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Knott's Scary Farm 2018

See? What did I tell you guys! KSF has been killing it with scares lately! They have a wide-variety of scares and they work! HHN needs to learn.
Maybe I should rephrase... KSF has nice little mini shocks. Over and over again. Someone in the dark coming into view. When I get a scare at HHN, it's one nice big one, which in my estimation is worth 3 little mini-shocks. I'd say it's about even, which then makes it come down to...

Uh, what? This argument makes no sense, like at all. With the exception of Monsters and Stranger Things, HHN has really sucked with immersion. KSF houses are SUPER immersive and I think they are superior than HHN's scenic (Monsters is probably on-par) even if it isn't necessarily "movie quality". Why? Just look at the Principal's house in TrT. A nice house surrounded by black walls. Like dude Murdy, you couldn't even at least put a wooden fence there with some tree branches sticking out? Everything there was far more immersive than 3/4 of HHN's houses. Polt has some, but it's ruined by black wallz.
Aesthetic. For me, it's everything. And it makes perfect sense with the way I described it. KSF looks CHEAP... someone I know phrased it perfectly... KSF looks like a bunch of buddies got together and decided they could build some mazes after they got some money. HHN looks like people hired with an education, experience, and the best of the best came in to build. I look at KSF and think, "I could do that if you gave me the money and the resources." HHN I think, "I'd probably have to take some classes, work for a decade, and study for years before I can really perfect that craft." The craftmanship is just on another level. The lighting they use, the colors, the design -- it's skewed towards realism which helps with immersion. One realistic room is worth 1/8 a KSF maze (in MY estimation). And every HHN maze, no matter how many black walls there are between them, has at least 10 rooms.

Even a maze I love, like Paranormal, looks fake af. Like the ghost trapped in the TV during the pre-show is completely the wrong scale. KSF does this year after year because now in Dark Entities, they have a video of a girl stuck in a cryo-tube. What's a giant octopus worth in The Depths if it looks plastic & foam-y? Why does every maze look like cluttered plaster and cheap paint? Why are the vines on the outside of the Pumpkin Eater pumpkin STAPLED onto it in plain site sloppily like a second grader did it? You can have the most elaborate set built 360 degrees crowded with tons of scenic, but if the craftmanship isn't there and it's built from cheap materials, I won't care. And I decided to look down... the markings for the blueprints are still on the ground in almost every maze. Looked up and realized the walls really aren't that high either and some of the mazes don't have ceilings -- at HHN I hardly notice this because I'm always looking straight ahead, here it was hard not to see because they're so low. And don't get me started on the fake water laser effect, which works for a little "ohhh" but doesn't by any estimation look like actual water, so I don't give a flying monkey's poop about it.

It's as simple as this: I am not immersed if I can't suspend my belief. I can't suspend my belief if it looks super fake, cheap, or doesn't look like the real thing. If you can make me believe my surroundings for even a moment like HHN can, then it is already a mile ahead and the scare will hit harder FOR ME. Nothing about any KSF maze that I've ever been through has looked real or delivered the big scares on a consistant basis.

To be fair, HHN does have issues with its wait times as well. I still see some of the Ops at Uni do the same. But I'll give you that, ride ops at Knott's do tend to be slower. HHN has issues with their wait times. Last year, Insidious was posted at 20 min and waited more like 40. ike I said earlier, Uni ain't perfect either.
With a little bad luck, this happens at Uni seldomly, maybe once a night FOR ME. I even complain about the inverse of this at Uni and think they should be held accountable for overestimated waits, which I point out in my reviews. In order to have a smooth experience, you need a good game plan. And a good game plan relies on accurate estimation and constant updates which they are capable of. Disneyland is usually spot on 90% of the time. Universal 65% of the time. Knotts, like 10% of the time. With a short event time, it is absolutely crucial to be updated. And with a park as big as Knotts, you really need to know where you're going next or you're wasting a lot of time just from the walk alone. And Knotts doesn't bother to put on the app their wrong maze wait times. Universal at least has giant boards in optimum spots in the park, apps, and websites you can use to your advantage. Knotts is stuck in the freakin' stone age and it's baffling, considering they've ran this event longer than any theme park in the country.

