The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[KBrylczyk]

Someone enlighten me please!!!

 

They know how to properly budget and market their park. They're not Six Flags. They're not chasing down the unaccompanied minors market, they're going for the families that are already in the Anaheim / Buena Park area for Disney. If you were a parent on vacation with your family at Disneyland and saw Knott's offering a family style park for $50 (before any discounts you will easily find) that's two miles away, wouldn't you rather go there for a day than drive through the hellish LA traffic to Valencia to a park that is inundated with teenagers and costs more? Let's not even get into all of the other negatives SFMM offers (we'd be here all damn day), just based on that alone, Knott's is preferable. They don't need huge thrill rides to bring in the guests. They were started as a family park, they continue to be a family park. And I love the place.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Keep in mind that Knott's is open year-round, so I believe it earns more revenue than any other CF park. There is no reason they can't support another thrilling coaster, I just think the reason they haven't built one is the lack of large, open space and wanting to maintain charm in the park.

 

Correct, they are the *Highest earning park* in the CF Chain. Which is pretty good seeing as they are NOT the top attended.

[Intimidator305]

^ They are open 364 days a year where as other Cedar Fair parks are lucky to be open 120-140 days a year... that should be an expectation to have the most earnings

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Right, I I know that, lol. I was saying its impressive they are the top earner, without having the top attendance as well.

[Jew]

^ They are open 364 days a year where as other Cedar Fair parks are lucky to be open 120-140 days a year... that should be an expectation to have the most earnings

 

Well, considering in the offseason I highly doubt they are actually earning that much (seriously...there can't be more than 4,000 people in the park if that), it's still an impressive feat.

[jazma]

But one must consider the fact that KBF is different from any other CF property. They, along with CP, are the only parks in the chain with a separately gated water park (no, I am not including Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora.) If you combined Knott's SCU attendance with the theme park, it'd be higher. Beyond that, only Knott's has the CDR, TGI Fridays, Pinks, shops, Sunday brunch etc. year round. Many many families go there just for Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Thanksgiving brunches. You can order your whole Thanksgiving meal and pick it up to take home and reheat with all the fixings. They do a senior brunch once a week. The Rotary Club also meets there for lunch. No other Cedar Fair park has this year round revenue source, where many of these guests could care less about going inside the park gates. It's all available outside.

 

The closest thing is probably Cedar Point, which has the Marina, TGI Fridays at Castaway Bay, and the Bay Harbor Inn open year round outside the gates, but the Marina is seasonal, and Sandusky in the winter is not the same as the large, populated, and sprawling So Cal area. The other restaurants: Perkins, the hibachi place (forget the name) and Famous Dave's are seasonal.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that it's not just about attendance at KBF. At many of the other CF parks, I can't even give money away once inside the gates. There's simply nothing but fast food and ride related junk merchandise. People seem to go for the rides only.

[KnottsBerryMountain]

Xcelerator's purple train is still not up. Silver Bullet, GhostRider, and Boomerang have all gotten stuck in the lifts so far this weekend

[susie zueck]

Someone enlighten me please!!!

 

They know how to properly budget and market their park. They're not Six Flags. They're not chasing down the unaccompanied minors market, they're going for the families that are already in the Anaheim / Buena Park area for Disney. If you were a parent on vacation with your family at Disneyland and saw Knott's offering a family style park for $50 (before any discounts you will easily find) that's two miles away, wouldn't you rather go there for a day than drive through the hellish LA traffic to Valencia to a park that is inundated with teenagers and costs more? Let's not even get into all of the other negatives SFMM offers (we'd be here all damn day), just based on that alone, Knott's is preferable. They don't need huge thrill rides to bring in the guests. They were started as a family park, they continue to be a family park. And I love the place.

I wouldn't consider Knotts as a family park since Knotts is mostly comprised of teenagers too. I used to take my family to Knotts every few months, and I have to say that while standing in line for rides such as Ghostrider, Xcelerator, Timber Mountain Log Ride, etc... I would hear so much profanity from the teenagers that I have decided to stop taking my family there entirely and start taking my family to Disneyland. Plus Knotts has a very limited selection of children rides when compared to Disneyland. I have also found that Knotts employees are not as friendly of those at Disney.

[KnottsBerryMountain]

^Knott's hasnt really advertised teenagers since the whole ride warriors era. Knotts is a family park in the sense that they everything that any member of a family can enjoy;coasters, thrill rides, family rides, kiddy rides, shows. Knotts has everything!

