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| Status: |
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Operating since 1940 |
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714-220-5200 |
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Knott's Berry Farm's site |
| Address: |
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8039 Beach Boulevard
Buena Park, CA 90620
USA
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| Visits: |
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409 |
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| More About This Park |
History:
The Knott family sold the park to Cedar Fair, L.P. in late 1997 for $245,000,000.
Notes:
Six separately themed areas, each with their own distinct attractions and atmosphere - Ghost Town, Wild Water Wilderness, Camp Snoopy, Fiesta Village, Indian Trails, and The Boardwalk. Travel Info:
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| Reviews |
Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3553
View Park/Ride Count
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Trip Report- Winter Coaster Solace 2003
I left my house just after 5am, getting picked up by a friend, and we
arrived at Knott's right about 7am. Checked in and scurried over to
Montezuma's Revenge for the first of our backstange tours and blending
in with the group when we arrived. They were wonderful, opening up the
work shed, PLC, and letting us actually under the track and up to the
flywheel itself. Quite fascinating seeing everything and being told how
it works. Quickfact: Did you know that all of Monte's supports are on
ball joints, with the exception of the loop, allowing the track to shift
several inches in each direction when it launches and returns?
After a couple of quick rides on Jaguar for ERT, we then headed over to
our tour of Xcelerator. Ran into Jim Disney of Westcoaster, as well as
Robb and Elissa there and talked with them a bit. Again, the tour was
wonderful, opening up the PLC and allowing us inside looks at the cable
wheels, hyrdraulics, and the entire engine setup, walking us around to
the computer center, checking out the mechanics in the station, and
allowing us to walk around some of the props outside. Informative, fun,
and a treat. Quickfact: Did you know that Xcelerator's computer reads,
calculates, and makes adjustments 400 times a second during the launch
to make sure that it hits the right speed? And that it rolls back on
average once a day, usually in the morning when the oil hasn't warmed up
yet and isn't mixing with the hydraulics quite right yet?
A quick ride on the empty Supreme Scream, and we then headed over to our
last morning backstage tour of Ghostrider. Opening up the doors to the
backstage area we were priviledged to be given tours of the woodshop,
metal shop where they work on the carriages, and other workshops where
we could see the silver train in various stages of yearly rehab. We
were also given a walkback to normally closed parts of the track and the
backlot, along with a glimpse of the new Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8 for this
year. (Scary that some were talking about how they're going to count
that as a coaster). Quickfact: Except for the 3 months of summer
operations, Knott's always has one of the Ghostrider trains in rehab,
and also closes the coaster 3 times a year for various lengths for
different rehab work.
At this point the park was opening to the public. We picked up our
t-shirts and got in line for the first Ghostrider rides of the day, then
enjoyed the rest of the day throughout the park. At various times
during the day, I enjoyed Montezooma's Revenge (great, as always), the
log flume (wonderful), Hammerhead (a rotoshake I believe, and fun),
Xcelerator, and a few others here and there. Experienced the Mystery
Lodge for the first time, and was impressed with the effects. But blown
away by the guys entrance and exit. I want to know how he does that!
Around 12:30 was lunch at Mrs. Knott's in a room set aside just for us.
Lunch was an incredible buffet, with salad, corn, mashed potatos and
gravy, bisquits, Mrs. Knott's famous chicken, boisenberry pie, and a lot
more. We were treated to an appearance by Elvis Snoopy coming around
saying hi and thanking us for being there, videos of the coasters and
rides at various Cedar Fair parks, and announcing the winners of the
raffle, which had tons of prizes. I actually didn't win anything, but
several people who had bought tickets hadn't bothered to look to see if
they won, so at the end of lunch they began to redraw and I walked away
with a Solace patch from 2000 and a piece of Ghostrider track.
Around 7 I met up with a bunch of people from Westcoaster.net, and over
20 of us did a takeover of Xcelerator, then headed over to the local
Radisson where we took over the Amber Waves restaurant. Good food (when
I finally got mine 15 minutes after everyone else. But hey, it was free
at that point!). Good times. And a lot of fun. Hopefully Robb won't
put in that video clip of me licking the Vekoma wheel, but.......
After that, it was off to Ghostrider, for my first night rides, then to
enjoy ERT on it (4 rides) and Xcelerator, where everyone was getting
multiple rides without getting up. Finally, after almost 17 hours in
the park, we headed out and went home.
