All indoor houses except Blackout always open at 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Halloween Haunt
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All indoor houses except Blackout always open at 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Yesterday was such a weird day. So I don't go to KD often, and I've really only been for Haunt. But I am aware of their staffing issues, and I understand the problem. But yesterday was a nightmare. There was no place to really just get water, besides either waiting in god awful restaurant lines or just going to a drinking fountain. And while I would never consider myself above the drinking fountain, personally its always a shot in the dark about the water if its cold or if it has enough pressure for you to even get a drink. I understood closing the one drink stand during the day, despite there being a fan there the yellow jackets were AWFUL. But I thought "once it's dark and the yellow jackets go away, they'll open up." Nope. Stayed closed the rest of the night. It was so hot and so humid it was miserable.
As for the houses I don't know what I can honestly say about them.
We opened Zombie High. Which was my favorite house last year. It had 5 actors in it at opening. We went back later that night in hopes that more actors showed up, but instead we got 90 degree heat inside, and 3 actors inside. As we exited 2 actors were coming back from break. Like I would have been more than happy to walk through an empty maze... with the lights on. Why isn't there AC in the building? If there is, why wasn't it turned on last night. It was dangerously hot in there. Yes they're in the dark, but there's no air flow, they're likely wearing a couple of layers of clothes not to mention their makeup. It wasn't safe for anyone to be in that house last night. The heat was the scariest thing in there. Also a side note, idk if it was just my eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness or what but this house was darker than Blackout. Walking through it again later it did seem a tiny bit brighter but not by much at all. It was super dark. I ran into some stuff.
Of course after Zombie High we hit up Blood on the Bayou. Which had maybe 6 actors in it. The group in front of me got lost. They tried to go through a wall instead of the obvious hanging pin dolls. I had one startle in the house. I thought last year the house was very pretty, but this year... I didn't understand why half way through the house we were suddenly in Slaughterhouse??????? for like a quarter of the maze we were walking through the butcher shop, and that really just didn't make any sense to me. either be Slaughterhouse or be a voodoo based house. Both does not work. Went back again later to do this house, it was also insanely hot.
We then hit up Trick or Treat. I wasn't concerned about the lack of actors in the house at this point. Because I knew most of them would be character acting rather than scaring. It had more actors than BotB and ZH, and I think I got a startle in it. But again the people in front got lost. Except this time I realized what was happening because I used the ball gagged guy in a chair as a reference point. Thank you bright red ball gag, you were the light at the end of the tunnel. Again the house is very pretty, but not very scary. I just really like walking through that house to just look at everything.
After that we didNo Vacancy Condemned. Yeah I'm calling it Condemned bc thats what the employees were calling it. fight me @Zachary . This was honestly the best house of the night for me. It was fairly well staffed. There were obvious dead zones that should of had actors, but I didn't mind because the actors that were in there were very interactive. The groom wanted me to pass on a message to the bride. He was very fun. I actually didn't mind the flash lights at all like I thought I would. and I also wasn't as concerned about blinding the actors, because for science I tested the flashlight in my own eyes. They basically took the lense out and painted it with watery dark paint, which dims the light. Of course getting flashlights in the eyes all night would be very annoying. But at least I knew they didn't have to suffer with it. Also it had one of the best use of the balloon walls I have ever seen. and god I hope they keep doing that instead of what the balloon walls normally are, because damn that was good. I enjoyed that a lot. because I did not want to walk through balloons after sweating as much as I was. That's. D i s g u s t i n g. Also this was the house where the people in front of us had two kids, and the parents kept telling them to stop or slow down bc they didn't want to catch up to the group in front of us. And y'know that's fine, but stop stopping. You have to keep moving. Walk slow. But don't stop. It's pointless to stop. It doesn't help your case except now you're the reason the house is stacking.
Once we finished up there we were heading over to either Blackout or Lockdown, but we decided to hop in line for Tollway Terror instead. The line didn't look super bad. It was the longest wait of the night, but thats to be expected with such an attraction. It did nothing. It was suffering from the lack of cast like every where else. A shame really. Because when this works. It really works. but not last night.
After Tollway we headed to Cornstalkers. This house finally seemed to get its act together, or at least it was trying to. Like I've enjoyed it every year I've gone through it, but I've never had like a good run through of the house. I still haven't, but it seemed to have fixed its stacking issue. Or at least it had last night. It was prolly the second most staffed house. And I did not like the silos being pitch black, bc I def ran into several 2 x 4 with my shoulder while trying to follow the walls. and i apologize to Jefferey the spider. I'm sorry I called you Lucas. But Lucas is a better name.