[CPSFMMCW]

Well when you compare pretty much any park to Disney, of course you're gonna get better staff and family friendliness results at a Disney park...

[coasterchitchat]

Well when you compare pretty much any park to Disney, of course you're gonna get better staff and family friendliness results at a Disney park...

 

You cannot compare Disney and KBF because they are two different style of parks.

[CPSFMMCW]

Well when you compare pretty much any park to Disney, of course you're gonna get better staff and family friendliness results at a Disney park...

 

You cannot compare Disney and KBF because they are two different style of parks.

I wasn't comparing them, one of the guys above was talking about how he liked the family friendliness feel at Disney better than at Knott's. I merely was commenting on that and saying well thats no surprise...

[coasterchitchat]

Well when you compare pretty much any park to Disney, of course you're gonna get better staff and family friendliness results at a Disney park...

 

You cannot compare Disney and KBF because they are two different style of parks.

I wasn't comparing them, one of the guys above was talking about how he liked the family friendliness feel at Disney better than at Knott's. I merely was commenting on that and saying well thats no surprise...

 

I like the staff at Holiday World more than the Disney staff.

[CPSFMMCW]

Well when you compare pretty much any park to Disney, of course you're gonna get better staff and family friendliness results at a Disney park...

 

You cannot compare Disney and KBF because they are two different style of parks.

I wasn't comparing them, one of the guys above was talking about how he liked the family friendliness feel at Disney better than at Knott's. I merely was commenting on that and saying well thats no surprise...

 

I like the staff at Holiday World more than the Disney staff.

Hence why I said "pretty much every park"

[xChris125x]

I typically don't ask these questions, but how are crowds on Sundays in late July-August?

[KnottsBerryMountain]

^Lines have died down, I would expect lines to be around 45-60 mins. After 5pm the lines are usually about 30 mins or less. Its going to be hotter these upcoming weeks.

[_IntaMAN_]

Going to KBF on Wed. and staying overnight, and wanted to know, how does early entry work? It's apparently only 30 mins but includes Camp Snoopy, GhostRider, and Silver Bullet. Would like to know how and where I get in for early entry.

[KnottsBerryMountain]

They have a sign right next to the main gate for early entry.

[_IntaMAN_]

They have a sign right next to the main gate for early entry.

Aight. Thanks

[HJimmy]

I wouldn't consider Knotts as a family park since Knotts is mostly comprised of teenagers too. I used to take my family to Knotts every few months, and I have to say that while standing in line for rides such as Ghostrider, Xcelerator, Timber Mountain Log Ride, etc... I would hear so much profanity from the teenagers that I have decided to stop taking my family there entirely and start taking my family to Disneyland. Plus Knotts has a very limited selection of children rides when compared to Disneyland. I have also found that Knotts employees are not as friendly of those at Disney.

 

I say the worst out of all them is Jaguar!

[Wes]

^Knott's hasnt really advertised teenagers since the whole ride warriors era. Knotts is a family park in the sense that they everything that any member of a family can enjoy;coasters, thrill rides, family rides, kiddy rides, shows. Knotts has everything!

 

They did spend 10 years marketing to teenagers basically and offering cheap tickets and passes only encourages that demo to show up. There's a reason Disney is priced where it is….

[adamd]

New article pretty much confirms something will be going inside the KOD building and will more than likely be something like Wonder Mountain. Matt Ouimet: "And the good news is we're not done with Knott's. We've got a five year plan in place for this theme park. And I'm hoping that -- with Cedar Fair's help -- I'll then have the privilege of turning that into a ten year plan," Matt enthused. "It's not exactly a closely guarded secret that -- when it comes to Knott's -- we're trying to figure out what to do with the area where Kingdom of the Dinosaurs & Knott's Bear-y Tales used to be located. Assuming that the Wonder Mountain's Guardian ride works out, there will probably be some lessons that we learned up in Canada that we can apply down here in Buena Park."

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-hill/cedar-fair-ceo-matt-ouime_b_5628758.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

[KnottsBerryMountain]

^Just read that and it was great. We need to get a guy like him to run SFMM

[CPSFMMCW]

LOVE Matt Ouimet. Well I already figured thats what Knotts had planned but that almost confirms it for me at least.

[Jew]

The bad news is I hear rumblings that all this family friendly stuff might be taking its toll on Haunt. Rumors going around that they are cutting the shift lengths of the monsters from the normal 7-8 hours to 4 and 6 hours to cut costs. Also heard that the Camp Snoopy scare zone might be out...guess we will know for sure next week!