The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[SoCalCoasters]

Dead tired from Haunt last night, but I thought I'd post my review while the memories were still fresh.

 

For starters, I think Knott's did a tremendous job on the 40th Haunt this year. The talent, shows, and mazes were all top notch, and extremely enjoyable.

 

I started off the night with five friends by doing the pre-scare dinner (which I HIGHLY recommend if you want some good food and to get into the park ahead of time). After eating and conversing with some of the talent wandering around the tables, we headed into the park, and went straight for Ghostrider. The ride is still pretty rough, but if you're in the first few cars, it's manageable.

 

Here's where I'll start my maze reviews, in the order in which I did them. I'll keep the details to a minimum, as to not ruin the experience.

 

Trick or Treat: This maze was rather interesting, especially since it was one of the new ones for this year. You're trick or treaters who've ventured into the witch's home. Theming was absolutely top notch, definitely one of the most detailed mazes I've ever seen the park do. Unfortunately, the costumes and the talent weren't quite "startling" enough to make an impression on a lot of people. This is definitely a "beginner's maze", but still shouldn't be missed. The other problem I had with it was the fact that it existed for one reason only: The Final Scene where you stop in a dining room and have a little show/encounter with the Green Witch (which has several cool effects). It felt like it was made just for the 40th Haunt, so I'm not sure what they'll do to it next year.

 

End Games: I really really enjoyed this one, especially in the new location. The maze has an absolutely amazing atmosphere , with a heavy metal soundtrack that seemed to be majorly pumping the talent up. There's several cool animatronics (especially the last one). I should also mention that the theming on this one was also top notch. The talent here also did a great job, which gave me the opportunity to witness several hysterical encounters between monsters and my more petrified friends.

 

Dominion of the Dead: This is another maze I have sort of mixed feelings about... Partly because we seemed to have caught the talent while they were still warming up. There were several "effect" scenes that the actors illy timed their assaults, resulting in us just seeing them reset. The the theming and soundtrack were eerie, and the costumes were great. The main issue I think I have with it is that it felt really disjointed. Even though I was at WCB and I heard the story, I still couldn't tell that much of a difference between the first and the second "lairs". For most people I think the maze was probably a bit confusing.

 

Delirium: The facade! Need I say more? Out of all the mazes, the one that has the coolest facade is the one that's put in a back corner where you can't see it very well. Go figure, Anyway, after hearing everyone talking about how awesome this one was last year, I couldn't wait to check it out. I wasn't disappointed either. Lots of crazy, screwed up, nightmarish sets filled with demented creatures. Definitely an abstract maze, but enjoyable. Good talent and great atmosphere.

 

Terror of London: The maze of the night for me. The talent here were absolutely awesome! At one point early in the maze, I called out my friend's name, and one of the female talent started following her saying: "Your name's Mikaela? My name's Mikaela too." In a perfect/creepy British accent. Between that, and a knife wielding guy early on who would get up in everyone's face, the maze was great. One aspect that I think really makes this maze so good is that it changes elevation, location and direction. This atmosphere made it feel like we really were in London. Scenery was great, talent was great.

 

Pinocchio Unstrung: Out of the new mazes for this year, this one was definitely my favorite of them. Stellar theming and costumes added to the extremely creepy atmosphere of an almost picture perfect "Disney gone wrong" scenario. I really have to emphasize the theming on this one, because of how brilliant it looked, and how detailed it was. The animatronic at the end is really cool. Definitely recommend getting into this one.

 

Dio De Los Muertos: Definitely one of the aging mazes, but certainly still a fun one. While the theming might not have been quite as good as some of the newer mazes, I still enjoyed going through it. For how small of a space those bumper cars are, they sure managed to stick a whole lot of maze.

 

Uncle Willy's Slaughterhouse: In terms of gore factor, this maze takes the cake. Even though this is the veteran maze of the haunt lineup, the talent and theming were still great. Tons of gore and disgusting scenes, but highly detailed all around.

 

Fallout Shelter: By far, the weakest maze of the night. Despite being only two years old, this maze just doesn't look good. The talent were okay but they didn't have much to work with besides the radiation room filled with fog. I'd like to see them either A: completely revamp the maze or B: replace it. This maze also seemed to have the shortest line out of all of them. Not surprising.

 

And. Now the one that you've all been waiting for....

 

Trapped : Loved it. I know that Knott's has been trying to get an Upcharge maze for a while, and this one definitely had a lot of work put into it. I don't want to spoil what happens inside, as it would ruin the experience, but I would say it's worth the money. The Maze challenges you psychologically in various forms, and the finale rooms were frightening to say the least. Lots of cool theming in this maze and special effects that took us by surprise.

 

I would say that they'll definitely have to completely change it up every year if they want repeat customers, as it's really a one time deal due to a few puzzle solving aspects.

 

Definitely the best attraction at Haunt this year.

 

 

Shows

 

Blood Drums: Ow my ears. Owch. Great music and show, but waaaaaaaayyyy too loud to be completely enjoyable.

 

The Hanging Games: While not quite as strong as last year per say, I would definitely call it great. With its usual crude humor and snarky dialogue, it's always a highlight of Haunt.

 

The Witching Hour: It's the return of the witch hanging! Lots of pyro and special effects. Short and sweet, but definitely worth seeing, since it's only shown once a night, at midnight.

 

Ed Alonso's Funhouse: There is no line that man won't cross. Mysterious magic and dance numbers were accompanied by the more than two dozen of the most racist Asian jokes I've ever heard in a two to three minute period. It was incredibly cringeworthy, and horribly hilarious, all at the same time.

 

That's all I have for now, thanks for reading!

[skydye]

^ Good report. I don't know what to make of witching hour. I was hoping for a good show and all we got was 7 to 8 minutes. The wait for the show was longer. Great mazes.

[XYZ]

^ I just don't think they will put in another suspended coaster with SB already in the park. I think the space would better be used by some major coaster or a few intense flats and an El Loco.

 

Many parks have a large inverted coaster & a Vekoma Jr. Invert such as Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, Movie Park Germany, & Wild Adventures, so I think there's no problem with two inverted coasters at Knott's, one large and one smaller.

 

Also, great report, SoCalCoasters.

[Voxelmatic]

^ I just don't think they will put in another suspended coaster with SB already in the park. I think the space would better be used by some major coaster or a few intense flats and an El Loco.

 

Many parks have a large inverted coaster & a Vekoma Jr. Invert such as Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, Movie Park Germany, & Wild Adventures, so I think there's no problem with two inverted coasters at Knott's, one large and one smaller.

 

Also, great report, SoCalCoasters.

Don't forget about Dorney Park, who has three major inverts.

^^^It seems like a great event this year! Hopefully I can make it out at least once in my life...

[thestripedtaco]

Well SB is already like the family mine train of inverted coasters. I just think it would be kind of redundant.

[SoCalCoasters]

Well SB is already like the family mine train of inverted coasters. I just think it would be kind of redundant.

 

Just because Silver Bullet doesn't have insane G forces doesn't mean it's a family mine train. Really, it just means you can re-ride it over and over easily. It's still a relatively intense ride for the general public, and I enjoy every ride I've ever taken on it.

 

At this point I think it's safe to say that if they're keeping the splash pool, it's for something major. From what we're hearing they'll probably be placing the family rides in the lift area of PP, but leave the splash pool alone.

[thestripedtaco]

Well the only problem that I really have with another suspended is that Knott's has such a tight land mass I think it would just be a waste of space to put in another family coaster when they already have 3, 2 of which have been put in very recently.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^I'd have to agree that if you look at the park's coaster lineup, it's about even in the sense that you have three family/tween coasters (Jaguar!, Sierra Sidewinder, Pony Express) juxtaposed by four thrilling coasters (MR, GR, XC, BLT) so it's not like there's a huge shift either way if you add one or the other. My observation however is that the additions were not well staggered. I mean Ghostrider, Perilous Plunge, Xcelerator and Silver Bullet were all added in a six year period, and those are just coasters. Keep in mind Supreme Scream and Riptide also were birthed in that timespan (1998-2004). One could just make the arguement Cedar Fair wanted to hit the ground running with their newly accquired property. However With the expedited expansion of the thrill end of the park, I don't think it unreasonable for another family ride to pop up even after the back-to-back additions of SSW and PX. Would I LIKE to see that? No. I want an airtime hyper just like everyone else. I just wouldn't be too shocked if a wild mouse or nothing at all popped up.

