Halloweekend - OVERALL SCORE:

(HIGHEST POSSIBLE RATING) 

It had been a few years since members of our group had toured Halloweekend at Cedar Point, and actually a first time for myself, and we could not have been happier with what we found!  Halloweekend begins the minute you step through the park gates and doesn't let up!  No matter where you roam in the park, once the sun goes down you are not safe from the ghosts and demons that roam the grounds.  Cedar Point is a great value since you can pay admission to get into the park and that covers all of the haunted attractions as well as the rides and roller coasters that remain open, so for the money, you really can't beat it.  

The actual haunted attractions are a mixture of indoor haunts and outdoor walk through haunts.  There was a good mixture of themes ranging from pirates to clowns, to haunted mansions, and even an evil toy factory.  The level of detail and creativity that went into these haunts impressed even our most veteran haunt reviewers!  We always love creativity and attention to detail and two haunts really stood out for our group. Happy Jack's Toy Factory was a very unique concept that we have not really seen before.  It was so incredible with the level of detail in the costumes and makeup, you can honestly not tell who is real and who is just a doll.  

My personal favorite, G.A. Boeckling's Eerie Estate, really raised the bar for a good old fashioned scary mansion.  The scenery, actors, and layout were all amazing!  They took some serious time to perfect the layout of the haunt and used space very creatively to create 360 degrees of scares!  It has been a long time since I was truly scared and creeped out by a haunt, but this one did it for me!  The greatest thing about this haunt and a lot of the haunts we toured here was that they don't rely on all of the overdone blood, gore, and screaming to get a scare.  You really have a lot of stuff that is just down right creepy and not so much just jumping out and yelling "boo."  They went back to the basics of what is scary and put on a really great experience.  Personally, this may be one of the best haunts I have been to in years.  When you scare someone who has been touring and rating haunts for 15 years now...you know you have something great! 

Halloweekend at Cedar Point is the ultimate haunt experience for the casual haunt fan as well as the seasoned haunt veteran!  Bring your kids and enjoy the family-friendly daytime activities and rides, then come back to the park at night with the adults for a truly frightening experience!  Halloweekend's overall score came back as one of only a very few better-than-perfect scores we have ever given.  Halloweekend earned a score of 11 out of 10, earning extra credit points for scare factor and the final rating of "FRIGHTMASTER!"

Great job on creating a top-notch experience!  I can't wait to visit again next season.  Thanks again to Robin and John for showing us around the park and being so helpful to our tour group!  Cedar Point's Halloweekend is definitely a MUST SEE!  We would highly recommend this attraction!  It's well worth the drive!

Visit their website at http://www.halloweekends.com/

The Dent Schoolhouse continues to impress us year after year, and their 2009 showing didn't let us down!  Our trip to the Dent Schoolhouse was on a perfect night for a haunt with the cold, rain, and foggy atmosphere.  This made the graveyard experience that much better!  The scenery is always great, but this year we noticed a lot more detail and much better actor placement than last year.  The length of this haunt is always more than worth the money, and they had some really good scare factor as well!  Great scenery, great actors, and a great haunt that keeps with the schoolhouse theme.  We were very impressed this year.  

The Dent Schoolhouse has secured its place as one of the premiere haunts in the Greater Cincinnati area and has gotten even better this year.  Thanks for letting us tour your haunt, and we scored the Dent Schoolhouse a 10 out of 10 this year, earning the rating of "EXCELLENT!"  Keep up the good work.  See you in 2010!

Visit their website at www.frightsite.com

   Halloween Haunt - OVERALL SCORE:

Kings Island's Halloween Haunt has become a yearly stop for us on our tour, and we were again reminded why we keep coming back!  Halloween Haunt is such a great option for the haunt enthusiast because of the quantity of attractions that admission to the park gets you access to.  With 11 haunted attractions and 2 live shows, Halloween Haunt is a great value for someone looking to spend a dark evening with the ghouls that haunt this Mason, OH theme park.  

