Knott's Scary Farm: Part 4 - Camp Spooky & Other Haunt Stuff

More Knott's! More Halloween! And more Haunt stuff! This is my fourth and final Knott's Scary Farm post....unless I actually end up going to a Haunt night this month. I just haven't decided yet if I really want to go and deal with hoards of screaming teens and tweens.

So far, we've taken a look at Ghost Town, the Calico Mine Train, and the "Sleepy Hollow Mountain" Log Ride. Today's post falls into the "everything else" category. First up, we have a prop from the Boardwalk section of the park. This giant Jack In The Box is roped off during the day, but it doesn't appear to be anything more than a photo op.....oh, and it's also guarding the Aquafina machine. Dont' EVEN try to get a bottle of water from that machine....you'll be sorry!



Here's one of the many mazes that are set up for the Haunt nights. This one appears to be a scary trip through the town of "Pleasanton."



Hey, that's a real overturned car! I bet it was overturned by an angry mob of protestors......or ZOMBIES!



And speaking of zombies, I'm kind of hungry. Maybe we can find something to eat at Mama's Diner.



There's food on the counter.....sandwiches, a muffin, and is that a waffle? But where is everyone? Seeing this does make me wonder what takes place in this set at night. There was also a convenience store set-up next to the diner with some convincing props and I could also see the "Pleasanton School"....which probably has a flesh-eating student body.....I'm just guessing here.



This is the entrance to another maze that is set up in Camp Snoopy, or "Camp Spooky", as they call it this time of year. This is all that can be seen of this maze from the outside. I'm not sure of the significance of the books or that address, but those birds and that particular shade of green make me think of a screaming, tweed suit-wearing, Tippi Hedren ("I think you're the cause of all this....I think you're evil....EEEEEEEVIL!!!")



Here's some "Camp Spooky" signage.



Next we have the Camp Snoopy clock. I've posted a photo of this previously and mentioned that it has a very loud "tick-tock" sound effect similar to Disneyland's Small World Clock. Here's the sad part....it also used to "perform" every fifteen minutes like the Small World Clock, but for about a year now, when the clock strikes on the quarter hour, you can HEAR the gears turning, and you can HEAR Snoopy blowing his bugle and you can also HEAR the little Woodstock birds striking the bells, but NOTHING moves! The gears used to actually turn. Snoopy would then rotate towards the crowd and lift his bugle up to his mouth, then the birds would make a striking motion against the bells.



Come on, Cedar Fair.....please fix this great little feature! If you aren't going to fix it, then please turn off the sound! Everyone stops and looks up to see what's going on when they hear the noise coming from it, but NOTHING moves! (I know, I said that already.)

Moving right along, here are the storefront windows below the clock. This window features Pig Pen and Charlie Brown....."I got a rock!"



This next window has a mystery ghost (Sally or Linus?) and Lucy wearing her witch costume from "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"





This window display is from Virginia's Gift shop. I'm actually cheating here because this was from last year...I just never got around to posting these pics. These figures are not in the window this year.





Going back inside the park, here's a little more cheating. These antique hearses are always on display at Knott's, but I thought they were very appropriate for a Halloween-themed post. For years these were located across from the Stagecoach boarding area, but they were relocated about a year ago. They now sit along the Stagecoach route, between the Log Ride and the loading station for Silver Bullet....pretty much in the same spot where the miniatures of the California missions used to sit.



The body in the casket still attempts to sit up every few seconds.



This hearse was designed for a baby or small child.



These banners line the walkway behind the Log Ride and in front of Xcelerator.






The Devil Child! I've seen a few of those at Knott's and at Disneyland. Heck, I saw a kid attempting to kick a duck at Disneyland once and the parents weren't even trying to stop him.



KITTY IS HERE! I love this artwork, but which one is "Kitty"?



Just for fun, I'll end this post with an image that is used here courtesy of The Orange County Archives. It's an ad for the very first Knott's Halloween Haunt back in 1973. Check out that price of $4.00 per ticket! And just three nights were available! Last year, I posted a Knott's Halloween Haunt advertisement from 1980 that showed ticket prices to be $8.75 and there were six nights to choose from.



Over the years, Knott's has added more and more nights and this year, there is a total of twenty eight Haunt nights which began in September. The prices now vary depending on the night and the method of purchase. "Print at home" pre-sale prices range from $34-$51. Pre-sale "walk-up" prices at Knott's are $51, and "Day of Event" prices are $57. For an additional $60 (on top of the Haunt ticket price) you can get a "Fright Lane" pass that allows you to have "front of the line" access to all of the mazes and select rides. And for $2,000....yes, that's two thousand, you can have "front of the line" access, PLUS a personal escort to lead you around the park for the night. That price does happen to include admission to the park. For that price, it better! What a change from 1973, or even 1980!