Associated parks:
None
5/30
My friend, my sister, her boyfriend, and I arrived at the park on Friday with the park being almost open, so we had to rush. The entrance was packed already, but we had to wait to get tickets for my sister, and her boyfriend.. The lines moved really fast thanks to Knott's great employees (they really shined throughout the trip). Looked at the rides closed list, turned out Montezooma's Revenge was closed; I forgot it was still in rehab, so I was a little bummed. We entered the park and followed our usual tradition, and went straight to Ghostrider, my sister, and her boyfriend didn't want to go on, and we decided to split up until noon.
Just to get this said and done with, the park was filled with lots of kids and teenagers from schools or church groups, etc. and none of them had supervision, and they were really annoying. They had no respect for park rules, they used foul language WAY too much, and they tried to be funny (in that immature sort of way) to try to look cool, even though they looked REALLY stupid. Luckily you really only ran into them on the extreme rides. Putting that aside, a lot of the other people were really nice, and well behaved.
Ghostrider had a sort wait, only like 10 minutes. They were running to gold and silver train. I was hoping we got the silver train, because it just came out of rehab, but we ended up on the gold train. It was and excellent ride. It was a little slow, but then again it was the beginning of the day, and nothing can beat airtime on 'the drop' after the midcourse brakes, then getting airtime, and laterals on the low turn after it. When we got off, the line was long, it extended out of the building with all of the upstairs switchback being filled, and I don't know about the downstairs switchbacks.
Next we headed over to Timber Mountain Log Ride. The wait was really short, back by the waterfall, which was about 10 minutes, since they were only running one side since it was early. I really like this ride, it is long, fast and slow at parts, there are nice scenes you pass by, and the boats make the coolest whirring noises when going down drops. There have been very very small changes since March. One was that after the first drop, it used to be PITCH black, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and you would cruise around in the dark for a while. Now they have back lights which make things barely visible. Also the water fake out was turning off late both days, and getting the front person wet, which was a nice surprise.
Next we rode the Calico Mine Ride, which wasn't busy, and luckily we got some breathing room in the cars, we weren't all packed in tightly. Great ride as usual, except I was disappointed at how slow we went at the end. The cave is about to explode, yet we are chugging along slowly, about to die. Besides that small gripe, it is an amazing ride, that even though is low tech and cheesy, it is really fun, and popular, and great for families.
My sister loves rapids rides, so we headed for Bigfoot Rapids. The wait was like a half hour, the switchbacks were filled, but you had to hike forever to get to them, which went on forever. Knott's should get new restraints for this. It is these flaps with Velcro on them, and it is worn, and not that sticky anymore, seatbelts would be MUCH better. As for the ride, everyone else got drenched, I came off with like 4 drops of water on me. After we got off though, they were adding a lot more boats, which was a good thing, but didn't help us much since we just got off.
We next went on the Butterfield Stagecoach. Everyone wanted to be on top, but alas, we were put in the stagecoach. It was fun, but I had to turn my neck a lot, and it really started to hurt.
Jaguar was next, same ol' ride, great new paint ob. However it wasn't all done so in parts of the ride you went from orange to red track. Not much else to say.
Checked out Montezooma, still in rehab, they have the train on the brakes behind the station, and it looks like it is ready to reopen soon.
I also checked out La Revolucion. Personally I would like Slammer, and Tumbler to still be there, I loved them both, but Knott's wanted to put in a new ride, and Slammer had structural problems, and Tumbler had…well lots of problems, so it seemed logical to remove them. As for La Revolucion., it looks like a great ride. I am still getting used to the layout for the new Fiesta Village. Where Tumbler was is a new huge plaza, with a small dinky fountain in the middle. It looks awful. I was hoping for one like the Charleston Fountain in the "Roaring 20's" part of boardwalk, you know, really elaborate, large, and one people want to take their pictures in front of. Also the paint they painted the star formation in the sidewalk looks bad already. Also they turned the old tumbler queue into a store called "La Tienda" (translating into English as "The Store"). Besides those little things, Fiesta Village is changing. And as much as I want it to stay the way it was, Knott's doesn't have the space.
