Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt 2022

[warfelg]

And all of this backs up my suspicion that somehow, the park woefully misjudged how big the crowds would be on Sunday.

Sounds like a running theme TBH. Makes you wonder how they missed so badly. Was it, like you said, not realizing it’s a holiday (this is the tough one to buy) or a miscalculation on how many had Monday off.

But. In general it sounds like most haunts are miscalculating on the busy factor this year. Got to wonder how much having basically 100% of COVID restrictions lifted is impacting that.

 

[CoasterTalkBob]

Honestly, I think there's kind of an overreaction to a single day being really busy -- that's not to say that there aren't still a lot of valid points that are still applicable. While I don't go into mazes and houses because it's not my thing I do very much like going to parks *during* those times because I like the fog and the overall atmosphere and I've really never saw anything that was more busy than a corresponding (Fri, Sat, etc) day in July. The overall problem I think is that we're in an era where Haunts actually are July weekends because weather patterns are changing and they are just stupidly popular events and parks haven't fully adjusted to this mentality. I think it's also still very dependent on weather but now with far wider swings than in summer and as a result scheduling the proper amount of people can be a risk.

Basically, I think the bigger issue is in preparation more than it is in ticket price (not to say pricing sometimes does have to increase). These parks handle the crowds in July so the infrastructure is there -- it's just a matter of planning properly for it.

Sounds like a running theme TBH. Makes you wonder how they missed so badly. Was it, like you said, not realizing it’s a holiday (this is the tough one to buy) or a miscalculation on how many had Monday off.

I think this is the only explanation for Sunday night and, honestly, I think I get why they missed it -- everyone I talked to missed it (to include myself). I think the problem is that it's mostly an ignored holiday to the working class and the only people it matters to are mostly government (local/state/fed) and sectors that don't often work in a park's normal orbit. The problem is, all of the people that are affected by the holiday are "secretly" preparing to descend upon the parks on this day.

Honestly, I find it weird that I had no clue it was the day before Columbus day until I had been at the park for an hour or so. Maybe there just weren't enough Columbus Day mattress sales -- which now that I think more about it is probably exactly why I always knew it was nearing columbus day in previous years.

 

[rswashdc]

Columbus Day may be a trickier holiday to predict attendance against, particularly with it coming on a Monday. It’s not a day off for a lot of people, but is for schools and most gov offices.

 

[warfelg]

I’m sorry I can’t get on board that companies that use calendars to set scheduling simply missed something that’s a marked holiday.

I’m more willing to buy that people who would have gone last weekend waited due to the weather and the park forgot to factor that in. I can buy that using 2020/2021 data for projections throwing it off all season. Hell I can buy that they tried to combine a large group event with daily passes to make more money.

But people setting a schedule to not know there was a holiday? I find that tough to buy.

 

[mtorange]

The odd thing is that in past years, they have accounted for Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day by keeping Haunt open until midnight on that one Sunday. I want to say this happened in 2017 through 2019 but I don’t have a calendar to back this up. I find it interesting that they didn’t stay open until at least 11 this year.

 

[warfelg]

The odd thing is that in past years, they have accounted for Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day by keeping Haunt open until midnight on that one Sunday. I want to say this happened in 2017 through 2019 but I don’t have a calendar to back this up. I find it interesting that they didn’t stay open until at least 11 this year.

Kings Island was open until 11. Carowinds til midnight. Cedar Point until 10 like Kings Dominion. Dorney Park was open until 11.

So strange that the chain was all over the map.

 

[Zachary]

These parks handle the crowds in July so the infrastructure is there -- it's just a matter of planning properly for it.

Though Haunt attractions can make up some of the difference for sure, I doubt they can account for the total loss in park capacity caused by the lack of Planet Snoopy, Soak City, the dry park water rides, etc. Plus, staffing-availability-wise, fall weekends and July weekends are like night and day. Tons of employees have gone back to school, internationals have been sent home, October weekends are NOTORIOUS for call-outs, etc.

Haunt should not be the most popular time of the year for KD, but it very much feels like it is at this point. I've had station waits for i305 of many a July weekend. I've been met with full i305 queues on both my Haunt visits this year. I sincerely believe it's time to cut down on these crowds.

 

[warfelg]

Haunt should not be the most popular time of the year for KD, but it very much feels like it is at this point.

I will say though, this fits what Cedar Fair has been saying from pre-pandemic though of surveys showing people want more events than just rides. If that's true, then Haunt being more popular reflects how interactive events are draws.

Having never been at KD's Haunt, would park capacity be helped if they used Soak City for a Haunt zone and a house or two? What if they carved a path in the old Safari area for a Haunt only use area?

Effectively I'm thinking they decorate the whole park, then put Haunt stuff in those areas, use Soak City entrance as a gate for Haunt. Then they could easily do it as a separate ticketed event or uncharge event to get into. Now you are making both parts more tolerable by spreading crowds out more and can use better on demand pricing to not oversell tickets to either part.

 

[EdK]

Haunt should not be the most popular time of the year for KD,

Personally this is my favorite time of year to visit the parks with the cooler weather as I'm sure it is for many people. Since Haunt has limited hours and run time, I'm not at all surprised the park is packed when the weather is nice and it's a holiday weekend. I can see this being one of the most popular times of the year like 4th of July. It's just hard to properly staff at this time of year as mentioned in previous posts.

