Halloween ’scarecard’: SoCal theme park showdown

As October draws to a close, here’s my 2007 “scarecard” of how Knott’s Berry Farm’s Halloween Haunt, Universal Studios Holllywood’s Halloween Horror Nights and Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest stack up against one another in six key categories:

Mazes
Knott’s: 13, including “Beowulf” movie theme
Universal: 4, including “Friday the 13th,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
Magic Mountain: 4, including the simple yet scary Deadman’s Bog.
Winner: Knott’s, more mazes means shorter lines

Shows
Knott’s: 7, including R-rated satire/parody with high body count
Universal: 4, including bleeped satire/parody with high song-and-dance quotient
Magic Mountain: 3, including a bug-ingesting Wheel of Fright and a mealworm-filled Coffin of Death
Winner: Knott’s, I’ll take blood over Broadway and bugs

Monsters
Knott’s: Cast of 1,000, many of them seasoned “sliders”
Universal: Marquee names include Leatherface, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees
Magic Mountain: 200 monsters with an emphasis on realistic prosthetic masks
Winner: Universal (by a chainsaw’s edge)

Rides/attractions
Knott’s: most rides operating, including a spider-infested Calico Mine Train
Universal: 3, including Jurassic Park in the dark
Magic Mountain: 7 coasters in the dark, including a backwards Colossus wooden coaster worth the price of admission
Winner: Magic Mountain, it’s what they do best

Street atmosphere
Knott’s: Naturally spooky Wild West and Ghost Town
Universal: Menacing mean streets of New York City and London
Magic Mountain: A ghoul-filled Gotham City, but little else
Winner: Tie — Knott’s and Universal

Intangibles
Knott’s: Genre inventors rest on 35 years of history
Universal: Hollywood upstarts rely on quality over quantity
Magic Mountain: No additional nighttime admission in October
Winner: Tie — Knott’s and Universal

And the winner is…
Knott’s: It’s tough to beat the reigning champ. But the granddaddy of Halloween theme park events better watch its back. Universal is creeping up fast.

Which theme park has the best Halloween event?

— Brady MacDonald / Amusement + Theme Park Blogger

[Photo courtesy of Universal Studios Hollywood]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 6:26 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Family & Kids, Knott's, Los Angeles, Magic Mountain, San Diego, Theme Parks, Universal Studios Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.