The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[coloradocoasterguy]

stuff

I'm sorry for this rant, IDK if there was a better place in the forums to have put this, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer and I just had to get it off my chest.

 

How about you tell the park themselves? https://www.knotts.com/contact-us

[coasterlvr]

They are planning on doing a publicity shoot next Friday, so perhaps whatever was anticipated to cause the delay was able to be corrected.

 

Let's hope

 

it means at least there might be a new train there.

[CedarFlags]

There was a train car on a crane today at Ghostrider. Tried to get a pic, but it was too far away and the angle was weird.

[coloradocoasterguy]

So remember that idea I posted awhile back on how Knott's could expand? On a whim I sent it to the park GM and he wrote a letter back thanking me and included four tickets good until December 2017. Cool.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

That was very nice of them to do. Haha. I do hope they expand the park boundaries. Not that there's not enough room for new stuff, but just a new area with some fresh design.

[VegasBaby]

There was a train car on a crane today at Ghostrider. Tried to get a pic, but it was too far away and the angle was weird.

 

I really hope we see some testing soon. I know they already announced a delay, but I'm hoping the delay is only 2-3 weeks and not 2-3 months like what's happening with Lightning Rod.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Hey, it's a fad this summer!

Not opening when they were thought to be opening.

[coloradocoasterguy]

The OC Register is reporting KBF park attendance, not resort attendance, was 5.5 million in 2015 up from 3.6 million in 2014. We were all assuming that number included Soak City, but not according to them. If that's true then, WOW! That's a 52% increase. Even USF only had 30% when Harry Potter's Wizarding World opened.

[Jew]

^The article in the OC Register most certainly strongly implies that the 5.5 million figure is just the park, but I didn't see anything that outright confirms it.

 

Amusement park tourism is one driver. Visitors to Knott’s Berry Farm jumped to 5.5 million in 2015, up from 3.6 million in 2014. The Boysenberry Festival in March, a refurbished Timber Mountain Log Ride and a new attraction, Voyage to the Iron Reef, attracted crowds.

 

I have a hard time believing that the number doesn't include Soak City....a 65% increase in attendance is unheard of in the industry.

 

For Reference, if you look at the TEA report from 2007 and then look at 2015, even the Disney parks have only grown by 2-3million guests over that entire 8 year time span.

 

Some key openings: Diagon Alley only increased UO attendance by 17% according to the TEA. The original WWoHP was reported as creating a 30% gain for IoA. Carsland did 22% for DCA. So 65% for Iron Reef, a new (admittedly awesome) food festival, and refurbished classic rides? Not buying it.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Jew

[jarmor]

Okay,I have a KBF experience that I think after 7 or more years of not telling any one it's finally time to let it out. It's about how Knott's didn't seem to care about guest experiences. I went there and it was very crowded. There seemed to be no crowd control in the lines what so ever. The security guards were in groups just talking and not doing ANYTHING to control anybody. If a fight broke out they probably would have just ignored it. Tons of people were cutting and I did report it the first time when a group of 9 teens cut saying their mother, yes mother was singular. So they were saying a mother gave birth to 9 girls of different races (white, black, mexican, and even asian) within a couple months, (because you could tell they were all within the same grade). A group of 2, and multiples of single riders including this big black man that was just grabbing people and shoving them to the ground (and threw me into the fence) and they didn't do anything, and they were going strait to the front of the line of Xcelerator, so I was in the line for almost an hour which should have only been 30-45 minutes because of all the people cutting. I love Knott's, but because of that experience that day it is easily my most hated park I have ever visited, and since I have a CF platinum pass I didn't stay that long because I have been there a couple times before, one good experience, one somewhat bad experience, and because I thought the second visit was just a bad day I went back again, and next experience was even worse (which you just read). I din't know why but I went back a few years after that and my experience was fine, but I avoided the troublesome rides (Xcelerator, La Revolucion, and Montezuma) where I had the worst experiences the past visit. But that experience (I should have known to not go then) was during spring break. I taught "Oh it's not a weekend, it will be fine," But I was dead wrong.

 

I'm sorry for this rant, IDK if there was a better place in the forums to have put this, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer and I just had to get it off my chest.

Wait . . . This happen 7 years ago? When you were 9??? Where we're YOUR parents???

[brneff99]

Hit the park for a few hours last Friday with my son...why do I manage each Winter to forget about the May middle school and choir trips to the park on Fridays?!? Ugh...seems like there is still plenty of work to go on Ghostrider but Ghost Town looks great...I think the park is headed for a busy Summer...we did hit the newly opened Mrs Knotts Chicken Dinner on the way out...unfortunately I did not have my phone but it looks great and has a very nice wide open entry area now...and...a bar!! While I love the food and nostalgia, I'm not sure it worth the price these days...but the biscuits...oh the biscuits...

[Nrthwnd]

That was very nice of them to do. Haha. I do hope they expand the park boundaries. Not that there's not enough room for new stuff, but just a new area with some fresh design.

 

They could go "Blackpool" or "Grona Lund" and start stacking flats and coasters with food and/or merch space (or other rides) below!

[coloradocoasterguy]

^The article in the OC Register most certainly strongly implies that the 5.5 million figure is just the park, but I didn't see anything that outright confirms it.

