It’s amazing what you discuss and think about on an 18 hour drive home (which is what we just finished doing yesterday, from Kansas City to Orlando) and among those hours I went from, “I’m definitely writing a haunt review” to “I am definitely not writing a haunt review” to everything in between. Finally, I have decided to write one, damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. Because the last one I wrote was in 2016, and well it’s not online for … well I won’t go there.
Suffice to say yes Jeff and I drove from our home now in Orlando, to Kansas City specifically to go to Haunt. Let me say that again… we drove one way, 18 hours, over two days, specifically to go to Worlds of Fun haunt. We arrived in Kansas City about 7 pm on Friday, Oct 11th, and after dropping our stuff off at Jeff’s mom’s house, we immediately headed to Worlds of Fun. It had been a slightly drizzly day, and I was hoping it kept the crowds down, which we found to be the case. We parked in the back of D lot, and had no wait to get into the park, we ended up staying until the park closed, at midnight, and over four hours went through five haunts (not counting the walk-thru scare zones) and rode the train, Steelhawk, and Timber Wolf. We met up with a friend of ours who also hadn’t been to the park since 2016, and he started off with rave reviews of the new gate, the overall park appearance, and Timber Wolf.
Graveyard near Lore of the Vampire.
Our first stop was Lore of the Vampire, the oldest running haunt at the park, being one of the first of the haunted houses premiering in 2004. Like always the theme was well executed, but what we found which seemed to be repeated across the park was limited staffing for monsters (Screamsters), and a LOT of acting. Before I go forward let me add some personal detail, Jeff and I were both Screamsters at the park, myself from 2005 until 2007 at Dominion of Doom and Asylum Island, and Jeff from 2005-2008, as Pigman at Camp Gonna Gitcha, Asylum Island and was one of the first sliders at Outlaw’s Revenge in 2008. So, please be aware any critical comments do come with a large dose of realization how difficult the job of being a Screamster is. With that being said… it isn’t scary when a Screamster is just standing there, trying to act. Acting, by itself, does not scare, and that’s what everyone is paying for.
Acting, however, does have its place, as a distraction. When I worked in Doom I tag-teamed with an older lady, who distracted those passing through while I would jump out screaming right after they became focused on her. So sometimes it works, if it’s done RIGHT. Lore wasn’t alone with this problem, and don’t get me wrong, there were some great Screamsters in there… the graveyard (outside) stands out in particular, but overall, we were all pretty disappointed.
Pretty sure both Steelhawk and Timber Wolf were ridden between Lore and the next few haunts we visited. Steelhawk like usual had no line (since it has such a massive ride capacity), Timber Wolf had about a 10-15 minute wait. Timber Wolf was running awesome, better than I can even remember, (disclaimer: I did not ride it in its best years around 1995), the brake on the second drop was on, but it seemed the brakes around the new helix were light or not on at all, allowing for some significant airtime. Great experience.
Our next stops were the two haunts near Timber Wolf, Ripper’s Alley and Blood on the Bayou. Both were standouts. Ripper’s Alley was originally located on Forum Road and three years ago was moved to Bicentennial Square. I believe three years ago in my review I commented on how much the move to a building really helped the experience. It had the longest wait of the night, about 30-45 minutes, and I felt it was worth it. There was a good balance of acting and scare, and I loved the steampunk/London theme that goes along with it. Blood on the Bayou was next, and it was a complete, utter, walk on. AWESOME. I believe, the perfect haunt is a combination of theme, acting, and scare, and for me at least, Blood on the Bayou has it.
Moving on, I noted a lot of the decorations for Haunt that had been added. I had seen the photos, but I love to see them in person too. One critique we had had back in 2016 was a definitive reduction in decorations, and I was happy to see it has vastly improved, with the “Wizard of Oz” characters by Cyclone Sams, the various gourd/pumpkin displays around the park, as well as the ninjas in the Orient. I also absolutely loved the pumpkin displays throughout Europa, VERY well done.