This happened last night almost 4 times in a row. It is truly UNACCEPTABLE for a line to say 60 minutes but actually be a walk-on. 5-15 minutes? Whatever. I passed by that maze because it said 60 only to see people walking into it for 10 whole minutes while I was stuck in my 30 minute line that was actually 50. It is UNACCEPTABLE to say 35 minutes when it's actually 70 minutes. It is UNACCEPTABLE to hold the GP line and only let in Fast Lane line for 30 minute stretches at a time (which is why I am steering super clear of WB's Conjuring maze because I'd erupt in flames). I am a very calm man, but Knotts operations infuriates me. It's not about one or two wrong waits. "Oh no Universal, you made an oopsie!" It's about ALL THE WAITS being wrong and longer than estimated, happening over and over again. I'm convinced this is what sets off a man to go around swinging a chainsaw!!! Leatherface didn't have a poor child hood, he just went to Knotts and Six Flags over and over again until he went crazy.

Glad you enjoyed the mazes and admitted that KSF is actually scarier than HHN. I'm still kinda baffled how you think all of HHN's bare houses are more immersive than what KSF has. HHN has gotten to the point to where all of their houses feel the same there are so many "black wall" scares.

KSF mazes literally are the same. Even worse, they're the same as the mazes they've done for years. Even something like The Depths, a lot of the cool stuff they've done in there was already done in Red Beard's Revenge. Dark Entities, same thing as Alien Attack meets Alien Annihilation meets Fallout Shelter. One new scare tactic or a cool bungee or a super fake show scene, doesn't make any of their mazes worth it for the same price as an HHN ticket if it looks "meh". $41 is more than a fair price for KSF, even if I only did the mazes. But I wouldn't go much over $50 and nowhere near $60. However, I stil leave KSF thinking even $41 wasn't worth it to some degree. And my thoughts while leaving are always, always, always.... I would have rather been at HHN.
 
I get the operations thing, but that’s a problem with theme parks in general. Every place, even Universal, can have terrible operations. If bad operations really get you that upset, don’t go to theme parks.

Personally I find some of your other comments completely unreasonable and drenched in favoritism, but I will respect your opinion nonetheless.
I'm at Disneyland every other week. I go to Universal yearly. And I've done HHN every year, two or three times a year, for over a decade. And this hardly ever - ever - ever happens. It is rare. I'm not saying it doesn't happen at all, and I stress that in above posts, so hyperbole like "don't go to theme parks" is silly. This is a MAJOR problem at Six Flags and Knotts, it's been like this for decades. I partly stopped going to Six Flags because of it and when I return every now and again (YEARS in between), it still happens. I mostly go to Knotts for Haunt, but even on off season, it still happens there too. ONE visit with a year or years in between and it happens MULTIPLE times within one visist, it is beyond consistent with how bad it is. While Disney and Universal it may happen once every 3 or 4 times I go and it's usually a minor inconevenience. When something like that only happens at Disneyland or Universal once in a blue moon. These places are dumb enough to run Ghost Rider with one freakin' train even on peak nights when it's the most popular attraction. Or what looks like a 5 minute wait while in the station for something like Batman, Riddlers Revenge, Viper, Tatsu, or any coaster somehow turn into 30 minutes because again, they're using one freakin' train.
Again, this is speaking from my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. You or everyone else in the world may happen to go when Knotts has 3 trains running for Silver Bullet, or when majority of their signs are correct, but this does - not - happen - with - me. There's a difference between "they CAN have terrible operations" and "they WILL have terrible operations." The most annoying thing is it's not a hard problem to fix and there's numerous solutions. Knotts and Six Flags, in my eyes, just seem like parks that have your money already and they don't care about your experience once you're through the gate. Not a single Fast Lane pass or churro voucher was given out to the people who waited an hour and a half for Hang Time and decided to leave when it broke down, because Knotts does not freakin' care. The Jungle Cruise could break down with a 5 minute wait and I could get a Fastpass for Star Wars Land on opening day -- this is hyperbole on purpose, but you know exactly what I mean.

Yes, there is a TON of favoritism in my posts. Because Disney and Universal have earned it with years of quality assurance in assistance, operations, design, and maintenence. Knotts and Six Flags are aggressively trying to do the opposite. I'll gladly pay $120 at Disneyland or Universal for a day before going to Knotts or Six Flags for $60 anyday, and clearly I'm not alone with that opinion. They earned that price point and it shows in their work -- consistently.

