Halloween Haunt 2014
- Thread starter wombat96
- Start date
Hokie305 said:It's official!
Via Kings Dominion's Official Facebook page
REMINDER! This Sunday (August 3)will be your last day to ride Dodgem. It will be shutting down so we can prepare for extra scares this fall
Awesome! I just wish I knew if there will be other new attractions this year! Hopefully we get a new scarezone or another new maze.
mtorange said:
It has been one day since the Dodgem closed. I would think that the park is getting the cars stored away either in the back of the building or off-site for their yearly refurbishment. There might be some building materials being delivered on-site for the "new" maze. I would not expect anything more at this time.
Give it a week and somebody might end up at the park to snap a couple photos. Unfortunately, I am out of town for the next 2 weekends. I will not see the last shows of KD40 on stage or All Wheel Sports before they end their summer run. sigh....
I think I'll be at the park this weekend. I will look to see what has been done.
Since Maze of Madness was announced already, I'm really hoping KD will announce the Miners replacement soon. They announced both Zombie High and Miners last year right around the end of July, so I would think they'll make an announcement within the next couple of weeks.
Someone on another forum mentioned doing werewolves as a replacement for Miners. Being in the woods and Old Virginia would be a great spot for werewolves and the props from last year can still work. I like that idea, but KD would have to nail the execution. The WWC area is just such a hard spot to pull off a quality maze with all the open space. Miners was a big step up, in my opinion, with the mine shaft. That helped a lot so I'd like to see them work that into the new maze. Just call it a tunnel and boom, no connection to mines. Amazing how easy it is to appease these overly sensitive people.
Also, any ideas about scare zones being replaced? Personally, I've always been a fan of Feary Tales, even though it seems to lack in the amount of actors. I love the theme and the music makes it very eerie. But it has been there since 2009 and is the longest running scare zone, so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets axed. Any ideas for new scare zones?
Someone on another forum mentioned doing werewolves as a replacement for Miners. Being in the woods and Old Virginia would be a great spot for werewolves and the props from last year can still work. I like that idea, but KD would have to nail the execution. The WWC area is just such a hard spot to pull off a quality maze with all the open space. Miners was a big step up, in my opinion, with the mine shaft. That helped a lot so I'd like to see them work that into the new maze. Just call it a tunnel and boom, no connection to mines. Amazing how easy it is to appease these overly sensitive people.
Also, any ideas about scare zones being replaced? Personally, I've always been a fan of Feary Tales, even though it seems to lack in the amount of actors. I love the theme and the music makes it very eerie. But it has been there since 2009 and is the longest running scare zone, so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets axed. Any ideas for new scare zones?
With most of the scare zones receiving some pretty serious upgrades over the last couple years, I am not sure if any of them are being retired for 2014. That is a big unknown.
I would think, at a minimum, we are getting the return of "Maze of Madness" and a new theme for the "Miner's Revenge" attraction. I think 1 new Haunt show is in the works for this year. Outside of that, I haven't a clue.
I would think, at a minimum, we are getting the return of "Maze of Madness" and a new theme for the "Miner's Revenge" attraction. I think 1 new Haunt show is in the works for this year. Outside of that, I haven't a clue.
So I'm going to be honest here, I'm going to be a little disappointed that Medieval Macrabe is going away. Last year this house had the most amazing scare actor I've seen. They were crawling out of a well backwards in a way that would normally be done with CG in movies these days. Well the house itself was bad compared to the rest of the house, that actor will always be in my memory.
Pretzel Kaiser said:
This!
Medieval Macabre was my favorite house last year!( with Zombie High at a very close second) I was the lead of our group and I know exactly what you're talking about with the creepy backwards well girl. She was just frozen in position (standing? bent over backwards?) there waiting for us to advance through her section. I almost couldn't move past her because I knew she was going to move as soon as I started to walk towards her. Creep level: Expert. The rest of the scares in that house were on point. It could have been that I was the lead and the theme of that house was creepy to begin with, but I thought it was fantastic!
