Fall 2021 Photos
Fright Fest Halloween Horror Nights Knotts Scary Farm Belmont Park & Castle Dark

And now, we're off for the final chapter of Halloween fun for 2021. This time, we're off in San Diego, stopping at a local Mexican place with a San Diego friend for lunch.

OK. Incrediblecoasters Rant Time. So this was originally supposed to be a 5 part update with us being at Howl-O-Scream @ Sea World San Diego tonight. However, that did not work. You see, I bought a Sea World pass in February 2020, a month before the COVID Lockdowns began and everything went to sh*t. So yeah. Anyone who bought a pass for 2020 was sort of screwed. Now most places just extended the time their pass worked. My Six Flags Pass for 2020 lasted for all of 2021, and my Cedar Fair pass actually lasted until May 2022. Now Sea World/Busch, much like Six Flags & Cedar Fair, extended their 2020 passes to cover 2021 since.....2020 essentially didn't exist in the theme park world. And they did for most people. Both of my friends got their Sea World passes extended until 2022. But NOT ME!!! My pass expired in February 2021, back before theme parks even reopened in California! And I was PROMISED that my pass would be extended. Made a fool out of myself having to be told by the parking attendent expired in February. So....I actually went Karen and contacted Sea World about this. I got a Sorry, but ultimately nothing. Yeah. I may be a big Sea World fan and will defend them against unjust unfair bullsh*t. But THIS is bullsh*t and not cool. >=(

So we can't do Sea World, and our San Diego friend is working today. We don't want to drive back up home. There's gotta be something fun for us to do here.

Man, we haven't been here since.....freaking 2012! Yeah, it's been 9 years. We're overdue to come back here.

Now becaue of our horrible financial situation, we can't afford to really have a full proper day here. So we're just gonna do a single Giant Dipper ride later on.

I REALLY want to get on the 2 person Top Spin sometime. But.....*sigh* DAMN YOU MONEY!!!

We'll ride you later Giant Dipper. Right now, we're just checking out the beach.

Thank you random people for allowing us to play Jenga on the middle of the beach (Jason lost BTW).

Get out of here random people! You're ruining our beautiful sunset photo!

Sweet! Time to ride the Giant Dipper!

With some positive talk and Dramamine, I was able to get Jason on Giant Dipper. And he liked it! So happy about that (Still kicking myself in the balls for not dragging you on Invadr).

It's not an amazing ride or as good as the Santa Cruz Giant Dipper, but it's still a fun ride worth riding from time to time, and I'm genuinely happy it was saved from becoming firewood.

All right. Time for the FINAL Halloween event in 2021. To kill some time, we're at a random park in Riverside, just looking at a pretty sunset.

Not one of the best fast food places, but honestly, not nearly as bad as its reputation lets on.

OK. We're here at Castle Park for Castle Dark. Now this is a place we only went to ONCE for credit whoring and never bothered returning to until tonight. Why? Well, because of our East Coast Trip this year, we got Palace Season Passes to save money there. However, that also got us into among other places, Castle Park. And we figured. Why not give their Halloween event a try. See that is. So....we're here for Castle Dark. Let's see what you've got for us.

The elephant welcomes you to Castle Dark.

Showing off a little bit of Dia De Los Muertos decorations to gain some diversity points.

Look out AJ! One of the locals is stalking you!

Deep symbolism about how these "monsters" attacking you at these Haunt Events are poor creatures who come from broken homes or is Castle Park just too lazy to fix their sign? =P

BEST HORROR MAZE EVER!!! CASTLE DARK IS EASILY THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVENT OF 2021!!!

Somehow, these bats just aren't scary.

"No! Don't take me! I'm not ready to die!"

Please incorporate the Mini-Golf course into one of the horror mazes. I've got a lot of fun ideas that could make this work.

OK. Time for our first real maze of Castle Dark. Phobias.

I gotta admit. Phobias really impressed me. It's not the best or anything. But for the budget they had, they really went all out and tried their best. This thing was legit better than some of the mazes at Knotts Scary Farm and Halloween Horror Nights.

So the theme of Phobias is....well, all of the most common fears. And of course, we've got something for you folks afraid of clowns.

Yes! Scare the evangelicals with all this fear of hell and sh*t. *whispers*Please don't have anything involving needles in there*whisper*.

Another thing that makes Phobias special is the ability to take photos with the actors and just interact with the maze more. That's a really nice touch that made this maze stand out against so many other mazes I've done.

You better get that hole-in-one. You don't want to know what the monsters will do to you if you fail. >=)

Hmm. They changed Ghostblasters to just be included with the park and no longer an upcharge. A smart move on the part of Palace.

I still suck at these rides.

NO!!! DON'T SHOOT!!! I'M NOT PART OF THE RIDE!!!

Final maze needed at Castle Dark (there's more than just 2. But we forgot to photograph and mention the other. Also, there's not a lot of mazes here).

This is another circus themed maze. I enjoyed Mesmer. So this should be fun.

I know they're trying, but you can tell that there's not much of a budget for this.

OK Castle Dark. That's disturbing. But not scary. There's a difference.

Now that we've done all the mazes, it's time to do some rides.

This time, the Double Shot actually worked and we were able to ride it.

Even Duke is getting into the spirit tonight.

OK. Better do a roller coaster tonight since we are IncredibleCOASTERS.

HOLY SH*T!!! THIS RIDE SUCKS AGAIN!!!

So back in the early days of the site, I used to relentlessly sh*t on Pole Position (back when that was at the Ventura County Fair) and its clones. However, I expressed SHOCK at how it was running good. And then it kept happening again and again and again until I was forced to concede and admit to liking these rides. So I rode expecting this to be fun. Instead, I got a rude reminder of why I used to sh*t on this ride so much.

Hey. Might as well get a ride on the train as well.

For some reason, I thought this ride was demolished. Nope, just SBNO. Meh. Doesn't matter regardless.

And that was Castle Dark. Overall, I don't expect to do this again unless I have time and a Palace Season Pass that gets me in for free. It doesn't really have a big budget. But for some locals, this is a fun little event. I had a fun time and am glad I did go at least once. Due to the late nature of this update, I can say that Halloween 2022 is a bust (There will be no Fall 2022 Photos Update). But hopefully Halloween 2023 will be fun.

Home