The park is transformed into a dark and scary nightmare where you never know who is going to jump out of the fog at you.  With the addition of a good haunt this year in "The Slaughter House" and some of our old favorites, Halloween Haunt keeps impressing year after year and it never gets old.  Our personal favorite, the "Trail Of Terror," leads victims through a twisted trail of horror and fright.  They have a great mix of haunts, and with so many options, there is something for everyone.  

Halloween Haunt earns a rating of 10 out of 10, earning the score of "EXCELLENT" for 2009!  Great job on another great season!  Thanks for letting us tour Halloween Haunt.  We are already looking forward to next year!

Visit their website at http://haunt.visitkingsisland.com/

USS Nightmare has been around for a long time now, and it's still worth the trip down to tour the old haunted riverboat!  USS Nightmare still has one of the longest haunts of anywhere we have toured and has a lot of scare packed into this haunt.  The theme of the haunted riverboat was always really unique and the scenery is always amazing as well.  The realism of the actors is always impressive as the USS Nightmare uses realistic makeup rather than relying solely on masks for scare.  It's always one of our favorite stops on our tour, and thanks to everyone at the USS Nightmare for always showing us a good time!  

USS Nightmare earned a score of 9 out of 10 with a rating of "EXCELLENT" for 2009!  Great job, and thanks again for letting us tour the USS Nightmare!

Visit their website at www.ussnightmare.com

Sandyland Acres has in just a few years of operation has taken a claim as one of the best haunts in Greater Cincinnati and Northern KY!  What is so amazing about Sandyland Acres is how great of a haunt they put together each year working with a small fraction of the budget that other haunts have to work with. Sandyland creates new concepts and builds their own scenes from scratch.  Sandyland Acres also takes away that safe and secure feeling when the actors frequently come onto the hayride to look for victims up close!  They have certain elements at this haunt that we have yet to see anywhere else.  Sandyland Acres is such a great success story from people who really do go the extra mile to put in the creative time to plan an amazing haunt!  I always look forward to seeing Sandyland Acres and I encourage you to make the short drive to Petersburg to experience a unique twist on the haunted hayride experience!

Sandyland Acres earned a score of 9 out of 10 and a rating of "EXCELLENT" for 2009!  Thanks again for always showing us a great time and really giving our tour group a frightening experience in your haunted corn fields.  Great job, and looking forward to seeing you in 2010!

Visit their website at www.sandylandacres.com

The Dent Schoolhouse continues to be one of the area's best haunted attractions.  They raised the bar pretty high last year, winning our 2007 "Frightmaster Award."  I feel they did a great job this year trying to make things new and different for 2008, although there were a few rooms that felt a little unfinished.  This may have been a result of recent power outages halting construction, but was a small factor in our rating.  The outdoor scenery is always a plus, and the building itself is a great setting for a haunt.  We feel that a few more actors could help provide a little more scare factor.  It would be nice to see "Charlie" the janitor utilized a little more throughout the house in keeping with school theme.  Overall, great location, reasonable ticket prices, great theme and some good scare factor in the mix as well!  The Dent Schoolhouse is definitely worth the trip!  The Dent Schoolhouse earns a final rating of 8.5 out of 10, rating "Very Good" for 2008.  

Visit their website at www.frightsite.com

Sandyland Acres is a refreshing update on the haunted hayride concept.  It is different than most indoor haunted attractions in that you really have to be creative to bring the show up close and personal to the "victims."  The setting is great because it is so dark and quiet which makes for a very creepy background.  The staff does an AMAZING job on building props and scenery, especially considering the budget they have to work with.  They have some very creative ideas, especially a new addition they added this year (we won't spoil it!).  We feel that a few more actors in key locations could really help bring more scare factor and less down time between scenes would be helpful.  Overall, we feel that staff does a great job of putting on a great haunt that we look forward to each year.  This haunt is a great value as well as well as having a  longer-than-average tour time.   Sandyland Acres earns a final rating of 8 out of 10, rating "Very Good" for 2008.  

