Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt 2023

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For what it’s worth, when you try to buy a Fright Lane pass on the park’s website, it states that it works for 6 mazes. Five of them are listed on the park’s website: GrimmWoods, Trick or Treat, Blood on the Bayou, Cornstalkers, and Condemned. So now these five are confirmed to return!

I assume that the sixth maze would be the yet to be announced replacement for 21 (which I guess this confirms 21 is gone, too!).
 
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wickluvshaunt<3 said:
Not that repeat houses from other CF parks are bad but I kind of just want something original.
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Sorry for the double post!

Fun fact: Blood on the Bayou and Trick or Treat are also mazes that debuted at another park before coming to Kings Dominion. Both houses are vastly different than their counterparts. Many maze ideas within Cedar Fair begin at Knott’s before spreading to other parks in the chain.

Cornstalkers might be one, too? I’m not 100% sure on that one, though. Can’t remember if KD used that name first and then other parks used it, or vice versa.

What I do know is that Pumpkin Eater was also a maze at another park (Knott’s) before becoming scare zones at both KD and KI.

We get a fair number of original ideas, such as GrimmWoods, No Vacancy, and Cleaver Brother’s Carnival. In fact, our original Cleaver area has been so successful that I believe other parks started implementing versions of their own.
 
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mtorange said:
Sorry for the double post!

Fun fact: Blood on the Bayou and Trick or Treat are also mazes that debuted at another park before coming to Kings Dominion. Both houses are vastly different than their counterparts. Many maze ideas within Cedar Fair begin at Knott’s before spreading to other parks in the chain.

Cornstalkers might be one, too? I’m not 100% sure on that one, though. Can’t remember if KD used that name first and then other parks used it, or vice versa.

What I do know is that Pumpkin Eater was also a maze at another park (Knott’s) before becoming scare zones at both KD and KI.

We get a fair number of original ideas, such as GrimmWoods, No Vacancy, and Cleaver Brother’s Carnival. In fact, our original Cleaver area has been so successful that I believe other parks started implementing versions of their own.
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California's Great America, Cedar Point, and Kings Dominion had their own versions of Feary Tales at their Halloween Haunt. The concept for the attraction of the same name originally came from Knott's Scary Farm. It's the same thing with Mother Noose. It was featured at Halloween Haunt at Canada's Wonderland. It originally debuted at Knott's Scary Farm in the midst of the 1990s. The concept of GrimmWoods sounds similar to Scary Tales from SCarowinds. Both of those ideas involve scary fairy tales in a haunted forest.
 
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aceistheplace said:
I'd love to see a version of Wax Works at KD! I think one of the old Haunt designers Steve (Not sure if he still works there) said he'd love to build one.
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i remember him saying that, i’d still like to see it happen although it’s not so original considering KI has or had (i’m not sure if it’s still there) Madame Tuso’s (i most likely butchered the spelling of the name) which was a wax museum themed house.
 
Wait wait … so this year’s event is costing the price of an extra ticket and they have cut like over half the entertainment? Don’t get me wrong I love the houses but they are also falling apart these days (@trick or treat), but not having the barker in Cleaver purely because of budget cuts is insane to me. & riff raff.
 
enbyghost said:
Wait wait … so this year’s event is costing the price of an extra ticket and they have cut like over half the entertainment? Don’t get me wrong I love the houses but they are also falling apart these days (@trick or treat), but not having the barker in Cleaver purely because of budget cuts is insane to me. & riff raff.
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I highly doubt that the barker being cut was due to budget cuts since he was a one-man show. My guess is that the actor is doing something else this fall that doesn’t allow him to return to the park.

I know I have the minority opinion here, but out of all the three shows that would play in Cleaver, this one fit the atmosphere the most.

I’m also very happy (and a bit surprised) that they’re not cutting any mazes without replacing them during a big budget cut year.

Regarding scare zones, it looks like KDFanatics is posting about a returning scare zones each night at midnight. So far, they claim that Pumpkin Eater, Cleaver, and Masquerade are all returning! I know it’s a fan page, so take with a grain of salt, but they don’t usually post things like that unless they know something. I’d love to see Masquerade gets a major update this year.
 
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I’m pretty sure this was asked before, but I’ll ask again in case the mood has changed, what day are we thinking we’ll get stuff revealed? I’m personally thinking September 8th
 
Theoneandonlyteddy said:
I’m pretty sure this was asked before, but I’ll ask again in case the mood has changed, what day are we thinking we’ll get stuff revealed? I’m personally thinking September 8th
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Historically, KD has been (one of) the last of the Cedar Fair parks to announce their lineup. I’m not sure why this is, but it has just been the case for the last few years, at least since 2019. Because Dorney Park is waiting until the 7th to announce their new maze tied to Iron Menace, I don’t have any hope that an official lineup will be revealed for us before then.

