Knott's Scary Farm kicked off last night with yet another incredible media event and even something totally unexpected which we'll detail below.
In addition, we got to go through the all-new Infected, and we absolutely loved it. Not to be missed, but get there early as we'll detail below.
Read the rest at ParkJourney
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Voodoo photo tour – 09/29/2014
How about a little witchcraft? How about water in a maze? How about we put all sorts of spooky things in a box and theme it to the deep south and such… well, that’s what Knott’s did… specifically Brooke Walters. Yes, it was time to do a voodoo maze and they basically turned around and knocked this one so far out of the park that the ball is still flying… it’s that good. In terms of atmosphere, this might be the coolest maze they’ve ever done. Seriously. It’s up there with Gunslinger’s Grave in regards to just the cool factor of the open feel… and this one has multiple paths that you can choose too! Pretty nifty, huh? Anyway, let’s take a lights on tour of the maze…
See it all at WestCoaster
See it all at WestCoaster
Knotts Scary Farm Review: Monsters Unleashed
Knott’s Scary Farm has been in the business of haunted themed event entertainment longer than any other theme park in the business. With 41 years of Halloween Haunts under their belt, the original has plenty of experience and a huge amount of expectation to live up to. The 2014 event kicked off on Thursday, the 25th of September, with as much pomp as pageantry as one could expect from a scary group of zombies, demons, and of course the Green Witch herself.
At 7:00pm the front gates opened and legions of fans swarmed into the park. Guests headed off into the thick fog searching for the first scare. There was plenty to see too, as Knott’s was offering three entirely brand new maze attractions (Voodoo, The Tooth Fairy, Trapped:Lock and Key), one entirely new concept experience (Special Ops: INFECTED), and and two new shows, (The Hanging® Everything is Gruesome, and Elvira’s Big Top.).
In this article we offer a point by point assessment of each of the haunt offerings and what to expect.
Read the rest at MiceChat
At 7:00pm the front gates opened and legions of fans swarmed into the park. Guests headed off into the thick fog searching for the first scare. There was plenty to see too, as Knott’s was offering three entirely brand new maze attractions (Voodoo, The Tooth Fairy, Trapped:Lock and Key), one entirely new concept experience (Special Ops: INFECTED), and and two new shows, (The Hanging® Everything is Gruesome, and Elvira’s Big Top.).
In this article we offer a point by point assessment of each of the haunt offerings and what to expect.
Read the rest at MiceChat
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Review: Knott's Scary Farm's 2014 Halloween Haunt
Last year, Knott’s Scary Farm tried to think outside the box with Mirror Mirror — it didn’t work. This year, they tried again with Voodoo and Special Ops: Infected. Mission accomplished.
This event will always be more fun than it is scary, and that’s not a knock so much as it’s noting Knott’s Scary Farm’s lifestyle choice. They want to be a fun, mostly PG-13 event — and if you get scared now and again, all the better. There’s not the same creeping sense of dread that you get at Halloween Horror Nights, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Knott’s knows their market, and for their 41st Halloween Haunt they ramped up the quality of an event that had become too bloated and too self-congratulatory to ever be truly successful. Some of the same old problems persist, of course.
Read the rest at ThemeParkInsider
This event will always be more fun than it is scary, and that’s not a knock so much as it’s noting Knott’s Scary Farm’s lifestyle choice. They want to be a fun, mostly PG-13 event — and if you get scared now and again, all the better. There’s not the same creeping sense of dread that you get at Halloween Horror Nights, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Knott’s knows their market, and for their 41st Halloween Haunt they ramped up the quality of an event that had become too bloated and too self-congratulatory to ever be truly successful. Some of the same old problems persist, of course.
Read the rest at ThemeParkInsider
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Review: Reinvigorated Knott's Halloween Haunt returns with a vengeance
The once bloated, middle-aged beast known as Knott’s Scary Farm has trimmed down and shaped up into a lean, mean terrorizing machine with the 42nd annual Halloween Haunt.
The increased competition from Universal Studios Hollywood has forced Knott’s Berry Farm to reassess its strengths, reconsider its identity and reconfirm its commitment to Halloween supremacy in Southern California. The result is the best Halloween Haunt in years.
Gone are the 13 cookie-cutter mazes the Buena Park theme park boasted in recent years largely as a marketing gimmick that emphasized quantity over quality and stretched the Haunt creative team too thin.
This year’s Haunt presents a more manageable nine mazes with compelling themes, beautiful sets and well-paced crowds, making for a more enjoyable overall experience.
The increased competition from Universal Studios Hollywood has forced Knott’s Berry Farm to reassess its strengths, reconsider its identity and reconfirm its commitment to Halloween supremacy in Southern California. The result is the best Halloween Haunt in years.
Gone are the 13 cookie-cutter mazes the Buena Park theme park boasted in recent years largely as a marketing gimmick that emphasized quantity over quality and stretched the Haunt creative team too thin.
