The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[Chrisrad]

^ yes, pony express is extremely short...especially after the spinal torture. The launch is quite fun, however.

 

Regarding ghostrider...oh boy - rough!!!! The front is smooth, but in the back, it literally rearranges your organs. Aside from its roughness, the track layout, speed, and excitement are all amazing.. since I am young and can handle it, I love it.

 

I usually just opt for about five rides on silver bullet at knotts.

 

Sorry for any spelling mistakes.. I'm on my droid.

[coasternut]

^ yes, pony express is extremely short...especially after the spinal torture. The launch is quite fun, however.

 

Regarding ghostrider...oh boy - rough!!!! The front is smooth, but in the back, it literally rearranges your organs. Aside from its roughness, the track layout, speed, and excitement are all amazing.. since I am young and can handle it, I love it.

 

I usually just opt for about five rides on silver bullet at knotts.

 

Sorry for any spelling mistakes.. I'm on my droid.

 

Ghostrider is "tolerable" for a short time if you ride it right after it's rehab. This is true for me if in the front car only.

 

Any news on the opening of Xcelerator? The Knotts website still states 1/19/10. I really hope it's open for WCB when I'm on the westcoast. Not much to ride without it. Only so many reps on Silver Bullet and few few on Ghostrider as per my previous post.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Last I hear is that significant progress is being made.

[cgodsey]

^^Knotts is telling us it will be up by WCB, but personally I wouldn't count on it. I would bet the state will have MANY hoops for them to jump through.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Not necessarily. Nowhere in the DOSH report does it mention the park was at fault or neglected any preventative maintenence to keep this from happening. I would imagine they'd just require using more reliable cables, if anythig. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this ride opns sooner than later however...

[Skycoastin Steve]

For what it's worth, the website says Xcelerator will be closed through the end of the month.

[austinlee]

I wouldn't read too much into that. Since it closed they have been changing those dates on a regular basis to reflect that Xcelerator will be closed for the rest of the current month.

[thrillgeek]

If I told you all that a backstage tour of "Calico Mine Train" was one of the tours "in discussion" how interested in that would you be?

 

No guarantees as of yet even we can even pull this one off, just putting feelers out there of what people may be interested in.

 

--Robb

 

I've never heard of this before but I'm sure it would be cool. What exactly is it?

[robbalvey]

Just want to let everyone know that for the Knott's Berry Farm day I can confirm we will have a backstage sneak peak inside the Calico Mine Ride and the Locomotive Roundhouse!

 

We will have limited signups for these tours on the day of the event on a first-come, first-serve basis so please arrive at the event EARLY if you are interested in getting to see behind the scenes at these two locations!

 

To sign up for West Coast Bash 2010, click here:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=14

 

--Robb

[Calicoasters]

As of Today Xcelerator's launch had all of it's damaged magnetic brake fins replaced with shinny new ones! In the station there is a brand new red catch car hoisted up above the track waiting to be installed. And for once I'm finally starting to believe all the rumors of the ride reopening soon!

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Still gotta wait on the report from the state and the inspection to clear it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but bracing myself for the bad news.

[Dietcokevan]

KBF has Xcelerator listed to be closed till Febuary 28th.

 

http://www.knotts.com/public/visit/schedule/index.cfm (scroll down towards the bottom)

[thrillgeek]

Awesome!! Great news to hear. Thanks for the link.

[themeparkman25]

Deleted by author

Edited January 22, 2011 by themeparkman25

[atem122]

^The funny thing is, it was also closed for a super long time a year ago too.

 

And the "closed-till" date really means nothing. They change it to the end of the month every month.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Two people, one being a young kid, were injured on camera and the story made national news. That's why. They have to take every precaution before opening back up regardless, but now they REALLY have to mind their P's and Q's before reopening Xcelerator, otherwise they'll be in some deep doo-doo.

[CreditCrazy]

There it is!

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Judging from the ambience of the RTL light in the background they at least started powering it back up now so yay!

[Jew]

That is a 165 day closure on one of the parks main staples. Unbelievable. I just have to believe that there is a greater reason on why this ride just won't open outside of the apparent damages. Whether it is taking care of the family, issues raising capital or frankly just not caring. There just has to be another reason, because there should be no reason to close a coaster for this long.

 

You're right, it shouldn't take any time at all to investigate why something like this happened, engineer a fix to make sure it doesn't happen again, machine the replacement parts, get the ride cleared by the state, and so on.

 

[themeparkman25]

Deleted by author

Edited January 22, 2011 by themeparkman25

[Jew]

^I think you are reading WAY too far into things.

 

Those brake fins looked badly damaged. Can you say with 100% certainly that is how Intamin meant for things to happen if a cable snapped? Or better yet, are you aware of how things work in California with DOSH? You're assuming there wasn't major damage and that the park is free to start making repairs whenever they want.

 

As far as to why news isn't being reported...well for one thing, it's an on-going investigation with the state. And for another, there's probably a lot of legal wrangling going on behind the scenes. Why should the park comment? Or why should the family talk if there's on going negotiations, where opening their mouth could cost them? Or maybe there's already a settlement?

[themeparkman25]

Deleted by author

Edited January 22, 2011 by themeparkman25

[Jew]

^I didn't quite understand what you were trying to say because you were not clear at all in what you were trying to say. Initially you were saying that there was another reason, but gave 3 other conspiracy theories outside of there being a bigger technical issue with the ride. Then said the braking system worked just fine. Finally in your last response you made it clear that you feel there is a bigger technical issue.

 

As far as the lack of media coverage, I don't see what is fishy about that. There's no police report because there was no crime. There's no DOSH report yet because the investigation is probably not complete. There's no comments from anyone because I am sure there is talks going on behind the scenes that would be compromised by public comments. There's no news updates because it isn't news that the ride is still just sitting there. It's a non-story until new information is made available or the ride re-opens. What's fishy about that?

 

I'm as big a Knott's/Cedar Fair critic as anyone, but it's really not fair to the park to speculate. All we know is what happened, and now have an update that the ride is being worked on. Which is great news.

[themeparkman25]

Deleted by author

Edited January 22, 2011 by themeparkman25

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

TPM25...

 

I can assure you that the brakes did not function quite as "intended"...

This V

 

is an example of the brakes working properly in the event of a short shot.

Slamming to a stop is not in the rides design. The ride has absolutely no friction brakes. Just magnets and drive tires.

 

Also, you have to keep in mind that Intamin, B&M, Vekoma, etc are essentially just design firms. They don't fabricate every single piece of a ride. Lets say Steel Plant X is the only plant Intamin approves a park to buy brake fins from. A park would have to go through Steel Plant X to buy those brake fins. And if Steel Plant X is already busy with another contract and tells said park they can't start fabricating those fins for two months, all the park can do is sit there and wait. It's not like Knott's can go to Home Depot and find a catch car or pneumatic cylinders on aisle 12. There's more to fixing rides than just buying parts and putting them on. There's more to this accident than just a cable snapping. This ride has been SBNO is September 16th. If it opened back up in time for Haunt '09 it would've scared me. Be patient.