All things Knotts Berry Farm

[SoCalDisneyLover]

Good news, so long as they don't later offer it to non-passholders for a higher price.

I'm also a little worried they may require reservations. Having more to do with needing to control capacity, given the fact that many passholders probably took advantage of this offer, and if they all show up every weekend, there may be a problem.

Although from what I've heard, they pack the s&*t out of the park on some nights, and the wait times are ridiculous. I'm going to make it a point to get there before opening, so I can get in a couple of mazes, and take off when the lines become insane.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

So there was almost no line at "Information," so yesterday I went and inquired about the Train and Stunt Show. Aside from getting the standard "check the website, the entertainment schedule is listed," mumbo jumbo, they did throw out "after June 15th," at one point, so I guess we'll see so far as that goes.

No news whatsoever in regards to the train. Have no clue what the deal is there. Was it not maintained during the shutdown, or at least tested from time to time to see if it worked? Are they waiting until Disneyland opens the Matterhorn on July 2nd? It's getting kind of lame now that they've been open a full month. They don't even have the robbers standing there anymore, because they probably were getting sick of being asked every 2 minutes, "When Is The Train Going To Be Running?????"

I was there on May 6. I was directly told that they were working on it, and to listen for the whistle, after which the train would do a test loop circuit. If all went well, they would open it up. Almost all of that happened, a line was allowed to form, and I got in it. 5, 10, 15 minutes passed, and nothing. So I left, and figured I'd try back later, or just perhaps the next time I was in park. Well, of course, it never even opened, and the next time I was in the park, at least the head of the train was gone. All the cars are now gone, not sure how long that took to happen.

 

[cmwade77]

So there was almost no line at "Information," so yesterday I went and inquired about the Train and Stunt Show. Aside from getting the standard "check the website, the entertainment schedule is listed," mumbo jumbo, they did throw out "after June 15th," at one point, so I guess we'll see so far as that goes.

No news whatsoever in regards to the train. Have no clue what the deal is there. Was it not maintained during the shutdown, or at least tested from time to time to see if it worked? Are they waiting until Disneyland opens the Matterhorn on July 2nd? It's getting kind of lame now that they've been open a full month. They don't even have the robbers standing there anymore, because they probably were getting sick of being asked every 2 minutes, "When Is The Train Going To Be Running?????"

I was there on May 6. I was directly told that they were working on it, and to listen for the whistle, after which the train would do a test loop circuit. If all went well, they would open it up. Almost all of that happened, a line was allowed to form, and I got in it. 5, 10, 15 minutes passed, and nothing. So I left, and figured I'd try back later, or just perhaps the next time I was in park. Well, of course, it never even opened, and the next time I was in the park, at least the head of the train was gone. All the cars are now gone, not sure how long that took to happen.

Even if it was tested and maintained during the closure, the reality.is the trains are very old and parts will fail and are hard to come by.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

My point is it is fairly easy to snag a reservation now, I mean Memorial Day Weekend will always be harder, but all of next month is wide open.

Things are getting dicey. Knott's has no reservations available for the next 8 days. The first day you can reserve as of now is Monday June 14. Weekends have been filling up since the beginning, but this is first time I've seen it entirely booked for a Monday-Thursday period.

 

[cmwade77]

Things are getting dicey. Knott's has no reservations available for the next 8 days. The first day you can reserve as of now is Monday June 14. Weekends have been filling up since the beginning, but this is first time I've seen it entirely booked for a Monday-Thursday period.

I think a lot of people are trying to get reservations before out of state guests are allowed in. I also think we will see a couple of weeks from June 15th book up fast, then things will level off after the initial surge of state guests. And still if you are willing to plan at least a week in advance you should be good. The fact that you can now book two at a time helps. We have reservations for Saturday, so we will book are next reservation once that is used

 

[Emmanuel]

Some observations from my 2nd visit to Knotts as a Season Passholder yesterday (6/5)

1.) It appears that Knotts has phased out the "mask enforcers". Didn't see them around the park.

2.) On my first visit to Knotts since the Pandemic, there was a grouper at Montezoomas Revenge (normal operations doesn't have one but due to Covid restrictions, groupers are necessary when the ride is busy). This time I went around the last hour of park operations and there was no line and no ride operator to assign rows. Merely instructing us to leave 1 row open between parties. Took advantage and got front row.

3.) Wagon Camp Theater which is currently hosting Krazy Kirk is still assigning rows to guests to keep them spaced apart. Guests are dismissed after the show by sections which is what happened on opening weekend as well.

4.) Pony Express and Sky Tower was unavailable. No reason as to why.


