Is it wrong to wish that Knott’s Berry Farm could be more like Knott’s Scary Farm?
This is not a wish for Knott’s to adopt a boundary-to-boundary haunt theme all year long. I suspect that plenty of fans would welcome that, though. Haunts have proven a lucrative side hustle for theme parks ever since Knott’s created the business in 1973. Now monsters are about to take another big step into the industry spotlight, starting next year.
Universal is building an entire land themed to its classic monsters in its upcoming Epic Universe theme park in Orlando. Meanwhile, Walt Disney World is planning a Villains land for its Magic Kingdom theme park. The announcements of those lands got fans cheering, and if the lands deliver on their promise, I suspect to see other parks try to imitate Disney and Universal with a fresh line-up of horror-themed attractions.
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But the formula that makes top Disney and Universal attractions so successful with fans is not what those companies do so much as how they do it. Just as Knott’s delivers for its loyal fans every fall with Scary Farm.
Lots of parks do haunts these days. But few do it as well as Knott’s does, as illustrated by this year’s new Eight Fingers Nine maze. Knott’s has set this maze in a colonial American village, continuing Knott’s tradition of finding unusual locations for its Scary Farm tales.
A boogeyman is attacking the residents of this village, biting their fingers and paralyzing them in advance of finishing them off for its meal. “Monsters coming to eat you” is standard haunt fare, but Knott’s uses the setting to make this feel experience feel unique. Costumes and set decoration provide the look, and Knott’s scareactors deliver the experience, helped by judicious use of media and puppetry to immerse visitors in the maze’s story.
A business professor once told me that ideas are worthless. It’s the way that they are executed that has value. Knott’s placemaking and storytelling elevate its best mazes above the competition. The Scary Farm team executes concepts in ways that make visitors feel like they have stepped into another world, and not just into a tent or shed where people in store-bought masks or makeup will jump out to scare them.
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That is exactly what I would love to see more of from Knott’s outside of Scary Farm. Knott’s never will have the budgets that Disney and Universal enjoy to create their worlds. But Scary Farm illustrates that Knott’s has the creative talent to do more than just slap a catchy name and minimal decoration on standard carnival rides. Yet we did not see that level of immersion in the recent Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village renovations, and the loss of the old Mystery Lodge leaves a gap on the other side of the park.
With Knott’s and Six Flags Magic Mountain now operating under the new Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the two parks should complement rather than trying to duplicate each other. Why not create some market differentiation by focusing on thrills in Santa Clarita and storytelling in Buena Park? That could be a winning combination for local fans.