The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

On 7/11/2024 at 9:40 AM, jramo14 said:

Can anyone explain how the child/parent swap works at Knott's? Looking online it is unclear how the process works (compared to universal and disney where more info is available on the websites). I am from NYC and plan on going to Knott's for the very first time in early October with my wife, both in-laws, and my one year old son. Do two adults wait in line while the other two adults wait with the baby/non-rider, and then the the other two adults skip the line upon the first riders returning from the ride? I would appreciate any information as I want to be prepared as best as possible (due to scheduling I will only be able to visit the park from 10 am - 3 pm so trying to be as efficient as possible). I see no fast lane is available on Wed 10/9 when I am visited so that makes things more complicated (but I believe crowds should be light). Would appreciate any advice as well!

Welcome to dad life. 

[CaptainUnknown]

I have some time at the park coming up soon and there are really only 2 questions I have at this point:

Is it a bad idea to rope drop Xcelerator if it's running?

Does Ghostrider close the line early? I'd love a night ride on it.

[SoCalJasonland]

So, I made my Metrolink trip to Knott's on Sunday to see what the waterpark would be like and if they had water socks.  I also saw my first slightly quirky person on the train.  He was decked out in a full length robe and had a microphone and speakers plugged into the wall and belted out tunes for the train ride.  He stayed on past Buena Park so must have been going to downtown Los Angeles to be a star.

 

I thought this white scrim was for haunt but it is the front spike of monte.

This is under the large swinging fence to the right of the ride.

All of the exisiting track and supports appear to have been removed.  This is the section between the front spike and launch motor with track and supports missing.  It appears that like TTD2 we are getting pretty much new everything but the station.

Is the Gipper Ronald Reagan?

Boardwalk BBQ has 1/2 chicken where Fireman's is 1/4 chicken.  Boardwalk also has Tri Tip, Pork Tenderloin, and Boysenberry Meatballs; but you can add boysenberry BBQ sauce to Tri Tip or anything else, so I don't get the meatballs.

The have one freestyle machine now

They were out of cole slaw so I got beans and tri tip with spicy and boysenberry bbq sauces.  My meal pass and drink passes are worth it.

VIP lounge with a rum drink from the nearby saloon.  Pretty empty on a Sunday.

The only included potato chip is baked? 

I had Doritos and chocolate cookies

They put water back in this thingy and Camp Snoopy looks pretty complete now with all of the rides installed.

They sell water socks at the water park in the gift store but they are not guaranteed to work on the slides and they were down to sizes 7 and 8 plus one pair of 11s for me.  The were $24.99.

People still just threw their shoes all over the ground.  

 

[SoCalJasonland]

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Edited August 27 by SoCalJasonland
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[PeoplemoverMatt]

Those who just leave their shoes randomly on the ground like that should be completely not shocked when/if they are stolen.

[SoCalJasonland]

On 7/22/2024 at 3:43 AM, CaptainUnknown said:

I have some time at the park coming up soon and there are really only 2 questions I have at this point:

Is it a bad idea to rope drop Xcelerator if it's running?

Does Ghostrider close the line early? I'd love a night ride on it.

It is best to rope drop either Xcelerator or Ghostrider.  On a slow week day, you can hit an open middle or back row on Xcelerator 2 to 4 times before any crowd gets there then run to log ride x 2, hang time x 2, and silver bullet x 2, before 11:30am.  In slow times, people tire of Ghostrider in the morning and the line may get shorter in the afternoon while Xcelerator and log ride will not have shorter lines later in the day when it is warmer and people migrate to the rear of the park.

I don't know when they close the lines because I am at the park so often that I never stay until closing any more. 

 

[CedarFlags]

On 7/22/2024 at 3:43 AM, CaptainUnknown said:

I have some time at the park coming up soon and there are really only 2 questions I have at this point:

Is it a bad idea to rope drop Xcelerator if it's running?

