Credit: Knott's Berry FarmKnott’s Berry Farm is under fire after allegedly refusing entry to dozens of guests and denying immediate refunds. One affected visitor spoke out on social media after being turned away at the entrance to America’s first theme park.
On August 19, 2025, Knott’s Berry Farm hosted its annual Knott’s Scary Farm: Nightmares Revealed event. The hard-ticketed, three-hour event invites Halloween Haunt fans to get a first look at the Knott’s Scary Farm mazes, costumes, and monsters. Southern California theme park guests get close-up looks at what goes into designing the annual Halloween event, view props from previous haunts, and take home an exclusive souvenir at the end of the night. The three-hour event quickly sold out, as it did in previous years.
Unfortunately, several guests were turned away without a refund after arriving late to the Knott’s Scary Farm: Nightmares Revealed event, which cost around $35 to attend. Instagram user @realmousemedia shared this video after being denied entry to Knott’s Berry Farm for the Nightmares Revealed event:
MONSTERS REVEALED!!! We would love to let it be known that knotts has beyond horrible customer service! They do NOT care about the guest! They can state “no late arrivals” but don’t clam what time the gates close. They had many people outside extremely disappointed and the managers were a total joke and did not come out to help until 8pm to give refunds. It’s not about the refunds it’s the fact that people come excited for the event! They could have used a wand or kept the gates open the fact that we were not even 30 minutes late! They let us in late before but this year they want to change it up. You lost not only business but guest who loved this Halloween event. People traveled far just to be turned away! I would not support the event this year if I were you. The other theme parks are doing so much better! Refusing to let people in to a THREE HOUR EVENT THAT THEY PAID FOR TOTAL JOKE! @knottsberryfarm @knottsscaryfarm #knottsberryfarm #knottsscaryfarm #halloweenhaunt
The video shows dozens of guests who waited in line for over an hour to speak with a Knott’s Berry Farm manager about a refund. It’s unclear how many visitors, if any, received a full refund after speaking with theme park management.
“Just so everybody knows, this is the line to get a refund because they refused to let us in, telling us that the line closed at 7:00, when the event started,” the guest said.
Neither Knott’s Scary Farm nor the Nightmare Revealed preview event permits re-entry, but guests can usually arrive at Knott’s Scary Farm anytime they like. Nightmare Revealed, however, has a strict no-late entry policy due to the presentation schedule and three-hour event length. “Late arrivals will not be accommodated,” the website states.
In the comments, many social media users blamed the guests for not arriving on time or reading the event policies on Knott’s Berry Farm’s website.
“If the ticket states no late entries and it states the start time, that’s the time you’re supposed to be at or before…not after…,” @4foot11wonder commented. “No late entries means no late entries even if you paid.”
“So they said no late entry, you and others showed up late and you’re upset that they didn’t immediately jump through hoops to get your money back for your mistake,” said @deathplants666. “This has happened to me a handful of times over my life, but I don’t go complaining online saying they lost a customer because they did what they said they’d do.”
Still, the Knott’s Berry Farm guest argued that the terms and conditions weren’t clear enough.
“It says *may not be accommodated and it did not give a time…,” the Instagram user argued. “It states ‘Ticket not valid before 5. Event starts at 7pm.’”
Who was in the wrong: Knott’s Berry Farm or the guests? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments!