Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt 2008
Oct. 4th
The Doll Factory
"In an old abandoned toy factory, the Marionette Murderer, a psychotic serial killer, turns his beautiful victims into life-size porcelain dolls for his personal collection. Tour his twisted museum of death and disfigurement, and hope to escape his mechanical lair."
The Doll Factory is a returning favorite and I can see why. This industrial-goth type maze is super-creepy, very scary, and some of the "life-size porcelain dolls" are, um, pretty alluring. If we'd had the energy to do a maze more than once, I'd have voted for this one. Throughout the night, none of the beasties ever actually touches you, but that doesn't mean they don't occasionally make some kind of contact. And in this maze, I was on the receiving end of that contact more than once. Awesome.
Quarantine
Picking one maze as an absolute favorite above all is impossible, but the new Quarantine maze is a strong contender. Based on the film, scheduled to open Oct. 10th, this puppy is badass:
"The U.S. government has issued an emergency order sealing off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. A HazMat team was sent to investigate the quarantined building. Authorities have now denied any knowledge of the incident. The residents were never heard from again. There were no explanations; there was no evidence. Until now..."
You're barely in the door and the action gets started with a righteous bang, literally and figuratively. And then the screaming starts, from both you and the cast inside. They are loud, wild and in your face. Maybe we got lucky, but the performers were doing Brando-quality work and it all scared the living daylights out of me. And don't miss what's inside the elevator. I've never had a nightmare this bad, ever.
The one thing I do remember well from that early Haunt were the two rides they decked out specifically for the event: the venerable log flume and Calico Mine train. So we couldn't leave without sampling this year's editions.
The Log Flume is called Pyromaniax and is described thusly:
"A fire bursts out on the mountain due to a tragic accident at the resident Moonshine Factory. It seems the locals have been using toxic waste to make their libation, and now the lethal fumes are turning everyone (including the Fire Fighters) into murderous mutants."
Okay, whatever. That's a rich backstory that doesn't really come across on the ride itself, but who cares? There's plenty of freaks along the course, some of them very real, and the whole atmosphere is suitably spooky. And the log flume in darkness is sweet regardless. Also, we rode once during the day and the night time ride seemed noticeably zippier. I don't know how much control they have over the speed of the ride, but it was hauling for the Haunt.
Then there was the self-explanatory Black Widow's Cavern, the ol' train ride. I find big, nasty spiders particularly appalling, so I was eager to do this. Some may find the Cavern alittle tame after the mazes, but there are some hidden surprises to perk things up, and the "finale" was definitely impressive. As dark rides go, I put this very high on my list.
By the time we staggered out, I tell ya, I was spent, throat raw from screaming. Massive kudos to everyone at Knott's for throwing down the best Halloween shindig I've ever seen. Can't wait for next year!
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