ILoveRides Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 (edited) Thursday was the opening night of Knott’s Scary Farm 2015, and TPR was there with David and Spears! This year's event has 11 mazes, 2 shows, and 3 scare zones to entertain you throughout the night. There's so much to do at Scary Farm that it's hard to cover everything in one night - but this report should give you a great idea of what to expect this year! Check out the full report below! Put on your excited pants, Scary Farm is here! The Green Witch and the new Deadly Seven characters started Scary Farm off with a bang by scaring guests as they waited in the entrance plaza. Spears got her first scare of the season. The Deadly Seven have great costumes! She can scare me anytime. Boo! At 7pm the park opened, and guests eagerly raced in! A media reception was set up in the Fiesta De Los Muertos Scare Zone. The reception was Dia De Los Muertos themed. As is customary for Knott's, there were tons of decorations and things to eat and drink. Mmm, food. Yum yum. We washed down the food with some sangria. And we washed down the sangria with some desserts. Spears posed as a bouncer with Haunt designers Gus Krueger and Daniel Miller. Time to check out some mazes! Here's a new one for this year: Dead of Winter! There's a small mirror maze inside. And lots of snow and snowy characters. And the best part? It's cold! Which is great on hot so-cal nights! Can you survive your encounter with him? The Ice Queen awaits! Check out our full walkthrough video of Dead of Winter: Moving on, lets check out the My Bloody Clementine overlay for The Mine Ride. There are decorations set up around the mine. And Clementine lurks near the exit. There is live talent in the ride as well! However, to protect the animatronics and effects that were installed as part of the recent Mine Ride renovation, there aren't too many places that monsters can scare anymore. Unfortunately, this means that the scares are few and far between, and aren't as effective as they might otherwise have been. But in our opinion, this was the best possible compromise Knott's could have made. We love having talent in the ride for Scary Farm, but even more important is protecting the massive investment that was recently made in the attraction. So the experience does fall a little flat, but we're happy with the choices Knott's made in that regard. There are also new projections and effects throughout the ride. A projection of Clementine in the Glory Hole. The bird is the word. Up next, The Hanging: Straight Outta Calico! This year's show is interactive. Choices pop up on a screen and you can text your vote in to change the outcome of the show. For example, here we had the choice between a traditional start to the show, or a viral video... Viral video got the most votes, so a viral video played before the show started! If you've seen this show before, you know what to expect. It's a pop-culture-mocking-extravaganza! The Kock Brothers. Jared from Subway. There's lots of shooting. You can always expect a Disney reference. Tranny-saurus rex. The fight scenes are great! There's minions... Something for those who like women... Something for those who like men... We love all the action scenes! Hi PacMan! Hi ladies! There's some ball deflating... Gratuitous violence... Humor... Does Bill Cosby get hung? Nope! Donald Trump? Nope! In the end it's Ariana Grande who gets the noose! But enough hanging around, lets check out more mazes! Next up, Trick Or Treat! Ring the doorbell and step inside. There are lots of new effects and scenes this year. We were impressed - the maze is actually a pretty dramatic improvement over last year! This is true of most of the returning mazes this year - noticeable improvements were made across the board! Of course you'll still come face to face with The Green Witch! Voodoo returns with new improvements and more scares! On second thought, I'm not so hungry. Unlike last year, the maze is a single path this year - you can't choose your path anymore. But this ends up making the maze longer since you get to see everything, and new scenes were added to further immerse you in the environment. Voodoo is one of the most immersive mazes I've ever experienced. It really transports you to another place! I'm glad that feeling wasn't lost in this year's changes. The most anticipated maze for 2015 would have to be Paranormal Inc. And I'm glad to say, it lives up to the hype! You join the taping of a paranormal TV show. But things go wrong, and you come face to face with the paranormal world! The maze has some great effects I've never seen used before! This guy gets lifted up into the air! There are also some large animatronics! Check out our full walkthrough video of Paranormal Inc: The Tooth Fairy returns this year with new improvements that bring you into the story more. These tools seem a little excessive for a tooth fairy or dentist. Yep, too excessive. On second thought, I don't need that cavity checked out. Open your mouth and say ah! Around the park there are lots of spooky decorations. I love the themed lamp posts. There are also plenty of monsters wandering around. Lets check out Ghost Town, the first ever Scare Zone in an amusement park, and in my opinion it's still the best! The premise is pretty simple: dim light, fog so thick you can't see, and monsters lurking everywhere. They'll get you! (Report continued in next post!) Edited September 27, 2015 by ILoveRides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveRides Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Continued from above... I had a nightmare once that looked like this. Pinocchio Unstrung returns this year. Take a trip to Pleasure Island. There’s nothing pleasurable about this though! Could Pinocchio be any creepier? Now over to the Carnevil scare zone. A new mini-show happens outside the Charles M. Schulz theater. As we were walking by, fog filled the air… And the Deadly Seven appeared… They scared in the fog along with the Green Witch. I would love to ride around in this contraption all night! Finally, lets take a look at the new show "Elvira’s Asylum.” You enter an asylum filled with freaks. I love the lighting! Maybe selfie sticks aren’t so bad after all. There are several performers in the show. No net! The star of the show is the legendary Elvira! There’s dancing… Knockers… Hooters… And variety acts. It’s a fun show! Whenever I’m asked by friends, “What Halloween event should I go to?” my answer is always Knott’s Scary Farm. Knott’s offers one of the most well-rounded Halloween events with something for everyone. And despite being the first - they don’t rest on their laurels. They continue to innovate and re-define what to