The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[Phroobar]

I think you are right about Knotts being mostly thrill rides, but that being said it's so cheap even just having the little ones hang out and go on some rides and shops it probably can be worthwhile. It would probably pay for itself in 2 visits.

Outside of Silver Bullet, Ghostrider and Hangtime, what are the "thrill rides" at Knotts?

 

[mickEblu]

I did some calculations on things and was surprised that after calculating the cost of food and parking into the mix how the high up passes can start to make sense with fewer visits than I thought.

For example the break even of the highest up pass is only 9 visits when adding in 50 dollars of food and 30 dollars of parking each day.

Of course only one needs the discounts though. We will probably do something like 1 inspire pass and 1 believe pass.

I was initially thinking of Enchant since my wife gets Fridays off and I earn a lot of leave hours but realized its best to do Saturdays and keep my hours.

Of course that being said this is for calculating one day parkhoppers. If you were to calculate one park tickets or multiday passes the numbers would change too.

I think we'd like to go 10-12 times a year about. In our case with no traffic an hour away, with traffic it can add a half hour. How about you guys? How close were you.

Another option is the multiday and socal tickets, those are pretty good and lots of people dont realize the multiday tickets are good for 13 days after you use the first one, so you can make it a mini season pass.

I think you are right about Knotts being mostly thrill rides, but that being said it's so cheap even just having the little ones hang out and go on some rides and shops it probably can be worthwhile. It would probably pay for itself in 2 visits.

Just avoid Magic Mountain it is a trash fire at this point and way less to do for kids. I read someone state how they had to pay 25 dollars for a slice of pizza.

Yeah the actual break even point isn’t that many visits when those parkhoppers are what, $220+ It really comes down to how many times would you want to go IF you didn’t have a pass. I definitely wouldn’t go 25 times in one year but felt the more expensive the pass more you feel like you should be going.

I’m not sure the Inspire key makes sense if you’re only going 10-12 times. That means you only save $150 -$180 in parking compared to the Believe Keys but the inspire costs like $400+ more. So unless you plan on buying a lot of merch/ food with the extra Inspire discount I’m not sure you make up the difference.

Good point on Knotts. They re so cheap that it really doesn’t matter. Plus you get the water park. Right now they have a deal for 2024 annual passes that include the rest of 2023 for $90 bucks. How? Lol. Are the burgers $100? Popcorn $50? How does that work? What’s the ambience and clientele like?

 

[mickEblu]

Outside of Silver Bullet, Ghostrider and Hangtime, what are the "thrill rides" at Knotts?

I kind of lumped in thrill rides with rides my daughter is too short to go on. They re missing all the Pirates, Mansions, Small Worlds, Casey Jrs, Jungle Cruises, Disneyland railroads and FL dark rides of the world. In addition the coasters all have really tall height requirements where with Disney you’re pretty much good to go at 40 inches. They don’t seem to have a lot in between Camp Snoopy and rides with 46/48 inch height requirements. Like why do the Calico Railroad, mine ride and log ride all have 46 inch height requirements? Is that really necessary?

 

[NotCalledBob]

Chaps I need your help!

We are on a 4 week road trip. We've been to Zion, Bryce, both rims of the GC, and are now in Las Vegas. We have reservations at Furnace Creek in Death Valley for tomorrow en route to Yosemite, where we have reservations in the Valley Wednesday and Thursday. We are then in Kings Canyon/Sequoia for 2 days before heading for our first ever trip to DLR..

Obviously, we may need to make alternative arrangements for tomorrow as Death Valley is currently closed. Any recommendations for somewhere to go and see (and stay) that would take us from Las Vegas up to the Lee Vining entrance of Yosemite?

 

[TP2000]

They didn't do anything to it?
Why can't they hire three guys from outside Home Depot and get it fixed in a few days?

The exact same thought came to my mind.

I went on Craigslist a few days ago to get someone to clear out drains and prep my backyard for Hilary rainfall, and within 20 minutes I had two guys lined up for the following morning. An all-around handyman and his helper. Very nice guys, very polite.

And in 8 months time the Walt Disney Company can't get someone to repair the siding and paint that building?

Lemme guess.... they can't fix this fire damange until Kim Irvine and her favorite staff members go on a Cultural Immersion Tour of old train depots in the southern Midwest in small towns that are still within a 30 mile radius of a Ritz-Carlton? A brunch meeting in the dining room, followed by an afternoon field excursion to two old depots to look at shiplap samples and paint palettes, but back into town for a Spa Detox team building exercise before a wine-fueled dinner?

