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Categories
Monthly Archives: October 2016
Knott’s Scary Farm 2016 Review
2016 has been a very interesting year for Knott’s Scary Farm. The grandfather of all theme park Halloween events, Knott’s presents a wide variety of attractions this season, giving the Scary Farm some interesting new tech, along with very familiar old-school vibes and experiences.
In all honesty, we were braced for a very tumultuous year for Knott’s. In the months leading up with the theme park’s biggest annual event, there were major changes internally that could have really disrupted (and did in some regards) the execution of this year’s Scary Farm. Several long-time Knott’s employees left the company during the critical ramp-up period before Haunt, including Lara Hanneman, who had served as Director of Entertainment Production at the park for many years. As summer began, Raffi Kaprelyan was promoted to Regional Vice President at Cedar Fair, and Jon Storbeck was announced as the park’s new Vice President and General Manager. Adding chaos to the mix, two long-time Marketing representatives departed just as the publicity machine for Scary Farm 2016 was getting fired up. In short, we were braced for a mess this season, figuring the infrastructure of Knott’s Berry Farm had reached the operational breaking point.
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The 17th Door 2016 – Gluttire University Delivers!
In 2015, The 17th Door took no prisoners as Southern California’s hottest Halloween ticket. After literally coming out of nowhere to create this massive haunted attraction, husband and wife team Robbie and Heather Luther assembled a master cast and crew, and created their hellish October home – the fictitious Gluttire University – in an up-scale outdoor shopping complex in Tustin, just minutes south of the Disneyland Resort in Orange County.
Almost immediately after opening, social media lit up with accounts of the extreme haunt featuring live cockroaches, real animal carcasses, characters shocking guests with hand-held devices and more; the effect it all had was amazing – people flocked to The 17th Door in droves, curious and excited to experience the attraction for themselves.
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Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain 2016 Offers Big Halloween Chills and Thrills
Most people on the West Coast know that Six Flags Magic Mountain is the place to be when it comes to world-class thrill rides and the best roller coasters. What Southern California fans are finding out more and more each year, is that Magic Mountain is also home to one of the biggest and best Halloween events in the country as well – Fright Fest!
Fright Fest isn’t new; it’s been taking place for more than two decades at the Valencia thrill park just a short distance from Los Angeles. Not only does the event encompass the entire park, Fright Fest features some of the most amazing character makeup we’ve ever seen at any Halloween event, courtesy of Scott Ramp and his ridiculously talented crew at The Scream Team.
This year, Fright Fest at Magic Mountain features 7 mazes, 7 scare zones with their own unique themes, and a high-energy stage show that features multiple performers and a DJ throughout the night in Full Throttle Plaza near the entrance of the park. With a lineup of this scale, Fright Fest finds itself on the same playing field as Knott’s Scary Farm, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. That said, Fright Fest simply doesn’t throw the same budget at its mazes that Knott’s and Universal do – very few parks to, honestly. Design-wise, I would say that the level of Fright Fest’s mazes are about on par with Dark Harbor – which is definitely nothing to dismiss.
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Wicked Lit 2016 Brings Haunting Theatrical Excellence to Los Angeles
Wicked Lit is extremely challenging to describe to those who haven’t experienced it before. You throw out adjectives such as “beautiful”, “haunting”, “immersive”… and then chase it with, “And they do it in a cemetery and mausoleum.” That’s usually where the record needle scratch comes in the conversation.
But it’s true. Wicked Lit (short for “literature”) is a stunning theatrical presentation that takes place each Halloween season at the Mountain View Mortuary, Cemetery and Crematory in Altadena, California. If you’re unfamiliar – and I would imagine most people would be – Mountain View’s mausoleum is stunning – ornate and gorgeous. The surrounding cemetery grounds are also very serene and well-maintained. Not to sound morbid, it’s the type of place you walk through and think, “Ending up here wouldn’t be half bad, I suppose.” That said, at some point, that’s exactly what members of Unbound Productions thought, too. And so, Wicked Lit found a home in the hills above Pasadena.
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