The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

^ Although it was no longer raining by the time I got there last night, it was not very busy IMO. Most of the rides were walk on, towards the later part of the night Ghostrider and Xcelerator had lines but I think I may have waited 15 to 20 minutes at the most.

Knott's was actually featured in last week's episode of America's Next Top Model ( yes I watch). The girls had to do a photo shoot while riding Silver Bullet...they had to pose for the onride photo. Knott's had a little more exposure with that show than tonight's Hell's Kitchen.

Awesome! I was working there when they filmed it! I can say this is the first time in my life I actually want to watch America's Next Top Model.

EDIT: Out of all the footage (Tons of it) they took of the crew, they only thing that got used was my hands pushing down the dispatch buttons. W00t I'm a hand model now!

here is a clip of the models on Silver Bullet

http://www.youtube.com/user/cwtelevision?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/EB08BDA0AE253A22/4/DWyM-9c4INY

Sorry Knotts, but this weeks episode with the models trying to walk on conveyor belts was way better than the Silver Bullet challenge!!!

Yes ANTM is my guilty pleasure!

Seeing some Tweets/FB statuses from some friends at Haunt that something apparently happened with Pony Express tonight:

Something is going on at Pony Express. One car is right outside the loading area, empty & being inspected. Seems to have been a malfunction. Some of the cars appear to be tilting to the side on the track & police & Knott's employees have blocked the path alongside the attraction.

Of course, this is unofficial, but I totally trust my friend who posted this.

EDIT: And now a source ... apparently the coasters collided. http://www.socalnewswire.com/2010/10/just-in-knotts-berry-farm-accident.html

EDIT: Another source ... LA TIMES ... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/about-10-people-injured-at-knotts-berry-farm-roller-coaster-accident.html

ADMIN EDIT: I have gone ahead and quoted the LA Times article so that people don't have to jump to see it.

About 10 people were injured at Knott’s Berry Farm on Thursday night during an accident involving a roller coaster, officials said.

 

Police and fire units responded to the park and were treating the victims, the Orange County Fire Authority said. The extent of the injuries was unclear.

 

The accident may have involved roller coaster cars that collided.

 

[updated 9:28 p.m: Ten patients, mostly adults, received minor injuries after two coaster cars collided on the Pony Express ride, fire officials said. The patients have been taken to local hospitals.]

 

No other details were immediately available.

http://channel6newsonline.com/2010/10/ten-hurt-after-roller-coaster-cars-collide-at-southern-california-theme-park/

At least 10 people were injured on early Thursday evening when two roller coaster cars collided at a theme park in southern California, officials said.

 

The accident happened just after 8.15 p.m. PDT at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, a city in Orange County. Few details were immediately available.

 

The Orange County Fire Authority said at least 10 people had been injured and were suffering from neck and back injuries.

I know details are sketchy as this point, but Pony Express is a pretty tame coaster. I can't imagine something like this happening...

Hopefully, everyone will be okay...

Again with Knott's? What the hell's going on? And you can't blame the Intamin cable for this one...

^You can blame the Intamin cable for everything.

The only other things in life worth blaming are the Rug, Prince Desmond and Prowler for making every other coaster look inferior, because as we know, Prowler is the only #1.

Doesn't it have anti-rollback fins to keep it from colliding with a train in the station?

It must have been raining...

...either that, or Cedar Fair needs to initiate a new sun policy.

This is crazy.

Fishbulb from MiceChat was actually at the park last night and got some pics just after the accident happened:

http://micechat.com/forums/news/144709-accident-pony-express-knotts-berry-farm.html

Here are some shots I took roughly 30-45 mins after the accident. As you can see, the ride was safely evacuated and everything was shut down immediately.

So apparently the train didn't make it up the first hill and rolled back to the station. Doesn't this ride have anti-rollback brakes like on Xcelerator and other Intamin coasters?

This is a very odd accident. Does the ride seriously not have anti-rollbacks or brakes on the launch!?!?!

Blast that Intamin Cable!!!! He sure is getting around, now affecting rides that aren't even his!

Adam, you are very correct, we should blame Prowler for being far superior to anything else and causing this accident. Heck, even God was mad at it for being far superiror and took out is mainboard a few months back with a lightening strike.

Damn, how many accidents is Knott's gonna have? It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. I heard it was the Intamin cable dressed up as a vampire.

A collision on Pony Express???...that would be like walking into a wall.

Wow this just made the national news on the Today Show this morning.

I am VERY curious to hear what actually happened. Hopefully they'll have to release a report at some point.

As of this point there doesn't seem to be any details at all of what happened. Regardless it has been a rough year for Knott's.

I just looked at a POV on Youtube and there are air brakes down the launch track, so either they didn't stop it completely or they failed altogether, but I think it is most likely the first of the two

A serious collision on the Pony Express...this is the last news I expected to see today!

Another thing just struck me as odd, there were at least 10 people riding Pony Express!?!?!? During Haunt!!?? Didn't they have better things to do!

Here is another news story.

10 people were left injured on Thursday night, when an accident occurred on one of the roller coasters at the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California. A park spokeswoman said that one of the cars failed to make the incline, and rolled back into another car that was waiting at the station.

As recently reported by Andrew Blankstein and Robert J. Lopez at latimes.com, the 10 people – whose ages ranged from 12 to 60 – suffered minor neck and back injuries, and the Orange County Fire Authority say they were all taken by ambulances to local hospitals.

 

Spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey said that the theme park stayed open for its Halloween Haunt following the incident, and was scheduled to shut at its usual time of 1am. The accident is said to have occurred on the Pony Express roller coaster – which opened in 2008 – shortly before 8pm.

 

Blazey said that the ride has never had any problems before, and it was unclear at this stage what caused it to malfunction the way it did. “We’ll be investigating that,” she went on to say. Have you ever visited the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park before?

Story

Wow, 2 accidents that close together at Knotts? Looks like I might be avoiding windseeker now...

Knott's is just trying to compete with SFMM... Why let them have all of the glory with backwards Colossus?

On a serious note, I am shocked to see anything like this happen with such a mild coaster, especially considering how far the train had to travel from the incline, back to the station..

And as others have asked, why no anti-rollbacks?