Knotts Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm will add three new mazes and a new scare zone for Halloween Haunt 2011 , according to theme park officials. Photos : View concept art of all 13 mazes and four scare zones for Halloween Haunt 2011 The 39th annual Knott's Scary Farm will start Sept. 23 and run for 27 nights. Knott's Berry Farm Halloween Haunt 2010 mazes | 2010 scare zones | 2010 shows | 2010 review The granddaddy of Halloween events will feature 13 mazes and four scare zones scattered throughout the Buena Park theme park.

The $2.4-billion buyout of Knott's Berry Farm's parent company by a private equity firm may be a sign of confidence in the future of theme parks, analysts said Thursday. Apollo Global Management agreed late Wednesday to acquire Cedar Fair, the Sandusky, Ohio, company that owns Knott's in Buena Park and 10 other amusement parks, seven water parks and five hotels in the U.S. and Canada. FOR THE RECORD: Knott's takeover: An article in Friday's Business section about Apollo Global Management's buyout of Knott's Berry Farm's parent, Cedar Fair, said the California Public Employees' Retirement System had paid $46 million in fees to Alfred Villalobos, a placement agent working for Apollo.

The increasing popularity of Halloween theme park events has spawned a new generation of exclusive reservation-only haunted mazes that promise a more intense and intimate experience for those willing to pay a premium. Photos: 10 extreme haunted mazes and attractions The new Trapped maze at Knott's Halloween Haunt is the latest entry in an emerging trend toward up-charge attractions that cater to individuals and small parties prepared to bleed green for exclusive VIP treatment.

With frosty mugs of Butterbeer raised in a toast, Universal Studios Hollywood officials announced plans Tuesday to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park. Details were limited but officials did say the California park would see a Hogwarts Castle and visitors would ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the marquee attraction at the Florida park. Wizarding World will be built within the existing California theme park, but it was unclear if the new land might be located at least partially on the studio's back lot. > Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions Wizarding World proved an instant hit when it opened in June 2010 at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

Like a slow but determined zombie, Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain continues to lumber in the right direction after years of generic Halloween fare. > Photos: Fright Fest 2012 at Magic Mountain Following the addition of more mazes and monsters last season, Fright Fest 2012 introduces a new standard of excellence by which all future haunted attractions will be judged at the Valencia amusement park. A state-of-the-art makeover of the Willoughby's Haunted Mansion, a venerable but aging Fright Fest mainstay for more than a decade, raises the bar for all Magic Mountain mazes and serves as a warning shot that the Six Flags park is prepared to go head-to-head with its Southern California rivals.

In the days following Charles M. Schulz's death on Feb. 12, numerous "Peanuts" fans made the pilgrimage to Knott's Berry Farm to pay tribute to the famed cartoonist and the beloved characters he drew for a half century. Knott's is the home of Camp Snoopy, a six-acre children's park devoted to Schulz's classic "Peanuts" comic strip. For the past 17 years it's been a place where devotees of Charlie Brown and the gang can feel like they're a tangible part of the "Peanuts" family.

Knott's Berry Farm has agreed to a financial settlement with the family of a 12-year-old boy who was seriously injured during a 2009 accident on the Xcelerator roller coaster. "There's a confidential settlement," said Art Morgan, the family's attorney. "We can't say the amount. " A Knott's spokesperson declined to comment on the settlement. Kyle Wheeler was sitting in the front row of Xcelerator when the roller coaster's launch cable snapped, whipped toward the riders and split the fiberglass car in half.

While all eyes will be on Disney California Adventure in 2012, plenty of other theme parks in California will be adding new rides and attractions in time for the summer crowds. Our Top 10 for 2012 is dominated by new rides coming to DCA's 12-acre Cars Land expansion , the grand finale in the $1 billion extreme makeover the Anaheim theme park has undertaken during the past five years. DCA's transformation is so massive that even Disneyland is taking the year off as far as new attractions go, letting the spotlight shine on its younger neighbor.

The first volleys of the next roller coaster revolution have been fired in the forested Idaho panhandle, the emerging epicenter of thrill ride innovation. Located in the small town of Hayden, Idaho, Rocky Mountain Construction has burst onto the ride manufacturing scene seemingly out of nowhere, shaking the theme park industry like a rumbling coaster train rocketing along a rickety old track with plans to build two looping wooden coasters in 2013. > Photos: Rocky Mountain and the history of looping wooden coasters Not since the coaster wars of the 1980s and '90s have the possibilities for thrill rides, new and revamped,   seemed so promising.