The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[Angry_Gumball]

You know SFMM is doing something wrong when your more excited about 3 family rides than YOLOcoaster.

Honestly, perhaps I'm a bit biased due to CGA being my home park, but as far as coasters go, I'm most excited about Gold Striker

 

I think this is probably a good move for Knotts and is very fitting for their 'boardwalk' area. The scrambler alone makes me think of the former scrambler SCBB had back in the day...and the Flyers would be an awesome ride if situated at an actual boardwalk (sea breezes could provide interesting rides). The mouse looks like it could be fun and a welcome addition to the park. The name on the other hand...yuck! I do kind of like the name "Surf Gliders" as much as the name is kind of contradicting (water and air?)...it also holds true to recent Cedar Fair naming formula being 'Noun Verb-er.'

[thestripedtaco]

^ I will say I am more excited about Gold Striker than Full Throttle, I just wanted to do a comparison between Knott's and SFMM because they are more direct competitors due to location. I am so excited to finally try a Flying Scooters though. It's actually more exciting to me than Coast Rider.

 

(Gold Striker is the best coaster in 2013 for CA, I will not even try nor want to fight that)

[Angry_Gumball]

^I will admit as well, I was looking at the coaster and whatnot and suddenly I got even more excited over the flyers! I've become a flyer addict myself this past season as CGA has some decent flyers. They are the prototype of the newer Larson model and are quite snappable if you are looking to do that, or just even being able to get some really high outward swings! I'm not sure how the Knott's version will run, but I will have to try that one out and see how it does.

 

Hopefully that mouse won't run trim-happy. I've had some pretty good rides on CGA's mouse (different manufacturer/layout) when the trims didn't fire hard enough or didn't trim at all...also have gotten some good pops of air on it...wishing Coast Rider had a little more airtime humps much like the Bay Area counterpart. I do however like how it has that huge drop before going into the turns.

[XYZ]

Knott's is making a shrewd move to corner the kiddie coaster market:

 

With the addition of Coast Rider, Knott's will reclaim its rightful place as a Golden State amusement industry leader. That'll be five, count 'em five junior / family coasters. The pressure to keep pace is on nearby Legoland California, which boasts a paltry four kid-pleasingly low thrill shriek machines.

 

The move threatens even the Disney leviathan. It takes two Mouse House parks to better the Berry Farm's vast collection of coasters for children and the scare-impaired. Blogger Al Lutz of MiceRage.com says Disney Is woefully prepared to counter the new threat due to a typically misguided marketing message. Disney's legendary mountain range consists of a wild mouse, mine train, and, um, dual track wild mouse disguised as intimidating juggernauts suited only for over-adrenalized teens.

 

Knott's General Manager Raffi Kaprelyan predicts soaring group sales performance, particularly in the critical elementary school field trip sector.

 

 

That's a lot of low thrill coasters in the park, and seems to be a return to the earlier days. Until the park proves otherwise by adding a 'big' ride, it reads as a repudiation of Cedar Fair's strategy upon acquisition. If my kids were still six and eight I'd love the move.

 

It seems like Knott's has a small competition with LLC, but why have a competition if they're adding a clone of a coaster in LLC?

 

Honestly, something like a Gerstlauer Bobsled such as Aquawind (Lagunasia) would be better as it would differentiate itself from Technic Coaster (LLC). Aquawind is a clone of Pandemonium (SFDK), just without spinning cars.

 

Also, this scares me:

The GP will be confused with these two coasters.

 

(Image credit: RCDB)

[Aaronupsidasium]

I think Knott's is waiting for 2015 to open the west coast's 1st Giga Coaster to piggy back off Universal opening Harry Potter. There's going to be a lot of tourists from the West coast and Asia in LA specifically for Potter.

[Blue Fire Guy]

^I will admit as well, I was looking at the coaster and whatnot and suddenly I got even more excited over the flyers! I've become a flyer addict myself this past season as CGA has some decent flyers. They are the prototype of the newer Larson model and are quite snappable if you are looking to do that, or just even being able to get some really high outward swings! I'm not sure how the Knott's version will run, but I will have to try that one out and see how it does.

 

Hopefully that mouse won't run trim-happy. I've had some pretty good rides on CGA's mouse (different manufacturer/layout) when the trims didn't fire hard enough or didn't trim at all...also have gotten some good pops of air on it...wishing Coast Rider had a little more airtime humps much like the Bay Area counterpart. I do however like how it has that huge drop before going into the turns.

I'm also quite curious about how they'll run these flyers, and I wonder if Larson changed anything about their flyers after they built the prototype for CGA. I still find flyers to be very fun, them being a controllable flat. Even without snapping, getting big swooping dives is an art in and of itself.

[XYZ]

I never mastered the art of snapping at Flying Eagles (CGA), but it still was a lot of fun. I can't wait for Surfside Glider to open, I know I'll try to ride that as much as possible, plus it would have such a nice atmosphere with the new Boardwalk Bay and Coast Rider in the back.

 

Even though the concept art proves me wrong, I hope Coast Rider will be a mirror-image of Technic Coaster, so at least it will be a little different.

[thestripedtaco]

I think the worst part of this addition is the color of Coast Rider if those are the colors.

[XYZ]

I think the worst part of this addition is the color of Coast Rider if those are the colors.

 

I have no problems with the colors and it fits the Boardwalk really well. Plus, I wouldn't rely on the concept art with the color of the coaster, it can look much different. Plus, these wild mouse coasters usually look good in any paint scheme. Technic Coaster (LLC) has faded blue track and blue supports and it looks really nice.

[Ed Farmer]

You know people are just being difficult if they claim to be more excited about a wild mouse and some hand-me-down flat rides than a Premier launch coaster.

[MrSum1_55]

^One ride being more thrilling than another and one ride being a better addition to the park than another can be two completely separate things.

[XYZ]

With Coast Rider and these new additions coming, perhaps they'll finish painting Xcelerator's track to make the area look nicer around the new addition (like how CF painted Anaconda's lift for the opening of I-305).

 

May I give the nickname of Coast Rider, "Coasty"?

[thestripedtaco]

You know people are just being difficult if they claim to be more excited about a wild mouse and some hand-me-down flat rides than a Premier launch coaster.

 

I think you misunderstood the purpose of me doing this. MrSum1_55 pretty much summed up what I was trying to say.

[coasterfreak101]

With Coast Rider and these new additions coming, perhaps they'll finish painting Xcelerator's track to make the area look nicer around the new addition (like how CF painted Anaconda's lift for the opening of I-305).

 

Only if they do a better job of it than Kings Dominion did. The only part of Anaconda that got painted was the final turn and brake run.

[XYZ]

With Coast Rider and these new additions coming, perhaps they'll finish painting Xcelerator's track to make the area look nicer around the new addition (like how CF painted Anaconda's lift for the opening of I-305).

 

Only if they do a better job of it than Kings Dominion did. The only part of Anaconda that got painted was the final turn and brake run.

 

Yeah, I heard about that. Though, the GP will notice very easily that a portion of Xcelerator has been painted and they'll say "OMG, WHY IS DAH COASTER HAV DIFFRENT COLORS?!?!". Plus, Xcelerator is only 2202' and they already finished painting the supports, so it shouldn't cost that much money to finish it.

[azza29]

Looks like a good addition for the park - while family coasters don't offer much in the way of an aggressive thrill they can still be pretty fun (although I'm not really a wild mouse fan). I'd like to see the new rides paired with some decent theming though.

[thestripedtaco]

^ Normally I would agree with you on the theming but just the fact that Knott's is keeping the splash pool and looks to be adding some boardwalk looking path I have to say they are doing a decent job with the boardwalk theme if they keep to the concept art.

[Ed Farmer]

I understood the post, and MrSum1_55's response is one I agree with. From the park's standpoint, the addition absolutely makes sense. I'm just questioning the usage of the word excitement. It's nit-picking, yeah, but more often than not, sensible/logical expansions are not exciting. They can be- if you work in park management, or if you're the audience they're targeting (families with young-ish kids), but that's pretty much where it ends. People on park discussion boards seem to like being armchair quarterbacks, as if a well-placed/well-thought up addition will affect them somehow. It won't. That's why we have Roller Coaster Tycoon.