She must have been on smoke break when I went through last year and I was in the middle of a group which made the experience lackluster. I wish I had gone through again under better circumstances. Good news is, even though this maze still had some life and scares left in it, the new one appears to have some admirable ideas and potential that come along with it. I'll trade old but still good, for new and quite awesome any day.
Medieval was by far my least favorite of the mazes last year as it didn't seem as decorated or as staffed as the other houses. Maybe I just saw it on a bad day?
The best thing about this house was that I found a dime while waiting in the line.
(I will note that we waited longer for this maze than any of the other houses so that might have influenced our experience).
The best thing about this house was that I found a dime while waiting in the line.
(I will note that we waited longer for this maze than any of the other houses so that might have influenced our experience).
I totally get it if people think it's a bad house, because it is. On this case though, it shows just how important for scare across actors are and how they can make a house.
I snagged these photos of Maze of Madness being constructed while at the park yesterday. Nothing else Haunt related around the park at all yet, not even the advertisement banners.
I'll be making my last 3 hour drive to the park of the summer in two weeks to check out construction more and will grab more photos then. Then after that I won't be back until Haunt season arrives! The best time of the year!
I'll be making my last 3 hour drive to the park of the summer in two weeks to check out construction more and will grab more photos then. Then after that I won't be back until Haunt season arrives! The best time of the year!
Attachments
Well, the Dodgem conversion is the earliest and most visible evidence of Haunt prep in the park. People have also reported hearing power tools being used in the Corn Stalker's maze area over the last couple weeks.
I would think there is a bunch of stuff going on off-site and in the dedicated buildings used for Haunt attractions. Usually, the park starts trucking in the Haunt props from the off-site warehouse toward the end of August. But, all that stuff stays in the back stage areas until the park starts moving the props out into the public areas after Labor Day weekend
That is when the park starts putting out the scare-zone props during the week days when the park is closed to the public. They start off slowly and ramp it up the last week leading up to Haunt. The park still tweaks the mazes and scare-zones; sometimes adding additional props over the 1st couple weekends of Haunt operations.
I hope they work more with the lighting of the scare-zones this year. It either seems the wonderfully detailed props are almost in complete darkness / in shadows or they are lit up with harsh LED flood lights and wash out the props and the scare-actors are extremely exposed.
They need to hire a theater light designer, to light the scare-zones. Lighting these areas properly sets the mood and suspense for the scare-zones. They need to use focused light to highlight the detailed props. Using "pencil" lights that shine light in small focused areas. They can be used on the props themselves and pointed along the pathways to give enough light for patrons to safely walk through; but, leave sections of the path in shadow and give the scare-actors something to work with.
I would think there is a bunch of stuff going on off-site and in the dedicated buildings used for Haunt attractions. Usually, the park starts trucking in the Haunt props from the off-site warehouse toward the end of August. But, all that stuff stays in the back stage areas until the park starts moving the props out into the public areas after Labor Day weekend
That is when the park starts putting out the scare-zone props during the week days when the park is closed to the public. They start off slowly and ramp it up the last week leading up to Haunt. The park still tweaks the mazes and scare-zones; sometimes adding additional props over the 1st couple weekends of Haunt operations.
I hope they work more with the lighting of the scare-zones this year. It either seems the wonderfully detailed props are almost in complete darkness / in shadows or they are lit up with harsh LED flood lights and wash out the props and the scare-actors are extremely exposed.
They need to hire a theater light designer, to light the scare-zones. Lighting these areas properly sets the mood and suspense for the scare-zones. They need to use focused light to highlight the detailed props. Using "pencil" lights that shine light in small focused areas. They can be used on the props themselves and pointed along the pathways to give enough light for patrons to safely walk through; but, leave sections of the path in shadow and give the scare-actors something to work with.
Does anybody know if KD has the same problem as HoS where it takes two weeks to get everything up properly or is everything set up the first week?
I can't exactly remember, but I think as far as the props and such go, everything is in place. But the monsters will of course adjust during the first few weeks to get their scares on point and see what works for them.