Event Report: KNOTT’S SCARY FARM 2019 Delivers the Scares!

This past Thursday, September 19th, marked the commencement of the annual Knott’s Scary Farm in Buena Park, CA, which this year celebrates its 47th year terrifying visitors, and we were there to check out a portion of the park’s nine haunted mazes, three scare zones, five shows and experiences, and more than 1,000 roaming monsters.  Did Knott’s deliver?  Read on!

A staple of the Halloween season for SoCal residents, the event stayed true to their roots, delivering that Knott’s sense of nostalgia in the concept and execution of their classic production design, while also delivering updates to fan favorites.  With no licensed intellectual properties, at Scary Farm, it’s all about their creativity, and as evidenced once again this year, it’s something which they aren’t lacking.

So what’s in spooky store for this year?

Eschewing the park’s traditional kick-off with Knott’s iconic master of ceremonies the Green Witch, opening night for 2019 interestingly took place just outside Fog Alley, with a handful of scare actors portraying citizens of the old western town of Calico, who warned us of the transfiguring curse which had been placed on them. The grotesque group (which included a Freaks-esque chicken lady, among other oddities), explained that the entire town was now plagued by sinister paranormal activity, a speech which itself served not only as a wrap-around to Scary Farm’s haunted attractions for 2019 as a whole, but also as a fun introduction to one of their mazes new for this year, Origins: The Curse of Calico.

Check out a taste of what awaits you in the video embedded at the top of the article!

Moving Knott’s previously mentioned Green Witch from her previous haunt (Trick or Treat) to Origins, the new walk-through leans into her backstory as a woman wrongly (or perhaps correctly) accused of witchcraft by Calico’s townsfolk, who has returned in order to exact her revenge upon them.  Mining successfully Knott’s old western vibe in both narrative and production design, the extensive maze (as most happily are at Knott’s) makes great use of both, and delivers some fresh scares along the way, in addition to some creepy animatronics that had our party smiling.  

Joining the brand new Origins for 2019 is the park’s other new maze, Wax Works. Part House of Wax and part The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the attraction revolves around a prominent plastic surgeon who’s burning the midnight oil, among other things, in his quest to create living dead works of human art. Bubbling cauldrons of wax and screaming victims await, as does some visually arresting production design, although with the strange inclusion of both the wolf and invisible man, the narrative proved for some in our group rather confusing.  

Of the mazes returning for 2019, the zombie shoot ‘em up maze Special Ops: Infected, an attraction which guides park goers, who are outfitted with infrared assault rifles, through a zombie apocalypse populated with convincing live actors is back (a favorite of one of those in our group, and I’ve got it say, it was exhilarating), as is Paranormal Inc.: Case #13, a suspenseful walkthrough of a mock haunted hospital.  Not to be missed, this one literally kicked off with a supernatural bang, with live actors engaging in startling wire work and overhead aerial stunts, and has received a refresh from year’s previous, with new scares around nearly every corner.

After a quick break at Knott’s Scary Farm press reception (the best in the biz – thank you, Knott’s), we set back out into the park to experience what would be our three favorite mazes: The DepthsDark Ride, and Dark Entities.  The Depths, which features a convincing elevator ride into the bowels of a maritime wreck, plunged us into a watery world of homicidal sailors, Humanoids from the Deep’esque fish-men and an exhilarating finale featuring an eye-popping and gargantuan octopus, while Dark Ride took us on a journey into a traveling carnival gone wrong (those with coulrophobia beware). Dark Entities, our hands down favorite, takes in part some inspiration from the sci-fi/horror films HardwareAlien, and Event Horizon, so for those with a fear of robotic surgeries, body horror and extraterrestrial takeovers, this maze will certainly provide some thrills.

With so much to do, we sadly missed the mazes Pumpkin Eater and Shadowlands (the latter now in its final year), the always entertaining show The Hanging, and the newcomer shows Puppet Up and Conjurers, although we did manage to fit in many vertigo-inducing rides on the park’s world class rollercoasters. And therein lies the beauty of Knott’s Scary Farm. There is simply so much to do, from mazes to rides to shows to games that a single night may not allow for one to experience everything which it has to offer. Which in the end is more than alright, because with tickets starting at only $48 and Fright and Fast Lane Passes (which we recommend) priced at a mere $90,  multiple trips to the park throughout the season (it runs for 26 nights through November 2nd of this year) are not only affordable, but recommended.

Knott’s… don’t miss it! We never do!

 For more information, visit them at knotts.com/ scary-farm, and follow them on Twitter and Instagram @knottsscaryfarm

Writer’s Note: My thanks to Knott’s Miranda Dill for arranging our visit.

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