Halloween Haunt 2014
- Thread starter wombat96
- Start date
Wow! I was just informed they went through a mini scare school.
I was at KD all day today and with rain on and off....It was the best Haunt I have ever experienced. There must have have been 25 actors in almost every maze! I am not kidding. Tonight was flipping awesome. VERY strong mazes were No Vacancy, Doll House, and believe it or not, Maze of Madness. Strong mazes were Zombie High, Club Blood, and Outbreak. Meh mazes were Blue Ridge, Cornstalkers, and Slaughterhouse. The atmosphere tonight was just plain creepy. A Zombie followed my wife out of Zombie High for a solid 50 feet, into the pouring rain, she turned to speak to me but I had backed off to let the zombie do his thing 
Best scare of the night! Walked on rides all day, and walked right in mazes all night. The show in Safari Village was extremely cool too. The rain tonight didn't phase the event whatsoever and I would pretty much say it enhanced everything about it. Great job KD!
Best scare of the night! Walked on rides all day, and walked right in mazes all night. The show in Safari Village was extremely cool too. The rain tonight didn't phase the event whatsoever and I would pretty much say it enhanced everything about it. Great job KD!
I went last Saturday Oct 4th, and I must say I was amazed that KD did a really great job even with the décor during the day it was awesome. I must say my fave was the CornStalkers (is that what its called). I will admit i was a little intoxicated so it felt like the SHINING lol. Overall I really enjoyed it and cant wait to go again on Halloween and November 1st, come join me. I got a lot of scares it seems they know somehow that I am an easy scare. So I say great job KD HAUNT. I cant wait to come back.
MoM. Pictures taken with parks permission.
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Be sure to use them to get to the front of the line, before hiding them, obviously. We also told the ops that were controlling the lines that we wanted to skip the SK rooms.
The Cornstalkers SK room might be worth doing. Half of my group were terrified by it.
The Cornstalkers SK room might be worth doing. Half of my group were terrified by it.
jkgray said:
If you're going on a Friday, chances are you won't need Fright Lane at all. Lines are usually pretty short. Honestly, unless you're DYING (pun intended) to try the skeleton key rooms, they aren't worth it. And, based off the reviews I've read, I wouldn't invest into getting them unless you go on a Saturday which is when the park gets pretty crowded during the Haunt event.
I went Friday the 3rd of this month, bought Fright Lane....didn't use them once, Well, you live and you learn...
My Haunt review from Friday a few posts up blew plenty of sunshine up the rear end of the event itself, but I now realize that I should have said more. The Haunt portion of my visit was as you know, fantastic, the rest of the park was seemingly bleeding to death. The culinary was non-existent on Friday. All of the chain restaurants were open and booming, but I choose not to eat at these while in the park. All of the KD staffed places were simply closed. Country kitchen, Johnny's, Juke Box diner, Outer Hanks, Tower Pizza, Border Café, all closed! I had to settle for Victoria's Pizza, my least favorite KD joint, and that was cooked and served to me by a maintenance man in stained clothes. I had ZERO choices. Most rides were staffed by the year round employees. Rebel Yell, Grizzly, Shockwave(yes I rode it), Dominator, and Flight of Fear were all operating with ONE maintenance man checking all restraints. Don't get me wrong, they were getting it done, but I felt bad for them. Ricochet, Hurler, Anaconda, and Berseker were simply closed(although I did see Anaconda running later during Haunt). I guess I kind-of have to hand it to them for even being able to operate with this skeleton crew, but as far as the restaurants go, I would have been pretty upset If I had driven from out of town for that park experience. I just wanted to shed some light on the other side of my visit instead of only sharing the good stuff. TaTa.
As I have noted several times before. The park runs on an extremely tight budget. They will not open restaurants/food stands when they cannot justify staffing them based on the numbers of folks in the park that evening. Friday's are great for doing Haunt stuff with minimum waits; but, you will not get the full park experience on a Friday evening Haunt visit.
Given the limited food choices and early evening opening time, I eat before I go up there on a Friday Haunt evening. Sometimes I get a snack/drink there; sometimes nothing when visiting.
Given the limited food choices and early evening opening time, I eat before I go up there on a Friday Haunt evening. Sometimes I get a snack/drink there; sometimes nothing when visiting.
This was a full operation day mwhinva. When the park advertises a full operation day to draw my family/friends in and only 1 or 2 of it's many restaurants are open, that is false advertising. I dont care what is in their budget. "Come visit us! We're open all day" should not mean I only get to walk around and and see the things that I like closed.
Has KD always been experiencing this short-staffing and budget cuts? I remember there were some staffing issues last year, but nothing on the level I'm hearing now.
Only an employee could answer that with any sort of accuracy Matthew. Even though I go to the park just about every week, I would only be guessing what gets cut and why. The KD side of the forum doesn't seem to have the park employee members like the BGW side.
Mazakman said:
Sorry, it had slipped my mind that they were open all day Friday and yesterday. Columbus day is not a holiday for me and I worked both of those days that the park was open.
Staffing for KD in the spring and fall has been an issue for them over the last few years. I don't know if it is intentional (i.e. budget) or just not getting folks through the employment door. I have shared my concerns here and on other fans sites about too much cost cutting could backfire on the park when it came to guest experience. It's like walking on the razors edge. Get too far over the side and ouch!
I think it is a little of both. Kings Dominion seems rely on younger employees than does BGW. Friday would be a school day for almost all high school age workers. I am sure the park might have had some college age folks available to work if their class schedules permit. I just don't think they have enough seasonal adult workers available to staff restaurants / food stands / gift shops on days like this past Friday / Monday. Busch seems to have a more mature workforce in those areas. Usually, keeping the younger folk to run the rides (usually more physical, stressful when checking restraints, dispatching, monitoring the folks in the station).
On the ugly side of things, if the park was scheduled to open just to rake in as much cash as they could, with minimum staffing, before closing for the season.
I am not making excuses for the park nor am I invalidating your experience. Sounds like you feel strongly enough to file a complaint with KD. Sorry you felt let down by the park and your disappointing visit on Friday.
Doll Factory. Pictures taken with parks permission.
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Does anyone know what time the shows start? We're headed up Saturday. My wife loves the shows, but flat out will not be in the the park once Haunt starts. She's the same way with HOS. I haven't been able to find any info on show schedules at all. Thanks for any help!
mtpelepele said:
The only show you could catch is the 1st showing of "Eternal Jamnation: Lost Souls" on a Saturday at 6:00 pm. Yes, some Haunt mazes open at 6:00 pm as well; but, they are self contained and you would not experience the Haunt stuff unless you went into one.
Unfortunately, all the other Haunt related shows don't start until after 7:00 pm. Course, that is when all the Haunt scare-zones in the park pathways are staffed.