The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[Jew]

^^The top of the temple used to have a fire effect as you passed through. I believe you can still see the mechanism on the roof.

[jray21]

I totally forgot all about those effects. Would be nice to have them back, but I'm not holding my breath. They really need to find some way to make the ride minimum 42'. I don't know what the reasoning is (insurance, laws, management), but they need to get it to 42'. That would be a huge benefit for a lot of families with children.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

^^Yeah, all that stuff is still there.

[thestripedtaco]

I know I have read it somewhere but why did the park turn off the fire effects?

[Voxelmatic]

I know I have read it somewhere but why did the park turn off the fire effects?

I would guess it would be too expensive to maintain.

[Condor]

How long did the fire and fog effects last? I don't recall if I ever rode when they were working.

[Wes]

Didn't one of the Jaguars on the brake run used to breathe fire too? Like one breathed mist and the other breathed fire?

[DJeXeL]

I totally forgot all about those effects. Would be nice to have them back, but I'm not holding my breath. They really need to find some way to make the ride minimum 42'. I don't know what the reasoning is (insurance, laws, management), but they need to get it to 42'. That would be a huge benefit for a lot of families with children.

 

Height requirement change was due to 2 things:

1 - Lap bar only having a "3 click" design.

2 - Insurance company, (Thus why Zoom received seat belts as soon as CF took over. )

 

^Both of the Jaguars on the brake run only "breathe" mist. The controls for the fire on top of the Temple are still in the closet behind the Dispatch panel. There's no propane being fed to them anymore so they wouldn't work. I myself always wondered why they turned it off as it was a cool effect. There also used to be "Mee Fog" that used to run down the "stairs" at the entrance to the attraction. The park was working on getting that working back in 2010 and it did for a few weeks and then stopped shortly after that.

[thestripedtaco]

The attraction also used to be a tannish brown and orange color which looked really nice. The orange and blue now looks a bit ugly.

[Jew]

^^I suspect that is an "old wives tale." There's no reason to go above and beyond manufacturers requirements unless something bad happened. And if that was the case, the manufacturer would have put out a bulletin requiring all their rides to add the seat belt and raise the height requirement to protect themselves from future liability.

[DJeXeL]

^Makes complete sense as that's exactly what I thought too. However that was the response I was given by a manager when I worked at Jag and inquired about the height requirement change.

[Reuschini]

There's no reason to go above and beyond manufacturers requirements unless something bad happened.

 

There may be no reason but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It is very possible for the park to have ride policies that go beyond the manufacturers requirements for personal park reasons, especially if the ride mechanics believe they have a reason to do so.

[Jew]

^Obviously it happens, or Jaguar would still have a 42" height requirement and no seatbelt! Doesn't mean it makes any sense.

[Gnome]

^What did you really expect from a park like Knott's in the mid 90s? High quality, near Disney-level theming with artificial terrain plus tunnels and water features?

 

Jaguar used to have mist/fog into the station and a fireball, plus the queue/station itself was impressive for its time. So they certainly tried.

grant it I was 5 or 6 when the ride first open, but there was nothing like seeing the ball of flame come from the temple. As a family ride I always thought it was a great addition, but the fact that it has a taller hight requirement then space mountain and the same hight requirement as ghost rider is ridiculous.

[MrSum1_55]

Also, Sidewinder has a 42" minimum, and 48" with adult. So, a kid coulld be able to ride a spinning coaster with quick direction changes and turns that bank up to almost 90 degrees, but he wouldn't be able to ride a giant kiddie coaster that has extra seatbelts?

 

Also, do Mack spinners generally have seatbelts as well? It can be quite annoying how Cedar Fair overkills many rides with extra seatbelts, which really murder the capacity to rides like Sidewinder and Ghostrider. Actually, now that I think about it, I have only ridden one coaster that has PTC trains with individual lap bars outside of a Cedar Fair park, and that is Twister at Knoebels. To the individual lap bar PTC trains not have seatbelts outside of Cedar Fair parks?

 

It might save on insurance, but Six Flags parks can operate many older rides in their original form just fine. *WITH ONE TERRIBLE EXCEPTION!

Edited November 12, 2012 by MrSum1_55

[CoasterKings908]

It might save on insurance, but Six Flags parks can operate many older rides in their original form just fine.

Totally, except when they can't. (COUGH, COUGH. Revolution.)

[MrSum1_55]

^Fixed

[thestripedtaco]

After seeing that GCI shuttle I wish Knott's had decided to build that instead of Coast Rider. Then they would have another family ride, and it would be way easier to market.

 

Edit: Considering this announcement was after Knott's there is a good chance that this wasn't even an option to be considered because the park may not have known about it. Still, at the very least it would have been cool to see two boomerangs side by side.

 

Second Edit: Screamscape just reported that Knott's could be considering removing Boomerang within the next five years. Certainly wouldn't be missed very much and would free up some space for a newer compact thrill coaster.

[Someotherguyuser]

Edit: Considering this announcement was after Knott's there is a good chance that this wasn't even an option to be considered because the park may not have known about it. Still, at the very least it would have been cool to see two boomerangs side by side.

How is having two Boomerangs right next to each other ever cool?

[thestripedtaco]

^ So your telling me having four towers sticking into the sky with coaster track swirling around both of them wouldn't be a cool scene/picture? Sure maybe the ride for either wouldn't be that great but it still would have been cool to see.

[DBJ]

A wood coaster certainly would go a lot farther in creating the classic "boardwalk" theme than a basic wild mouse they are intent on installing. I will not miss Boomerang at all. It is just too much of a headbanger to be enjoyable. I hope Knott's does have a vision plan for the area. So far the boardwalk theme pretty much looks like it is just going to expressed via wood fencing and possibly some new shrubbery. If they pull out Boomerang, relocate the ballroom, relocate Hammerhead, they do creae a decent sized plot of land for a wood shuttle coaster or something similar in scale.

[TheSpartan188]

I honestly think they should make the closed KOD show-room into a storage room and then during the Halloween Haunt event, they should change it into a maze. That would be legit

[Condor]

I'd rather see Knott's take care of Ghostrider before they build a second woodie, even if it's from GCI. That said, from a guest experience perspective, I could see the wooden shuttle being a good fit for the park.

[Jew]

I honestly think they should make the closed KOD show-room into a storage room and then during the Halloween Haunt event, they should change it into a maze. That would be legit

 

It's been discussed numerous times in this thread that the KoD show building is not currently able to be used for anything. It was completely torn apart when they build Johnny Rockets.

[thestripedtaco]

^ Not only is the inside partly used by Johnny's HVAC but as many have said the structure is unsound and would have to be rebuilt.