It's....it's... a Nightmare Before Christmas Tree. Yep.
I never thought I would say it… but I do rather miss the pre-haunt daytime entertainment, the witch doctor’s revenge, digger’s used coffin lot, etc. There has also been some commentary about the Christmas decorations that are making their way into the park. Unlike 2017, I didn’t find them as distracting, and if I wasn’t looking for them I probably wouldn’t have seen many… (ok the Christmas tree in Europa is hard to miss, but I like the theme going there so I won’t give anyone a hard time on that).
We took one look at the bloodshed line and decided to skip it instead and did Khaos. Khaos appeared to have a short line but was still about a 20-minute wait or so. I had a pretty good idea going in what the idea was, more illusion and confusion rather than straight out “scare”, I think Jeff still thought it would be a variation on the Asylum Island/Urgent Scare theme. Personally, I liked it for what the premise was, but still, think Asylum was better overall, Jeff didn’t like it at all, thinking that haunt should be about scaring and less about mental mind tricks. I am glad they kept “The Yard” and think the placement, more in the middle than at the end was better. I also noticed in one room that the characters seemed to almost dissolve in mid-air, I am not sure if that was intentional, or just a trick of light and fog, but thought it was pretty interesting.
The park was pretty deserted by just after Midnight on Friday Oct 11th, this is looking into Boneyard...
After finishing Khaos is was about 11:30-11:40, so we decided to head for one more haunt, realizing the park closed at midnight (I thought it used to be 1?), we headed to Chamber of Horrors. We arrived at 11:45 to find that the line had been chained off, with no employees or volunteers in sight, except for two we saw walking out of Dino’s Alive area just prior to us arriving. Realizing that something was wrong, (and thinking in hindsight that the volunteers had simply closed up early), we found a Supervisor who agreed that the line should still be open 15 minutes prior to closing. He let us and about a group of 6-8 guests behind us who also were trying to find the way in, into the haunt and re-opened the line. That wasn’t the end of confusion either, because halfway through, the music to the haunt shut off and the closing spiel began, followed by what I have called for years the “get the heck out the park” music (“Thriller” by Michael Jackson). Having both done and acted in haunts for years I can attest that the music or lack thereof can SERIOUSLY distract from the experience, so the second half wasn’t quite too memorable. However, there was one shining light in the face of adverse conditions and that was the Screamsters themselves. Though their music and effects were pretty much non-non-existent the last half of Chamber of Horrors, the Screamsters kept scaring, and working, and making sure that those passing through were having as good of an experience as possible regardless of the situation. Having been in more “e-stop” situations at Asylum then I can count or remember, its always a hard situation when your environment changes so drastically, and its hard to stay in character. Those working Chamber did and did as good a job as they possibly could, and they deserve kudos for that.
With Friday night done, we discussed plans for Saturday. Originally, we had considered buying Fright Line passes, since they aren’t horribly expensive ($60 for Saturdays, $50 for Fridays), but considering we had done all but three haunts we figured they wouldn’t be entirely necessary. After all three haunts should be all that hard right?
After spending some time with family Saturday morning we headed out to the park mid-afternoon and arrived around 4 pm Saturday afternoon. Our first plan was to circle the park, head to Planet Snoopy and get some pictures while we still had light. Though I don’t have kids myself I thought Planet Snoopy was well done, though a bit chaotic. There were definitely more activities and the whole was far better laid out than in previous years. I especially liked the mini candy stops and corn mazes (#WOF). I had mentioned on Friday night we had ridden the train, but on Saturday we did get a bunch of photos and were able to confirm a few details. First, ELI is probably getting better care then it has in decades and looks and sounds the part. The timing on the engine has been modified, which is a time-consuming process requiring alignment of the driving wheels with the steam piston itself, not very noticeable to the average park goer, but one that is very much appreciated from a steam train enthusiast. Also, we noted all the brass, including the brass on the headlamp, had all been shined, something that well… hasn’t happened a whole lot in the last few decades.