It was around 2, and we were all hungry, so we went over to Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant, and introduced my sister and her boyfriend to Boysenberry punch, they both liked it, as well as they LOVED the chicken noodle soup, and chicken (everyone got fried chicken).
We next walked through the Boardwalk, and decided to go on Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. The wait was short, we were on the next train. The ride is a nice break, but not worth riding if there is a long wait. During the stop in the middle, it started to get really hot inside there, it really needs to be redone, not saying it is run down or anything, but it is starting to show its age, and a new theme would be nice. Also if you look up in the last scene, you can see the roof.
My sister loves river rapids rides, so we headed over to Bigfoot Rapids again, which had less than a 5 minute wait. The hike to the line was way longer than the line.
Next we headed over to Timber Mountain Log Ride again, the line was less than 15 minutes, it was right to the lift, and it was a great ride as usual.
Mystery Lodge was just about to start so we saw it. The host for the show was really funny. There were these 2 girls playing cards, waiting for the preshow to start, and the host wouldn't start the pre show until they stopped playing cards, and he gave them a real hard time about it, it was really funny. My sister didn't like the show, but her boyfriend did.
Next we went on Calico Mine ride, short wait, great ride.
We went on Kingdom of the Dinosaurs again, only a 1 train wait, except this time we stopped at a different point.
The line was short, so we went on the Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars, which was fun, except that there were too many cars, but they all crowded the center, so I just cruised the outskirts searching for victims. I seem to have bad luck in Boardwalk, when I was getting out of my bumper car, my shoe got stuck, and I fell out flat on the ground, jumped back up, and hurried out of the rink before anyone really said anything. I am so clumsy in the Boardwalk, at Solace, I didn't realize how deep the Plunge boats were, and I fell into one of those. It was funny though :)
Next since no one wanted to go on (but wanted to watch me go on) Perilous Plunge, I had to go alone. I was placed in row 2 end seat. The employee was really nice, but it took 10 years to buckle my restraint. I got it all tightened and everything, but it was twisted a little, which is a big no-no, so even thought it was a simple untwist, when one thing was untwisted, another thing was twisted. He said the lap bar was coming down tight, but it was actually pretty loose compared to the crush a few organs and bones stapling. Awesome ride as usual, it must have been amazing without the new restraints. I have the worst of luck. We were going to go to Knott's on the day that the chain snapped a few years ago, but we ended up going to Universal on that day, and we went to Knott's the next day, or the ride has been closed, so I have never gotten to ride it without the new restraints, but they are not bad once you learn how to do it.
When I got off, everyone got frozen yogurt cones from Sharky's, so I got one, and the employee there was very memorable. There were 2 female employees working, one took my order, and went to go get it, and while she was getting my order I smiled, and the other employee ran over and asked if I was getting my braces off soon, and I told her I had another year to go, and she complimented my teeth and how strait they were. She also had braces, and was really nice. I guess my teeth are babe magnets ;). (The ironic thing was I went to the Birdcage Theater the next day, and did one of those love testers, and found out I was 'Hot Stuff', so I guess it wasn't just my teeth ;))
Next we went on Sky Cabin expecting a calm, relaxing ride…..yeah right…… Everything went fine until we were part of the way down the tower, the cabin made a small jerk/drop on the way stopped for a second, and made another jerk/drop, stopped again, and continued the way down the tower. We were all freaked out, and the employee apologized, and promptly shut the ride down. However it was up not too long after.
We went on some more rides, and finished off the night with a trip on the Calico Railroad. It was a lot of fun, and the bandits were witty. One of them asked a guy if the had any money, and the guy said "no" so the bandit said "oh, so you must work here", I was laughing, so he cam over to me, called me a loner, and insulted me, I didn't care, infact I laughed, but my sister was practically on the ground CRACKING UP.
There was like 10 minutes before the park closed, so we went on Timber Mountain Log Ride, and left.
5/31
We got up at around 6:30, Disneyland was opening at 8 so we had to drop my sister and her boyfriend off at Disneyland at 7, and well we didn't get on the road till around 7:30, and by the time we got to the park it was 7:45. We ended up circling Disneyland 2 times because we missed the drop off. Then we went the wrong way on Harbor, and since there was no sun, (thanks to the beautiful L.A. atmosphere) we had no reference. We drove for miles, and didn't hit La Palma, so we knew something was up, it wasn't until we hit the 405 that we knew we were definitely going the wrong way, and came back. We didn't get to the Knott's area till around 9:45, and the park opened at 9 so we were already missing out. I was sporting my ultra cool "Winter Coaster Solace 4" shirt, which I hoped caught some attention and it did.
We got inside the park, headed to Ghostrider, saw the line, and we ended up skipping it and going strait to Calico Mine Ride. Today the trains were running faster during the last scene like I am used to, also the gouper/loaders all through out the trip were mocking the conductor's script "please no smoking, there is a lot of dynamite and explosives in these here caverns, so if you light up, we blow up!"
Next we headed over to TMLR and Supreme Scream, which was running two towers, and I was assigned seat 12, but I felt so stupid because I have been on that ride lots of times, and someone was covering up the number, so I circled the tower looking for my seat, but an employee pointed it out…oops.
Next we went on Boomerang, which had a one train wait. As we were walking through the line there were some nosey employees at Lakeside that saw us looking at them, and waved at us. There was a 1 train wait, and the employees were really nice. There was this little boy who it was his fist time riding Boomerang, and employee at the controls got on the speakers, and congratulated, and he had everyone clap. The kid however was scared to death when the ride was over. As we left the station, the employee was spouting off coaster stats, which the employees also did on Ghostrider, and Perilous Plunge. However I hated the train I was on, everyone was screaming (some profanities) as we went up backwards. As you get near the top, they slow you down to a snails pace, and slowly edge you back until you drop, which takes like 10 seconds, and this is where the screaming got really annoying. It is your typical boomerang, it was fun.
Next I took my friend for his first time on Perilous Plunge. The employee noticed my shirt, and we had a very small conversation while he was checking my restraint. My friend was extremely confused by the restraints (mine were tangled again), and after a few minutes we were off. He said that it was nothing, and you can't feel the drop, which shocked me. After getting off of Perilous Plunge I realized I forgot my camera. I remember taking it off Boomerang, but not putting it in a cubby on Perilous Plunge. We searched boomerang (the employees were nice, and helped us), and we didn't find it, so I searched PP and realize I put it in a cubby because I was at the end, then when the employee took my glasses, and my friends hat, he put it in a different cubby, and I forgot my camera was there. Luckily one awesome PP ride later I had my camera back. The employee recognized my from my earlier ride, which was cool.
My friend went on Xcelerator, but I didn't I just relaxed and went to Coasters, and got an awesome, thick vanilla shake topped with whipped cream and a cherry, it was heavenly.
We then went over to Fiesta Village, and went on Hat Dance, which even though we didn't spin our pot, it still spun in a tilt-a-while style where you would spin fast sometimes, and slow sometimes, without even touching the wheel. This was a surprise considering I never went on it without spinning the pot furiously.
We went on Jaguar, which surprisingly has a 2 switchback wait. We decided to sit up front instead of our normal back ride.
We next went to Calico square, and I heard some music coming from the Calico Saloon, but the show was almost over, so we decided to see the next show which was in an hour.
We went into the museum which had some really interesting things in it, and then to the Birdcage Theater (which is the oldest continuous running melodramatic theater, however it isn't really used any more, except they use it sometimes in Halloween Haunt), whose lobby is filled with the most awesome old games ever. I was hooked on this one game where you have to get balls onto rings worth points, and it was only a dime, so I blew about a dollar worth of dimes on it. They also had a love tester, which I scored 'Hot Stuff', and it had the funniest diagrams of a man and a woman, and they were doing actions for each level, started with not looking at each other, to passionately making out at the top level, they were funny to look at. I was however mad to see a stupid teenager messing with a game that was marked 'please do not touch', and his friend was yelling at him that it said not to touch it, but the jerk kept on playing it.
We were a little worn out, so we relaxed for 5 minutes in Charleston Circle, and there was a bunch of 20 dollar bills lying around the fountain…..but they were fake :(.
After getting some pictures with the famous "Hot Knott's Bench Chicks" that are scattered around the park. We decided to go on Kingdom of the dinosaurs (affectionately known as Kin-dumb of the dino-snores). But I was glad we went on it. There was this really nice employee who had this little mister that you pumped, and pressure built, and it sprayed mist, and she was going around asking who wanted mist, and misting off people, since it was getting quite warm out.
