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The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

P. 651: Montezooma's Revenge project terminated?

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stopped by earlier today to check out Ghostrider since it opened back up today or yesterday. the mid course block/trim/brake is in place. i couldn't feel anything going thru it though. you do hear the air pressure released after going thru it. so i'm not sure if it's just super super light, or the fins don't touch at all. but i'd call the ride experience, unaltered.

 

couple rides on it, and on the other big 3 and was out in an hour. crowds were pretty light. ghostrider sent mostly filled trains while i was there from around 2-3. two trains. silver bullet two trains, about half full each time. hangtime and xcelerator maybe one train wait.

 

anyway, just wanted to do a quick report on ghostrider.

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stopped by earlier today to check out Ghostrider since it opened back up today or yesterday. the mid course block/trim/brake is in place. i couldn't feel anything going thru it though. you do hear the air pressure released after going thru it. so i'm not sure if it's just super super light, or the fins don't touch at all. but i'd call the ride experience, unaltered.

 

couple rides on it, and on the other big 3 and was out in an hour. crowds were pretty light. ghostrider sent mostly filled trains while i was there from around 2-3. two trains. silver bullet two trains, about half full each time. hangtime and xcelerator maybe one train wait.

 

anyway, just wanted to do a quick report on ghostrider.

 

I visited Knott's today and asked a couple of Ghost Rider ride ops if they can run three trains now and both said "no". The ride doesn't appear to have been altered at all over the yearly Sept maintenance. They haven't sped up the loading process either, so adding another train would not do anything anyway.

 

Now everyone put on your Silver Shamrock Halloween masks and gather around the TV. There is a big giveaway at 9 pm.

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stopped by earlier today to check out Ghostrider since it opened back up today or yesterday. the mid course block/trim/brake is in place. i couldn't feel anything going thru it though. you do hear the air pressure released after going thru it. so i'm not sure if it's just super super light, or the fins don't touch at all. but i'd call the ride experience, unaltered.

 

couple rides on it, and on the other big 3 and was out in an hour. crowds were pretty light. ghostrider sent mostly filled trains while i was there from around 2-3. two trains. silver bullet two trains, about half full each time. hangtime and xcelerator maybe one train wait.

 

anyway, just wanted to do a quick report on ghostrider.

Glad to hear that about Ghostrider. I'll have to get over there soon to get some rides on it. Do they run the orange running lights during Haunt?

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GhostRider is pretty long for a wooden coaster. Having the mid-course brake running means that they can now safely dispatch a loaded train without waiting for the previous train to move all the way through the main brake section at the end.

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GhostRider is pretty long for a wooden coaster. Having the mid-course brake running means that they can now safely dispatch a loaded train without waiting for the previous train to move all the way through the main brake section at the end.

 

That is true, however I don't think it will improve capacity too much. Even if they dispatch a train after one leaves the midcourse, it makes no difference throughput-wise if you have to wait almost a full minute with an empty station before the first train completes the second half and returns to the station after crawling through the final brakes.

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especially when there’s another park an hour north that can supply my RMC fix.

 

How on earth have you ever managed to get from Buena Park to Santa Clarita in an hour? Driving at 3am?

 

I don't know if you can do it anymore considering the population/vehicle increase the past decade or so...but I have definitely done it during the day/morning with friends trying to get up to Magic Mountain. 91W, 710N, 10W, 5N is the best route with the least amount of traffic, I've found. The hardest part is that horrible crush of 10/5/101 connectors in East LA, that place is rarely not a mess.

 

Hell, about 10 years ago when I lived up there I'd come down to Orange County for the weekends, and drive back up there on Sundays after 10 PM. I coulda sworn I did it in 45-50 MINS going about 80MPH the entire way (not that I would EVER do that anymore I'm a much more conservative driver as I've aged lol).

 

Also just wanted to say to rachelis -- I really liked your TR and especially your photos! These 2 in particular are my favorite, even though I've seen pictures of these rides a MILLION times for some reason these stood out to me, and I think they're great! Thanks for sharing!

thumb_ugwo4an.jpg

lhzqpa9.png

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If you do the pre-scare boo-fet and hit the backstage mazes first, be sure to visit them again later in the night. There’s a noticeable difference since the sun will still be up during pre-scare and mazes look better in the dark with their respective lighting in full effect. Also, the hourly through-put of guests for Trick or Treat: Lights Out and Infected are a bit slower so do those ASAP. And don’t miss rope-drop in Ghost Town at 7:00 because that’s a blast.