However, we should hopefully know most (if not all) of the scare zone lineup by Friday, even if the website doesn’t reveal anything. Usually, the week before Labor Day weekend is a big one for Haunt setup, so we could see structures in most areas on Friday, such as Candy Apple Grove (Cleaver), Center Walkway (Uprising), the Eiffel Tower (Masquerade), Old Virginia (Pumpkin Eater), and Jungle X-Pedition (Site X), if the scare zone lineup isn’t touched.
 
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mtorange said:
I highly doubt that the barker being cut was due to budget cuts since he was a one-man show. My guess is that the actor is doing something else this fall that doesn’t allow him to return to the park.

I know I have the minority opinion here, but out of all the three shows that would play in Cleaver, this one fit the atmosphere the most.

I’m also very happy (and a bit surprised) that they’re not cutting any mazes without replacing them during a big budget cut year.

Regarding scare zones, it looks like KDFanatics is posting about a returning scare zones each night at midnight. So far, they claim that Pumpkin Eater, Cleaver, and Masquerade are all returning! I know it’s a fan page, so take with a grain of salt, but they don’t usually post things like that unless they know something. I’d love to see Masquerade gets a major update this year.
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We talked to him via Instagram… he said he was ready to work at KD this Haunt and they told him his show would not be returning due to budgets. Nor would he be asked back to write/direct Blood Reign as he has for the past 3 years. Something weird going on higher up maybe.
 
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If this is a "budget cut year" for Haunt—not only in the new attractions department but also just in the selection of returning attractions—I do feel like that is a massive, massive red flag. Again, on the year you reconfigure your event to be more expensive, you very much should not also slash offerings. Haunt has been in a holding pattern for years but this is shaping up to be the most disappointing yet if the rumors are to be believed. 🙁
 
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Zachary said:
If this is a "budget cut year" for Haunt—not only in the new attractions department but also just in the selection of returning attractions—I do feel like that is a massive, massive red flag. Again, on the year you reconfigure your event to be more expensive, you very much should not also slash offerings. Haunt has been in a holding pattern for years but this is shaping up to be the most disappointing yet if the rumors are to be believed. 🙁
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It really sucks because it seems that these cuts are chainwide. Out of the few CF parks that have announced lineups, there seems to be nothing new outside of Knott’s Scary Farm. My guess is that the decision to make Haunt a standalone event was made either before the budget cuts, or BECAUSE of the budget cuts. Not sure which one.

Have there been any rumors on the scare zone front? I haven’t heard anything, myself.
 
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The change to split the events and longer hours can be seen as an impressive commitment, but with the popularity should be to their financial advantage, except maybe the late night hours Sundays. Those and the earlier opening on Fridays make it more consistent.

One thing I noticed last year walking in around 7 on Sundays was more people leaving than coming in, not really a good look as well as affecting the Haunt. My initial response to the seperate event is that these people could have left earlier and avoided Haunt fully, but they wanted to stay longer, and will now be made to leave (or recycle) at 5. Now I realize that's a huge a win for Haunt. Then when I saw it will reopen at 6, well that's always before dark which sucks, but that's just the gates. Full kickoff at 7 probably.
 
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An aside, but the Fall ACE event at KD will have ERT during the waiting period between the afternoon session and Haunt. Just thought that was interesting. I'd rather it had ERT when it was dark, but I understand why they did it this way.
 
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mtorange said:
The Halloween Haunt lineup will be announced Wednesday! Though, I imagine we’ll find out some stuff today when the park opens…

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Hoping since they’re hyping it up to be a big announcement, that it’ll be something bigger than just an upgraded 21?
 
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Theoneandonlyteddy said:
Hoping since they’re hyping it up to be a big announcement, that it’ll be something bigger than just an upgraded 21?
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So I’m not at the park to get pictures, but someone told me that they spotted Masquerade chandeliers in the plant arbor near Old Virginia… can someone confirm this for me?

Wild if true.
 
KDFanatics will be posting all of the Haunt updates on their page today. They hint at a possible replacement or rename for Cornstalkers!

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Hoping they have picture proof of the moved chandeliers… Who would’ve thought they’d move Masquerade from the tower? Or do y’all think there’s a different zone coming to that area that’s using the Masquerade props (similar to how Uprising uses all of the Necropolis/Center Stalkway props)?
 
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