Celebrate 25 years of HalloWeekends

Editor's note: Justin Dietz is a Register correspondent representing CPFoodBlog.com and @CPFoodBlog on Twitter. SANDUSKY — What began with a few modest fall weekends at Cedar Point back in 1997 has grown into the seven-weekend HalloWeekends extravaganza filled with family-friendly activities, blood-curling haunted attractions, specialty food and drink delights and live shows. HalloWeekends at Cedar Point returns starting tonight, operating Thursdays through Sunday until Oct. 30. This year Cedar Point celebrates 25 years of the iconic Halloween event and will be pulling out all the family fun activities and nightly scares to orchestrate your nightmares. Daytime family activities Popular daytime HalloWeekends kids favorites return like trick-or-treat, The Magical House on Boo Hill, pumpkin decorating, corn and hay bale mazes, mini tractor rides, the kids' costume contest and more. During the day, guests can walk around the park and sample a whole new selection of over 25 specialty Halloween menu items. New this year, guests can try Farmhouse chili or broccoli and cheese soup served in bread bowls, loaded burnt ends potato wedges from BackBeatQue and much more. Those who want to jump straight to dessert will be able to try hand-crafted pumpkin roll (Coasters Diner), shards of glass (broken sugar) cupcakes (Engine House Custard) and fried Oreo fudge on-a-stick (Happy Friar). Popular favorites like blood bags, themed cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages will be offered at locations throughout the park, including the new "Midnight Elixirs" bar at the foot of the Frontier Trail. HalloWeekends live entertainment While there are a variety of ways to enjoy the fall season at Cedar Point, it is also a time to experience all new themed live entertainment going on across the park. Nighttime-appropriate interactive shows exclusive to Thursday nights will debut, including "Scare-a-oke" at the Farmhouse Kitchen & Grill Stage. Guests can belt out (or scream) their favorite Halloween tunes in front of a captive Frontier Town audience. On the famous Cedar Point Ballroom balcony, the Witch Sisters will heckle and interact with passers-by during "Witch Sisters' Insult-emporium: Witch, Please!," and the new pop-up sensation "Slash Mob" will appear at various locations inside the park, showing off their killer choreography. Since 1997, the park's midways and haunted mazes have been filled with the mystifying and macabre musical stylings of Northeast Ohio's Midnight Syndicate — a duo of musicians whose curated creepy melodies can be heard in haunted attraction settings around the world. In this new production, guests will embark on a musical tour of the sights and sounds of the ongoing collaborations between Cedar Point and Midnight Syndicate. "Midnight Hour: 25 Years of HalloWeekends and Midnight Syndicate" runs several times daily every Thursday through Sunday from Sept. 15 through Oct. 30. Additionally, guests can check out a bonus Midnight Syndicate performance at the Opening Scarymonies show which starts at 7 p.m. but only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Cedar Point and Midnight Syndicate will also be selling exclusive limited-time merchandise, including a compilation album entitled "HalloWeekends: 25 Years of Terror Together" featuring Midnight Syndicate music that has been a part of the event's history. This includes a new song and new remix, both which you can hear performed live at this year's show. Beginning today, the album will be available on CD and collectible download card in the park. The lights go out As nightfall begins to descend on the park, HalloWeekends begins to come alive. New for 2022, Bloodbath is a new haunted house located within the towering structure of the Steel Vengeance roller coaster. Guests will enter what appears to be an all-new private club named "Orpheus," the talk of the town and the party elite. As they move through the darkness, music and lights, the terror escalates as vampire-like creatures emerge and the true underground operation is realized. In addition, Boeckling's Eerie Estate is being reimagined as The Haunting of Eerie Estate. Eerie Estate is the site of the Sandusky Paranormal Society's latest investigation as they invite guests along for a classic ghost hunt. The rumors of ghostly tenants roaming the halls will be tested as guests take part in a mysterious exploration, taking them deeper into the multitude of rooms and beyond the dark shadows of this limestone mansion. Of course, some guest favorite haunted mazes and scare zones will return for the 25th anniversary season, like Cornstalkers 2.0, Fearground Freakshow and Slaughter House. Cedar Point will be open on Thursdays from 6 p.m. to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (10 p.m. closing on Oct. 9).