[Haunts] New Experiences Coming to Kennywood's 2015 Phantom Fright Nights!

Looks like the details for this year's Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood are out in the wild. The park hasn't officially announced all this stuff just yet, but the website is up and running with almost all the info for this year's event. So, being the intrepid sort, let's see what's going on and what might be new for 2015 at Kennywood this Halloween season.

In the past I've given Kennywood a bit of flak for not doing a lot of new things from year to year,  and sadly that's fallen on deaf ears as they're really not changing things up at all yet again. In fact, it looks like the exact same line up is returning for at least the 4th straight year. So, if you've been there, you've seen pretty much all of this. 

However, there are some new things coming this year...and that's not a bad thing to see at all. Rather encouraging really, and hopefully this is something that continues because they've really gone stagnant on some of their offerings and that's not good for anyone at all.

So let's get down to things and first up, the new stuff!

While this year's event doesn't really feature anything in the realm of new mazes or scare zones being offered up, some things are getting a bit of love in the form of updates.

For starters, they are touting that Mortem Manor has gone under a total overhaul. What that exactly means, I'm not sure of. If they have changed everything out, that could be a good thing. This one has been around forever now and a refresh from the ground up would be a very good thing to see.

Also, for 2015 they're bringing back Ark in the Dark for the entire season. The only Noah's Ark dark attraction left in the world will be opened up for what sounds like a pitch black kind of experience. Not sure why, since there already is a pitch black house in the line up, but okay we can roll with that. Oh, also, there's an upcharge on this one. Not sure what that will be exactly, as the site doesn't say at this point, but on the plus side it's only 2 people at a time for this. Something more extreme perhaps? Hard to say as details are sparse.

The more interesting bit of news is that the park's new 4D theater will be host to it's own horror show for the 2015 season. Gotta say, that's a pretty cool way to go about it, and for the inaugural Halloween season, Jason Vorhees will be coming to town with Friday the 13th 4D. The experience will be a nine minute long chase through the woods and grounds of Camp Crystal Lake as you hopefully don't become his next victim. No clue how that's going to work or what will be involved, but I give them credit for bringing in something new and unique to the line up here.

The last bits of new things coming for 2015 are pretty minor compared to all of that. The Dark Shadows maze will feature an entirely new room and there's new props going into both the Gory Park scare zone and Villa of the Damned maze.

Good to see some love and life being given to a few of their older attractions, but if I'm honest, they should just be replacing some entirely. If they really want, I'm free most of the year and know some other folks who'd be able to help too.

Okay, setting some of the snark aside for a moment, there are some new and interesting things coming this year. No, it's not a lot and as I said, I hope this is a trend that continues with more changes and turn over coming in the future. The park used to be great at Halloween and it's really fallen in the past few years, that's something I hate to see.

As for the rest of the line up, it's the same as it was last  year.

This year's mazes are once again; Dark Shadows, Villa of the Vampire, Mortem Manor, Voodoo Bayou, Kennyville Cemetery, BioFear, and Ark in the Dark/Haunted Noah's Ark. And as you can imagine, the returning scare zones are; Death Valley Ghost Town, Gory Park, Fear Festival.

Also returning for the 2015 season are the Prescare Dinner options that feature a BBQ style buffet on select nights. This year those nights are October 17th and 24th and in addition to the meal and getting some time with various scare actors, guests will get an early screening of Friday the 13th 4D as well. Tickets run $42.99 and seats are limited, so if you're gonna do that, keep an eye out for when they officially go on sale.

As far as the regular tickets for this year's event go, you'll be able to get them at Giant Eagle for $27.99 in advance. Otherwise they'll run you $32.99 at the gate and $29.99 through Kennywood's website. Right now there's no word on the VIP/RIP tours that will be offered, but once those details are announced, I'll be sure to update things here.

And there ya have it, everything we know about this year's Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood. As we uncovered before, this year's event will run on Friday and Saturday nights during October, and include Sunday, October 11th. For more info, feel free to check out the official Phantom Fright Nights website and be sure to stay tuned as we get more details!

No clue if we'll be getting to Phantom Fright Nights for this year's Haunt Tour, but if we do, you'll definitely be hearing about it as it's been a few years since we last experienced things. Needless to say, it left a slightly bad taste. Maybe they can turn that around? Only time will tell!