 Our friends over at CWMania.com sent us over some great offseason pictures of Canada's Wonderland and their two new additions Flying Eagles and Skyhawk. Be sure to give CWMania a follow on Facebook and Twitter and thanks again for the awesome pics!! Also be sure to check out video of the tour below. Let's start off with a look at Flying Eagles!!  The concrete pad & ride structure has been installed and soon to follow is the operator's booth & queue. In order to allow for paths around the entire ride, Chopper Chase had to be modified. Seven new footers were poured, supports moved over & 40 meters* of track manufactured to shift the track over. * Meters = a unit of measure that makes way more sense than feet that the USA flatly rejected in the early 80's setting us back from the rest of the civilized world. It will be a great view from both Flying Eagles and Chopper Chase as they whiz by each other  Always nice to have another awesome Flyer ride and these gondolas look AMAZING.   Let's move over to Skyhawk A look at the final tower, the only thing left to be placed is the masthead that we'll show a bit more of below.  The mechanical room (left) and operator booth (right) separate the entrance and queue area.  One of the cool things about this ride is the entire tower will rotate, not just the arms. A look at the drive motors that will spin the tower.     This is the masthead and is the highest point of the ride.  The masthead contains the motors and pulleys that will raise and lower the hub up and down the tower. This also includes a weather station and lightning rod.  This is the cable that will be wound around the sheaves & connect to the hub to lift/lower it  The counterweights that will be connected to the center of the tower.    Flood lights on the masthead that will light up the ride at night and below that LED lights that will light up each arm.  This is a front view of where the seat arms connect to the hub   Let's take a look at the seats which look ultra comfy.   That backside of the seats for all you seat enthusiasts. We're pretty sure you're out there.  Ride seat porn ...   Thanks again to CWMania for sending us these amazing pictures. We are so happy you thought of us to share the great pics. We look forward to seeing more from Canada's Wonderland on your site this year!!!  This past Saturday was the opening day of the Boysenberry Festival so we were of course out at Knott's to partake in all the boysenberry goodness. It was a pretty busy day at the park since along with media day for the festival it was a Saturday, the start of Spring Break and there was some kind of Cheerleader event going on. Even with the crowds we had an amazing time at the park as always. Written by Gregg Condon Welcome to Knott's Berry Farm!!  Knott's always puts on great media events  Did you know that Knott's now has park-wide free WiFi? We used it all day on Saturday and even with the large crowds had no issues at all.  We'll start off the update with a quick look at Ghostrider. We also have a quick video update below. Even from outside the park you can see the difference between the old and new wood. Not too many changes from our tours a few weeks ago. If you missed that update you can see it here.    Inside the park, not a whole lot has changed since our tour a few weeks ago.  As you may have heard last week the opening has been pushed back from Memorial Weekend until sometime in June. As soon as we get a specific date we will let you know.  The MCBR-less turnaround.   Even though it was a Saturday they were still working on the ride to get it ready. You can see below they are starting to put the lighting back on the pre-lift.       The pan for gold is looking great and it will be nice to see this back at the front of the park.  But of course the main reason for our visit was the Boysenberry Festival. If you missed our preview of the festival from last week be sure to check it out here.  Boysenberry Trifle.  Panna Cotta and Cannoli
The Alligator Bites were back this year. And we have to say, these were great the first year but the last two years they just haven't done it for us. I think it's time for them to retire this item after this year.  Of course, no Boysenberry Festival is complete without yummy beer and wine. For a real tasty treat have them mix the Boysenberry Beer with the Berry Cider. Very refreshing.  Also new this year the Cinnamon Chips with Boysenberry Dip. Really nice treat.  Hot Dog with Boysenberry Relish. You can get it on the side too.  The Fun Stick and Boysenberry Flautas.  The Boysenberry Festival runs through April 3 so be sure you check it out. It's a lot of fun. The Calico Saloon also reopened from it's refurb and it looks absolutely fantastic!!!  We'll get back in with the good camera soon to get some better pictures to share.    So much more room up here now which is awesome.     The new chandelier's look great!!!  Just a couple of quick notes: Anybody know what's up with the crane backstage? This was from the Mystery Lodge line.  Love spending the evening in Ghost Town  Until our next Knott's update ... moo.   Tomorrow the Knott's Boyselberry Festival begins it's 3rd year and the other night we were invited out for a preview of this years event to try some of the new food, some of the wine vendors and talk with the people who put on the event. Be sure to check out all of the info on the Festival here. Written by Gregg Condon Pictures by Scott Linder and Gregg Condon  Before we get started we also put together a little video of the chef's talking about the new food for this year, which was all excellent. After a 3 hour drive it was nice to see this sign and know that good food was close. (Stupid LA Traffic)  I think one of the most underrated things about the invention of the Boysenberry Festival has been all of the Berry Market goods that have come along with it. So much stuff to choose from.  The Salsa is new and the Boysenberry Chipotle is amazing.  The Boysenberry Butter and Mustard are new. Will have to try them tomorrow.  Lots of great wine vendors. Being a red wine man myself I didn't try any of the white wine's. I'll have my wife try some of those tomorrow. She'll be heartbroken. =)  Before we get started on the food, I just want to commend Knott's and their entire food team for the amazing culinary turnaround they've made the last few years. For those of you long time fans of the park you'll remember that 5 or 6 years ago most of us would actually leave the park to eat. It was typical "theme park food". And now there are just so many great things to eat whether it's Boysenberry Festival or a Tuesday in October. New for this year ... The Fun Stick!!! Boysenberry Cheesecake dipped in Funnel Cake batter and fried ... on a stick. Amazing.  Wings with "the sauce".  Pulled Pork with "the sauce" and cold slaw. Amazing.  Chicken sandwich with Boysenberry Mayo  The Boysenberry beer is back, or as seen below, Boysenberry Beer mixed with Berry Cider.  Short Ribs!!!   Boysenberry Meatballs. They actually had these at a few media events last year and they are pretty amazing. They'd be great on a sandwich.  Boysenberry Trifle!!!  The Boysenberry Lemonade is VERY tart, but I loved it.  The Alligator Bites are back this year  And lastly the Boysenberry Panna Cotta which was probably my favorite "dessert" thing that was new this year. It's perfectly made and very creamy and delicious.  Next week we'll have our full Boysenberry Festival report including more food, entertainment and more and since we'll be at the park I guess we'll take a look at Ghostrider construction. Don't forget, as the park announced yesterday, Ghostrider will now be opening in June. We do not have a specific date yet. Also don't forget that there will be a Boysenberry Eating Contest tomorrow featuring Joey Chestnut at 2:00pm. Thanks for checking out our Boysenberry Festival preview and if you happen to be going tomorrow let us know, we'd love to say hi. |
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