Hotels near Downtown St. Louis, MO | The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis

Experience traditional elegance and modern sophistication at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis - a luxury hotel offering a spa, fine dining and more in Clayton, MO.

www.ritzcarlton.com

 

[TP2000]

Chaps I need your help!

We are on a 4 week road trip. We've been to Zion, Bryce, both rims of the GC, and are now in Las Vegas. We have reservations at Furnace Creek in Death Valley for tomorrow en route to Yosemite, where we have reservations in the Valley Wednesday and Thursday. We are then in Kings Canyon/Sequia for 2 days before heading for our first ever trip to DLR..

Obviously, we may need to make alternative arrangements for tomorrow as Death Valley is currently closed. Any recommendations for somewhere to go and see (and stay) that would take us from Las Vegas up to the Lee Vining entrance of Yosemite?

My first thought is that if Death Valley remains closed, you'll need to stay on highway 95 on the Nevada side of the border north to get you over to Lee Vining eventually. Which brings to mind Tonopah?

An old mining town with abandoned mines and ghost town type stuff, but also a recreational area for ATV's and hiking. It has some of the darkest skies in the continental USA, so the stargazing at night is spectacular. Especially after Hilary blew through and cleared out the stratosphere. There's a turuoise mining tour the family can take, and you get to keep all the spoils you find. That could be fun?

Turquoise mine tours — Otteson Brothers Turquoise

An experience of a lifetime awaits you in the expansive Nevada Desert! Here’s your opportunity to tour and dig some of the most beautiful turquoise in the world from our mines.

ottesonbrothersturquoise.com

Perhaps Tonopah, if the family is outdoorsy and/or the type to enjoy a historical site or three. Or, if the family is in the mood for something slightly creepy yet bizzarely American, you could try staying at the Tonopah Clown Motel. Or just visit the gift shop.

Clown Motel – Tonopah, Nevada

www.tonopahnevada.com

 

[NotCalledBob]

My first thought is that if Death Valley remains closed, you'll need to stay on highway 95 on the Nevada side of the border north to get you over to Lee Vining eventually. Which brings to mind Tonopah?

An old mining town with abandoned mines and ghost town type stuff, but also a recreational area for ATV's and hiking. It has some of the darkest skies in the continental USA, so the stargazing at night is spectacular. Especially after Hilary blew through and cleared out the stratosphere. There's a turuoise mining tour the family can take, and you get to keep all the spoils you find. That could be fun?

Turquoise mine tours — Otteson Brothers Turquoise

An experience of a lifetime awaits you in the expansive Nevada Desert! Here’s your opportunity to tour and dig some of the most beautiful turquoise in the world from our mines.

ottesonbrothersturquoise.com

Perhaps there, if the family is outdoorsy and/or the type to enjoy a historical site or three. Or, if the family is in the mood for something slightly creepy yet bizzarely American, you could try staying at the Tonopah Clown Motel. Or just visit the gift shop.

Clown Motel – Tonopah, Nevada

www.tonopahnevada.com

Thanks so much. I'll look at accommodation! The 9 year old has been telling his friends at school for months he is going to Death Valley. So we need something cool as a replacement!

 

[TP2000]

Cripes, now I kind of want to go visit Tonopah.

Whoever wrote this ad copy on the town's website for the Clown Motel is brilliant. This is exactly the type of attitude I try to take towards life...

"Come stay at the Clown Motel. All your friends will be jealous. Or think you are crazy. Either way it’s a great conversation starter!"

Tonopah, Nevada – Queen of the Silver Camps

www.tonopahnevada.com

 

[TP2000]

Thanks so much. I'll look at accommodation! The 9 year old has been telling his friends at school for months he is going to Death Valley. So we need something cool as a replacement!

Another thought I just had, if your son is into UFO's and space stuff (what boy doesn't have a UFO phase?), is to take highway 93 north out of Las Vegas instead of going straight over to 95. That route on 93 goes to Tonopah too, but is called the "Extraterrestrial Highway" because of its proximity to Area 51, with some UFO and NASA themed attractions, plus an Atomic Bomb test range or two, along the way.