After getting off we realized how late it was, and hurried over to the Calico Saloon, and the show was starting in 5 minutes, but all of the tables were filled, so we went up to the balcony. Since we were at a saloon, and it is the Wild West, I got some sasparilla, and popcorn. The show was good, pretty funny, and had some good twists. It was funny when she asked how many people were happily married, and no one raised their hands, but like 20 seconds later someone raised their hand, it was funny.
We cruised around Ghost town for a while, the scenery was beautiful, lots of flowers, scenery.
We were a little beat, so we went back to the hotel, rested. We were hungry, and didn't eat since morning, and it was around dinner time, so we went to the chicken restaurant, and I had a boysenberry feast. Boysenberry punch, lots of boysenberry jam on my biscuits, boysenberry sherbet for dessert, and my friend didn't want dessert (which is included in your meal) so he got boysenberry pie to go, but we were going to the park, which I forgot, so I ended up eating it.
The stunt show was starting so we went to go see. Besides the stupid teenagers, this is the one thing I didn't like. It was really stupid, they were trying to demonstrate some stuff, and there was this guy, who had really stupid jokes, that only little kids would laugh at, and the real 'stunt' stuff was only like 30 seconds, and when it started setting good, it ended. I left with a "that's it" thought.
Next we passed by Calico Square, and they had "Line Dancing U.S.A." going on, so we watched it for a second, and I have that stupid Mambo no. 5 dance stuck in my head (Right forward, right back, step forward 2 count, right forward, back, forward, then step back 3 counts, right forward, snap, turn, clap, and swing you hip right twice, left twice, right left, right left).
Next I went on Plunge, and it had a one boat wait, but the restrain checker for the right side of the boat was awful. Her name was Jeni, and she was "Jeni, Restraint Warrior Nazi", she flew through it all, she moved quickly swiftly, but you should have seen her, she would put on foot up to gaining force, and balance, so she could crush you shoulders with the restraints, whi9ch she did in one swift motion. I was dreading seeing what she did with the lap bar, and she warned it was coming down hard, but surprisingly she left it loose, there was a little bit of room, and somewhere up the lift my shoulder restrain loosened up a little, and I got the most extreme air on Plunge I have ever gotten.
We went to Sky Cabin, but it was closed (wonder why). We went to Wheeler Dealer bumper Cars, but those were closed also, so we went on Supreme Scream, and when we got off Sky Cabin was just opening.
We got some more rides in, it was nearing 10 (we had to be a DL at 10:45, and we wanted to rest a little beforehand), so I went over to Ghostrider hoping to get a last ride on it, but the wait was like an hour. So I went over to Ghostrider Good, and saw they were still selling Vertigo video (which I never got at Solace) for $1, so I picked up one. The employee there Lorie, noticed my shirt, and we got into a conversation about Coaster Con, Solace, La Revolucion, Tumbler, and the video, and how her supervisor had her close up early.
We left the park at 10:00. I had a great time. The employees were great, the park is beautiful, and I had a great time. I never went on La Revolucion, but I have been on rides similar, and its ride program really sucked, the spinning was slow, and the ride cycle was very short.
I just watched my Vertigo tape. It is really cool, it is only like 6 minutes, but it shows clips of Slammer, and Tumbler, and Electroblast, as well as more. I actually thought it was going to have more of Vertigo, but it is still really cool, and only $1.
Overall it was a great trip
High Points : Employees, esp. the KoD and PP employee, Lorie, scenery, lines on Friday, food, Sky Cabin incident
Low Points: Jeni, falling out of Wheeler Dealer, stunt show, stupid, immature teenagers, lines on Saturday (Jaguar's line extended to the middle of the network of hallways).
Overall, Knott's is a great park, with great employees, and food, scenery and rides.
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Welcome one and all, y'all come have a ball!
Things a bear-y fine, ridin' on the old Knott's bear-y line!
*** This post was edited by MilleniumForce6279 6/2/2003 9:47:40 PM ***
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"Remember, time flies when you're havin' fun!"
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I hope they kill that iron yuppie. Thinks he's so big. The great homer simspon
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