Knotts: Potential for Greatness

[photoginit]

Knotts seemed like two parks in one...one modern thrill ride side, and one older classic side...but the two sides have virtually nothing to do with each other, and don't blend well to make a cohesive park experience. There are teepees sitting directy underneath Silver Bullet. There's a Screamin' Swing plopped down in the middle of the western village. Stuff like that just takes away from the park experience to me.

 

I think the 2 parks in one problem is something that happens to most of the parks Cedar Fair buys. When you go to Dorney and WOF it is very easy to tell the old parts of the park and the Cedar Fair. I think due to the lack of space it has been way more pronounced at Knotts. Instead of adding new sections like they have done at the other parks they are ripping up the old sections and putting in new stuff that just does not mesh.

 

I do think it is ridiculous that CF has upped the height restriction on a bunch of rides that ran perfectly fine for years at their previous height. But we are talking about Cf who have been notorious for their "Gestapo" ride ops. I would get my snaps in while you still can on the Flyers at Carowinds because I bet that will go away.

 

I think Knotts needs a few family rides to balance the park back out but I don't know if it will ever get its charm back. But who ever expected CF to build a GCI woodie and a heavily themed launched coaster. So who knows.

[SharkTums]

OMG! If I hear one more person talk about 'how heavily themed Maverick is' I'm going to kill them!!!!

 

A heavily themed launched coasters is Revenge of the Mummy, or even Powder Keg or Hulk...Heck Volcano is pretty up there!

 

Sorry, but I see Maverick on the level of Hypersonic in the theming department!

[Gnome]

^ bleh, its decently themed. More landscaped then themed, imo.

 

But yea, as to the posts about the knotts of old. Whenever I ride the new rides, I always enjoy them, but when I get off and stair at the expansive cement flooring that lieth before me, I always think to myself about how much I miss windjammer and soap box derby. Especially the latter. I remember riding the parachute ride and having it scare the crap out of me, far more then what Supreme scream ever did. But I liked having the choice between the 2 because SS offered more air time (which also scared the crap out of me at the time it was around with an unnuetered sky tower) And I agree with the whole thing on Jaguar. I remember the days when I used to get exited seeing the fireball! It would explode and everyone was amused. The 42" hight was great! I was about 45" when the ride opened up. And then the kingdom of the dinosaurs. Its always pissed me off about what they did to it, with making it all one train and everything. What was so wrong with it before? And then you have Perlious Plunge. I remember being amazed by it whent hey were first building it, but when you think about it, was taking out all those rides really worth one giant flume ride? No, not really. And then you get to silver bullet. I was extactic the day they announced that a B&M was finally headed towards knotts. But had I known that it would basically ruin the most beautiful part of knotts, I don't think I would have been so excited.

 

But it makes me wonder, how would Disney had changed the park had they had thier way? In the original plans, they weren't planning on changing much, except use that other lot across the street for the opening of the park as Liberty Square. While I'm know things would have changed, I think the overall atmosphere wouldn't have changed.

 

Unfortunately, most of today's amusement park management styles don't think of the future or building something to be proud of. They just think of making a safe investment with little to no thought into it.

[RaptorBoyASU]

Again, I never knew the Knott's of old. BUt I find it to be far less frustrating than SFMM. Maybe I've only hit it on good days. I've always had fairly fast ride ops (faster than the mountain), good food, and lots of fun. Even my non-enthusiast friends seem to prefer it (they complain that theres' nothing to do at SFMM but the coasters, and they get to be too intense to do back to back).

 

That said, I will agree that it's a mediocre park, there's so many that are better. But it sure as hell beets SFMM from my experience. I've yet to have a day that I came away from SFMM without being totally peeved about something. Of course I don't visit the parks nearly as much as some people on here.

 

Hoping that I'll eventually have a good day at SFMM, and I can switch sides on this one.

 

I think it really comes down to personal preference on this debate.

 

P.S. The people on the mics need to figure it out. They annoy the hell out of me. we would have been reprimanded so quick for that type of stuff at CP.

[photoginit]

OMG! If I hear one more person talk about 'how heavily themed Maverick is' I'm going to kill them!!!!

 

A heavily themed launched coasters is Revenge of the Mummy, or even Powder Keg or Hulk...Heck Volcano is pretty up there!

 

Sorry, but I see Maverick on the level of Hypersonic in the theming department!

 

I'm sorry, any actual themeing at all would be heavily themed for a Cedar Fair park.

[Jew]

Keep in mind all we have on Maverick is concept art/renderings. Xcelerator's concept art had giant glass windows on the outside facing the midway in the concept art too (among other things that didn't make it in the final product)...

 

Unfortunately, most of today's amusement park management styles don't think of the future or building something to be proud of. They just think of making a safe investment with little to no thought into it.

