|
|
|
|
|
A Special Report by Jon "Boingo" Yslas |
|
In the wee hours of the morning on August
10th, 2009, the hundreds of fans of Halloween Haunt that have been
anxiously waiting for their chance to be a part of the Haunt family
lined up at the Employment Center of Knott's Berry Farm. The
initial post from the Knott's Twitter account announced that the line up
would begin at 12:00 midnight, but Knott's security allowed people to
begin to line up starting at 11:20 P.M. This was a bit
disappointing for the majority of people arriving that had planned to be
in line by midnight only to find roughly 100 people already ahead of
them. Luckily, that didn't stop people from enjoying the tradition
that is the New Hire camp out. With all the new changes for Haunt 2009, we were all eager to see what would be in store for us come morning. How will the audition process go? Will I be able to choose my position? With all these people here, will I even get a position at all? These were all thoughts running through our minds throughout the night, but that "what if" factor made the event even more exciting. One of the major changes that we noticed were the amount of people that arrived for the camp out! Back in the day, there were normally around 100 people total for the camp out, but this year by 8:00 A.M., there were at least 400 people waiting to get hired. Now, what I remembered and cherished the
most from my first New Hire experience was the camaraderie I
encountered, and this year was no different. There is a reason why
there is a "Haunt family" and those bonds begin to form here at New
Hire. Seeing old friends and making new ones are one of the many
benefits of working Haunt. All the rookies I encountered were the
nicest, most eager people I have ever met and they just seemed so
excited to just be there. It just made me even more happy to be a
part of this wonderful event again. Every 20 minutes or so, they would call roughly 10 names to come up for their interview. The antici... pation was incredible as we waited one last time before we were called to either audition for a street position or to see a talent captain for a maze position. In that final waiting area, veteran
street monsters kept walking by, giving words of encouragement or advice
to the rookies who took in everything with eager smiles, anxiously
waiting to hear their names being called. Even at New Hire, there were still plenty of fantastic maze positions. But you know what? Haunt isn't about where you are scaring, it's about the scare itself and being a part of the amazing event that is Knott's Halloween Haunt. For the rookies, this was their first step on the journey that is being a monster at Halloween Haunt. There is so much to look forward to, Opening Night can not come any sooner! |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