Random thoughts:
Ghostrider was running with incredible speed and airtime galore. I had
some rides that would have challenged some of my top coasters for air,
easy. Unfortunately, it also included some hard lats that made 2 or 3
rides at a time about all I could endure. Strange mix of incredible
ride while a bit rough, all at the same time. At one point, it would
move up my rankings list, then it would go back down again- all in the
same ride. But at night without lights was awesome.
Xcelerator- what can I say, the launch is still probably the best one
out I've been on, and at night where you don't have to get off, it's
even better. Incredibly fun stuff.
I finally ran into Josh and Greg around my last couple of rides on
Ghostrider before the closed the park to the public. Never did meet up
with Alan or any of the others from the list at Knotts, though I did see
a few more of them at SFMM the next day (but I'll let them tell that story).
Knott's park deserves huge props for Solace though. They put on a show
that I would say nearly rivals what Holiday World did for us at SRM.
The ops were all enthusiastic, friendly, and bantering, with Debbie at
Xcelerator leading cheers on the cars and Heather on Ghostrider having a
blast running around teasing everyone that she was going to staple them.
Awesome receptions, incredible outreach to us, stapling just about
eliminated- in short, not only has Knott's made note of some of the
recent complaints but seemed to go out of their way to address several
of them. For that they get a big thank you. About the only complaint I
could make there was the appearance in some areas of the Cedar Point
style spiels that I found annoying after a time there ("we're going to
take you up 250 feet, then drop you at 55 mph..." uggg). Other than
that Knott's was incredible to those that attended.
Oh, and one other thing I want to note, related to the trip, but at a
different park. The next day Brian and Jeremy took a ride on X, and
Brian supposedly had another rough ride. Later on that night, Jeremy
and I were able to take 2 more rides on X, including one where I sat in
the exact same seat that Brian was in on his ride, and I have to say- I
don't have a clue what the heck Brian is talking about when he says it's
rough! There was one little bump going into the second Raven turn, but
nothing bad. And Jeremy experience a little bumping on our ride in the
very back row, but as he put it, "it certainly wasn't close to
intolerable". Heck, I find Raven and Legend to be far rougher rides
than X has ever delivered to me. It's still easily my number one
coaster, delivered awesome rides, and now has convinced me- Brian's a
wimp! ;) But I love ya anyways Brian.
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| 1-21-04 12:30:29 |
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Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3553
View Park/Ride Count
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The Place: Knott's Berry Farm- 6/24/03- part 1 of 2
The People: me, Amber, Joseph, and Jon Zerkel
The Weather-moderate, up to the mid 70's or so
The Crowds-seemed to be a lot at opening, but it was quite manageable
during the day.
We started our day at 5:30 in the morning, and hit the road by 6:15-a record time! And one I was grateful for
as we managed to miss rush hour for the most part.
We took about an hour and 50 minutes to cover the 80 miles or so to the
park (quite good for LA, really),
and arrived with plenty of time to sit down and eat breakfast at this really
nice McDonald's with a bunch of trains running around it that was right
down the road from KBF. It was at this point that I realized that my wife
hadn't made sure that Amber had a belt on, and that her pants were a bit on
the big side (yes, my wife is really the husband in more ways than one.
hehe). Needless to say, this put a "hitch" into the morning, but not a big
one.
After eating, we drove over to the park, paid our $8 to park near
Ghostrider's dogleg, and walked over to the park. All the shops and booths
were still closed as it was just after 9 when we arrived (park opened at
10), so we waited around, let the kids have fun looking at Ghosty and
deciding if they were going to ride, and relaxing a bit. Around 9:30 the
first ticket booths opened up and I quickly paid for our tickets with our
coupon, then seet off to check the stores outside to see if I could find a
belt for Amber, but also knowing that if not we could buy one inside at the
leather shop (but not before teasing her about losing her pants on the
rides. hehe)
As I'm getting ready to enter the third shop (a men's wear shop of all
things), I happen to look around and see Jon walking the other way. I
called his name and he joined us as we found a nice web belt in the store
that Amber loved for $15. The clerk was wonderful, even going so far as to
trim the belt for us to help make sure it fit right. Strapped and cinched
up, we were then ready to head back to the park and wait to get in.
