Knott's Berry Farm, 3/19/09, Very slightly crowded for a school day, More price increases

Park hours were 10-6. I was there from 11-6. I got on 33 total rides. Xcelerator was closed. I already knew it would be so that's no big deal. Riptide was closed too, but I don't ride it so that didn't matter to me either. It was a great day. Lines were a little longer at times than you normally find on a school day, but still pretty short. When I rode Ghostrider I saw about 8 school buses in the lot across Beach Blvd. Also, during the day, I saw some groups of kids all wearing the same shirts, so there must have been a school outing. I saw more people wearing non-local park and coaster shirts than usual too. Maybe some people got here early for Winter Coaster Solace which is this weekend. I found it somewhat amusing to be reminded about Winter Coaster Solace, when it was about 80 degrees at KBF today. I love that SoCal weather. Silver Bullet, Ghostrider and Sierra Sidewinder had 2 trains. This almost never happens on school days. All other coasters had one.

A few notes and observations:

1. The grass area between Xcelerator's brake run and La Palma Ave. has been dug up except for the small building right next to the track. The entire area is all dirt. Also, the red Xcelerator train seems to have been stripped down. I am not an expert but it appears to be nothing but seats sitting on a frame. All of the decorative pieces which make it look like a 57 Chevy have been removed. The purple train was being test ran today.

2. Food and parking prices have increased again. Parking is now $12. This went up very recently because when I was there in January it was still $10. I don't have very many exact food prices to quote, but generally, many things have increased between 50 cents and $1.50 just since January also. Some examples which I remember are, Corn Dog = $5.00, Large Icee = $6.25, Dippin Dots = $6.00, Double Cheeseburger = $7.25. This further cements my decision to leave the park to eat.

3. A gate has been added to the Ghostrider station, rather than just the chain they used to pull across. This is also new since January. Also, on my first ride on Ghostrider today, someone pulled out a camera and took a picture as we were leaving the station. They stopped the train on the lift hill and sent out a ride op to take the camera away.

4. On the Sierra Sidewinder they unlocked the restraints and made a woman remove the sweater which was tied around her waist. This coaster has a lap bar and a seat belt. Also the seats are barely wide enough for an average sized adult to sit in. I can't imagine that the sweater could have came loose, considering it would have been tied around her, held in place by two restraints and she would have been sitting on it. I know they tell you to remove sweaters and jackets which are tied around your waist, but I think the park is getting to nitpicky. This is funny to me because, at SFMM on 3/1/09, I rode 11 different coasters, a total of 43 times, with my jacket tied around my waist and nobody ever told me to remove it.

Here is my day in order.

Ghostrider: rode twice, waited 15 mins. each time.

Pony Express: rode twice, walk ons

Silver Bullet: rode twice, 15 mins. and 10 mins.

Sierra Sidewinder: twice, 15 mins. and 10 mins.

Montezooma's Revenge: twice, 10 mins. each time

Jaguar: once, 20 min.

La Revolucion: once, 15 mins.

Wave Swinger: once, walk on

Dragon Swing: once, walk on

Supreme Scream: once, 15 mins.

Wipeout: once, walk on

Ghostrider: twice, 5 mins, then walk on

Silver Bullet: twice, 10 min. for front row, then switched rows and went again.

Sierra Sidewinder: twice, 5 mins. each time

Montezooma's Revenge: twice, front row first time, both walk ons

La Revolucion: once, walk on

Supreme Scream: once, walk on

Wipeout: once, walk on

Boomerang: once, 15 mins.

Pony Express: once, 5 mins.

Silver Bullet: twice, walk ons

Ghostrider: twice, 10 mins. each time.

Totals: Ghostrider-6, Silver Bullet-6, Pony Express-3, Sierra Sidewinder-4, Montezooma's Revenge-4, Jaguar-1, La Revolucion-2, Wave Swinger-1, Supreme Scream-2, Wipeout-2, Boomerang-1, Dragon Swing-1

These food price increases are ridiculous especially because the food was already overpriced to begin with. A large Icee is $1.29 outside of the parks near me. I can understand the parks charging maybe twice as much like $2.50 at Knoebels but over 4 times as much is a ripoff.

My thoughts exactly. A large Icee outside of the park is about the same price here. Late last year a large Icee at KBF was $4.85 which I think is too high already. Now it is $1.40 more than that. Inflated prices at a park are expected, but I think they have crossed the line from just having high prices to blatant gouging. Here a few more prices I forgot to post yesterday. Icee in a souvenir cup = $10.75, 1 pc. chicken breast or thigh = $3.75. Also, in January, a basic funnel cake at KBF was $7.79, now it is $8.99. At SFMM a funnel cake is $5.99. When prices at one park are so high that it makes another park look reasonable in comparison, something is wrong. Not to mention, with my pass, that $5.99 becomes $4.50, which is half of what a funnel cake would cost at KBF.

Methinks I smell a whiff of desperation in CF's pricing structures. Sorry fellas, but forcibly jacking up per cap spending ain't gonna dig you out of those looming debt payments.

After hearing about KI & CP's food service jack-ups last season, I'm surprised it took this long for Knott's to follow suit. I remember a few seasons ago KBF had the best food deal of any park I can think of. In Ghost Town there was a place that had soup or chili in a sourdough bread bowl for $4.99. It was huge, delicious and a great value. Is that still there?

My KBF food suggestion is either the Chicken Dinner Restaurant or head over to Claim Jumper (walking distance) for happy hour. They have fantastic bar food & drink specials during their happy hour. Even regular hours they would be my choice over in-park food, portions are insane, so get a meal and split it with a friend.

The sourdough bread bowl was a good deal. That is one of things I used to eat before I finally decided not to eat inside the park anymore. It is still there but I don't know what the current price is. La Victoria Cantina used to have a few relatively descent deals too, but that was before the current price increases went into effect. In my opinion, the days of finding a few "deals" at KBF are gone.