Halloween Haunt 2019

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
Yeah, I wouldn’t be sad to see Blackout go. When the concept works well, it’s great, but it’s so inconsistent and there are so many logistical problems that it’s usually more frustrating than enjoyable. Even though it’s newer, I wish they’d kept Zombie High and axed Blackout.

Quick correction to a post above: Technically Blood on the Bayou replaced Doll Factory, and Blackout replaced Club Blood. Blackout changed locations its second year. I thought Blackout was much better in the current BOTB building than where it is now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applesauce, keo91, Zachary and 1 other person
We went on Tollway of Terror for the first time yesterday, and one thing we noticed was they constantly send out cars with only two guests in them, instead of grouping them together in fours. Considering there's a huge line for this attraction and that operational throughput is limited, it seems folly to send out more than half the cars unfilled.

For context the park wasn't busy at all and every other house was a sub 5 minute wait. I'm sure if we hadn't gotten in line for Tollway before it opened, we'd have waited well over an hour.
 
^^-- if the group is three or four, they're not split, they just don't want to be matchmakers all the time.
rswashdc said:
We went on Tollway of Terror for the first time yesterday, and one thing we noticed was they constantly send out cars with only two guests in them, instead of grouping them together in fours. Considering there's a huge line for this attraction and that operational throughput is limited, it seems folly to send out more than half the cars unfilled.

For context the park wasn't busy at all and every other house was a sub 5 minute wait. I'm sure if we hadn't gotten in line for Tollway before it opened, we'd have waited well over an hour.
Click to expand...
In past years, they've always let me go by myself, but this year they did not. It was kind of nice getting chauffeured though ;) ... However another difference is in the past it's been late when I rode while this year I hit it first thing.
 
Pretzel Kaiser said:
I may have an answer with this. Cars with four adults move a lot slower and sometimes might get stuck going up an incline.
Click to expand...

In my estimation at least half of the groups of two were parent/child groups and not two adults. Slower cars may actually make the ride better as it's safer for the actors to move around the cars and they can interact more with the groups.

The sign for the ride says that the ride is for groups of 3 or 4, so I'd assume they group together pairs, but they didn't.
 
Idk about you, but I personally don't want to be shoved with a group of two just to fill the car up, when you don't know how they're gonna be. Unlike the houses where the wait times will drop, the line for tollway doesn't. If you get a bad house run through due to the people in front or behind you, it's easy enough to jump in line again to give it a second shot. Idk anyone who wants to wait for tollway more than once if you get bad group mates.

And slower may be safer for the actors, but it's not great for the cars themselves and can cause major backups which causes a bigger line. :/
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nicole and belsaas
They don't group pairs, but they do make single riders ride in other cars. Honestly, even that has been problematic in my experience. A single rider ended up with us on my last ride on Tollway, and he ended up yelling at my girlfriend for driving too fast and kept making really obnoxious noises every time an actor came by. It sucked. The cars are more... intimate(?) than just walking through a maze, so getting stuck with another group can really ruin the experience. I don't think making groups ride together is the solution.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: buckler89, keo91, Crunchewy and 3 others
Tollway Terror is the one haunted "maze" I'm interested in doing. Just seems more fun to be driving a car through it. Or in my case, having my son or nephew drive it. I will wait the wait on Saturday if I can convince them to also wait (not a given). Plus I'm guessing this is the least scary one - they wouldn't want people falling out due to a jump scare. Or is that not the case?
 
Joe said:
They don't group pairs, but they do make single riders ride in other cars. Honestly, even that has been problematic in my experience. A single rider ended up with us on my last ride on Tollway, and he ended up yelling at my girlfriend for driving too fast and kept making really obnoxious noises every time an actor came by. It sucked. The cars are more... intimate(?) than just walking through a maze, so getting stuck with another group can really ruin the experience. I don't think making groups ride together is the solution.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is much different then being behind/ahead of someone obnoxious in the houses. I guess it's a lose/lose either way. You either make everyone wait twice as long or potentially have a bad ride mate(s) in the car with you.
 
