Knott's Scary Farm 2024

[Wesker69]

Any truth to a rumor about an arachnophobia maze?

I remember hearing something about that awhile ago lol

I posted it 2 pages back on the first page of this thread, along with the other rumored maze.

For those wondering about exact event dates:

**included on the audition page

 

[Jerroddragon]

So is there a reason Knotts lets Halloween start so "late"

Like HHN is starting the first week of the month and Disney is in August now. Is the Demand really not there?

 

[Jake S]

Is the Demand really not there?

It appears the demand is not there. The past couple years I've been have been very light on crowds. Turns out they need the teens' money very badly!

 

[Wishmaster]

It appears the demand is not there. The past couple years I've been have been very light on crowds. Turns out they need the teens' money very badly!

Hasn’t the event always started late September?

 

[Wesker69]

So is there a reason Knotts lets Halloween start so "late"

Like HHN is starting the first week of the month and Disney is in August now. Is the Demand really not there?

Honestly, if you saw what a dumpster fire operations & everything else is leading up to/during Scary Farm, you'd understand better lol

It's a complete -show, even after 50 years. Which is embarrassing. The event itself is great, but behind the scenes, you'd be baffled the event still exists.

You'd think they'd start way earlier given how much they love to brag about being the "biggest, best, & original". But outside of disorganized chaos, I think it comes down to $$$. While HHN is paying Scareactors $19/hr this year, Knott's is STILL only paying them $16/hr. When I did it in 2022 (same crap last year), they had us work as a scareactor for our maze as if it was a day-ops job (two 15min + 30min lunch). This is why you'll get those "dead"/empty scare-less walk-throughs since only certain roles had a tag-out.

I could do a Q&A honestly love the event, but their ego is bigger than their demand. Unfortunately.

 

[Wishmaster]

Honestly, if you saw what a dumpster fire operations & everything else is leading up to/during Scary Farm, you'd understand better lol

It's a complete -show, even after 50 years. Which is embarrassing. The event itself is great, but behind the scenes, you'd be baffled the event still exists.

You'd think they'd start way earlier given how much they love to brag about being the "biggest, best, & original". But outside of disorganized chaos, I think it comes down to $$$. While HHN is paying Scareactors $19/hr this year, Knott's is STILL only paying them $16/hr. When I did it in 2022 (same crap last year), they had us work as a scareactor for our maze as if it was a day-ops job (two 15min + 30min lunch). This is why you'll get those "dead"/empty scare-less walk-throughs since only certain roles had a tag-out.

I could do a Q&A honestly love the event, but their ego is bigger than their demand. Unfortunately.

I’d love to know about the BTS aspect of KSF. I think future workers will be able to learn from this moving forward.

 

[Wesker69]

Having worked as a scareactor & staff for different haunts, while also going as a guest for half my life, I have a different perspective.

Which is why I'll also go in the corner & bang my head against the wall

 

[Wishmaster]

Having worked as a scareactor & staff for different haunts, while also going as a guest for half my life, I have a different perspective.

Which is why I'll also go in the corner & bang my head against the wall

I didn’t experience much of the empty sections until the very last maze at KSF (Room 13). Is this something that has occurred often?

 

[Wesker69]

Staffing is not their strong point (even for day-ops, which most on here that go to the park already know). Scheduling is also not one of their strong points. During the last 3 weekends in 2022, they were giving scareactors mandatory 2nd night off to save on budget (however they would provide a comp ticket to the event. Something they should've done for the designated night off you already get). My cast mate & I flat out said, "No. Because we need that paycheck", BUT if it became necessary, we were a package deal lol. Thankfully we didn't have to sacrifice a shift. Due to being broke af, I worked my designated night off as well.

Take Bloodline for example. Our cast only had certain roles with "doubles", the rest of us were on our own. As I mentioned, they wanted us to do a 30min lunch (before your 5th hr) & two 15min breaks. It was dumb. So you'd end up with scenes with 1 or 2 scareactors or none at all because of breaks. Keep in mind, this is an issue of not having a Cast A/Cast B to tag people out every 30-45min because most of you clock in the same time, so your "breaks" will be roughly around the same time causing emptiness in the maze (sometimes streets).

Another issue we had for Bloodline was that we were part of the "early entry" line-up for the Boo-fet guests. Well.. only a small handful of the cast clocked in around 5-530pm-ish. So the maze would open with practically nobody on set. The reason why, the rest of us (the main bulk of the cast) didn't clock in until nearly 7pm (WHEN THE EVENT STARTS). So literally had to clock-in, run into the park backstage, check-in, get your costume from wardrobe, change, do your eye makeup if you had mask, then get your butt on set because there was already a long line for your maze.

Sorry for the long post, and this is honestly just a brief highlights version probably forgot a few things. But yes, chaos.

Of course last year saw the technical issue of Chilling Chambers NOT open for Employee Preview, so the cast of that maze got to attend as a guest *sigh*

 

[CallahanChan]

Wow that’s eye opening! I thought I was going crazy in some of the mazes last year.

I took my mother onto Origins becasue she really loves Catawumpus. So getting to the Catawumpus section, we turn the corner and he’s not there. As a matter of fact the maze felt pretty empty that night.
We get out of the maze, and the Catawumpus scare actor is walking thru the street into his maze, probably from break.

 

[Wesker69]

Yea. It's an unfortunate issue. I believe it's more of an issue now post-apocalypse than it was pre-2020. Knott’s is trying to be cheap & also get by on their "legacy" alone.

As much as I love the event, it's a mess. Kinda like the park itself lol

 

[Wesker69]

Just a quick glimpse in the harsh sunlight. They've started to theme the new exterior portion of The Depths replacement
*waves hi to my 2022 haunt season home in the distance*

 

[saint.piss]

 

[Wishmaster]

KSF better pop up at MSS with unexpected announcements!

 

[Wesker69]

KSF better pop up at MSS with unexpected announcements!

They'll announce that they'll have the announcement reveal event in August.

Don't expect the two mazes to be announced at MSS.

 

[CallahanChan]

Visited the farm today with some friends, and I was telling them about the 50th Chambers maze. After telling them all about it, I showed them where the gate is to the maze.
Then to my amazement, there beyond the gate was these guys hanging out. Wasn’t expecting to see them there.

 

[deadbydawn]

They'll announce that they'll have the announcement reveal event in August.

Don't expect the two mazes to be announced at MSS.

Either this, or the complete opposite and they will drop some kind of news there and not have an announcement night..

 

[saint.piss]

 

[CallahanChan]

Was just there 15mins ago. Super excited for it!

 

[Wesker69]

I'd hazard a guess that this is our rumored "spider"/phobia maze. I do like that the exterior is giving off "classic cliche haunted house" vibes