California Great America's Halloween Haunt - Media Event

We went to California Great America’s Halloween Haunt on opening night for the Media/VIP Event, representing TPR. The park wasn’t crowded, but that helped us to go through all the mazes and scare zones. We started with the Boofet and then went into the park. We missed their opening at 7pm this year. The next time we go we will see it.

 

Here is a link to last year's Trip Report:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52797&p

 

There is a new attraction and a new show. Black Widow’s Cavern has taken the place of Camp Gonna Getcha and the new show is Fangs. Ed Alonzo isn’t back this year.

 

I’ll review the mazes first and then the shows.

 

CarnEvil – The improvements of this 3-D maze are terrific. There are many scares throughout this maze. There were 2 other girls in line and they wanted us to go in front of them. It was pretty funny. Definitely get the 3-D glasses, it is worth it.

 

Werewolf Canyon – This maze has the next best improvements on the season. Between CarnEvil and Werewolf, you will get some jumps.

 

CornStalkers – These guys come out of everywhere. We were the only ones going through it at the time and we experienced every jump. Do this maze first because it gets backed up as the night goes on.

 

Slaughterhouse – They put so much gore in here. I wish I could get some pictures, but they don’t allow any in there. This isn’t as scary as it is gory.

 

Toy Factory – The song, need I say anymore? By the way, please push your way through the end! We got stuck because people wouldn’t shove themselves out of there.

 

Club Blood – This maze has been one of my favorites the past 2 years, but this year it is hard to see anything at the beginning. They have a light that is right in your eyes. You have to get up close to the opening to get in and you don’t know where you’re going. I didn’t know whether to go to the right or left. I wish the light would be adjusted a little bit. The maze is short too. I thought it had been longer.

 

Black Widow’s Cavern – We didn’t get the chance to go on it. I liked Camp Gonna Getcha, so I hope that this one is just as good, if not better.

 

Fangs – The new show for 2010. It is a combination of Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The female lead has an incredible voice! The male lead is a house. They have songs and dancing throughout.

 

Shocking Sideshow of Freaks – It is a number of “stunts” that you would have done growing up. Something like, I bet you can’t crush this block of cement on my stomach with a sledgehammer? Do you think I can explode firecrackers on my stomach and chest? I think you get the picture. It is an entertaining show.

 

BANG Primevil Percussion – They play throughout the park.

 

Dave Hill’s Haunted Hypnotics – He hypnotizes people from the crowd. You get the picture.

 

Thank you to California's Great America for putting on such a great Haunt! You guys have upgraded the event very well!

Starting out at Bennigan's for an "Adult" beverage. This is becoming a habit...

Yep, I must be in the right place.

VIP and MEDIA

This was our invitation

The event isn't for the young ones...

Gyendolynne and I with our MEDIA passes.

We had the Boofet before going into the park

I don't know who he is, but the Boofet is very good...

especially the adult beverages.

All the tables had great decorations.

Monsters came out to scare you too! They snuck up on a lot of people.

George and Mike, the Sideshow Freaks!

We headed out by CarnEvil first.

They put out a lot of props this year.

By far the best maze in the place. Many scares throughout. Get your 3-D glasses because the upgrades in here were tremendous!

They also have a "club" where you could dance and have something to drink. We didn't induldge in the festivities in there.

One of the best upgraded mazes.

I thought the sky and the eyes looked really creepy.

Hi Gyendolynne!

The Sideshow Freaks...please see the previous year's link. It has some great photos of this show.

One of the scare zones

This is the new attraction. It took the place of Camp Gonna Getcha

They had some pretty good scares here. We were the only ones in the maze when we went through it.

This is very unique...PUSH YOUR WAY THROUGH!

Yep, he's back....

Outside of Slaughterhouse

Very gory

One of the meat cutters escaping

Fangs, the show has potential. I think the more they show they have, the better it will be. I'm looking forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks.

Sorry about the darkness of the photo.

BANG! PrimEvil Percussion

Club Blood, I hope they adjust the lighting.

Thanks TPR for having us be the Media for this event!

Edited October 6, 2010 by cfc

It real looks as if CGA is stepping up their game this year. Great TR. The event looks like a lot of fun, and it looks like you both had a blast there.

Cool, more pictures of Haunt! Glad you enjoyed it. How do you get a "Media Pass" anyway? Just curious...And what exactly does it do different than what the general public can access/do?

 

And about Toy Factory, yes you must push your way through. I personally wait a few seconds to let the crowd ahead of me to get pooped out before I go so that 1: I don't get stuck behind clumsy people and 2: so it doesn't smell like anus in there. Overall, great pictures! I wish I had gotten some more of the actual areas but I need to work on my low-light shots...plus the fog was somewhat of a challenge with the flash.

 

If you want to see more pictures and report from another perspective (Saturday Night, 10/2), I posted mine up in the CGA thread: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42682&start=940

^^Hey Guy, Yep, they are doing a great job at CGA for Haunt. It gets better every year.

 

^I have been asked to do the Media Event the past couple of years for Haunt from TPR. I know Robb would like to be everywhere, but unfortunately he can't. We're going to Kings Dominion's Haunt this Friday. I did see your TR and liked it. Did you go to any of the shows? We were the only ones in Toy Factory until the end. I don't know why, but people stopped after they got into it. Other people came up behind me and started shoving me into the people in front of me. It is a suggestion to everyone - PUSH YOUR WAY THROUGH IT AND DON'T STOP!

^We actually did not check out any of the shows with the exception of the Primeval Percussion as they happened to be playing right next to Toy Factory while we were waiting in line. We passed by the hypnosis show as it was going. I've seen the Sideshow of Freaks on youtube from last season as I missed seeing it during Haunt.

 

One thing I noticed in Toy Factory is that there's an 'emergency' switch to shut off the things in the event that people aren't pushing hard enough. Ok, this pushing thing is starting to sound like one taking a dump lol.

I'm glad you had fun at Haunt! Did you ride Invertigo Friday night? I was working there most of the time.

^Were you there at any point Saturday night? I know you weren't there when I rode Invertigo around 11:00PM and topping off the evening with a midnight ride on Invertigo. Both of my rides were walk on for any row. At some point probably an hour after Haunt opened, Invertigo had a pretty hefty line.

 

And anyone else get a chance to check out Black Widow's Cavern and have any thoughts? Overall, I liked it as it had many 'WTF' moments and was wondering what kept hitting me on sides of the face. The excessive use of tunnels really made the lower portion of the flume feel like it was an 'indoor' ride and felt like you were zooming through the caves.

i was there opening night, it was pretty cool. I didnt really notice much change but their are always good scares in the mazes. I really liked the log ride and it had some great scares. If u cant make it out to Knotts Scary Farm this is the next best thing. A new mazes next year would be good and new scare zones, although Carnevil got upgraded this needs to be the last year for it cuz the layout seems to always be the same and it has been there an extra year longer then any other maze cuz it was there in 2007 when they were testing it out and it was open during the day. it will always be the best bay area haunt event so I will always be there every year

^It's great that you're enjoying the Haunt! We hope to see you again!

 

^^On Saturday, I worked in the park during the day, so I was at home by the time Haunt started up.

Loved the report, Rick! Gotta admit, I'm a bit jealous though. I really wish SFOG could put on a great Halloween event. Oh well. Glad you guys enjoyed it!

I had a great time hanging out with you and Gewn at KD's Haunt last Friday, Rick. How does KD's Haunt stack up against CGA's?

^^I have had a great time at all of Cedar Fair's Haunts. I would like to try to get to Dorney, KI, and Cedar Point for Haunt too!

 

^Hey Chuck, it was great hanging out with you too. I hope you had a good time as well.

 

KD's Haunt was really great. They have a lot of room to work with. The entrance to Haunt was really spectacular this year at Kings Dominion! Gyendolynne had a lot of scares throughout KD. I will post a trip report soon. Fangs wasn't a good show at either place.

 

I'm looking forward to going to CGAs again to see some improvements.