I've been blown away once before and I'm blown away again.

Mazes
Blood on the Bayou - was phenomenal. Set design is almost Universal quality. Scares are a little weak but everything else is spot on
Trick or Treat - another maze with incredible set design. Didn't expect a Hatbox Ghost effect inside a haunted attraction in VA.
No Vacancy - while Motel Hell has gotten weaker and weaker over the years, No Vacancy is just as good as if not better than it was a couple years ago. The flashlight concept is genius.
Cornstalkers - Not as good as I remember, but the decent length makes up for the lack of actors.
Lockdown - set design is ok. Scares are ok. Would I rather have a dedicated show building for this and have KD keep FOF open? Yeah
Blackout - I think there was only like 3 actors in the whole maze. Had some interesting concepts but was pretty weak overall

Scare Zones
Masquerade - I love the music and the lighting on the tower. Didn't really see many actors though
Necropolis - They pretty much made all of Old Virginia a scare zone and I love it. The sliders were the real highlight here
Ironworx - The animatronic set pieces are gone but the actors are still pretty solid.
Pumpkin Eater - This was a ton of fun. Probably the best zone in the whole park from a set piece standpoint. Reminds me of a Florida scare zone tbh
Cleaver Bros Carn-Evil - Not as strong as I remember, but still a pretty solid zone with some good actors. Biggest pro is the zone has a huge amount of space
The Yard - Not a lot of actors to be found here.

Other notes
* I don't think I've ever seen a haunt throw that much fog at you.
* Ride operations sucked Saturday night. One train on almost everything and practically 5 min dispatches each time. I basically only ride Timbers, 305 and Grizzly because the lines were so long
* On the other hand, maze lines are insanely short. Even with a full queue for most of them I maybe waited 20-25 mins tops
* Might be my favorite theme park haunt not called Halloween Horror Nights.
* There was a huge floodlight shining into Grizzly. Ruined the ride experience for me since I could see the entire time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eric, jeffh, wombat96 and 1 other person
We were there Saturday too. We only stayed a short time after Haunt started, but I enjoyed my time there. I didn't do any of the houses because I"m a scaredy cat. I thought the opening ceremony was pretty fun. I liked the lighting, fog and music and to an extent I liked walking around the park and trying to avoid the monsters. Lines were crazy long after Haunt started, so we only did Grizzly then, but it was awesome at night. Earlier in the day lines were much more reasonable and we got rides on Twisted Timbers, Apple Zapple, Dominator, Avalanche, Flight of Fear and Intimidator 305 with fairly short waits. Twisted Timbers had the shortest wait, surprisingly, but maybe that was a matter of when we rode it.
 
ManitobaMoose said:
Are the fights at KD usually a Halloween Haunt large crowd type deal, or are they pretty common at the park?
Click to expand...

Anecdotally, it's not a common issue - it may happen on occasion, but nothing particular about KD over any other occasion brings it out in people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mushroom
I saw a near riot that encompassed all of Candy Apple Grove two years ago at Haunt. I imagine the fights range in size.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: horsesboy
Nicole said:
I saw a near riot that encompasses all of Candy Apple Grove two years ago at Haunt. I imagine the fights range in size.
Click to expand...

I think that was one of the rare brawls that made the news and reinforces the negative stereotypes of both how rough the park is and the riff raff it attracts when in my experience that is the exception, not the rule.

I'd be curious to see how bad it'd be if they ever let people play pick-up hockey on the WinterFest ice rink...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: horsesboy and Mushroom
I've gone to Haunt 8-11 times a season for over a decade and never seen a fight big enough to recall. However I also can't remember ever going on a Saturday due to crowd size.
 
Unless anyone has any actual data, this is all speculation based entirely on anecdotal evidence.

What we do know is that KD will not let anyone leave and return to the park during Haunt, reportedly because of fears of drugs and violence.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad