Knott’s Scary Farm 2023: 50 Years of Nightmares

Knott's Scary Farm is an annual Halloween event at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. Established in 1973, it is one of the oldest and largest Halloween celebrations in the United States. They are celebrating FIFTY YEARS of haunt in 2023. The event features elaborate haunted mazes, scare zones with roaming actors, live shows, themed decorations throughout the park, special events and food, and iconic characters like the Green Witch. Knott's brought back the Scary Farm Pass which is what Dreadful and I have, so we will add updates at the bottom of this post throughout the season as needed! Jump to the TLDR at the bottom for you if you don’t want the full rundown.

The use of marketing from years gone by had my nerd heart fluttering

May I start with a slight love letter: the team members for Knott’s Scary Farm are unmatched. I never felt rushed but I felt safe, I noticed their presence but not a distracting amount. This is what I want, this is what it should be. You are the blueprint! I love that Halloween Horror Nights exists, I love that people can go and enjoy IP that they are fans of (myself included!) but when it comes to a theme park haunted attraction - Knott’s is exactly what I personally want. I love it here.

We went for the first time of the season on a Thursday and the parking entrance was very chill (the attendant was super kind and complimented my earrings!) and we arrived around 6:30pm with the event starting at 7. Please read the bag policy, do not upset yourself by wasting time trying to get in with a bag that they will not allow! I recommend these from Black Thorn LA. This year’s entrance has signage from decade celebrations of Scary Farm’s gone by and I was living for it. More on that later! Make sure you have the app downloaded and also make sure you know which are scare zones and which are mazes - one update I want to suggest to Knott’s is to have the markers for scare zones be a different shape from mazes because Mr. Dreadful himself had us searching for a maze that does not exist. I suggest making a rough game plan before the event starts if you only plan on attending once, especially if it is a busier night. This way you will know your priorities and where things are in the park ahead of the chaos.

We hit one of the new for 2023 mazes, Chilling Chambers. This maze took us through 50 years of Halloween Haunt history with tributes to six former mazes plus Easter eggs offering nods to many more. I’m not from Southern California and did not grow up attending this haunt, and was still losing my mind. I can’t imagine how special that must be for folks who have always attended to have some of their favorites brought back in this way. I won’t spoil anything too much but this maze blew me away with the set design and just overall fun vibe. I was laughing my head off in some parts (iykyk) and screaming my head off in others. When you exit this maze, they have lights in your eyes which is VERY clever; Mr. Dreadful does not scare easily and he JUMPED and YELLED at the end of this. 10/10 chef’s kiss in my book. This is the exact perfect balance that I expect from Knott’s and I cannot say enough good things about the execution, maybe because I didn’t have memories to draw from or high expectations, but regardless you won’t want to miss this one. They have this maze situated within the Gauntlet scare zone so while you are in line, there is also potential to be scared or watch scares taking place (big fan!). Knott’s bills this zone as: “A tranquil kingdom swept by a terrible plague, its inhabitants doomed to eternal suffering. Seeking revenge, the tortured, scarred souls search for the one responsible - unleashing their fury on anyone who dares to run the Gauntlet.” We sat on a bench in this scare zone for a bit towards the end of the night, it’s cute! Not a favorite for me but the King and Queen are a blast, and there is lots of room for sliders to do their thing, which is a favorite of mine.

My most anticipated maze of 2023 was Cinema Slasher. I am a slasher girly through and through and I was so ready. This is in the same space as the Dark Ride which I personally also loved so much. The entrance was clever with an immediate jump scare. The set design of those theater rooms - please someone let me walk through this with the lights up. Maybe if I put that in writing on the internet it will happen. I digress. Beautifully done, clever scares, however maybe because of that, we felt we missed a lot of the scare opportunities because of timing. You become the star of this slasher film where you quite literally step through the big screen with nods to Knott’s history throughout. There is a part of this maze that gives I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes and one of those actors gave me one of the most intense frights of my life, so I know what this maze is capable of. We will absolutely be going through this one again soon to update you, as the overall thrill factor was lacking and I do have a feeling it was just because of where we were in the queue of people.

After this, we made our way to the CarnEVIL scare zone area and Danny went on a ride while I sat alone (!!!) just enjoying watching the actors. The details of the props they have used in this area this year were great, the little monkeys hanging from the lights! The actors in this scare zone are always a delight and most of them came up to play or give me a fright. I find the aesthetic choice to keep them all in red and white makeup and costume really let’s the zone shine and shows why Knott’s just gets it. You could tell they were having fun and I so appreciate all the fun interactions! Dreadful Danny returned with the interactive lantern in hand. The lantern is $39.99 and supposedly has over 100 interactive spots within the park. (EDIT: the lantern is now sold out for the 2023 season) We did not bother to look at the interactive map which perhaps we will do before our next visit, but for us it was whatever. It’s another thing to hold onto which is not really our vibe, but the idea is similar to the interactive wands of Wizarding World which people love and is brilliant. I would say if you have the money and enjoy getting a little extra from your theme park experiences, it is worth it, particularly if you have the Scary Farm Pass and are able to use it more than just the one visit. We will give it another go in the season and update!

