Knott’s Scary Farm 2026

[deadbydawn]

As the monsters retreat and the 2025 season comes to a close, we also say goodbye to two mazes, The Grimoire and Mesmer.

Here is a new thread to talk about any news, ideas, or speculation for next year’s event!

See you in the fog!

 

[DTH]

Whatever goes in Mystery Lodge will be fantastic. I don't think they've ever had a bad maze there. As for the other maze, I'm hoping they pick another spot -- I'm not a fan of the Xcelerator location. And truly, I hope something else bites the dust -- 2 new mazes don't feel like enough at all. I think KSF should be doing a bare minimum of 3 new mazes a year. Origins would be my pick -- I know it has its fans, but nobody is going to be genuinely mad if it goes without an announcement, at least not enough to boycott lol

Personally, I would love to see a grounded aliens maze, could be modern or in the past, doesn't matter to me as long as it's not mostly set in space ala Dead Entities, and it's not a comedy.

I feel like it's been a while since we've had something in the medieval era. Would love to see something cult-ish also.

 

[deadbydawn]

Whatever goes in Mystery Lodge will be fantastic. I don't think they've ever had a bad maze there. As for the other maze, I'm hoping they pick another spot -- I'm not a fan of the Xcelerator location. And truly, I hope something else bites the dust -- 2 new mazes don't feel like enough at all. I think KSF should be doing a bare minimum of 3 new mazes a year. Origins would be my pick -- I know it has its fans, but nobody is going to be genuinely mad if it goes without an announcement, at least not enough to boycott lol

Personally, I would love to see a grounded aliens maze, could be modern or in the past, doesn't matter to me as long as it's not mostly set in space ala Dead Entities, and it's not a comedy.

I feel like it's been a while since we've had something in the medieval era. Would love to see something cult-ish also.

Regarding Mesmer's replacement I am not sure they have many other spots to pick from over there that are either backstage or inside buildings. I don't mind the location, and I think the last handful of mazes have utilized the space well. Black Magic, Shadowlands, and Mesmer all feel like they had pretty unique layouts.

I could see The Chilling Chambers and Origins being the next two to go. I really enjoy The Chilling Chambers, and as a love letter to Scary Farm history I think it's great. I just feel like every year we get further from the 50th, the greater the chance gets of losing it. That location would be perfect for a new maze that ties into The Gauntlet scare zone.

Origins has been showing it's age, and I think most people would be ok with seeing it go. It's easily one of the best mazes they've had in recent years in my opinion. Outside of those two, Room 13 would be my wild card pick.

I wish they could utilize the old Gunslinger's Grave location under Silver Bullet again for something Forsaken Lake related. That is such a great zone and I'd love to see it expanded on. Other than that, I wish we could get some activity back in Fiesta Village again but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Freak]

I don’t know what we’ll see next year, but I’ll throw in my two cents on what I would like to see:

Put a show in the Shultz theater again. I’m convinced the reason why the crowds felt especially bad this year was due to the theater going dark this year. It’s a bigger crowd suck than the park realizes apparently.

I’m not sure if they will keep the flashlight aspect of zoo next year. They can’t seem to make up their mind on whether they want to make it lights out or not. I think they should just keep it lights out and limit the flashlights to just one per group. Do we even know what the deal was with the park being fickle about the whole “lights out” gimmick?

Mystery Lodge needs something “grand”. The venue kinda demand something big in scale. Grimoire was fine, there were a couple of rooms that were fairly big in scale, but I would like to see a concept that would really take advantage of it and put good money into it. I would love to see a gothic castle or medieval theme take that spot. I’ve always wanted to see a grand castle theme for that venue so hopefully they do that.

So glad Mesmer is finally leaving. I have no idea what they could put there but hopefully it’s something that’s not carnival themed…which it probably will be.

 

[deadbydawn]

I don’t know what we’ll see next year, but I’ll throw in my two cents on what I would like to see:

Put a show in the Shultz theater again. I’m convinced the reason why the crowds felt especially bad this year was due to the theater going dark this year. It’s a bigger crowd suck than the park realizes apparently.

I’m not sure if they will keep the flashlight aspect of zoo next year. They can’t seem to make up their mind on whether they want to make it lights out or not. I think they should just keep it lights out and limit the flashlights to just one per group. Do we even know what the deal was with the park being fickle about the whole “lights out” gimmick?

