No crowds at Knott's- I love it! 7/25/05

Knott’s Berry Farm- 7/25/05

We arrived at the Knott’s Berry Farm Resort at about 7 P.M. on Sunday evening from beautiful San Diego. Upon my arrival, I was stunned by the similarities to Cedar Point. The T.G.I. Fridays outside the park, the shops, etc. all helped to make evident Cedar Fair’s attempt to keep guests on property after/before the park closes/opens.

Anyways, we walked to the park at about 9:30 on Monday morning expecting moderate crowds. We walked in to the park and waited under the Cobra Roll of Silver Bullet for about 5 minutes, until the National Anthem began to play. As soon as it was over, the small herd of people around us too off in the direction of Silver Bullet. I expected Xcelerator to have the longest wait later in the day, so we walked in the direction of the red top-hat looming in the distance. We arrived to the midway outside of the station at about 10:04, and we were the only guests in the entire area! Had I missed a memo, or a sign saying Xcelerator would be closed today? The whole crew was just standing in the station, talking, etc. Only the red/yellow train was on the track. Hmmmm….So we asked an op if the ride was even open, and he gladly replied with a “yes”. Ok, so we walked down to the entrance and up to the empty station, where we happily sat in the front two seats for the first train of the day! Wow, I really, really, really, really like this ride. We rode 3 more times in 15 minutes, all with 1 train waits.

Next up was Silver Bullet. I have heard some good, some bad things about this B&M invert. I never saw the line become any longer than 10 minutes all day. Kudos to Knott’s for having 2 trains running all day when they could have gotten by with 1. As for the ride experience, I, well, I think I liked it. It was definently one of the smoothest B&M’s I have ridden. It just seems like it needs a little “kick”. The first half of the ride just flows, flawlessly. Maybe it was the lack of the classic B&M roar I have become so accustomed to, or the dull first drop, it just didn’t deliver as much as Raptor or Batman or Alpengeist. It was definently a great addition to the park as a whole, but I think it would be much more popular if it had a very steep first drop, or another innovative element like the over-banked turn.

Onto what would become my new #1 wood coaster. Ghostrider. It has everything a wooden coaster should have. Nonstop action from the lift to the brakes. Some nice pops of airtime here and there. A surprisingly fast drop out of the station. I just love this coaster. It was “shakey”, but not too rough. The helix at the end surprised me an incredible amount. This ride just never seems to let up. I kept thinking “oh, around this turn will be the brakes followed by the station and that’ll be that”. Boy, was I wrong. The crew was doing well too. I think dispatch times were around 1.5 to 2 minutes, which really helped to move the line. I have to go back to California to ride this thing again! I have to say that I like it more than the Beast at my home park. It just delivers again and again and again. That’s all there is to it.

I won’t go into great detail, but the rest of my day consisted of the following:

-9 Xcelerator rides. I almost want to venture to say that I like it more than Top Thrill Dragster. The short line, the surrounding palm trees, the two over-banked turns, the short wait in the station due to the way that they load the trains and the reliability put it ahead of TTD by a bit. I saw 0, yes, ZERO downtime all day. I didn’t feel like I was taking a risk every time I got in line. It just doesn’t seem as “delicate” as TTD.

-2 front row rides on Perilous Plunge. I got very wet. It was fun, but the restraints are absolutely ridiculous. I know that someone fell out once, but honestly, couldn’t they put together something better than just an OTSR made of seatbelts? Dispatch times were absolutely ridiculous, but it really wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was simply the cumbersome restraints. Fun ride, nonetheless.

-My first ride on a Boomerang, twoot twoot! You would think that since I have ridden over 100 coasters I would have ran into a Vekoma Boomerang somewhere, but this was my first. I actually enjoyed it.

-My first shuttle loop. Schwarzkopf (sp?) was quite the designer. I really enjoyed it.
-Jaguar, Riptide, the excellent log flume, and other rides later in the day.

Overall, I loved Knott’s Berry Farm. It wasn’t crowded at all. Xcelerator had a max 15 minute wait during the peak hours. I guess many vacationers become distracted with Disneyland and Magic Mountain, but I think Knott’s is not to be missed. We spent the better half of a week at Knott’s Resort, and really enjoyed that also. I have decided that I want to move to L.A.! After two trips, I have fallen in love with the place. (But definently not the traffic- that’s a whole different story……)

Coming soon (maybe tomorow)- Magic Mountain and an experience of Deja Vu! *** Edited 8/4/2005 3:08:16 AM UTC by PKI discodude***

Great TR.. I enjoy Xcel much more than TTD... Perhaps it's the length of the ride, or the fact that as soon as your at "speed," you're going up the hill. It happens so fast. Very cool.

