The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[thrillseeker4552]

Headed to LA this week and wanted to know if I will need Fast Pass on Monday to get all the coasters in by mid afternoon? Thanks. Any tips or advice would be great too. I was planning on Magic Mountain but I don't think I could do that in a 3/4 a day so I'm going to Knott's instead.

 

If you arrive at opening, you should be fine getting in all coasters by mid-afternoon, that is, strictly jumping from ride to ride and allowing no time for anything in-between. GhostRider's line will likely be over an hour long, but every other ride should be in the 30-45-minute range or less.

[robbalvey]

West Coast Bash 2016 Tickets Now on Sale!

http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=22

[Whodey]

Thanks for the tips on my visit to the park. It was a nice day today and the crowd was not bad. I really enjoyed the ghost town and thought the theming was really a nice change for a Cedar Fair park. I even got to pet a donkey today.

[CrazedZooChimp]

Knott's doesn't have single rider lines for any of the roller coasters, does it?

[thrillseeker4552]

Knott's doesn't have single rider lines for any of the roller coasters, does it?

 

Unfortunately, no.

[CrazedZooChimp]

Knott's doesn't have single rider lines for any of the roller coasters, does it?

 

Unfortunately, no.

 

Disappointing. The oeprators seem to generally be pretty efficient, I feel like they'd have no problem getting people in with one. Oh well.

[Freestyle23]

How much of a difference in crowds is there if you go on August 24th Wednesday when the park is open from 10-8 then the next 31st Wednesday when it is 10-6. I read the long beach schools go back on the 31st and the others before.

[Jew]

I would imagine they shrank the park hours because they are not expecting the crowds to be as large, so...

[thrillseeker4552]

Basically, any day the park is open from 10-6, you won't see big lines (unless it's Scary Farm).

[KBrylczyk]

Visited yesterday to get on the new Ghost Rider finally. Some people are gonna hate me, but I don't care.

 

The ride is a lot of fun, it really is. The retracking and new trains have made it incredibly smooth and comfortable! Loved the lack of any braking on the ride, too!

 

Now onto my criticisms. Let's start with the biggie, dispatch times. Holy sweet crap on a stick this is the slowest loading I've ever witnessed at Knott's. It takes forever to get a train in the station, unload, load, check, and dispatch. I understand they need to wait for the other train to hit the final brakes but dispatches were taking place long after the other train was stationary. Taking out the midcourse entirely was a mistake, I feel. Having it there and turning it off would be perfect as it would allow for a third train and it would allow the trains to dispatch at a much faster interval. Having the urgency would also encourage the crew to use some speed. It's a shame that the lines are suffering so much from this.

 

Let me paint a picture for you guys. We got there at rope drop and were among the first people into the queue. We walked all the way up and into the station area and finally stopped moving two switchbacks away from the train loading area. Just to get through those two switchbacks took over 30 minutes. We waited for the back row but it only made a one-train difference between waiting for the back or waiting for any other row, so I'm not blaming that. By the time we had ridden and gone down the stairs the queue was COMPLETELY full. I'm talking all of upstairs, all of downstairs, all of the outdoor switchbacks, and out the gate wrapping down towards the restrooms by Guest Relations. If two switchbacks took a half hour I don't even want to think how long those poor saps in the back of the line waited.

 

Another thing? This ride is now a wooden B&M coaster. By that I mean it's forceless. There's very slight airtime and laterals are all but nonexistent. Sure, "The Drop" had some nice air but it wasn't anywhere near what it was back when the ride was fresh. It's a shame that the ride as a whole has lost so much of its punch.

 

I'm not saying it's now a boring, bad ride. Far from it. I really enjoyed it and it's incredibly re-rideable now that it doesn't try to send you to the hospital. However it is NOTHING like the ride it once was and holy crap the operations need a complete overhaul.

[Arthur_Seaton]

Another thing? This ride is now a wooden B&M coaster. By that I mean it's forceless. There's very slight airtime and laterals are all but nonexistent. Sure, "The Drop" had some nice air but it wasn't anywhere near what it was back when the ride was fresh. It's a shame that the ride as a whole has lost so much of its punch.

Yeah, I was kind of taken back by how different it feels now. I'm glad they're keeping it alive as the layout is still great, but yes, it's lost a lot of what made it such a great ride in the past. There's a fine line between intense and rough but they pretty much erased that line altogether and made it seem far more gentle overall. I actually got zero air from "the drop" on the new version whereas even with the aggressive breaking of the old version, you still managed to come out of your seat. And yep, the operations were poor when I was there too — largely because of the way the ride operates now though. When I rode it a few weeks ago, the line was by the pre-lift curve and the lower switch backs were being used, but not the upper ones. That took about an hour.

