Knotts: 1.29.05, and the Bullet

We arrive at the park shortly after opening with canned goods in hand, and in turn get in the park for $17! What a deal. My best friend from college and his wife were visiting, and had never been to Knott's before, and I couldn't wait to show them my favorite L.A. park. I'll call it the Los Angeles Knott's Berry Farm of Buena Park. ;)

Anyway, onto stuff that matters. The highlights and lowlights of our trip:

Highlights:
Montezooma's Revenge: Ya gotta love it. Our first ride of the day, and it suprised our friends who were expecting a cheap thrill for an older shuttle looper. Solid launch, great Gs on the loop, and to top it off, Jaguar just happened to be traveling throught the middle of the loop as we went inverted. Quite a suprise and enhancement to the ride!

La Revolution: This was the first time I rode this sucker. My oh my, I now have a favorite flat ride! Very strong Gs at the bottom of the swing, with great airtime at the peaks. I had no idea how fun that would be! Now my wife was a bit spooked by it, but she made it through.

Mexican Hat Dance: We crammed all four of us into one hat, and had that puppy spinning at full speed the whole ride. An oldie but a goodie! What I don't understand is, this ride doesn't bother me a bit, but The Rotor type ride at other parks makes me want to puke.

Supreme Scream: That thing seems to get higher every time I ride it. Two snaps up in a circle!

Log Ride: Hands down my favorite log flume of all time. 'Nuff said.

Silver Bullet: Two snaps up in a Z formation! Two train operation, with quick dispatches. Took 2 laps, one in the front and the other in the back. The front seat wins, and the overbank was the highlight of the ride. While not as intense as I had hoped, it's still a great ride. However, the corkscrew - S-turn - corkscrew - helix combo was insane. The view of downtown L.A. and the Hollywood sign from the lift hill was great as well. Just an all out fun ride, and extremely smooth. Knott's has a winner here.The near silence of the ride is strange, but that's no biggie. And they no longer appear to be making people take out their earrings. Yippie!

Xcellerator: Tried both front and back seats, and the back wins out. The air time coming down the top hat is heavenly from the back. And the launch? (In the Nutty Professor's Grandmother's voice) Oh, Xcellerator? That might be the first launched coaster to ever make me *****!

Ghostrider: Running fast as ever. This coaster really does run faster as the day goes on. Very intense, great lateral and negative Gs.

Wipeout: Two words: In - Tense. Didn't look like much from the ground, but man does that sucker spin fast when you're on it.

Lowlights:
Jaguar!: What a piece of crap. I went on it last year, and got a cheap thrill out of it. I didn't even get that out of it this time around. Except bumps on my knees from the very small cars. They had two train operation, but only one train was carrying passengers.

Xcellerator: One train operation. Booooooo. Hisssssssss.

Ghostrider: I love this ride, and it was running fast, but VERY bumpy. Much more so than it was last time this year. I like the woodies to be shaky, but that was ridiculous. It wasn't enough for me to not enjoy it, but my friend claimed "That was one of the most violent rides ever."

Silver Bullet: Theming. What a joke. Just paint the thing, will you?! Many other park guests were commenting about how the name didn't fit. Yes folks, it does make a difference in the overall experience. Paint it a dark red/burgandy, and throw silver trains on the track and it will make sense. Or paint the track silver. Do something, the colors on the ride don't fit in with the theme of the station and the surrounding area. And pink and teal on the trains? What are they thinking. Or just rename it.The designer in me could go on and on, but I digress.

Lunch: For my wife and I, Two burgers, one order of fries, and we split a regular soda. $17. Good grief, I knew I would have to grab my ankles, but sheesh! Add on top of that food service that could have been timed by a sundial, and you've got yourself Magic Mountain quality.

Random Notes:
Didn't go on the Plunge, as it was only in the mid 60s that day. Would have been unpleasant soaking wet once the sun went down! All in all we had an absolute blast, and with the exception of lunch, the friendliness and service of park staff was top-notch. With the addition of Silver Bullet, Knott's is without question the desitination of choice in SoCal, IMO. Add in another quality woodie, and I'm not so sure I'd even bother going back to MM. Can't wait to go back in the spring after Ghostie has had it's yearly maintenance.

You know the only food to eat at Knott's is the Mrs.' fried chicken. :)

It seems like you all had a good time. Glad to hear it.

What? No lovin for Riptide? If it was cold as you were saying it was, they were probably running it sans-water. As for La Revolution, it was a very fun ride, but once you've riden Delirium it just doesnt compare... BTW, you are a lucky SOB getting a Jaguar! pass-thru on Monte. I spent a better part of an afternoon reriding Monte just to get that to happen :)

Glad you guys had fun!

Isn't Xcelerator's other train in pieces? I thought that this was the time for one of the train's rehab. I'm sure they wouldn't fail to run two trains on a weekend without reason.

Sounds like a good time though, though you are making me, a transplanted Californian, miss Silver Bullet.

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Danimales said:

Xcellerator: And the launch? (In the Nutty Professor's Grandmother's voice) Oh, Xcellerator? That might be the first launched coaster to ever make me *****!

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The Nutty Professor movies are THE BEST MOVIES EVER. My friends and I do a great imitation of the family. "Cletus the dog ripped the garbage open again..""Well shoot the damn dog I'm tryin to watch Rosanne!"

Great stuff

Actually Riptide was the fo shizzle. It was running with the water on, but it wasn't being sprayed high enough to get anyone wet; just added a nice effect. Although the cycle we had while fun could've been better. The ride before us got flipped 6+ times, while we only had 2 full flips.

Xcellerator's Train 2 was fully assembled, sitting on the transfer track.