Does Ghostrider close the line early? I'd love a night ride on it.

Closing the GR line early has happened before, but it's VERY rare.  It runs long into the night most weekends.

Rope dropping the boardwalk area will get you some good time on Xcel + Hangtime, which are both pretty low capacity.  Hangtime is fun in the morning because the hangtime in the inversions is the strongest.  Ghostrider's position at the main entrance means the line is long all day, and it gets another rush of people just before closing as everyone hops in line for one last ride on their way out.

[Skysthelimit]

Hey all, hoping for some advice from the west coast locals on here. 
 

We recently moved from Orlando to Colorado for a change of pace and would love to take advantage of the short flights from Denver to LA for a quick getaway to Knott’s. 
 

I have only visited once and that was back in 2015 while Ghostrider was under its major refurb and will be my hubbys first time. 
 

Are crowds typically pretty light on weekdays in October assuming you avoid Scary Farm? I recall it being dead last time we were there in November but it was almost a decade ago. 
 

We’d love to ride Xcellerator while we still can and while all signs look good there for the time being, I noticed Silver Bullet is closed with no reopening date. Any intel on what’s going on there? 

[prozach626]

On 8/26/2024 at 3:27 PM, SoCalJasonland said:

Boardwalk BBQ has 1/2 chicken where Fireman's is 1/4 chicken.  Boardwalk also has Tri Tip, Pork Tenderloin, and Boysenberry Meatballs; but you can add boysenberry BBQ sauce to Tri Tip or anything else, so I don't get the meatballs.

Holy shit! I actually see some real food at a park! The chicken looks good, and it doesn't even seem like it's slathered in that much artificial shit. Scrape whatever chemical mix that is off of the beef and that looks somewhat healthy, too. Nice.

Thank God for Coke being the equalizer for guests, though. They probably had to install twice as many of those diabetes dispensers to offset nutrition offered elsewhere in the park.

 

 

[SoCalJasonland]

21 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Holy shit! I actually see some real food at a park! The chicken looks good, and it doesn't even seem like it's slathered in that much artificial shit. Scrape whatever chemical mix that is off of the beef and that looks somewhat healthy, too. Nice.

Thank God for Coke being the equalizer for guests, though. They probably had to install twice as many of those diabetes dispensers to offset nutrition offered elsewhere in the park.

 

 

I know it is a lot harder to find good food at SFMM, but Knotts has added some decent stuff over the past few years.  It is still less than 10% of the total offerings if I had to guess.  I still wish that they had fresh brewed iced tea instead of the general unsweatened stuff on the mixed soft drink machine.  It doesn't have sugar or artificial flavors but I still trust real iced tea better.  I don't drink soda much but an occasional boysenberry soda is a treat when I find a machine without unsweetened tea.  The Boardwalk BBQ and Mexican restauraunt with the burrito bowls are as healthy as the stuff I cook at home so I don't complain too much:-)  I hope the legacy Six Flags parks get  some better food based upon what Knotts offers and not the other way around.

[SoCalJasonland]

On 9/13/2024 at 9:41 AM, Skysthelimit said:

Hey all, hoping for some advice from the west coast locals on here. 
 

We recently moved from Orlando to Colorado for a change of pace and would love to take advantage of the short flights from Denver to LA for a quick getaway to Knott’s. 
 

I have only visited once and that was back in 2015 while Ghostrider was under its major refurb and will be my hubbys first time. 
 

Are crowds typically pretty light on weekdays in October assuming you avoid Scary Farm? I recall it being dead last time we were there in November but it was almost a decade ago. 
 

We’d love to ride Xcellerator while we still can and while all signs look good there for the time being, I noticed Silver Bullet is closed with no reopening date. Any intel on what’s going on there? 