Tricker Treat Candy station in Planet Snoopy...
Yes those bails of hay DO say #WOF...
Around 5:30 we decided to head towards Scandinavia, and I already noted guests had started lining up for the Overlord’s Awakening show and parade, which at this point wasn’t until over an hour away. We decided at first to get a spot, but it wasn’t terribly prime (we were already behind about 10-15 people), and instead around 6 decided to instead head for a haunt and wait in line for it to open. We decided on Bloodshed and arrived there around 6:30, and found the line snaking already towards Planet Snoopy. A point of contention I have with the park, was their overall lack of crowd control and it became fairly noticeable at this point, because around 7 pm a manager showed up and decided that the line snaking towards Planet Snoopy wasn’t going to work and instead should have been headed down towards the direction of the Forum instead. So he took a 100+ person line and attempted to move it, not too successfully either as we ended up losing our space in line by quite a few people. Following that experience, over the next 30-45 minutes, we noticed quite a bit of line cutting, with no one there to monitor the line itself PERIOD. Line cutting was something that we witnessed not only on several occasions on the days we visited, but also noted by friends who visited the parks on the following two, far more busier Saturdays.
This was the crowd for the Overlord show about an hour prior... this was about when we decided to stop waiting.
However, please don’t let my criticism distract from the attraction itself though. Bloodshed was at the top of its game, the theming (carnage, carnage and more carnage) was excellent, fog and effects were great, but the Screamsters really made it, every single one was on point, and Bloodshed both on Saturday, and the following Friday was the hit of the visits.
After we got through, probably around 8 or so, we thought about heading towards Cornstalkers and noted the line, which stretched past Boomerang’s entrance at this point, and as neither of us were quite interested in waiting in that kind of line (probably close to 2 hours long) we moved on. Instead, we headed for Europa, and arrived at Moulin Rouge right as the 8 pm show was letting out and got a seat for the 9 pm show instead. It didn’t take long for Moulin Rouge, a small theater anyway, to reach capacity, and I believe it had a crowd at the back simply standing for the show too as it began. It had been a few years since I had seen Haunted Homecoming, and I found the show enjoyable, though I have to admit there were a few scenes at the end that have become so repetitive of previous years it's almost downright painful. With that being said the cast outdid themselves, the talent was excellent, and they really seemed to be giving 110% go their performance. You can usually tell when a cast is either going through the motions or really into the material, and this one was definitely the later. If you haven’t seen Haunted Homecoming before its definitely worth the stop. If you have… just be aware the material hasn’t really changed much.
Our next stop was the Skeleton Crew show at 10 pm. Before I get there another problem I witnessed multiple times within the park was food service, or the lack thereof. I stopped at Caribou Coffee briefly enough to notice the line snaking outside the door. There was an employee there directing guests to nearby counter service restaurants for coffee and hot chocolate, but Pizza Pier had just as long of a line. Once we made it to Scandinavia, I noted at least the line for Norma’s Funnel Cakes was still indoors, and they did have hot chocolate on their menu so that I decided was my best option. I waited about 10 minutes, which isn’t too bad by itself, but noted there were TWO employees working, one on the cash register and one making funnel cakes. TWO. It was a cold Saturday so attendance wasn’t overwhelming and there were already long lines everywhere. To top it off the TWO employees working weren’t even Worlds of Fun employees they wore the shirts matching a food truck company parked on Forum Road. I am thinking they were drafted into service for an already low staffed park.
After I had my hot chocolate, we hung out just for the few minutes before Skeleton Crew, it was easy to walk up just a few minutes before for a good view, but I imagine on a busy Saturday it might be harder. Overall I liked the show, Jeff had seen last year’s show and thought this year’s show was much better, and I loved the different stunts, the best part is that the actors made it all look so easy. Definitely worth the time.
