NEW UPDATE!!! Knott's Berry Farm TR - April 9th, 2005

Photos are located here:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/kbf040905/kbf1.htm

Hey everyone!

So yesterday we were at Knott's with Bethany and Dallas. Before I get into my trip report, here is a little disclaimer:

Over the past 3 years I've been talking about how the overall service of Knott's has been on a rapid decline. Every time I would post something I would get flamed for how "wrong" I was about how the park is being run.

So, in an effort to not sound like I am 'whining', I've realized that I have to lower my expectations of the park. So, in years past what I would expect and get from Knott's would be the following:

- Fast, efficient park operations.

- Friendly, caring staff.

- Rides opening with the park with limited downtime.

- Well behaved, mannerful crowds

- A good selection of rides that everyone in our family could ride.

- A nice, "hassle free" family oriented "theme" park.

Today, going into the park, I have lowered those expectations to the following:

- Slower, less efficient park operations.

- The occasional friendly, caring staff member.

- Rides not opening on time and several rides broken for whatever reason.

- Unruly crowds.

- Thrill ride after thrill ride with many older rides either closed or with taller height restrictions creating a "Teenage Amusement Park" feel and less of a "Family Theme Park" feel.

So going in with that in mind, our day was actually pretty good. I got exactly what I expected, nothing more, and nothing less.

We got to the park about 10 minutes after opening and went straight over to XLR8R to see if Dallas would be tall enough. He still has at least another inch to go, but he didn't mind too much if the rest of us rode, so we took turns hanging out with Dallas.

XLR8R, IMO is still a top caliber ride. The launch is better than TTD and Storm Runner, and the drop out of the top had reminds me a LOT of Expedition GeForce. Overall, Storm Runner holds my vote as the best Intamin rocket coaster, but this ride gets top nods also!

We wandered around the Roaring 20's area (or whatever they are calling it these days) to see Riptide broken down, Kingdom of the Dinosaurs now permanently closed, and Supreme Scream running only one tower.

We decided we'd check the line for Revolution since it was still early and the crowds didn't seem to make it back to that area yet. It was welcoming to see that the wait only a two cycle wait...but we forgot that this wasn't the 'old days' of Knott's and it wouldn't be until 25 minutes later that we would get off the ride. Why....WHY does it take them 10 minutes to load and unload?!?!

Next up was Montezuma’s...again, only a two train wait, but it took 20 minutes because the ride ops would stand around and talk, disappear into the break room, wait until the very last minute to check lap bars and do it as though they were in Matrix Bullet Time.

We decided we would walk over and check out the Screamin' Swing since that only had a 48" height restriction and it was one of the few rides in the park that Dallas could actually ride. We paid our $20 so we could all ride and the kids LOVED it! I mean, it IS a good ride, it's just not worth paying for it each time. IMO it's a PERFECT "county fair" type of ride, but not a ride that belongs in a *cough* world class *cough* amusement park. I guess this is why parks like Thorpe Park are getting the high capacity, non-upcharge version.

We checked the line for GhostRider had posted a wait time of 90 minutes, Silver Bullet was about 45 minutes and since Dallas couldn't ride that, and none of us feel it's worthy of waiting, we decided we would head out of the park for lunch.

By this point, we had only been in the park about two hours, and because of the poor, or I should say "typical" operations, we only managed to get on 4 rides, each of which didn't really have that big of a line.

Off to Claim Jumper we go! Elissa actually tried new food there....AND LIKED IT!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

We needed to kill a couple of hours so we opted to head down to "Lucky Strike Bowling" over at The Block in Orange County since we'd heard so much about this place. Overall, it was a nice bowling alley, but we had one experience that made us never want to return again.