Knotts is dead during the week in most of September and October during the day.  Fridays can be busier, and don't go on Saturday or Sunday.  Keep an eye out for ride rehabs during the offseason but they will try  to keep Ghostrider and the logride open during peak haunt.  The daytime ride staff may be short handed so operations will likely be slow but he lack of crowds and hopefully lack of heat will make it better than a weekend or the summer.  Hopefully by then, all of these fires will be out.

I haven't been in a few weeks since it has been really hot out here.  I am trying to go back but have been busy lately.  If I can find out what is going on with Silver Bullet, I will for you.

 

[prozach626]

On 9/14/2024 at 11:18 AM, SoCalJasonland said:

I don't drink soda much but an occasional boysenberry soda is a treat when I find a machine without unsweetened tea.

Yeah, I'd probably try that, too. When in Rome.

I usually allow myself to drink a Coke on park days... before switching to beer late afternoon.

[SoCalJasonland]

So sad, Ghostrider closed all day Monday but not on the closed list.  Boardwalk BBQ still great and here comes my ride

SoCal has nice weather for many months

I was able to get a first row, middle row and back row before they had an employee assigning people to lines. One of the gifts of Prestige Pass of getting throught the lines early.

It looks nice from Sky Cabin

Poor old Ghostrider was broken all day

 

I did get BBQ - health fruit and salad options

Berry and chicken salads

 

I ended up with a half-chicken with mashed potatoes and boysenberry beer.

The food was on the meal plan but not the beer

[coasternut]

^ Ghostrider closed all day today too 10/1. Lot's of rides on Xcelerator to make up for that...

[prozach626]

Really happy to keep seeing these healthy(er) food choices catching on.

[SoCalJasonland]

It's possible that Ghostrider reopened Thursday, but a weekday 90 min line like this at 11:15 am would be ridiculous.  I would use my one Fast Lane and give up.  Glad you also got your Xcelerator rides Coasternut.

It is great the salads are also on the meal plan Prozach626.  I got the half-chicken with mashed potatoes but also had over 24,000 steps with all of the Knott's walking plus to and from the Buena Park Metrolink station, so I needed the excess calories-energy.  Many of the restaurants have salads now as options but there are still way too many burgers or chicken tenders with fries as the only side option so I skip all of those places and end up with a Boardwalk BBQ, a chicken burrito bowl, or non-fried chicken from Panda Express.  I would guess that other Cedar Fair parks would have added some healthier stuff too, but it depends on if the guests will eat it.  I imagine everything in Texas comes with Ranch dressing unless you request otherwise.

They also removed all but one small area of Prestige VIP lounge seating for the Boofet so there was no seating available on a slow weekday.  I would guess you shouldn't even try for a seat on a weekend.  You get none of the empty Boofet but they still had free chips and cookies.

This is a before photo of all of the lovely seating that filled the room.

[ryder]

They did move out a lot of the seating to the adjacent Gerties in the meantime.

[SoCalJasonland]

Visited Knott's on October 9th, Wednesday during the week.

No school groups today and the park was fairly dead.  The longest waits were Ghostrider or Log Ride at 15 min or front row of Xcelerator at 20 people.

A couple of employees confirmed that Mystery Lodge has been gutted and will not return.

Ghostrider is jackhammering around the turn from the station to the lift and the midcourse turnaround, so I would not be surprised if the do some retracking on the next closure.  The rest of the ride runs pretty well.

No additional work on Monte and all track except for one piece of old track is missing. No work on track supports yet.  I hope they keep this little loop that you launch through just outside of the station.

Rear spike

 

Boardwalk BBQ didn't open until 11:30 am, and I already had a couple of cocktails so I had Panda's orange chicken with noodles.  I already ate some chicken and the red stuff is hot sauce.  Oh well, I walked it off with 26,745 steps.

Prop Shop Piizza is located between the Charles Shultz Theater and bumper cars at the rear of the park.  The salads, pizza and pasta are on the meal plan.

Here are a couple of the salads and sorry about the condensation.

Other options - the side salad is sping mix or caesar with choice of dressing.

