Some folks don't like clowns.  Some don't like dolls.  Others hate spiders.  On just about every level, spiders suck.  They bite, they look freakin' scary, they move quickly, they are sometimes poisonous, they wrap their prey up in cocoons to eat later... yeah.  They suck.

Knott's has unleashed this theme as well on its guests during Halloween Haunt over the years; most recently as the maze Curse of the Spider.  That maze has since passed into the history books and those eight-legged beasties had to move somewhere.  So, into the Calico mines they skittered, creating Black Widow's Cavern.

Which brings us to one of the most challenging attractions at Knott's Scary Farm to review these days - the Calico Mine Ride.  God - we sound like a broken record each year when we say that back in the day, the Mine Ride was one of Haunt's not-to-be-missed attractions.  And it was.  The question of late is, is it now?  The answer seems to vary now from year to year.  For the past couple of seasons, the Mine Ride took on the theme of Cavern of Lost Souls, in which the evil spirits of Calico miners took over the mines and it worked very nicely.  The minute you introduce anything up and beyond miners or evil spirits into this attraction, the stakes go way up, because suddenly it has to be believable.

So now you have a very large-scale attraction that touts the name "Black Widow's Cavern".  Instantly, images of thousands of black widows and lots of spider webbing come to mind.  Maybe victims wrapped in thread, maybe lots of webs (strings) hanging throughout the ride so that guests are constantly swatting at their faces in the dark or unable to catch a few minutes of peace long enough to grope their dates.  Black Widows are nasty.  They are horrible, mean things that should strike a note of terror when spoken of or written about.  Anyone that has ever encountered a big-ass Black Widow while cleaning out their garage or walking up to their house late at night only to find it casting a shadow from the moonlight as it sits on its web knows - they are sinister.

So the first major problem we had with Black Widow's Cavern was the fact that most of the spiders found throughout this attraction didn't even begin to resemble Black Widows.  Hell, a lot of them didn't even resemble spiders.  Often, the spiders throughout the caverns of the Mine Ride looked like plush dolls that you'd buy your kid or really poorly-made, over-priced gag spiders you can buy for a small fortune at any Halloween superstore.  They just didn't LOOK real.  We'd much rather have seen hundreds of small "plastic spider ring" spiders placed throughout the mines than a few large ones that looked like a child's arts and crafts project.

That's NOT to say that all of the spiders in Black Widow's Cavern looked that way.  Indeed, there were some very nice props that deserve equal attention and mention - props that we found to be great, such as the giant spider near the underground waterfalls; that prop was sheer genius - and we have a picture below of it.  Kudos to the Props team for that.  The downside to having many so-so or even lame props, is that they quickly overshadow and bring down the good stuff; and that is a crime.

In a nutshell - not enough Black Widows and not enough good props to counter the cheesy ones.  That's the way it crumbles, we're afraid.

The talent in Black Widow's Cavern has a tough job.  They really do, and this is also something we say year in and year out.  To be literally stuck in one position night after night and have very little chance of interaction with Haunt guests - that has got to be so trying and so frustrating.  We applaud those who stuck with it for each of the nights.  Without the talent in this attraction, it would have not been successful at all.  The sheer terror of the idea that spiders were everywhere was not there.  Knowing that there were "live" monsters lurking within the caverns - that kept guests on their toes (so to speak), and keep a level of tension running fairly strong throughout the experience.  Hearing a car full of guests scream up ahead in the darkness - that creates beautiful anticipation for the riders further back.  And that is the magic that the talent works in the Mine Ride each year.

Black Widow's Cavern returns in 2008 and we are likely not going to see that many changes made to the attraction since so much attention is being given to all of the new mazes and attractions this year that are being prepared.  This means once again, it will be up to the talent crew of Widow to pull this one off.  We're counting on you guys and gals - so don't let us down!  Huge spiders with foot-long pipe cleaner legs may not be scary - but you guys certain can and should be!

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