Visit their website at www.sandylandacres.com

USS Nightmare has been rated "Excellent" once again and remains to be one of the top haunts in the entire Tri-State!  USS Nightmare always does a great job at keeping things in the haunt that works well for them, but also changing other things up each year.  New rooms and designs were added this year which really worked well, and the setting is always top notch.  Just walking up to the old riverboat in itself is creepy and it has great curb appeal!  The actors and makeup are great!  They make great use of makeup and do not always rely on masks, which in the end adds to the realism and overall appeal of the haunt.  It really brings the actors to life and make their characters believable.  

We have been touring the USS Nightmare for almost all of our 14 years our tour group has operated, and every year it is a new experience.  Even if you went last year, I would recommend the USS Nightmare again this year.  USS Nightmare is one of the best in the region, and an overall great experience!  USS Nightmare earns a final rating of 9 out of 10, rating "Excellent" for 2008.  

Visit their website at www.ussnightmare.com

2008 Frightmaster Award Winner!

Kings Island: Halloween Haunt has really developed into an amazing overall haunt experience.  They now boast 13 haunts as well as other roaming ghouls and attractions.  Realistically, you won't have time to visit all 13 haunts in one night, so the best bet is to pick your favorites and focus on seeing those.  We visited Halloween Haunt last year and thought it was a great show, and it was even better this year!  Halloween Haunt also added a new haunt this year named "Urgent Scare."  Scenery is amazing, and they do such a great job transforming the whole park into a creepy setting for a haunt enthusiast's wildest dream.  Halloween Haunt is reasonably priced based on the amount of choices you have and the quality that they present.  My suggestion for serious haunt lovers is to visit twice and try to see everything... it is well worth the price of admission!

Halloween Haunt really raised the bar for the overall haunt experience and is a definite "Must see" for anyone who loves a great haunt!  A very unique experience and we hope you check out Halloween Haunt in 2008!  Our final rating is rated for Halloween Haunt as an overall experience.  Halloween Haunt earns a final rating of 9.5 out of 10, rating "Excellent" for 2008 and wins the 2008 Frightmaster Award! This is Kings Island's second Frightmaster Award, the first coming in 2001 for "Fearfest." Congratulations on a great season, we are already looking forward to 2009!

Visit their website at http://haunt.visitkingsisland.com/

Nightmare Haunted House was a first time visit for us, and we were pleasantly surprised!  The haunt had some very detailed scenery, great actors, as well as some good scare factor.  We felt the haunt was well staffed and had some unique scenes we have never seen anywhere else.  The location of the haunt is a little generic, but they use the space very well.  While there, you also have the chance to lay inside a closed coffin and experience being "buried alive".  We had a great time at the Nightmare Haunted House, and with a few small additions, they have the potential for a future "Excellent" rating.  Nightmare Haunted House earns a final rating of 8 out of 10, rating "Very Good" for 2008.  

Visit their website at www.2scary.com

Hustonville was a new city we have not previously toured and we were glad we made the trip!  The Hustonville Haunted House is in an old building built in the 1800's which is a great setting for a creepy haunted house.  From what we understand, this haunt is under new ownership in 2008 and has made some changes since past years.  

I think this haunt used dark space well, but also mixed it with a good amount of actors, which were professional.  They also use the "360 degrees" concept very well, making people wind their way through the middle of rooms, which makes you feel very vulnerable.  They had some unique scares that I have not seen before as well as a good blend of scenery, actors, and animatronics.  They make good use of quiet too.  Some of the creepiest parts of this haunt involved simple whispers in certain dark areas.  The down side of this haunt is that it is somewhat short relative to other haunts we have toured.  The actual amount of time inside the house is somewhat average and not very long.  The Hustonville Haunted House is a good time if you are in the area.  The  Hustonville Haunted House earns a final rating of 8 out of 10, rating "Very Good" for 2008.  

Visit their website at www.hauntman.com

*Review not posted at the request of haunt owner. 

2007 Frightmaster Award Winner!