Beeline it to Trick or Treat, it will have a consistent hour wait throughout the night and the line is slooow. Get this one out of the way first so you don’t wait too long.
Or it might literally be a walk on with the sign posted as an hour. ;) Or it could say it's a 5 minute wait and be 90 minutes. Flip a coin and you'll have better luck guessing heads or tails. ;)
 
Two parks. This conversation was over before it began if you're not actually going to read the details.
 
I can see that you’ve completely missed my point about operations, and I’m sorry that your delusional, closed minded, cynical attitude ruins so many other parks for you. This conversation is gonna end up in circles, so let’s stop and agree to disagree.

Whoa whoa whoa - let’s tone it back some.
 
I keep hearing (with no official confirmation) that this will be the last year for Special Ops Infected. If you haven't done it yet, you may want to.
I would love to see what house they have in store for that venue next year as it's a large venue; it demands a grand-looking house.

While I totally see Special Ops leave, I don't see them abandoning the concept. I can totally see them go back to Camp Snoopy and have the pacing similar to what the maze was. They already have all of the guns, equipment and props there. Why not just reuse it for that?
 
I would love to see what house they have in store for that venue next year as it's a large venue; it demands a grand-looking house.

While I totally see Special Ops leave, I don't see them abandoning the concept. I can totally see them go back to Camp Snoopy and have the pacing similar to what the maze was. They already have all of the guns, equipment and props there. Why not just reuse it for that?

We would miss Pumpkin Eater/The Hollows if that happens.
Pumpkin Eater is one of the best mazes of the event.
I think a great idea would be to combine Dark Entities with the guns in Special Ops.
 
There we go, Leaker, that's EXACTLY what they should do. It'd peak interest in that maze and finally give it a line. Next, they should transfer the flashlights to Paranormal Inc. It'd free up two HUGE attraction spaces and retrofit a flailing maze and a popular maze to be even more popular. Also get rid of Shadowlands and Red Barn, it's time. 5 brand new mazes and 2 tweaked ones, plus crowd favorites remaining such as Dark Ride, The Depths, and Pumpkin Eater. That's almost a guarantee I'll go next year.
 
There we go, Leaker, that's EXACTLY what they should do. It'd peak interest in that maze and finally give it a line. Next, they should transfer the flashlights to Paranormal Inc. It'd free up two HUGE attraction spaces and retrofit a flailing maze and a popular maze to be even more popular. Also get rid of Shadowlands and Red Barn, it's time. 5 brand new mazes and 2 tweaked ones, plus crowd favorites remaining such as Dark Ride, The Depths, and Pumpkin Eater. That's almost a guarantee I'll go next year.
I like the idea of putting the guns in DE and the flashlights in Paranormal. More realistically, I can see Special Ops and Paranofmal leaving and Red Barn getting 2.0’d.

Here’s what I would propose: flashlights in Paranormal and guns in Dark Entities, like suggested, Red Barn getting a “sequel” house (story would be it getting partially burned down from the victim’s families and the evil spirits still haunting the place); that would be the budget maze, and have a new house where Infected is and where Trick or Treat is.

I would love to see them try the Mine Ride again, but don’t push it as a haunted attraction; just a rethemed ride. Have a story with narration, use digital mapping, reuse some props and maybe have a couple surprise scare actors.
 
What if we use that victim's families and evil spirits idea for... Dark Ride? Red Barn has overstayed it's welcome by 2 years, nobody I know has ever liked it in any of it's 3 years its been around. Staying with movie-logic, only successful franchises should get sequels and/or remakes like The Asylum or Dominion of the Dead. The few times they tried to fix bad mazes, it never really made them better (what was that apocalypse maze before Voodoo? - Endgames? the Dead of Winter maze...Gunslinger's Grave... all failures...) and the sequel houses for already successful mazes just made them even more successfull (Special Ops, Trick or Treat, Voodoo, etc). Or we could even transfer the Paranormal Inc crew to one of the other mazes, have them "investigate it." Could be Shadowlands for all I care, but for the love of God, end Red Barn's life swiftly!

Also, I think for Dark Entities to get a laser upgrade, they may need to space out some of the locations. Most mazes have cramped corners, but Special Ops had lots of room for running without bumping into things. But I think on paper, Special Ops: Dark Entities sounds like a win to me.

And yeah, honestly if they just made the Mine Ride "The Witch's Keep" again (was that 5 years ago?), I'd be satisified with that. It was pretty good even without monsters, like Halloween Hootenany is now.
 
