Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt presented by SNICKERS® 2025

[mtorange]

My quick thoughts on Haunt this year in no particular order.

1. Mazes: I still hate the fact that we have to pay for these, but I think the park did a decent job on the upgrades. The two that stood out for me were MonsterCon’s entire front section being redone, and FEAR’s projections in the last room looking a bit too realistic for me.

2. The Overlord is back! He was super popular before the Queen came, so I’m happy to see him return. However, I wish they had made it a huge spectacle like they did when the Queen arrived in 2019. Budget cuts likely to blame here.

3. I was confused by the lantern and all it could do this year. I heard that it is supposed to do a lot more this year, but the QR code seems to link back to last year’s map. Very odd.

4. Catacombs is odd, but a fun time!

Overall, I’m happy that KD was able to make the most out of a pretty bad news cycle. I’m sure there will be more to come as the season goes on.

 

[netdvn]

The mazes are included if you have a Diamond, Diamond Elite or Diamond VIP pass. I asked about it at guest services, they scanned my pass and gave me my wristband with no questions asked. Normal prestige passes still have to pay.

The lines weren't any longer or shorter than a normal haunt night with the upcharge mazes. I figured fewer people would be inclined to pay, but I guess at that $10 price point, people wouldn't really mind dropping money.

The mazes were overall pretty solid and pretty well-staffed all thing considered. The actors are a bit more high energy than I'm used to, even in the scare zones. It definitely made some of the more tired mazes feel fresh again.

The park should add more props to the entrance plaza again. It feels a bit more bare bones than in the past.

Grimms Woods was the worst of the mazes. They definitely struggled with both a lack of staff and the longest wait in the park. Either replace it and reopen Grizzly or hire more staff. The rest of them were pretty solid.

Cornstalkers has great actors this year. I wouldn't cry if it was replaced soon but knowing KD, they'll run this one into the ground

Trick or Treat has some of my favorite set design but the staffing seemed a bit light this year.

Blood was solid. Just suffers from it's usual short length and the stuffiness inside. I don't remember seeing the elaborate facade outside in the past.

Fear wasn't as good as it was last year but it was alright for what it was.

Monstercon was firing on all cylinders tonight. Great staff and fun set design.

Scare zones were really solid. I just think its time for them to change out the older ones for newer ones. I get that Carn-evil is an easy theme to do and people find clowns scary, but that scare zone has been around forever and I think it should be replaced with something else.

The new Catacombs scare zone was pretty fun. I enjoyed it a lot.

There is so much more fog here than at BGW. BGW definitely needs to add more fog machines. This is how you do fog at a haunt event.

I love that both VA parks have solid haunt events again. They seemed like they were getting weaker for a time but they've improved overall from previous years

 

[Mike541x]

The park should add more props to the entrance plaza again. It feels a bit more bare bones than in the past. It definitely made some of the more tired mazes feel fresh again.

This has been a noticeable let down for me. I miss when the park put decorations on entrance gates. Honestly, other than the scare zones and certain parts of the park, the decorations in general seem to be lacking more and more each year.

There is so much more fog here than at BGW. BGW definitely needs to add more fog machines. This is how you do fog at a haunt event.

I agree with this. I haven't been to HOS this year, but I remember the fog not being as much as Haunt. I can't elaborate how much fog makes a difference in Halloween events, and KD seem to deliver in that department. There was plenty of it last night.

 

[SweetBabyJames]

This has been a noticeable let down for me. I miss when the park put decorations on entrance gates. Honestly, other than the scare zones and certain parts of the park, the decorations in general seem to be lacking more and more each year.

I agree with this. I haven't been to HOS this year, but I remember the fog not being as much as Haunt. I can't elaborate how much fog makes a difference in Halloween events, and KD seem to deliver in that department. There was plenty of it last night.
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I just want to say, I love Kings Dominion. Even with all the corporate changes and lay offs that happened, this park is holding its own. My most recent visit this August was just as good, if not better than my visit in April because more rides were open including Pantherian and the Eiffel Tower. Bummed I cannot make it down to see HAUNT in person but these pics of the park look stellar.

 

[RollyCoaster]

Ahhh, yes, more pricing drama. This time, good and ugly.

The good: Currently, every single haunt night is $10 for maze access. Every night, including some Saturdays that were previously $35, are $10. This is good! (Not as good as free, but good)

The bad: The park is basically saying fuck you to everyone who already bought all season maze access at $69. (This is very ugly)

 

[Mushroom]

Ah, those $35 haunt passes weren’t selling like they expected them to, eh? Good. Fuck ‘em.

I hope they’re losing a fortune on food and alcohol sales during the event too.

I do feel for the folks who bought the all-season pass because they ran the numbers and it seemed like a good deal for the number of times they planned to visit Haunt. This totally screws the calculation. I felt a similar way when I paid the $100 for the all-park add-on and like a week later they completely devalued it by announcing that renewing your pass would get you all the parks for free.

 

[paintervision]

Currently, every single haunt night is $10 for maze access. Every night, including some Saturdays that were previously $35, are $10. This is good! (Not as good as free, but good)

It looks like they did this at Dorney Park too, they are all showing at $10. The Express pass also seems to have come down in price, now is $29-39 for most nights.

At $10 I don't think this is terrible but it does open the door to price hikes in future years. Or charging more for a year with one or two new houses (Dorney has had the same house lineup since 2023).

 

[Great Adventurer]

$10 is reasonable and I'm glad they implemented it across the board. I know last weekend was the first time Dorney charged more than $10 (I'd imagine the timeline was similar for KD), so there may well have been some pretty major blowback. Express pass prices still seem to vary between Fridays and weekends, so they can still try and make some bank on those.

This looks to be a company-wide thing too - Great Adventure's previous $35-$55 range is now standardized at $35 every night of FF.

Really does stink for those who purchased the season add-ons for legacy CF parks. I think making those eligible for express wristbands would be a fair way to compensate the buyers (of course, that would also make things tricky for parks like KI that also sold season-long express passes from the beginning).