Knott's Spooky Farm: Family-Friendly Thrills & Chills for Halloween!
ANAHEIM, CA — Once per year, as the crisp autumn breeze begins winding its way through the streets of Knott’s Berry Farm, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world throws two of the grandest Halloween Parties in the United States. While most haunt and spooky enthusiasts build their September and October calendars around a visit to the well-known Knott’s Scary Farm event - and with good reason - our 2024 visit was all about the more family-friendly daytime visit to Knott’s Spooky Farm. This family friendly daytime offering takes place during select dates in the fall and features seasonal ride overlays, frightfully fun shows, festive character meet and greets, savory and sweet treats and trick-or-treating…though, much to the dismay of our fellow traveler Kaylee (Fantasmic Travel), the trick-or-treating was reserved for children aged 11 and younger.
Before we can get into the meat of our daylight experience, it’s critically important to convey the difference between Knott’s Spooky Farm and Knott’s Scary Farm. With the latter being a much scarier, more adult-oriented experience and a “hard” (separate) ticket event, the park is forced to close and reopen in order to expel day guests and prepare for the significant transition from spooky to scary. On the day of our visit, the park was set to close at 6:00PM in preparation for the nighttime adult-oriented event, and even guests that had both daytime and evening event tickets were forced to leave the park and re-enter with tighter security measures and bag regulations. This was chief among the reasons that we elected to visit during the ‘spooky’ hours of the day, but there is also a simpler, more fundamental reason - during our last visit in the summer of 2022, we fell in love with the vibes at Knott’s Berry Farm. On some level, we simply wanted to recapture some of that same magic again.
Unlike the attraction lineup at Knott’s Scary Farm, the overwhelming majority of Knotts’ flagship attractions remain operational during the ‘Spooky’ part of the day. Given the limited time that we had in the park, we made sure to leave room in the budget for Fast Lane - Six Flags/Cedar Fair’s “skip-the-line” service - to be sure that we could get on as many rides as possible within a fairly small window. The value of the Fast Lane may well depend on the day of your visit, the company you keep and the number of roller coasters and high-thrill attractions that you plan to conquer; for our group of two roller coaster enthusiasts and one dark ride enthusiast, it was well worth the splurge. With our wristbands acquired, we were able to quickly knock out GhostRider, Silver Bullet, Xcelerator, Sierra Sidewinder and Jaguar! - each of them being a new-to-us coaster credit - and maximize the value of our investment.
Above: Knott’s Spooky Farm isn’t just about the rides! During the Halloween season, you can also meet and greet with characters in their spooky costumes and exchange high-fives with the “Masked Beagle”!
Immersive theming and delicious food aside, another core strength of Knott's Berry Farm is ride variety. There truly is something for everyone, and during the daylight hours of the spooky season that includes dark rides like Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair and flume rides like the Timber Mountain Log Ride - the latter of which was beautifully overlaid for the Halloween season, rebranded as a “Halloween Hootenanny”. Our fast lane did allow us to jump the standard queue on both of these attractions, as well as on park classics like the Calico Mine Train Ride (overlaid as “Calico Candy Mine Ride” during the Spooky Season) and the Calico River Rapids which were not open for the subsequent Scary Farm event. The daytime experience also boasted a number of family-friendly character meet and greets, such as Boysen the Bear and the Masked Beagle, both of whom we were excited to meet during our downtime between rides and attractions. And speaking of the Masked Beagle - Camp Snoopy has seen an incredibly thorough refurbishment which has breathed new life into one of the biggest and most immersive childrens’ play lands in the United States! We had to stop in to take a look at some of the changes, as well as to check out all of the seasonal decor.
Of course, a trip to Knott’s is never complete without a ride on the Calico Railroad, an attraction built by park founder Walter Knott himself in 1952. The steam locomotive and most of the passenger cars came from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which were built around 1881. The ride itself provides a thorough tour of the park, but the real draw is a close encounter with some train-robbing outlaws! Keep your friends close and your possessions closer, as you never know what kind of riffraff might be moving from car to car hootin’ and hollerin’. You also get some amazing views of the park as the engine chugs around its circuit - and when you arrive back into the station, you’re just steps away from the Ghost Town Bakery where you can grab yourself some of the park’s famous boysenberry-infused snacks and beverages.
While we certainly did not get to everything that the daylight experience offers, we were able to knock out a variety of entertainment and offerings at this family friendly event. We really enjoyed the festive decorations and Halloween overlays for several of the famous rides, the vibes were immaculate and the memories will keep us going until our next visit We highly encourage a visit to Knott’s Berry Farm at any time of year, but especially if you’re visiting the Anaheim and/or Buena Park area(s) in the Fall, remember that a visit to Knott’s Spooky Farm is something that the whole family can enjoy no matter what everyone’s age might be. Although, the under-11’s definitely have a key advantage over the preteens and adults - had we been able to do some trick-or-treating throughout the park, we would have left with a full bag(s) of candy, too! For more information about what Knott’s Spooky Farm has to offer, visit https://www.knotts.com/events/spooky-farm or check out our vlog below to see what our full day experience was like!