With two houses left we finally headed to Blackout, which I don't like this house. I didn't like it last year. I don't think I will ever like this house. Its a house that in theory is great, but execution it doesn't work. Of course there was a lack of actors in the house. But only the first third of the house was even dark enough to get the scares anyways. Also some random asshole behind me grabbed my hip. Most of the screaming in the house came from other guests accidentally doing something to the people around them. Still did not like a random man grabbing my hip. Still very angry about it. and still want to fight him over it.
Finally it was time for Lockdown. I did three run throughs of the house last year, and each time was terrible due to stacking. But this year, there was no stacking. But there wasn't a cast either. At least it had air conditioning. After yet again, people took the wrong turn. Instead of going to the obvious next walk way they ended up turning to try to walk through a hiding spot. :/
Overall, like everyone else has said, it was a terrible time. Like truly this was some BGW level shit happening. I would like to try and go again and hopefully get better run throughs of the houses. but I doubt I'll be able to. ):
As for the houses I don't know what I can honestly say about them.
We opened Zombie High. Which was my favorite house last year. It had 5 actors in it at opening. We went back later that night in hopes that more actors showed up, but instead we got 90 degree heat inside, and 3 actors inside. As we exited 2 actors were coming back from break. Like I would have been more than happy to walk through an empty maze... with the lights on. Why isn't there AC in the building? If there is, why wasn't it turned on last night. It was dangerously hot in there. Yes they're in the dark, but there's no air flow, they're likely wearing a couple of layers of clothes not to mention their makeup. It wasn't safe for anyone to be in that house last night. The heat was the scariest thing in there. Also a side note, idk if it was just my eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness or what but this house was darker than Blackout. Walking through it again later it did seem a tiny bit brighter but not by much at all. It was super dark. I ran into some stuff.
Of course after Zombie High we hit up Blood on the Bayou. Which had maybe 6 actors in it. The group in front of me got lost. They tried to go through a wall instead of the obvious hanging pin dolls. I had one startle in the house. I thought last year the house was very pretty, but this year... I didn't understand why half way through the house we were suddenly in Slaughterhouse??????? for like a quarter of the maze we were walking through the butcher shop, and that really just didn't make any sense to me. either be Slaughterhouse or be a voodoo based house. Both does not work. Went back again later to do this house, it was also insanely hot.
We then hit up Trick or Treat. I wasn't concerned about the lack of actors in the house at this point. Because I knew most of them would be character acting rather than scaring. It had more actors than BotB and ZH, and I think I got a startle in it. But again the people in front got lost. Except this time I realized what was happening because I used the ball gagged guy in a chair as a reference point. Thank you bright red ball gag, you were the light at the end of the tunnel. Again the house is very pretty, but not very scary. I just really like walking through that house to just look at everything.
After that we did
Once we finished up there we were heading over to either Blackout or Lockdown, but we decided to hop in line for Tollway Terror instead. The line didn't look super bad. It was the longest wait of the night, but thats to be expected with such an attraction. It did nothing. It was suffering from the lack of cast like every where else. A shame really. Because when this works. It really works. but not last night.
After Tollway we headed to Cornstalkers. This house finally seemed to get its act together, or at least it was trying to. Like I've enjoyed it every year I've gone through it, but I've never had like a good run through of the house. I still haven't, but it seemed to have fixed its stacking issue. Or at least it had last night. It was prolly the second most staffed house. And I did not like the silos being pitch black, bc I def ran into several 2 x 4 with my shoulder while trying to follow the walls. and i apologize to Jefferey the spider. I'm sorry I called you Lucas. But Lucas is a better name.
With two houses left we finally headed to Blackout, which I don't like this house. I didn't like it last year. I don't think I will ever like this house. Its a house that in theory is great, but execution it doesn't work. Of course there was a lack of actors in the house. But only the first third of the house was even dark enough to get the scares anyways. Also some random asshole behind me grabbed my hip. Most of the screaming in the house came from other guests accidentally doing something to the people around them. Still did not like a random man grabbing my hip. Still very angry about it. and still want to fight him over it.
Finally it was time for Lockdown. I did three run throughs of the house last year, and each time was terrible due to stacking. But this year, there was no stacking. But there wasn't a cast either. At least it had air conditioning. After yet again, people took the wrong turn. Instead of going to the obvious next walk way they ended up turning to try to walk through a hiding spot. :/
Overall, like everyone else has said, it was a terrible time. Like truly this was some BGW level shit happening. I would like to try and go again and hopefully get better run throughs of the houses. but I doubt I'll be able to. ):
Damn what the hell happened? Opening weekend people were here were saying it was INCREDIBLE. Like HHN level. Did the staff quit as the weeks went on? Did they get lazy. Because normally by now it should be "better" as everyone says. Like I dont even know if I wanna go now. I just came home from Howl-O-Scream last night
I think it might have been because it was a Sunday open until midnight, these people have other lives outside the park. Working in ungodly hot mazes until after midnight, then taking all your makeup off and your costumes, you still gotta drive home and try to rest before work/school the next day since certainly not everyone had off Monday.