Afterward we walked over by Cornstalkers, it was around 11 and the line was finally back to about the Nile Train Bridge, still long, I was willing to wait but Jeff wasn’t, so we ended up heading back out. I thought that was it, but it wasn’t, as my mom, the same person who took me to Worlds of Fun the first few times when I was a kid, yet at best, tolerates the place, decided she wanted to take her little sister to the park the following Friday and wanted to know if I wanted to go. Well OF COURSE!
So fast forward to the next Friday, I had signed up for the Kansas City 10k the following morning so I called myself insurance to not stay until closing. Still, we ended up arriving slightly before opening at 6, and following the signs I had seen the previous Saturday, I recommended we park in Oceans of Fun’s lot. First, the lot was open, second there were about a dozen other cars parked there (about three rows of cars by the end of the night), and last, there was no wait, whatsoever. It was AWESOME. Unlike the previous Friday, this Friday evening boasted exceptionally nice weather, and I wasn’t expecting the low crowds we had experienced the previous Friday but was hoping for some decent haunts. I hemmed and hawed about whether to include the review of everything or just the haunts, but decided on covering the entire evening.
The kids wanted to ride Bamboozler so that’s where we went first, that took about 30 minutes or so, next they wanted to do Spinning Dragons. As anyone familiar with that ride will tell you when the line is almost full its almost an hour wait. I knew this and gave them the option of doing that, or getting in line for a haunt or seeing Overlord and the parade. They decided the parade. We waited about 30-40 minutes for the show, we had a good spot right on the line, just a bit off to the side (near the Carousel), thanks to their great spotting. Unfortunately, we almost got pushed out of the spot by families and groups coming in at the last minute. I had to stand my ground with a lady who wanted her kids to stand in front of us when she showed up a few minutes before the show started. Sadly, that’s not really Worlds of Fun’s fault, more people in general, as this kind of thing happens even at Disney World, which is why I really don’t like parades or fireworks in general. Still, we had one of the best views of the show and parade I’ve ever had. The Overlord show was the Overlord show. If you haven’t seen it, its worth it, otherwise it's about the same. The parade was awesome, and the characters were really getting into their roles which was entertaining, to say the least.
After the parade everyone literally massed towards the Scandi/Orient bridge, everyone in my group wanted to go that way too. Having previously discussed our next plan was to go to Bloodshed, and I knew that going that way would take forever to get through the crowd while going through Scandinavia would be a ghost town. After the crowd passed, we headed just that way, and made it to Bloodshed right around 7:30, it was almost exactly a 15-minute wait (I actually looked at my phone), and it was a great experience! Once you have been through haunts as many times as we have, and worked in them you kind of become a little... well, you know what to expect. I will admit to being startled a few times, (it's really not that hard with me!), but when going with kids who don’t have as much experience, its awesome, like experiencing something brand new. Lots of good startles and scares, and once again the gore is just over the top at Bloodshed too. After that they wanted to ride Mamba, so we headed there next. One switchback was full so I wasn’t expecting a long wait, and I believe it was about 30 minutes, not bad. Our next stop was another haunt, and I recommended Cornstalkers, since it was right there, and ok I hadn’t done that one yet! We got in line, which was right under the Nile Bridge, and waited, and waited, and waited, about 20 minutes, with no movement. With kids… you know how that goes. They wanted to go somewhere else. So I recommended Blood on the Bayou, which I also knew to be good. We headed there next, stopping at Mustang Runner to ride that (about a 20-minute wait). We headed to Bayou next, which was about a 30-minute wait, again not too bad, and which was quite fun again going through with relative newbies. It was quite a good night up to this point, but you know something had to happen… The kids wanted ice cream (yeah… 45 degrees… ah to be 12 again ), so we went there first, and then I decided I wanted a funnel cake… We were over by Patriot so I headed to Grandma’s. The line should have been the dead giveaway, the memory from the previous Saturday with two employees at Norma’s should have made me smarter and should have enabled me to make informed decisions… I got in line anyway. Twenty minutes later I had paid for a funnel cake, $11. I got into the second line to pick up the funnel cake. Let me tell you there was a lot of grumbling from a lot of full-grown adults, with a lot of not so PG comments thrown in. Not from me mind you. About 20 minutes of waiting I did something most would consider nuts. I put the receipt in my pocket and walked away.
