Well i'll be talking more about Knotts Scary Farm since my better half forgot to load the memory stick into the camera. Has happened more than once, the worst feeling to try to take a picture and find out. Cell phone didn't do it justice I'm afraid.
Getting around LA without a car is quite a feat if your destinations aren't in close proximity or workable with their metro system. I had booked a shuttle early on, then caught the fact that my quote was an hourly rate & we would require a 2 hour minimum. Back to drawing board, surprised to discover that the majority of LA based towncar services charged for their travel time from garage to pick you up on top of your actual fare. Checked limos.com over several days and finally was able to secure a flat rate towncar. The driver was a half hour late, but deposited us at Knotts in one piece. I admit to closing my eyes a few times ala Mr Toad's Wild ride, gulp.
Their hotel is an older facility with outdated décor & furnishings but appears well kept & clean. Our room wasn't quite ready, didn't exactly feel comfortable with how bag check was being run (non-secured location in lobby), so we just sat on the comfy couches and stared at the desk. lol Not exactly, but the staff came over a few times to ask if we wanted to use the pool, etc. We declined and went back to reading our newspapers. We did see several wedding parties, apparently they have ballrooms. Within an hour, we were in our 'deluxe, park view room'. Location, location +great package were enough for me for a night.
Our package included dinner at the hotel, I really wasn't expecting much...always nice to be pleasantly surprised. They offered the famous Mrs. Knott's fried chicken and other standard buffet offerings, but the highlight was the two actresses who were so interactive and entertaining.
she was a noisy one, liked to sneak up upon people. Watch out if you touched her bear
Found it intriguing how they integrated the wild west theming with several of the haunts. On the lanyard below are the VIP credentials (unlimited fotl) and the skeleton key that you could elect to use that granted access to a 'special' room/experience at most of the houses. Issue there was those lines were so long, we skipped the majority of them.
scary things go bump in the night, indeed! These scareactors got up much closer and personal. The fear factor was there as park was dimly lighted in spots, combined with the event effects, including high levels of fog, and you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you in spots. Naturally, those areas were full of monsters. A special group liked to mingle, they are termed sliders due to the way they go crouch down and throw sparks using this equipment. In cannot imagine how they managed to perform that sort of stunt through the evening.
here's one after sliding, who ducked under the holding rope to sneak up on victims
For some reason, they either had many in this costume, or he was haunting us most of the evening lol
Note the two employees in yellow & blue in background. There was an abundance of security. Knotts has earned a rather sketchy reputation. At no time did I feel uncomfortable. Tons of security were in evidence throughout the night. We saw no unruly behavior and had a wonderful time. If we lived closer Knotts, would be a part of our Halloween haunts every year!
Paranormal blew us away, best gag at approx. 2 min in video
other standouts for us were: Pinocchio Unstrung, Gunslinger's Grave & the Tooth fairy, the resident mad dentist graced the back of the official shirt I have yet to gather the nerve to wear in public, it's so creepy. We enjoyed the Mine Ride attraction,(where I managed to somehow gouge my leg getting out of the car. By the time I walked across park to first aid looked like a walker lol.
The 'hanging' had funny parts and voodoo house had some great sets too. When we were told we would be required to run for 45 minutes in the Special Ops attraction, gave our tickets to a dad & his kid who were in line with us on a house. They were thrilled. Actually the kid was thrilled, the Dad said he was still tired from 1st run-through.
Other than the RIPs @ USO HHN we've enjoyed, this was one of the few times we closed down a park. Honestly, wish I had booked two nights, forgoing another night@ DL.
. Love your pics, the one of your poor husband getting a good scare is priceless. Perfect timing with the camera!
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now that is stuff of nightmares.........
When we flew into Mexico found it interesting to find a line with hundreds of people ahead of us, but it took all of fifteen minutes after completing our customs forms. Weren't asked a single question other than if we were planning on leaving the country. 
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