I don't understand the Knott's hate

[mudger]

So after reading some threads and a few captions on photos from the Japan and UK tour it seems that there is some animosity towards knott's

 

whats the deal?

 

Now I know I am gonna get flamed but I think Knott's is easily the best Amusement park in California.

 

It's main competitor (six flags) cannot hold a candle to most of its properties. I didn't put disneyland because in my humble opinion I don't think any park can compete with the disney empire. It constructed it's own niche and adopts followers before most of them hit 1st grade.

 

back to Magic Mountain, what a disgrace. It's no wonder they are thinking of selling the park for more land to build houses on. I once remebered a day when Six Flags was actually a family oriented park. Now I love my thrill rides but you don't just build a plethora of steel coasters and say "Hey our park is the best because we have a lot of mediocre rides!"

 

There are very few rides worthy at MM.. Goliath, Viper, Deja Vu (when its up), Superman (when its up), Riddler and revolution

 

everything else is crappy INCLUDING 'X' which does nothing more than bash our heads against the seats.

 

Knott's on the other hand, thanks to "Cedair Fair" has accquired many QUALITY rides in addition to their old favorites.

 

Xcelerator is a Fantastic! ride!.. I believe that this is the single best roller coaster in California. It's intense and well themed

 

Plunge - can't say no to a fifty foot wall of water

 

Log Ride - I believe this ride and its many awards speaks for itself.. second only to splash mountain at Disneyland

 

Ghost Rider - put the west coast on the map as far as woodies are concerned

 

Silver Bullet - It's ok... but its better than batman or top gun which seem over before they start

 

Big Foot Rapids - So many parks have copied the "yeti/sasquatch/bigfoot" water theme from this ride it's funny.. still the best

 

Boomerang & montezuma's revenge - a classic and probably only remain because they are so respected

 

Then there is knott's scary farm which is very welll put together and themed. I think it's safe to say that apart from HHN this is the premiere haunted park attraction

 

 

so everyone give knott's a break, i believe all they need is one good dark ride and the park will have everything to please anyone

[ScOtT k]

I agree. I love knotts. Disneyland is a bit better, but I loved my day at knotts!

[jamesdillaman]

My only comment is you left out Tatsu. You obviously have never travelled at the speed of fear. Let me tell you, that ride is worth it. I flew across the country to ride it.

-James Dillaman

[mudger]

My only comment is you left out Tatsu. You obviously have never travelled at the speed of fear. Let me tell you, that ride is worth it. I flew across the country to ride it.

-James Dillaman

 

Your correct.. I can't bring myself to go back to six flags for one ride but since my roommate gave me great reviews I may make the trip..

 

I have ridden stealth when it was at PGA and was dissapointed. Since then flying coasters dropped off the map for me, but I will give it another try.

[Mr.Six]

Well, for someone who doesn't want to get flamed you did quite a bit yourself right there. Not the best way to go. But anyway there really isn't 'that' much Knotts hate. Every park has a group of people who just get rubbed the wrong way from it. I don't hate Knotts. But I will say IMO it was a lot better when the Knotts family ran it. C.F has turned it into ... well basically a small Six Flags. Ran better? Not in my eyes. I use to compare Knotts with Disneyland, but after CF started the transformation from a small family park to a mini thrill park ... I noticed the changes, most not for the better. Knotts is FAR from terrible park in my eyes....but I remember the old friendly Knotts Berry Farm.

_six

[COOOOLkid]

People don't like the park itself, I think. They just hate how the park is run.

[SoCalDude]

THE CHICKEN SUCKS!!!

 

haha - just messing with ya

 

But each park has its 'haters', it just goes with the territory. Myself - I disagree with your list

[Blazen_AZN]

I don't dislike knotts at all, i think its only flaw is the lack of things to do, and that might have somthing to with the fact that i have been spoiled by Six Flags Magic Mountain.

 

 

I do dislike when people exclude disney parks when they talk about the "best" just because they're so good, that makes no seonce, disney deserves some recognition.

 

I disagree about SFMM though, i do love that park.

[mudger]

I don't dislike knotts at all, i think its only flaw is the lack of things to do, and that might have somthing to with the fact that i have been spoiled by Six Flags Magic Mountain.

 

 

I do dislike when people exclude disney parks when they talk about the "best" just because they're so good, that makes no seonce, disney deserves some recognition.

 

I disagree about SFMM though, i do love that park.

 

Disney is good blazin asian Lol

 

but they need some new stuff

 

 

they also made that craptastic califronia adventure so that obviously hurty their rep.

 

 

but whatever, its disney.. they will always prevail

[Jew]

Knott's was a great park. But even the great park I knew 10-15 years ago growing up is dead. Cedar Fair has sucked the charm out of the park. Who needs history/theme when you can have concrete, roller coasters, and trash cans?

 

The good operations that earned KBF the reputation as the "friendliest place in the west" are also gone. They have been replaced with operations that rival SFMM's in terms of crapyness (of course that is what you get when you are the lowest paying amusement park in so cal).

 

Then there is the fact like 2 drops of rain are used as an excuse to close the park to save money, the fact the ridiculous height requirements leave not much to do for children under 48", heavy discounting has invited some shady people to visit the park (sound familiar?), Haunt has lost a lot of its luster (because Cedar Fair thinks of it as a cash cow---not the biggest/best/longest running Halloween Event like it used to be treated...), Ghostrider went from being a top 5 ride to a POS, and so on.

 

Bottom line: KBF blows. Which is unfortunate because the park has so much potential and some good rides.

