The 2025 Kings Island Haunt experience has officially begun. New scare zones and events were introduced this season– and we had the chance to check them out.
The first thing added this year, to many people’s dismay, is that all visitors have to pay 10 dollars to access the haunted houses. Even gold pass members are required to pay. In previous years, haunted houses were free to anyone with a Kings Island pass or ticket. The effect of this was very present, with the haunted house lines being significantly shorter compared to past years.
The first haunted house we visited, and our all time favorite, is the slaughterhouse. Located near The Beast, this haunted house takes you inside a slaughterhouse overrun by pigs. Its decorations add to the theme, with hanging pigs you must walk through, concrete floors, and weapons. Overall we’d say this is the scariest haunted house due to the scare actors getting in your face and “oinking”. Due to its popularity the line does get quite long, but we’d say this is a must do when visiting the Haunt.
Another haunted house we visited was the Killmart. It is by the antique cars and carnival games, and in our opinion, it’s the most boring. It lacks a scary atmosphere when you walk in and there are hardly any scare actors. In addition this is a very short haunted house compared to the others, and it ultimately lacks the “scare factor.” Killmart is not worth the wait in comparison to all the other unique and interactive haunted houses.
If you walk behind the Windseeker, you will find Hotel St. Michelle. This is an abandoned hotel occupied by tormented spirits trying to “trap” you inside the hotel forever. The atmosphere resembles the 1920s and there’s flickering lights, broken decor, and the stench of rotten food. This indicates there haven’t been humans in there for quite some time. This is definitely a must ride and we recommend it to anyone going to the King’s Island Haunt.
Visitors can find Alien Abyss located by Orion and Flight of Fear. This haunted house’s theme is all around aliens and exploring an alien contaminated building. Guests go into a room where you stand in circles with numbers as you watch a video with instructions for the “mission.” Then, they are sent into the building and walk through a tight, pitch black area in a single file line. We find this one the 2nd scariest because of the theme and the fact that you can’t even see your hand in front of your face.
Kings Island puts a scary twist on the usual fall corn maze with “Cornered”. This features scarecrows, farmers, and corn and hay all around. As guests navigate through the maze, people jump out of the maze which may cause guests to get lost. Once visitors make it out of the maze, they enter a barn that has bloody machinery with haunting sound effects. Our favorite part of Cornered is a scare actor on bungee cords lunges at guests as they exit, which caught us extremely off guard. As for wait time the line is almost always 2 to 3 hours long, making it a huge time suck. Overall we would not prioritize this ride, however if you have time it is a fun experience.
There is a new addition to the haunted attractions this year, named Order of the Dragon. This is a walk through maze located in the Action Zone by the drop tower. Once guests enter the maze, they venture deep into catacombs that are the Vampire King’s lair. More things that guests have to face is “The Dragon” and other dangers as they search for the exit. We thought that this was a good new addition after removing Madame Fatale’s Cavern of Terror. It lacked scare actors throughout, so it wasn’t very scary. Overall, our favorite part was the vampire king launching across a table and we really liked the immersive theming.
If visitors walk towards Mystic Timbers, they will enter the Abandoned scare zone. It’s themed to be a lumber village that has been taken over by the evil spirits of the past. It features actors with fake chainsaws walking towards visitors, people sliding on the ground, and our favorite part: the tunnel. The tunnel is dimly lit and guests have to navigate through it while monsters pop into the openings on the side. We recommend this as it is a quick yet scary experience that can be done on your way to much scarier attractions.
As guests walk through the carnival game area with rides on either side, it becomes apparent that clowns are lurking everywhere. This area is called Coney Mall and it has all different types of clowns walking around and following guests, looking to jumpscare them. Some clowns are talkative and nice, while others are creepy and silent. With clowns being a lot of peoples biggest fear, this area is usually filled with guests screaming and running through the park. We find this area fun because the clowns are interactive and it is entertaining to see people being chased by creepy clowns.
Our favorite scare zone is Hooked, located in the walkway between the adventure area and international street. This is modeled to be an abandoned pirate ship with scare actors, who have sunk with the ship, coming back to “claim” the lost treasure. The main reason it’s our favorite is because of the interactive monsters. They are more open to talk, take photos, and do funny gestures than the ones in other areas. We also enjoyed the theming because it reminds us of famous pirates, such as the ones in the movie Descendants 2. This scare zone is a must visit because of its easy location and fun theming.
When a visitor first walks into the park, they have entered the International Street scare zone. This zone is filled with monsters like ghosts, zombies, and even spiders, looking to corner and scare people as they are least expecting it. There is also a yeti, which is a fan favorite in the area. Clueless guests walk in and instantly get jumpscared by people hiding in bushes and actors on stilts having conversations with little kids. Although the theming is a little random, we like this area because of the bush people and how interactive the scare actors are.
Once a guest enters the park and turns left heading towards the action zone, they will find a scare zone. This scarezone is called Pumpkin Eater, which we believe, lives up to its title. Ominous music plays over the speakers that chant “pumpkin eater” and play scary lullabies sung by children. Scare actors with pumpkin heads on stilts walk through the area hiding in the heavy fog and waiting to scare people that can’t even see them coming. The bad thing about the fog is that it is thick, has a scent, and is hard to walk and see through. There are also bush people here, who hide in bushes looking to scare guests. This area is cool to walk through and we really like the theming, but it’s not our favorite considering it’s not very scary compared to other scare zones.
The coolest addition to the Kings Island haunt this year by far is the Conjuring Beyond Fear experience. Guests go into a replica conjuring house, each room having different nods to all the movies in The Conjuring universe. It is like an escape room with people picking up artifacts to unlock new things. The experience lasts about 20-25 minutes and the groups are very tightly packed together, going through the experience quickly. We would only do this experience around 2 times considering that it costs $15-20 and we waited for 2 hours. We thought that the idea and theme was a great idea and we would recommend this to anyone who’s a fan of horror movies.
The Kings Island Haunt is our favorite time of year because not only can guests ride all the rollercoasters, but also experience scare zones, haunted houses, and scare actors. We cannot recommend the Kings Island Haunt enough, it’s a really exciting experience.
