Knott's Scary Farm 2024 held a Nightmares Revealed behind-the-scenes preview of all the upcoming mazes, shows, and specialty food items. The Scary Farm invited us out to make the announcements in style, here are the major highlights you need to know:
- Elvira returns for 3 select nights
- Two new mazes join the lineup
- Returning favorites include last year's new entries
- This is the last year for fan favorite maze Waxworks.
- The event menu is extra delicious this year
Ok, those are the major event highlights, now let's dive into the details below.
Elvira returns for 3 select nights
That's right, after the Mistress of the Dark retired her long-running Knott's Scary Farm show in 2017, leaving a void in our little black hearts, Cassandra Peterson is bringing the beloved haunt hostess back in 2024. This won't be the season-long residency of live performances fans are accustomed to. The Yours Cruelly, Elvira XXperience pays homage to the show's 20-season legacy, and Cassandra Peterson will attend for in-person signings, three nights only. The show includes video highlights from every year, a special midnight screening of her entire 2017 show, behind-the-scenes features, the Macabre mobile, props, and wardrobe displays.
Cassandra Peterson will be attending September 19th, October 18th and 20th. Purchase exclusive Knott's Elvira merchandise to get in on this. Elvira nights are sure to sell out, so get your tickets for that asap.
Two New Knott's Scary Farm 2024 Mazes
This year brings us two brand new mazes from the Scary Farm creeps. First up, Eight Fingers Nine takes visitors into a nightmare world of boogeymen and… sleep paralysis!? Drawings inspired by the creators' actual experiences litter the walls, and the boogeyman who likes to bite off the fingers of his victims skulks around beneath beds and in closets, peering through his long, stringy, black hair. The town crier came to warm Scary Farm attendees about the threat of the ghoul but was quickly devoured before our very eyes. The concept art for this one looks very cool, and we're excited to check it out in the flesh.
The second new maze this year is Widows. This is an absolute nightmare for arachnophobes. There was an old lady who swallowed a spider… and as we descend into her home… eight-legged beasts run amok. Guests can expect to feel sickly spiderwebs graze their faces in the dark of the decrepit home. With walls crumbling all around and spiders coming out of the old woman's mouth, the spiders inhabit the woman's body, morphing into increasingly grotesque mashups as the maze goes on. Disgusting. Can't wait.
Last Year For WaxWorks
The long-running WaxWorks maze bids farewell this year. There was a (very) misleading headlines making the rounds recently about a Knott's Berry Farm closure. I went into a panic, the article itself then made it sound like the amusement park wasn't closing, but that it was the last year for Scary Farm. (Not true!) I finally dug into the article enough to decipher what it was actually saying: WaxWorks is closing after this year.
But that didn't stop folks from reading no further than the headline and proceeding to make “news” videos sharing the misinformation! But rest easy, Knott's Berry Farm is not closing, Knott's Scary Farm is not closing. But WaxWorks fans should visit early and often because this is the last year for the WaxWorks maze before it closes and goes into retirement.
Knott's Scary Farm 2024 Food
You know I go hard for novelty food items, and this year, the Knott’s menu moved away from the exotic offerings of last year (turtle pizza, camel stew, etc) and back to more traditional staples reimagined in a multitude of ways. We’ll get to this season’s lineup, but, gang… when I tell you, I nearly screamed when I reached the very end of the food display table.
Tucked away on a corner, quiet and demure, sat an orange candy corn float! Let me sah that again for the folks in the back… an orange candy corn float. This is one of the few food items I did not get to sample, but as a candy corn fanatic, a candy corn evangelist, my head was swimming with Halloween joy and my taste buds ached to test the autumnal treat.
Orange floats are the superior float, I cannot yet report whether this orange float incorporates any other elements aside from the candy corn garnish, but why improve upon perfection? Now, I typically make my orange floats with orange soda and vanilla ice cream. This one, however, employs orange soda, pineapple Dole whip, and candy corn.
I’ll give you a complete rundown of the float when I return to the fog, your spooky pioneer, bringing you all my findings. Until then, I'll share with you of what I sampled; the standouts were the Toxic Waste, Monster Mash, Creepy Chicken and Enchilada Pizza (and I'll be dreaming of the float). And now, I give you the rest of this year’s seasonal food menu. Much of this I did, in fact, sample, and dare I say, this is the tastiest Knott’s Scary Farm menu I’ve tested.
