What Lurks in the Fog at Knott's Scary Farm?

The last time I went to Knott's Scary Farm was when I was in college, and the park itself, probably high school. (I've been in mourning for Kingdom of the Dinosaurs... what can I say?)

So when Adam pitched making the trek to Buena Park for this year's event, of course I was thrilled! I'd been seeing gorgeous photos of my friends lurking in the fog, and for the first time in a long time, I experienced the dreaded FOMO. It had been so long, after all, and everyone was saying such great things! But would it live up to the hype? With their affordable ticket prices and the lure of boysenberry beer, I was willing to give it a shot.

WOW! When you enter the park, spooky lighting and theatrical fog set the scene. You can proceed in one of two directions: to the right is Camp Spooky - err, Snoopy - and to the left is Calico Ghost Town. As anyone who's been to Knott's will tell you, you ALWAYS start in Ghost Town.

Knott's grew from a replica of a real California ghost town that founder Walter Knott was absolutely enamored with. During Halloween, Knott's really kicks up the "ghost" factor with spooky cobwebs, thick fog, and or course, creatures wandering the streets.

Since it had been so long since we visited, it took us a few moments to find our bearings. Once we did, we were having so much fun watching creatures lurking in the shadows and spooking unsuspecting visitors that we completely lost track of time.

We did a lap of the park and decided to hop in the shortest line we could find before grabbing a bite to eat. Our first maze, in its last year, was Shadowland. I can see why it's retiring, but for a maze with no lines, you can't go wrong!

As we walked through Camp Snoopy, which was transformed into a bewitching scare zone called "The Hollow," we were blown away by the performances of the scareactors as well as the costumes. One particular performer was hunched over on the ground, caressing it with his hands, muttering to himself about how they'll never do it again, nobody will touch his trees ever again. It was so unsettling to watch! I LOVED IT!

As we continued on, we found another short line for a maze called "Pumpkin Eater," so we hopped into it. Wow, this maze was LONG and SO detailed! I was so impressed! We were stopped afterward by a witch, who gave us an ominous message about the woods, and another creature offered me something in a burlap sack, just to lunge and growl at me when I reached for it.

As we continued on, we noticed folks gathering for The Hanging, so we joined in. The show is an irreverent poke at all things pop culture, and especially at Disneyland, Knott's nearby neighbor. The fight scenes were very entertaining and the comedic timing of "Evil" was spot-on. Between shows, an engraved headstone projection onto the stage hinted this might be the last year for The Hanging, and a line from Evil about the current climate of humor today and our collective lack of ability to take a joke seemed to be the nails in the coffin -- although as of writing, Knott's hasn't officially confirmed this.

After that, we continued on and hopped in line for Paranormal Inc. and hunted some ghosts! This maze had some really neat stunts and effects! The pre-show was very entertaining and the queue perfectly set the stage for what was inside the maze.

We opted to attend the last seating of Puppet Up. After hearing spectacular things about this show, it was un-missable in our minds. The show was hilarious! Nobody puts on an improv comedy show better than experienced puppeteers! The host was warm and funny, and the puppeteers were masters of characters and comedy.

When the show let out, we raced over to hop in line for more mazes. New this year, Origins told the story of how Calico became haunted by a vengeful witch named Sarah Marshall. It had a lot of fun moments and paired well with The Hanging, which told the same story but in a comedic way. The last maze of the night was The Depths. Wow, WOW! This maze left me speechless! The effects were out of this world - at times, I believed I was waist-deep in water, or even rocking back and forth on a pirate ship! I can't say enough good things about this maze. It only makes me wonder what we had missed in the rest of the mazes.

I'm disappointed we didn't have time to get to all of the mazes. We missed out on Dark Ride, Dark Entities, Wax Works and Special Ops Infected. We also didn't get around to riding the Timber Mountain Log Ride: Halloween Hootenanny, or seeing Conjurers - Magic and Mirth at the Birdcage Theater. But I had so much fun with all the things we DID do! I'm hoping we can go back one more time this season and do the things we didn't get to. Fingers crossed!

Knott's Scary Farm runs on weekends through November 2nd - ticket prices range from $40-$60 and you can buy here. Maybe if we go back, we can take advantage of the Boo-fet, which includes dinner, photo ops, a souvenir bottle, and early entry into the Scary Farm!