Kings Island 2000
The Rallying Point For Creatures In Southwest Ohio!
The Eiffel Tower after being "hit by lightning" and transformed into a beacon of darkness!
The Mummy's Revenge
Princess Anck-su-namun proves that not everything at FearFest is twisted and ugly!
The Mummy's Revenge
OK! Now we have twisted and ugly as the Mummy confronts the defilers of his tomb!
The Museum Of Horrors
A phantom flies through the darkness!
Pirate Jack And The Legend Of Halloween
They sure grow them big here!
KINGS ISLAND FEARFEST-Feel The Fear!
A blanket of fog drifts across the central fountain. The Eiffel Tower is surrounded by several vehicles of the US Army, here no doubt to investigte the rumored sightings of unearthly beings. The normally cheerful landscape of Kings Island Amusement Park now finds itself draped with huge spider webs, curtains of moss, and new graveyards have sprung up everywhere. Screams and macabre music echo throughout the park. The tension is thick enough to cut with...well, a chainsaw!
Suddenly, the Eiffel Tower goes dark. The fountains go dead. Bright flashes of light crisscross the Tower (could it be lighting?), setting off explosions and leaving the Kings Island landmark bathed in a sickly purple glow. FearFest has begun!
This was the scene at Kings Island FearFest on press night the evening before the official opening. FearFest is the first attraction of its type in the Cincinnati area. Following in the footsteps of other horror theme parks such as Spookyworld, Knott's Scary Farm, Universal Horror Nights, and Madison Scare Garden, FearFest provides a variety of attractions and events for an entire evening of entertainment.
Jeffrey Siebert, a haunted house enthusiast (visiting 15-20 a year) and Kings Island's Marketing Communications Area Manager explained it this way. "We started off with 5 attractions and have just kept adding more and more until we got to the magic number of 13-the perfect number to leave it at! We have The Freezer, The Mummy's Revenge, Pirate Jack & The Legend Of Halloween, The Sewer, Torture Tower, 5 rides (King Cobra, Top Gun, Face Off, Drop Zone, and Son Of Beast), and have added the Studio Fifty-Gore monster bash party, Freakshow (an original film and stage show), and The Museum Of Horrors (the revamped and edgier Phantom Theater). This year, it's all about the scares!"
While Kings Island has tested the Halloween waters the last few years with its Howl-O-Fest event for kids, this is its first entry into serious haunting. If Scooby-do were to show up, he would likely be eaten alive by one of the mutants from the Sewer! FearFest is not recommended for anyone under 12 or cowards (well, they phrase it a little nicer..."anyone who doesn't enjoy being scared").
Let's follow my tour of the park that evening and see what's out there!
I was standing under the Eiffel Tower when it transformed. Moments later, I was on the "express elevator to hell"...going up, in this case, to the very top of the newly christened Torture Tower! This was the most terrifying moment of the night for me...I had always been too chicken to go to the top, but ya know, once there, it didn't bother me. Inside you will see all sorts of bloody experiments gone wrong. Iron lungs, loose power lines, dessicated corpses, torture wheels, and the ever popular Distortions Electric Chair all come into play.
Located directly under the Tower is the Freezer. Getting in the massive metal doors is a lot easier than getting out. This is a maze of hanging bodies, shuffling (and hungry) zombies, sirens, flashing lights, dead ends, and false hope. Hey! Why are all these people walking towards me? Oops...because I'm heading into another blind alley!
Once I finally find the way out, it's over to the Paramount Theater and Pirate Jack & The Legend Of Halloween. This maze is in 4-D and special chromatic glasses are passed out at the door. From the first room (featuring a huge, 10' towering ghoul) to the last (where you encounter Pirate Jack) the walls are lined with stunning 3-D artwork of Pirate Jack's transformation into the symbol of Halloween (and the FearFest poster boy!). Scenery is bizarre, very much like Nightmare Before Christmas, and creatures lurk in the most surprising places. You've never seen anything quite like this!
After a quick stop at the Lounge For The Faint Hearted for some quick information, I head off to the Museum Of Horrors. Housed in the Phantom Theater, it features new animations and a much higher scare and gore factor. While the Maestro is still on hand in the lobby, everything else has changed in this ride through attraction. In fact, this was my favorite event of the evening. You will see things best left unsaid (but I'll say 'em anyway). Skeletons threatening you with knives! Flying corpses! Levitating specters! Heads (not rabbits!) pulled out of hats! Huge, bloated, snake draped gargoyles! Boiler rooms infested with spiders! And, best of all, a huge ghoul shoveling bones from a coffin into a blazing furnace...when the doors open to reveal a coal bed full of skulls, you can FEEL the blast of heat from inside! Live actors roam the event as well (watch out for snakes), and only every other car is loaded to isolate each group. The ending is great too...I don't want to give it away, but if it was a movie it would be 5 stars in my book!
Next door is the Mummy's Revenge. This is nice and atmospheric with cramped corridors filled with cobwebs and moss. It has a great soundtrack and action that mirrors that of the recent movie complete with scarab beetles, mummies, and dying explorers and adventurers. All this and the stunning beauty of Princess Anck-su-namun at the entrance. Mighty well preserved for 3000 years old!
The movie FREAKSHOW is on display back at the Paramount Theater. Part stage show, it features the twisted freak show barker Mr. Fingers (don't ask, you'll find out) working up the crowd in between bouts of sucking down flaming torches. I don't want to spoil the film...it has to be seen to be believed. Bring your kids and watch 'em lose weight before your eyes after they see this!
Finally, there is The Sewer, located next to Studio Fifty-Gore in the Festhaus. In 3-D, this attraction has creatures that blend in seamlessly with the displays. Rabid mutant rats push through the walls in search of human flesh, gas-masked denizens of the slime descend upon you, and the surrounding artwork is truly the stuff nightmares are made of. The 3-D effects are terror-iffic, and leap out at you on their own even when they're not alive!
In Studio Fifty-Gore, I received my only disappointment of the night. Being the Fearless Leader Of The House Of DOOM! and all, I KNEW I had to set the electric chair to maximum voltage and ride out the shocks! Strangely enough, my companion and official Swell Young Babe Of The House Of DOOM! Khryss thought this was a great idea. Well, a couple of minutes later the voltage had slowly, agonizingly, crawled to 2000 volts and the chair started to smoke! I was directed to get my souvenir ticket from the slot but alas, it never showed up. Hardly worth getting 'electrocuted' for!
After that, it was a return trip to the Museum Of Horrors and then home.
In 2 1/2 hours I was able to comfortably visit all the attractions. The lines moved well and the attractions are 'paired' so that if one has a long line, it's only a few feet to the other. It was a great night, the most enjoyable evening I've ever spent where I ended up riding the lightning. FearFest is a professional production top to bottom as one wold expect from KI and at $20 for a whole night of fun and entertainment is a great value too (remember, there are houses out there charging $10 or more for 3-4 minute lame tours).
Creative Director Lynton V. Harris deserves accolades along with the staff of KI for putting this event together. Lynton was the driving force behind Madison Scare Garden (the event that transformed NYC's Madison Square Garden into hell on earth) and brought his attractions The Freezer, Pirate Jack, The Sewer, The Mummy's Revenge, and his short film Freakshow with him to Cincinnati. Mr. Harris is not afraid to think on a large scale and it has really paid off with this event. It's a shame everyone can't see the entire story of Pirate Jack...it's a great tale in comic book form, and the soundtrack is fantastic as well.
As the clock hits eleven, the attractions close for the evening and International Street once again becomes safe for mortals to trek. But haunt fans rejoice...have no "Feer, Dowt, or Worry"...FearFest has taken haunting to another level and the Eiffel Tower is now the rallying point for creatures around the Midwest!
Torture Tower
Certainly lives up to its name!
Torture Tower
This guy's a real live wire!
The Freezer
Telling the zombies from the corpses is half the fun!
The Sewer
An accident victim wanders around the entrance to the sewer!
The Sewer
In this 3-D world, it's tough to separate the ghouls from the surroundings!
Kings Island FearFest is located at Paramount's Kings Island Amusement Park in Mason, OH (take the Kings Island Drive exit on I-71). It is open September 29-30 (Friday-Saturday) and October 6 (Friday), 13-14 (Friday-Saturday), 19-22 (Thursday through Sunday), and 26-31 (Thursday through Tuesday), 8-midnight all nights except Thurdays (8-11). FearFest is a after-hours event with a separate admission fee-$19.99 ($17.99 for people who have already paid to get into the regular park that day, and $16.99 for season pass holders). To buy tickets in advance you can call (513) 754-5800 or go to the KI website at http://www.pki.com . No guest costumes allowed. For more information call (800) 288-0808 or (513) 754-5700. Presented by WKRQ (Q102 FM).