 

That's not a direct response to you- that mentality is pretty common on just about every coaster related website.

[Wes]

Not the most exciting announcement, but I'd rather something like this than a big B&M ruining more of the park's atmosphere.

[thestripedtaco]

I understood the post, and MrSum1_55's response is one I agree with. From the park's standpoint, the addition absolutely makes sense. I'm just questioning the usage of the word excitement. It's nit-picking, yeah, but more often than not, sensible/logical expansions are not exciting. They can be- if you work in park management, or if you're the audience they're targeting (families with young-ish kids), but that's pretty much where it ends. People on park discussion boards seem to like being armchair quarterbacks, as if a well-placed/well-thought up addition will affect them somehow. It won't. That's why we have Roller Coaster Tycoon.

 

That's not a direct response to you- that mentality is pretty common on just about every coaster related website.

 

This makes great sense to me. I guess I should say in my opinion it is more exciting that Knott's is getting a good flat ride and a good family coaster which are things that the park really needs as opposed to SFMM getting another gimmicky ride with bad capacity that can be argued to be a horrible use of space which is something the park has quite a few of already and could easily get by without.

 

Note: I don't count the Scrambler for KBF as a new ride as it's been there for so long, just not continuously.

[XYZ]

I understood the post, and MrSum1_55's response is one I agree with. From the park's standpoint, the addition absolutely makes sense. I'm just questioning the usage of the word excitement. It's nit-picking, yeah, but more often than not, sensible/logical expansions are not exciting. They can be- if you work in park management, or if you're the audience they're targeting (families with young-ish kids), but that's pretty much where it ends. People on park discussion boards seem to like being armchair quarterbacks, as if a well-placed/well-thought up addition will affect them somehow. It won't. That's why we have Roller Coaster Tycoon.

 

That's not a direct response to you- that mentality is pretty common on just about every coaster related website.

 

This makes great sense to me. I guess I should say in my opinion it is more exciting that Knott's is getting a good flat ride and a good family coaster which are things that the park really needs as opposed to SFMM getting another gimmicky ride with bad capacity that can be argued to be a horrible use of space which is something the park has quite a few of already and could easily get by without.

 

Note: I don't count the Scrambler for KBF as a new ride as it's been there for so long, just not continuously.

 

At least these new additions are adding a lot of atmosphere to Knott's as Full Throttle will kill High Sierra Territory.

[thestripedtaco]

^ That is true. I will be interested to see how Full Throttle's themed area turns out or if they just rename High Sierra to Full Throttle plaza or something of that nature without changing much of anything in the area.

[jzoole]

So the statistics and concept art both indicate that Coast Rider will be a Mack Wild Mouse "Large Park" model. This seems like a slightly odd choice to me because if Knott's wanted to purchase a new family coaster, I would think they could just have easily gone with something a little more unique and with higher capacity (not to mention the fact that Legoland just down the road already has a clone of this model.)

 

This leads me to believe there is a good chance that this may be a relocation of either Ricochet from KD or Fly from CW (both the same model.) This would explain why they made what would have been a kind of weird choice if they purchased it new.

[thestripedtaco]

^ The one interesting part though is how a normal large park model is 1312 ft. long and Knott's will be 1399ft. long which makes me think that it will have a slightly altered layout to allow it to fit into it's spot in the park. This would mean that it would most likely not be a relocation.

[winningfreak]

^^ I think 2007/2008 is the last time the Scrambler was open. I'm guessing it's just been sitting in storage?

 

 

I can confirm this is correct, most of the ride has actually been sitting outdoors except for the cars which were stored inside one of the ghost rider maintenance sheds, I use to walk past it every day on my way to work you can see it from Google maps:

 

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205243508764989521639.0004cd7b53bbe0cb97ebf&msa=0&ll=33.842146,-117.998327&spn=0.001972,0.002009

 

 

zoom in all the way between Ghost Rider and the shops ( behind the tree ) you will see the red center piece from the ride and the cars with the rest of the ride are stored across the walkway on the other side of the tree in that first maintenance shed.