The Grizzly Creek Lodge in Camp Snoopy lets you pick your burger toppings and all of these items are on the meal plan but not ultra healthy because burger and chicken tenders comes with fries.  I would probably skip the fries and bun and turn the burger into a salad from this bar.

Chicken tender and caesar salads

Pizza

Casa California tries to be a Chipotle and is pretty good.  Only the Nachos and Carne Asada is not on the meal plan but I get the chicken bowl anyway.  Hopefully, these restaurants make it to Six Flags.

[SoCalJasonland]

Rando park - Halloween photos

[prozach626]

On 10/4/2024 at 3:29 PM, SoCalJasonland said:

It is great the salads are also on the meal plan Prozach626.  I got the half-chicken with mashed potatoes but also had over 24,000 steps with all of the Knott's walking plus to and from the Buena Park Metrolink station, so I needed the excess calories-energy. 

Thanks for sharing the food options, especially when it comes to the healthier options.

I hear you on needing more, sometimes. When we eat clean on vacations and keep working out every morning, we actually find ourselves losing weight despite having a few drinks during the evening. We always eat really clean throughout day and cheat a little at dinner. I can't eat like crap during the day anymore, anyway.

But... When we go to Kings Island Haunt this Saturday, it's going to be a free for all. It's like our one day a year where we intentionally drink a lot and don't care what we eat starting from late afternoon until we tap out at night. A workout before the park and the next morning before we drive home are crucial to make us not feel like total garbage. Cardio, cold shower, coffee, eggs, and a small bowl of fruit in that order. That puts me right back to about 75-80% after our annual Haunt binge nights.

[SoCalJasonland]

I think for me that the food can be bad for me but it should taste good.  Knott's burger places all serve the same burgers and fries that are on the meal plan but only Grizzly Creek lets you pick and load up on the produce toppings and has jalapenos and peppercini so its a nice touch.  The new Casa California is better than the old Victoria Mexican restaurant.  The Prop Shop Pizza has cheese and pepper packets sitting out and are only missing an oregeno shaker.  Boardwalk BBQ has a whole half chicken or tri tip and three types of BBQ sauces.  I have seen a lot of food improvement over the past five years or so.  Several boards and Youtube channels cover Disney food but not much mention of Cedar Far, or Knott's in general.

Since legacy Cedar Fair positions of CEO, CFO, and COO are running the company now, I hope Six Flags restaurant problems will be slowly fixed.  I can barely finish a meal at SFMM but it is not on meal size and solely based on taste/flavor

These were my beverage choices for the walk to the park from the liquor store near the Metrolink train station.  Mojito in a can!

[prozach626]

Man, I just can't get behind those premade cocktails. They always sound so good to me, but they never quite taste the same.

[SoCalJasonland]

17 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Man, I just can't get behind those premade cocktails. They always sound so good to me, but they never quite taste the same.

I don't like them as much either but try to buy a real cocktail from at 6 - 10 am on the way to the park plus they are only about $4 each with no tip.  So it is either a beer, malt liquor, malt beverage like Mike's, or something actually made with liquor.  I tend to go with 8% Mike's harder or the canned cocktails but not great choices either way.  I can also buy Beat Boxes but that is just fruit-flavored fortified wine like Mad Dog 20/20 or Boone's Farm in a Tetra Pak.  Knott's cocktails are also mostly pre-made and some advertise that they are margaritas made from Beat Boxes.  The Monaco white cans actually taste like Monster white cans with the great citrus taste plus Vodka and are usually sold out.  Cutwater will rot your gut with citric acid after a couple so I try to stop at one

[prozach626]

Ah. I had a reading fail. I missed the part where you were pregaming. Your choices make sense. I think out of all of the canned cocktails I tried I didn't mind the mules.

 

I've seen them, but I haven't had a Beat Box. Sounds like I was way ahead of my time when I used to pour Vodka directly into the Boone's Farm bottles, at an undisclosed age.