Knott’s Scary Farm has released more information about their first “VIP” maze, called Trapped.
1. There will be a minimum age requirement. No one under 17 years old will be allowed inside without a parent or guardian.
2. You will be required to sign a waiver before entering.
3. The cost: $60 for up to 6 people (if you buy during the presale). This means that if you have 6 people, it’s $60 for the group. If you have 2 people, it’s still $60. If you wait until the night of the event, the cost goes up to $75 per group.
4. Reservations will begin in August, when tickets for Haunt go on sale.
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First of all, it’s interesting that they’re putting an age requirement on this maze, not to mention the waiver that must be signed. These two things indicate that the maze might actually be pretty intense. Or, it could be part of the marketing department’s ingenious way to hype the up-charge attraction. Waivers usually mean that the monsters will touch you, or that you might be required to crawl, climb, or otherwise interact with the sets. The age limit might be in place because of potential “foul” language or “rated R” (sex-related?) scenes. Last year, we experienced a haunt in Las Vegas that made us sign a waiver beforehand. That maze did involve actors who touched and cursed at us.
Second, let’s talk about the price. Ouch! $60 bucks is a HUGE up-charge for a haunt that has admission prices as low as $34 (with a coupon on slower nights). In fact, even their most busy nights are not as much as $60 for admission. Granted, if you go with a group of 6, Trapped ends up being only $10 per person. But still, that’s almost a third of the admission cost. Guests will be expecting a lot of this maze. Hints from Knott’s on Facebook have said that the maze “could take up to a half hour to explore,” which seems to indicate that it’s an actual maze with different paths.
We feel that this attraction could be a turning point for Knott’s Scary Farm. It’s definitely an experiment for them, and they seem to be trying to up their game. After all, Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) is providing stiff competition and is no question the scarier and more immersive event, despite having half the number of mazes Knott’s has. If Knott’s wants to compete with HHN, they have no choice but to increase the scare factor. If Trapped works, maybe Knott’s can start building leverage against HHN and draw guests back. But if it fails and people feel like they just threw $60 down the toilet, it will be hard for Knott’s to dig their reputation out of the grave.
