So, here's a trip report from a different perspective. Those of you who believe nobody goes just because of entertainment may want to leave now, before your worldview is challenged! My wife doesn't do scares. She attended the very first year if Howl-o-scream, was scared once, and ran out of the park. Hasn't been back to a Halloween event during evening hours since. I'm not the same, I'll be returning for a more normal Haunt experience later. However, both she and I love the shows. We always go to Busch during the day to see them, but KD only shows them at night during Haunt. Well, this year, we looked at the map, looked at YouTube videos, and decided we'd give this a shot.
We arrived at the park around 5 on Sunday. Enough families were leaving that we got a fairly close parking spot. We immediately bought a "No Boo" necklace ($12) for her. She's an interesting use case. During Haunt, we actively avoided all houses, and all scare zones but Masquerade. Even that we were able to mostly go around. We headed down to Safari Village to look at the scenery in Uprising before everything started. Wow, I can't wait to head back up, because that looks like it could be a fantastic scare zone! We also got the wings at Chicken Shack, as that will likely be her last trip before Winterfest, so no more until next year. The honey barbeque wings are one of our favorite foods in the park, and one of my favorite wings anywhere. Whole wings, juicy, crispy, meaty, with a sweet sauce and a decent kick of heat. If you haven't tried them, they're a hidden gem.
From there, we headed to I-Street to grab a seat for Blood Reign. Blood Reign was ok, kinda cheesy, but worth one viewing. That had her only freak out moment, when all of the scare actors disperse through the crowd. She just wasn't expecting that, and it was just a lot really quickly. But that was over, some deep breaths, and on to Heads Will Roll. Huge cast, 21 on stage Sunday. Fun selections for songs, we liked their arrangement of Hungry Like the Wolf, and Ballroom Blitz was unexpected and appreciated. One of the highlights is the camping from the groups of entertainers on both sides of the stage. We were pleased to see a number of our favorite singers and dancers back from summer shows and Grand Carnivale.
After that, we skirted the tower on the west side, away from Masquerade, then went down center street towards Grove Stage. Grove stage is constructed of a couple of cargo containers, surrounded by signs, props,, and even the school bus from previous Haunts. Riff Raff was up first. Pretty straight forward show, just a five piece band ( I understand it's sometimes 6) playing Halloweenish hard rock. Feed My Frankenstein, Dr. Feelgood, etc. The guitarist and keyboards were your Teo stars from River City Ramblers (oddly enough, switching instruments from that show) who both were costumed as if they'd just discovered Hot Topic. Both are excellent performers. Add a good drummer, an excellent bassist, and a very good lead singer, and you had a quite enjoyable 21 minute show. The closing version of Bat Out of Hell had us return to see it again. Following that at Grove Stage was Ruckus. Ruckus is purely a dancing show. 14 or so ridiculously talented young women dancing to songs that sadly, I'm at an age where I had no clue what they were. Worth a watch if you're passing by, it's a relatively short act. Keep an eye out for the blonde in the fishnet top, she was just fun to watch. I've NEVER had that much energy. We stayed there for a second showing of Riff Raff, then headed back up to the Grande Bandstand for the last showing of Heads Will Roll before heading out.
A couple of thoughts. First, the "No Boo" necklace. We only experienced the fringe of Masquerade, but the necklace worked fine. Scare actors still interacted with my wife, but no fan scares or anything. They had no problem scaring others nearby.
Second, decor. Beyond the scare zones, KD does a nice job decorating for the season. I love all the wreaths they've been doing for different season the last couple years, and I particularly liked the Day of the Dead decor outside Border Burrito, and the fall foliage on the floral clock.
And in the area they could improve, food. So many of the Cedar Fair parks have Halloween event menus. Unleash Chef Denis!!
So, there you go. A trip report for a trip with someone who doesn't like scares, is terrified of coasters, and still goes to Kings Dominion and other parks regularly!