Mystery Lodge needs something “grand”. The venue kinda demand something big in scale. Grimoire was fine, there were a couple of rooms that were fairly big in scale, but I would like to see a concept that would really take advantage of it and put good money into it. I would love to see a gothic castle or medieval theme take that spot. I’ve always wanted to see a grand castle theme for that venue so hopefully they do that.

So glad Mesmer is finally leaving. I have no idea what they could put there but hopefully it’s something that’s not carnival themed…which it probably will be.

I agree that there absolutely has to be something in the theater next year.

I don't think there is an official reason for the inconsistency with The Zoo's lights on/lights off versions, but I mentioned before hearing of cast injuries and guest misbehavior with the flashlights which could have been a contributing factor. I guess we'll have to wait and see what they end up doing there.

The Mystery Lodge location is interesting. The creative team mentioned at Midsummer Scream that originally Bloodline and Grimoire were supposed to be swapped. Given that Infected was there and seemed to be pretty popular with guests, I wonder if Bloodline would have faired a little better in that location.

 

[Jerroddragon]

From an outsiders perspective I'd take 3 houses. Replace two with whatever fun houses you have and one IP house

I know its not for everyone but if there was an Arkham house this year, I would have come but this year only had two new houses and the themes on paper were not too exciting so i didn't go.

Also a new show would help with the crowds, its been a while but Puppets up was better then nothing in that theater and hope they find something on theme to fit the big theater because thats a people eater

 

[downunder]

The lack of a theatre show looked like a cost cutting measure, that on the back of the previous year where it was just Elvira videos and a tribute museum. I presume they couldn't do the hanging in there, that show could use the extra capacity. Hopefully there'll be a show in 2026, let's see if the Six Flags tight wads want to put some budget into it.

If there's enough mazes that have had 4+ year stints (or just were bad), they would do well to replace 3-4 mazes a year, but maybe they're not prepared to pay for that. Some inspired re-tooling (i.e. actually noticeable) of existing mazes wouldn't hurt. Chilling Chambers could really do with some new chambers, maybe some new movies in Cinema Slasher. Personally, I think the new additions since and including the 50th have been pretty good, a nice comeback from Bloodline and Grimoire (which had potential and good points but just missed). Maybe another ghostly theme for the Mesmer replacement would be good, Shadowlands at its peak had such great atmosphere, and please no shooter for Mystery Lodge - let's get back to Terror of London style.

The Zoo has pretty good visuals, maybe they should leave it lights on. I saw the transition at 11pm first-hand and it looked hectic, I felt for the staff. It will be interesting to see what direction they go with Zoo.

 

[Freak]

The lack of a theatre show looked like a cost cutting measure, that on the back of the previous year where it was just Elvira videos and a tribute museum. I presume they couldn't do the hanging in there, that show could use the extra capacity. Hopefully there'll be a show in 2026, let's see if the Six Flags tight wads want to put some budget into it.

If there's enough mazes that have had 4+ year stints (or just were bad), they would do well to replace 3-4 mazes a year, but maybe they're not prepared to pay for that. Some inspired re-tooling (i.e. actually noticeable) of existing mazes wouldn't hurt. Chilling Chambers could really do with some new chambers, maybe some new movies in Cinema Slasher. Personally, I think the new additions since and including the 50th have been pretty good, a nice comeback from Bloodline and Grimoire (which had potential and good points but just missed). Maybe another ghostly theme for the Mesmer replacement would be good, Shadowlands at its peak had such great atmosphere, and please no shooter for Mystery Lodge - let's get back to Terror of London style.

The Zoo has pretty good visuals, maybe they should leave it lights on. I saw the transition at 11pm first-hand and it looked hectic, I felt for the staff. It will be interesting to see what direction they go with Zoo.

If they cannot afford to do a third new house, at the very least put a new scene or change up one of your older houses. Like you said, a new “movie” in Cinema Slasher would do wonders as well as a new “chamber”. It would be a good compromise to not being able to do a full-on third maze.

 

[Rideguy70]

As much as I hate to say it, but if they want to keep The Zoo with flashlights (which was definitely extremely popular), they should make it an upcharge experience to help with line and crowd management.