THE DEPTHS
Advertised as 5 minutes at 12:54am and while I appreciate they were pulsing people through, it made it an 8 minute wait. I just want to get out of here, please lol
Same ol same ol but at least the usual tricks up its sleeve are still pretty impressive. The rocking boat, the giant shark — the water sequence has seen better days, but oh well. Anyway, I got a jolt or two in here, but that’s about it, so… (Update: HILARIOUSLY enough, I was reading my 2021 review after I wrote this and I almost wrote the SAME EXACT THING VERBATIM for the last line of my review before giving it a C+: “Anyway, got one or two jolts in here, but that’s about it.” I’m dead LMFAO)
D-
WAX WORKS
Advertised wait was 15 minutes but was only 3 minutes, at 1:11am. Seriously, just wait until 1am to go to this area, everything goes from 15-30 minutes to walk-ons within seconds.
This should be a maze I love and it has let me down once again. I love the vibe, but I’ve just never been impressed by the scares here. It’s a shame.
F
CALICO CANDY MOUNTAIN
With 45 minutes left, wasn’t sure what to do with our time, so decided our last ride should be the mine ride. I wanted to do the log ride, but nobody wanted to get wet, so that’s fine. Advertised wait was 30 minutes at 1:31am and was about 21 minutes.
Still very impressed by this overlay, they put a lot of detail in it and I love the new music still. The sinister twist half way through is different than I remember, as I remember it being darker? Maybe that’s just my memory. Fun diversion from the usual and lots of nostalgia with stile a very good mine ride.
B-
SCAREZONES
Ghost Town will always have my heart. Simply the best scare zone in the universe. Gore-ing 20s has stepped it up a bit from what I remember, a lot more going on and a lot of energy. Carnevil is still just kinda there, but with good talent. It’s a classic zone but I think its time we try something new here. I don’t think I went through the Forsaken Lake…hm. And The Gauntlet has finally returned! Not quite as good as its heyday, but ya know what, at least they tried.
A+ for the overall environment while walking around, I love it, never bored.
OVERALL
The first half of the night, dinner and prior, even with Mesmer being terrible I legit said “I think KSF finally beat HHN for the first time ever.” Cinema Slasher, Room 13, and Chilling Chambers are INCREDIBLY strong mazes and The Hanging is an absolute BLAST. I stand by saying these mazes in particular are better than most of HHN’s mazes this year and even on most years (maybe not 2016, but still) — this has maybe happened with one or two mazes being very strong at KSF (Trick or Treat being one of them), but never to this degree where they have THREE that are of genuine quality. The fact that I think that is HUGE as I have poo-poo’d on KSF quite a bit since ’07 (oddly enough, one of their better years was also 2016). If this event can get itself together for next year with more quality mazes (and heck, maybe even an IP?!), I just may find myself returning to this event every year again instead of every other year. But the mazes I hit after dinner? Actually shameful. The second half of my night ruined any momentum it had going for it. So yeah, HHN still has KSF beat, in my opinion, but for it to get THIS close at all is SHOCKING. I’m not sure if that is speaking to the overall quality bump in KSF’s new mazes or if HHN’s quality is lowering. I think it’s somewhere in the middle.
While I don’t want to make this whole thing about comparisons, I just want to say, I really enjoyed this year overall. I would love nothing more than to return to this event year after year and be EXCITED about it, instead of feeling like a chore. I will say though, it’s insane to me the crowds here are so immature — even with the chaperone policy in effect, I saw adults acting RIDICULOUS. It legit was not the teens being disrespectful tonight. What is up with the crowd in Buena Park? I don’t get it. I saw a lot of people with no boo necklaces, and I don’t quite know how to feel about them. They obviously sell well, so I don’t see them getting rid of them, but I just worry it means the event in future years will cater to more children and will create and overall toned down event. The lanterns were pretty scarce, so not much of a hindrance there — honestly, they seem pretty useless. I am glad they are thinking of ways to plus up the event, and even their merch looked like a step up. I didn’t get to see the other shows but the fact they had so many is comforting…it made me wonder, would I want to get KSF pass to return 2-3 times in a season?
I look forward to what Knotts will try to bring to the table next year. They have my attention and I think this is a pivotal moment in the So Cal Haunt scene. They have a chance to really come back to true form and be king again, they just have to really focus and to not screw this up. I really do think they should go back to 8 mazes…10 was too many, I was bored out of my mind by the end, especially with a good half of them being bad. Allocate those resources to plus up the event elsewhere, even it is in the scare zones. Next year they should get rid of Dark Entities, The Depths, Wax Works, and even Mesmer. If we’re talking 8 mazes like I hope, I’d even say Origins should go or even Bloodline so we can get four new mazes, but I know that won’t happen. But I mean, Chilling Chambers and Slasher Cinema are right there as solutions — just switch out some segments in those mazes to add stuff on the chopping block a year or two sooner than usual so we can get more fresh blood. In my mind, that means Room 13 returns, and Chilling Chambers & Slasher Cinema return with new segments (or um…old, if using Origins, Bloodline, etc.). Grimoire is still in fine shape, I’d keep it around. Then you can have 4 brand new mazes with budget splurging on them. I do worry the park seemed a little more dead than usual, so I’d even raise the price — I am more than happy to pay more if it means we get more — word of mouth will get around and people will return if they know it’s not the same ol same ol. Anyway, I am getting carried a way with myself. I just had such a good time, so it’s really got me thinking again. I was hoping this day would come and it took awhile to get back here, but next year has all the potential in the world…let’s see what they do.
RANKING:
Cinema Slasher - A+
Room 13 - A+
Chilling Chambers - A-
Origins - B
Grimoire - B-
Bloodline - C+
The Depths - D-
Mesmer - F
Wax Works - F
Dark Entities - F
OVERALL GRADE
B-