# Knotts Halloween Haunt



## EvilQueen1298 (Jul 27, 2007)

Knotts Berry Farm has its annual "Haunt" every year here in Southern California.
It has been going on for over 25 years. FINALLY I got myself over there last year. What a complete waste of time for me.
They have no limit on how many people can go in. It was so packed that the fear factor was a snore factor. Yes, they put on a decent enough show but with thousands of people....sigh....
A real disappointment.

Has anyone been to any commercial haunt that has been just awesome?


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

EvilQueen1298 said:


> Knotts Berry Farm has its annual "Haunt" every year here in Southern California. ... A real disappointment.


We go to Knotts Scary Farm every year and love it. It's great. We go early in the season when it is not so crowded.


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## buckaneerbabe (Jun 5, 2007)

I want to go this year too. Go early in the season and go for the VIP pre dinner. Prime rib, shrimp, yummy. They let you in between 15 and 30 min early so you can catch a ride or two before they open the doors to the crowds.


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## shaunathan (Sep 18, 2005)

when do they start hiring for that thing? I'd love to work it one year, I always miss the hire date, is it in July?


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## EvilQueen1298 (Jul 27, 2007)

Good grief! We went on a Wednesday the 18th I think it was. Probably too late in the season. Thanks for the tip about going very early in the season. Still, I think I'll pass.


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## Spookineer (Aug 20, 2006)

There are a several of us from this forum going on Sunday October 7th. If anyone else would like to join us, we could pick a time and place to meet.


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

I've never been to Knott's but I always hear they do a nice job for Halloween Events. I can see how it would be bad if there were too many people. I like Cedar Point's HalloWeekends a lot in the crisp Autumn air of Ohio. I went 11 times last year with a Season Pass. My screen name and avatar are taken from one of their walk-thru haunts. I also go to ride the monster roller coasters. But the HalloWeekends event truly transforms the park from what it looks and feels like in the Summer. They use over 100 stage quality 1400-4400W LeMaitre foggers they lease.

Knott's and CP are both owned by Cedar Fair. Some of the Paramount parks CF bought are changing their Halloween Event names to Halloween Haunt (Kings Island used to be called Fear Fest). CP being the World's Largest Amusement Park and voted best for 10 years in a row can get crowded on Saturdays if the weather's nice out by Lake Erie in the Fall. The park closes for 6-7 months after October so it's a popular event for that reason also. And they're only open on Fridays thru Sundays with the Fri and Sat being open late enough for outdoor haunted walk-thru attractions. They compete with high school football on Friday Nights for family entertainment so you can have the park to yourself. Crowded Saturdays can be fun because the park is large enough and the Screamsters have more teenage girls to scare out in the open LOL. But one Sat (open noon to past midnight) they had an estimated 55,000 + attendance in one day. That was the only time I didn't go as I was working on my yard haunt display. Glad I didn't. Here's a link to a photo of the parking lot taken from the Space Spiral (the parking lot is bigger than most parks so you can imagine).

That guy takes a lot of photos so you can browse his HalloWeekend galleries. They have Screamsters in the three haunted walk-thrus who are temp employees and actors. But the three indoor haunted houses and one other outdoor haunt are college kids, frat kids, sports teams or any other group that wants to raise money. So the good thing is there is more variety each day. Some of them are really into it and do a good job while others get worn out fast or don't care. It's mostly well done though and depends on how busy they are.

They added a parade this year. They took Kings Island's cars from their Winter Fest parade to build the CP HalloWeeknds floats. They look pretty cool. They have inflatables on top but they don't look cheesy. I don't have photos because it was in the middle of a torrential downpour as I ran past them testing the floats.

Bottom line is I'd like to go to Knott's one of these days. But man am I glad I'm close enough to Cedar Point. They had a bonus weekend for Season Pass holders and previewed some HalloWeekends stuff. It's going to be fun.


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## Spookkid (Dec 27, 2005)

I go to Busch Gardens Howl-o-scream, they have a Haunted Train ride thats awesome!


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

We might be getting a contract from Knott's to build them a giant animated Rock Monster. I hope it comes through because I want to work on one of those before the company cuts me loose... it's sort of like Creative Visions' mascot/signature creature.


