Knott's Berry Farm; June 7th, 2004
Associated parks:
None
This was our first trip to the Los Angeles area, and our first trip to an amusement park in California, so I really didn’t know what to expect of this park. I had been planning it for quite some time, just to see what another Cedar Fair park would be like, and hoping to ride Xcelerator and GhostRider, but just to my luck, the state of California shuts down Xcelerator. Sigh. Well, we arrived at the park just as the gates were opening, and quickly got in, just before ten o’clock and proceeded to walk over to GhostRider.
GhostRider: We waited outside the queue until they started testing the ride, and then promptly let us into the line. We got onto GhostRider in the front car in about fifteen minutes. They kept the lines moving steadily, and the like. So, first ride of the day, and the season, for me was GhostRider. Sitting in the front was very neato on this ride. The first drop was short, but nice, and the layout called for plenty of curves and nicely banked turns that give it a hint of intensity. The layout weaved itself through itself, and had plenty of head-choppers and the like. Overall, it was a great ride, and one of the best woodies I have been on, although not as good as the Holiday World pair. 9/10
We then proceeded to the back of the park, as the line for GhostRider was filling up, being so close to the entrance. We walked through the nicely themed Western area, and to the back of the park. Took a glance at the shut down Xcelerator, and wished it was open, but then we decided to get on Boomerang.
Boomerang: I don’t think I had ever been on an old Vekoma Boomerang before, so this was my first. I had been on similar rides, such as Face-off at King’s Island, but never this variety. The line was very short, and we got on the second train in the station. This ride is a lot of fun, but a little rough. The ride has great G-forces when you go through the loop backwards. Overall, the ride was short, but pretty sweet. 7/10
We then decided to check out some flat rides, and first got on a little ride called Wipeout, a variety of flat ride that I had never been on before. It does a lot of spinning, and more or less just pushes the person on the inside right into the person on the outside. Oh well. Next up, we went over to Supreme Scream. The line for this became massive, and they were only using one of the three towers. Took about an hour to get to the front of the line, and then they opened another tower. The ride itself was decent, didn’t seem very tall, but I like the Space Shot ones over the Turbo Drop any day. We then went over to the Waveswinger, and got right on that, and it’s your average swing ride, good fun. The Dragon Swing followed, a simple pirate ship, and that too was great fun. The Hat Dance, a teacups ride, was up next, and I managed to do a pretty good job spinning us at an insane rate. The ride-op on that was having good fun, and it was a very fun and entertaining ride. We then proceeded to La Revolutión. This thing looked really cool, and after it breaking down while in line, we got on it and it was a grand old time, lots of spinning, and well, more spinning. I’d say that or the Hat Dance was the best flat ride in the park. Well, then it was onto Jaguar!
Jaguar!: The line for this was about 20 minutes, and the ride-op wouldn’t stop telling the line to wear their sweatshirts and jackets, instead of tying them around your waist, and I really couldn’t figure out how sitting on your sweatshirt you were more likely to lose them, especially on this ride. Beats me. Go on in about the middle, and it was a decent ride. Very tame, but a nice kiddie coaster. It’s cool that it goes through the loop of Montezooma’s Revenge, and it gave some great views of Silver Bullet’s construction, but other than that, nothing special. 4.5/10
After that, and eating a quick lunch of a hot dog that was very good, we proceeded to go over to Montezooma’s Revenge.
I had never been on a Schwarzkopf ride before, nor a shuttle loop, but this one was pretty darned cool. The entire ride is so smooth, and a very good speed, and it’s surprising how well it runs, when it’s significantly old. Nice, short ride, and it’s very sweet. 8.5/10
After that, we revisited Jaguar!, Montezooma’s Revenge, and Boomerang. Went on the stage coaches, and got some nice pictures of the construction and the other rides, and over to Kingdom of Dinosaur’s to finish the day off. I had hoped to get back on GhostRider, but they had it closed, and just to my luck, it opened just as we were heading out the exit. Oh well.
Overall, the park was a very nice experience, but the people all day were quite rude. This of course, isn’t the park’s fault, but there was an overwhelming amount of school groups there, and they all thought line jumping was perfectly fine. I have never seen line jumping to this caliber, not at Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, or anywhere else I have been. About in every line ride, someone decided to go up and be with their friends. It was hard to report them, seeing as there were very few ride-ops also. That detracted from the experience, that and Xcelerator being closed, but both of those were uncontrollable for the park. There also seemed to be a lot of construction, seeing that Riptide was still be installed, Lucy’s Tugboats wasn’t even started, and Silver Bullet had a good portion of the park fenced off, but when all of these are completed, the park will be an even better experience. The flat rides were very diverse, and the coasters, although few, were very good for the most part. Overall, I give the park 8/10. *** Edited 6/10/2004 3:12:49 PM UTC by bobthecoasterguy***
--Erich
P.S.- What kind of ride is La Revolution?
Phantom beat me to a response, and a better one, haha. *** Edited 6/10/2004 3:30:54 PM UTC by bobthecoasterguy***
--Erich
Great TR, glad you liked KBF. Come back next year in the off season for a better visit, and to check out SB.
jomo said:
KBF now has a rule about jackets tied around the waste
Who does that, anyhow?
Sooo early 90's. :)
jomo said:
KBF now has a rule about jackets tied around the waste
It's been a while since I've seen a jacket tied around garbage.
haha, just messin'. :)
Glad you had a good time; and glad you have a reason to come back (Xccel, of course ;) )
-Scott
It took us a while to get in, because we got sent to guest services to show our Cedar Point pass, where they would issue us a scannable comp ticket.
We had a virtually identical experience. In other words, the park is great and the rides are well run, but the lines need a lot more supervision. I have never seen such line jumping, and people pushing their way past you to catch up with a friend that is further up the line. At CP, they even threw LeBron James out of line for line-jumping, but at Knott's, I guess you can do whatever the heck you want. Very disappointing. It's not just the behavior of the park patrons -- the drivers are just as rude. If I ever had any thoughts of wanting to live in Southern Cal, they're fully erased now.
We eventually saw a security guard on the second level of the Ghostrider line -- I told him he really needed to be on the first floor because it was a zoo down there.
Peace,
Rob(tm)
-R
I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.
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