This year’s Haunt presents a more manageable nine mazes with compelling themes, beautiful sets and well-paced crowds, making for a more enjoyable overall experience.
Read the rest at LATimes
Friday, September 26, 2014
Review: Knott’s Scary Farm kills with Halloween Haunt 2014, enhancing event with outstanding Voodoo, Special Ops Infected
In one night celebrities of all kinds were shot, maimed or hung, zombies were kept in check, monsters roamed the streets of a ghost town, Houdini haunted and Elvira had a macabre circus – all at Knott’s Scary Farm for 2014.
With the Halloween season having more and more competition, Knott’s is trying some new things to stay ahead with its annual haunt, the original and first one at any theme park.
Read the rest at InsideTheMagic
With the Halloween season having more and more competition, Knott’s is trying some new things to stay ahead with its annual haunt, the original and first one at any theme park.
Read the rest at InsideTheMagic
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Who does that job? Knott's Scary Farm witch delights in frightening you
She lurks in the bougainvillea across from the Indian Trails stage at Knott’s Berry Farm.
She sees you, but you don’t see her. You get closer and closer and closer – and the Green Witch of Ghost Town jumps out, and you’re on the ground screaming.
By day, Charlene Parker, 61, is Ghost Town’s spinner-weaver. But for 20 or so nights a year, she dons a prosthetic nose, green paint and a pointy hat to terrorize visitors as the Green Witch during Knott’s annual Halloween Haunt; the 42nd edition kicks off tonight.
In an interview with the Register, Parker talked about whimpering tough guys, soiled 20-year-old girls and her approach to scaring guests as the Green Witch for the past 31 years.
Read the rest at OCRegister
She sees you, but you don’t see her. You get closer and closer and closer – and the Green Witch of Ghost Town jumps out, and you’re on the ground screaming.
By day, Charlene Parker, 61, is Ghost Town’s spinner-weaver. But for 20 or so nights a year, she dons a prosthetic nose, green paint and a pointy hat to terrorize visitors as the Green Witch during Knott’s annual Halloween Haunt; the 42nd edition kicks off tonight.
In an interview with the Register, Parker talked about whimpering tough guys, soiled 20-year-old girls and her approach to scaring guests as the Green Witch for the past 31 years.
Read the rest at OCRegister
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
From janitor to general manager, Knott's employee worked his way up
Raffi Kaprelyan needed a summer job – so he got one at nearby Knott’s Berry Farm, sweeping the grounds of Fiesta Village as a custodian while a Kennedy High student.
Thirty-five years later, he’s running the place as general manager of Knott’s, which welcomed an estimated 3.7 million visitors last year, according to the Themed Entertainment Association. In the height of the summer season, he leads a staff of 5,000 employees.
As the park approaches its most popular time of year, Halloween Haunt, Kaprelyan walked through the park with the Register on a recent afternoon. The 52-year-old executive talked about balancing history with thrill rides, making tough business decisions and pushing the envelope on the upcoming Knott’s Scary Farm attractions, which adds 1,200 seasonal employees this fall.
Read the rest at OCRegister
Thirty-five years later, he’s running the place as general manager of Knott’s, which welcomed an estimated 3.7 million visitors last year, according to the Themed Entertainment Association. In the height of the summer season, he leads a staff of 5,000 employees.
As the park approaches its most popular time of year, Halloween Haunt, Kaprelyan walked through the park with the Register on a recent afternoon. The 52-year-old executive talked about balancing history with thrill rides, making tough business decisions and pushing the envelope on the upcoming Knott’s Scary Farm attractions, which adds 1,200 seasonal employees this fall.
Read the rest at OCRegister
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Scare School 2014 at Knott’s Scary Farm
Each year, hundreds of ghouls fill the twisted mazes of Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween Haunt event in Buena Park, lurking in the darkness, ready to pounce on unsuspecting victims. They leer, they hiss, they scream, and they lunge; however, many of these creatures of the dark are fresh out of Scare School – a night of training outside and inside of their mazes that will prepare them for the season of screams to come. While a large amount of maze talent does return to work Halloween Haunt each season, there’s always plenty… new blood in the mix. That’s where Scare School comes in – to help returning veterans get mentally and physically limbered up for the task at hand, and to prep and pump up new talent for the experience they’re about to embark on.
Scare School 2014 was a much larger behind-the-scenes event than it’s ever been. In past years, Theme Park Adventure has been among just a very few media outlets that has been allowed to take a peek behind the veil of secrecy and witness the Knott’s monsters-in-training. Past years, including 2013’s Scare School have been featured each season here on TPA. This time around, we were surprised to see a lot more media on hand than ever before. It was apparent that something drastic had changed in the way Scare School was to be presented; returning media was perplexed by the addition of other behind-the-scenes facets to the night’s roster as well, such as a tour of Warehouse P, and a Haunt history tour through Ghost Town.
