Dorney Park Reveals What's New at Haunt VII

Dorney Park just held their season pass holder preview of what's in store for Haunt VII, taking place this Fall starting September 12th.  The 7th year of Haunt is going to see a fairly large expansion, adding more attractions in 2014 than they have in several years.

The park will hold two popular special events again this year, the Zombie Invasion night on September 12th where guests may actually come dressed as a decrepit undead, and the 5k Zombie Run on September 20th.

Before we get to what's new, how about what's coming back for Haunt VII?  There will be six returning mazes:  Mansion House Hotel, Blood Shed, CornStalkers, Grave Walkers, The Asylum, and Desolation.

Three scare zones will return as well:  Cut Throat Island, Age of Darkness (including the torture chamber add-on that opened last year) and Head Hunters.  Cut Throat Island will be moved to the area surrounding the Wave Swinger.

A brand new indoor haunt will open this year, replacing Psycho Circus.  Named the Chamber of Horrors Wax Museum, the attraction will be built in the Funzone Arcade building.

Dorney Park shared a couple of sketches of the Chamber of Horrors during the planning stage, along with those sets already under construction at the park.  We've seen the wax museum theme used at several other Cedar Fair parks in the past, and they all seem to be quite popular.  There's something about not knowing which figure is actually real when set among a group of ghouls that really freaks people out.  Myself included.

There will also be a new outdoor scare zone, located in the Hydra Plaza.  This one also borrows a very popular concept seen at other properties - Carnevil.  Clowns scare the pants off of a great deal of folks, and in this new outdoor setting will really let them roam freely about.

One of the park's major entertainment additions for Haunt VII will be located within Carnevil, and that's Skeleton Crew.  The high energy show has been seen at Cedar Point in the past, and now will take place nightly at Dorney Park.  For those not familiar, it's almost like a Haunt version of All Wheel Sports, but with less wheels and more physical feats.

Blood Drums will also perform again this year, moved back to their original home at Center Stage.

This year the Fight Lane program will be expanded to seven attractions, plus it will have its own indoor maze.  Blackout will feature total darkness that Fright Lane holders will have to pass through in order to find their way out.  The attraction will be located off the Main Midway, near the entrance to Talon.  Seeing as it might take a bit longer to get through a dark maze, it makes sense to control the capacity by limiting it to Fight Lane holders.

Fright Lane will also be expanded to include Skeleton Key rooms in six of the Haunts.  The Skeleton Key rooms are something that started at Knott's Scary Farm, and basically they are one additional scene in each attraction that is more interactive (and thus frightening) than the normal path.  Once Fright Lane holders are through the Skeleton Key room, they enter the regular haunt with no wait.

So if there ever were a year to try out the Fright Lane passes, this certainly sounds like it!

We will end with a shot of the Haunt VII hearse, now out inside the entrance gates.  The question marked attractions have now been revealed so I would look to see the logos added mid-next week when the Haunt VII website goes live.  Hopefully the park will continue to do a special event reveal each year in the future, it's a great perk for pass holders and Haunt fans.