Park Journey
Menu

10 Years of Haunt at California's Great America

9/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
 Hey there, Park Journey readers!
​
2017 marks the 10th year of Haunt at California's Great America, and ParkJourney was on had to check out the opening night festivities!

This was my second year attending Haunt at Great America, and I really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much this park has changed in the last couple of years, and the 2017 Haunt additions seem to indicate a continuation of that upward trend. 

​Written by Andrew Cunningham
Photos by Stephen Harrington and Andrew Cunningham

Picture
We start the evening by checking out Backwoods, this year's big new maze, which took over the Imax building previously occupied by Dia de los Meurtos. While Backwoods was noticeably shorter than its predecessor, the production value was far above any other maze that Great America has done.
Picture
​

Backwoods takes us to an old southern Bayou that is, unfortunately, overrun by Werewolves. The maze was unique in that it is built over a shallow water tank, and you walk from scare to scare over a set of wooden bridges that cross the water. The sets themselves were large, impressive, and void of any cheap plywood walls. 

​The park was kind enough to treat us to a lights-on tour of Backwoods. You can see from the pictures that the level of detail and production value was definitely heightened for this maze. It looked amazing with the lights off and actors in place!
Aes night began to creep in, the Haunt opening show took place over the Celebration Plaza fountains. The cloaked figure in the middle of the water is none other that The Demon!
Picture
It was cool to see a live Demon character in the park, as the other marquee addition for 2017 was Demon: Re-Ignited
Picture
The Demon is a true classic at California's Great America, the this year's Haunt brought fire, tunnel projections, and the return of the water features to the beloved coaster. I have to say that a night ride on Demon Ignited was incredibly enjoyable.  

The park has also been hyping a re-recording of the classic Demon theme song by Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart. The new theme song was not ready to roll on opening night, but we will back next week to check it out again. 
Picture
Great America has done a tremendous job with increasing their entertainment offerings over the last few years. This year for Haunt, Ed Alonzo's Psycho Circus of Magic & Mayhem returns to the park to take center stage. 

We got to see the first trial run of the show, which was a lot of fun. I'm not a huge theme park show person, but I did find Ed's show to be an overall good time. He packed in several impressive magic tricks along with some PG-13 humor. I'd recommend seeing it if you have a full night to spend at Haunt. 
While I didn't have time to take in every other maze or Skeleton Key room tonight (damn you, Caltrain schedule!), it did seem like the houses that I did were mostly the same from last year. However, the couple Skeleton Key rooms I experienced were different from 2016, which was fun. 
Picture
Thanks for joining us for a look at the 2017 new hotness for California's Great America's 10th anniversary Haunt. 
​
Halloween Haunt runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights from now until October 29th. We definitely recommend coming to check it our if you're in the Bay Area!

We'll actually be back at California's Great America for Haunt the next two weekends, so look for lots more from this amazing event soon. 


​Related Updates: 
  • Knott's Scary Farm Opening Weekend - The Original is still the best 
  • Cedar Fair Announces All New Attractions for 2018 Season
  • California's Great America Debut's Single Rail Rollercoaster for 2018
  • Trip Report: Canada's Wonderland - A Beautiful Park with two Top 20 Coasters
  • Red, White and Brews at California's Great America ​​


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
0 Comments

Knott's Scary Farm - The original is still the best

9/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Wow, where do we begin with Knott's Scary Farm 2017. 
To say that Knott's Scary Farm is hitting on all cylinders this year would be an extreme understatement. From top to bottom this is probably the strongest Scary Farm in a decade. The mazes are amazing, the scare zones are amazing, scares around every corner and more fun and screams are lurking in the fog than ever before 

Pictures by Matthew Nelson and Gregg Condon
Written by Gregg Condon

Welcome to Knott's Scary Farm
Picture
This year unlike the past few years, the entire park is full of decorations 
Picture
Picture
Look at that beautiful glorious fog 
Picture
Picture
New for this year, Trick or Treat Light's Out 
Picture
They've taken what was already one of our favorite Scary Farm mazes and improved it by turning the lights off and giving everybody flashlights. 
Picture
Back for it's third year is Paranormal Inc 
Picture
The maze is still amazing. Only thing we'd say here is maybe for next year a different pre-show storyline. They've done an amazing job of freshening up mazes with tweaks and this one could use a couple of tweaks to make it even better than it is. 
Picture
Picture
Still one of the most technologically advanced mazes at the farm 
Picture
A behind the scenes look at how we film and shoot Scary Farm 
Picture
Welcome to Knott's Berry Farm by day 
Picture
Dark Ride by Night!!! 
Picture
Honestly, we aren't sure what we can say about Dark Ride that wouldn't make it sound like we were just blowing Haunt Fog up Jon Cooke's ass 
Picture
Picture
This maze is simply perfect. Take everything we love about amusement parks and scary events and mash them together. 
Picture
We really felt like we were in an episode of Scooby Doo (not the crappy movie, the awesome original cartoon). It was just fun and scary and perfect. 
Picture
Picture
We know a lot of you don't like scary things, but we implore you, go to Scary Farm ... walk through Dark Ride. You'll fall in love with it. ​
Picture
So a couple final thoughts on Dark Ride: 

