Everall, it was so so. I won't say I was impressed, but it was fun, none the less, which was the whole point of going to begin with. [:)]
So my friend and I decided that we would get to the park early so that way we could get some rides in before the event. Afterall, the lines for the rides will then become rediculously long, and ultimately pointless to do so because your paying for the mazes and shows, and I have a season pass so I can do the rides any time I want.
So We rode Ghost Rider, and Silverbullet, and Xcelerator. Same ride experiences as usual. And then we poked around the park a little bit. As we were walking we discovered construction going on in Camp Snoopy where the Tug boat used to be. I was dissappointed because it was a sure sign that there was no way the original lake would ever be restored, EVER! But, what ever they do put in, hopefully it will make Camp Snoopy look better. I know the wall helped make the area look not so cluttered.
We also noticed that they put in remote controlled boats on reflection lake. Of all the things they've done, this one has really pissed me off. Mainly because its just so tacky and thrown in. Its not anything like what the old knotts management did when they put in similar things. They would actually specifically design areas for those to go into, not just throw them in where ever they felt like it.
Other then that knotts was basically the same. So now we get onto the haunt.
Knotts offered a pre-scare dinner. The perks with that is they would feed you for price of $12, and you would get entry into the park 30 minutes early (which did come in handy). But 30 minute before you enter the park is not worth $12. And that's pretty much all it had going for it. They had some crappy hamburgers which I didn't particularily enjoy along with hot dogs which were also fairly crappy. THey had chicken, which was the best food they had, but was also subpar. Very dissappointing seeing as how chicken was the foundation of knotts as a theme park. They also had jello which is impossible to screw up, ice cream, and pepsi products. So I had about 4 things of chicken. A partially eaten hamburger and hotdog, jello, and 4 cups of mountain dew which would be about 1 large cup of soda at McDonalds. (cups were very small) But, another cool thing about the dinner was they had a bunch of monsters walking around scaring people and taking photos with the less retarded.
So after we did that, we got into the park at 6:30. We went into a maze called Fairies in 3D or something like that. THis year was slightly better then last year, although still kinda lame, imo. After that you go into the Asylum which is right next door. It wasn't as good as last years, and there was a lot of unused potential. For example, they have these plexi-glass cells with strobe lights flashing in it, but no one was in them. I would have had it where no one would be in it, then a flash later some guy would slam into it smearing blood against the glass as he falls to the floor. That would have been cool, but none of that happend. Just random monsters following you around.
They also had a maze based on the Grudge. The set was cool, but the actors weren't very good. There were a couple of times in that maze where I was going to tell the actors to get out of my way, mistaking them for guests that just decided to stop right in front of me) but then after a second glance I realized that they were supposed to be monsters so I would walk past them once they moved. So yup, they didn't put much effort into thier scares.
Probably the one time I actually did get scared was in the lazer tag maze. Anyways, with that maze you can pay $5 for a lazer gun, or just walk through. And if you pay, then you get to shoot the monsters and targets to set off what imo, were the best animatronics in the park. Though the maze itself was not very good. Just monsters popping out to shoot the kids with the guns. But occassionaly a monster would pop out at you. Or in the case where their tactic would actually work..., they would be hiddin behind a line of people, then out of no where jump out at you on a bucket sliding into a crowd of people. It was pretty cool because it wasn't very loud to begin with, then all of a sudden you hear a bucket scraping against the ground, and you see some guy on a bucket flying at you.
But besides the maze, they had a couple of shows as well. Thier headliner was suppose to be Dead American Idol, or something of the sort. We decided to skip it since we had read some reviews of it online, and they weren't very positive. We would rather be doing something else. But the show we did do was the Hanging. It was better then last years, imo. It didn't drag on with the same exact jokes over and over again. Although the show was not a flawless script. There were several parts that they had that I thought were pretty stupid and they could have done without. Mainly Britney Spears. They had her dressed up as a fat woman, and she kept abusing her baby. It was definately the biggest eye roller for the night. They also had Jack Spearow as one of the lead characters. He was actually pretty funny, but the fact that they used him kind of erked me. SImply because knotts always feels the need to ride on Disney's ass, and use something they create for thier benefit. Grant it, its a parody show, but the character was used more as the hero of the show then some guy they would make fun of. Anywho, they killed off all the celebritys (included jack, but not until almost the very end) and then they hung the victim. I won't say who it is, but I will say I guessed it would be him do to the news about this person several weeks back.