 

Amusement park tourism is one driver. Visitors to Knott’s Berry Farm jumped to 5.5 million in 2015, up from 3.6 million in 2014. The Boysenberry Festival in March, a refurbished Timber Mountain Log Ride and a new attraction, Voyage to the Iron Reef, attracted crowds.

 

I have a hard time believing that the number doesn't include Soak City....a 65% increase in attendance is unheard of in the industry.

 

For Reference, if you look at the TEA report from 2007 and then look at 2015, even the Disney parks have only grown by 2-3million guests over that entire 8 year time span.

 

Some key openings: Diagon Alley only increased UO attendance by 17% according to the TEA. The original WWoHP was reported as creating a 30% gain for IoA. Carsland did 22% for DCA. So 65% for Iron Reef, a new (admittedly awesome) food festival, and refurbished classic rides? Not buying it.

 

5.5 million minus 3.6 million is 1.9 million which is 52% of 3.6 million, not 65%, but yes still an unbelievable increase. Then again consider last year you could get into KBF for $45 bucks. Every Dennys and BK in SoCal had coupins. Now put that against $99 bucks for just one of the Disney parks. I can see many local families driving a little father on the 91 and getting off at Beach Blvd.

[Jew]

I did the math wrong (put in the wrong number when looking at all the older TEA reports).

 

Regardless...I still don't buy it. Knott's has always been much cheaper than Disney and always had discounts tied to restaurants. I have no doubt KBF had a record year for them, but I highly doubt their growth was also so large that it would also be the largest single % gain ever recorded since those attendance reports started being published in 2007.

 

Another example: back in 2010, you could get the buy a day get the year free pass at USH for something like $70-80 (which was cheaper than a KBF pass at the time if I remember correctly) or the premium with no blackouts and free parking for $120ish. USH aggressively marketed Kong and still "only" managed a 26% gain that year.

 

Late edit: Cedar Fair's Q4 2015 earnings call confirms it was the park and Soak City. "Knott's Berry Farm, along with its adjacent water parks Soak City, led the growth this year, entertaining more than five million guests."

Edited May 10, 2016 by Jew

[Superbatboy]

I'm sorry, but there's no way Iron Reef gave Knott's an almost 2 million increase in guests per annum

 

Honestly I'd have trouble believing Knott's eve got to 4 million in 2015 let alone 5.5 mil

[VegasBaby]

I'm sorry, but there's no way Iron Reef gave Knott's an almost 2 million increase in guests per annum

 

Honestly I'd have trouble believing Knott's eve got to 4 million in 2015 let alone 5.5 mil

 

I agree with this, I could see a 10% bump to around 4 million at most, but a 52% increase is just absurd. They are either including Soak City in those numbers and or they are just plain wrong.

[Jew]

See my edit above. The 4Q earnings conference call confirms it was both Soak City and KBF.

[Guy T. Koepp]

Be what it may be. That is still an awesome figure. Go Knott's!

 

Now give us our megalite damn it!

[JordyC]

Now give us our megalite damn it!

 

[DoubleDown]

^Seriously! I want my Intamin airtime gosh darnnit!

 

Whether it was just Knott's or Knott's and Soak City, that's absolutely insane. I can't even believe that lame-o water park would even make a difference in attendance, and considering how little the park has done to expand in the past years, hats off to Cedar Fair in Buena Park!

 

Also considering Universal Studios, I really don't care what the price would be for a "buy a year get a year" that park is such a gigantic pain in the ass to get to, I would never even imagine dealing with that more than once a year even if they gave the gate away, and offered free parking too!

 

IMO the convenience alone gives Knott's the edge, and it looks like they took advantage of it.

[Jew]

^My comment wasn't meant to be a USH vs. KBF comparison. Just meant to be another example of how such a huge gain would be unheard of in the industry, as it showed that even some of the largest gains reported weren't even close to the 52% gain.

 

The gain is still sure to be one of the larger ones for 2015, assuming Soak City pulled in 500-600k (2014 reported attendance was 326k, so assuming a gain for them).

[coloradocoasterguy]

See my edit above. The 4Q earnings conference call confirms it was both Soak City and KBF.

That report only says together both parks had more than 5 million guests. Tea Connect reported SC had 372,000 guests in 2015 up 4,000 from 2014. If both parks had 5.5 million that's an overall increase of 1,449,000. If only 4,000 of that was SC that means KBF had an increase of 1,445,000 for 5,128,000. That's a 39% increase for Knott's alone. Still impressive.

[Jew]

^Where did you see the 2015 attendance report? It's not on their website yet.

 

In any case, your initial post stated that the OC Register reported 5.5 million guests for KBF alone. That's all this discussion started from.

 

No one really questioned whether or not KBF had a successful year. The earnings conference call already confirmed that KBF led the way for the company. KBF's efforts to go back to their roots so to speak and the increasing costs of Disney and USH no doubt allowed them to recapture market share. I simply doubted whether that growth would record shattering for the entire industry.

[Lightning Rod]

post edited wrong post.

[MScoasters]

I'm sorry, but there's no way Iron Reef gave Knott's an almost 2 million increase in guests per annum

 

Honestly I'd have trouble believing Knott's eve got to 4 million in 2015 let alone 5.5 mil

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