The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

[AllenA07]

Oh boy, here come the dumb lawsuits for like millions of dollars or something. Theme parks have become such a liability in the modern day. Every single accident causes for a lawsuit. Here we got our first one already. I love how he's demanding answers. I didn't think the concept of your train not making it over the hill required a chemical engineering degree to figure out.

 

A broken back is a pretty serious injury, I'm not at all shocked that somebody with that kind of an injury would be quick to sue the park. I would guess that nearly everybody on this site would sue the park if they received a broken back on a roller coaster no matter how much they loved the park. To sum this up really easily, there was apparently paint on the brakes when there wasn't supposed to be paint on the brakes. Somebody is going to be at fault for the paint being there. Whoever was negligent in leaving the paint is responsible for an accident in which at least one rider was seriously injured. Therefore the party that was negligent deserves to be held liable.

[Tmcdllr]

^^ I'm guessing that the article was reported out of sync with the other news. I would have to assume that the report from OSHA and the fact that the ride re-opened means their investigation has been done, the newspaper, which does not surprise me in the least, just aren't paying attention.

 

^ Little Bitch can spell...but he can't drink!

 

--Robb

 

Ahh, I see, that makes more sense and LOL for the second comment.

[shepp]

I'm still annoyed that they made me remove my eyeglasses (which had a retainer of course) "for safety reasons" on Pony Express at WCB this year. Never mind that eyeglasses are permitted on KK, TTD, Rita, Desert Race, Booster Bike, and other far more powerful launch coasters. I've only ever been asked to remove my eyeglasses on two occasions: After riding The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley I had to concede that I understood the request and switched to lenses for the next visit. I'll never understand the reason for the request at Pony Express, which has a top speed of 37mph. In my evil brain the accident was caused by ops management focusing on eyeglass removal instead of real safety issues.

 

Well, adding fuel to your theory is the fact that the other ride at Knott's for which glasses - even tightly strapped ones - have to be removed is...XCelerator. Last week, when I groused to the XCelerator op - who'd clearly heard it all before - he told me that it was due to a rule in Intamin's manual, not a KBR policy. He said that CF was trying to get Intamin to drop the requirement, but no response so far. On the other hand, if TTD is now requiring glasses to be removed, then that makes things less hopeful for those of us near-sighted folks who'd rather not have crap flying into our eyes at 120 mph.

[beatle11]

I agree and while those parts should not have paint on them, how is it that 10 brakes did not stop it? I think there is more to it.

 

I thought the general consensus was that the Intamin cable was to blame.

 

What if not all 10 brakes were working to begin with? Lets say a few had failed before the incident due to the paint. The rest of the brakes that worked were able to stop the train anyways. Then a couple more fail and the train doesn't stop. If there weren't any proper inspections, that could be possible. That would be extremely negligent of KBF but unless they give us a better explanation, people will speculate.

[the ghost]

Oh boy, here come the dumb lawsuits for like millions of dollars or something. Theme parks have become such a liability in the modern day. Every single accident causes for a lawsuit. Here we got our first one already. I love how he's demanding answers. I didn't think the concept of your train not making it over the hill required a chemical engineering degree to figure out. Anyways, here's the story & the link:

 

Knott's Berry Farm needs to provide answers about last week's roller coaster accident, an injured passenger said, according to local TV station KABC-7.

 

The Pony Express roller coaster train was traveling up an incline but failed to clear the top, prompting it to fall backwards into a parked train.

 

Nine people on the train and one person getting into the parked train were all taken to hospital.

 

Arthur Hodge, 53, told KABC-7 that the incident broke his back, adding that he wants answers.

 

Hodge’s attorneys said that Knott's has not supplied any information about the accident.

 

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the cause of the accident and will interview ride operators as well as look into maintenance records.

 

In the meantime, the ride will be shut down.

 

Knott's said that the ride, opened two years ago, has had no problems in the past.

 

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/44359/

 

My rule of thumb is if its the parks fault and something major happens(like breaking you back) then go ahead and sue. On the other hand if you're drunk and fall off the tower of terror upper que and you want to sue then f*** you! This is clearly not the guests fault... no one could have predicted this, and only knott could have prevented this, so they are at fault hence being able to sue them.

[SenseOFone]

I love the way they talk about needing answers provided. That information has not been provided. At the time, I bet Knott's didn't know any more about the cause then the guest did. And as soon as they knew, they let everyone else know. But obviously, parks need a crystal ball to know exactly what happened to a ride, pretty much before it happened

 

As for the suing part, yeah, he has every right. I was kind of hoping it was Zamperla's fault Would have marked a second company (that I know of) that Knott's would have tried to take down Mwahahahahahaha

[COASTAH FREAK]

Hey guys,

I went to KBF yesterday and here's my little report:

First of all, there was NOBODY in the park since it was a Friday, a few hundred tops. The thing that sucked was the amount of maintenance and closed rides. Not only did they restrict the back area of the park until 11:00, but Silver Bullet was down so really the only things to ride were Sierra Sidewinder (two heavy people on one side, one small person on the other = ) and Ghostrider. Me and my friends were able to hit these up quickly and wait around for the park to open, which again sucked because SB was closed and there was nowhere to go for like 45 minutes. Once they opened up the back of the park, I was disapointed to find that Montezooma was closed. Also they had a bunch of maintenance crew working on it, one of which was doing some sort of work on the track going up the back spike. Since they hadn't opened Jaguar either, my friends and I were able to get a couple great rides on La Revolucion in. Eventually Montezooma and Jaguar opened, so we took advantage of those and kept going around the park. We got a ride in on Xcelerator (intamin cable was happy and didn't break), Supreme Scream, and a couple on Bigfoot rapids (we got to see the water get turned on, which was pretty cool) before grabbing the most expensive lunch ever at Johnny Rockets. One order of fries, one hamburger, two orders of chicken fingers, and three shakes....50 bucks! After lunch, we were able to ride rip tide, but like all the other good rides, perilous was closed. We rode Pony Express as well and something I noticed was that it seems to be launching slower than when it first opened. It felt like we barely made it through the turn and first hill, which is interesting after the accident. Since we pretty much had run out of things to do, we grabbed another 10 rides on Bigfoot Rapids, bringing our total to 12 for the day. We also rode with a couple of women who are planning to officially break the park record of 43 next week. After this, we took one final front row ride on Xcelerator (which was running great, I almost blacked out both times) before heading out for the day. Now for the best part of the report:

You'll all be happy to know that Xcelerator is getting a new paint job! I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but here's a picture I took featuring my friend Max. Xcelerator's gunna be purrrdy once more

new paint...and Max

[Gmaster562]

^ the paint has been there for a while. They just havent done anything with it.

[COASTAH FREAK]

^shows how often I go to Knott's haha. Interesting that they'd just leave it half way done like that

[G-Force!]

They are doing the same thing over in DCA for Screamin'. It takes time to paint these things when the ride is still operational. Patience is key

[Gmaster562]

Random question. Will the WindSeeker have swing side to side?

[SenseOFone]

In case anyone was wondering:

 

Happy Birthday Calico Mine Ride!

50 years of tours into the old Calico Glory Hole

[Fire2box]

Knotts Berry Farms is letting vetrans or active miltary personal and a guest into the park for free in honor of Veterans Day this week to thanksgiving day. Also, up to 6 others in the same party can get in for 15 bucks each.

 

Seems like it's a good deal.

[disney4me2001]

In case anyone was wondering:

 

Happy Birthday Calico Mine Ride!

50 years of tours into the old Calico Glory Hole

 

Awesome! No trip to Knott's is complete without a trip to the Glory Hole! Wait, what?

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Random question. Will the WindSeeker have swing side to side?

 

It looks like the ride will just spin and go up the tower just like a Star Flyer.

[Tmcdllr]

If what you mean is the faster it rotates the further out away from the tower the swings move then yes.

[Gmaster562]

^ cool. to bad it doesn't spin to fast. But i guess its's not much of a THRILLING ride, once your past the height you are at.

Edited November 11, 2010 by Gmaster562

[Ace Of Spades]

^Since when is a Windseeker a coaster?

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Wait, what? Wind Seeker will get its thrill factor from its height and the speed that your'e spinning. Are you thinking it does more?

[jray21]

I'm still waiting to hear what all those survey markers were for.

[Jew]

If we are still around in 2012, we might find out what those markers are for...if you believe the rumors.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Rumors of what the park is getting, or rumors that will all be wiped out?

[GLund]

^I will bet anyone $1000+ that nothing will happen in 2012. My evidence? Back to the Future part 2.

 

Random question. Will the WindSeeker have swing side to side?

 

I don't think the arms of the swings are mechanically controlled, I'm pretty sure they're just on a pivot. So the seats will have the ability to swing side to side, but probably not as much as an original StarFlyer where the seats are held on by a chain. In the Windseeker Model, the seats are held on by a metal arm, eliminating any possibility of "sway" in the seats, but not eliminating the ability to swing closer and further from the tower.

 

Don't take my word for it though, I could be wrong.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

In either case...with all the rumors floating around, 2012 might be a banner year for Southern Californian theme parks. Maybe not so much for the Northern ones though...

[metrock]

^ Does NorCal EVER have a banner year?

 

And hey, Joey, the end of the world wont happen till December 21, 2012. So that is plenty of time for us to find out.