Try riding PP at night, and say hello to a new kind of wet, especially in the back.

Glad you had a great time. Go back soon. Knott's misses you. ;)

Thanks for reading and replying....I really enjoyed my trip. I cant wait to go back. Xcel. does seem to have a more powerful launch/exceleration than TTD. Oh geeze, I really want to go back!

I enjoyed your TR as well. Good to see you totally "get" Knott's vibe. It is by far my favorite So Cal park and offers the best all-around mix of rides from beginner/kiddie to family to thrillseeker.

The two Disney resort parks are second. While they may be short on major thrills there is just something magical about being there.

A lot of So Cal parks tie for third spot: Adventureland, Pacific Ocean Pier, Castle Park, Scandia, Legoland, and Belmont in San Diego.

SFMM? Dead last. I'll be interested in your trip report from that park.

Yeah...Knott's was excellent. I can't say I totally agree with you on your assesment of SFMM, probably becuase I have only been there twice and I visited on two very rare, not very crowded, days when almost every ride was open. I think if I lived closer and visited more often I would agree with you. I will say a few things about my upcoming TR- I rode Deja Vu and X on the same day, each with waits under an hour. In late July. How did it happen? I have no idea, but it did.

-I also visited Belmont Park for the first time. I did enjoy it, but the rides were rather pricey. $5 for the Giant(or is it Big?) Dipper was a little steep, but it was a good classic coaster.

-By the way- I just wanted to say thanks for the positive comments. I never used to fill out TR's, but now I think I will. They help to remind me of my days at the parks (and the California Sunshine!) *** Edited 8/4/2005 4:23:37 AM UTC by PKI discodude*** *** Edited 8/4/2005 4:31:24 AM UTC by PKI discodude***

Nice report...this sounds like a lot of my visits over the past few years! Knoptts is certainly a great park in my opinion!

Count me in as a member of the I Love Knott's club as well.

Oh, and also the 'Xcel is 100x better than TTD' organization (sorry tina ;)).

Nice trip report and welcome to the Knott's Fan Club. Knott's is, hands down, my favorite park to visit. It may not have the most intense rides or the most rides, but everything about the park just feels "right". It's a park I can truly relax in and not feel rushed to finish everything.

On your comments about Xcelerator, I agree completely. Xcelerator blows away TTD with a better launch and I think an even better run on the top hat. Yeah, its half the size, but good things come in small packages. Still, I gotta say that Storm Runner blows Xcelerator away.

I really gotta start thinking of ways to get back out to Knott's again...

Solace is in 8 months, Bob...

I rode Deja Vu and X on the same day, each with waits under an hour. In late July. How did it happen?

Two possibilities:

1] Everyone was in the waterpark.
2] Los Angelinos got fed up with closed rides and rude employees and aren't going anymore.

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TeknoScorpion said:
Solace is in 8 months, Bob...

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It's really between that and another trip during Haunt. I had such a great time at Haunt last year...

...that and I dont know if I can hold off this insatiable craving for boysenberry punch and those awesome biscuits at Mrs. Knott's!

Haunt was fun because you had an excellent tour guide ;)

Yeah, I'll give you that. You do know your way around, and are a good guide. But Bob, there's spending Haunt with Moosh, or meeting me at Solace. That should be a no brainer, and I'll see you in March ;).

Solace or Haunt, he gets me either way ;)

I'll take you any way I can get you, Moosh ;)

Two possibilities:

1] Everyone was in the waterpark.
2] Los Angelinos got fed up with closed rides and rude employees and aren't going anymore.

^ Im going with number 2, and the fact that it was a tuesday. TR coming probably tomorow.

Oh my @ KTS.

I do hope I can make it to Solace again next year. My only major plans for the year are Solace, Fla. if I don't go this year, then Japan in Sept. Other than that and hopefully many visits to my new home parks, I doubt I'll be doing much in the way of coastering, so that I can save all my time, energy, and (most importantly) money for Sushi, Hot girls, and a brand new Tower of Terror in the East :).

I'm glad you had a great time! Knott's is my personal favorite park west of Missouri. A lot of people complain about it being ghetto, and poor PR department. But it has always been extremely clean and friendly when I've been there.

Knott's ghetto? Try the park an hour to the north...

I hear the Knott's is ghetto thing all the time. Again, I'll take 7 good-outstanding coasters that run any day over 2-3 outstanding, 1-2 good, 3 okay, 4-sucky, and all the reast closed coasters that SFMM has.