Fear Tiers – Cedar Point’s Halloweekends 2024 Reviewed (by former Screamsters) 

Halloween23 is a set of Video, Photo, and/or textual analysis of Haunted events put together by industry professionals. You do not have to share the same opinions as us. We just thought it would be fun to break things down from the perspective of the people who put these events together for a living.

So, sadly, we didn’t get through everything our first go around at the ‘Point this year – but here’s our “Part 1” review of what we did get to experience!

Mazes

• Midnight – This house had quite a few room changes from last season, and I must say, it was very well done and brought the house together. I remember working this last year and kinda thinking “I have no idea how this goes with the theme”….but I guess when the theme is just all the fears, terrors, and horrors living within Mr.Midnight’s residence/Book of the Dark, anything creepy is on theme. As I said, they did do very well with the update, and it does feel a lot more like a home, and then venturing into the “Book of the Dark”. I’m going to give it a 9/10 because I know (from experience) they’re missing some key scares, and there was a little bit of emptiness with some rooms that I feel like need to be the focus to fill if that assigned actor isn’t there that night.
• SlaughterHouse – Another house that received an upgrade right off the bat. I feel like this is the first major change I remember seeing in this house since it opened circa 2015, and it was also well done – instead of starting off with empty halls getting into the “backrooms” of the meat packaging plant, you kick it off in a restaurant-esq area with diner style waitresses badgering you. I don’t want to give it all away, but there was also a new finale that brought the house up in the rankings as well. the only downside (but I almost didn’t mind because how fun the other upgrades were) was they get rid of the airbag hall (or it was off the night we went) – which was these two, basically bouncy house material walls, that inflated together and you had to push your way through. I think the industry term is actually a “claustrophobia” hall/effect. anyway, I’d give this one a 10/10. (Scott Ranking – 8/10)

Scare Zones

• Clownz: Hall of Infamy Tour (NEW/Revamped for 2024) – This was a “Part 2” to the new for 2023 “Clownz Death Metal Tour” zone. It had good theming and good costumes/actors/props AND a live band playing in the zone from time to time, but there was a major lack of screamsters in the zone, so, we’ll give it a even 5/10 and see if it improves for part 2!
• Blood on the Bayou: Into the Fog – Nah. I’ll be generous and give it a 3/10 because it did have some good pop scares sending the people in front of us running, BUT, the zone was placed on the entirety of the old Forbidden Frontier island, so it was like over 5 minutes to walk through, and it had two lanes (one going in and one coming out – because there was only one entrance/exit, so you had to kinda walk back through what you just did in a way) – so it was constantly dodging the other line of people in the first half, then an extremely long walk through a lot of decor/water oriented facades built for the Forbidden Frontier adventure (so there were basically a bunch of dead zones where there couldn’t be any actors) – I will say, some of the props etc. they brought in to theme the area were awesome, and overall I think it was a cool theme/Idea to see the old adventure island overrun, then making that a haunted attraction – as well as a call back of sorts to Terror Island – I just think they need to re-evaluate how they’re doing it. like I said, It’s an awesome concept of the Adventure Island inhabitants turned evil because of a toxic fog, but it just wasn’t well executed. (Scott Ranking – 0/10)
• Cut Throat Cove – This one has always been a banger. I wasn’t always all in for the theme of Pirates, I enjoy the life-sized sea monsters better, but regardless, this zone has always packed the props, pop scares, timing, and actors in like any other, and was a lot of fun to work in the one year I did. I just wish they didn’t close at 11pm some nights, because occasionally it’s hard to get back there till later. 9/10 ranking – Fill in the back with actors a little more like you did the front. (Scott Ranking – 8/10)
• Tombstone Terror-Tory: Doc McCoffer’s Evil Elixirs (NEW/Revamped for 2024) – I didn’t see a whole lot of changes for this advertised revamp as compared to when we worked it, but it is still well done. I think they fog it out well, and a lot of the actors (rather on purpose or not) watch what they’re wearing, so it’s harder to tell what/who’s walking at you, setting up for a batter scare when they inevitably charge at you (lol). 8/10 ranking.