All things Knotts Berry Farm

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Knott's Scary Farm was incredible this year. It was definitely better than Universal this year. I got there about three and had dinner and did a few rides before the Haunt. We were kicked out about 5:30 and I waited outside. I was at rope drop and was able to see the beginning show where they set the stage about the hanging of Sarah Marshall the witch. The monster attack out of the fog was great. We went over Wax Work but it didn't open until a little later so we did the Depths, the space one and the paranormal one. All three were lots of fun from last year. Wax Work opened up and reminded me of the old tooth fairy maze. Very gory and scary. The end monster was amazing. People just stood there looking at it instead of leaving. Great job Knotts!

We did the Origins maze and it was incredible. It was easily the best maze of the night. It told the story of the town folks being turning into monsters by the witch. Great sets and incredible energy from the scare actors. Next we did Shadowlands and Dark Ride. Shadowlands was in rough shape and it's sad to see it go. Dark Ride was incredible as usual. There were lots of clowns in the carnevil area. The log ride was fun and I noticed a few new characters in it. The Pumpkin Eater maze is very long over at Camp Snoopy. It's still a good maze but is getting a long in the tooth. We didn't bother with the zombie shooter maze since it was long line all night. I'm not sad to see that one go.

There are three shows. The Hanging was fantastic and I'm sad to see it go next year. It comes to a very frightening conclusion where the Witch wins and a tombstone saying the Hanging 1975-2019 is displayed. Everyone walked away sad and quiet after that. The show fit perfectly with the Origins maze and the theme of the night. There were lots of jabs at Disneyland.

Puppet it up was a lot of fun and a good replacement for the improv show they did last year. They did two classic Muppet bits and then four audience participation skits. Our skits included a James Bond title sequence called Diarrhea is Forever. That one got pretty gross. Then they did one about old man on youtube talking about the dangers of celibacy. That one was very ranche. Another one was hot dogs go to a strip joint were everyone strips. Finally the last one had a member of the audience use one of the puppets. The puppets where preparing the audience puppet for raiding Area 51. That was pretty silly because the guy didn't know what to do. It was a pretty good show but should be stayed away from if you're easily offended.

Finally they had a magician at the Bird Cage theater. He was really funny. His show revolved around a psychic parrot. Good up close slight of hand tricks.

Knotts hit it out of the park this year. It will be interesting to see the changes they have next year with the new construction. For the most part this one was families and teenagers in attendance. Good crowd and pretty well behaved.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Touchdown

Well-Known Member
So I went a Haunting last night, ever since my first visit (40th anniversary year) I’ve never been able to say that all aspects of Haunt improved on that outing, until now. What a year! Both new mazes are incredible but special mention must be made for Origins, what a fantastic way to blend the Green Witch, Ghost Town Alive and Ghost town scare zone I can’t imagine any way this maze doesn’t stick around for years to come. I also loved this years Hanging and Puppet Up! To those who felt the Boo-fet has been cheapened I noticed a considerable improvement in the meal, and I was able to hit all 4 backstage mazes prior to opening

Here’s my ranking of the houses:
9. Shadowlands: Don’t get me wrong all houses ranged from very good to excellent but the time has come for this maze to retire, only maze I didn’t do twice.
8. Dark Entities: it’s better then last year, but alien mutation just isnt scary to me, however the cast really gave it they’re all on all my runs.
7. Pumpkin Eater: I really love this maze, it just oozes Halloween.
6. Infected: I know people don’t like the gimmick but I do, sue me
5. The Depths: while the elevator is a bit of an operational mess, I love it from a story perspective, and the scareactors inhabit their roles far better then last year. I still love the green fog room.
4. Wax Works: Both Ohio Cedar Fair Parks have done this theme in the past and of course Knott’s ends up with the best version, I love the hokey wax museum theme, and the artists layer is even better, a great, great maze.
3. Dark Ride: This and #2 are really close, and it frankly came down to my two runs having obnoxious guests near me that caused this maze to fall to #3 this year, so much ink has been spilt on this maze I don’t think I need to add more.
2. Paranormal: I love this maze so much, managed to be the first one to escape both times, I’m not going to Haunt again for at least 3 years I expect this maze to be retired so it was a fitting sendoff for one of my favorite mazes.
1. Origins: The Curse of Calico: I’m not exaggerating when I say this house is in the running for my favorite non IP house I’ve ever experienced, this thing is perfect, but by far the highlight is the one two punch of the appearance of a certain extinct Calico Resident followed by the Green Witch’s grand appearance is the cherry on top to this incredible maze.

If you can be sure to check out the Haunt this year!
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Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Origins was definitely the best maze I did this season anywhere. I love the part where you are on Calico's street going into the saloon. It was very convincing. I'd say Universal's Frankenstein meets the Wolfman was the next best maze this year. Runners up were Knott's Depths, Dark Ride and Paranormal Inc followed by Universal's Us, Ghostbusters and Killer Klowns. Lots of good stuff out there and you can do both for the price of Disney's candy trails and colored water show.
 

Emmanuel

Well-Known Member
or is it?

Someone on Micechat brought up the Hanging and someone confirmed that the Hanging as we know it is in fact ending this year but may return once the "PC" movement dies down. The person also said that the reason it was never announced as ending during the KSF Announcement was the possibility that the original, non-comedic witch hanging may return. In either case, it appears a new show will take place on the Calico Mine Stage next Scary Farm season. Guess we'll see when they announce the full lineup for the 2020 Scary Farm next August.



Unlike past Hangings which had electric upbeat music prior to Hanging shows, this years pre-show hanging music was mostly dark music themes by Peter Gundry. The music below is one of the pre-show tracks for this years hanging. I was able to identify 3 of them with the Shazam app.



The other 2 tracks by Peter Gundry that are also used that I also identified with Shazam are titled "Invocation" and "A Blackened Heart"
 

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