scares begin as you approach the main gates. The eerily
lit exterior is decorated with tombstones, and skeletons occupy cars from
some of the Park's thrill rides. Hundreds of monsters gather opposite
the turnstiles and dare you to enter Kings Island's annual Halloween
extravaganza. Once inside, greetings are extended from an Undertaker,
standing beneath a giant, red-eyed skull, and shadowed by hearses.
His amplified voice booms taunts through the speaker system, as various
roaming monsters begin to notice your presence! Tremendous amounts
of fog obscure the view down International Street toward the Eiffel
Tower! Just an awesome beginning! Walks and paths
between attractions are elaborately decorated with chilling sights of cemeteries
and skeletons. Fog is everywhere, and becomes thicker, and even more
intimidating as the night wears on. Well hidden creatures don't stay
that way for long, and come crawling, sliding, and roaming from all directions
at the most unexpected moments! Eight uniquely haunted Mazes,
three differently themed Fearzones, and three more live Attractions,
combined with nearly a dozen of the world's best thrill rides, result in
an entire night of Halloween entertainment that's possibly unsurpassed.
The haunts themselves may not be overly impressive in the sense of outlandish
animatronics, and certainly aren't the longest, but they're still scary
and intimidating, feature outlandish characters,and are designed to accommodate
enormous amounts of guests. Subsequently, the event itself scores
much higher as a whole, than any of the individual attractions otherwise
would if considered independently. One could easily spend $20 to
$25 at just one or two haunted houses that would be over with in 10 or
20 minutes, if you're lucky. For the same investment, the fun at
Halloween
Haunt lasts all night! How can you top that?
Overall Event Analysis:
LENGTH - 10, Everyone's DYING to get in, and the fun
lasts all night! Unmatched from an entertainment perspective.
ACTORS - 8½, Costuming is first rate. The
characters are much more intense than in years past. This amped-up atmosphere
is most noticeable in
Club Blood and Massacre Manor, and
to a slightly lesser extent in
Death Row and RedBeard's Revenge.
Maintaining this high energy level through numerous performances in front
of thousands of patrons is a remarkable accomplishment. A dominance
of professional theatrical make-up creates numerous original monsters -
overpoweringly bloody and gory in appearance, and not easily forgotten.
Masks in Red Beard's Revenge are almost equally as impressive.
Performers along the Trail, and in CarnEVIL aren’t as intense,
and there aren’t enough in Tombstone Terror-tory to cover the dead
spots.
SCARINESS - 9, The Park itself offers much more throughout
than ever before - more decor, more monsters, and as a result more SCARES!
Excellent soundtracks and lighting compliment the haunts, making them that
much more terrifying, and the use of fog is unsurpassed. Notice the
way it envelopes the entire Park while enjoying one of the Thrill Rides.
DESIGN - 9, The transformation from fun-filled amusement
park, to demented Halloween Haunt is masterful. Creepiness
abounds, in a traditional Halloween sense, and each haunt, has its own
unique theme. Classical scares are delivered along the
Trail of
Terror, and in Massacre Manor, while more modern frights come
from CarnEVIL. Terror takes the form of a variety of creatures
and characters, ranging from undead vampires to villainous convicts, evil
clowns and vindictive pirates. Tombstone Terror-tory is one
of the weaker, most underutilized attractions, which is most unfortunate
considering it spotlights the incomparable Miami Valley Railroad,
a feature unavailable elsewhere. Would like to see more focus on
the train itself, perhaps in the form of an old-fashioned, or at least
attempted hijacking, sabotage, zombies leaving their graves and roaming
the tracks, thus stopping the train, then relentlessly pursuing riders
back to RIVERTOWN, or something of the like. The return of the Bravery/Chicken
option to the Trail is a welcomed site. Club Blood
is cutting edge!
PROPS - 8, Some of the haunts themselves could be better
detailed, especially Tombstone Terror-tory and Trail of Terror.
Bed levitation and body sawed in half inside Massacre Manor are
most impressive. Addition of impressive animatronics would be a major
attribute.
VALUE - 10, An entire evening of entertainment costs
only $19.95 for Friday nights, and $24.95 on Saturdays when purchased online.
Saturday's ticket includes all day Park admission.
OVERALL RATING: 9, Massacre Manor
and
Club
Blood are a notch or two above the rest. Death Row is quite
intense, and Red Beard's Revenge makes a strong debut. Trail
of Terror, Tombstone Terror-tory
and CarnEVIL remain
the weakest links. Even though it's the longest haunt at Kings
Island duration wise, the Trail requires much more detailing
in the sense of props, and many more characters in order to begin to compare
with other area trails. The train ride needs to become more the center
of attention, as it's a shame to underutilize that locomotive and railroad
in general with such an unadventurous walk back through the woods. CarnEVIL's
clowns simply aren't nearly aggressive, or vicious enough. Although
individually, the haunts themselves aren't overwhelmingly impressive, the
conjunctive event is arguably unequalled. Elvira's back for
another year, tolerance to self-inflicted pain is dementedly showcased
in Torture Chamber, while a Broadway style stage dramatization entertains
and horrifiess with hourly performances of the racy Dead Awakening.
Nothing is off limits, as the dead run rampant at
Halloween Haunt until
10/31/07. Hours of operation have been extended in efforts to combat
the lengthy lines that must be endured prior to gaining entrance to the
haunted attractions, and provide additional opportunities for visitors
to experience all the event has to offer on a single visit. Friday
nights, as well as early season dates are likely the best times to visit,
as there'll be fewer BODIES in your way!
WARNING: Not recommended for young children!
Halloween
Haunt includes graphic scenes, suggestive themes and intense imagery
that is intended for mature audiences. For a more family-friendly
event, please visit during daytime hours on Saturday's and Sundays for
Nick
or Treat, an attraction featuring pumpkin patches, magic shows, candy,
and mch more, all designed for the little ones! |
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