- Aug 18, 2018
- 44
- 19
.
Last edited:
I've been saying this for yeeeeears!!! Someone 10 people behind you in a KSF maze could have an entirely different experience, either good or bad, saying it was full of monsters or empty. At HHN, either you miss the intended scare or you get it, there is very little variables. Personally, for me, that's why I love HHN so much more. I could judge it objectively based on what is exactly present. Someone could say a KSF maze is the best of all time, while I could say it's the worst, and we'd both be right. The only thing at HHN that'll maybe change the variation in response is your personal scare bias and subjectivity to what type of scares work on you. But either way, you are going to get the intended experience, hopefully you don't go in the room too soon or too late. I still get scared at HHN even if the scare comes out maybe 2 people ahead or behind me (if it's single file) -- anymore than that, you can at least appreciate what you know the scare meant to do (unless you miss it entirely, which is maybe only 15% of the time if you're going too fast). I can also always go online and watch videos to see the scares or if I missed any.The biggest negative for Knott's is actually the biggest strength for HHN. Say what you will about black walls and repetitive scares... the scareactors are nearly always there, and always delivering at full force. It's a very consistent experience, comparatively.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good year! Although I still enjoy going to HHN (Despite the fact that there are some things there that really annoy me, which I'll get to shortly), I enjoyed this more than HHN this year. While I do agree that Knott's can be inconsistent with their scares, they have a wide variety of different ones than HHN simply will not do. I'm just weary of the usual HHN "somebody jumps out with a blinding strobe light you can see two rooms away and the scare is ruined". HHN really helps their scares with audio triggers (and I wish Knott's would do it a bit more), but it's useless if you make sure every single scare has a bright strobe light and the scare is ruined for you from the next room. Not saying don't ever use the strobe effect for scares, but that's all they ever do, and it's old hat now. Don't even get me started on those black box scares. They're tired, stale, out of context of the setting, and absolutely useless during early entry when the light leakage ruins it. It's nice to see Knott's have variety and have an energetic cast.
Don't get me started on the scenic. Knott's has absolutely beautiful scenic. While HHN can produce really good and more realistic scenic (And they have as seen with Monsters, AVP, and La Llorona), it's aesthetically drowned out by those stupid black walls. This is a strong point with Knott's as they not only make good sets, they're actually consistent. I feel like I'm actually there. Sure, there is the occasional choppy transition like in Shadowlands from the hut to the inside and with Paranormal going inside the asylum, but they do the absolute best they can to make sure you're immersed. Movie quality sets don't stand out as much if you're just going to chop them up with black walls out of context of the environment.
I say give Knott's a chance this year.
That breaks the immersion for me more than, say, an obvious projector. At Disneyland, you can see all the bells and whistles if you accidentally look in the right spot. I've worked in entertainment long enough to know 100% of this is based on complete sense of disbelief.
But I rather have a predictable experience than have no experience.