The opened the gates about 15 minutes early and let people inside to wait
up against some chains they put in to hold the crowds back. We were about
20 feet away from the entrance to Ghostrider, but never heard
the speakers, anthem, or anything (though I know they do that every day
when they open). In any case, they dropped the chain and we quickly made
to Ghostrider.
Whew, all that just to get to our first ride, and the first ride of morning on Ghosty was great! After waiting for them to
finish testing, for me to "growl" at some kids trying to cut in front of us
under the rails, and for 4 or 5 trains, we hopped into the first two rows,
with Jon in the front and me and Amber in number 1.2 (Joseph sat out this
first run as he worked his courage up). For the first run she was smooth,
fast, full of airtime, and a blast to ride. If it was like this everytime,
Ghostrider would easily be in my top tier of coasters.
From there we headed through Indian Trails, around Reflection Lake and past
the church and original berry stand, and over to Fiesta Village, where my
kids were finally able to get their first rides on this Zierer family
coaster. Why on earth Knott's has a height requirement of 48" on this is
beyond me, as every other one I know of is 42. In any case, my kids loved
it and I got a pretty typial ride-not great, but not anything bad either.
A nice relaxing little deal.
Our attempt at Monte was aborted when a girl hurt her arm on the ride-
seriously enough that she was gently cradling it and they had to call the
paramedics to come, treat her, and close the ride until it was cleared
later. How serious overall it was, I don't know. But I'm curious as to
what she did to hurt her arm like that.
So from there we headed over to Camp Snoopy, let the kids enjoy the bounce
house and ferris wheel (where I had to yell at my daughter to sit back and
stop leaning forward) and listened to them complain about not going in the
fun house yet. (later kids, later!)
We headed over to the boardwalk area next, walking past the new Revolucion.
It looked like a lot of fun to me, but since I was the only one that
really wanted to ride, I didn't worry about it, knowing I'll have an
opportunity on another day. We finally ended up at Xcelerator, where I
pushed Jon into at least trying the test seat. Excitement ensued when he
fit and we headed up the 10 minute line for the front seat. Amber and
Joseph waited at the exit while we enjoyed Xcelerator's Xcelence for the
first time of the day, and we made sure to make a return trip for Jon.
We then enjoyed a round on the log flume, one of the most fun and best
themed out there, even if the theming looks it's 30-40 years old. But it
was one of the dryest runs I've had on it, and that silly camera and voice
at the end of the ride right before you get in the station is still
annoying. What's the deal with that?
I believe after this we took a round on the stagecoach, which I always
enjoy. This was the first time I got a ride on the top backwards, so that
was a lot of fun. And the horses didn't rear up at all this time (last 2
times they have on me), so that was an added blessing to.
I think from here we headed back over to Camp Snoopy, where we let the kids
go through the playhouse, looked at the kiddie coaster (kids weren't real
interested, and Jon didn't want to try), noticed the long lines for
Snoopy's Gr8 Sk8, and decided that it was time to eat lunch, which we
grabbed at Lucy's Sandwich Shop or something like that. After a nice
relaxing meal, it was time to head out and try to finish the park.
Our second attempt at Monte was next, and this time it was running with no
injuries. Joseph again decided to sit out a round while the rest of us
rode. I had a great ride on it, but it was Amber's first time, and
something about Monte didn't sit well with her. She just care for it, but
we couldn't figure out why. She loves the launch on Superman and the loop
on Revolution at SFMM, but the combination here just got to her a bit and
she wasn't happy. Poor kid.
I believe after this we took a look at the boomerang, but it looked to
have a 30-45 minute line, on a day where everything else was a near walk
on. And Jon didn't feel like getting a headache, so we skipped it. We
then headed to the back of the park where I noticed that Perilous Plunge
was a walk on! Quickly begging apologies, I about ran in my attempt to
finally get in this ride that I've been trying for, but have not yet ever
riden. But I should have known better. As I watched the boat come in, I
noticed an op hop into the middle of the boat as if he was looking for
something that wasn't quite right, and lots of looks up the lift hill.
Sure enough, here came the announcement, "We sorry but we are experiencing
technical difficulties..." Grrrr, I'm never going to get on this silly
ride.