2006
KINGS ISLAND FEARFEST-A Very Scary Christmas!
With the recent change in ownership, Kings Island decided not to run their annual Winterfest Christmas attraction this year. This disappointed quite a few area residents. But fear not! The park has instead brought a little bit of Winterfest to this year's FearFest event! Thanks to Maureen Kaiser and KI's friendly staff, we were able to check out the new event. As we neared the position of the event, we heard Christmas music, saw snow falling, and saw a string of lights around an area by Massacre Manor. This must be the place! We were approached by a bearded man in a red suit. As he staggered towards us, we saw that it was indeed Old Santa himself! But wait a minute...is that a cigarette dangling from his lips? And why is he slurring all his words and looking ready to fall over? Hmmm...I'd better ask one of his elves. After all, there's one that is currently draped over him like a second skin...no, not that one. The elf with the rotted face and candy cane dagger doesn't look promising either. Neither does the one asking me how evil I've been this year. Welcome to Holiday Horror-the new Fearzone that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'Christmas Spirit'!
Holiday Horror is only one of 13 attractions found at this year's Fearfest. There're popular holdovers from years past along with all new events. The park itself is laid out and dressed up for Halloween, from the Coney Maul sign to the sickly purple lighting on the Eiffel Tower. From the time you leave the parking lot, the 'improvements' made to the park for FearFest are obvious. For starters, there are the two Metro busses out front with a FearFest paint scheme-including foggy windows that have ghostly handprints of victims on them. Before you reach the turnstiles, bloody victims wander the concourse urging you to turn back. Once inside, there is a large stage upon which several performers twirl black light batons. There's a hearse and butchers running around with chainsaws. A 10 foot tall vampire bat crawls about, as well as a similarly sized Frankenstein Monster and Dracula. Blaring over the park's PA system is the voice of the Undertaker, who also patrols the grounds of International Street. The Undertaker, formerly found in the House Of Darkness, acts as the host for the event and keeps up his patter for hours. Even when you leave, a shuffling zombie mindlessly waves goodbye in the parking lot!
This year's events were located all over the park. The first one we encountered was Cowboy Carnage, this year's original event. For those who remember Massacre Manor from last year, the event was moved into several Western themed buildings and rethemed. The story here is that somehow all of the whiskey delivered to the saloon was contaminated and caused all the inhabitants to go insane. While the Sheriff controlling the line is too scared to go inside, he's more than happy to let you enter and try to bring order back to his town. Many of the park's best actors were found here, with the standouts being the Lady Of Easy Virtue found in the bedroom along with her rather jealous boyfriend who appears virtually from nowhere. The bloodied gamblin' gal and the schoolmarm with her collection of dangling severed heads were excellent as well, not to mention the hordes of toxified cowboys. The actors at KI, unlike many haunts, go for entertainment as well as scares-they actually act! Even after a long night of scaring, they were still full of spirit after the night was over when their director gathered them all for a meeting. They were a very enthusiastic and energetic bunch! The only disappointment here was that the 'breathing wall' from the Massacre Manor days did not appear.
The event with the longest lines was Headless Hollow, the event that features a train ride through the foggy woods. The VERY foggy woods. In fact, the woods were so foggy, there were spots where you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face. All the better for the undead ghouls of Sleepy Hollow to hide in! And, wouldn't you know it, the train broke down in the exact same place as last year, forcing us to walk back through the monster infested VERY FOGGY woods. Plenty of Colonial ghouls and a covered bridge loaded with severed heads. One area features a narrow passage with creatures on both sides of the tunnel harrasing you as you go through. Strangely enough, we didn't see a Headless Horseman...which is probably just as well considering the consequences! The standout here was the costumed 'tour guide' aboard the train, who was quite funny in the limited amount of time he had.
The Asylum, besides a name change (formerly Maze Of Madness), had another new twist this year-literally. The event path has been completely reversed-you go in the exit from last year, and leave out of last year's entrance. It also seemed that there were many more mirrors and plastic sheets this year to confuse everyone. It was much harder to get out than last year! The actors here are more along the lines of traditional 'scare' haunt actors, and if you have the time try to notice the details of their lab coats and makeup-reversed words, symbols, and all kinds of humorous/cool things are there to be seen. Here was found 'Two-Face', who was completely normal looking as he shadowed us down a parallel corridor-until we turned it and came face to...two face with his bad side.
