SANDUSKY, Ohio -- The spooky spirit is alive at Cedar Point as HalloWeekends kicks off this weekend.
All 12 of the park’s haunted attractions are returning for more screams at HalloWeekends, but there are terrifying tweaks being made.
The park has scared up a freaky fresh twist to their Skeleton Key room experiences. For the last two seasons, Skeleton Key offered brave guests a uniquely eerie opportunity to step inside a secret room within the haunted houses not available to the general public. Once inside, a task had to be completed -- like drinking “blood” or dancing -- before the ghoul let its victims escape.
Cedar Point’s Tony Clark says all Skeleton Key rooms within the haunted attractions have been discontinued for 2016. Instead, he teases that five new Skeleton Key rooms have been added along the Frontier Trail.
To enter these special rooms requires an up-charge Fright Lane pass with Skeleton Key.
But what about the kiddos who are looking for something less spooky? To honor the 50th anniversary of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, there will be an all-new parade themed entirely around the Peanuts characters every Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m.
That means the long-running Monster Midway Invasion Celebration Parade has been laid to rest.
When HalloWeekends 2016 is unleashed, it also marks the official demise of Cedar Point’s Mean Streak wooden roller coaster. After 25 years of rickety thrills, riders can climb aboard one last time from 6-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 before it gets “the axe” and closes forever.
Once the ride shuts down that night, a funeral procession will proceed from Mean Streak to the front of the park where it will be “laid to rest” in the Dead Rides Cemetery.
What is replacing Mean Streak? While coaster enthusiasts emphatically speculate it will become a steel-wood hybrid, park officials are mum.
HalloWeekends screams to life Friday, Sept. 16 and runs every weekend through Oct. 30.
2016 marks the 20th year for HalloWeekends.
Below is a breakdown of all the haunted attractions:
Indoor Mazes: Eden Musee, Eternity Infirmary, G.A. Boeckling’s Eerie Estate, Hexed, Slaughter House, Zombie High School.
Outdoor Scare Zones: Blood on the Bayou, Cornstalkers, Cutthroat Cove, Fear-y Tales, Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks, Tombstone Terror-Tory.