Knott’s Scary Farm celebrated 50 years of scares last year, and they’ve come back this Halloween season for their 51st year with two new mazes and other updates to previous mazes. Is the event as good as the heavyweights in Southern California like Halloween Horror Nights, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, or Fright Fest? That really depends on what you want out of your haunt and the types of scares. Knott’s Scary Farm runs from September 19th to November 2nd on select nights at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.

The normally pretty family-friendly park gets transformed into a haunting wasteland of ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and more. Starting off, here’s what you need to know. If you want to take a bag in, it has to be clear if it’s bigger than 5”x 8”x 2”. The clear bags have to be smaller than 12” x 12” x 6”. If you’re sending your kids, they have to be over 16 or accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old. The chaperone policy goes as 1 adult for every 10 kids.

With that out of the way, there are 10 mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm and plenty of scare zones to get through for guests. You can grab tickets from Knott’s website. The roller coasters of the park are open and have the lights turned off or other spooky additions for Scary Farm.

The Mazes Of Knott’s Scary Farm 2024 Ranked:

10. Origins: The Curse Of Calico

Origins: The Curse Of Calico has been at Scary Farm since 2019 and this maze’s mileage really depends on the number of scare actors in the house. The big set-piece with Sarah Marshall at the very end was missing the scare actor that’s supposed to fly above guests. That made for a limp conclusion to a maze that might have worn out its welcome. The ambiance and videos of Marshall turning into the witch were nice, but a lack of scares is what dooms this one to almost skippable territory. It is nice to see a western-town styled haunted house at one of these events, but this one needs a major rehaul.

9. The Grimoire

The Grimoire returns from last year with its confusing story and Evil Dead stylings about an evil book that takes guests through time and space. It turns your darkest nightmares into a reality. As someone who puts a premium on the story being told in a maze, this one is overly-complex and just adds together some strange pieces. I get that war, alternate-1950s, and other monsters are nightmarish, but when throwing all of them together, it just feels like they had some extra parts for this one. The ending is the best part with the book being added to as you walk out. This however, feels like it could use a change as well.

8. Bloodline 1842

It’s interesting that we have two mazes/houses at SoCal parks with Bloodline in the title now. Both also happen to do with vampires, but the Knott’s Scary Farm maze Bloodline 1842 came first. With it comes some vampire hunting goodness and steampunk aesthetics. Think Ghostbusters but with wooden stakes and vampires. This maze takes guests through the decrepit and destroyed blocks of Valdonia as you fight vampires alongside the immortal Daybreakers. It’s a cool story that takes some twists and turns and has one of the best scares in the park with a vampire above your head. The only issue is a lack of scare actors at points and parts of the maze that definitely bog down.

7. Wax Works

This is the last year for Wax Works and the creepy wax figures of the museum are getting in one last scare. The wax museum combines with the evil stylings of Dr. Augustus Scratch for some truly macabre visuals. Combining bloody flesh, wax figures, and other horrifying sights, Wax Works is very creepy, but the story really isn’t there for a true masterpiece of haunted maze goodness. The highlight is definitely the giant wax human centipede near the end of the maze.

6. Mesmer: Sideshow of the Mind

Get ready to enter the annals of your own mind with Mesmer. The dreamy sideshow of a maze takes you into a mind of madness and circus theming. There’s even a bearded lady out front to critique your facial hair! As for this house, it has some of the best set design in the entire park. It all culminates in an absolutely massive animatronic at the end of the house that’s well worth any sort of wait. This one truly feels like a maze at points, confusing, bewildering, and just generally creeping you out.

5. Room 13

Take a dash of The Black Dahlia, add in some prohibition theming, and even some of The Stuff, and you get Room 13. This maze doesn’t even have a full on sign, it’s that hidden in prohibition-era theming. The story here takes you through a dilapidated hotel called the Argive Hotel. This has some of the best scares in the park with bellhops, guests, and other monsters taking aim at your as you walk through. It also has one of the best set pieces set on scaffolding on the side of the building with a nice illusion to make it look like you’re 30 stories up. The finale takes you into the basement of the building where you finally figure out where the dangerous cocktail The Devil’s Elixir comes from. It’s a shame that they don’t sell a themed cocktail to tie in with this maze.

4. The Chilling Chambers

The Chilling Chambers was the best maze of last year, so what happened? Well for starters, it no longer has The Caretaker character anywhere in the maze. I’m not sure what the issue is, but that was one of the best parts of the maze last year. This one celebrates the history of Knott’s Scary Farm featuring sections from mazes past and headstones with all the previously discontinued mazes. It’s a treasure trove of history, but there are bare sections that would normally have The Caretaker, that don’t. For that reason, a previously amazing maze goes down to simply excellent territory.

3. Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman

Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman is one of the two new mazes this year and it brings the Boogeyman in all its forms front and center. This one also has some backwoods black magic elements that add to the haunting proceedings. Eight Fingers Nine causes sleep paralysis (for those that have it, they know its one of the most terrifying experiences you can go through) and he slowly consumes their flesh. For the money, this is the most terrifying maze at Knott’s Scary Farm this year. It’s quite lengthy, which means the line is longest, but it’s well worth whatever time you’d spend in line.

2. Widows

Widows beats out Eight Fingers Nine as the best new maze at the part because it combines great set design with a story that’ll creep anyone out. Spiders are just naturally scary. They’re designed by nature for us to be scared of them. This maze brings your through a retirement home that’s been overrun by spiders and a queen that has a taste for human flesh. This has the best scare actor of the entire event at the very end, sending park-goers out with a bang. The facade for this event was also fantastic with a talking spider berating people waiting in line.

1. Cinema Slasher

Enter the Midnight Theater and the worlds of the horror movies they’re showing on screen. If you love movies, movie theaters, or just horror in general, Cinema Slasher is the best of all worlds. This has the best set design in the park and the scare actors in this maze are absolutely on point. It all culminates in a movie-lovers dream of a conclusion with a beast made up of the movie theater parts. This is the best that Knott’s Scary Farm has to offer in regards to scares, ambiance, and sets.

How Does Knott’s Scary Farm Compare?

If you’re in for a more aesthetically pleasing Halloween event, Knott’s Scary Farm is for you. Halloween Horror Nights might have the absolute best scares and movie licenses, but the black corridors with nothing on them really drags down some of the experiences at that event. Knott’s Scary Farm doesn’t have licensed mazes and they don’t have as great of scares as Horror Nights. But both events are still great times for Halloween fans. The sheer number of houses, plus the wait times make Knott’s a great place to start for a lot of first-time Haunters.

The park is fully decked out with scare actors patrolling, making no place really safe from the fright. They also have shows and experiences like the Elvira XXperience that shows highlights of her previous shows and memorabilia from the Queen of Horror.

If you’re in the mood for scares, you can’t do much better than Knott’s Scary Farm this Halloween season.

For more on Halloween, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon.

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