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The haunting season has arrived! This past Sunday I finally made the journey to Knott’s Scary Farm (KSF). I normally attend these types of events on Friday or Saturday but decided this year to try out Sunday to see if there would be a difference in wait times and crowd levels (and the answer is yes there is). KSF begins at 7pm, however, new to me this year was attending the boo-fet. As previously mentioned, this event happens about 2 hours prior to the start of the event, depending on what time you select to attend. The cost is $35 which includes a souvenir cup and early entry to select mazes. Attending the boo-fet this year was hands down one of the best decisions my husband and I made. Not only did we get a great meal (unlimited Mrs. Knott’s Chicken!), but the boo-fet allowed you access to four of the back mazes (Wax works, The Depths, Paranormal Activity and Dark Entities) 30 minutes before the event began. Having that extra time helped with the wait times of these mazes. It took us about 40 minutes to go through all four mazes, including waiting in line and walking to each maze. In total we waited about 15 minutes in line for all four mazes.
Speaking of mazes, it’s time to re-rank the mazes with as little spoilers as possible. In a previous post I listed my most anticipated mazes and after looking at the list, it really didn’t change much:
9. Pumpkin Eater (previous ranking 9)- a returning maze which made its first appearance in 2017. It’s a fun maze with a good story behind it. This maze is right in front of the park as you enter. Crowds may go to this maze first since its right near the gates, but if you can wait till the end of the night. This was our last maze of the night and we waited 5 minutes.
8. Dark Entities (previous ranking 7)- One of the four mazes were early entry is available through the boo-fet. Visually this maze is great to look at, but half way through I realized that there were little to no scare actors in the maze. I could have been going through when they were doing an actor change, but it left me feeling lackluster.
7. Paranormal Inc (previous ranking 6)- The second of early mazes. The pre-show to this maze is fun with lots of surprises along the way. Just like the previous maze I think the maze was going through an actor change so there were not many scare actors in the maze.
6. Special Ops: Infected (previous ranking 5): Don’t get me wrong the concept for this maze is cool with the laser guns and still have the feeling of going through a maze. But I felt that the wait time was too long for this maze. I really enjoyed myself, but I wouldn’t wait over an hour for it.
5. The Depths (previous ranking 8)- one of the other four mazes were early entry was available. The pre-show for this maze was really cool. As you enter the maze you are escorted by a miner to go into an elevator where you will be taken to the bottom of the depths. However, as you are on your way down something happens, and you need to exit and begin your journey. In the pre-show there are a few windows with screens, and it gives the elusion that you are doing down. This maze was fun to go through, from the swamp water elusion, to the giant octopus 😊 I believe this is the last year of this maze and if it is I’m glad I was able to go through it one more time.
4. Shadow Lands (previous ranking 3)- Attention to detail, the costumes, the music. It all worked with this maze. From the moment you walked into this maze you were taken on a journey. One of the few mazes where the music really brought the maze to life. This was also one of two mazes where I was caught off guard and got a good scare.
3. Dark Ride (previous ranking 4)- Clowns. Clowns galore! From last year I feel like this maze stepped up everything from details, music, scare actors, storytelling, everything! I seriously enjoy this maze so much. From the moment you walk in your immersed into a dark ride and on the floor, you will find white outline of the ride that takes you through the maze. I hope this maze continues to be a staple at KSF and returns next year.
2. Origins: The Curse of Calico (previous ranking 1): the wait time for this line was posted at 45 minutes (25 minutes after opening) and overall, we waited about 25-30 minutes which wasn’t bad. What I liked about this queue was it intersected with the grave yard within ghost town and had calico towns people within the maze talking to you about the trial and hanging of Sarah Marshall, which helped time pass. The maze itself was fun to walk through. I was excited to see the green witch in this maze and the fact that she was flying (yes, flying) in the maze was a highlight.
1. Wax Works (previous ranking 2): my favorite maze of the night. The façade for this maze was such a good touch and brought the maze to life before you step in. Attention.to.detail., is the best way to describe this maze. As soon as you walk in you feel like you are in a wax works studio. This maze has interesting wax figures throughout the maze (two in particular come to mind) that bring this maze to life. This maze kept me guessing throughout for what was to come next and I loved that.
Attending KSF on a Sunday is something I would recommend doing. You will see lower wait times for mazes, compared to Friday and Saturday, and it also gives you the opportunity to really see everything without the crowds. I was able to go through all 9 mazes and see both The Hanging and Puppet Up. If you get the opportunity go see Puppet Up. It’s such a fun show and brings something new to KSF. I was surprised when I looked at the time and it was 10:45pm and I had completed everything. This allowed me time to walk through the scare zones and look at the merchandise. Now, the only downside to going on a Sunday (in my opinion) is there seemed to be fewer scare actors in the scare zones and the mazes. I could be wrong and maybe they were changing actors during these times, but I felt there needed to be more scare actors.
Overall, really enjoyed this years KSF. This year’s mazes were on point and lots of fun to go through. I always look forward to the haunting season and KSF was a great way to kick it off. If you have never been to KSF before I recommend attending this year.