There we go, Leaker, that's EXACTLY what they should do. It'd peak interest in that maze and finally give it a line. Next, they should transfer the flashlights to Paranormal Inc. It'd free up two HUGE attraction spaces and retrofit a flailing maze and a popular maze to be even more popular. Also get rid of Shadowlands and Red Barn, it's time. 5 brand new mazes and 2 tweaked ones, plus crowd favorites remaining such as Dark Ride, The Depths, and Pumpkin Eater. That's almost a guarantee I'll go next year.

I didn't even think about moving the flashlights over to another maze! That's such a great idea! So Knott's should hire us....
 
I made a quick stop yesterday. This is my third time this season and the first two times were during the first weekend.

I only did Infected, The Depths and Dark Entities. I also saw Hacks.

Infected was still pretty much the same. It's good but it does need to go.

I noticed more Universal-like trigger scares all throughout among the other scares. I don't know if that's new or have always been there.

The Depths had more actors than the past two times I went through it, it was great.

I noticed a lot of new effects and nice touches in Dark Entities, but the line was a walk-on and the actors were scarce, what a shame.

Hacks was sometimes funny and sometimes cringeworthy. Also, only about 40 people were watching. They need to put something that people want to see in the Charles M. Schultz next year. Hacks could go to the Birdcage.
 
Will be there tomorrow night with my daughter. Tips, tricks, advice is welcomed?

Sunday isn't as crowded as Saturday, but there still will be lines and a good amount of people.
Always come early. 5:30 for parking. Be in the park by 6:00. Wait in Ghost Town for the opening scaremony.
7:00, rope drop. Make a left and speed walk to the backlot area.
Skip Ghost Rider and the first maze you see, Trick or Treat. If you get in line for Ghost Rider, you'll be there for two hours. Although Trick or Treat has a consistently long line all throughout the night, skip it until the end of the night because the the first hour is crucial.
First maze, The Depths, and then immediately after Dark Entities (line starts at the exit of The Depths). And then Paranormal Inc. That should get you through three mazes in the first hour. Although The Depths and Dark Entities should be a walk on at this point.
Still keeping a good pace, head back to where you came from and go through the fog of Ghost Town. This is iconic to Knott's and it's probably the best scare zone in the world. Make a left at the end of Ghost Town, and skip Red Barn. Red Barn is not worth the wait, especially this early in the night. Come back to it later (or never!).
Get in line for Special Ops Infected. This line should be pretty long at this point, but the wait goes by pretty quick. This maze is great because it has guns that you can shoot zombies with, I don't think anywhere else has this.
After Special Ops, keep going clockwise around the park, go through the Carnevil scarezone. You can do Hangtime (the newest roller coaster) if you want, but the wait should be an hour or more.
Hit Shadowlands and then Dark Ride. The wait should be an hour or so for both of these mazes. So make sure you grab food or go to the restroom before.
After that, go through The Hollow scare zone and then Pumpkin Eater. Pumpkin Eater shouldn't have that bad of a line.
After Pumpkin Eater, you've done every worthwhile maze, and you can either choose to go through the two skipped mazes (Trick Or Treat and Red Barn) or go on some rides or see a show.
Of course, you don't have to stick to this plan but it's what I've done everytime and it gets me through everything with an hour or two to spare. But if anything, save Ghost Rider for last. The queue is hot and humid and the line is consistently 2 hours. A huge time-waster if you do it early in the night.
 
I was planning on going one last time tonight but I had to cancel.
I went a total of 4 times this season, should've been more but things came up.

Generally, I noticed that things got better farther into the season. More monsters, better scares and more effects. That's great but it really should be there the entire season, not just the end of the season.

Here's my final maze rankings and how many time I went in the maze.
Paranormal Inc (x2)
Pumpkin Eater (x3)
The Depths (x3)
Dark Entities (x4)
Special Ops: Infected (x2)
Dark Ride (x2)
Shadowlands (x1)
Trick Or Treat (x1)
Red Barn (x1)

It was a solid season but it looks like next year is going to be amazing!
 


Even though Shadowlands got neutered this year, I'm sad to see it go. I was hoping it would stay with some really good changes next year.
No one is going to miss Red Barn.
If they're keeping Trick or Treat (which I hope they aren't) it better be good.
Special Ops is probably staying as is... maybe with some new changes?
I think next season is going to be good though especially with Paranormal, Pumpkin Eater, Dark Ride, The Depths and Dark Entities still in the line up.
 
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