An East Coaster's First Visit to Knott's Berry Farm

On my trip out west, where I visited Belmont Park on Monday afternoon and SeaWorld San Diego on Wednesday, I wanted to visit a “new to me” park on Tuesday. (Easy to do, since I’ve only been out west one other time, and that was for Disneyland and California Adventure). With a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass (and some insight from our California Correspondent, Eric) my decision was all but made for me, and I was headed to Knott’s Berry Farm.

Sitting on the site of the Knott family’s famous Boysenberry Farm in Buena Park California, Knott’s bills itself as “America’s First Theme Park.” Beginning around 1920, the Knott family sold berries, berry preserves, and pies from a roadside stand along California’s Route 39, a major thoroughfare between Orange County and Los Angeles Beaches. In 1934, the Knotts began selling fried chicken dinners in a tea room on the property, later called “Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.” The dinners soon became a major tourist draw, and the Knotts built several shops and other attractions to entertain visitors while waiting for a seat in the restaurant. In 1940, Walter Knott began constructing a replica Ghost Town on the property, the beginning of the present-day theme park.

Fast forward nearly 80 years, and the park is currently owned by Cedar Fair (and has been since 1997), and sits on 160 acres of land, featuring 35 rides and attractions, including 9 roller coasters.

I got to the park around 9:30am on Tuesday, and immediately upon arriving, changed my short sleeved shirt into a long sleeve shirt. I figured California in late spring would be warm — but that particular morning at Knott’s was overcast and chilly. I entered the park, grabbed a map to get my bearings, and immediately headed left for my first ride of the day, GhostRider.

Originally opened in 1998, the Custom Coasters International designed wooden coaster was closed in late 2015 as Great Coasters International refurbished and re-tracked the ride. Having not experienced the original version, I can’t speak to how the refurbishment improved the coaster, but I was seriously impressed with GhostRider and it provided a great first ride of the day.

For a wooden coaster, it was unbelievably smooth, there were several great airtime moments, and the lateral forces were great as well. GhostRider was not only one of my favorite coasters at Knott’s, it’s probably near the top of the list of all wooden coasters I’ve ever ridden. An incredible job by GCI!

Rather than stick to the park map, I decided to wander and ride what came next. In what would become a series of firsts for me during the day, my next coaster would be my first spinning coaster that wasn’t a wild mouse style layout; Sierra Sidewinder, from MACK Rides.

Located in Knott’s Planet Snoopy area, Sierra Sidewinder is definitely a coaster that is targeted more towards families, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it, and also how interesting it felt to take the banked curves of the ride while facing sideways as opposed to forward or backward. I found myself laughing with how much I enjoyed Sierra Sidewinder, and the pinball like feeling it created.

After Sierra Sidewinder, I made my way to Silver Bullet, Knott’s lone inverted coaster. Even early in the morning (it was about half an hour after park opening) the ride had a fairly substantial line, but I was not going to be deterred.

I lucked out and was able to hop on with a group of three for a front-row ride after about a 30-40 minute wait. Silver Bullet has a very interesting layout, and for a coaster that isn’t breaking any records (the first drop is just over 100′ tall), it was a very solid ride. Two elements that really stuck out to me were the over-banked turn leading into the cobra roll, and also the over-banked turn that feels almost like an over-correction between the two corkscrews. Both were elements you don’t see often from B&M inverts, and I really enjoyed them.

The Zierer family coaster, Jaguar! was up next. I love a coaster with theming, and Jaguar’s station, resembling a Mayan temple, was great. (A good way to get out of the sun for a little while too!) The coaster was fun, there was some good airtime, and the coaster had a unique layout, including going through the loop of Montezooma’s Revenge, and is a great coaster for families.

In another first for me, the next coaster I rode was my first Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop, Montezooma’s Revenge. According to RCDB, it’s currently the only operating Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop in the United States. Montezooma’s Revenge is Knott’s oldest coaster, opening in 1978. It was cool to ride a piece of history, but much like while riding Boomerang coasters, I still don’t really like the feeling of taking inversions in reverse.

One of the coasters I was anticipating the most was Knott’s Intamin launch coaster, Xcelerator. With it’s pink track that stretches more than 200′ into the California sky, it’s the tallest coaster at Knott’s, and also the fastest, reaching speeds of 82mph. Much like Silver Bullet, there was quite a line for Xcelerator, and with just two trains on the track, the line wasn’t moving particularly fast.

The time in line gave me time to overthink my decision to skip the test seat up front, despite my mixed successes with Intamin’s coasters and my abilities to fit in the restraints. Luckily, I fit on Xcelerator, and the ride, albeit short, was pretty exhilarating. I liked the addition of the “figure 8” of banked turns compared to other launch coasters like Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka — it added a great element to the ride.

