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Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt: Part 4 - Camp Spooky & CarnEVIL

Happy Belated Halloween, everyone! We will continue today with my Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt report.

First up, we have Camp Snoopy, which is renamed "Camp Spooky" during the daytime. Camp Spooky plays host to a special children's costume party on select weekends during the Halloween season.

At night however, Camp Snoopy turns into "Necropolis." According to the Knott's Haunt press release, "Necropolis is a vampire world of flesh and machine, of gears and steam, offering a journey through the streets of a steam punk influenced city of the dead, where blood is power."

And these are just a few of the citizens of Necropolis.

One of the mazes in this area is "Uncle Willy's Slaughter House." The press release gives this description of the maze, "Folks near and far come a-runnin’ for Farmer Willy’s world famous BBQ! Guests are welcome to venture through the Slaughterhouse where Uncle Willy will feed them full of BBQ, slather them with special sauce, tenderize them with his chainsaw and grind them into a tasty treat. Bone appetite!"

One of the Haunt T-shirts being sold this year has an "Uncle Willy" design.

Next, we have Carnevil, which is the overlay that is given to the Boardwalk section of the park.

As a side note, Perilous Plunge has been removed from the Boardwalk area and is no longer listed on the park map. Cedar Fair just announced today what will be replacing it. You can go to the Knott's Berry Farm Facebook page to read the announcement and see the concept art.

Okay, back to Carnevil. The Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars are closed for the season and the maze, "Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)" is set up within that attraction space. The official press release for this maze states, "Venture into the forbidden jungle of El Chupacabra where sacrificial blood rains down from the sky. The screams of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, echo around you and the creatures of the night crawl from their crypts."

The Charleston Circle Fountain gets a special makeover this time of year.

Even Johnny Rockets gets some seasonal decor.

CarnEVIL is teeming with evil clowns, both fake.....

....and REAL!

Clowns are just plain scary, even when they aren't specifically made-up to be scary!

This one was actually wandering around outside of the Calico Mine Ride, but it was the end of the night, so perhaps he was going home.

This creature was a life-size version of those little cymbal-banging toy monkeys.

"Uncle Bobo's Big Top of the Bizarre" is a maze that's located near Xcelerator. The press release for the maze is as follows: "Step right up, don’t be shy. Inside you will find a villainous variety of vaudevillian visages to vex even the most valiant voyeurs! It’s the greatest slaughter on earth with clown carnage galore!"

Guests entering the maze first walk past this giant animated Jack-In-The-Box.....

.....and this animatronic circus barker.

The entrance to the maze is through the mouth of a scary clown.

There was a special souvenir trading pin issued for "Uncle Bobo's Big Top."

Yes, Knott's now has a Pin Trading Program which began earlier this year. Here's the official information.

The last maze in this area is a special interactive one created for the 40th Halloween Haunt. It's called "Trapped" and it is not included in the regular price of admission. There is an additional charge of $60 for a group of up to six people to experience this maze. Knott's provides this description of the maze: "This reservation only, interactive maze leads guests into an abyss of their deepest fears and phobias. You are part of the horror and an active participant in your own demise. Do you have the courage to enter a nightmare designed exclusively for you and face the challenge of finding an escape? Remember there are no doors in this nightmare."

"Trapped" is set up in the space that normally houses "The Laser Zone" attraction.

Prior to entering the maze, guests must sign this release form. The first part of the form is humorous, but the second part is real. Guests are actually given a "safe word" to use in case they want to suddenly exit the maze before completing it.

Included in the price of the maze is an "I Survived Trapped" photo of your entire group, taken at the exit of the maze.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt: Part 3 - Gypsy Camp

It's time to visit Gypsy Camp at Knott's Berry Farm! No, not the Gypsy Camp that was replaced by the Roaring 20's in 1975, but a temporary Gypsy Camp that is open on Halloween Haunt nights only. This area is actually set up backstage and is sort of a Gypsy-themed "corridor" that leads to four of the Haunt's walk-thru mazes.

Here's a quiet Gypsy encampment.

That is, until the windows of the Gypsy wagon fly open and this wildly animated werewolf pops out!

Other werewolves can be found in the Gypsy Camp, including some "werewolf heads-on-a-stick."

This one is just hanging around....waiting for the right moment to scare some guests.

"Chicken-man" can also be seen lurking about in this area.

Here he is passing one of the fortuneteller tents. This pic was taken about a week after the one above. His arms appear to have been "plucked" on this particular night.

"Piggy-girl" also passes through Gypsy Camp throughout the evening. She usually has a twin sister with her, but it's hard to get a photo of the two of them standing still together.

Another Gypsy wagon.....

This Gypsy lost his head.....

And this one is being attacked by a werewolf. This was actually a "ring toss" game. The werewolf's hand was sticking out through the chest of the Gypsy and it would slide in and out. The object of the game was to toss a ring over the werewolf's hand while it was in the out position. I'm not sure why, but this game has since disappeared. Maybe it was too difficult for guests to win?

Now we come to the backstage mazes. This first one is new this year for Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt. It's called, "Trick Or Treat." We saw the artwork for this facade in my Halloween Haunt Museum post. The maze winds it's way through the house of The Green Witch.

"Trick or Treaters" can be found outside the house.

There are also "Tricksters" wandering around in and outside of the house. We saw "The Vamp" and "The Bully" (Skeleton) in part one of my Haunt series of posts. Here is "The Pig" and one of "The Twins." They are all minions of The Green Witch and they do her bidding!

Here are some Knott's publicity pics showing the interior of the Witch's house.

The entryway:

This maze was really impressive. In this room, books slide in and out of the bookcase and the pages of one book turn by themselves. The giant Ouija Board also operates all by itself.

Books fly around overhead while the Witch casts spells in this room.

Watch out for what's hiding underneath the Witch's bed!

"Endgames: Warriors of the Apocalypse" is a post-apocalyptic themed maze. Here's the description of the maze according to the Haunt press release: "The world as we know it has ended. The survivors in this barren desert have scavenged to rebuild society. The rich and the powerful have turned all others into slaves for sport. Enter the post apocalyptic arena where gladiators are forced to battle to their deaths for entertainment. Are you game?"

Here are the official Knott's publicity pics.

This is just one of several large animatronic figures used in the Haunt mazes this year.

Next we have "Dominion of the Dead," which is a vampire-themed maze. The Haunt press release gives this description of the maze: "Dominion of the Dead....where creatures create art and music so beautiful the human mind cannot fully comprehend. Orroro Bella, the beautiful horror, is what you will find within the walls of this gallery. Lured by the undead, you descend deeper within the gallery as the chance to escape slips away. You shall be their next masterpiece."

I took these next three photos outside of the maze.

And here are some official Knott's press release photos of the interior of "Dominion of the Dead":

The last maze in this backstage area is, "Delirium"......"In the deep recesses of the mind, on the clouded brink of insanity, lies the hellish wasteland of delirium; a place so gruesome that your imagination fails to comprehend the horrors. Illusion and paranoia are your only anchors to reality. Welcome to your worst nightmare!"

All four photos are official Knott's press release pics. The first one shows the entrance to the maze.

There is still more to come! Please check back for more of Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt!