The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[CedarFlags]

PS - Speaking of helix - they were dismantling it today.

 

Pictures?

 

Didn't take any, cuz I was in a backstage area and that's a no-no.

 

The supports and stuff were all there, but about half of the actual track was gone in that section. If it weren't for the crane and the guys in orange vests, I may have walked by and not even noticed because the walkway planks that run parallel were still in place too.

 

That whole area will be open during Haunt though, so we'll get a great view of the next 6 weeks of work.

[Gnome]

You're right, of course...my mistake. I have no knowledge if crews doing one companies' work ever work for the other.

I'm not sure either, as Gravity Group is a design firm, not a construction company, while GCI is both, if I'm correct. Maybe Gravity Group has had GCI construct some of their projects before, but I'd doubt it.

I would assume that the work is being completed by a local contractor with oversight by a few engineers from the commissioned vendor, whether that's GCI or RMC.

[thrillseeker4552]

Knott's posted this on Twitter. And according to a response, it gets riders wet like it used to when it first opened!

[Superbatboy]

Great news! Though I'll never forgive Knott's for removing Hammerhead

[robbalvey]

Great news! Though I'll never forgive Knott's for removing Hammerhead

You can always go visit it in Dubai!

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=829&linkid=13800

[JeromyL]

^^^ I shot it on Iron Reef #EASTEREGG

[Superbatboy]

Great news! Though I'll never forgive Knott's for removing Hammerhead

You can always go visit it in Dubai!

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=829&linkid=13800

 

OMG OMG!!

[Wingwright]

Great news! Though I'll never forgive Knott's for removing Hammerhead

You can always go visit it in Dubai!

 

That is SO depressing. I'm in the minority, but I loved Hammerhead and was very sad to see it go.

I haven't ridden Riptide since it opened - I guess I'm just not a TopSpin fan.

[DJeXeL]

Hammerhead was a good ride minus the restraints that smashed the man bits.

[sxexaxn]

Had scare school the other night, I'm in Paranormal Inc. this year and let me just say, it is going to blow people away. We ended up with the Trapped budget and the attention to detail they're putting into it is top notch. This is going to be more of a production than any of the other mazes. We have monsters, actors, puppeteers and people doing stunts. The masks, the makeup, the effects are all fantastic. I can't wait.

[CedarFlags]

Had scare school the other night, I'm in Paranormal Inc. this year and let me just say, it is going to blow people away. We ended up with the Trapped budget and the attention to detail they're putting into it is top notch. This is going to be more of a production than any of the other mazes. We have monsters, actors, puppeteers and people doing stunts. The masks, the makeup, the effects are all fantastic. I can't wait.

 

I got to crash the stunt rehearsal today and I was amazed by how much is happening in this maze.

[Jew]

Part of me wishes KBF would just stick to what they are good at, which is harnessing the passion of their awesome talent. Build nice sets and let the talent run wild. I'm not sure how I feel about trying to be more like HHN, considering last year Voodoo looked incredible but was also incredibly boring because of the lack of scares...

[I305forever]

Didn't there used to be a hammerhead clone in Nick Universe or am I thinking of something else?

[dippindotsguy8]

There was. It was themed to Paul Bunyan's Ax for awhile, and then eventually left to make room for TMNT Shell Shock in 2012

[laqueefa]

Part of me wishes KBF would just stick to what they are good at, which is harnessing the passion of their awesome talent. Build nice sets and let the talent run wild. I'm not sure how I feel about trying to be more like HHN, considering last year Voodoo looked incredible but was also incredibly boring because of the lack of scares...

 

Spot on.

[CedarFlags]

Part of me wishes KBF would just stick to what they are good at, which is harnessing the passion of their awesome talent. Build nice sets and let the talent run wild. I'm not sure how I feel about trying to be more like HHN, considering last year Voodoo looked incredible but was also incredibly boring because of the lack of scares...

 

Spot on.

 

Scary Farm has been doing a lot of experimenting for the last few years, because HHN took a lot of business away. Guests spoke with their money and said what they wanted loud and clear. Voodoo was an experiment, as were Mirror Mirror, Trapped, and Infected. Some worked, some didn't. Its a delicate balance... if you stick to what you're good at, people will call you stale and you don't attract new fans. If you change too much, you alienate your long term fans.

[KBrylczyk]

^ It's funny you bring that up because it was a big talking point at WCB this year. A lot of people were wondering why Trapped was taken away this year and they said it was simply because the Escape Room idea that they invented with Trapped had become an experience available all over the place year-round. They no longer felt the idea was fresh or worth the extra charge so they killed it.

 

I think it's a fantastic idea to cycle out haunts and ideas. Trapped lasted, what, three years? That's plenty of time, bring on something new. Paranormal Inc got that budget and apparently it's going to blow the heads off of people going through it! Dead Of Winter is also going to be an incredible new haunt with all new ideas and tricks throughout, such as working with very bright environments for a haunt.

 

Knott's knows exactly what to do to make sure people keep coming back. Not only do they bring back favorites while keeping them fresh every year, they also come up with awesome new haunts and shows and they do it all all for a fraction of the cost of some other heavy hitters in the industry.

[laqueefa]

I for one am glad they didn't opt to do another year of Trapped. According to everyone's reviews and reports it was amazing, so I bought in the 2nd year and tried it out. Biggest waste of money and time...

[CedarFlags]

I for one am glad they didn't opt to do another year of Trapped. According to everyone's reviews and reports it was amazing, so I bought in the 2nd year and tried it out. Biggest waste of money and time...

 

2013 Trapped was a massive flop. It's not even a secret. 2014 was decent, but didn't blow me away.

[Jew]

Trapped went away because it stopped selling out when the hype wore off. I didn't do it in 2012 because it was sold out, tried 2013 because of the hype, didn't bother in 2014 because 2013 sucked so much. I'm guessing they realized they'd make more money using the boardwalk ballroom for events again.

 

My point is this: Knott's knows what it is good at. Knott's knows its position in the market. There's no need for them to reinvent the wheel. Build fantastic looking mazes and turn the talent loose and they'll have winners. Trying to be too theatrical and out-do HHN without the HHN budgets and expertise (KBF does everything in house---Universal has outside companies) just doesn't do it for me. It's not that it doesn't produce good mazes, it's just that I feel like the talent of Haunt could be MUCH better utilized instead of forcing them to be actors.

[KBrylczyk]

I'm guessing they realized they'd make more money using the boardwalk ballroom for events again.

 

I"m not sure what you're implying here. When Trapped was in there did it kill the space for the entire year? I only ask because I'm fairly certain that's where Dead Of Winter is going to be this year, which would make it equally useless for event revenue.

[cfc]

Trapped went away because it stopped selling out when the hype wore off. I didn't do it in 2012 because it was sold out, tried 2013 because of the hype, didn't bother in 2014 because 2013 sucked so much. I'm guessing they realized they'd make more money using the boardwalk ballroom for events again.

 

My point is this: Knott's knows what it is good at. Knott's knows its position in the market. There's no need for them to reinvent the wheel. Build fantastic looking mazes and turn the talent loose and they'll have winners. Trying to be too theatrical and out-do HHN without the HHN budgets and expertise (KBF does everything in house---Universal has outside companies) just doesn't do it for me. It's not that it doesn't produce good mazes, it's just that I feel like the talent of Haunt could be MUCH better utilized instead of forcing them to be actors.

 

At the WCB Q&A, Trapped came up, and the answer was that they felt it had run its course.

[DJeXeL]

^Which is true. Not sure why that is so hard for people to understand.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

2014 was the first and only year that I did Trapped. It was fun and all. A little disjointed at times. The whole lost girl story didn't do much, but it was interesting to have a little more interactivity compared to the standard Haunt maze.

 

That said, I can totally understand how/why they would choose to allocate the budget elsewhere.

[Jew]

I'm guessing they realized they'd make more money using the boardwalk ballroom for events again.

 

I"m not sure what you're implying here. When Trapped was in there did it kill the space for the entire year? I only ask because I'm fairly certain that's where Dead Of Winter is going to be this year, which would make it equally useless for event revenue.

 

I haven't followed Haunt construction at all this year, so if that is the case, I definitely stand corrected.

 

It wouldn't kill the space for the whole year, but it would kill it from sometime in August (at the latest)-mid November.