 This past Saturday we headed down to Orange County for a BBQ with some friends so we figured we'd take a few hours and brave the crowds at Knott's for some July 4th fun. Arriving at the park at 9:30 for Season Pass early entry we expected the worst, but we actually were able to do quite a bit in our few hours at the park. There's not really much in the way of "updates" at the park, other than new Boysenberry Plants under Silver Bullet.   Speaking of Silver Bullet, they were having some issues with it but we still managed to get 2 rides on it. One during the early entry and one right when it reopened as we were exiting the Ghost Town and Calico Railroad (we got lucky). We rode in the front row for the first time in awhile and it sure is a lot of fun.  We also did get a panoramic picture with our phone in the station, I like the way it came out, but see if you can spot the errors. They are kind of funny. (Click to enlarge)  So between about 9:45 and 11:00am we rode Silver Bullet, Montezooma's Revenge, La Revolucion, Xcelerator, Coast Rider, Timber Mountain Log Ride, Surfside Gliders and Montezooma's Revenge again. =)
The crowds were definitely light during the morning, something that most likely didn't continue into the afternoon and evening.
We had an early lunch on the patio of the Ghost Town Grill, definitely one of the best spots in the park to people watch both the public and the citizens of Ghost Town.
We of course had to say hi to one of our favorite citizens of Ghost Town.  Ended our day with a boysenberry stuffed churro. It was amazing.  We hope you enjoyed this mini update, not much going on at the park right now in the way of actual "updates", just lots and lots of summer fun. Haunt stuff should start being revealed soon. Yay!!  It's been awhile since we've taken a look at "Non-Haunt" Knott's Berry Farm so we stopped by to take a look at preparations for the annual Merry Farm event as well as to look at offseason work being done and progress on the new dark ride. If you missed all of the info on this years Merry Farm event, click the link. Knott's Merry FarmIt seems that haunt just ended, in fact it had ended a mere 5 days prior to our visit, but the park was already in full swing getting ready for Christmas. 
For the most part it seemed much of the work is simple decorations like wreaths, but I'm sure there are even more decorations on the way prior to Merry Farm opening on November 22. 
As far as Ghost Town is concerned, simple is the way to go. 
No more hanging. =( 
More wreaths 
Ain't she purty? 
Even Panda Express is getting decorations. This is still the one food location in Ghost Town that sticks out. Would be a much better fit in the Boardwalk IMO. But the food here is actually decent. 
No trip to Knott's is complete without a ride on the Timber Mountain Log Ride. 
The Bird Cage Theatre is getting decked out and will once again host the Gift of the Magi. 
2015 AttractionAs of this report we still don't know what the new attraction is going to be, only that Cedar Fair and Triotech will be announcing something next Tuesday at IAAPA. So we'll be sure to be on the lookout for that. Still not a whole lot of visible work going on, but they are definitely working on the inside. 
Some holes in the side of the building, you could hear them hammering away inside 
Hoping that the Roaring 20's sign still being here is a good sign that it's not going anywhere. 
Offseason RefurbishmentsI know we are lucky here in Southern California that we don't really get an "off-season" when it comes to theme parks, still, this is the time of year when parks will rehab trains and rides to get them ready for next years busy time. Montezooma's Revenge is closed. This is still my favorite coaster in the park and it's great to see Knott's giving this classic the love and care it deserves. It's a dying breed but I love that the park has committed to keeping the ride and keeping it running great. 
La Revolucion is still closed but the refurb they've been doing on this looks great. It appears to be very close to reopening. 
The new gardens look very nice and I sat here for awhile buying Season Passes for the rest of the family since it was the last day of the sale. Isn't technology awesome? =) 
Xcelerator was running 1 train. Seriously, when is the last time this actually ran 2 trains? It's been years since I've seen 2 trains running on it. 
There have been a LOT of rumors going around regarding Xcelerator and it moving to another park. While I love this ride (it's in my top 20) I don't think I'd be heartbroken if it got moved. Just depends on what would end up in this spot. Maybe a modern re-make of the Soap Box Racers? I don't think any Knott's fan would be mad at that. 
Not really a refurb, but Black Magic is still standing, as were quite a few of the other Haunt mazes. I saw Daniel Miller walking around and was going to ask him if I could go through. But he seemed busy. =) 
Riptide is closed again. It went through a pretty major rehab, opened for a bit and then closed again. 
Pony Express is running 1 train 
Some work is going on near the Schoolhouse. Not sure what, but they are building "something". 
Ghostrider is also running 1 train. I took a ride and it was probably the best ride I've had on Ghostrider in 5 or 6 years. It's still not "1998 Ghostrider", but it's probably the best woodie in Southern California at this point. 
New Sandwich ShopLastly, with very little fanfare, the popular Pink's hot dogs was replaced with an all new sandwich shop. While I really do like Pink's, it's hard to argue with the results of the new shop, I was very impressed. It actually does fit the market place quite a bit better than Pink's did. 