Our lane was next to this kid and his dad. When we first showed up, the dad was there and sat a pizza and a drink down on the table. We didn't think anything of it, but we had realized about 20 minutes into playing that the dad had completely disappeared!!! And on top of it, the kid was completely unruly as he was sitting on the ball machine, sliding around all over the place, and kept taking Dallas' ball! WTF?!?! We finally went to the front desk and said there was this unruly kid, completely unattended by an adult. We were told "Oh, that's the manager's son....the manager can see him from the office and will come out if he's doing anything wrong." We told him what the kid was up to and we were then told "Well...um...yeah...if it gets worse...let us know."

I wish I would have known that "Babysitting" was part of the $47 we paid to bowl. Had I known, we would have taken our money elsewhere, which is indeed what we will be doing next time. Be sure to check out the photos of the kid on the update!

Anyway, we wandered around The Block a bit since none of us had ever been there before. It's a really nice place just down the road from Downtown Disney. There's a Dave & Busters there, the bowling alley of bad management, a skate park, and lots of shops and things to do. Highly recommended if you're looking to kill a couple hours away from a busy So Cal amusement park!

We headed back to Knott's to find it even busier than when we left. But we did manage to get on Jaguar (why, oh, WHY do they have that stupid sweater rule?!?!?) and then the kids wanted to ride the Swing one more time.

We finally left and overall had an 'ok' time at Knott's. The park does have a good selection of rides in their current offering, but it's depressing to see them taking away or modifying so many height restrictions making it less of a "family" ride. At one point, a child of 42" could go on almost ALL of the "full sized" rides they had to offer (Soap Box Racers, Parachutes, Jaguar, Wipeout, Big Foot Rapids, etc, etc.) Today, there are very few 42" rides outside of Camp Snoopy, and they keep removing the 'family' rides. Haunted Shack, Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, etc, etc...

It's really kind of a shame, but this is the direction the park has chosen to go in. Oh, well.

OH!!! I forgot to mention!!!! There is construction going on of Knott's latest attraction! I would post more about it here, but all of you will have to check out page two of our photos to see it for yourself. I'm sure you'll be surprised to see what Knott's is building next!

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the photos and the TR!

--Robb

It's kind of sad that you have to lower your expectations to enjoy (or at least not get irrirtated with) Knott's, but I guess that's what you have to do these days. I remember when this was once one of the top parks in the country, if not the world...*sigh*...

Anyway, as always, the photos are hilarious! It's a damn shame that kid didn't get sucked into the ball machine, maybe then the manager might have gotten up off his ass and checked on his kid. I guess he was distracted by the no doubt constant host of problems that you would face as a bowling alley manager. After all, there are life and death decisions to be made! Who will order more flash frozen corn dogs from Sam's? Who will make sure that there's plenty of Raid-style disinfectant spray for the shoes? Who will make sure to hold off the armies of zombies constantly attacking the place, using only a pool cue and a 15 pound ball to defend against the ravenous hordes of flesh eating dead? The Bowling Alley Manager, that's who!!! Well, maybe not the last one. Depends on his level of initiative that week, I suppose...

Anyway, on to a more important topic: WHAT DID ELISSA EAT?!? Saying Elissa tried and enjoyed new food is one of the signs of the apocalypse, I think...

dt

Ok get this...I ate:

1 Corn Muffin

1 Tomato & Mozzarella Salad (but the cheese sucked!)

1 Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I wanted the 7 layers of death chocolate cake thing but it was $8 and no one would share it with me...(maybe you dave??!)

Elissa "the corn muffin was hot and kicked ass!" Alvey

Am I write in thinking that the cars on Xcelerator sre the same as the ones being used on RITA at Alton Towers.

First off, I love how your kid is cool enough to let you guys ride! A lot of peopel I know who have kids say their kid would have freaked out or something! Good job Dallas!

Second, I LOVE The Block. If you didn't, next time go into the LoveSac store, they'll let you lay down in there for a while if you don't wanna walk for a while. That store is awesome. The theatre is nice there too, and the arcade there(Powerhouse, I believe) has a few DDR machines and pay-bowling game that probably would have been better, and lazer tag!