 

[bill s]

I was told once that Haunt pays operating costs for the whole year -- even if that source isn't official, it's probably true.

In fact, it’s [G&G] one of the only restaurants that regularly stays open past park close (closing up to 30 minutes after the park, in order to sell off any remaining cooked food). As far as I know, the only reason they’d close is if they literally ran out of food to sell.

Not my experience at all, they're open until earlier park closings, but often they close an hour before the park, when the bar closes. On Friday they closed at 10 (including the bar refusing a last-minute purchase). I don't know when they closed Sunday but I wouldn't be surprised if it was planned at 9 because they seemingly had no idea the crowds would be like that. If the bar is open and the restaurant is not, THEN they ran out of food!

 

[Jonesta6]

the only people it matters to are mostly government (local/state/fed) and sectors that don't often work in a park's normal orbit.

State employees only get the day as a floating holiday - basically some may choose to use it as-is but I think most just count it towards their regular vacation balance.

Given that there's likely far more state employees close to the park over federal, I'm guessing it's more likely to be related to local municipalities.

Anyways, it's only a few weeks from Halloween, so I'd expect the crowds to pick up if anything

 

[warfelg]

I was told once that Haunt pays operating costs for the whole year -- even if that source isn't official, it's probably true.

I have some doubts on this.

 

[bill s]

I have some doubts on this.

Probably includes season's pass sales, cheating.

 

[EdK]

I would be surprised if they don't have some type of modeling to predict the crowd sizes on certain days. Maybe Haunt doesn't have enough days for accurate predictions based on weather and holidays. Seems for really busy days they could offer bonuses or higher rates so they can fully staff the event.

 

[Crunchewy]

According to KDfanatics on instagram, the park is expecting big crowds this weekend. In fact they cancelled some planned flash mob event because of the expected crowds. I wonder what goes into that determination in this case? Maybe just weather.

 

[wickluvshaunt<3]

Clint Novak is posting throwback kd haunt vids on youtube. He posted the 2010 overlord resurrection and a walkthrough of toxic plague, im assuming he’s going to continue posting more throwbacks based on the way he posted them. Just wanted to let y’all know because i know i was excited when I saw such an old vid of haunt get posted.

 

[outhikn]

And all of this backs up my suspicion that somehow, the park woefully misjudged how big the crowds would be on Sunday.

I agree as well in how the park likely misjudged Sunday's crowds.

Talking with various supervisors, Saturday's attendance was apparently around 26k. And on Sunday (when I asked that evening) they were expecting around 18k.

However in going to Haunt all three days this past weekend, Sunday's crowds were almost just as big as Saturday's.

So I really think they underestimated Sunday's crowds, especially for the restaurants; where at Outpost that evening, shortly before 7pm, it seemed the only entree item - aside from a few random shrimp skewers - they were able to prepare and serve for the 20+ minutes I waited in-line, was the sausage.

Needless to say, most people were not thrilled by sausage being their only option. But after waiting that long, they begrudgingly took it. Fortunately for me, sausage is what I wanted... but I of course did not want that long of a wait, as I would have expected the restaurant to be better prepared for that prime 7pm dinnertime slot.

 

[Crunchewy]

If they just do a better job of estimating the crowd levels and having appropriate staffing, the issue will go away without needing to charge for the event separately. Not that it won't be crowded with long lines some days, especially Saturdays, but they'll be able to handle the crowds better and you'll have a better experience. Still should pick your days wisely if you want smaller crowds, like any day of the year and any event or non-event.

 

[phurst]

Went back on Friday night, and had a great time! I can't really fault the park for being unprepared last Sunday, since I was obviously unaware as well. Crowds were minimal, had no problem experiencing all the houses and scare zones in the 4 hours I was there.

The atmosphere absolutely puts BG to shame. Every corner of the park was at least hazy, if not heavily fogged (to be fair, the weather was ideal for fog), there were absolute loads of scare actors in all areas. I stopped twice at The Parched Pig to have a beer and watch the actors. Several times they chases people THROUGH the bar which was highly amusing.

21 was probably my least favorite house of the night, and it was absolutely on-par with Nevermore which was my favorite BG maze.

All the employees I interacted with were friendly and helpful, and I even had a prolonged chat with a group of high-school kids in front of me in line for No Vacancy who were well behaved and polite. Now I understand that light crowds, helpful employees and polite guests aren't necessarily the norm, but everything was really great on my 2nd go round. I still have a preference for BG overall, but at least I no longer regret picking up a KD pass again.

 

[Crunchewy]

Crowds were large yesterday and we really didn't get to do too much, though we we didn't get there until something like 4 PM. Part of it seemed to be due to Sheehy (car dealerships) having a friends and family day. They were everywhere. A big part of it was mind-blowingly terrible operations on Twisted Timbers that wasted a huge amount of our time. I've never seen worse operations on a coaster anywhere else. Other operations we experience were totally fine, though, even good. Twisted was a mess when we rode it, especially once it started raining and they had to take one train off. Also everything shut down when the rain got heavier and also I think, but am not sure, we saw lighting and heard thunder. It wasn't entirely clear, but then they shut Tumbili down shortly before we witnessed that. We were in line and 3 away from ride it. At that point we left and on the way home the rain only got heavier, so I can't imagine they opened anything back up.