 

See you in the fog.

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I have never did the frightlane but I make sure I always do the boofet dinner before. You get access to the mazes first. I always go to the back mazes and knock them out and work my way to the front.

 

If you do the pre-scare boo-fet and hit the backstage mazes first, be sure to visit them again later in the night. There’s a noticeable difference since the sun will still be up during pre-scare and mazes look better in the dark with their respective lighting in full effect. Also, the hourly through-put of guests for Trick or Treat: Lights Out and Infected are a bit slower so do those ASAP. And don’t miss rope-drop in Ghost Town at 7:00 because that’s a blast.

 

See you in the fog.

 

This is great advice, thank you both. How early is the early entry with the boo-fet? Is it enough time to do the 4 mazes you get access to, then head over to the ghost town rope drop, and get to Special Ops among the first people? (I understand that's usually the longest line)

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Pre-scare starts at 6:30 so you’d have 30 mins to do the 4 mazes backstage. I don’t think it’s totally impossible, but it also depends on what day you’re going as Thursday’s and Sundays are less crowded. Did you have a date picked out?

 

Friday the 12th

 

Going on a Friday in the middle of October---I would most definitely recommend Fright Lane. It will be very busy.

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Pre-scare starts at 6:30 so you’d have 30 mins to do the 4 mazes backstage. I don’t think it’s totally impossible, but it also depends on what day you’re going as Thursday’s and Sundays are less crowded. Did you have a date picked out?

 

Friday the 12th

 

Going on a Friday in the middle of October---I would most definitely recommend Fright Lane. It will be very busy.

 

hmm looking at the pricing i dont think thats in my budget. with the boofet early entry i think ill probably be able to hit most erverything tho

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Went to Scary Farm last night 9/27. The park was not crowded at all as you'd expect on a September Thursday, but I opted for Fright Lane anyway to avoid the queues for Ghostrider and Hangtime.

 

The only mazes with waits longer than 10-15 mins were Paranormal Inc. due to the pre-show and Trick or Treat: Lights Out with the staggered, small group entry and flashlight distribution. Both of those queues would have otherwise been about 45-60 mins. I still recommend picking up Fright Lane even on slower nights if you want to get re-rides on the major coasters and repeat the mazes you liked.

 

Overall I was impressed with the quality of the mazes this year. I won't comment on the scare zones as the scare actors aren't exactly out in full force on week nights this early in the event season.

 

Voodoo had deteriorated from one of the best mazes in its first year to an afterthought last year, so I was glad to see it replaced with The Depths, which has some of the most elaborate sets I've seen from Knott's, although the theme made no sense to me. You start out in a subterranean mine and somehow come out of a ship on the other end? The other new maze this year is Dark Entities, with an outer space theme I also really enjoyed. A few returning mazes like Paranormal Inc., Red Barn, and Pumpkin Eater feel tired or lacking compared to the new ones while Shadowlands, Trick or Treat, and Dark Ride are still going strong.

 

Here's how I'd rank this year's mazes:

1. Shadowlands

2. The Depths

3. Trick or Treat: Lights Out

4. Dark Entities

5. Dark Ride

6. Paranormal Inc.

7. Red Barn

8. Pumpkin Eater.

 

As usual, I skipped Special Ops Infected. And for anyone worried about Ghostrider after the MCBR was reinstalled, don't be. Ghostrider is still smooth and was absolutely flying all night. The brakes didn't so much as graze you. It's running as well as it ever has right now.

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Seen a couple of nights so far.... Overall, there's a lot of good stuff happening. I definitely noticed a difference from first weekend to second weekend, like maybe they weren't quite done by Opening Day. Lots of stuff seemed more finished/polished on week 2. I think this is a great year to get the season pass, because there is so much to see if you have time to wander and explore. Lots of Easter Egg moments scattered around the park, and finally the return of more live shows!

 

MAZES:

Depths - Incredible design and construction, but the staffing was terrible the two times I went through. There were like two people in the whole front half of the maze. Also, the cast was very hit and miss on scares. There was a lot of just standing around and posturing, but the laser fog room is super cool and I got a good scare in there. I kind of missed the idea of how we went from surface to depths... we walked through a tunnel I guess? The Kraken room and the tilting ship were also spectacular. A very big time special effect for Knott's to put in a maze.

