mickEblu
Well-Known Member
So how is the Halloween Hootenany overlay for my favorite ride at Knotts?
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All things Knotts Berry Farm
- Thread starter Phroobar
- Start date
So how is the Halloween Hootenany overlay for my favorite ride at Knotts?
It's not setup yet. Summer Nights end Sept 2 then the skeletons come out.
jmuboy
Well-Known Member
Just curious with the very very slow opening of the new Camp Snoopy elements. Did the marquee ever arrive on the stagecoach track over the atea’s entrance? And did the Snoopy canoe ever return to some part of the area? Any updates on if the “Woodstock air mail “ ride will ever return?
I'll let you know tomorrow. I'm at Haunt tonight.
MK-fan
Well-Known Member
I went last Thursday and still no marquee, no Snoopy canoe and haven’t heard anything on Woodstock’s Airmail. It’s too bad this new Camp Snoopy got its budget slashed. No new promising Camp Snoopy Theater or new character meet areas by the waterfall, no post office area, wonder why so much was cut and delayed, what a shame.
AJFireman
Well-Known Member
I was there Tuesday Night. The Marquee was not up and the other two i didn't notice but wasn't really looking.
During dress rehearsal for Scary Farm on Tuesday Night all the lights where on in Camp Snoopy. I do hope they make a change because it was too bright even the strung lights for the picnic area were on. It will be interesting to see if changes are made or how the Gauntlet adapts. I watched a lot more interactions with guest using their characters so that made it fun.
Both new mazes where well done but I liked Widows more. No attempt at a preshow so thats good. They definitley need to make changes to line management in back stage area. Eight Fingers Nine was not as popular as to not create a long line but it could be because its in the back and out of the way. Once its open to the public it will be very crowded back there. Eight Fingers Nine the entrance and exit is at the same doorway so when you exit you have to go all the way around the line to get back to the main area.
I dont recall it as much in previous years but Associates managing lines where interacting with guest giving them info about the Mazes and hyping it up while pulsing the line. Grimoire is still a mess and needs to go but I know its still early in its life cycle. No videos on the screens in line but there is new audio while walking into the campsite but you are not there long enough to hear it all to set it up. Light pollution in the back is still there they did combat it in one area with bright lights shining against the wall that did help. Room 13 still had its dead areas and some areas where monsters where previously within props are now mannequins possibly to spread out talent.
During dress rehearsal for Scary Farm on Tuesday Night all the lights where on in Camp Snoopy. I do hope they make a change because it was too bright even the strung lights for the picnic area were on. It will be interesting to see if changes are made or how the Gauntlet adapts. I watched a lot more interactions with guest using their characters so that made it fun.
Both new mazes where well done but I liked Widows more. No attempt at a preshow so thats good. They definitley need to make changes to line management in back stage area. Eight Fingers Nine was not as popular as to not create a long line but it could be because its in the back and out of the way. Once its open to the public it will be very crowded back there. Eight Fingers Nine the entrance and exit is at the same doorway so when you exit you have to go all the way around the line to get back to the main area.
I dont recall it as much in previous years but Associates managing lines where interacting with guest giving them info about the Mazes and hyping it up while pulsing the line. Grimoire is still a mess and needs to go but I know its still early in its life cycle. No videos on the screens in line but there is new audio while walking into the campsite but you are not there long enough to hear it all to set it up. Light pollution in the back is still there they did combat it in one area with bright lights shining against the wall that did help. Room 13 still had its dead areas and some areas where monsters where previously within props are now mannequins possibly to spread out talent.
I have a feeling that they couldn't get it finished before Haunt so they put it to sleep. The exit to Chilling Chambers is there and it would be difficult to have a construction zone there. I have a picture of large building supports in that area. Maybe we will see it next year along with Montazooma's reopening?
As for the marquee, how long have we been waiting for Tomorrowland's new entrance? They had to refresh the picture because it was so sun faded. It is still coming. Why put a Snoopy statue out there holding nothing?
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Giving "slightly classier than 2018 Pizza Planet signage" vibes, which is not exactly a good metric to be reaching for IMO.
Widows was a fun too but not as good. The Hanging centered around Six Flags buying Cedar Fair and a Chat bot. Disney gets hit really hard. No national politic references. Sitting next to youtubers during the show is extremely annoying. Dude it isn't that funny. Good Lincoln vs Walt robot boss fight being called yet another D23 lie. Murphy is a boy dragon as Donkey finds out.
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MK-fan
Well-Known Member
I just would like to throw my two cents out there. I just recently got season passes for Knott’s, it’s been five years since me and my family have visited the park. The park is a great value for the price of a season pass, the best value in SoCal IMO. Upon these last two visits that we went to the park, certain things have bothered me and I can’t help but fell like the great progress that Knott’s has been making over the last 10+ years has been slowly beginning to peak.
In the last couple of years, we have seen the closures of two iconic shows at Knott’s, Mystery Lodge and the Wild West Stunt Show. I’ve heard the rumors of the Lodge not having proper parts for the projections but even then, that is a pretty sorry excuse to not try everything to get it fixed or put on a new show. I’ve also heard maybe the Wild West show was canceled due to the gun use but not Knott’s still heavily sells toy guns, has a gun shop and has two bank robbers with guns rob the train each ride so I doubt that’s the issue.
This is not a big deal but a couple of years ago, a drunk driver crashed into the sign and damaged the sign and management decided to board up the sign all together. To this day, there is still no theme park logo signage. That’s some lazy upkeep right there. Also, the front entrance to the park has no real identity, some of the props are boarded up and the water tower no longer has the dancers spin or any water features. Most of it always gets covered up anyway during their seasonal and promotional events with tons of decor. Hopefully this gets worked on in the future. I know these things are not major but sometimes it’s the little things that matter.
