Halloween Haunt at Kings Island Photo: Provided by Kings Island

A new report says Kings Island is in the top five when it comes to Halloween fun at theme parks across the United States.

The ranking from JeffBet placed Kings Island and its Halloween Haunt at No. 5 out of the top 10 theme parks and their haunted attractions. Sandusky’s Cedar Point, which is owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, the same parent company that owns Kings Island, was crowned No. 1.

To create the rankings, JeffBet looked at seven metrics: amenities, attractions, availability of their Halloween event, crowding, price, seasonal popularity, spooky theming, and value for money. Based on these metrics, each theme park received a score out of 10.

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Kings Island’s overall score was 5.2 out of 10, beating out bigger theme parks like Universal Studios Hollywood and Disney California Adventure. The Greater Cincinnati attraction ranked highest in value for money at 9.5/10 and performed moderately well when it came to crowds (6.2/10) and Halloween theming (6.3/10). But when it came to availability (based on the number of days the Halloween event is running and the park’s seasonal opening hours), the park earned a solid 0.

“Halloween is one of the most in-demand events at US theme parks, as they take the opportunity to attract visitors with live-action scare shows, pumpkin carving competitions, and fancy dress parties,” a spokesperson with JeffBet said in a press release. “However, the big names like Universal Studios and Disneyland Resort tend to overshadow smaller providers like Knott’s Berry Farm and Cedar Point, making it easy for visitors to end up overpaying for an experience that may actually be better elsewhere.

“It’s surprising to see Kings Island above Universal Studios in the ranking — and it just goes to show that there’s something for everyone this fall in the smaller parks and the big!”

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Data was gathered from the providers’ websites, Google reviews, queue-times.com, Google Trends and Ahrefs, says Jeff Bets. See the rankings here.

Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt immerses guests in a spooky world, featuring a number of haunted mazes — both indoors and outdoors — “scare zones,” live shows and creepy characters wandering the grounds. Many of the park’s roller coasters and other attractions are open as well.

Tickets for Halloween Haunt run from $44.99-$99.99 Halloween weekend (Oct. 27-29), depending on the day you go and if you buy a bundle.

Kings Island, Kings Island Drive, Mason. More info: visitkingsisland.com.

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This article appears in Oct 18-31, 2023.

Katherine Barrier is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program and has nearly 10 years of experience reporting local and national news as a digital journalist. At CityBeat, she...