The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

I thought they were reworking the queue to put the Pan for Gold back in it's original location.

Going to the park tomorrow, what kind of crowd should I expect?

Its the week between Christmas and New Years, its going to be busy. If you want to spend the money, I'd suggest getting their front of line pass.

Park is insanely packed today, lines are spilling out into the midway on most rides. SB had a 2.5 hours line and Voyage to the Iron Reef was around 2 hours.

Bullet clearly has 1 train operation still. Does XC still only have 1 train?

^ Silver Bullet was running 2 trains with no stacking when I was there two weeks ago. It was wonderful.

Xcelerator, on the other hand, is nowhere near putting the second train back into service.

XC isn't that big of a deal cause the 2nd train doesn't do much for capacity and the ride is more reliable with 1. SB with 1 train sucks. Glad to hear they have both operating.

Silver Bullet is running two trains today with no stacking, Xcelerator's purple train is almost done with the maintenance I think, they are putting the fiberglass back on the train.

I was at the park yesterday, boy do I miss two train operations on Xcelerator. I have never waited in a line that moved so painfully slow in my life. Xcelerator was averaging 3-4 min dispatches.

The park was busy yesterday and of the rides that could run more than two trains, Pony Express and Xcelerator were only running one train and both had massive lines.

Haven't been a Season Pass holder to this park since 2013 due to a decline in park operations and guest service, sad to see absolutely no improvements.

I'm glad I visited on a comp ticket, I would have been pissed if I actually had to pay to visit this park.

As someone stated earlier, Xcelerator's capacity is hardly affected when running two trains. Due to the way the block system is set up on the ride, the second train cannot enter the station until the other has cleared the top hat, and by the time it reaches the station and unloads riders, the other train is already done with the layout. It makes the ride more unreliable and doesn't pull in many more people, so I can see the logic with running one train. As for the slow dispatches, there is no excuse for that.

However, they have to do maintenance on their trains at some point, so better in the off-season (even if it's crowded for New Years) than the middle of the summer.

As someone stated earlier, Xcelerator's capacity is hardly affected when running two trains. Due to the way the block system is set up on the ride, the second train cannot enter the station until the other has cleared the top hat, and by the time it reaches the station and unloads riders, the other train is already done with the layout. It makes the ride more unreliable and doesn't pull in many more people, so I can see the logic with running one train. As for the slow dispatches, there is no excuse for that.

Sorry, but I don't buy that Xcelerators capacity is not affected by only running one train vs two. If that were true, Xcelerator would not have run two trains on a regular basis for the better part of a decade. I have experienced Xcelerator many, many times when it was running two trains and the line always moved much quicker with two trains.

The whole theory that one vs two trains seems more like Knotts fanboy excuses for piss poor park operations.

What they really mean is that the COST of the added capacity isn't worth the marginal benefit from the parks point of view...

However, they have to do maintenance on their trains at some point, so better in the off-season (even if it's crowded for New Years) than the middle of the summer.

...except that train has been "under maintenance" for over a year.

As of today Xcelerator's purple train has returned. They're running two trains today.

Adding a 2nd train to Xcelerator doesn't increase theoretical capacity much, but it increases actual capacity a ton. Most coasters have really slow dispatches when they are only running one train, since there is no gauge of time for when the other train gets back for the ride ops. Nothing happens if they go slower. There's no other train to stack. With two trains, the ops see the other train sitting there waiting so they will get the one in the station out faster. I've seen this countless times. So it's not only the slight capacity increase from the 2nd train, it's also loading and dispatching each individual train faster.

You'd have to be insane to argue that the line doesn't move much faster when there are 2 trains running on Xcelerator.

Xcelerator is running 2 trains today, Source is someone who went to the park today!

However, they have to do maintenance on their trains at some point, so better in the off-season (even if it's crowded for New Years) than the middle of the summer.

 

...except that train has been "under maintenance" for over a year.

I was mainly referring to the Pony Express train and the occasional Silver Bullet train, not Xcelerator. Those two rides NEED two train operations on busy days, while Xcelerator can get away with it a bit better (yes, two trains is better, but capacity is much different 1 vs 2 trains on other rides compared to Xcelerator).

^ Fair enough. I've never been unfortunate enough to visit on a busy day while Silver Bullet is running one train, so I've not a clue on how long the line would get. When they run two trains they run extremely efficiently. When they run one train (again, only been on non-packed days), the line still moves well.

Pony Express, though, seems to take a bit longer. I blame the restraints and people who can't listen to the simple instructions of how to sit.

Yes, it's true. Purple train is back, AND Xcel was running both trains yesterday! I snagged a ride on purple, and it was like butter. I heard from a Ride Op that the reason that Purple came back is that Red is going out of rotation imminently.

Also caught the final Fool's Gold show at Wagon Camp. It was such a great performance. I got to sit right in front of the rest of the performers and they were all having a blast. The guys really gave it their all and it was so funny.

Just an FYI, it looks like the TM Log Ride is closed for rehab until Feb 5th. The Calico railroad is also going to be closed from Jan 11th to Feb 20th.

i stopped by knotts today to see what was going on with ghostrider. most of it looks pretty much the same. sure there has been a lot of detail work i just can't really see. still nothing on the drop. other shots of mrs knotts chicken dinner deconstruction. also dryers which i think where the starbucks is going.

For those that remember me posting quite a few pages back about them using a different type of wood for the track layers, here's proof. This image perfectly shows the 2 new track layers that have been added using the different type of wood that was used on Shivering Timber's helix retracking last year. Not sure what kind of wood it is, but it's certainly not your standard yellow pine like what's used on everything else.

very interesting! I wonder if this is a new design by GCI of if it is just a different type of wood

very interesting! I wonder if this is a new design by GCI of if it is just a different type of wood

I think this is a new type of wood for GCI, at least in terms of their re-tracking non-GCI coasters. I've never seen them use a different type of wood in their own designs, but them using it last year on Shivering Timber's helix would be a good test bed for using it on Ghostrider's refurb. Has to be much more denser for the more extreme areas that yellow pine can't handle as well. And from personal experience, GCI did do an excellent job with the helix, making it much more smoother, heck of a lot less shuffling, and no more awkward banking. The trim brake before Timber's helix actually wasn't even necessary anymore as they didn't even have it on for the entire season.