Other things that have bothered me is bag check because it seems to me that security is pretty lenient with their bag operations. The last two times, they didn’t even check our baby bag. This irks me because there should be no bag ever left unchecked when entering a theme park in today’s world.
Ride operations are pretty awful at Knott’s with lines for rides being unnecessarily long from the slow load and unload process. I know safety should always come first but the staff just seems to really, really take their time. This is nothing new and has always been an issue at Knott’s, but it’s something that should definitely be improved given that weekends can be pretty busy throughout the year. The worst offender is Knott’s Bear-y Tales, the ride constantly shuts down and the load/unload process is the worst I’ve ever seen. Given that there is only two loading docks, I understand but there is enough room to reconfigure the loading zone to have four loading docks and would help cut the wait time in half. The last three times I’ve waited in line for this, it has always shut down. Management tells me that the screens are connected to the internet and the internet goes down often, which is why the ride goes down often. That’s a terrible technical flaw in my book.
Other things that have bothered me is overpromising and underperforming over the last couple of years. Fiesta Village received a nice refurb but it was all built around the new Montezooma’s Revenge Forbidden Fortress attraction which didn’t open with it or since. I know they had issues with the manufacturer but for the process to take 2+ years to try and fix is overkill. We have a 2025 reopening year but we will see if that actually happens. The other project that dropped the ball was the new Camp Snoopy which opened this year. The land looks more awful now than it did before it got the refurb. Many things which were promised did not come to fruition and whether the majority of it was canceled due to the budget cuts or if they just need more time to get it all open remains to be soon.
Knott’s Berry Farm is the crown jewel of Cedar Fair and the 11th most visited park in the US, only behind Disney, Universal and Seaworld Orlando. This park is Cedar Fair’s money maker and they should be tending to this park the most. I just can’t help but think the park is going to go into a downward spiral the likes of which we saw from 1998-2012 when Cedar Fair could care less about what they were doing to the park and with the Six Flags merger this year, who knows if it’s a good or bad thing.
What are your opinions on the direction Knott’s has been going over the past couple of years?
In the last couple of years, we have seen the closures of two iconic shows at Knott’s, Mystery Lodge and the Wild West Stunt Show. I’ve heard the rumors of the Lodge not having proper parts for the projections but even then, that is a pretty sorry excuse to not try everything to get it fixed or put on a new show. I’ve also heard maybe the Wild West show was canceled due to the gun use but not Knott’s still heavily sells toy guns, has a gun shop and has two bank robbers with guns rob the train each ride so I doubt that’s the issue.
This is not a big deal but a couple of years ago, a drunk driver crashed into the sign and damaged the sign and management decided to board up the sign all together. To this day, there is still no theme park logo signage. That’s some lazy upkeep right there. Also, the front entrance to the park has no real identity, some of the props are boarded up and the water tower no longer has the dancers spin or any water features. Most of it always gets covered up anyway during their seasonal and promotional events with tons of decor. Hopefully this gets worked on in the future. I know these things are not major but sometimes it’s the little things that matter.
Other things that have bothered me is bag check because it seems to me that security is pretty lenient with their bag operations. The last two times, they didn’t even check our baby bag. This irks me because there should be no bag ever left unchecked when entering a theme park in today’s world.
Ride operations are pretty awful at Knott’s with lines for rides being unnecessarily long from the slow load and unload process. I know safety should always come first but the staff just seems to really, really take their time. This is nothing new and has always been an issue at Knott’s, but it’s something that should definitely be improved given that weekends can be pretty busy throughout the year. The worst offender is Knott’s Bear-y Tales, the ride constantly shuts down and the load/unload process is the worst I’ve ever seen. Given that there is only two loading docks, I understand but there is enough room to reconfigure the loading zone to have four loading docks and would help cut the wait time in half. The last three times I’ve waited in line for this, it has always shut down. Management tells me that the screens are connected to the internet and the internet goes down often, which is why the ride goes down often. That’s a terrible technical flaw in my book.
Other things that have bothered me is overpromising and underperforming over the last couple of years. Fiesta Village received a nice refurb but it was all built around the new Montezooma’s Revenge Forbidden Fortress attraction which didn’t open with it or since. I know they had issues with the manufacturer but for the process to take 2+ years to try and fix is overkill. We have a 2025 reopening year but we will see if that actually happens. The other project that dropped the ball was the new Camp Snoopy which opened this year. The land looks more awful now than it did before it got the refurb. Many things which were promised did not come to fruition and whether the majority of it was canceled due to the budget cuts or if they just need more time to get it all open remains to be soon.
Knott’s Berry Farm is the crown jewel of Cedar Fair and the 11th most visited park in the US, only behind Disney, Universal and Seaworld Orlando. This park is Cedar Fair’s money maker and they should be tending to this park the most. I just can’t help but think the park is going to go into a downward spiral the likes of which we saw from 1998-2012 when Cedar Fair could care less about what they were doing to the park and with the Six Flags merger this year, who knows if it’s a good or bad thing.
What are your opinions on the direction Knott’s has been going over the past couple of years?
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Epcot81Fan
Well-Known Member
For me, when they put that horrendous sea of concrete in the Boardwalk area they entered into Six Flags territory.
To think that area was once the wonderful and energetic Roaring 20’s Airfield to what it is now is just heartbreaking to witness.
To think that area was once the wonderful and energetic Roaring 20’s Airfield to what it is now is just heartbreaking to witness.