 

That couldn't be further from the truth. Just because rides are built that you don't agree with doesn't mean people aren't putting their hearts and souls into making what they feel is the best decision for their parks.

[kraxleRIDAH]

Keep in mind all we have on Maverick is concept art/renderings. Xcelerator's concept art had giant glass windows on the outside facing the midway in the concept art too (among other things that didn't make it in the final product)...

 

Unfortunately, most of today's amusement park management styles don't think of the future or building something to be proud of. They just think of making a safe investment with little to no thought into it.

 

That couldn't be further from the truth. Just because rides are built that you don't agree with doesn't mean people aren't putting their hearts and souls into making what they feel is the best decision for their parks.

 

Couldn't be further from the truth? Ha. Go to Google Groups and pull up the press release for Perilous Plunge. Read it. And then compare what was described in it to the ride in its current state at the park. Where's the 90-foot tall oil derrick that was supposed to straddle the drop? Where's the dining observation deck overlooking the lagoon that was supposed to be built? Where's the "boardwalk"-pattern stamped midway that was supposed to run between Boomerang and Plunge? And those are just only three of countless things mentioned in the press release that never materialized.

[knottslover77]

^WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just read the press release, that sucks.

[Jew]

^^You just proved my point...for the first paragraph of my post.

[Gnome]

And those are just only three of countless things mentioned in the press release that never materialized.

I think its CF's persistance to never follow through on original plans is a trait that has raped Knotts a lot of its charm. For example had they followed through with Perilous Plunge's original design concept, I'm sure the boardwalk area would still be a very beautiful place to walk through. I'm not so sure about the Xcelerator area, while the original diner theme was nice, I don't think one building would have made or broken the area. I think the main problem with the area around Xcelerator specifically is that there is far too much cement, and those crappy little games don't help any. In fact, they just make the area look cheap and tacky. Maybe building some shops instead would give the area a nice charm, assuming that the shops follow the good strong architectural theme of the 1950's.

 

But I must say original concepts for PP sounded very nice. Heck, it sounded like something that they had planned for DCA (while not up to par for Disney standards, great for any other theme park with not so high of a budget) In the next couple of years, I would like to see Knotts concentrate on bring back the old charm it once had instead of building some brand new state-of-the-art thrill ride. While those are cool, its not what knotts needs. Knotts need to be pretty and have a great year-round staff to balance out the ruder seasonal staff (as that seems to be the trend for staffing in general) I think I read some where that Knotts has gotten rid of a lot of its Senior employees, which is really dissappointing, imo. Thats a big reason why parks like IOA and USF and Disney Parks are so warm and friendly, imo, because they seem to hire people who actually know what being courteous and friendly actually means. And they can follow through on it.

 

So, maybe one day Knotts will improve, but for now, they're only a shawdow of its former self.

[socalMAN123]

^Yeah, I can see what you are saying. Knott's has lost most of the original charm it used to have back when I was a little kid and went to Knott's all the time. Now, it seems kind of bland and boring. The only place that I enjoy as far as theming is Ghost Town because they still have some of the original theming such as the man in jail by the old schoolhouse. I used to go to Knott's and spend most of my time just walking around talking to the nice employees and looking at the theming. But most of those things I just talked about have disappeared. I still enjoy Knott's a bunch, but not as much as I used to. I also agree with you Gnome about instead of trying to become a world-class thrill park like SFMM, just focusing on putting back in the little charms they used to have.

---Brent

[coastervekoma]

knott's kicks freaking ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was my first amusment park and it broke the ice for me (upsidedownriding). I remember in 1st grade riding everything exept xelerator and supreme scream or silver bullet. I went back when I was 12 last year and rode everything I love knotts

[socalMAN123]

^ Dude, I don't think Xcelerator was open when you were in first grade. Also, Knott's did break the barrier for me. First loop (Montezuma's Revenge), First drop ride (Supreme Scream), First launched ride (Montezuma's Revenge), and First backwards ride (Montezuma's Revenge). I love Knott's. But, if they started to focus on what made me like the park in the first place, I would enjoy it a lot more. And who said an Intamin hyper wouldn't hurt?

---Brent

[larrygator]

I visited two days ago and found operations have become lax since my 2004 visit. I spent 3-4 hours there on a slow day, but should have been able to get all my rides done in 2 - 2 1/2 hours. The western side still has tons of charm and there is that huge disconnect with the other half of the park. Ride ops all around were not as friendly as my last visit but still far superior to SFMM. The deterioration of Ghostrider almost made me cry. I loved the out of control feel but not the accompanying pain. Rough does not have to equal pain. However, Ghostrider is still far superior to Psyclone. And the food is still much pretty good at Knotts