[DerekRx]

Joey pretty much summed it up. The park used to be run great, look great, and have some classiness and history to it. Then CF bought it and started sucking it all out, replacing it with concrete and trash cans. Operations have gone down, and it really shows the ops aren't payed that great. Funny how you won't compare Knott's to Disney, but in the past they were very comparable. When CF took over, they went the other road and tried to compete with SF. In the end, they saved a lot of money by lowering themselves to the SF standard, but the park also suffered. Now a good portion of the history of Knotts is lost, as the park has become Cedar Fairized. Dorney and Worlds of Fun also suffered the same fate.

 

I still like the park, and think it has some really great coasters (Montezuma, Xcelerator) but with operations the way they are, the retarded height requirements, and more and more history being taken out every year for "improvements" I still find myself going out to SoCal just as often as I used to, but go to Knotts less and less. That is why I dislike Knotts, not for the park that the Knott's family built, but for the changes CF has been making to it. I really think they need to take a trip over to Blackpool, Liseberg, or Europa and see how you can combine history and modern in the same environment.

[Meteornotes]

Derek and Joey are 100% correct. CF sucked the soul out of what once was one of the best parks in the US. Now it's a "C" leve park, at best. Horrid operations and employees, idiotic policies, the total deterioration of Ghostrider, one of the tamest B&M inverts in history, and the destruction of anything historic in favor of more concrete and trash cans pretty much add up to a park that's not very good. I am shocked that Monty is still there, since it's like old and all, and hasn't been replaced by a cotton candy cart.

 

KBF used to be a park I'd visit every year. I was last there two years ago, and really have no desire to get back there.

 

dt

[BeemerBoy]

Is Knott's a clean park?

[CoasterFanatic]

I like Knotts, but I am one of the few people that never really visited it in it's heyday (to be fair, I was there when I was less than a year old). My opinion would probably be different if I was around for the whole decomposition process.

[What Now]

Is Knott's a clean park?

 

Yes.

 

I don't think Knott's is as bad as some people make it out be, but I don't think it's as good as people make it out to be.

[Rollerholden]

I enjoyed my day at Knott's last summer.

I don't know how it used to be though, so I can't say if it went downhill or not.

The only thing I didn't like was Ghostrider

I was there on a Wednesday I believe, and the lines were only 5-10 minutes!

[Calvin]

What's interesting is how just the single memory of my mother and I on the parachute drop and the log flume when I was six beats the crap out of the current state of the park.

[BeemerBoy]

^^^ Well, at least they got one thing right then. I sympathize with those who hate to see history ripped out, and I can't stand horrid operations either, but sometimes (at least in my weird way of thinking) a clean park can help offset some of the surrounding failures.

[ParkTrips]

Cleanliness is the most overrated thing on earth, IMO. I haven't been to too many parks that I would consider "dirty" - Astroworld was pretty bad, I lost count of the number of empty cups at Lake Compounce, and some of the bigger parks (Canada's Wonderland, Great Adventure) did get a little messy when busy... but even then, I still really liked Lake Compounce and Great Adventure, and trash certainly isn't the main reason I hated Canada's Wonderland and Astroworld!

 

With that said, I finally get to go to Knotts in a few weeks... um, yay for a Cedar Fair-ized park At least they have a Schwarzkopf...

[BeemerBoy]

^ Remember, that's coming from someone who grew up on Disney parks. Once you actually leave Florida and start exploring the rest of what the country has to offer, you say to yourself sometimes 'wow, great rides, nice service, but man what a freakin' dump.'" It doesn't count for everything, but it's certainly nice to see a clean park. I mean, I don't think there's anyone alive who's seen that pic of Riddler's queue and thought, 'hmm, how delightful.'

[knottslover77]

CF dosn't care about anything other than $cash$ and Knotts only makes like 30 million less than CP, and its like 1/8 the size, so I don't see it changeing ever!So sad

 

R.I.P

Knotts Berry farm

1940-1997

 

 

--Jay

[SLUSHIE]

^its pretty much only because its open all year.

[65skylark]

I personally enjoy Knott's to this day and I made many visits to the park between 1980 and when CF took over. But, most of the comments made so far I would for the most part agree with. Mainly when it comes to the park staff. Absolutely no excuse for there below average operations.

 

As for the best park in California other than DLR I would strongly disagree. Maybe one of the better parks in SoCal after Seaworld and Universal but head up north and I would put Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, PGA, and Bonfonte - for a family park - above Knott's. Heck I would even put SFMW on the same level as Knott's. They at least have put some recient TLC into there woodie.

 

Bottom line for me. I enjoy a day at Knott's because of the rides and usually low crowds, but, it is not the park it used to be and that is kind of a shame.

[ECZenith]

If you want a positive review of Knott's from an EC'ers perspective, dig through and look for my "ECZenith's Huge Cali Trip" TR. I LOVED the place on my first time visit. The dark ride was outstanding,they have my favorite water ride (PP), and IMO the best rocket coaster in America at least.

[map2]

Honestly I enjoyed the park when I went in October. It was on a Thursday and there were hardly any people there. The place was like a ghost town. To me that was a great time to go. Because it during the time that the park was opened for "regular" days before the Halloween themed nights took over. Most of the people in line were getting their tickets to the Halloween night, and then left to come back later. I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed Xcelerator, Supreme Scream, and Silver Bullet. Perilous Plunge was closed when we first entered, but then opened up around 3 P.M. To me it was fun, but I think I enjoyed SFMM better just for the simple fact that there are more things to do there. I look at it this way, if I'm willing to wait in an hour plus wait to get on a ride, then it shows that the ride must be good. The only ride that I could imagine myself waiting an hour for at Knotts is Xcelerator. At SFMM I would wait an hour for X, Deja Vu, Riddler's Revenge, Tatsu, and Goliath. The managment to me was not bad, but then I was only there for one day.