 

I purposely omitted Boomerang cause it sucks. Twice.

[Jew]

How many times do I have to post about the return of the Dolphin show before someone will actually pay attention?

[xJungleMonsterx]

^ How about a dive machine named dolphin... appease to everyone

[thestripedtaco]

Dive Machine through a dolphin tank. Hey that's not half bad. (Sea World take note)

[6flagsbrad]

I'll be going to Scary Farm for the first time this thursday. Which mazes tend to have the longest lines, and are there any not worth doing?

[skydye]

^ Thursday should be a better day to go. I don't know what evil dead was as I got out of a line that wasn't moving. I think it was just the log ride with theming. Ask for a map of the mazes. Either go left to the ghost rider and go in those 4 mazes or go right to camp snoopy and go in the mazes on that side. I'd go to all the mazes as the line moves fast. There is one show...The witching hour at midnight. If your walking by look at it. It's only 7 or 8 minutes long...Don't bother waiting in front of the stage for it. You'll wait longer for the show then the show is worth.

[laqueefa]

I'll be going to Scary Farm for the first time this thursday. Which mazes tend to have the longest lines, and are there any not worth doing?

 

If youre a haunt/halloween buff, I would recommend getting the front of the line pass so you can do it all. If you go early enough, you can get through most queues without having to use the pass. Then take it easy later on in the night, ride some coasters, and then use the front of the line to redo the ones you really liked with the option of catching the shows.

[MrSum1_55]

Honestly, the thing that would dissapoint me the most if they installed a wild mouse is the fact that the park really seems to need a new-high capacity coaster. The last two coasters they have installed usually suffer from slow dispatches, and the fact that they often run single trains on them doesn't exactly help. A wild mouse would not be a high capacity addition. Therefore, if it is a coaster, I really hope it will be a high capacity one.

 

Thankfully, Knott's is rarely crowded. But, rides outside Silver Bullet are rarely run to their highest capacity. I would really like to see a ride that can do better than a spinning coaster with a four car train that dispatches every two and a half minutes.

[skydye]

^ I don't think capacity is their top priority. They are close to Disneyland and they are only able to operate full season because of the Disneyland over flow. We love gigs coasters and the like, but that may not be the best for their needs.

[Jew]

Every ride at Knott's only runs two trains to begin with. I've seen times where they are hauling ass, and I've also seen times where they are going painfully slow.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Jew

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Ghostrider really could use 3 trains for Haunt/Toys-for-tots...but two's better than one, I guess

[thestripedtaco]

^ It really could use 3 trains. It has such a long ride, now even longer thanks to the MCBR slowing everything down that if the crew is moving they could easily run 3 trains with little to no stacking.

[rcdude]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when GhostRider first opened I believe it did run all three trains during peak periods. I don't think this lasted more than a couple years, and although the ride still has three trains only two are used at a time. Three trains should allow it to operate with two all year, but I do see the ride run with one more often than I would like.

[thestripedtaco]

I do believe you are correct. It would be nice if they ran three trains during haunt since they close Ghostrider for a pretty long rehab before haunt anyways. Maybe if this rumored rehab ever happens they will buy four trains and the ride can always run at max capacity and just switch a train out and in whenever needed.

[SoCalCoasters]

The crew has to be absolutely hauling in order for the ride to run 3 trains. Most of the time, one would be stopped at the break run. Now the park usually has one train completely taken apart while two run.

[thestripedtaco]

^ That is true but every time I have gone to Knott's when Ghostrider is running two trains there is always a period of around 10-20 seconds before the next train begins to enter the station. It is just wasted time where nothing is happening which I am sure reduces capacity a sizable amount every hour.

[Jew]

It's not efficient to run 3 three trains on GhostRider. The reality is they would only be gaining a few extra trains an hour when stacking is factored in.

[MrSum1_55]

Ghostrider is about 3 minutes long. However, It usually stacks with 2 trains anyway, so three trains would not do much. Although the crew is usually slow, they do have their good days. Yet, even on the better days, I have never seen it run three trains.

 

This is yet another reason why Ghostrider should get Timberliners. Those seatbelts really slow everything down. If this happened, they could efficiently run three trains. Or, I would even be happy enough to see them run two without stacking, which is not that common of an occurance.