Drinks
- Nightshade Glow Seltzer
- Toxic Waste
- Brazen Brazilian Lemonade
- Blood Bags (Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic versions available in multiple flavors)
- The Knotty Bean
- Macabre Midnight Margarita
- Black Lager
- Pickle Hitchin – A hollowed-out pickle holding what I presume to be whiskey?
Food
- Ghoul At Heart Salad
- Autumn Harvest Chicken Honeycrisp Apple And Feta Salad
- Al Pastor (Available at Casa California)
- Pineapple Salsa (Available at Casa California)
- Monster Mash (red wine braised pot roast over creamy mashed potatoes)
- Creepy Chicken Enchilada Pizza
- Zombie Tri-Tip Baguette Sandwich with bleu cheese, arugula, and garlic aioli
- Frankenstein Falafel Wrap with Tzaziki
- Parmesan Risotto with Grilled Butternut Squash
- Mummy's Tomb Mediterranean Tots
- La Llorona's Fish Sandwich (served on a black bun)
- Walking Nachos or Takis
- Barbacoa Fries – sweet potato fries, sour cream, cilantro, cotija cheese, and tomatillo salsa
- Hot Nashville Chicken Taquito Crunch
- Chilling Chambers Chicken Tender Funnel Cake
- The Zombie Apocalypse Firecracker Burger
- The Boogeyman Chicken Meatball Sub
Spooky Desserts
- Spooky Bat Oreo and Cream Cookiewich
- Alien Krispie Treats
- Dracula's Bites (Churros with Chocolate and Raspberry Sauce)
- Devouring Dulce de leche Milkshake
- Red Velvet Funnel Cake
- Peanut Butter Crunch Funnel Cake
- Mummy Brownie
- Whoopie Pie with Oreo Buttercream
- Graveyard Mousse Cup
- Halloween Cupcake
- Red Raspberry Brownie Parfait
- Witch Cupcakes
- Halloween Cake Pop
- Headless Horseman Pecan Hand Pie
- Creme Brulee Gourmet Cookie
- Halloween Snoopy Cookie
- Carrot Cake Bar
- Chocolate Cherry Fudge Bar
- Queen of the Undead Cake Slice
- Queen of the Undead Mini Cake
- Candy Corn Float
Returning Knott' Scary Farm Mazes
Last year's new mazes, Cinema Slasher, The Chilling Chambers, and Room 13, quickly became fan favorites. Cinema Slasher replaced the Dark Ride maze, inviting guests into a movie theater where they step through the screen and become part of a slasher movie. Room 13 threw us into the height of prohibition into a hotel where folks were mixing up the Devil's Elixir with some… interesting outcomes.
The Chilling Chambers paid homage to every season of Knott's Scary Farm, essentially a haunted museum celebrating Scary Farm's past. But it's hard to stop and admire the details when you're being stalked by ghouls and there's a jump scare around every corner! Thankfully, this year's lights on behind the scenes tour gave us a detailed look at one of our favorite mazes from last season. All three of the new mazes from 2023 are back in 2024, along with four other returning mazes. Here's the complete list of returners
- Mezmer
- The Grimoire
- Cinema Slasher
- Room 13
- The Chilling Chambers
- Waxworks
- Bloodline
Knott's Scary Farm 2024 Shows
- Conjurers magic show at the Birdcage Theater
- Carnaval du Grotesque at the Calico Mine Stage
- Into the Fog Art Show
- Yours Cruelly, Elvira XXperience
- The Hanging – Fan favorite pop culture show returns to the stage, dubbed The Hanging: The Errors Tour.
Last year, Knott's implemented special interactive lanterns. This year, the lanterns return, with multiple designs available for purchase. Lanterns can be used in the mazes and throughout the park to unlock the haunt's special activations and interactive elements.
The folks over at Knott's Scary Farm have so much in store for us this season; we can't wait to check it all out. See you in the fog! Knott's Scary Farm returns September 19th and runs select nights through November 2nd. Tickets are now on sale. Check out our video recap below.