Normally I don’t like complaining about roller coasters when I write trip reports. I write for a site that covers the amusement industry, and it’s supposed to be fun, so there should be no real place for complaints or criticisms. That said, my next coaster ride of the day, on Coast Rider, was one of my least favorite coaster experiences in recent memory, and it can all be chalked up to restraints.

I’ve ridden nearly a dozen different versions of Wild Mice coasters around the country, and Coast Rider is the only one I can recall where there is an additional shin restraint. With those types of coasters being a tight squeeze for me already, I felt like the addition of a “shin guard,” which *really* locked me in to the train detracted from the overall experience of the ride — which has a great layout for a wild mouse-style coaster. Okay, back to the rest of my day at Knott’s.

Hey @Triotech1, is this a good first time score? pic.twitter.com/BP3lbiE7eu

— Coaster101.com (@Coaster101) May 31, 2017

Continuing my counter-clockwise path around the park, I came upon Voyage of the Iron Reef, a dark ride from Triotech that opened in 2015. I had heard a lot of good things about this attraction, and I love any form of dark ride shooters, so I was game. Voyage to the Iron Reef was really well done. I’m not quite sure that I had a grasp on the storyline of the ride, but in my car of four, I came in first place on my first attempt, so I’m chalking it up as a win.

After Voyage to the Iron Reef, I exited into the arcade below, where I was able to try Knott’s new VR Showdown in Ghost Town upcharge attraction. My eyes have a difficult time focusing with VR headsets, but I thought that Showdown in Ghost Town was really well done. It would have been a lot easier with two people, as often times, I was firing on the enemies on one side of the arena, but all of the action was going on behind me. For $6, it was a cool glimpse into how VR technology can be used in parks for the future.

It was time for my last coaster ride of the day (riding 8 of Knott’s 9 coasters), and that was another first for me — my first “Motocoaster,” Pony Express. I made my way through the queue, and got all the way through the line to just the outside of the station before I heard the words no one wants to hear while in line for a roller coaster.

“Pony Express is experiencing a temporary delay. We do not know how long this delay will take. You’re welcome to continue to stand in line or exit behind rows 2 & 3.”

However, I had some time, and since it was my first trip to Knott’s and last coaster of the day, I was going to wait it out no matter how long it took. People started to exit the station, so I made my way through the station turn-style and into the station. Then they cleared out of the row, so I would be on the next train. As I was observing the situation, it occurred to me that the breakdown was not an issue with the ride, but rather an issue with the exit ramp, which was being sanded down by park maintenance staff. Once that was fixed, it was time to ride.

Overall, I ended up waiting just over an hour to ride Pony Express, and I thought it was a great sleeper coaster for the park. The layout isn’t much more than an elongated figure-8, but the launch was great, and feeling of riding a “horse” over the track was very fun.

Always good to have friends who know their way around a theme park menu. @cpfoodblog recommended the Carne Asada fries and they were GREAT. pic.twitter.com/dG5YnQu3bg

— Coaster101.com (@Coaster101) May 31, 2017

By this time, it was late in the afternoon, and I needed some food. On the recommendation of Justin from CPFoodBlog, I walked to the other side of the park, and ordered some Carne Asada Fries (a San Diego staple) from La Papa Loca. These fries were just what I needed after a long day at the park. Crispy shoestring fries with pieces of steak, covered with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. If anyone from Cedar Fair or an owner of a restaurant on the East Coast in general is reading this, please bring Carne Asada fries east. They were awesome.

After lunch, the sun had started to come out, and I wandered around the park taking photos to replace the cloudy shots I had taken earlier in the morning.

I passed by the Timber Mountain log ride, which unfortunately I didn’t get to ride because of time, and the Calico Mine Ride, which was closed for the day. With just about an hour left in the park before I had to head south, I decided to wander around Ghost Town Alive, which I found to be a very unique experience.

If given the chance, I could have walked around Ghost Town Alive for a full half-day, because there was so much going on in Ghost Town. There were so many intertwined story lines. In my short time wandering through Ghost Town, I got to see a public arrest hearing, talk to the postmaster, and even see a little banjo music being played as Calico celebrated its Founders’ Day.

After a few more photos of Ghost Rider from the parking lot (and a glass of Knott’s famous Boysenberry Punch), it was time to hit the road.

Some quick thoughts.

Knott’s was a beautiful park to just walk around in. The four themed areas — Ghost Town, Camp Snoopy, Boardwalk and Fiesta Village — were all themed very well without being too “in your face about it.”
The Boysenberry delicious, and available in pretty much any form you want it in. Punch, preserves, gummy bears, lip balm, barbecue sauce, cotton candy, you name it.
I hate that I missed both Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride, but that gives me an excuse to make a return trip!

Knott’s Coasters, Ranked