Read the rest at ThemeParkAdventure
Scare School 2014 was a much larger behind-the-scenes event than it’s ever been. In past years, Theme Park Adventure has been among just a very few media outlets that has been allowed to take a peek behind the veil of secrecy and witness the Knott’s monsters-in-training. Past years, including 2013’s Scare School have been featured each season here on TPA. This time around, we were surprised to see a lot more media on hand than ever before. It was apparent that something drastic had changed in the way Scare School was to be presented; returning media was perplexed by the addition of other behind-the-scenes facets to the night’s roster as well, such as a tour of Warehouse P, and a Haunt history tour through Ghost Town.
Read the rest at ThemeParkAdventure
Theme Park Adventure Celebrates 20th Anniversary
On September 14th, more than 200 fans, haunters, and themed entertainment industry professionals attended Theme Park Adventure’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, which was hosted by Knott’s Berry Farm at the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel in Buena Park. The occasion marked a huge milestone for TPA, the internet’s first themed entertainment fan site, and one of the very first theme park publications ever in print in the mid-’90s.
Read the rest at ThemeParkAdventure
Read the rest at ThemeParkAdventure
Monday, September 22, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Knotts Berry Farm Scare School and Halloween Fun
It was a scorcher this week at Knott’s Berry Farm. Temperatures hovered in the triple digits on the day we visited and only the most persevering thrill seekers dared brave the relentless heat. Despite the insane mercury levels, we bring you an update from the Farm. This week we cover news odds and ends as well as Halloween Haunt construction photos. Camp Spooky will be running during weekends in October and Knott’s Scary Farm will be available in the evenings for the braver souls. Speaking of Haunt, we got a special look at how the actors for this awesome event are trained to scare. Come along with us as we visit Scare School to see how it’s all done.
Read the rest at MiceChat
Read the rest at MiceChat
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Knott’s Berry Farm – 09/18/2014
Alright kids and not kids… we’re back to Knott’s again because we can and we do what we do. Today it’s going to be about Haunt prep work and a stroll around to see what we shall see. So let’s do this thing. The park has a lot going on… so let’s stare at pictures of all the things going on.
Read the rest at WestCoaster
Read the rest at WestCoaster
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Project 2015: Stuff going on! Cutting, gutting!
Post by Knott's Network.
Post by Knott's Network.
See the rest at KnottsNetwork
Knott's News: The awning, the lattice under the queue ramp and a lot of the bricks in the queue have been torn out. Are they removing all traces of 1920s theming to go with a potential change in setting for the new dark ride? Is this all preparation work for a new indoor queue for the upcoming dark ride? Are they just rearranging things and getting it up to code? Really didn't expect this much to be going on already.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Did you know that the ancestry of every boysenberry plant in the world can be traced back to Knotts?
Did you know that the ancestry of every boysenberry plant in the world can be traced back to @knotts? pic.twitter.com/re5TxAVfNb
— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) September 7, 2014Monday, September 8, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Knott’s Berry Farm – 09/02/2014
How is it September? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with it… it means we’re 23 days away from Scary Farm/Halloween Haunt. So no complaints. But basically the year has flown by. But here’s the thing… have you bought your haunt pass yet? If you haven’t, you’re going to be a sad panda.
So I took a walk around the park the other day to check out haunt prep… let’s check it out, okie dokie?
Read the rest at WestCoaster
So I took a walk around the park the other day to check out haunt prep… let’s check it out, okie dokie?
Read the rest at WestCoaster
Cedar Fair’s net revenue rises to record $939M
Cedar Fair LP, the parent company of Cedar Point and 10 other amusement parks, said Thursday that its net revenues rose $12 million, or 1 percent, to a record $939 million through its primary operating season, which began in May and ended Sept. 1.
However, the amusement park chain, which also operates four water parks and five hotels, said that overall attendance at its properties fell by 1 percent during the season and it also suffered a $3 million decrease in out-of-park revenues, which includes stays at its resorts.
As a result, the company said that it had lowered its full-year earnings forecast to net revenues of between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, to between $425 million and $435 million.
Earlier, Cedar Fair said it had expected net revenues to fall between $1.16 billion and $1.18 billion, and EBITDA to be between $435 million and $445 million.
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Cedar Fair shares fell $1.07 to close at $47.43.
Read the rest at ToledoBlade
However, the amusement park chain, which also operates four water parks and five hotels, said that overall attendance at its properties fell by 1 percent during the season and it also suffered a $3 million decrease in out-of-park revenues, which includes stays at its resorts.
As a result, the company said that it had lowered its full-year earnings forecast to net revenues of between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, to between $425 million and $435 million.
Earlier, Cedar Fair said it had expected net revenues to fall between $1.16 billion and $1.18 billion, and EBITDA to be between $435 million and $445 million.
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Cedar Fair shares fell $1.07 to close at $47.43.
Read the rest at ToledoBlade
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