Kings Island FearFest Media Event 2006
By Noah Wullkotte
Thursday September 28th, Kings Island FearFest had their media event. As we arrived at the gate we could see the fog covering the streets of the park. We went through the metal detector and then entered Kings Island. We slowly walked around and then went to the media table. Our names were on the list and we were handed our tickets and VIP badges to wear around our necks. This VIP badge got you ahead of the line or you entered into a special line for media only. You were also granted permission to take as many pictures as possible and of course I took full advantage of that. Oddly some of the staff were reluctant to let media take pictures even after seeing the badge around our necks.
It was around 7:45 when we started to walk around the park and towards the entrance gate. While walking we came across different characters walking the street. There was a larger than life Frankenstein, a vampire on stilts and various characters around the park. Of course some of them had to take a break before FearFest officially started and they did by taking off their masks. The commercial grade fog machines were in full force and produced so much fog that it was hard to see what was next to you. I saw a few sites around the park that night such as Haunted Cincinnati and Ohio Valley Haunts, but I was focused on my goal and that was to cover the media event and review all these haunts. More time passed and it was 7:57 and people were starting to get excited about what lied behind those gates. Three minutes passed and the gate was pulled back and everyone ran like a heard of cattle.
I was determined and the first haunt we visited that night was Massacre Manor. Unfortunately 2 hours isn’t enough time to visit all of the haunts even with a VIP pass, but luckily we did. After we had gone through each of the haunts, we searched and searched for the VIP area. I was almost sick to my stomach that night from not eating and I was ready for some grub. Finally after searching for over 15 minutes we found the VIP area and entered. It was a more intimate atmosphere than last year since it took place outside instead of the Happy Days Diner. Park benches were set up along side the tables that were full of food. There was fresh fruit, gingerbread cookies, keash cakes and damnit the cider and shrimp were gone. If we had only showed up earlier.
There were a few people at the media area and once again there was another review site there and it was Ohio Valley Haunts. Ohio Valley Haunts are some of the nicest people you can meet, but the media area was getting ready to close and I was hungry. We packed our plates with food and got the Hell out of the media area. As we left I could see characters and creepy decorations at the entrance of the media area guarding the way. We searched for our way to the exit as blue lights illuminated the water from the lake. Overall Kings Island’s media event for 2006 was pretty decent and I had a great time.