expect from a Halloween attraction. With great new mazes such as Paranormal Inc. and The Dead of Winter, returning favorites like Trick or Treat and Voodoo, interactive experiences such as The Hanging and Infected, awesome shows like Elvira’s Asylum, legendary scare zones such as Ghost Town, as well as a full park of rides - Knott’s Scary Farm is a “can’t miss” Halloween event. Scary Farm runs select days through October 31, 2015 - don’t miss it! Thanks to Knott’s for throwing such a great event, and thanks to you for checking out our report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Great report! I really enjoyed the backstage tour of Voodoo during WCB, so it was cool to see some photos of the house in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 I'm not gonna lie, I blew through most of your pictures without looking because I don't want any spoilers for the new attractions. What I did see, though, looked great! I'll be there on Thursday and then again on the 22nd with Skeleton Key. Can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Paranormal Inc. looks great; in fact, I'm pretty impressed with what Knott's Scary Farm overall. I haven't been since 2001; need to get back for one of these days, er, years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Paranormal Inc. looks great; in fact, I'm pretty impressed with what Knott's Scary Farm overall. I haven't been since 2001; need to get back for one of these days, er, years. The scares were weak. However, the production with the pre-show and other FX is definitely the best I've seen from Knotts and some of the best I've ever seen out of any Haunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy T. Koepp Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 This will now be the 3rd year I have had to miss this event. It looks awesome! Great TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sokalkostr Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Wow I'm really glad I went the same night, cause if I hadn't been and I saw all those spoilers, I would have been upset. Should probably preface the report with there are spoilers. After going to HHN last night, I can honestly say, Knott's doesn't even stack up. The level of scaring and production is far and away better at Universal, but to Knott's credit, they are trying. Voodoo and Paranormal were the best themed by far. I love that Knott's actually borrowed some of Universal's scare tactics in those mazes as well. My problem with Knott's is that monsters just standing around in mazes is not scary! At Universal there are never monsters just standing around. They are always jumping out at you from somewhere, and the actors that are just kind of standing around in the mazes are supposed to be part of the scene and are "acting" My Bloody Clementine was such a let down. That "maze" had the potential to be amazing, but little to no talent, and not a lot of theming kinda killed it. Even my gf who's terrified of this stuff said it wasn't scary. Paranormal was an even bigger let down though. After the first room, I never once thought I was in a mental hospital. Apparently we were in the "basement" the whole time. Lots of actors though, and got a few scares in there, but definitely not what I expected. The effects were pretty cool though Didn't get a chance to do Special Ops. We got into the park just a couple min after opening, and headed straight over to Special Ops. I could only describe it as mass chaos. Just a sea of people with no organization whatsoever. Just people pushing through a crowd to try to get a time card to come back. When we finally got up there, they were already at 12:45. The line was already well over an hour for it as well. When we did come back for our time, the line was still an hour plus, and this is with reservations. We were tired and opted not to wait. They need to seriously re-work this!! The Hanging was brutal to watch. Aside from a couple decent one-liners and moments that made the crowd cringe, the rest of the show wasn't very funny and seemed much more disjointed then shows in the past. The whole audience interaction part didn't work either. And the dancing...comical. Stop trying to make the Hanging the next Bill & Ted Knott's!! Haunt has always been a tradition for me, but it just seems to be a let down every year. I keep holding out hope though that they will return it to it's glory years but this year definitely was not one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAWKIN_coaster38 Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 LOL I knew there were probably gonna be spoilers but I couldn't hold myself back. I'm so dang excited! I want to do this event so bad this year, especially after the two backstage tours at WCB I've done (Forevermore two years ago and VooDoo this year). If all goes well, I'll be there on the 9th with friends I met at WCB! Thank you for the TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelRush Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 THIS LOOKS LIKE... THIS! From Lego Power Miners xD wouldn't be surprised if that was where the idea came from KSF goes up there with HHN for sure! Great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 ^I believe that figure is an off the shelf figure purchased years ago at IAAPA. It's been in other mazes at Haunt in the past. Didn't get a chance to do Special Ops. We got into the park just a couple min after opening, and headed straight over to Special Ops. I could only describe it as mass chaos. Just a sea of people with no organization whatsoever. Just people pushing through a crowd to try to get a time card to come back. When we finally got up there, they were already at 12:45. The line was already well over an hour for it as well. When we did come back for our time, the line was still an hour plus, and this is with reservations. We were tired and opted not to wait. They need to seriously re-work this!! This. The park should be embarrassed that such an ambitious project is a complete disaster operationally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 ^I believe that figure is an off the shelf figure purchased years ago at IAAPA. It's been in other mazes at Haunt in the past. Correct. He has also been showcased at numerous Haunt Conventions by his manufacturer whose name escapes me. Hefty price tag however.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 ^It costs more than an average midsized car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 ^Agreed. He is a scary SOB though when he is in a part of a maze with the right amount of lighting and smoke effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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