Preston: To continue our Halloween haunt coverage in SoCal, today we’re going to discuss all things Knotts Scary Farm. We had the privilege of attending this year’s media event and it was a fantastic time! So let’s jump into some maze reviews!
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We would like to once again thank the amazing people at Knott’s Berry Farm for inviting us to the media night of Scary Farm. Congratulations on another year of success for such an incredible haunt event.
Loving the fun theming at the entrance to the park.
I love the ambiance the most at Knott’s Scary Farm Having scare zones in areas like Ghost Town is just unparalleled. Everyone always compares Halloween Horror Nights (Universal) with Scary Farm, and this is one thing that Knott’s does SO MUCH BETTER than Horror Nights.
Let’s jump into our maze reviews from this year! Knott’s added two new mazes, Wax Works and Origins: The Curse of Calico.
How We Rate and Review:
The four ratings exist of a Length Rating, which relates to the length of a maze, the longer the better. This doesn’t necessarily mean physical length of walking through the maze, but may also indicate there are plenty of different scenes and that the maze felt long. The Scare Rating is exactly what you think it is, how ‘scary’ does a maze get, how gruesome it is, if it creates a bunch of jump scares, etc. The Set Rating looks specifically at the job done regarding the theming of the maze, how immersive the sets are, how many different scenes guests encounter, etc. And then last, but definitely not least… Experience Rating. Which is mainly based off of the overall feel of the maze, was it a extreme? Did it leave you breathless? etc. The overall experience, combined with the other three factors creates a FINAL SCORE for the maze. (Out of 10, 10 being: “absolutely unbelievably amazing”, 1 being: “Don’t even bother visiting”)
Wax Works
Being one of the new mazes this year, we were all anxious to experience Wax Works. While I really did enjoy it, it felt like something was missing.
I will say this, the new set pieces were amazing. I loved the way that Knott’s incorporated the actors in this one too. It didn’t scare me one bit.
What did you all think of Wax Works?
Length rating: 7/10
Scare rating: 5/10
Set rating: 9/10
Experience rating: 5/10
OVERALL rating: 6.5/10
Paranormal Inc.
My absolute FAVORITE! Paranormal Inc. was incredible! The story of Paranormal Inc. is about a cable television show that investigates a haunted hospital. 
I just love the story of Paranormal Inc. It’s so original, innovative, and fun. The first room also gave me (I think) the best scare of my entire haunt season.
Length rating: 9/10
Scare rating: 9/10
Set rating: 8/10
Experience rating: 10/10
OVERALL rating: 9.5/10
Origins: The Curse of Calico
The second (and final) new maze of 2019! I enjoyed Origins a lot. First off, being that this was my first ever visit to Scary Farm, all the mazes were technically new to me. This was the last maze that we got to for the night, and after we went through it, it was obvious to me that this was a new maze.
What I mean by that is that it just looked the newest and the freshest. It also had a bunch of technology in it (TV screens, projections, etc).
The con of this one for me is that the story was really hard to follow. All of those TV screens had about thirty-second clips, and when in a maze, you just simply don’t have that time to stop and watch the entire video.
Length rating: 8/10
Scare rating: 6/10
Set rating: 8/10
Experience rating: 5/10
OVERALL rating: 7/10
Pumpkin Eater
The final maze we’re going to talk about tonight is a returning maze (and a favorite for most). Pumpkin Eater did not disappoint. Again, I just love the story line they have here. I love that Knott’s takes such pride in the quality of their mazes.
I think this maze was the overall scariest of the night. All around quite terrifying.
Length rating: 6/10
Scare rating: 10/10
Set rating: 9/10
Experience rating: 7/10
OVERALL rating: 9/10
Puppet Up!
Okay, this is not a maze. It’s just one incredible show. Puppet Up was HILARIOUS!Here’s a description of the show.
I swear I couldn’t breathe during it. I am PRAYING that we get it back here next year. It was a perfect ending to our trip. Puppet Up is shown three times during the night, so if you have a chance to make it to the show, definitely do so!
Thank you guys for reading this update! Another thank you to the Knott’s team for inviting us to media night. As the Halloween haunts wind down, we are looking forward to the Christmas season! Keep your eye out for some more updates coming soon! 🙂