First, we can't believe this wasn't a concept that wasn't thought of before. It seems kind of like a no brainer. Why it hasn't been done before is beyond us, but we're glad it hasn't been because this feels fresh and fun. 

Second, the cool thing about Dark Ride is, and I'm sure it's something the maze designers have already thought of, they can keep the general "theme" of the maze but they can change out the actual "Dark Ride" part of it. I mean, could you imagine them re-creating Knott's Beary Tales as the "Dark Ride" part? People would freak, in a good way. 

All in all this is probably in my top 5 Scary Farm mazes of all time. And that's saying A LOT. Because there have been some amazing mazes throughout the years. 
Picture
Ghost Town in the fog is always amazing 
Picture
New this year 
Picture
Picture
Daytime POV 
Picture
Nighttime POV 
It's simply brilliant and fun both during the day and at night
Picture
Surprise, she's still here!! 
Picture
Sometimes it's the little touches that make this an all around amazing event 
Picture
Red Barn ... we really enjoyed it last year, some small tweaks and it's even better this year
Picture
Picture
Let the bodies hit the floor 
Picture
Amazing decorations in The Hollow 
Picture
You'd think after the heaps of praise we just did on Dark Ride that would mean the other new maze for 2017 Pumpkin Eater would have been a tremendous let down. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
Picture
The amazing 1, 2 punch of these new mazes using classic scares scattered with new technology are amazing. You can really feel the difference between the two given their two designers but yet they both totally work in the grand scheme of Knott's Scary Farm as a whole. 
So some final thoughts on Scary Farm 2017 ... 
Picture
We know it's still early in the season, and we have a LOT of events to go to still, but it's going to be REALLY hard for any event to top Knott's Scary Farm. From the time you walk through those gates you are immersed in everything scary. 
Picture
The team this year has really outdone themselves and the original quite frankly is still the best. 
Picture
We were hard-pressed to come up with a maze ranking this year because everything was so solid. Even a couple of mazes we were kind of 'meh on last year had comeback years. It honestly seems almost unfair to rank these mazes.

Yes, Dark Ride was obviously our favorite, but everything else is really a solid #2. There is not one "bad" maze. We didn't have one bad experience in any of these mazes. All were filled with fun and scares. Each time we went through the mazes over our two nights of Scary Farm they were all solidly on-point.

So do yourself a favor, get to Knott's Scary Farm. You won't be disappointed. 

​Related Updates: 
  • Cedar Fair Announces All New Attractions for 2018 Season
  • California's Great America Debut's Single Rail Rollercoaster for 2018
  • Trip Report: Canada's Wonderland - A Beautiful Park with two Top 20 Coasters
  • Ghost Town Alive Makes a Triumphant Return to Knott's Berry Farm
  • Red, White and Brews at California's Great America ​​


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    2014 Attractions
    2015 Attractions
    2016 Attractions
    2017 Attractions
    2018 Attractions
    2019 Attractions
    2020 Attractions
    2021 Attractions
    Bear Y Tales
    Bear-y Tales
    Berry Bloom
    Boysenberry Festival
    Calico Mine Ride
    Calico River Rapids
    California's Great America
    Camp Snoopy
    Canada's Wonderland
    Carowinds
    Cedar Fair
    Cedar Point
    Coasting For Kids
    Dorney Park
    Fear VR
    Fury 325
    Ghostrider
    Ghost Town
    Ghost Town Alive
    Gilroy Gardens
    Give Kids The World
    Halloween Haunt
    HangTime
    Kings Dominion
    Kings Island
    Knott's Berry Farm
    Knott's Merry Farm
    Knott's Peanuts Celebration
    Knott's Scary Farm
    Knott's Soak City
    Knott's Spooky Farm
    Komen OC
    Mass Effect New Earth
    Merry Farm
    Michigan's Adventure
    Military Days
    Mystic Timbers
    New Years Eve
    Patriot
    RailBlazer
    Red
    South Bay Shores
    Steel Vengeance
    Valleyfair
    White And Brews
    Winterfest
    Worlds Of Fun

    Archives

    February 2021
    December 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Cedar Fair
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Park Journey Shop
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us