I would only be okay with that if would mean a significant increase in the quality, quantity, and newness of the houses. KD used to build some of the most detailed, sophisticated haunted houses in the game, but their recent entries have fallen short. MonsterCon is imaginative but modestly designed, 21 was an abomination, and FEAR is a passable but obviously low-budget improvement over 21. Grimwoods is the last house that feels like it had the creativity, personnel, and budget to accomplish what they wanted to.
If upcharging is what’s necessary to get back to the pre-COVID levels of house design quality, I’d take it. But if we continue to get houses that are more like MonsterCon than, say, Blood on the Bayou, then an upcharge will be an unacceptable cash grab.
Similarly, the number of houses has been pared back considerably over the years. The FOF queue, the old Zombie High building behind Windseeker, Dodgem, and the antique cars all used to be house locations in addition to all the current house maze locations (except the old Dinosaurs Alive trail, which to the park’s credit they did add for GrimmWoods). On a slower night, you can now knock out all the houses in a couple of hours.
Finally, KD has long been slow to change out houses. We generally only get one new house a season, and we’ve had some recent seasons with no completely new houses. Some of the houses are simply stale. CornStalkers (if it returns) has literally existed through five different presidential terms. While I do prefer KD’s approach of “invest in quality houses that last” compared to BGW’s approach of “build garbage houses that we replace every few years,” they need to provide fresh reasons for people to come back to the event.
If charging extra for houses solves those problems, I’m game. If it’s more of the same, it’ll be a prime example of the Six Flags corporate overlords diminishing the experience of this wonderful park.