Another new maze, Room 13, is situated within the Gore-ing 20’s scare zone, which is very aesthetically pleasing scare zone but not a personal favorite. Playing off the Prohibition-era Gore-ing 20s theme, this new maze features a dangerously addictive new cocktail called The Devil’s Elixir. It's at the root of violent murders at The Blind Tiger on Memory Lane. Where did this alluring and dangerous cocktail come from? The answers may lie at the heart of the extravagant Argive Hotel, where many have checked in … but none have checked out. (You can taste the Devil's Elixir cocktail at Knott's Scary Farm this year! We want to try it next visit.) This maze was good but not great for us, however I will say, they definitely interacted with the lantern a noticeable amount in this one! Room 13 has a similar vibe to Universal Horror Hotel and parts of the Evil Dead Rise maze at HHN this year, if either of those were your jam! They used the same art deco light sconces (which I noticed because I am weird) as well as similar elevator areas.

There are four shows for the 50th celebration of Knott’s Scary Farm: Dr. Cleaver Returns, Le Magnifique Carnaval de Grotesque, Music, Monsters & Mayhem, and The Hanging: Uncanceled. Obviously there is A LOT to do in a night, so we chose to just pick one show for our first visit of the season since we have the Scary Farm Pass. We opted for the Music, Monsters & Mayhem which is in the Gore-ing 20’s zone. This was, as most things are this year, a tribute to the history of Knott’s Scary Farm. It had dancing, singing, adult humor, a significant cringe level. Everything that makes a theme park show great. We really enjoyed the show which ran 45 minutes, and is a great opportunity to rest your feet and heart rate. Even as someone who is not very familiar with the hosts of Knott’s Scary Farm gone by, I feel like they have done a really good job being consistent with information throughout so that you aren’t just hearing names or seeing faces once, and it’s easier to pick up on through the shows/merch/mazes etc. even if you aren’t familiar.

The actors in each scare zone are impeccable, and if you can, I would really recommend just hanging out to the side and watching them interact with one another and with patrons. It is one of our personal favorite ways to spend our time in haunts. I won’t go into great detail about each zone here, but our personal favorites are CarnEVIL and Ghost Town Streets. One thing that surprised me was the removal of the interactive guns from Bloodline 1842 as well as a 0 minute wait time. That was a maze debuted last year, in 2022, with a vampire theme and the shtick of you being a vampire hunter with this laser gun where you could hit the actors throughout. The guns never quite worked right and I originally thought it was an absolutely wild choice to give a prop to patrons in a dark and scary environment. I don’t know the reasoning behind the removal of the guns for 2023, but they re-worked the storyline a bit to accommodate. It was still just okay for me, I think the interactive guns set it apart in an interesting way, and now it just falls a bit flat. I also noticed they removed the fun nostalgic commercials from the queue for The Grimoire, which was also new last year. We then went through The Depths and Dark Entities (both with 5 minute wait times!) which have been around for a few years and are super consistent in their storytelling and character cohesion.

This year they have upped the ante for merchandise, given that it is a big anniversary and milestone. There is a 50th Anniversary Legacy store located in the corner of the park by the Wax Works maze and WOW. On the walk there, they have projections on the ground of logos of years past. I almost lost my mind at this detail! I am a creative marketer by day and have a deep respect for art, history, and archiving and it is clear that the folks at Knott’s agree. Such a small detail but if that is something that interests you at all, I would recommend taking the time to slowly walk through that little area on your way to the mazes back there + the Legacy store. I had no expectations of the store, but this certainly exceeded them. Lots of fun photo ops in here, so many nods to haunts gone by, and a great variety of merch options. I really suggest making some time to do a full walk through of the store, even if you aren’t usually a merch person.

The seasonal food options for Haunt this year are the opposite of vegan. But! All hope is not lost, there are vegan options throughout the park. We shared the vegan burger and the tendies from Sutters Grill near the Ghost Town Streets. They were a solid option, 3.5/5. There is also vegan cheese in the park, so pizza is an option that we will try in the future. Allegedly there may be some vegan seasonal options but I didn’t want to waste time chasing answers about dietary restrictions, but perhaps I’ll be a better blogger next time. My hope is that Knott’s will fold in 1-2 clearly labeled vegan options into seasonal offerings, and make it a little more obvious and clear where vegan options are on the menu. Because it was a Thursday, we weren’t turning all the way up and did not partake in any seasonal libations (but we will soon, stay tuned!)

Obviously we feel a special type of way about Knott’s Scary Farm, and I’m so happy to have the Scary Farm Pass for the 50th Anniversary season. If you’re trying to decide between a haunt to attend in October, my answer every single time will be Knotts. There are areas of improvement in terms of food and figuring out effectiveness of a couple of mazes but overall for the price and the experience that you get? Unbeatable. I recommend going on a shoulder night to avoid busy weekend crowds if you can, just to really get the most of out your visit. Knott’s has different ticket options and add ons, such as the Boo-fet, Fright & Fast Lane, all geared towards allowing you to enhance your experience in whatever way might work best for you. I can’t wait to be back in the fog very soon, updates will be added below with dated entries. Meet me in the fog!

