I hope you're all staying warm!
I'm sure you're wondering why I'm posting about Halloweekends in MARCH. Because it's always Halloween in my soul. 👿 To be honest, I've been dragging my feet since October. Let me get on my soapbox for a minute. I am not happy with many of the park decisions made since the merger. Those decisions were glaringly obvious in the 2025 season. In vain, I had hoped that Halloweekends would be left alone, but I was highly disappointed. For me, 2024's Halloweekend was an 8 or a 9 out of 10. Since getting Mr. Midnight as an icon, I felt we were moving in the direction of more popular theme parks. I would put 2025 at a 5 out of 10. It felt like we took a huge step backward. Do the houses need updated? Desperately. They also removed the main stage, making us lose some great shows throughout the night, and increasing the wait time for others. The Opening Scareymonies was terrible. It was held at the train station in the back of the park, and Mr. Midnight and the other scare actors would go onto a platform that was not high enough for everyone to see them unless you were fairly close. People were crammed together trying to get to a place where they could see, and it made it difficult for Mr. Midnight and the scare actors to get through the crowd afterward. The Flavors of Halloweekends menu had a good balance of sweet and savory options in the past, but this menu had more sweet made-ahead items than savory ones. I understand wanting efficiency, but efficiency can lose quality. Because there were so many sweet items, we didn't get as many of the food items as we have in the past. There were still some great options that surprised us, so let's get into it.
Over at the Grand Pavilion, the majority of the drinks were the same as last year. There were 3 new drinks that we tried, starting with the Corpse Reviver No. 2. This had gin, orange liqueur, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, and absinthe. It was strong and I understand how it got it's name. Very gin forward. Bright, crisp, and citrusy. I enjoyed it, but my other taster would've liked more lemon juice and orange liqueur. ($1 more this year than the original version.) ❤❤❤❤
The Blood Orange Margarita had tequila, blood orange syrup, orange juice, lime, and Sprite. Blood Orange is an underrated flavor, so I was on-board with this option. I loved the black rim that oozed into the drink. It was sweet and a little tart. You could definitely taste the blood orange, and there was a slight fizz from the Sprite. This was a dangerous one because I could easily drink more than one. ❤❤❤❤
Dracula's Elixir was incredibly tempting by name. It had vodka, lime syrup, cherry syrup, pink lemonade, and a blood-red drizzle. This was VERY sweet. I normally love cherry anything, but the syrup was borderline medicinal. It hurt my stomach to drink on it's own, but tasted better with a salty food item. It was actually my other taster's favorite, so we had to compromise on the number of black hearts. ❤❤❤
Also at the Grand Pavilion were two of the Flavors of Halloweekends menu items we wanted, starting with the Ectoplasm Wings. I loved these! They were definitely Thai inspired. Crispy and flavorful. You could taste the grape in the chili glaze, and it canceled out the spice. There was just a hint of the peanut drizzle. I did want some heat, as I didn't find them spicy at all. (Wings were $3 more this year than last year.) ❤❤❤❤
Next up were the Sweet and Sinnful Nachos ($17.99). The tortilla chips were all crunchy and sprinkled with cinnamon. The Strawberry compote was sweet, and there was plenty of it. It had a good amount of red hot drizzle and candied bacon bits. The smokiness of the bacon was overpowering to my other taster, but I thought it cut the sweetness well. The whipped cream didn't add any additional sweetness, but I still prefer my nachos to be savory. ❤❤
Also at the Grand Pavilion, we snagged a S'mores Stuffed Cookie. No notes. I am a s'more fanatic. These were available at a few different locations throughout the park. Chocolate chip cookie dough on top of a s'more and baked. Chocolate chips + a Hershey bar inside. It was buttery with a gooey inside and a crisp outside, which is the way I prefer my cookies. I bought two to take home every time I went. ❤❤❤❤❤
We headed over to the Happy Friar to try the Happy Lantern Fries ($15.99). These were fabulous! They were made fresh, which was rare this season. Salted cinnamon sugar fat-style sweet potato fries, and a huge portion. I was obsessed with the marshmallow and caramel drizzle. These weren't as sweet as we anticipated, even with the green sugar sprinkled on top. It was a great balance of sweet and savory. I thought about these the rest of the season. ❤❤❤❤❤
We got the Caramel Peanut Cluster Parfait over at Hugo's. It was delicious and definitely seemed to be inspired by a Snickers ice cream bar. The peanut butter mousse was perfection-not too sweet or gritty. Lots of peanuts. It had just enough caramel without making it too sweet. The whipped cream tasted fresh and didn't add too much sweetness. It's not my favorite of the parfaits around the park, but a solid choice. ❤❤❤❤
Over at Hot Potato were the Buffalo Bleu Fries. The fries were hot and crispy. There was lots of buffalo sauce, bleu cheese, and ranch. It was spicy and creamy, but missing the jalapenos that were in the promo photo. We wished it had green onions or red onions for another level of flavor. While there were a lot of fries, we didn't feel it was worth the price.
The food options weren't as exciting this year compared to the past Flavors of Halloweekends menus. I was missing the balance of savory and sweet options. Some items were a good surprise, while others weren't. Halloweekends overall was very underwhelming and disappointing. We didn't go as often as we normally do. The minimal shows, the addition of paying for the haunts, and the disaster of the opening ceremony left a bitter taste in my mouth. I try hard not to be very negative in my posts and offer constructive criticism where I can, but I also want to be an honest source. Cedar Point's 2026 season is going to be a determining factor on if I continue to renew my season pass or if I'm done until things starting changing for the better.
How did you feel about the changes to Halloweekends and the upcoming season? Let me know in the comments!
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