After the funnel cake debacle we headed over to Patriot, it was a little after 10 at this point and the kids wanted to ride Patriot if the line wasn’t too long, which it was, probably about half the lower queue was full which means 45+ minute line. We headed back towards Steelhawk and of course crossed through Carnevil, and while taking a picture of the Jack in the Box I’ll admit I got startled, that was a good one! Next, Steelhawk, I was sure that that would be a short line, and I had seen it running earlier. Of course… it was down for high winds. At this point, we decided to throw in the towel and head out. Turns out parking in Oceans was both easy to get in and easy to get out, though probably something that will catch on as more people hear about it, it’s still no matter what a much smaller parking lot than Worlds. Definitely park there unless you have some dying reason to go in through the main gate.
Before I finish out one last topic I wanted to discuss. A few years ago in my haunt review, I singled out Bone Yard for being well, for not being all that good. I believe my comment was there was no one there when we walked through. Which admittedly is not a good experience to have. So with that being said. I was impressed with the Screamsters and scare zones this year, we went through all of them at least a few times each, I think I got startled once or twice, (maybe more than that), But never was at a loss to see people getting scared (including those WITH me, that’s always the best part), and since I am a big proponent of giving kudos when deserved, a kudos to all those that have the much harder job of scaring a much larger group of people in a much less organized atmosphere then one would find in a house/maze itself.
This is Timber Wolf's new helix with pretty lights.
To finish up, overall, there are definitely areas for the park to improve, but that is always the case everywhere, I think some of the biggest areas are staffing, (especially food service, but other areas too), as well as ride capacity. I have never seen so many coaster trains stacked in all my life at Worlds of Fun. (stacking refers to when the returning train sits in the trims behind the station waiting for the second train to be dispatched) A friend of mine the other night timed them and messaging me saying Timber Wolf was averaging 4.5 minutes per cycle, which is approximately an hourly capacity of 600 (assuming two trains), on a ride that's probably capable of around double that... I think the staffing issues are also somewhat prevalent in the haunts, though I think the Screamsters there give 110% in most cases. After speaking with numerous friends on this issue we all seem to agree that Haunt has suffered from a needless corporate influence, the homegrown and spontaneous atmosphere that once permitted haunt and allowed it to grown from a tiny local event to a midwestern spectacle is what peopled loved and what created the crowds we see today, not slick marketing, or “scare school”. Haunt, at least for those that visit multiple times a year, every year has been weakened from the originality that made the original Halloweekends, not necessarily perfect, but perfect because of its imperfections.
I could leave it there but there is one last thing I need to say. As a former Screamster myself I want to give kudos and thank every single Screamster that made our experience fun. In the end, that’s what its about right? A World of Fun? As I mentioned its hard and tedious work, and sometimes rather thankless getting off at 3 am in the morning, scrubbing paint off your face, and still having it stuck in places you couldn’t reach, until Monday morning when people at your real job look at you weird because your ears are still black. Let me tell you it may seem thankless but it’s not, you and every Screamster that came before you built the event, not marketing, not ticket sales, not some slick online commercial, YOU. People came in 2004, in 2006 in 2012, in 2017 and because of YOU had a great time, an amazing time, they then told their friends, who told their friends, who put the cars in the parking lot, and created the massive attendance numbers the park is experiencing today. Remember that, remember the amazing experience you created but not only for the guests but for yourself too.
