Daily [Halloween] Spin 10.4.09

So how many taste tests does it take to declare a winner in the candy corn pumpkin vs. candy corn Hershey Kiss showdown? The world may never know. But you will, at the end of this post! First, let's whet our appetites with a taste of some more Halloween events.

The web site may seem like déjà vu all over again if you've visited any of the Haunt sites, but Cedar Point's HalloWeekends event promises to deliver a uniquely horrifying experience. This year's event features two new haunted houses and three new shows as well as daytime activities such as Planet Spooky and the Witches of Witch Hollow for the younger, more squeamish members of the family. While you're there, be sure to catch the Monster Midway Invasion Celebration Parade, which--well, invades the midway--every Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. For a truly unique Halloween treat, make a reservation to dine at G.A. Boeckling's Eerie Estate, a new haunted house which invites you to "step back into Cedar Point's history".

This weekend marked the beginning of Kid-o-ween at Wild Adventures. This family-oriented event, which runs on Saturdays and Sundays through the end of October, features kid-friendly activities including crafts, a hay bale maze, and the Monster Mash Dance Party. Next weekend the park will kick up the fright factor by more than a few notches with the 2009 debut of Phobia, which runs on Friday and Saturday nights. PR Coordinator Micha Hogan, who divulged all the gory details in a recent interview with a local radio station, describes this year's event as heavily themed and more intense than ever before. She also had a few things to say about the new Zombieland movie, part of which was filmed at Wild Adventures earlier this year. Check it out!

As the saying goes, it's all fun and games until the house really is haunted. One of America's most haunted places is none other than the Hotel Conneaut, and you can explore it for yourself as part of Conneaut Lake Park's annual Ghost Lake event. The hotel walk-through is one of "8 levels of terror" being featured at this year's event, which is brought to you by the same folks responsible for the Canfield Scaregrounds in Ohio. In addition to such crowd pleasers as Dr. Contagious, Tingler's Funeral Home, and The Black Vortex, you can also enjoy a selection of the park's rides for a minimal additional fee. The event is already in full swing, so what are you waiting for? The ghost of Elizabeth is dying to meet you...

You'll be feeling more than Tremors if you dare to visit Scarywood Theme Park this month. Silverwood has transformed two of its rides--Thunder Canyon and Steam Engine No. 7--into deliciously scary adventures featuring everything from fog and werewolves to explosions and flying ghosts. Haunted attraction tickets are limited, so be sure to order yours online if you plan to head out to Athol this year. For their part, the kiddies will have plenty of motivation to visit the park during the day. Among other things, they will have an opportunity to compete in a series of costume contests which culminates in a grand prize of a 2010 Gold Season Pass!

Speaking of things that are delicious (though not particularly scary)...

Face-off! (And I'm not talking about "the roller coaster formerly known as".)

You might say that this Hershey Kiss has earned its stripes. At the very least, it has earned the Sabrina seal of approval! (A prestigious honor not to be taken lightly, I might add.) I'm not sure that the flavor can truly be classified as "candy corn", but I still found it to be quite satisfying and a nice accompaniment to (though not a replacement for) my steady diet of candy corn pumpkins. As promised, I did bring my Excel software to its knees pumping out all sorts of complicated charts and graphs to illustrate my expert taste test findings. But after giving it some thought, I determined that my findings were statistically insignificant, pending more "research".