Rock "I go to The BLock a lot when I'm out in the summers" MacDaniel

Many years ago, my ex-wife and I shared the 7 layers of death chocolate cake thing, and we couldn't finish it! That slice of cake is just frightening. It may be larger than some of the apartments I've lived in. It is indeed a marvel of dessert horror...

Oh, and the corn bread at Claim Jumper does indeed kick ass! I remember that as being quite tasty. I haven't eaten in a CJ in well over five years, but recall the food not being too bad.

dt

Oh, yeah...so one thing I forgot to mention was the Silver Bullet T-shirt.

Now, to be fair, this totally is me 'bitching' because for one, they didn't have to give us a free T-shirt, BUT....

The deal is that during their "Spring Break Out" they give each kid ages 3-11 that walks through the gate a free T-shirt. Usually it's just some cute shirt with the Knott's logo and Snoopy, etc.

But this year, they decided to put Silver Bullet on the T-shirt. While, in theory it sounds like a great idea! "We give away free advertising for our new ride!!!"

I don't know about other kids, but the first thing Dallas said was "Oh, great....now I've got a shirt for a ride I can't ride!"

Which does leads me to ask the question....

"Why would they give kids ages 3-11 a T-shirt for a ride that most kids ages 3-11 can't actually ride?"

It's almost like TGI Friday's giving away coupons for a free beer at an AA meeting!

The T-shirt was really nice and it was good quality, no complaints there. And really, I'm not so sure that this is a 'bitch' but more of us finding humor in something. Kind of like how Knott's couldn't spell "Sliver Bullet" correctly on the Solace ticket!

VERY nice jesture....not great execution!

So overall, thank you to Knott's for the free shirt, Dallas will appreciate it that much more when he's tall enough to ride "Sliver Bullet"

--Robb "Seriously...it was more amusing than anything else..." Alvey

What a coincidence... I was at Lucky Strike for the first time last week! My family absolutely loved it. It was extremely unfortunate for you guys to experience and that in my opinion is unexceptable the way that child behaved. Glad you guys had a *sorta* fun time.

I love your trip reports and photos, Robb!!! A few comments:

1) Wow! Has Bethany grown up!! I feel like I know them from all their photos and I just can't get over how much she has grown since the last photos of them. Quite the young lady! (And Dallas you're a cutie too!)

2) I had to laugh about the T-shirt...only I can do ya one better. 3 years ago when we went to Cedar Point, Samantha picked out a very similar Snoopy t-shirt of the characters on the Power Tower. She was 4 at the time and will probably be 10 before she can ride that. And I PAID $12 bucks for that shirt! I questioned myself at the time why their kiddie shirts didn't feature kiddie rides. Camp Snoopy had a coaster and there's also the Jr Gemini, so why not feature those??

3) We've said this before, but you guys sound about Knott's a lot like I do about PKI.

4) Don't you hate when business owners/managers bring their kids to work and let them sit there (or worse, let them run wild). We can't take our kids to work with us, so why should they be allowed to. That's ridiculous and if that had been me (especially if I was in one of my moods) I would have probably asked to speak to the manager and demanded a refund for the babysitting fee!!

Have a great week!

Shari

Good TR. Shame you guys didn't have a fun time at bowling. You guys should have flown up to Maine and went with us when we went bowling. Our group got a discount since we kept having lane troubles, our balls wouldn't return after we bowled, then at one point the lane didn't reset.

Then at one point we had the whole place to ourselves so we were loud.

^ We actually did have fun. I mean, the kid was kind of "Pathetically Funny." One of those things that you wish wouldn't have happened, and because of it we would never go back to that place, but at least it gives us a funny story to tell!

--Robb

I'm sorry to hear about your experience at the Block Robb. Personally, I won't go near that area. I've had way too many experiences with crazy kids that I just won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Your guys' experience with an unruly kid there just doesn't surprise me. You should have thrown him a bowling ball and said 'catch'. Maybe he would have dropped it, stubbed his tow and ran to daddy and left you alone.

