PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
I guess my question to you is: who is actually doing that in this thread?
I don't think there's a single person who has posted in response to your question who dislikes or devalues Knott's.
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All things Knotts Berry Farm
- Thread starter Phroobar
- Start date
I don't think there's a single person who has posted in response to your question who dislikes or devalues Knott's.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
In this thread nobody, my post was more in general.
el_super
Well-Known Member
You have to be a roller coaster fan to love parks like Knott's. If you're not, there is less and less to do at these parks. It's cheaper and less risky for their business to build cheaper roller coasters and steer away from direct competition with Disney, and the parks become less for it.
Knott's specifically had a pretty special and different type of feel and atmosphere that they have pretty much trashed in the last 30 years to compete more directly with Six Flags (and look what that got them). They've done a lot of the same things that drive Disney fans insane (drive up prices, raze classic historical attractions, disregard theme or story) but to fans, they get a pass because they're not Disney. Shame really.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Add SeaWorld/Busch to this list. They weren't Disney/Universal quality, but they were different and interesting even if you didn't like coasters (they also had better food).
SeaWorld used to care about blending their rides into the landscape while providing non-thrill seekers an experience as well (look at Manta with a beautiful aquarium attached). Nowadays, they just add a coaster with a loose-aquatic theme and a palm tree or two (Pipeline).
United Parks (fka known as Sea World) is doing a little more theming these days, the Arctic Pinguin ride at SWO at least has some rock work, and the jewel of the chain BGW after doing no theming for Pantheon, added theming back to Lockness Monster this past year and the new Big Bad Wolf will have its Bavarian Village to terrorize again. Apparently, the board took note of the very strong sales in Lockness Monster merchandise after the up theme and has finally realized the value in theming again.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Hoping that's the case, but Penguin Trek benefited from taking over a previously existing themed area.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
Yes they have moved away from being Disney lite compared to what they once were. They still have their Western town and they have done a big refurb to the Caico Mine train and flume ride.
As far as prices, yeah day tickets have gone up quite a bit but if you a season pass that includes all Six Flags parks, it's $230.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
Even the former Cedar Fair parks have been doing some theming for new attractions.
Why is there a bias against roller coasters out of any kind of attraction? Knotts has the same number of coasters as Disneyland. In fact, most of the coasters are as tame as Disneyland's.
and that includes parking. They had a deal around Halloween for All Cedar Fair and Six Flag parks and free parking for $195. No black out dates. That is a $1 more than Knotts only and free parking.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Ghost town alone is worth the price of admission to Knotts especially at those dirt cheap annual pass options. My issue with Knotts is that costs nothing to get in but if you don’t get there very early or buy fast lanes you are not going to have a great time. It costs nothing to go so it’s very often extremely crowded if you can’t get there on an offseason weekday. This issue is then exacerbated by all the slow loading rides. Oh yea, don’t get me started on the food prices.
It does get crowded with all the ex-pat Disneyland people. Also the locals show up. The price is competitive with the rest of the country's parks. The more people are barred from Disney, the more people will flock to alternate parks.
I really think they need to revisit Dark Beer's project Fort Calico and start using the backstage area for more rides and build that parking structure. Knotts owns a lot of surrounding lots that could be used for park expansion. I say sell off some Six Flags parks for housing and expand the rest of them like Knotts into vacation destinations.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
I don't think there's any serious chance of making Knott's into any more of a vacation destination than it already is. It already has a hotel, that's probably about as good as it's going to get.
A parking structure and infrastructure improvements could work wonders-if they could ever get the money to allow them to proceed. But I imagine that Knott's is stuck with its current infrastructure situation unless a miracle occurs.
I do agree that Knott's pricing is pretty standard/representative of non-Disney parks.
Misted Compass
Well-Known Member
Knott's has more coasters than both parks combined (9 vs 6).
choco choco
Well-Known Member
No chance. Knott's has not expanded its acreage since Camp Snoopy in the early 80's, basically around the time Walter Knott died. They have barely been able to keep up maintenance and theming in the areas they already have. It's basically Ghost Town placemaking is nice, and then theming falls off a cliff outside of those areas. I don't think they have the operational ability to build out and maintain even more square footage, and that's not even getting into that there's massive room for improvement inside the current footprint (Boardwalk is horrid and the 1920's area is like, more wishful thinking than anything else) or taking into account Six Flags attitude toward theming in general.