[Freestyle23]

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2016/08/05/sadly-cedar-point-is-closing-the-mean-streak-roller-coaster-but-here-are-5-others-that-arent-going-anywhere/ Mean Streak is closing? How come no refurb?

[CedarFlags]

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2016/08/05/sadly-cedar-point-is-closing-the-mean-streak-roller-coaster-but-here-are-5-others-that-arent-going-anywhere/ Mean Streak is closing? How come no refurb?

 

Several RMC refurbs have been announced in two stages, I have a pretty strong feeling that this is going to be the newest. Closing day announcement and big event, then the announcement of what's happening to it comes a month or two later.

 

There's a chance it could be a GCI re-track, but based on how new Ghostrider turned out, I don't think it would be exciting enough to fit in at Cedar Point.

 

it would be pretty fitting for Cedar Fair to finally get on board the RMC train at its flagship park first.

[edgeboy]

^I actually was just there 2 days ago for my first ride on it since the retracking, and I totally echo all that you said. The slow dispatch is agonizing, but a fun, smooth, and largely forceless ride.

[thrillseeker4552]

While I agree that GhostRider is more tame after the refurb, I think Cedar Fair did the right thing. Now that the ride is smooth and comfortable, it appeals to a huge audience as it is still large and thrilling enough for the thrill seekers.

[coasterlvr]

i really can't say it's more tame or not. feels pretty much what i thought it would be. for me, i just think it's the amount of crazy coasters that have come out since to compare it to. technology has come a long way in the past 15 plus years.

 

but it's still a ton of fun, and can't wait for offseason when no one is there so i can marathon it when i'm bored.

[Jew]

Knotts made their first haunt announcements last weekend at midsummer scream: skeleton key this year will be four unique experiences instead of the add on's to mazes.

Prey

Slasher

Zozo

Visions

[WOFanatic]

Knotts made their first haunt announcements last weekend at midsummer scream: skeleton key this year will be four unique experiences instead of the add on's to mazes.

4 rooms is a little low, especially when hearing some other parks will have seven this year. I do think Prey and Slasher will be the beat of them, but all four sound fun. Visions will only be good though if the technology is at least on par with high-end smartphones.

[KBrylczyk]

^ These are in addition to the regular haunts, bud. Skeleton Key rooms as part of Frightlane.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2016/08/05/sadly-cedar-point-is-closing-the-mean-streak-roller-coaster-but-here-are-5-others-that-arent-going-anywhere/ Mean Streak is closing? How come no refurb?

Another click bait list badly in need of an editor. First page says Millennium Force has an 80 foot drop....

[Freestyle23]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boy-12-dies-kansas-water-park-205428888.html just saw this on yahoo.com

[WOFanatic]

^ These are in addition to the regular haunts, bud. Skeleton Key rooms as part of Frightlane.

Yeah... I'm aware. Worlds of Fun is doing 7 Skeleton Key rooms (each one new for 2016), so why is the industry leader doing 4?

[CedarFlags]

^ These are in addition to the regular haunts, bud. Skeleton Key rooms as part of Frightlane.

Yeah... I'm aware. Worlds of Fun is doing 7 Skeleton Key rooms (each one new for 2016), so why is the industry leader doing 4?

 

Since they're not just additional rooms added to existing mazes, there's significantly more work that goes into each one. WoF is doing 7 mazes, and giving each one an extra room. Knott's is doing (best guess) 7 or 8 mazes, PLUS 4 additional add-on experiences that each need their own unique costumes, props, lighting, audio, etc... plus they have to create space for them as well.

[laqueefa]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boy-12-dies-kansas-water-park-205428888.html just saw this on yahoo.com

 

Is there a reason you're spamming this in several threads that aren't the Schlitterbahn thread?

[Jew]

Knotts made some more Announcements during scare la!

KBF's first attempt at Halloween theming!

Also part of the Haunt presentation was some cool historical things, like the layout of the very first Haunt maze!

Bud Hurlburt's first attempted haunted log ride led to the creation of Haunt!

Elvira will also be back!

Knott's Announced Infected will be back in a new location "backstage"...what does that mean for Camp Snoopy?

The "boss" of Infected

Concept art for a cityscape in Infected

Edited August 12, 2016 by Jew