Like last time, I saved Timber Mountain Log ride for the last hour and it was a walk on. Likely a combination of people starting to go home and the fact it cooled down pretty quickly after the sun went down.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

4.) Pony Express and Sky Tower was unavailable. No reason as to why.

The Sky Cabin was closed when I was there Friday and last Saturday as well. Either it was too windy(?), or it's got problems.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

I would assume once the doors close. There is no way to watch people keeping masks on and social distant.

They can't have someone in the cabin who watches for this? What does it take, 30 seconds, to make a circuit around the cabin while it's going up? Pretty sad if that's the case, and the rest of us are missing out on the attraction due to a handful of morons who can't follow the rules.

 

[PiratesMansion]

They can't have someone in the cabin who watches for this? What does it take, 30 seconds, to make a circuit around the cabin while it's going up? Pretty sad if that's the case, and the rest of us are missing out on the attraction due to a handful of morons who can't follow the rules.

My local park (Six Flags Great America) has a similar attraction that they have decided to simply shutter for the year. And if they're truly concerned about looking out for their unvaccinated guests, I get it-because what you're actually doing on the tower is putting guests into a tiny, indoor, poorly ventilated space where it's difficult to enforce mask-wearing due to the logistics of the attraction.

Right now there's already one operatior in the cabin. But the operator in the cabin is not in a realistic position to be a deterent to mask abuse. They have to stay at the control panel. Throughout the past year, people who were tasked at enforcing mask wearing, people who could actually move in their positions, faced an uphill battle to enforce mask-wearing and a lot of abuse. Heck, the last time I was on the Knott's Tower it was at Scary Farm, and some belligerant drunks actually started JUMPING UP AND DOWN at the top of the tower! And all the operator could really do was ask them to stop and hope they complied (they didn't; wasn't a fun experience).

There's really not that much room to get around people once they're seated, and all an extra person is really going to do is annoy others maybe get the rule breakers to listen. But spoiler alert: they won't, and spoiler alert: the park doesn't have the manpower or interest in doing anything about it.

If Knott's is short-staffed (and EVERY park is short-staffed right now), there are much better uses of their manpower than putting an extra person in the tower that is likely not going to be super effective at stopping any misbehavior and will just irritate other people. There are other rides/attractions/areas to open where it will be easier to enforce mask compliance. So it's easier to keep the ride closed and open other rides instead for the time being.

 

[truecoat]

With the new CDC guidelines and CA lifting its mask mandate next week, I wonder how long theme parks will keep having masks.

Hopefully it's only inside buildings if they want to keep it in some form.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

I noticed a change today in the app. It looks like starting June 15, there will be no more Timed Entry Reservations at Soak City. Just book by the day, like Knott's is now.

The bad news is, there are still reservations being taken for Knott's, after that date, and now Saturday the 19th is no longer available. As I suspected, it appears they're not ready to give up the reservation requirement quite yet.

 

[Emmanuel]

The Sky Cabin was closed when I was there Friday and last Saturday as well. Either it was too windy(?), or it's got problems.

I'm not sure if winds affect Sky Cabin but if not that then definitely a technical issue.

 

[Emmanuel]

I noticed a change today in the app. It looks like starting June 15, there will be no more Timed Entry Reservations at Soak City. Just book by the day, like Knott's is now.

The bad news is, there are still reservations being taken for Knott's, after that date, and now Saturday the 19th is no longer available. As I suspected, it appears they're not ready to give up the reservation requirement quite yet.

Sometimes spots do open up on days that was previously unavailable. Just keep checking back until the 19th opens up again

 

[J4546]

how cool would it be if knotts invested 500 million into soak city and built something like volcano bay....they would own the waterpark market in California

 

[Emmanuel]

Scary Farm Season Passholder add on isn't the only thing sold out. Season Passholder Locker Rentals for the year sold out as well as the Season Passholder Fast Lane add on.

Definitely a "limited supply" case as they're honoring the same add ones from last year for this year.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Scary Farm Season Passholder add on isn't the only thing sold out. Season Passholder Locker Rentals for the year sold out as well as the Season Passholder Fast Lane add on.

Definitely a "limited supply" case as they're honoring the same add ones from last year for this year.

The Scary Farm add-ons might just be "sold out" because the park hasn't actually put them on sale yet (and it's probably unlikely that the park will be operating under the same restrictions in a few months that it is right now, which is likely to negate, to at least some degree, the capacity limitations).

I imagine they will wait a little later than they would normally to announce information about the event or sell anything just in case something happens that might force them to cancel the event, and after the year that operators have had in CA, it's hard to blame them. Better to cut something off in case it doesn't happen than have to reverse course abruptly, make people angry, have to issue refunds, etc. because the state forces them to do so.

