GET YOUR TPA NIGHT 2010 SHIRT!

Our event may have come and gone, but if you had a blast (or want to lie and say you were there anyway) and want to show your love, the official TPA Night at Haunt 2010 shirt is still available for purchase!

Over the years, we've had fans attend from as far away as London; more recently, folks from out of state, as well as from around California have come to participate in Theme Park Adventure's spooky little gathering.

Our night began as it usually does, with the Knott's Pre-Scare Dinner buffet at 5:00 P.M. Once inside the restaurant, our group mingled and fans had the opportunity to dine and discuss Halloween Haunt with our special dinner guest, David Ortiz, one of the Scary Farm's main designers (Dia de los Muertos and Sleepy Hollow Mountain). It was a rare opportunity that our readers took advantage of! It was a first for us as well - many monsters come visit the TPA Night group during dinner, but we've never had a Haunt designer join the fans; it was great!

And for our fans that enjoyed David's insight and company during Pre-Scare Dinner, the news only got better - he not only met with our group during the meal... he joined us for the entire night at Haunt! Before we'd even gotten started, it was shaping up to be one of the greatest TPA Nights ever!

Once the chicken, prime rib, pasta and oh yes... the desserts were washed down with gallons of soda and Berry Punch, and after our group had been heckled well by Beast, it was time to head out, and wait for the Overlord to open Halloween Haunt for the night.

We made out way to the rope drop area and just as we arrived, the "opening ceremony" began. Before you could say "Boo", the crowd was let in to Ghost Town! Screams filled the air as fog billowed - another TPA Night at Haunt was well underway!

The group made its way through Ghost Town and took on the two rides - Black Widow's Cavern, followed by Sleepy Hollow Mountain. Before the group got into the queue for the Log Ride, everyone gathered around and David Ortiz spoke about designing the new theme for the attraction and went into detail about his inspiration for Sleepy Hollow Mountain. It was really cool, and set the tone for things to come...

Once we'd taken on the rides, we headed back for a loop through Ghost Town, which was already packed with screaming guests and roaming monsters! We made our way toward Necropolis, where we took on Slaughterhouse, Labyrinth and then Cornstalkers.

One of the really great tools of social media that we used this year was our Twitter feed, which let folks (both fans and monsters working that night) know exactly where we were and where the group was heading at any given time; it really came in handy, and we know of at least one group that joined us shortly after Pre-Scare by following our movement on Twitter. It was a huge help this year!

After we'd all made it through Cornstalkers, we gathered in front of Virus Z, where the next surprise of the night took place. Virus Z designer Brooke Walters came and addressed the TPA group, sharing with us how she came up with Virus Z, what she loves about her new maze and she answered questions from our readers. Everyone was very excited to have Brooke personally introducing the maze to us; it was really neat!

And that scenario played out throughout the night - Daniel Miller met the group at the entrance of Fallout Shelter and talked about his inspirations for the maze as well as some of his background designing some of the greatest Scary Farm mazes of all time.

We watched The Hanging in Calico Square and afterward, were met by Jeff Tucker, who discussed writing the show with our readers, and then turned it over to Adam Hankinson, who talked about all of the audio production that he does on each of the Haunt mazes every year. It was a soundtrack chat that had our group buzzing with excitement!

The TPA group hit both Haunt rides, all of the mazes, The Hanging and the midnight showing of Hacks. Needless to say, by the end of the night, we were all exhausted! It was great fun - and we feel it was a very successful TPA Night at Haunt; perhaps our best yet. It was definitely the most unique for fans, as they got to meet the maze designers and get personal introductions to their creations - it was a cool touch that everyone was very excited about!

We thank everyone for participating - and if this sounds like a night you wish you would have attended... there's always next year; all indicators point to us continuing the tradition of monsters, mayhem, and yes... the TPA Night customary flipping of the bird at the camera... in 2011.

We'll be there... will you?

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