A look at the menu, it all sounds good. 
It was rather warm so I opted for a cold sub, The Boardwalk Sub. It was very good and very filling. While the prices may seem high, with the Cedar Fair Platinum discount my sandwich was around $7. Pretty good for "theme park" prices. And even without chips or a side, it was enough to fill me up. 
That's going to wrap it up for today's update, we'll have another Knott's update in a couple of weeks when Merry Farm kicks off. We are trying to finalize our Holiday schedule now, it seems there are as many events for Christmas as there was for Halloween. Which is great!!  We were invited to Knott's last night to attend their annual Scare School for the Dominion of the Damned and Pinnochio Unstrung mazes. If you are wondering what Scare School is, well, it's just what it sounds like. Monsters come and learn about the mazes they are working in, work on their characters and then get a chance to scare the media walking through the maze. It really is cool to see it all come together. In addition we got a behind the scenes look at the Costuming/Make-Up warehouse, the all-new Knott's Food Truck and a special History of Haunt tour. Before we get started, Knott's released the map for this years Haunt which starts next Thursday, October 25. We will be there, hope to see you there.  Prior to Scare School I made my way into the park to take a look at preparations for Haunt.   Gunslingers Grave, one of only two "On-Stage" mazes.    Preparations are also underway for Camp Spooky  It was probably about 100 degrees, but Snoopy is always in a good mood.  Light towers in Camp Snoopy, possibly for Infected.  Dia De Los Muertos is in Fiesta Village    La Revolucion' has gone to rehab     Looks like some new planters are being made as well.  Moving over to the Boardwalk, CarnEVIL is coming.   The hearse is out   Xcelerator was closed so no ride for me. =(  There are definitely less decorations out than in years past, at least for now.  Getting ready for The Hanging. Can't wait to see who get's it this year, there are so many people to choose from.     Black Magic   Bet you didn't know Flava Flave was a Haunt character   A quick look at the work being done on the 2015 attraction. We don't know what it's going to be yet (other than a dark ride) but the park has hinted that an announcement will be coming after Haunt.   Really hope they find a way to incorporate the Roaring 20's sign. It's a piece of Knott's History that we'd love to see saved.    Ghouls near Bigfoot Rapids  Wilderness Dance Hall, home to so many iconic Haunt mazes, this year it will be Pinnochio Unstrung.   The Haunt Museum is getting decked out for Halloween   Moo   This picture has an extreme lack of Haunt Fog ... soon ... very soon.   Ghostrider is still closed but should be back open in time for Haunt   Pro-Tip ... Pre Scare Dinner is your friend. Do it!!!  She spent a little too much time at the saloon show.   Pink's is set to close within the next few weeks. I've hard somewhere around Oct 4th but not 100% sure. Guess it's back to waiting in long lines at the one in Hollywood.  The main reason for our visit was for Scare School. Which is basically the Haunt designers helping the talent become their character so they can scare the hell out of the rest of us.  It's a very interesting process where you have multiple people playing the same character (so they can take breaks). They will introduce themselves, as their character, do some non-speaking sounds and practice the motion of their character.  Brooke Walters sharing some tips with the talent, we were simple observers.  A quick video outlining the process. This is by no means the entire process. After this point they spent a good 30-45 minutes in the maze developing their characters before we walked through the maze. And they will continue to rehearse for the next week. A couple of pictures from inside the maze. I had taken video but it didn't come out well. Plus, you want to be surprised right?   After our walk through we were invited to take a tour of the Costume/Make-Up warehouse which is always a treat.  Tim Barham explaining just how much effort it takes to put on the event, and how much laundry they actually have to do. Hint ... it's A LOT!!   Bill Meier explains the Make-Up/Prosthetic process. Did you know that Knott's does all of the Prosthetics for every Cedar Fair Haunt event? Now you do.  A few examples of the Prosthetics. These will not last throughout the entire event and are usually replaced every weekend.  The new Knott's Food Truck was also out and we were able to try some great food.  The menu will constantly change, this was what was on the menu last night. The Food Truck will be located in Gypsy Camp during Haunt since there aren't any food locations in that area. Great idea!!  Both the Po Boy (seen below) and the Fish Taco's were great.  Next was a nice little Haunt History walk through by Ted Dougherty. Most of the info wasn't new to us, but it's always nice to hear great stories.  You can buy Ted's book here, it's definitely worth checking out if you love Haunt History.  I figured there were spiders in these old Ghost Town buildings, but this is pushing it a bit. =)    Lastly, we had Scare School for Pinocchio Unstrung. Obviously it was a bit darker, but here you can see the maze talent doing their character walks.   Gus Krueger telling us a bit about the maze that he took over this year. It's going to be awesome.  That's going to wrap it up for this behind the scenes look at how Haunt is done. We'll be at opening night next Thursday. Looking forward to another year of Scary Farm. See You In The Fog ... |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2024
|
RSS Feed