It's worth noting that you can't even access the Scary Farm page in any capacity right now, whereas in the past they would leave it up and accessible, even if it wasn't something they were actively promoting. USH's HHN page is just "check back for updates!" at this point too. Everyone wants to make sure it will happen before they say anything more about it. The only thing we really know about Halloween in California definitively is that Sea World apparently wants to start doing their own Hall-O-Scream event, as that is being actively promoted on their pass page as a benefit. Otherwise its a huge contrast to Florida, where some of the parks have already announced houses/mazes, and a few are already actively selling tickets.

 

[cmwade77]

Some observations from my 2nd visit to Knotts as a Season Passholder yesterday (6/5)

1.) It appears that Knotts has phased out the "mask enforcers". Didn't see them around the park.

2.) On my first visit to Knotts since the Pandemic, there was a grouper at Montezoomas Revenge (normal operations doesn't have one but due to Covid restrictions, groupers are necessary when the ride is busy). This time I went around the last hour of park operations and there was no line and no ride operator to assign rows. Merely instructing us to leave 1 row open between parties. Took advantage and got front row.

3.) Wagon Camp Theater which is currently hosting Krazy Kirk is still assigning rows to guests to keep them spaced apart. Guests are dismissed after the show by sections which is what happened on opening weekend as well.

4.) Pony Express and Sky Tower was unavailable. No reason as to why.


Like last time, I saved Timber Mountain Log ride for the last hour and it was a walk on. Likely a combination of people starting to go home and the fact it cooled down pretty quickly after the sun went down.

My guess on the Sky Tower is that they are having the same issue SeaWorld is having. Basically, prior to shut down, SeaWorld had theirs pretty much ready to reopen after an extended refurbishment, bit then a part failed because of the very long shut down and the only company that makes the part went out of business during the pandemic. SeaWorld is trying, but without luck to find someone that can make the part. If they can't, they will likely loose the Sky Tower forever and it is entirely possible all such sky towers around the country may eventually have to shut down if that part fails.

It is possible that social distancing is am issue, but considering it was running during passholder previews, at least the second day of them I know for sure leads me to believe there is a technical issue.

Of course, another possibility is that it is closed because of the K lighting ceremony and the fact that some of the fireworks get shot off from there. But I can't imagine that keeping it closed all day.

 

[cmwade77]

I noticed a change today in the app. It looks like starting June 15, there will be no more Timed Entry Reservations at Soak City. Just book by the day, like Knott's is now.

The bad news is, there are still reservations being taken for Knott's, after that date, and now Saturday the 19th is no longer available. As I suspected, it appears they're not ready to give up the reservation requirement quite yet.

I would expect reservations to become easier to get, but I don't think they will ever go away. There are too many advantages, such as:
it ensures that people who are coming from far away know that they will be able to enter the park, even if it reaches capacity without having to show up early in the day if they don't want to.

It allows theme parks to better schedule staffing, order food and such and reduce costs while still providing good service.

Speaking of staffing, while theme parks will be allowed to go back to full capacity, they may not be able to do so right away simply due to not being able to get enough staff and maybe even not enough food to accommodate doing so.

 

[cmwade77]

The Scary Farm add-ons might just be "sold out" because the park hasn't actually put them on sale yet (and it's probably unlikely that the park will be operating under the same restrictions in a few months that it is right now, which is likely to negate, to at least some degree, the capacity limitations).

I imagine they will wait a little later than they would normally to announce information about the event or sell anything just in case something happens that might force them to cancel the event, and after the year that operators have had in CA, it's hard to blame them. Better to cut something off in case it doesn't happen than have to reverse course abruptly, make people angry, have to issue refunds, etc. because the state forces them to do so.

It's worth noting that you can't even access the Scary Farm page in any capacity right now, whereas in the past they would leave it up and accessible, even if it wasn't something they were actively promoting. USH's HHN page is just "check back for updates!" at this point too. Everyone wants to make sure it will happen before they say anything more about it. The only thing we really know about Halloween in California definitively is that Sea World apparently wants to start doing their own Hall-O-Scream event, as that is being actively promoted on their pass page as a benefit. Otherwise its a huge contrast to Florida, where some of the parks have already announced houses/mazes, and a few are already actively selling tickets.

The scary farm addon was being sold and is indeed sold out at this time, but additional may be made available after June 15th, they aren't sure.

 

[cmwade77]

I read an article that cal-osha is having employees to wear masks at least until October. Unless all those around them are all vaccinated. Then they can take the mask off. Not sure about guests though.

Actually, it is now through next year unless they change their minds. But they don't have to require guests to wear masks. The question is if they will.