Friday, October 25, 1996PARK:
Ghouls, goblins terrorize visitors at Knott’s Scary FarmBy Jeff
Hilger
Daily Bruin Contributor
Back in 1972, somebody at Knott’s Berry Farm had an incredibly
bright idea. On Halloween night, the themed Ghost Town area of
Knott’s became a foggy "scare-zone" with several dozen live
monsters lurking in the dark to scare unsuspecting visitors.
The "Halloween Haunt" promotion drew thousands more guests than
Knott’s had seen on previous uneventful Halloweens. The following
year, Knott’s Berry Farm became Knott’s Scary Farm for the entire
weekend prior to Halloween. In addition, promoters added a
walk-through maze and again the crowds swelled.
For the past 24 years, Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween Haunt has
continued to grow, both in terms of its size as well as popularity.
By last year, the Haunt covered all of Knott’s except for Camp
Snoopy. This year, the event spans the entire geographic area of
the park and Camp Snoopy has become, inevitably, Camp Spooky.
While the whole thing may sound laughable, it works and it works
well. Visitors are treated to two full "scare zones," nine
walk-through mazes, and three ride-through mazes, in addition to a
majority of the rest of Knott’s rides and attractions.
The burgeoning popularity of the event, of course, has its
costs. It was recently reported that Disneyland had to turn guests
away at the gates because the park was so overcrowded due to the
farewell season of the Main Street Electrical Parade. For several
years now, Knott’s Scary Farm has been turning people away because
tickets for the event continually sell out.
And you can be sure that Knott’s doesn’t wait until lines are
just merely long before they cut off ticket sales. The lines on a
Friday night can range upwards of two hours to go through some of
the mazes.
While this would appear to discourage most people from attending
the event, it shouldn’t. The general aura of the night is just pure
fun. There are shows that don’t require waiting in line, and the
scare zones that one walks through while going between different
themed lands aren’t too crowded.
In addition, anyone willing to get wet can ride the Bigfoot
Rapids with about a two-minute wait. As with all theme parks, lines
tend to get shorter and longer randomly throughout the evening so
if you played your cards right you could get quite a few rides and
mazes in during a typical evening. At one point, the parachute jump
ride had less than a 10-minute wait.
One doesn’t need to go on any of the rides, however, to get the
feeling of Halloween. The essence of the event can be caught by
merely taking a seat at the restaurant on the main corner in Ghost
Town for an hour or so of unbeatable people-watching.
As you sit there, monsters, ghosts, goblins and ghouls roam the
streets sneaking up on people and jumping out at them. If the
people scream or otherwise appear scared, the monster or ghoul will
follow them around for a while. It’s incredibly fun to watch.
Knott’s employs over 1,000 people nightly to dress up in costume
and roam through the park with the intent to scare people. The
monsters range from tiny goblin-type creatures to huge (over
6-feet, 5-inch) Frankenstein look-alikes. Although the costumes and
masks are incredibly detailed, this isn’t so much the factor that
draws people to this event. It’s the fact that these monsters and
ghouls hide out in the shadows and the darkness to lurk out at the
visitors who aren’t expecting them that draws visitors. As the huge
crowds show, the "good scare" tactic works. People are willing to
endure the otherwise unbearable lines and crowds to get in on the
fun.
In the past decade, all of the other major theme parks have
instituted their own versions of the Halloween Haunt. Disneyland
has Mickey’s Halloween Treat, Six Flags Magic Mountain has a Fright
Fest and Universal Studios this year has started to present the
Chamber of Chills. In addition to the theme parks, a number of
other "haunted" attractions (some of which are listed in the box
accompanying this article) have surfaced throughout Southern
California.
While these other attractions may or may not live up to their
predecessor, the fact remains that Knott’s Scary Farm started the
trend and appears to be well on its way to another successful 25
years.
AMUSEMENT PARK: Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween Haunt: Oct. 24-27
and 30 Â Nov. 2.,7 p.m. Â 2 a.m. TIX: $29.95 in advance
and $33.95 day of event (if available).