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

Revenant said:


> We might be getting a contract from Knott's to build them a giant animated Rock Monster.


Sounds very cool. Wish I could build giant props!


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

Here's a behind the scenes of some of the Cedar Point Halloween parade floats. Photo gallery link. CP gave a roller coaster club a tour. So someone took photos. The Stone Gollum is cool. Two of them are inflatables. They're in the backlot so they aren't inflated. The names on the gameboards for the Monster Under the Bed float are fun (the giant monster when infalted is colorful and looks like that multi-eyed monster in Monty Pythons Holy Grail movie). The other inflatable is a giant spider. I saw them inflated this weekend but didn't have a camera. Note the speaker systems in the columns and the seat for the driver. I think they're planning & design dept did these. And they did them in a short amount of time. I think they did pretty good overall. They have to appeal to families.


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## bozz (Sep 27, 2006)

*Wow another C.P. fan like us !!!*



Fright Zone said:


> I've never been to Knott's but I always hear they do a nice job for Halloween Events. I can see how it would be bad if there were too many people. I like Cedar Point's HalloWeekends a lot in the crisp Autumn air of Ohio. I went 11 times last year with a Season Pass. My screen name and avatar are taken from one of their walk-thru haunts. I also go to ride the monster roller coasters. But the HalloWeekends event truly transforms the park from what it looks and feels like in the Summer. They use over 100 stage quality 1400-4400W LeMaitre foggers they lease.
> 
> Knott's and CP are both owned by Cedar Fair. Some of the Paramount parks CF bought are changing their Halloween Event names to Halloween Haunt (Kings Island used to be called Fear Fest). CP being the World's Largest Amusement Park and voted best for 10 years in a row can get crowded on Saturdays if the weather's nice out by Lake Erie in the Fall. The park closes for 6-7 months after October so it's a popular event for that reason also. And they're only open on Fridays thru Sundays with the Fri and Sat being open late enough for outdoor haunted walk-thru attractions. They compete with high school football on Friday Nights for family entertainment so you can have the park to yourself. Crowded Saturdays can be fun because the park is large enough and the Screamsters have more teenage girls to scare out in the open LOL. But one Sat (open noon to past midnight) they had an estimated 55,000 + attendance in one day. That was the only time I didn't go as I was working on my yard haunt display. Glad I didn't. Here's a link to a photo of the parking lot taken from the Space Spiral (the parking lot is bigger than most parks so you can imagine).
> 
> ...


Cool info above,.....we are huge C.P. fANS too and have been many times, we live only 3 hrs. south of it, we've been to H.W. there too, it was fantastic, its rated the fifth best haunt at parks with Knotts and Universal being 1 and 2. We have copy a lot of stuff from C.P. and K.I.'s for our maze here at the house. Oh P.s. FrightZone does rock wish more parks would do that on that level, K.I.'s is not as good, their zones are too tight and small.


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

I still hadn't made it to KI's. I have seen photos of it. The orange barrel walk thru is a funny idea for that part of Ohio since it's right off the highway and orange barrels are always out around Cinci. I may get there next year since the new Cedar Point 2008 season Platinum $140 passes will be good at any Cedar Fair park including KI and Knotts.

The animated stone gollum in CP's new parade float is shown brieifly in 



 (at 2:25 min)


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Fright Zone said:


> The animated stone gollum in CP's new parade float is shown brieifly in this youttube video of a haunt trade show (at 2:25 min)


Yep! That's a Creative Visions Rock Monster. Made here in St. Louis. My boss designed him. I SO wanna work on one of those! Yeah I'll probably just end up cutting the steel and drilling the holes for the frame but hey... it's a Rock Monster. It's one of the reasons I applied there!


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

That's cool! I see it now on the web site creativevisionsonline. It's everyone's favorite of those who have seen it at Cedar Point behind the scenes. I saw him in the rain standing still. It looked cool just standing there. I'll see him in action this weekend. I can say Hey I know who did that! The posture reminds me of those huge guys in Lord of the Rings that would open the gates. Or the Rancor in ROTJ. Here's a link to what the float looks like in the backlot. It has speakers hidden inside the columns. The driver sits within those small graveyard fence sections. It's pretty loud from the test I heard. I think kids are going to want his autograph


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## buckaneerbabe (Jun 5, 2007)

Shaunathan, I received something in the mail about 3 weeks ago about hiring for the KSF. Maybe you can check ther web site for more info.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Fright Zone said:


> I think kids are going to want his autograph


Well, if they can't get it they can always visit his MySpace page !


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

That's hilarious!

Revenant, here's the Rock Monster in the Cedar Point parade in case you missed the link in the other thread. (I had to remember the Rock Monster info was in this one). Different views:

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThsHHhbZVH4[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsMFjvn2U5k[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77wPS3cHdDM[/nomedia]


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

Bumped in the night because I updated it.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Tips for Knotts*

Get there before they open. Go on a sunday night. Got one the first two weekends. I get to go thru every maze once b4 its crowded. I usually go on every maze twice. Second time around is more crowded though.


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## Fright Zone (Sep 28, 2006)

I agree. That's the way to do it at Cedar Point and Kings Island also. CP is open Fri Sat Sun. KI is open Fri Sat. So I went on opening night Friday. KI has metal detectors at the entrance gate though. That slows entry down. they had all the Screamactors at the gate prior to opening. I'm not sure if they do that all the time. Knott's people put together KI's this year. Here's videos someone took on Media night to compare to Knott's (which I haven't been to yet)


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

I've been a few times..pretty early in the season though. I loved it and had alot of fun


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## Offwhiteknight (Sep 17, 2008)

Oh dear god, it's been raised from the dead!!!

Okay, seriously. Knott's Scary Farm *can* be awesome. There is a reason it's one of the best.

First off, never ever go to it (or any of these sorts of things) on a Saturday or Friday night if you can help it. Too crowded, too many teens. You've got sick days at work, use 'em!! Second, if they have some sort of VIP early entry, strongly consider it. At Knott's they used to have two levels (last year, 08, only one) and the only difference was the location and quality of food. The biggest bonus is you get in the park 20-40 minutes early. This past year we were let in so early a few of the rides weren't even operating yet. No lines, get to go in the front or back of the coasters (whichever you prefer) and then start on the mazes from the back end of the park.

Wouldn't do it any other way. Been doing it that way for 9 straight years.


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

SoCal native here. Been going to Knott's since the 70's....when I was a kid. Love it. When it becomes Knott's Scary Farm, it's fun, good mazes and haunts, but one of my complaints is that most of the time, the line to get in a haunt is not limited to a certain number of patrons. It's a mile long line and while your standing in one place, ready to get in, you can see what's gonna jump out at you 20 feet ahead and it makes it that less scary. In my experience, if you go during the beginning of October, it's much better, less crowded. My favorite of them all is Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. I mean, they started the monster movies as we know them, who else would have a better haunt than they do? They have great VIP pass (looks cool too), and is the best investment. The first time I went, we only got to go through about 3 haunts and a few rides due to how long the lines were. The 2nd time, we got the VIP pass, got to do the whole park, rides and haunts, almost twice, before the park shut down. Haunt lines were mostly at 1 1/2 hours each. We literally, walked up, waited at the most, 1 minute, most of the time, walked right into the haunt, and also, we got to go by ourselves, didn't have to wait for a small group. The best service you could ask for, best reserved seating for shows, great haunts, excellent scenes, they even pump smells through the attractions and streets to add to the atmosphere. Can't go wrong with that one.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

There is a limit to how many people they can allow in the park, the problem is that because they clear the park for the haunts, you see the massive number of people all at once at the gates rather than the typical day at the park where people come in throughout the day. For the money they charge for these it's no wonder that people are stacked up waiting to get in, they want to get their money's worth. 
If there were no limits, then they couldn't sell out, which they often do. Look at the billboards for the haunt, they cross off the days that sell out.
The parks have limits posted on how many people are allowed in the park, it's regulated by law. That part doesn't change no matter who owns them.

In answer to people asking when they hire for these, some jobs run year round (for marketing), the ghouls and wandering monsters used to be hired in May, but are now hired in late August - September, People building sets and props often work at the park already, and depending upon what they do, or are working on, their haunt work can start at almost any time of the year.


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