We took a round on the bumper cars next. The kids were excited because we
discovered that this would be the first bumper cars where they didn't need
to ride with one of us but could drive on their own. We quickly found out
why-they're the slowest bumper cars in all creation now!! I put the kids
empty souvenier cups on the seat next to me, fully expecting them to go
flying at the first hit. I needn't have worried, as they never moved. Not
even a flinch or a slight wobble. These were so slow that there was
literally nothing to them. Groannnnnn I swear, every decent bumper car
ride in the state is pretty much ruined now.
We knew we wanted to catch the Wild West Show, and time was getting close,
but we figured we had enough time to get in a quick ride on the full size
train. They hurried us into the line and onto the train because they
wanted to get us out before the nearby "drum bums" show started. We didn't
make it. So we got to sit, among the apologies from the crew, and wait for
the show to finish before we left, meaning our time to get to the stunt
show was limited. After an enjoyable ride and Jon getting held up for his
last penny, we still managed to get back with enough time to get to the
West show and still have a few minutes to spare.
I won't comment much on the show other than to say that if you've seen it
in the last 4 years, it's still the same show, with the same jokes,
punchlines, etc. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. It also had Jon
guessing for a bit. But I'd like to see a new storyline a bit more often
rather than the same old one They can also still use a bit more shade
here, as after the covered wagons are full, most of the seating is out in
the blazing sun, and that's not a lot of fun.
Feeling the heat, we headed over to Bigfoot Rapids and took a round. I
still love their velcro pouches on the boat, and really wonder why they
aren't installed on all of these rides. So nice for keeping things dry.
Not that we needed it much, as there wasn't a lot of water splashing inside
the boat. Most of us got a little water, but nothing close to the
drenchings I see on a lot of these. So it qualified as nice, but not
great.
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| 1-21-04 12:46:54 |
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Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3553
View Park/Ride Count
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Part 2 of 2- 6/24/03
After this we meandered around a bit, and took a crack at the Calico Mine
Train. As we're lined up for the next train,, we were rather intrigued to
watch them taking one train and try a couple of times to back it up onto
one of the side tracks. I knew it might not be good when I saw one of the
older ops laughing and saying, "I've never seen it do that before." Sure
enough... "We're experiencing technical difficulties" At least they were
kind enough to let us loop around the platform and go down the exit instead
of fighting the crowds all the way out. But I don't know if they ever did
get it operating again.
We took another look at the boomerang and decided not to (with me telling
Amber that if she didn't like Monte there was no way I was letting her ride
a boomerang), then took an enjoyable ride in the skytower. The kids wanted
to ride the Wipeout, so I took them there while Jon sat and took a
breather. They've refitted this with individual belts, so now single
riders can ride (yea!). I had a lot of fun sitting opposite the kids and
watching them, though I have to admit I got a bit nervous watching Joseph
in particular flop a bit with the airtime. They loved it and wanted to
ride again, but I might make them wait a bit for that.
We then took a last shot on Xcelerator for Jon, and headed over for a last
ride on Ghostrider before he headed out. Joseph decided to take a shot and
ride with us this time, and we took over the second car on the gold train.
It was much rougher this time around, with a lot of definite shuffling and
bumping. Jon wasn't thrilled, I wasn't impressed, but the kids were
entralled and in love.
We said goodbye to Jon as he prepared to head out and get some rest (jet
lag) and I went off to endure, er, I mean enjoy the new Snoopy on Ice show
with the kids. The storyline this time is a bit convoluted, focusing on
Snoopy's "writings" and puting some skating exhibitions with that. The
skaters were good, but I found it more fun to watch Snoopy's antics on top
of his doghouse most of the time. But the kids enjoyed it, so what can I
say. Oh except one question-why do the ladies always have to wear such
short skirts? So much fun when a kid (my son) loudly comments, "That lady
is wearing orange underwear! ewwwww" Yeah, it's prudish, but I never did
understand why longer skirts or pants weren't used a lot more often. Seems
kind of sexist to me. After all, you don't see the guys skating in speedos
now, do you?
At any rate it was getting late, and I was getting a bit tired. So the
three of us closed out the day with another ride on Ghostrider. We had the
second car on the silver train this time, and while it was smoother than
the same spot on the gold, it was rougher than silver had been earlier. It
was fun, but not as good as many of my rides have been. However, Joseph
still proudly proclaimed it as the greatest ride ever, so I guess I can't
complain to much.
After that, I was tired and I knew I had a big day the next day
coordinating a youth trip to SFMM, so it was off to the car and heading
home.