Idk if it's historically been like this the Sunday before Columbus day. I've never been on a Sunday before in general. But it was bad.
Also I forgot to mention in my post, the park was really crowded people were everywhere on the paths. but like... there was nobody in line for houses. I think the most we waited for any house was 20 minutes. Zombie High was basically walk on.
Idk if it's historically been like this the Sunday before Columbus day. I've never been on a Sunday before in general. But it was bad.
Also I forgot to mention in my post, the park was really crowded people were everywhere on the paths. but like... there was nobody in line for houses. I think the most we waited for any house was 20 minutes. Zombie High was basically walk on.
On Saturday, I noticed that there is a fairly large yellow jacket nest behind the awning on the Chick Fil A building. You can see it from the inside, on the left side of the dining area.
Looks as if KD may be trying to address their staffing issues:
I've seen the bees several times and each time picture Tommy Boy and his "millions of bees" line.... the bees should be much better by this Saturday when (as of current forecast) the lows should get down into the 40s later in the night.
I heard that Zombie High and Blood on the Bayou closed early on Sunday night because of the heat (if someone could actually confirm this, that'd be great). Blood on the Bayou especially is a REALLY hot maze, and I couldn't imagine acting in there for six hours on a night where it is in the higher 70s. The park really should invest in some AC units for some of the mazes.
We left at roughly 10:30, at a little after 10 they were both still open (our second walk through). I can easily see them closing both mazes early. Neither had any real line, Zombie High being a walk right on in, and the heat was unbearable to be in for 5 minutes. I can't imagine having to work in those conditions.
I believe that International Street opens at 6:30pm on Fridays so that people can gather around for the Overlord's Resurrection that starts right at 7pm! The rest of the park opens right at 7.
i'm headed to kings dominion tomorrow morning & staying for the haunt... hopefully it will be a good time.
Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion placed SECOND place in the USA Today Best Theme Park Halloween Event poll! GREAT JOB!!!!! Well-deserved!
https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-halloween-event/
https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-halloween-event/
They took out Fright Dome! Rigged Election. Very Sad!
I was there on Friday night. Here is my overall review of the mazes
Condemned: I really enjoyed the edition of using flashlights, makes the maze challenging. Really love how they redid the sets however the claustrophobia hallway wasn’t working.
Zombie High: Not much to say about this one, still the same with the addition of a projection in the clinic part.
Blood on the Bayou: This was my second favorite maze. The actors really did good on giving me jump scares. The whole set and story was Amazing.
Trick or Treat: Again not much to say about it rather than the impressive sets.
Lockdown: This one is my top favorite Maze. Great actors, great sets, the ending of this maze always gets me with the execution chair.
Blackout: this maze was straight out confusing. I mean there’s some rooms with a little bit of light, but I kept bumping into some walls and one of the actors accidentally touched me and didn’t even say sorry.
Corn Stalkers: I got to be honest. I hated this maze. The longest maze I’ve ever experienced in my life. Not only that, I had some really annoying people in front of me who would keep stopping because they were acting so F***ing scared. Thought I would never get out of there. I sure hope this is the last season for this one.
Tollway Terror: Didn’t go on this because of the hour of a wait.
As for the scarezones, almost all of them had sliders except for the lair and ironworkx.
Overall I really enjoyed myself and I’m always looking forward to next years Haunt.
Condemned: I really enjoyed the edition of using flashlights, makes the maze challenging. Really love how they redid the sets however the claustrophobia hallway wasn’t working.
Zombie High: Not much to say about this one, still the same with the addition of a projection in the clinic part.
Blood on the Bayou: This was my second favorite maze. The actors really did good on giving me jump scares. The whole set and story was Amazing.
Trick or Treat: Again not much to say about it rather than the impressive sets.
Lockdown: This one is my top favorite Maze. Great actors, great sets, the ending of this maze always gets me with the execution chair.
Blackout: this maze was straight out confusing. I mean there’s some rooms with a little bit of light, but I kept bumping into some walls and one of the actors accidentally touched me and didn’t even say sorry.
Corn Stalkers: I got to be honest. I hated this maze. The longest maze I’ve ever experienced in my life. Not only that, I had some really annoying people in front of me who would keep stopping because they were acting so F***ing scared. Thought I would never get out of there. I sure hope this is the last season for this one.
Tollway Terror: Didn’t go on this because of the hour of a wait.
As for the scarezones, almost all of them had sliders except for the lair and ironworkx.
Overall I really enjoyed myself and I’m always looking forward to next years Haunt.