Extraterrestrial Highway Road Trip | Las Vegas to Tonopah

Take an alien-themed road trip to Area 51 on the Extraterrestrial Highway. From Las Vegas to Tonopah, Nevada, on state route 375, you’ll pass through Joshua trees, Nevada test sites, and hear stories of UFO sightings. Get the directions and map, and start your top secret road trip here.

travelnevada.com

 

[NotCalledBob]

Another thought I just had, if your son is into UFO's and space stuff (what boy doesn't have a UFO phase?), is to take highway 93 north out of Las Vegas instead of going straight over to 95. That route on 93 goes to Tonopah too, but is called the "Extraterrestrial Highway" because of its proximity to Area 51, with some UFO and NASA themed attractions, plus an Atomic Bomb test range or two, along the way.

Extraterrestrial Highway Road Trip | Las Vegas to Tonopah

Take an alien-themed road trip to Area 51 on the Extraterrestrial Highway. From Las Vegas to Tonopah, Nevada, on state route 375, you’ll pass through Joshua trees, Nevada test sites, and hear stories of UFO sightings. Get the directions and map, and start your top secret road trip here.

travelnevada.com

That is actually a fantastic idea. We went to NASA Goddard over Easter on our way to DC and he thought it was the best thing ever! This is a great plan. Thanks so much for your help!

We've had this trip planned for a long time, so this was a bit of a curve ball!

 

[PiratesMansion]

I kind of lumped in thrill rides with rides my daughter is too short to go on. They re missing all the Pirates, Mansions, Small Worlds, Casey Jrs, Jungle Cruises, Disneyland railroads and FL dark rides of the world. In addition the coasters all have really tall height requirements where with Disney you’re pretty much good to go at 40 inches. They don’t seem to have a lot in between Camp Snoopy and rides with 46/48 inch height requirements. Like why do the Calico Railroad, mine ride and log ride all have 46 inch height requirements? Is that really necessary?

It's not spelled out unless you click on the attraction and go to the page, but anyone can ride Mine Ride and the Railroad (there's a second, smaller railroad in Camp Snoopy also) as long as they're accompanied by an adult (Berry Tales is the same way); the height requirement listed is to ride alone. For the log ride, you can ride with an adult if 36" or taller.

Knott's is owned by Cedar Fair, and generally speaking they tend to have higher height requirements than anyone else. Not sure if it's insurance/etc, but that's seen consistently throughout their parks.

There is usually a fair amount of entertainment, more than most other parks. In the summer they have Ghost Town Alive, which I could see extroverted little kids potentially getting really into, family friendly Halloween activities on weekends in Oct, etc. Not saying it's necessarily optimal for you, but there are some options.

Is Legoland viable from where you're located? It would probably be a better overall option than Knott's given the age of the kids, unless it's super out of the way. Otherwise you have Adventure City, which I think you already looked into, and Castle Park in Riverside, about half of which is super charming/nice, and about half of which may as well be a parking lot.

 

[mickEblu]

It's not spelled out unless you click on the attraction and go to the page, but anyone can ride Mine Ride and the Railroad (there's a second, smaller railroad in Camp Snoopy also) as long as they're accompanied by an adult (Berry Tales is the same way); the height requirement listed is to ride alone. For the log ride, you can ride with an adult if 36" or taller.

Knott's is owned by Cedar Fair, and generally speaking they tend to have higher height requirements than anyone else. Not sure if it's insurance/etc, but that's seen consistently throughout their parks.

There is usually a fair amount of entertainment, more than most other parks. In the summer they have Ghost Town Alive, which I could see extroverted little kids potentially getting really into, family friendly Halloween activities on weekends in Oct, etc. Not saying it's necessarily optimal for you, but there are some options.

Is Legoland viable from where you're located? It would probably be a better overall option than Knott's given the age of the kids, unless it's super out of the way. Otherwise you have Adventure City, which I think you already looked into, and Castle Park in Riverside, about half of which is super charming/nice, and about half of which may as well be a parking lot.

Thanks for this! Believe it or not it kind of changes my perception of the park. Having all the Ghost Town rides (minus Ghost Rider) available to the family is a game changer. They should probably put that little disclaimer “accompanied by adult..” disclaimer on the first tab and not have you have to click it to get that info. Yeah looks like I’ll be buying us the Knotts passes for the year. Kids love new things and Knotts will be a nice change. The water park is a nice bonus too. Looking forward to trying Mrs Knotts again and just seeing the park in general. Haven’t been to Knotts in nearly 20 years. It feels weird to say that as a theme park fan and a guy who’s been to Disneyland 100 or so times in the last 10 years passing Knotts every single time.

