Halloween HAUNT Decorations (WOF)

DECORATIONS

Welcome to a new season of Halloween HAUNT at Worlds of Fun

This is truly the "most wonderful time of the year" at the park and honestly, I think HAUNT is when Worlds of Fun really shows its dominance in the amusement industry

A lot of attention has been put on the decorations in International Plaza this year with several large photo ops placed around the area.

The Orient has a really cool Lantern Festival area over the lake

The Throne has returned this year and has the additions of some very cool metal dragons

Star Fountain Plaza is a lot less crowded with decorations this year and that's fine with us.  The simple lights and garland on the poles mirror what they do in the area for Winterfest

It honestly feels like this area is the "retro decoration" area of the park.  We really like the cat decorations on the Front Street Emporium shop this year.

The Wizard of Oz tradition continues at Cyclone Sams.

If anything they keep stepping up their game with the decorations here

I also like how they've spread out the characters a little bit

The tin man on the queue roof could easily be missed though

The ambulance is stationed by Boomerang this year.  Weird to think that we are now 2 seasons removed from having a medical themed maze.

Troll Crossing returns in Europa.  The kids love this thing.  They will yell at him until they "wake him up"

The barrel prop from Grand Carnivale's Germany area has been moved to Europa and claimed by spiders

The Spiders have taken over the Europa restrooms too

The themed tombstones have appeared in Europa this season

The Africa entrance sign across from the Floral Clock has been updated for HAUNT

The skull from the Fright Zone (long defunct scare zone) has returned by Moroccan Merchant

Jack has found a new home in Scandinavia

While not officially a scare zone this year, this area is basically the new CarnEvil

I think the park missed out on the chance at marketing it as another scarezone

Time to take a look at the souvenir offerings for this year.

The orange tied-dyed pumpkin shirt is pretty neat

Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) souvenirs

I liked the homage back to an original Haunt character that used to roam the park

One really neat thing I saw this season was that the Star Fountain Plaza was really busy with families just hanging out while other members of their parties were visiting mazes.

The updated lighting in International Plaza was put to good use on the new Overlord's Awakening stage

We're just getting started on our coverage of HAUNT 2019.

Be sure to click on the links below for even more coverage of this amazing event

2019 HALLOWEEN HAUNT at WORLDS OF FUN COVERAGE

|  DECORATIONS |  GREAT PUMPKIN  |  SHOWS  |  MAZES  |

Mystic River Falls (SDC)

It's time to check back in on the progress being made at Mystic River Falls.  First up is this support building that has popped up at the exit from the ride.

You can see the station rising in the background and this building is clearly at the exit

We figure it will either be a souvenir stand or a locker rental area (or both).

The station is starting rise with supports for the room beams now in place.  You can also see new poles for lighting which will be along the exit pathway

The roof beams are all stacked and waiting to go vertical

The channel for the return to the station is starting to be formed.  You can also get a better idea of where that support building is located with relation to the ride.

It really appears that the focus for this upcoming week will be the station area as they have a lot of large machinery staged in this area.

Once they have finished with this area they will probably turn their attention to the drop tower as they seem to be trying to avoid "painting themselves into a corner" with construction

The far corners of the ride have seen a lot of landscaping installed.  Look at all the new trees

The island has received a lot more rock

The sluice continues to grow, we figure next time we visit they will have connected these two new support towers to the existing sluice near the Crossroads Pizza dining patio

This is the view from the Wilson's Farm bridge.  I wanted to point out that they are continuing the faux rock painting on the tops of the canal here as well.  You can see it on the left side of the photo

These next photos are from the Giant Barn Swing queue.  You can see that they have started to build up the facade building that the final drop goes through on the left side of the photo

The backside of the new Smokehouse and a view of all of the rock that has been installed

This view will soon be the lift to the spiral canal in the sky before the drop

The center of the photo is where the drop will be located

The bridge that starts the ride and underneath is the cave area before the lift

It looks like they might be starting on the initial lift that gets you to the top of the first part of the ride

One last photo from the Giant Barn Swing queue

Back in the Wilsons Farm plaza area.  You can see a large rock pile here that will have water falling over it back into the canal.  The wood structure you see on the right is supposedly a new lookout tower for ride attendants to watch from

The amount of rock and trees they have added since last time is quite impressive.  You will travel from the left of this photo to the right in your boat.

You can see across the bridge here on the left.

There will be some major rapids rushing into the canal here from the small waterfalls (which is what the rock formation on the left is)

Here's a better shot of the bridge and how it hooks up with the top part of the river

One last photo from Wilson's Farm.

Now photos from the train.

A worker waving with the new Smokehouse in the background

Lots of machinery

A tent shielding some work being done to electrical pipes

Those are some massive engines

The station for the riding peeking from behind the pump building

Another support building and the edge of Lake Silver.  You can see the new dining plaza area that will be across from the Riverfront Playhouse in the distance

One last photo from the train of the support building next to the pump house.

We will be back on October 5th for our next update.