Halloween a big success for theme parks

Top 3 Halloween Events (2005 Golden Ticket Awards)
1. Knott's Berry Farm
2. Universal Studios
3. Kennywood

*** This post was edited by razore86 10/5/2005 2:06:31 PM ***

Knotts has 12 mazes and 5 scare zones? I had no idea their Halloween event was so large.

Large?? I'd say that is an understatement.

1000 actors in makeup through out the park, closing the park early and having to buy your tickets through TicketMaster (i.e. your season pass is not valid) sounds a little more like.. well.. monster.

I understand that is big bussiness to have big Haunted Houses in Theme Parks. Well I work in a Haunted House, but it is alot fun. The reason why people are haunted houses is run by the theme parks or private organizations. Because every year is different and people want different experience. I like to know square footage haunted houses in Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios,Cedar Point, and Kennywood? Well I know what square of three haunted house at Six Flags Over Texas. Becuase I talk to people who are incharge of operating haunted house at Six Flags Over Texas.

The Boneyard Haunted House which I am actor. Well I am Zombie, but Zombie name Darkghoast. I am basicially in a Window in Libary 3 which is one of the rooms at the BoneYard Haunted House. For Coasterbuzzer you are getting free admission to the BoneYard Haunted House. If you are interested in going to BoneYard Haunted House. Go to
www.theboneyard.org

Sincerely

Will Kovich

Knotts has 12 mazes and 5 scare zones? I had no idea their Halloween event was so large.

Four of the 12 mazes are in 3-D. Plus you have two re-themed rides [log flume and mine train] and 5 scare zones. And IIRC Ghostrider is run without flood or tracer lights. There is hardly an area of the park that isn't occupied by some aspect of the Haunt.

CoasterKrazy -

Isn't that any slight indication to the park's claim to fame being the first, biggest, and best theme park Halloween Event? ;)

For a park like Knotts. are the haunted houses part of the regular admission price or all upcharge attractions like my local park SFGAM??
How is it at other parks regarding upcharge attractions for hauned houses/mazes etc.?

are the haunted houses at Knotts part of the regular admission price?

Well...yes and no.

During the month of October when the Haunt is running the park opens at 10am for REGULAR operations. No mazes are open. The two rethemed rides [flume and mine train] are open but not filled with any scareactors.

The park closes around 5pm in order to prepare for the Halloween festivites. The park reopens at 7pm for Haunt, but it is a separate admission. Season passes are not valid for Haunt. During the nighttime session all rides are running except the very few that are closed due to haunt attractions. All of the major rides are open.

Haunt is a VERY, VERY popular event and, for many people, it is the only time of the year they visit Knotts. Because of this many try to do both Haunt attractions and the coasters during the evening session, which creates extremely long lines for the major rides -- usually over a 2 hour wait for Ghostrider and others. Lines during the day session are quite low.

If you want to get your fill of all the rides with low lines and enjoy Haunt I strongly suggest paying for the two separate admissions. That way you can enjoy the rides during the day and concentrate on Haunt attractions at night.

Another tip: reserve a seat at the VIP Pre-Scare Buffet Dinner as you're allowed into the park about 20 mins before the gates open. This allows you to beat the crowd to the two most popular Haunt attractions: the flume and mine train.

I have only seen CP's and PKI's haunted attractions. I really look forward to my first "Phantom Fright Night" tomorrow. :-D

-Tina

Never done Knott's. Been to an HHN at Universal and done a couple of PFN's at Kennywood. I've also done Dorney and SFOG at Halloween time.

HHN was amazing. Knott's must be something really special to see.

PFN is very good, better than Dorney and SFOG, but still a huge gap below HHN.

My humble opinion is that PFN need more roaming characters. That would be a huge step in closing the gap. What they do right is capture the Halloween vibe and spread it throughout the park. Last year's reworking of the back part of Lost Kennywood into Gor(k)y Park was seriously very near on par with anything I saw at Universal (especially considering the differences in what each park has to work with - score with the handicap in place and KW's Gor(k)y Park might win on points), plus it had a handful of roaming characters that played the theme perfectly.

PFN is certainly worth the visit each fall. I'd kill to do another HHN and if Knott's tops that - then it looks like a future trip to the west coast to experience it is in order sometime between now and death. :)

Although I don't think it's a contender in the scare department [yet], Dorney's haunted offerings get better and better each year.. (Screamworks and renovating the one haunted house to be 3D last year, almost doubling the length of the Fright Zone this year) Although I think one of the best aspects is that they also offer non-scary alternatives for the kids - catering to the families... like the Zany Zephyr, Magical House on Boo Hill, the new-for-this-year Straw Bale maze, etc.

Knotts offers kids mazes, too.

Yes, they offer one kids maze in Camp Snoopy, but only during the daytime regular hours. It looks pretty cool this year. They built it in the Camp Snoopy train station.

I went the first day of Haunt last week, and can say that after a few years of kind of so so effort, Knott's has done a really good job this time around. Except for two things, the Mine Train which was awful, and the stagecoach trail maze in Camp Snoopy which really had nothing to see and was rather pointless. Other then that, a great event this year. Especially their newest maze which is a take on Disney's Haunted Mansion and done quite well.

For the out of staters, it's definitely worth the trip to see at least once. As Knott's says "Everybody has to go sometime". :)

Hey will kovich i worked at the boneyard too. in the last room with the chainsaw. it was awsome. but i dont remeber the room your talking about

i scared one girl so bad she fell to her knees crying! haha sucker

visit us at www.theboneyard.org