If you liked last year's R L Stine's Fear Street attraction, you're in luck-it's still here and completely unchanged save for the name. It's now Massacre Manor-and has nothing to do with last year's Massacre Manor, which is now Cowboy Carnage. Got all that? This features the story of Prom Queen Emily, who jails and tortures the boys at school who have failed to recognize her beauty. It's one of those haunts you will either love or hate-many still prefer the event's House Of Darkness days. I give FearFest kudos for not being afraid to try something different. The young lady playing prom queen Emily was great. Despite it being the end of the night, she was still full of energy, snarling, screaming, and taking a lot of pleasure in demonstrating her electrified fence. Cute underneath all that blood, too!
Psycho Path is also unchanged. After all, you wouldn't want to try to evict the backwoods denizens deep in the woods, would you? You'll see exploding outhouses, appliance graveyards, moonshine stills, tunnels that need to be crawled through, toxic waste barrels, moonshiners leaping out of trees, and loads of inbred undead. It's also every bit as foggy as Headless Hollow. The leader of the clan out front (who had more Billy's, Lee's, Ray's, and Bob's in his name than I could remember) was memorable. He did an excellent 'Mr. Haney' from Green Acres schtick.
Finally, the last haunted attraction is Circus Of Horrors. While it's also unchanged (except for creepy day glo mold covering the walls of last year's 'stick' room), it has a new and more appropriate home inside the Scooby-Do Theater. We love haunt clowns, and this is always one of our favorite venues. The crazy funhouse is in 3-D (3-D glasses are supplied) and home to many bizarre looking big nosed goofs. The classic dot room, vortex, dropping clown hall, fortune teller wagon, and monster Klown are all still here. While most of the park's younger actors are located here (where their small size is not as obvious), Psycho Psally returns from last year to once again usher you inside. Her cohort outside also explained that 'We'd also like to warn you that if you're pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant...well, we had nothing to do with it!'.
In addition to the six haunts, there are three Fearzones (smaller outdoor areas you pass through to get from place to place in the park). The first is the aforementioned Holiday Horror. It's the ultimate Christmas attraction gone wrong. Santa is a chain smoking wino who loves to remind you of everything you did wrong as a kid (remember, he's watching...always watching!). His elves are in various stages of decompostion. One seems to be a nympho, one of the male elves is wearing tights he stole from the female one, and the others chase down unwary passersby to tell them what THEY want for Christmas. Even better, the elves all talk in a hilarious high pitched goofy screech right out of just about any holiday movie. We found it to be the most entertaining part of FearFest. Be forewarned, though-it's designed to be entertaining rather than scary. No Santa with a bloody axe and a bagful of heads (like there is at our house). There's also The Worksite. Long abandoned, this area is teeming with the spirits of the former construction workers who died here...and they still have their chainsaws and who knows what else behind the plastic sheeting around the worksite. Finally, there's CornStalkers-where you can't tell the living from the dead without a scorecard. Even the hay bales and scarecrows are more than they first appear to be.
In addition, there are four live entertainment events. The Monster Bash stage show, the Fearfest Hauntcert Series (featuring local bands), Elvira's Superstition (the excellent 3-D motion ride that's a FearFest tradition), and the Heckle & Howl improv show will all be running. Heckle & Howl seemingly features costumed characters that specialize in giving the audience a hard time-this evening, there was a witch up in a second story window that was giving people the business as they walked by. Kind of like a dunking booth clown, except you can't get back at them!
And if that's not enough, there's the FearFeast Diner, a FearFest Souvenir Trailer, and FearFest Photo Op (which looks like it uses part of the old Curse Of The Crypt haunt as a backdrop). Ten of the park's more popular rides will also be operating.
As you can see, Kings Island has once again put together an event that has something for everyone and more than enough to fill up an evening. Come on out and see what a Very Scary Christmas is like...and remember, Santa knows where you live.
Heckle and Howl
Be verbally abused by KI's many fine actors!
Bat Infestation
FearFest is home to all sorts of wandering creatures!
FearFest is located at Paramount's Kings Island (Exit 24 off I-71 in Mason). It's open to the public Fridays and Saturdays September 30th through October 28. Hours of operation are 7 to Midnight (Psycho Path and Headless Hollow open at 8). Admission is $49.99 walkup, with advance tickets ranging from $14.99-$29.99. Advance tickets available at http://www.pki.com , Kroger, Meijer, or Seedway. FREE to Season Pass Holders. For more information call (800) 288-0808, (513) 754-5700, or visit http://www.pki.com .