Never finished my thoughts on my trip to Knotts...
After Beary Tales my son and I did Coast Rider. Basically, Goofy's Sky School with a little bigger drop. Except it's scarier because at DCA the false sense of security of it being Disney/ safe is reassuring on those hairpin turns. Another ride I do not need to ride again unless the wait is super low.
To be fair, so far as I know, a roller coaster at Knott's has never caused injury or worse to a guest due primarily to insufficient maintenance. Can't say the same about Disneyland.
Legoland also has what is basically the exact same ride as Coast Rider, although without those weird leg restraints that Knott's decided to add at some point.
We finished off the night at Camp Snoopy around 9pm. It was very dark and I'm sure the area is better appreciated during the day. Even the flat ride lines were very long. My wife and daughter did the balloons while my son and I rode Linus' Launchers. Another one and done for me. Grabbed some Starbucks on the way out and they charged me $3 for my large ice water in a plastic cup. It's a different kind of nickel and timing at Knotts.
THAT'S pretty extra, wow.
Anyway, this park was more aesthetically pleasing than I thought it would be and that's without seeing Camp snoopy during the day. With that said, outside of Ghost Town, the park feels more like a nicer Magic Mountain in spirit than it does somewhere like Disneyland. For a local non tourist destination park it's pretty solid and comparing to Disneyland may be silly anyway. It does feel like a County fair at times with typical County Fair smells like the terrible whiffs that smell like "Potato Corner" from the mall. The dead ends were a little annoying but I'm sure we'll have it down in a couple visits. The slow service at all the food stands and slow loading rides are a real killer though. Never have I had more appreciation for the Space Mountain drill sergeant CM's at load/ unload. Granted we have a lot to learn before we become pros like we were at Disneyland but I'm not sure we have the desire to get there. Does anyone remember the feeling of breaking up with a girlfriend (or boyfriend) and then going out with another girl too soon and it feeling just kind of weird, sad and different? That's kind of how I felt at Knotts that night. Lol. Disneyland felt like home.
Not wrong on any counts here, really (although I don't recall any dead ends-certainly not going to say I have 100% mastered Knott's layout though). The Mine and Log Ride are closer to Disney level than dark rides at basically any other non-Disney/Universal parks in the US, so that does elevate the park a tad for me. I feel Fiesta Village and Camp Snoopy are a lot nicer and more detailed than most regional theme park areas, though it definitely helps that Fiesta Village just got a nice refresh, before it was arguably a bit dated. Rumors seem to be pointing to a Camp Snoopy refresh next. I don't hate the Boardwalk here the way many do, but it's definitely somewhere that doesn't feel distinctive at all and is very Any Park USA (or maybe Cedar Point: West Coast Edition). Ops aren't the park's strong suit, but honestly I find that in SoCal only DLR and USH have great ops. The rest are a lot more similar to Knott's than to DLR/Universal.
Going from mostly DLR/USH to Knott's definitely can be a bit of a culture shock, but hopefully when you return Knott's it will feel, if not like home, at least easier to appreciate for what it is. I do think Knott's has had better, more genuine customer service as of late than DLR.
For a family with young kids the lack of dark rides and or lack of attractions for the whole family was felt. We don't really have use for the likes of Silver Bullet, Xcelerator, Supreme Scream or Hangtime at the moment. I'm not ready to write Knotts off though. It was a hot crowded Saturday night and we were only there for 5 hours after 2 miserable hours at Soak City. I have a feeling the the "typical" Knotts trip for us will be getting there early and just really focusing on Ghost Town and Camp Snoopy for 5-6 hours and heading home. Grab some BBQ , ride Ghost Rider and the Log Ride, (Throw in a Pony Express and Rapids once in a while) do some Camp Snoopy and be on our way. It didn't help that the 4 rides we did get on (Calico Mine, Beary Tales, Coast Rider and Linus Launcher) were One and Done's. Riding some of the better and more repeatable rides should help change my perception of the park along with it not being 90+ degrees and extremely crowded.
In fairness, I imagine the number of people who get on Linus Launcher and feel compelled to ride it again and again is probably pretty limited, lol.
I do hope you give Mine Ride in particular another chance, and that you might appreciate it more a second time around (I find that I can't typically appreciate/form an opinion about a ride until I've done it a few times). You also have the Log Ride (where you also get to play the "see how DL blatantly stole this layout for Splash Mountain" game), Train (with robbery-and don't forget the second train in Camp Snoopy), Stagecoach (SUPER SLOW LINE though) to look forward to. Jaguar is an extremely approachable, family friendly coaster that isn't much more intense than the monorail. GhostRider is great, but might be a lot if the older kid isn't fully ready for thrill rides. They TYPICALLY also have a lot of entertainment going, so I'd encourage you to check that out when you can, including the Hilbillies from time to time. I enjoy looking at the little Mission dioramas that start by Silver Bullet and continue around the lake-nothing amazing, but nice little details that remind me of the random little things that you might have seen at Disneyland in the 60s.
As mentioned, there are negatives. It definitely doesn't help, in terms of things to do for young families, that the park is run by Cedar Fair, who has higher than industry average height requirements for everything. Even so, however, I'd say there's more for the non-rider to do at Knott's than at most other parks, and you do still have some aforementioned cool things to do that far surpass most non-Disney/Universal parks in terms of quality and detail.
If I lived closer I'd feel much different about the place but as it stands the experience for my family it isn't worth the drive and the hassle. At least not every 2-3 weeks like we were going to DL. This will be more like 4-6 times for the year which is fine for what we paid. In hindsight I kind of wish we just milked our USH passes for the year. It's down the street for more or less the same level of return but the allure of not having been to Knotts in a couple decades was too much.
Knotts was also a great reminder that IP is nice in moderation. The music, nostalgia, IP- all these things add to the experience.
Knott's will probably be better appreciated when your son is a little older and he gets more into thrill rides, but doesn't want to totally lose any sense of theme or immersion (unlike SFMM, which really and truly has nothing other than coasters and thrill rides), but I do think even visit number two will be better than visit # 1, if only because now you have a better idea of what to expect.