 

Dark Entities - Really fabulous, I'd say best maze of the year for me. The story was very clearly told going from room to room and there was a good mix of talent who were acting out the story and talent who were scaring. I got a couple good jumps in here, even on my second trip through. It's hard to compare the build to Depths, because the story line is more disastrous... things are supposed to be looking worse for wear. Not as many big visual moments, but once again... in a space ship, things are naturally going to be more confined.

 

Shadowlands - For being an older maze now, I was really impressed with the energy level of the cast. They were really on their game in just about every room and I had a great time walking through. The suicide forest scene has always rubbed me the wrong way, and it's even more explicit this year, so I'm not stoked about that.

 

Pumpkin Eater - Still very visceral and gross feeling, which isn't totally my favorite, but I fully respect. There's gotta be a gross / gory maze. Some decent scares, especially among the cornstalks.

 

Paranormal - The new finale area was interesting, but I didn't quite follow the story of how we got there. The staffing was really bad when I walked through, I didn't see a single actor on the entire right side track, until the two halves joined back together. All that being said, I still think this maze is an absolute masterpiece.

 

Dark Ride - still an impressive build, but also really lacking on staffing. There were 5 or 6 people in the last room, and yet we walked through the whole first half of the maze seeing only 2 or 3 actors total. I know that not every position is interchangeable with rooms, but they can do better.

 

SHOWS:

Hacks in the Schulz Theater is a noble experiment in improv comedy. However, I think it relies too heavily on the audience volunteers. When I saw the show, a couple sketches were hilarious, but a couple sketches bombed really hard because the audience members were duds. Also, very weird to see them go from a huge production like last year's Elvira show to something so scaled down. But, if it means that we finally get more than two live Entertainment options for the night, then I'll still take it.

 

The Hanging - I know it sounds cliche to say "the Hanging is so bad this year", but like... it is. From the central theme of the story, it sounds like last year's show got the park into some trouble and they are very overtly thumbing their nose at it. I love that rebellious spirit, but... nothing is funny. They don't make fun of anything this year, just reference things. The fighting was really sloppy on opening weekend, but seems to have tightened up after a few days. Also **spoiler alert** I find it astounding (dare I say, hypocritical) of Knott's to choose Logan Paul as this year's Hanging victim. His downfall was using the image of hanging bodies in the Aokigahara suicide forest as content for his entertainment business, which is exactly what Knott's has been doing in Shadowlands since 2016. And that scene in the maze got re-designed this year and is even more graphic than it used to be.

 

Conjurers - I gotta say, I am LOVING this renaissance of the Birdcage Theater. First the introduction of the Boysenberry melodrama, then the beautiful clean up that was done for the Peanuts Sketch School, and now a Haunt show. And this kind of production is the perfect fit for the theater. Having different acts during the run is a neat idea, but it seems like Chipper Lowell is their main guy. Dana Daniels was hysterical during the first weekend, and Taylor Hughes has got some cool moments in his show this weekend as well. A very welcome chance to sit down for a while, and really a lot of fun.

 

Awaken The Dead - Dance parties aren't really my thing, but I saw a lot of other folks really enjoying themselves. I like that they gave the DJ some dancers this year. Makes it seem like more of a production.

 

EXTRAS:

Wicker Man is back in Camp Snoopy. This was a highlight for me last year, and I'm so glad it's returning. There are (i think) 5 different scenes that play out during the night inside The Hollow zone, and the big finale happens at midnight where they burn the Wicker Man looming over the waterfall. It's very cool that they incorporated this story and show into the zone's existing characters and story.

 

Saloon Balcony Show - Tbh, this was one of the highlights of the night. There's isn't a published name for it, but there's a bitchin little show that happens outside the balcony of the Saloon with 4 dancers doing a routine. Once again, it's an Easter Egg, so there are no times in the map... but I definitely saw it happening after first and last Hanging shows, and they were different songs each time. Definitely check this one out.

 

Forsaken Funeral - This got teased in announcements, but also isn't in the map. It seems like their goal was to bring the promo video to life for Forsaken Lake. There isn't a whole lot there story-wise (they walk in with a coffin, but then they raise someone from the dead??), but it's still another clever way of creating a moment out of the zone's existing characters and lore.

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