Knotts Berry Farm and Future Expansion

Tunnelling under Beach Blvd (or using the existing pedestrian tunnel) would not take a coaster near a residential area. The parking lot is bordered by the water park on the south, Buena Park Mall on the east, and business on the north. Perhaps the park should take Disney's approach and build a large parking structure next to the hotel and expand into the parking lot across Beach?

Mamoosh, I like your idea for a parking structure. There is also a smaller dirt parking lot across La Palma Ave. They hardly ever use it. It is bordered on the north by businesses. A fairly large coaster could probably fit in that area. Perhaps they could build a bridge over La Palma Ave. which would lead to that area. I'm no expert, but I think something in the 150-200 ft. range would fit over there.

Moosh, there are parts of that lot that border residential areas (accross streets, anyway), it wasn't as close as I originally had thought, but still pretty near. Or least near enough for someone to complain about. It would force the bulk of the layout to be kept to the middle of the lot. As long as we are playing this game, let's squeeze in some Huss Giants while we're at it. ;)

The problem with going over a street like La Palma is the fact that it is a very busy street, I doubt the city would allow it. It would make for a big distraction, and you wouldn't want a car plowing into a support. They'd have to tunnel under.

The employee/overflow parking lot across Western Ave. could certainly be utilized, but would require either an overpass or a tunnel to maintain the flow of guests. They also own land further up Western (location of the horse stables) but it has the strip mall bordering Beach,and on he eastern end of it is Bud Hurlbut's facility on the Western Ave. side.

Soggy, I assume your comment about tunneling under La Palma Ave. was in response to my comment about building a bridge. I didn't mean the coaster should cross La Palma. My idea was that they could build a coaster in the parking lot over there and use something similar to the pedestrian bridges in Las Vegas to allow people to get to that area.

There is one place that in my opinion within the existing park that many people are overlooking as a potential location for a large coaster, although I know it would be very unpopular if they did use it. The current path for the Stagecoach ride could be easily used for a large coaster and would require minimal impact on other rides as well as not be outside the existing park boundaries. Like I said this would be highly unpopular as it would take away some the character of Knotts Berry Farm.

Let's be serious: the park will never expand beyond Beach, La Palma, Western and Crescent. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

^ There's really no need to in my opinion. What would thay expand for? A large coaster? They've already proved time and time again that there are creative ways to fit in a coaster if needed. Other than that, expansion isn't really needed anyway.

beast7369 said:The current path for the Stagecoach ride could be easily used for a large coaster and would require minimal impact on other rides as well as not be outside the existing park boundaries. Like I said this would be highly unpopular as it would take away some the character of Knotts Berry Farm.

It would do SERIOUS damage to the character of KBF...the stagecoach, Mystery Lodge, flume, and "Glory Hole mine" are the attractions at Knotts that tie the present to the past. The reasons grandma and grandpa LIKE to take the grandkids to Knotts. IMO, it would be a bigger loss than the hospitality houses at the (former) Busch parks...

I agree with beast. I was wondering if the stagecoach was taken out, if a hyper could fit in that path, or if it would create an uproar? I know some of you feel that the park can always magically fit in an attraction of any size, but at some point they will exhaust this. Looking at the aerial, I don't see a lot of options within the park, including building on top of things. I'm just wondering, when the economy gets better, if it's time to relocate/rebuild the actual market and other buildings across the street in order to open up the park more...then build a bridge similar to what Citywalk did.

As for moving buildings....They did that already once for Silver Bullet. All I was pointing out is that there still is space within the park if they got creative with the space that they have to build just about anything they wanted in the confines of the park. Now think about if they really got creative in the style of something like Indiana Beach and how much more stuff they could put into the park. Where there is a will there is a way to do it.

For what it's worth, this rumor says that KBF is getting a "major new attraction" in 2010. Scroll down to the bottom, if you want to read it. I know it's vague and "attraction" could be interpreted to mean almost anything. But, assuming this happens, I am anxious to find out not only what this will be, but also where it will be.

Beast: I hear what you are saying, but I think that would destroy the environment. To me Indiana Beach and Blackpool are just absurd in the way rides are stacked on top of one another. If Knotts decided to build a coaster over the log flume, or over ghost town buildings, or over camp snoopy, it's just going to look ridiculous and hurt the atmosphere. They moved the church to make room for Silver Bullet within the park. I'm talking about moving/rebuilding buildings that are currently outside the park, in order to make the park larger. I think I would rather move the market itself or some storage buildings, rather than build on top of them...but that's just my opinion.

The church wasn't just a piece of theming...it was an actual working church with long time, regular parishoners that were not park guests -- i.e. they were let in the park at no charge to attend services on Sunday. Moving the church across the street not only gave the park some additional room for Silver Bullet but churchgoers a nicer, quieter place to worship. And the park no longer had to comp their admissions.

My dream was to become pastor at that church. ;) I was disappointed when I heard they were moving it.

pssh word on the street is KBF 2010 S&S EL Loco coaster about 150 feet tall, An S&S peep at Westcoast Coaster Bash supposed to have said it will be a 200 foot El Loco on the westcoast but didn't come out and say what park.

Anyways Knotts have plenty of room with a little creativity and millions of dollars anything's possible:O)~ the can remove Perilous Plung and that would be a nice spot for an Intamin Megalite, Remove Ghost Rider for a Intamin Plug n Play, and Remove Boomarang for an Intamin Zac Spin coaster. Just that along would give the park three of the best coasters on the planet without touching any of the old charm left in the park:O)~

^^^Remove Ghostrider! Are you serious!?! That is a significant Knott's signature. The park would totally loose a piece of it's charm, and the base for the entire GhostTown theme, if Ghostrider wasn't there. Honestly, the coaster that I would say could be replaced is Montezuma's Revenge. I don't know the geography of Knott's too well, but based on the google overview, I think it would be amazing if Knott's had a hyper coaster like SFOG's Goliath that extended out between Grand and Beach towards Ghostrider if that was possible. I think using MR's current station placement and a little Knott's creativity, that would be the place to put a hyper coaster. But that's just based on my uninformed opinion.

I say remove Perilous Plunge and Boomerang. Rip out and retheme all that concrete. Bring back the Roaring 20's!

Uh yeah, Ghostrider isn't as good as it used to be, but it's nowhere near wrecking ball material. Plus it was a $25 million project, it's there to stay.

As for Perilous Plunge, it's sort of an albatross. If you kill it off, nothing 'major' could really fit in its place. Station & queue for something major, but then you're looking at the same space issues, the ride would have to still go up and over other things.

Bring back the Roaring 20's? Hell yeah!

I'm not a fan of Ghostrider. As rough as Villain on its worst day and, to my mind, anyway, a little bit less interesting. Still, doesn't mean it will or should come down.