Unfortunately Legoland is pretty far from us. About a 2 hour drive (no traffic) but I do want to to take them there soon for a day trip.

 

[CaptinEO]

Outside of Silver Bullet, Ghostrider and Hangtime, what are the "thrill rides" at Knotts?

Boomerang, Xcellerator, Muntzumas Revenge, La Revolution, Hammerhead, Perilous Plunge.

 

[CaptinEO]

Yeah the actual break even point isn’t that many visits when those parkhoppers are what, $220+ It really comes down to how many times would you want to go IF you didn’t have a pass. I definitely wouldn’t go 25 times in one year but felt the more expensive the pass more you feel like you should be going.

I’m not sure the Inspire key makes sense if you’re only going 10-12 times. That means you only save $150 -$180 in parking compared to the Believe Keys but the inspire costs like $400+ more. So unless you plan on buying a lot of merch/ food with the extra Inspire discount I’m not sure you make up the difference.

Good point on Knotts. They re so cheap that it really doesn’t matter. Plus you get the water park. Right now they have a deal for 2024 annual passes that include the rest of 2023 for $90 bucks. How? Lol. Are the burgers $100? Popcorn $50? How does that work? What’s the ambience and clientele like?

I see what you mean, you're right it really is all about how much you would go normally and if it makes sense. But you know what why not live it up and go 25 times a year if you want to?



Disney math time:

From my calculation based on discounts I get for tickets, with hoppers on ticket prices only,

Inspire:
Break even (Hopper Cost) 9.6 visits
30 dollar parking x 9.6 = 288.50
50 dollars of food each day = 480.9

Inspire key would save me 288.50 on parking and 72 on food for a total of 360 dollars in discounts at the breakeven number of visits.
Believe:
Break even (Hopper Cost) = 6.6 visits
30 dollar parking x 6.6 = 198.31
50 dollars of food each day = 330.52

Believe key would save me 99.15 on parking and 33 on food for a total of 122.15 dollars in discounts at the break even number of visits.


So overall as you can see there are benefits that can really add up. If you divide the savings of each at the break even point by ticket costs, you "save" the cost of 1.8 days at breakeven in discounts for the Inspire and .7 days for the Believe.

Which you could argue makes the value of the breakeven more like 7.8 for Inspire and 5.9 for Believe.

I laid this all out in Excel and thought the numbers were pretty interesting when it was all in front of me.

Again though this doesn't even begin to factor things like multiday tickets or so cal ticket deals into the equation so its quite a mind game to truly figure out the value and break even point of a Disney pass.

That being said that 90 dollars for 2 seasons at Knotts is pretty great, I just am more a fan of the Chicken restaraunt and marketplace than the park, and it doesn't require admission.

 

[Phroobar]

Boomerang, Xcellerator, Muntzumas Revenge, La Revolution, Hammerhead, Perilous Plunge.

None of those things are there. Xcellerator has been down for years. Montezuma is get rebuilt and will probably reopen by end of year.

 

[Rich T]

Disney hasn't put out anything worth seeing in the theaters right away. See their box office receipts.
Universal put out stuff that people wanted to see in the theaters and didn't want to wait until it was on Peacock.

This. Remakes. Sequels. ANOTHER HM movie. Same old, same old, same old. Disney used to innovate and present creative new ideas. Now, to me, they simply make me think of tired, unoriginal trudges to the same dried-up well over and over and over again. I haven’t been this uninterested in Disney’s output since the days of “Herbie Goes Bananas” and “The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.”

 

[CaptinEO]

None of those things are there. Xcellerator has been down for years. Montezuma is get rebuilt and will probably reopen by end of year.

Guess it has been a while since I last went.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Evil Queen videos always make me cackle

 

[TP2000]

Guess it has been a while since I last went.

Don't worry, they still have boysenberry pie and fried chicken. That's all I ever go there for, plus Mystery Lodge.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Xcellerator has been down for years. Montezuma is get rebuilt and will probably reopen by end of year.

Things seem to have switched as of late. Xcelerator appears to have actually started testing, and the park has teased a reopening for later in the year. No sign of any progress with Montezuma though.

Don't worry, they still have boysenberry pie and fried chicken. That's all I ever go there for, plus Mystery Lodge.

Mystery Lodge closed sometime in 2018 or 2019, and so far as I know hasn't reopened since (though they did used the theater for a different show during the first Scary Farm after they reopened). The sign was gone when I went in July.