All things Knotts Berry Farm

[parksandtravel]

The refurbished Bird Cage Theater opens on tomorrow! It will be interesting to see what they do with this space, especially in the current Six Flags corporate ownership.

 

[Emmanuel]

Went on opening day and the theater is really now better. The updated AC will ensure the summer shows don't get cancelled or half shows like what happened the previous years.



On opening day there were only 2 shows because they did a show for invited media and did a panel afterwards.

Overall, this was an overdue and massive upgrade to the theater.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Obviously, Knotts is a must-do for Disney diehards, but is it truly worth peeling off a Disneyland day? Like going from 4 to 3?

Did USH last time I went, and thought it was worth it to check out, so if it is similar in its own way like a Dollywoo,d then I should probably go.

I heard Knotts became ghetto from a friend who refuses to go now, but I imagine those concerns are overblown.

Personally I think a day at Knott's is better than a day at DCA, so yes? Unless you're extremely convinced you'll need day number 4.

It's a bit like a Californian version of Silver Dollar City or Dollywood, if half of the park (or most egregiously, 1/4 of the park) was allowed to turn into a Cedar Point knockoff.

What makes Knott's interesting is the history and atmosphere. Ghost Town is an outstanding area, and honestly the non-Boardwalk areas are also better themed than they are often given credit for. You also have all-time theme park classics in the Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride, which are not only good in and of themselves but also directly inspired Disney Imagineers. Walt Disney was impressed with the Mine Ride and its hidden switchback queue, and Tony Baxter credited the Glory Hole as inspiration for Indy and the way you come back to a big main room several times. Additionally, you can see Tony Baxter in some opening day shots for the log ride, and he pretty much stole the layout and pacing of the ride to build Splash Mountain. Both have been tastefully updated with modern AAs, which further enhances the charm.

Beyond that and the atmosphere, you also have weird things like the Independence Hall replica across the street, complete with a very Walt-esque show inside, as well as the bizarre Beary Tales dark ride, the Stagecoaches, and the famous Chicken Dinner Restaurant that was responsible for the park being built in the first place (eating there is an experience worth going out of your way for, and the value proposition is better than what you would find at Disney, but don't feel like you need to get the Fried Chicken-personally I prefer the tenders, as I find the main bird to be pretty dry and flavorless, but go with whatever gives you the chicken dinner experience. There are around eight entrees you can choose from to get that). While Knott's doesn't offer anything big like parades/fireworks/etc, on the whole they're probably better at entertainment and genuine customer service than Disney is at the moment.

I would not describe Knott's as ghetto, but it's not perfect. As said, the Boardwalk section really clashes with and undermines the rest of the park, even if I think it's not as bad as many say it is. Ops are not the park's strong suit, and they're very noticeably less efficient than Disney or Universal-they're bad enough that frankly I'd recommend a FastLane if you want to get stuff done, because otherwise you're likely waiting two hours for GhostRider and longer than you'd like for everything else. If you really want big bad scare-your-pants-off coasters, GhostRider aside, there's very little here for you and you'd overall be better served by going to Magic Mountain. Parking is always frustrating because there are about five different parking lots and signage to where you're supposed to go is often limited and terrible-if I didn't know it has always been like this, I'd say it was a cynical attempt to force people to go into the premium lot.

In spite of the negatives, if you're into theme parks apart from Disney, or history, or even just want to see some connections and parallels between the two Orange County theme parks started by men named Walt, it's worth seeing at least once.

If you like coasters- yes! If you don't like coasters then it depends.

The best times to go is during Scary Farm or a festival.

Eh, as a coaster dork, I'd say that's not necessarily true. Maybe if any coaster instantly makes the place better, I guess.

GhostRider is genuinely outstanding, Montezuma is a classic, but they could genuinely throw out most of the rest of their lineup and I wouldn't really care. Jaguar's a glorified monorail, Silver Bullet has a unique layout but really shouldn't be there, Hangtime's fun but it doesn't have near enough capacity for what Knott's truly needs, kiddie coaster is kiddie coaster, Pony Express is like 20 seconds long, Sierra Sidewinder's fine but unnecessary, and they've modified Coast Rider's restraints to be awful. Oh, and Xcelerator's the most overrated ride on the west coast, sorry not sorry.

Scary Farm is an outstanding Halloween event and the festivals overall are nice add ons, but I think Ghost Town Alive is a pretty cool summer event too. There's plenty to keep a first-timer occupied without the festivals.