The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[SoCalJasonland]

So Monte is now coming back in 2025?  Sigh, so many games with this one but it is some good news.

[joelwee]

Great news, IMO. I had written this project off a few months ago but I'm glad to hear it is coming back.

[SoCalJasonland]

On 3/1/2024 at 2:42 PM, joelwee said:

Great news, IMO. I had written this project off a few months ago but I'm glad to hear it is coming back.

I was hoping that we could tell by the newly released video what any changes were but... things still appear quite similar.  Did Kumbak agree to a cumback, did Zamperla stab Kumbak in the back, we will find this all out and more on the newest telenovela, Monte the Forbidden Fortress.

 

[ryder]

I suspect they just reused the old footage.  I figure we'll get an updated video when more is finalized.

[CedarFlags]

Wow, PLOT TWIST.  I was so certain this project was dead.  Good for Knott's.

[SoCalJasonland]

I have visited Knott's at least 200 times, but this will be my first Metrolink trip from Riverside to Knott's as I am just sick of sitting in a car on the 91 freeway/parking lot. 

So, I am taking the newish Perris to LA train indicated by the blueish line from either downtown Riverside to Buena Park.  I will drive to the train station and while Hunter Park is a better neighborhood, the downtown Riverside station has roving security and more choices if my train gets canceled. 

 

I chose departures with no transfers but there were a few more 1 & 1/2 - 2 hour trips if I included them.  I chose the trips indicated in blue.

Return trips to Riverside

I don't qualify for any discounts but if I went 5 times in a month during the week, I could save 10% with a flex ticket.  Not worth it for me so $21.50.  I figure my car is about 40 cents per mile to operate so 45 miles each way, less 5 miles for trip I still have to take to the train station equals 80 miles at 40 cents per mile for a total of $32.  If I take the toll lanes, they are variable rates but range from $10 to $30+ each way from the 91/15 Riv. entrance to 91/55 OC exit and may save me an hour if I take it each way.

I will need to get the 3 - 4 miles from Buena Park Metrolink station to the park depeding on the route.  I can walk to Beach and take an OC bus for a couple of bucks, Uber/Lyft, or walk.  The area is generraly safe during the day for a large city.  I will likely walk to the park since I am getting to the station about 1 1/2 hour beofore the park opens this day at 10 am.

As I was typing this and wondering if Metrolink was reliable, the following story ran on Channel 5 news, not joking.  It actually came up while I was making this post about my trip tomorrow.  No one was injured in the fire but the loco is out of service and is disrupting stops to the north.  At least they offered the riders $50 towards alternative transportation but din't explain exactly what that means on the news.  At least I can always go another day if there are train problems

 

[SoCalJasonland]

So I made it to the Metrolink to Knott's on Tuesday.  The ride was nice but I felt like I was riding in a one-third full 1980s Southwest Flight with no cabin service because of turbulence.  The bathrooms were decent.  The sign states drinkable water but I didn't test it, as I didn't believe it.  I brought my own bottle of water.

The train arrived a few minutes late but we arrived approximately on time due to 30-second station stops.  I ended up walking to and from the Buena Park station to Knotts's so no added bus or Under fares on that end of the trip. I ended up with 25,000 steps and was buzzed enough to take Uber home from Riverside and I walked back the 3 miles today to pick up my car today to pick up my car from the station.

 

A few notes:

Camp Snoopy and Coasters Diner restaurants have re-opened

There are new Fastlane scanners at all of the Fastlane attractions where you scan your one-time pass or bracelet and can't proceed unless you get a green light.  If you get a red light, you can't go through.  Single Prestige Pass Fastland passes still need to be redeemed in one of three stores and you can't just scan your pass at the ride and need to pick up a daily one-time use ticket from a store.

There are no more ribs on the meal plan at either Ghosttown BBQ or Boardwalk BBQ.  Pulled pork is also gone from Boardwalk BBQ   Ghoasttown BBQ now gives two sides with entries where Boardwalk is still one side plus corn bread but Ghosttown has no boysenberry BBQ sauce still.

The small railroad around the lake has a lot of rotted railroad ties being replaced

I can's find Beatboxes at the park any longer

 

Metrolink train

Room for bikes or scooters

Bathroom in each car plus drinkable water?

The bathroom is larger than a plane bathroom.

A total breakfast of champions, and only champions if you thought Maddog 20-20 or Boones Farm were also breakfast of champions.

If Big Macs are $18, you can always get a Coke and hotdog for $1.50 from Costco or 2 roast beef sandwiches from Arby's for $6. 

There are new Fastlane scanners at the entrance to Fastlanes rides, this is La Revolution, so you need to scan your single-use pass or wrist band and you get either a green or red light letting them know for you to advance.

This is pizza and a side salad from the pizza place by the Charles Shultz Theater.

Ribs are off the meal plan for Ghost Town BBQ and ribs and pulled pork are completely gone from Boardwalk BBQ.  It must have not been a price issue on the pulled pork as you can still get it as a sandwich at Ghosttown and tri-tip at Boardwalk.

New camp Snoopy coaster.

The lounge has 12 different free snacks for Prestige Pass members, free water, drink plan beverages, and a limited supply of alcohol that is not free or discounted from the normal park.

I believe I had a white wine and some free Grandma's cookies.  They had no Knott's snacks though.  My local Winco had racks of Boysebenberry Knott's cookies for 28 cents.  They could easily stock up before Beatriz discontinues the line!

I asked maintenance if the log ride was close to being completed but no one had a date, but one told me there was still some work to be done and possibly not for a month or two but he wasn't sure.

I guess all the log ride boats are hanging in line for Xcelerator?

Knott's log ride door is open, so what's inside?  I took all of the pictures from the doorway without stepping inside but this is the backside of fun.

A spacious train ride home.

[SoCalJasonland]

Worst visit at Knott's ever, did Cedar Fair forget ride operations or is everything an attempt to sell Fastlane?  My sister and brother-in-law visited from Denver and we went to Knott's on Monday, March 25th.  Every coaster we rode seemed to follow the same pattern.  Load the Fastlane customers, load the blue card handicaps, and then if any space was left; they went to the regular line.  My family skipped Ghostrider and Xcelerator but Pony Express, Sierra Sidewinder, Jaguar, and rapids ride all had close to one-hour waits to where you could stand in line for a couple of ride cycles and the line didn't move at all.

Knott's also has bars in the park with Margaritas/Tequila prices from $22 to $100 per drink.  My $22 strawberry margarita and $20 bloody mary made me almost puke and toss them in the garbage.  It was all sweet and sour with horrible generic/well alcohol.  Even the chicken restaurant and boysenberry mojito were bad.  The employees were nice and you can now tip on the credit card readers at the bars/saloons in the park but $22 for horrible booze trying to hide with a bunch of sweet and sour or cheap tomato juice is not a good combination.

The track for the kiddie train is completely gone

Eastery

Most of Monte's track is gone too.

[Domm]

Damn! That’s too bad on the log ride. I have a family trip planned there on 4/11 taking 7 year old nephew first time and have been hyping it up. Hope for a speedy recovery…

[pianojohn]

5 hours ago, SoCalJasonland said:

Knott's also has bars in the park with Margaritas/Tequila prices from $22 to $100 per drink

$100 PER drink? Yeah, I don't buy that unless you have a picture of this so-called $100 drink.

As far as the lines go, it's EASTER week and crowds are everywhere. ROTR had a 3 hour wait this week.

You cannot blame the park for the insane crowds. Sorry you had a bad time, but I always tell friends and family to avoid the parks during holidays (spring break, Christmas) and don't expect to ride anything without shelling out money for FastLane or Genie+.

[SoCalJasonland]

 

I found a picture of the menu on Google.  Bottom middle Partida Tequila - Anejo $100.  I had the $22 Bloody Mary and $22 Cantina Del Sur Margarita and one was Tabasco, tomato juice and generic vodka and the other was bad tequila and sweet and sour mix.  Tasted like it came from a can but I saw them pour all the ingedients right in front of me right from te liquor bottles with name brands I have never heard of.

8 hours ago, pianojohn said:

$100 PER drink? Yeah, I don't buy that unless you have a picture of this so-called $100 drink.

As far as the lines go, it's EASTER week and crowds are everywhere. ROTR had a 3 hour wait this week.

You cannot blame the park for the insane crowds. Sorry you had a bad time, but I always tell friends and family to avoid the parks during holidays (spring break, Christmas) and don't expect to ride anything without shelling out money for FastLane or Genie+.

The margarita's ranged in price from $20 to $100.  The $100 margarita's had some sort of aged tequila in a colorful bottle.  It is the disgusting sweet and sour mix that will ruin it for you.  It should be natural orange and lime juice and not sweet and sour in grand or presidential margaritas.  I have had enough expensive margaritas and been a bartender at a mexican restaurant to know how to make a decent drink.

You can blame the park for crappy operaitions.  Why was Jaguar's station empty with three separate lines being drawn from to fill each coaster train individually?  It took about 7 - 8 minutes to get a train out and Pony Express was loading just as slowly with only loading a new row when the previous train has left the station.  The flat rides were loading okay but something has changed with their coaster loading policy for the worse and we gave up on them after that.  My family didn't want a Fastlane as neither of them would go on Hangtime, Xcelerator or Silverbullet so a ride or two on Ghostrider wasn't going to be worth it and none of us could get the app to work on either Android or Apple to buy single ride Fastlaness; and none of the stores that we asked at sold single ride Fastlanes.

We were able to walk right into the chicken restaurant at 2 pm with no wait so the crowds were not insane.  It was crowded but I have seen worse.  There seemed to be more people with the blue handicap cards than Fastlanes.  Most of the carnival rides were 10 to 15 minutes waits and Berry Tales was about a half-hour.  

[SoCalJasonland]

I also noticed and wondered if it was the same at other Cedar Fair parks?  Knott's started with Ghostrider earlier in the season by assigning rows and not allowing more than one trains worth of people past the trunstile at one time.  This lead to the left or inside belt/safety checker to also have to run grouping/expediting between train loads.  This caused the cycle time to go from approximately 5 minutes per dispatch to 8 minutes per dispatch, so weekday ride times doubled.  During spring break, this has at least spreaded to Jaguar and Pony Express with multiple groupers and no more than one train load in the station at a time.  I have seen SIlverbullet groupers not let more than 4 people per row into the station at a time. Why don't they want people in the station any longer? 

[SoCalJasonland]

I wonder who is most excited in this photo?  The puzzled looking service pug, Whittles with Boysenberry jam on his beard, or mommy who got a picture of baby with Whittles.