And that was pretty much it. Now onto the pictures.
I'm ready for some fun and exitement!
Haunt is not quite ready to start yet so in the mean time I'll go ride some of the coasters. [:)]
It isn't quite dark enough for the vampires to come out yet, guess we'll have to come back later.
We're heading towards Xcelerator
If you didn't know yet, Xcelerator is back up and running after being down for several months.
Haunt is a rain or shine event
Which is a good thing because moment's later it started to rain.
But that's ok, rain doesn't bother me anyways.[^]
So now we head over to Ghost Rider[:D]
Unfortunately, do to the possibility of thunder storms nere by, GR was temporarily closed. But i'll put on my happy face and wait it out.[:)]
OMG t3h f!st dr0pz0rz! l33t!!1111
This picture is pretty gay imo, but the guy in the back made me laugh.
Connor seems to be enjoying himself. So does that guy...
Still could use some retracking.
But I'm not going to lie, it is still the best ride there.
Right Connor?
After a gazzillion rides on GR, I ran over to Silver Bullet.
Silver Bullet was fun. Although it was definately running very slow do to the colder weather and next to nobody being on the ride.
Although, it was more fun to snap as many pictures on the ride as possible.
After that we went to the buffet, where monsters would come out and entertain you.
Food fit for a bum. But not a paying customer[;)]
The only thing they did right was carry pepsi prouducts.[:)]
A Goblin lurks about the picnic area!
This guy was pretty fierce![B)]
Blurry Group Pic![pshades]
Knotts uses state of the art hydrolic animatronics that make far more noise then Disney animatronics installed in the 60's.
The Asylum. *Plays creepy organ music, lightning flashes in the background*
After we got out of the Asylum, we couldn't pass off the oppurtunity to take a rare behind the scenes picture of Ghost Rider.
Thier lighting effects are up to par with HL2.
Don't mess with this guy or he'll rip your face off with his talons!
Conner and I are ready for some more mazes!
So we went to 13 Axe Manor which was my favorite maze last year.
Wasn't as good as last years, but these 2 seemed to enjoy it.
Next stop, Viva Lost Vegas, in Nevadead
Note: Next these few pictures were taken earlier in the day before haunt
A poop joke.[:D]
If you swim under the shark, he can't eat you[;)]
Jebus, these billboards are witty!
The mural of the strip was pretty cool.[pshades]
In the maze you see a happy dead couple being joined together in unholy matromony.
You then follow them back to thier room where they proceed to get freaky.... but you don't see any of it, i just imagined thats what they would do[dorkhat]
One of the few parts of the maze where they used red lighting. Personally, I liked blue better.[:)]
Cards are nice[:)] But haunt is not suppose to be nice![shocked]
It's a monster!
Montezooma's Revenge: Most awsome loop eva!
Ohnoes! Stewie!
The Outer Zone! Doo Doo Doo Doo!!! Doo Doo Doo Doo!!!
When at haunt, one must always watch thier back.
If cameras could take better pictures in darker areas, then you could see a set lit with green lighting with fog rolling over the floor of the stage.
This guy was the closest thing to a host that the show had, but I wasn't exactly sure if that's what you would call him.
Then Jay and Silent Bob came out. The people who played them really had thier characters down.
Later, Jack Sparrow err... Jack Swallows shot his way out of a coffin.
Later to be joined by the [r]s from Brokeback.
They were definately a lot more flamboyant then the characters in the movie, but in no way were they more gay. I mean the movie had string of spit coming off of Jake's and Heath's mouths. I haven't even seen hetorosexual kiss scenes do that!
Anyways, the executioner (figure scene on the left) finished everybody off and finished the show by hanging America's favorite anti-semite.
Th - Th- That's All Folks!