Yet another TPA Night at Haunt has come and gone - and oh, what a cool night it was!

Let's state the obvious - there was a very bad SNAFU with the Pre-Scare Dinner situation and we are painfully aware that several parties were turned away and had such a run-around trying to get tickets to this, that they opted for dinner elsewhere before joining us, or skipped the event entirely.  Once and for all, we are absolutely sorry that this happened; it was a communication error - and Knott's Berry Farm has assured Theme Park Adventure up and down that this will never happen again.  And we believe them.  So, that said and done, know that TPA Night at Haunt 2010 will include the Pre-Scare Dinner once again and that we anticipate it to be seamless.

Now, for those that did successfully join us for Pre-Scare Dinner... thank you!  It was great seeing so many familiar faces and some new ones!  It is always very, very cool to us to have new readers show up, even alone, to our annual event at Haunt.  That shows the dedication level of the Haunt fans that read TPA; it also tells us that there is absolutely a need and niche for TPA Night at Haunt, which makes us very excited to tell you all to mark your calendars for 10/02/2010. 

The food that Knott's serves for Pre-Scare is exceptional as far as "traditional" theme park food expectations go; it's right up there with more expensive Vegas buffets - and trust me when I say that it's better quality that many, many buffets in Sin City (I know - been there, done that).  The $20 price point may seem a bit steep when everyone is watching their dollars these days - but the food is definitely worth it.  So kudos to Knott's for serving up a great spread for us to enjoy before Haunt this year!

Once done with dinner, we headed outside for our traditional group shot, which is always fun!  The only down-side to that is, it doesn't include the folks that opt not to partake in Pre-Scare, or were unable to this year.  So that sucks - but for those that were there, it was a great group and a fantastic picture!  Thanks to Jessica, who we recruited to take our pictures - all that poor girl wanted to do was sell 3-D glasses!  Little did she know TPA would use and abuse her so!

The group really enjoyed the arrival of The Overlord and his event-opening spiel above the GhostRider entrance; it's a bit cheesy, but it works.  The crowd loves it, TPA readers loved it; it was great fun watching them watching and taking pictures of the moment.  Good stuff.

In past years, we've gone from rope drop to the entrance of The Gauntlet, where we have waited for an eternity for people to join our group that are coming through Main Gate.  This has always proven to be great for photo ops - but also has been a huge time killer and definitely has been anti-climatic right after the rope drop and Haunt begins.

This year, we tried something new - rather than wait forever at The Gauntlet, we were there for just a few minutes and then made our way to Pyromaniax and then Black Widow's Cavern.  Getting the two rides (Log Ride and Mine Train) out of the way early on in the evening definitely worked very nicely and our readers had a great time; much, much better than standing around for 45 minutes doing next to nothing inside Main Gate.  Without a doubt, we will be using this method next year - and actually, we will be going straight from Pre-Scare to the two rides without waiting at Main Gate first; this will give folks more of an incentive to actually join our group for Pre-Scare as well.  Early entry into Haunt doesn't mean much when you use that time to stand around and wait for people to come through Main Gate, so yeah... we have lived and learned!

After riding Pyro and Cavern, we headed back to the front of the Farm and began our tour of the mazes.  One by one, we experienced amazing attractions such as Slaughterhouse, Quarantine (the talent rocks - the roofless wonder that the maze has become sucks it) and Bobo's.  Great fun (and lots of scares) were enjoyed by all, and finally, we took a break half-way through the night and gathered in Calico Square for The Hanging.

The show was great, our readers cheered and laughed... and in the end, everyone was left with grins on their faces!  Unfortunately, this is also the most difficult part of TPA Night, as standing in one spot for that long suddenly makes your feet feel like bricks and your legs scream in pain.  The only way to get rid of that is to walk it off.  Which we did...

As our tour resumed, we took a detour back through the Boardwalk.  For very good reason.  As we walked along, we came across a very large group of clowns huddled together.  TPA's Shea Foley's long-time girlfriend, Erin, noted this carefully and you could see the concern on her face as we approached; it was awesome.  The TPA group stopped and suddenly, the clown huddle exploded and they all came straight at Erin, who proceeded to assume the standing fetal position instantly as she was engulfed in the flood-O-clowns!

At that point, Shea dropped to his knee and when Erin came up for breath, saw that indeed, Shea was proposing marriage to her!  It was a very emotional moment and Theme Park Adventure is honored that we were able to coordinate and capture the moment in images for the two of them during TPA Night!  What an unexpected groovy treat for our readers - everyone Oooohed and Ahhhhhed and applauded!  Screams and laughter became gasps and, "Oh my God!  Look!"

Truly an amazing moment for everyone.

Especially for Shea... Erin said, "YES!"

TPA's group finished the night with the rest of the mazes, including Dia de los Muertos, Lockdown and the grand finale, Terror of London, which was a huge hit with our readers - at the end of the night, the talent in London was going OFF, which we completely loved and appreciated!  Mad props to the London boys and girls for working it out all the way until the end of the night!

With a little bit of time to spare, some of our people went and bought souvenirs.  Some said goodbye and others said, "LET'S EAT!"

So, off to the Midnight Buffet we went, half-asleep and hungry.  We gathered in one of the back rooms of Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant and enjoyed our late-night meal as we swapped stories and laughter about the experiences we all just had.

New friends were made, which is our favorite part of TPA Night, and the group had a blast.  There were tons of thrills and chills and non-stop laughter.  That is what our annual gathering is all about, kids.  And we are SO glad that you guys joined us.  We look forward to seeing you all again - and many new faces - next year!

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