photo credit: Olivia Olson
Halloween has been looming in the air since the beginning of October. People are putting out decorations in their front lawn and amusement parks have started to open.
Let the spooky season begin!
As haunted attractions start to open, there are a wide variety of different events at each attraction. Some common places located in Ohio that celebrate the Halloween season include Halloweekend at Cedar Point, Halloween Haunt at Kings Island and Fear Columbus. All these different haunted scenes include different scenery, roller coasters, and decorations that make them each an experience that is worth visiting this year.
“I love the environment of the haunted amusement park when they decorate it with fog and pumpkins and lights. There are also little displays with decorations. They do a really good job incorporating the different flavors of fall as well. You can get fall themed food or sometimes they have spooky dishes, and it is fun to see the creativity that people can come up with to make life just a little bit more fun,” Science Teacher Alexandra Van Echo said.
Fear Columbus, Halloween Haunt and Halloweekend all have different attractions, and the atmosphere is one of the most important things that create such a fun experience. Some events included at Halloween Haunt at Kings Island include the SlaughterHouse haunted Maze and The Pumpkin Eater which is an Outdoor Scare Zone.
New events included at Fear Columbus are Oddballs: Feast of Freaks, a thrilling maze with different scary clowns and Dearly Departed, where thrill seekers face experiments, dark rituals, and terrifying depths of the underworld. At Halloweekend there are many haunted mazes and scare zones including Bloodbath and Clownz: Hall of Infamy Tour according to cederpoint.com.
“While I was at these amusement parks, the atmosphere when you got there was very eerie and spooky with fog and dark lights. Once you’re in the house, it depends on the theme, but there’s usually narrow hallways and music to set the mood. The scare actors are dressed up with masks or have makeup on to make them look dead or just more scary. Everyone else there looks very excited or nervous and they’re always looking around for potential jump scares” sophomore Ava Mazurek said, who attended Fear Columbus.
All throughout the country haunted amusement parks are available and 46.5 million people in the United States visit haunted attractions each year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ohio is just one of the states that has amazing, haunted Halloween events.
Kings Island and Cedar Point have roller coasters that are decorated for Halloween that make the experience so much better. Actors can sit with visitors on rides and scare riders at any moment creating a fearful feeling each time they walk into the park.
“I always like doing things for different seasons and I love roller coasters. I mean like I’m a roller coaster enthusiast. I love knowing the stats and I think living in Ohio, we’re fortunate to have access to all the rides we do. I also love going to Orlando and exploring different roller coasters in different parts of the country. But a themed amusement park during Halloween gives that little extra acknowledgment to the season you can enjoy for a short time of the year,” Van Echo said.
Halloween is a time of horror and haunting. There are multiple different types of ways to celebrate Halloween including watching horror movies, trick or treating, and visiting haunted amusement parks. Halloween themed amusement parks like Fear Columbus include multiple different scary actors including clowns, killers, zombies, devils, and more with multiple different props that add to the thrill, according to fearcolumbus.com.
“I really enjoy horror movies and Halloween in general so that made me want to go to these attractions. I also love the adrenaline rush you get when someone scares you, so that makes it fun,” Mazurek said.
These haunted attractions dates and times differ based on each amusement park. Cedar Point’s Halloweekend is open on Thursday, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. while Fear Columbus is open mainly every weekend and some weeks every day from 7 to 9:45 p.m. Usually many people typically go on weekends due to their work and school schedule.
“We typically would go on the weekends like Saturday or Sunday, but when I had more time, I used to be able to take a personal day and go with my now husband when we were dating and that was really fun because the rides are running but it’s not very crowded,” Van Echo said.
Many people including Mazurek and Van Echo enjoy these haunted attractions because of their love of thrills, the different rides, actors, and decorations. These Halloween themed amusement parks only last for the month of October so make sure to take time and go visit these thrilling attractions.
Other sources: visitkingsisland.com
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