Oh, almost forget, the rumor mill portion. During the day I had a chance
to talk to, and overhear, a couple of employees talk about the future.
What was said was pretty much what has already been floating around the
internet, so whether their source is the net or work is hard to say. In
any case, the rumors are that Hammerhead is definately leaving soon, that
the church is getting moved out of the park and accross the street over
near Independance Hall, and that Reflection Lake is going to be the site
for their next big attraction, which will be a B&M inverted coaster. Take
that for what you will.
And with that, I'll bring this to a close. Thanks for reading this
looonnnnggg report.
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| 1-21-04 12:47:52 |
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Tianjin
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 38
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I LOVE KNOTT'S! As a kid we went there as much as Disneyland. In fact I remember when Montezooma's Revenge was built. I rode 'Knott's Beary Tales' and the stupid 'Kingdom of the Dinosaurs' replacement. Corkscrew was also my first looping coaster.
As cheesy as the tableaux are now, The Timber Mountain Log Ride was the best log flume ever built.
You can't spend as much time there as Disneyland, but you still have a great time.
Went there tripping on acid for the Halloween-haunt '87 and was scared silly. The only time 'KOD' was worth a crap.
Soap Box Derby was originally a 'steeple-chase' type ride with motorcycles. two to a train. Then changed it to bobsled type cars for the 'soap box derby'. at first there was animated scenes, but I saw it only once or twice, then whatever 'theming' or 'storyline' was forgotten about.
For some rides the queues can be long but its worth it and very relaxed.
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| 5-29-04 1:10:42 |
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SFOG Freak
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2627
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I was very surprised with this park, on my last trip to the area I enjoyed Knotts more than I did SFMM. That tells you Knotts is one anwesome park!
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| 6-30-04 13:55:38 |
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DEJA-VU RULES
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1989
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This park has some good roller coasters and you must go to it if you are in the area.
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| 1-20-05 15:50:05 |
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Codackussell
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 25
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This is a nice park, but I'd like to see some quality rides come in the future. I gave it a 4 out of 5 because of the fact that this 30 year old (give or take a few years) only has 6 coasters... LETS GET SOME MORE COASTERS, man!!!
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| 8-10-05 10:24:27 |
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Chris L
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 7358
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/\ Who is this guy jonesing? 30 year old park? More like over 80 years. It came before the original Disneyland park for cryin' out loud. And as for it's "only six" coasters, well have you actually seen the size of the park Codackussell? It's not that big...I'm still amazed at how they managed to fit a ride the size of Silver Bullet into the park.
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| 8-20-05 0:38:43 |
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knottsandkirby7
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 18
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I love Wacky Soap Box Racers, Corkscrew, Sky Jump!
Back in June of '93, me, my mom and dad and my siter named Suzie went to the theme park, and it was a HUGE BLAST! My favorite ride was the Sky Jump, Boomerang (replaced Corkscrew), the Soap Box (formerly Motorcylce chase) and the Flume ride! But my sister, who's samller, had to let me one the Plane ride and the balloon ride, but it was cool! We had to play games at the Pilot Rec center at the Roaring 20's and at the arcade in Fiesta Village (unquie as Roaring 20's). We had lunch at the Food Fare in the Roaring 20's (SUPER SPECIAL hot place here) and the Knott's Chicken Diner! Oh don't forget the Grizzly Creek Lodge at Camp Snoopy! It was awsome, too! The Petting zoo (which next the Grizzly Lodge place) was also cool as all of the attractions (nearly a hundred!). My favorite shows were the Dolphin and the Toyota Theatre. It was an extremely, super awsome, hot, fun, and totally rad time here!!!!!! So see ya! Sianara!
P.S.: In K64, when you get the lime and yellow star, and put it in your mouth, you will get the Roaring 20's Corscrowrd!
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| 2-14-06 21:14:07 |
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vedved82491
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 912
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Holy cow! today was my first ever visit to Knott's an all I can say is that I'm so sad that it's over. I get three rides on Silver Bullet an Xcelerator, while catching one on all the othef coasters. I got to enjoy multiple rides and overall had a wonderful time. I expect to come to Knott's in the future.
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| 12-16-06 0:25:14 |
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Emann
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1043
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Another great park. I loved the rides even though Xcelerator was closed. The theming at this park was amazing.
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| 7-8-07 16:01:00 |
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