The first time I can remember a zipline scare being direct at the guests was in 2011's The Forsaken, which used the setup as the house finale. It was used similarly in 2012's Gothic and has made appearances ever since. Well before that, though, there were "bungee" scares where performers would float *above* guests versus *at* them. Those I believe have been present longer than I have been doing the event, but I vividly remember seeing them in 2009's Dracula house (with the Brides floating above you). The Wolfman house used a bungee mechanism for when the monster was "shot" and ripped back in the house's climax - 2008's Interstellar Terror attempted a similar trick with an airlock until they abandoned the position due to safety concerns.
Plenty of haunts have been using intense bungee scares for many, many years, though. Howl-O-Scream used a ton when I went a decade+ ago.