I enjoyed Knotts quite a bit the last two years, but it's still nowhere near how much I enjoy HHN. Knotts will always have amazing scarezones, but the quality of the sets are just so far behind - even with them getting better, they're not quite there yet. I remember a batch or two ago of their newest mazes and the rage was "OMG, KSF mazes are almost as good as HHN!" And that was freakin' Pinocchio Unstrung, which now in memory we look back at as "ewwww" and quite frankly is just another KSF maze, nothing special. Keep in mind that location now houses Red Barn, which is one of the worst KSF mazes -- EVER. Even something like Trick or Treat, which is one of their better sets at the time, is still miles behind. The stuff of the now, like Parnormal Inc or Dark Ride, there's a lot of great elements, but also a lot of elements that scream "cheap!" On the other hand, think back to any HHN maze, even one of their weakest ones like My Bloody Valentine, and the sets still hold up in quality to what they're pushing out today. Sometimes even more so, because the budget wasn't spread so thin. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather do ShadowLands or Special Ops over Ash vs. Evil Dead or Horrors of Blumhouse any day. But those same great mazes in comparison, I'd also take AHS: Roanoke or the "worst" Insidious over those.
Sure Knotts has some cool innovations in storytelling and scare techniques, but I never feel immersed or fully engaged in my sense of disbelief. I can count on one hand how many times that has happened after ALLLLL these years at KSF, but have ran out of phalanges and toes how many times it's happened at HHN. Too many things are taking me out or reminding me not only is it fake, it's also cheap. Granted, some of their mazes have been great, even better than some HHN mazes, but the event overall, as massive and grand as it can be, fails to deliver consistent scares, a consistent tone, and consistent quality. We jab HHN for "set scares" (which they've been getting better at with having more "roaming scareactors" since TWD: WNF), but there's nothing worse than going through an entire maze, or even a handful of mazes at KSF, and not a single monster trying to scare you, or even worse, not even SEEING a single monster because they're out on break or chatting with a friend. They constantly break character too, even in the world famous scarezones. We also jab HHN for black walls, but at least 75% of the time, they have a scare in them, whereas KSF can literally portion a well designed maze with nobody in it, or the guy from the first room is following the girl all the way to the exit.
Luckily now I can go to both and not think twice about the price, but I know where I'm getting my money's worth!