Kings Island earned a No. 11 spot among 20 major U.S. amusement parks for overall visitor satisfaction in a new national study of Tripadvisor reviews.

The study, conducted by Ohio-based custom sign company Neon Designs and first reported by the Warren County Post, set out to rank parks by their Halloween programming. It combined each park's overall Tripadvisor rating, total review count, the share of reviews posted from September through November and the average score of Halloween-specific reviews into a single index score out of 100.

On that Halloween index, the Mason park placed No. 16 with a score of 30.7. Its Halloween-specific rating was 3.96 out of 5. Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, topped the list at 84.8.

The more telling number for Kings Island may be its overall Tripadvisor rating: 4.16 out of 5. That figure pushed the park to No. 11 when the same 20 parks were reordered by general visitor satisfaction alone. It placed ahead of Knott's Berry Farm, Hersheypark, Six Flags Magic Mountain, LEGOLAND California and Carowinds.

Cedar Point fared even better. The Sandusky park, also owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, scored 52.8 on the Halloween index for ninth place and climbed to No. 4 overall with a 4.35 rating.

Austin Colasanti, CEO of Neon Designs, said "the results also show that visitors aren't necessarily seeking the same type of Halloween experience." Some parks lean into intense haunted attractions, he said, while others emphasize family activities and fall festivals.

The ranking arrives as Kings Island invests in its Halloween Haunt lineup. A City of Mason building permit issued June 12 shows the park pulled a $600,000 commercial alteration permit to retheme its former Hotel St. Michelle maze into a new attraction called Project 13 in the Coney Mall area. Two other new mazes opened for the 2026 Halloween Haunt season, according to the Dayton Daily News: Jason: Blood Reign, based on the "Friday the 13th" franchise, and Metal Massacre, themed after a hard-rock concert performed by the undead.

Kings Island also picked up a separate honor in September when its Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare won the 2026 Golden Ticket Award for Best New Family Attraction, according to Quartz.

Halloween Haunt runs on select nights through Saturday, Oct. 31, at 6300 Kings Island Drive. A Haunted Attractions Pass, required for maze entry even for season passholders, costs $15 to $25 depending on the night.