JUST KIDDING FOR FOLKS WITH NO WARPED SENSE OF HUMOR.

But this is of course coming from someone who can't handle Irvine Spectrum either or parts of Fashion Island.

I need some good old fashioned repressed waspy kids around at a mall. Whatever happened to them. Probably all acting out now, in their 30's.

I prefer kids/teenagers sedated and numb. Crystal Cove Promenade, maybe Mission Viejo Mall on a good day-- those I can tolerate

lol

Claim Jumper Rocks,

Jose "it doesn't always take a village" Eber

the Block in Orange is still one of the OC's best places to go. The Dave and Busters there is one of the better ones around and overall the nightlife is great plus it totally lifted up the area. (Yes across the street there is a JAIL). Glad to see you guys actually went around some of the OC and got out of Buena Park to find that orange is not such a bad place

Matt

^Yeah, it's not so bad!

I've now eatin at the Main Place Mall's food court probably more than 10 times!!!

It's got so much Elissa Friendly food it's crazy!!!

Elissa "Sbarro, McDonalds, Subway, Baja Fresh, Panda Express, Great Khan, Mrs. Fields, etc." Alvey

^^ I lived in Irvine for most of the early to late 1990s so I'm pretty familiar with most of the OC area.

--Robb

the Block in Orange is still one of the OC's best places to go. The Dave and Busters there is one of the better ones around and overall the nightlife is great plus it totally lifted up the area. (Yes across the street there is a JAIL)

I like that...across the street there is a jail...but its one of the best place in Orange County (no one calls it 'the o.c.') to go?

You honestly think Blocks' D&B is better than D&B Spectrum?

Orange County extends allll the way down to San Diego County. There are amazing places to visit as you keep on driving down the 5. Capistrano rocks, so does Carlsbad. Mission Viejo is cool. Newport Beach, Newport Coast etc.

I guess we have to determine how you define 'nightlife'. Hanging around a mall or clubbing Newport/Balboa Style.

My sort of 'o.c.' is the 'arrested development' orange county, REAL, ACTUAL shots of orange county, not the malibu they feature on 'the o.c.' on FOX.

(can you tell I don't like 'the o.c. show' or when Orange County is referred to as 'the o.c.') el oh el

I love your trip reports and photos, Robb!!! A few comments:

 

1) Wow! Has Bethany grown up!! I feel like I know them from all their photos and I just can't get over how much she has grown since the last photos of them. Quite the young lady! (And Dallas you're a cutie too!)

Just what I was thinking, just for my Alvey stalking how old is she? I'm awful with ages (don't ask how old I though Elissa was) but she looks like 14, though is probably 22. Dallas dosen't look that much bigger though. Great TR anyways, thanks!

Bethany is 14 and Dallas will be 10 in June.

--Robb

And once again, great pictures. It looked like you had a lot of fun there, especially at the Bowling Center with the nice kid! :? I really liked the Jurassic Park picture with Dallas, he looked so scared!

--Soeren

Is Dallas tall enough to go on other Inverts with resonable height restrictions?

Looks like yall had a better day at the park. I'm with the rest saying you should have delt with that kid, but it doesn't look like he ruined your day. Thats too bad for Dallas, poor kid just keeps getting robbed. Robb, you got to get some wooden blocks for his shoes or something.

Is Dallas tall enough to go on other Inverts with resonable height restrictions?

They all have a 54" height restriction so I'm assuming not.

Robb, I've had exactly the same experience with Montezooma's Revenge. So I got in the queue, walk on wait, took a seat in the back, and then like 10 minutes later, they finally dispatched!!! The ops were talking on their phones, disappearing and were just not paying attention to what they were doing!!! I hope they could fix that problem soon though.

Bethany is 14

I am so smart.

^ Stalker!!!!!!

Ok, time to un-sticky this.

Thanks for all the feedback! If you didn't get a chance to see our most recent photo update, please check it out here:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/kbf040905/kbf1.htm