Update 10/4/2023:

A Wednesday scare, you say!? The park was DEAD and I was living for it. HHN can keep their 180 minute waits, I’ll be over here waiting 5. The lantern is SOLD OUT for the season. We were stopped so many times last night to ask what the lantern was for and what it was about; I felt like a lantern influencer. We actually did take time to look at the Scary Farm interactive lantern map and find the interactions and I will say it’s very fun and clever. This is for the geocaching folks, we saw quite a few friend groups just dedicating their night to finding all the interactions. It’s also fun to see the lantern interact in different ways in the mazes, even if the lights are just flashing - be warned though I was paying so much attention to the lantern in the Mesmer haunted maze that I got jump scared and (fake) scolded by the actor for not paying attention! We also confirmed the vegan cheese availability at the pizzeria + a soyrizo option at Casa California. The wait time for the Origins maze was half an hour when we talked by at around 8pm and we were like nah, we will save it, but the rest were 15 minutes and under! We did give Cinema Slasher another go and was still a bit underwhelmed in the area of scare factor - because this set is SO large, it does feel like it requires more actors which they just did not have. We also noticed in the places with bungee scares in both Cinema and Mesmer, they didn’t have anyone staffed. We caught the Le Magnifique Carnaval Du Grotesque show which is not to be missed and is easy to catch as you’re passing through that area, as well as our first ever Hanging. The Hanging was fine for me! I did laugh a few times which is rare with any kind of stand up style scripted comedy so I’ll call it a win. Some of the jokes were a bit outdated but whatever, it’s a staple of Knott’s Scary Farm history and it’s a fun theme park show - definitely worth a watch at least once.

Update 10/11/2023:

I finally went to The Cauldron Bar across from Knott’s and it was a vibe! They are very strict about parking and the amount of time you can stay at the bar, but the staff was great and the drinks were fun. I love a themed anything. Not very many vegan options but the olives were a fun snack and the happy hour prices are worth attending. I’m sure it gets busy on weekends, but for a Wednesday they had walk-up availability, along with patio room available. I forgot my physical haunt pass and they re-scanned my ticket in my Apple Wallet with no problems, you can also use this digital pass for your pass discounts with the haunt pass! Don’t forget to save money on any food or merch items. A warning: as Halloween grows near, the wait times will get longer and longer. Most houses were between 15-30 minute wait times last night! With that being said, we were able to do 5 mazes and soak up some scare zones in 3 hours so all in all, still perfect. I was with a Knott’s first timer! Special. And their top 2 favorite mazes were Mesmer and Wax Works and was honestly a great reminder to me that new doesn’t mean great, and even if you’ve been through a maze many times, there is always a new detail to discover or a new horror awaiting around the next corner.

TLDR

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TLDR 〰️

Boo’s Review:
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 4.5
Atmosphere Rating: 5
Vegan Food Rating: 3.5
Costume & Makeup Rating: 3.5
Scare Actor/Cast Rating: 4.5
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 3
Value for Money Rating: 4.5

Individual Attraction Name: The Chilling Chambers
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 4.5
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 5
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 3

Individual Attraction Name: Room 13
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 3
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1

Individual Attraction Name: Cinema Slasher
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3.5
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1.5

Individual Attraction Name: Bloodline 1842
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 3
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1.5

Individual Attraction Name: The Grimoire
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 2
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1

Individual Attraction Name: Mesmer
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1

Individual Attraction Name: Origins: The Curse of Calico
Individual Attraction Overall Rating:
Character & Story Cohesion Rating:
Set Design & Special Effects Rating:
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating:

Individual Attraction Name: Dark Entities
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 3
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 2.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1

Individual Attraction Name: The Depths
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 4
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2

Individual Attraction Name: Wax Works
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 3
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1

Killer K8’s Review:
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 4.5
Atmosphere Rating: 5
Vegan Food Rating: 2.5
Costume & Makeup Rating: 4.5
Scare Actor/Cast Rating: 4.5
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 4
Value for Money Rating: 4

Individual Attraction Name: The Chilling Chambers
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 5
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 4

Individual Attraction Name: Room 13
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2.5
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2

Individual Attraction Name: Cinema Slasher
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 4
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 4

Individual Attraction Name: Bloodline 1842
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2

Individual Attraction Name: The Grimoire
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3.5
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2.5

Individual Attraction Name: Mesmer
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 4
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 2
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2.5

Individual Attraction Name: Origins: The Curse of Calico
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 4
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 3.5
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 3.5

Individual Attraction Name: Dark Entities
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 2.5
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2.5

Individual Attraction Name: The Depths
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3.5
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2.5

Individual Attraction Name: Wax Works
Individual Attraction Overall Rating: 3
Character & Story Cohesion Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 3
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1.5