This past Friday we had the great opportunity to get some great backstage tours at Knott's Berry Farm for their 2016 additions including Ghost Town's 75th Anniversary, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant re-do and of course Ghostrider. 

Check out all the great pictures and video below. 

UPDATE:: Ghostrider opening has been pushed back to June. We will update when we have a new opening date.


Let's start off with a great tour of Ghostrider. Be sure to check out the video below.

We got to get up close and personal with the ride and take a look at all the great work they are doing on this amazing coaster. 

The drop after the mid course brake run has been re-profiled and raised up a bit (you can see the old spot in the below picture) 

Under the station

They've removed some of the steel supports they'd been putting up on the ride the last few years because due to re-profiling of the turns (to give them more banking) they simply don't need it. 

In addition the Pan for Gold is looking great back in it's original location. 

Ghostrider will re-open in June. We can't wait!! 

Opening on May 27th is Ghost Town Alive. Be sure to check out the video below to hear all the great stuff that's coming. It's going to be a lot of fun. 

Is there a more awesome place to get theme park pictures than Ghost Town? 

The Barn will feature horses and mules over the summer. 

The bank will also be back and interactive!! 

The theater is also getting a lengthy refurb. 

Moving on, the Calico Saloon is getting a very awesome looking rehab. Again, be sure to check out the video to see and hear all the details on this awesome refurbishment. 

A look at some of the things they are planning for the inside. 

An all new bar, sound-system and additional seating. 

Work is also continuing on the new stage. 

Lastly, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant ... you can see how much work is going on below. 

There's also a few other things going on at the park. Riptide has been completely removed. 

The Flyers are closed for rehab

And we'll leave you with some great pics of Knott's, because we can. Enjoy!! 

We hope you enjoyed this update of some fantastic tours the park was great enough to hold. We can't wait to experience all the great things the park has in store for this summer. 

But don't forget, the Boysenberry Festival begins in just a few weeks on March 19. We hope to see you there!! 

Earlier this week we shared our Boysenberry Festival Update so today we're going to continue with Knott's and take a look around the park and a general park update. 

Lots of updates on Iron Reef as well as a lot of "offseason" refurbishments. Get  your Fun Bun and Boysenberry Coffee ready. 

Before we get started, the other day we joked with Knott's that we'd LOVE it if the FunBun theme song would be released as a Ring Tone. Well, never ones to disappoint, they put it up in a DropBox yesterday and tweeted it out. So be sure to download it if you want some FunBun love every time your phone rings.

We'll start off with Iron Reef, which, as you'll see the old Beary Tales/KOD building is getting a huge facelift. 

These are supports for the roof which the awesome @ParkandCons tweeted pictures of out yesterday. 

Some cool artwork 

A peek inside, nothing really to see here. 

Some cool chalk artwork is out in the boardwalk. They even tell you where to stand to get the best picture. But we don't play by the rules. =)

From the Sky Cabin

Elsewhere in the Boardwalk the water is drained as it's getting ready to be re-painted. It seems to have faded very quickly. 

Xcelerator pieces. :(

The FastLane queue is also open on the ride. 

There's an awesome new mural in Virginia's but there were a LOT of people checking it out. We'll try to get some nice pictures on a less busy day. 

Lastly, how about some ride photo's. 

Got a nice pic of Xcelerator from the Sky Cabin. 

Some in our group hadn't ridden the new Peanuts train, so I was able to get some Sierra Sidewinder pics. 

How about some Zoooooom from the train as well. 

That's going to wrap it up for this update. We should have another Knott's update in a week or two as some of our site contributors have yet to get down to the Boysenberry Festival. 

Have a great weekend everybody!!! 

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Over the weekend we were invited out to Knott's Berry Farm to partake in this years Boysenberry Festival. This year the event has gotten even bigger and if the first day of the event is any indication, much more popular, which is great to see. 
We also took some time to check out the Boysenberry Pie eating competition which was great fun. 

Welcome to the Boysenberry Festival!! 

Lots of great decorations all around Ghost Town and all of the locations that have Boysenberry Festival items are marked with a Boysenberry. 

Kristi and Josh are sure enjoying the festival. 

One of the biggest treats for me personally was the Beary Tales Pie Kitchen, although it did make me miss the ride even more. 

And seeing how fast the Beary Tales merchandise was flying off the shelves it makes you realize a lot of people have a fondness for the ride. 

Really nice decorations

 Moo

As you can see, the festival is VERY popular, which is absolutely great to see. Please support these kinds of things so they will come back!!! 

Even with the crowds, the lines for the food items were no more than 10 minutes or so. The employees were great all day. 

Of course the Wine and Craft Brew Tasting was back in the Wilderness Dance Hall. 

We tried some great wines and my favorites were a nice Cabernet and the Boysenberry Wine. While most preferred the Boysenberry Cider to the Boysenberry Beer, I enjoyed the beer a bit more. 

The Wine Tasting is such a great escape from the hustle and bustle of the park and we enjoyed catching up with some of our favorite theme park site friends from Theme Park Adventure and The Coaster Guy. 

Oh yeah, there was food ... lots and lots of food. So much food that we really didn't even have enough room in our belly's to try it all and all really feel we need another visit to try everything else. 

The Fun Bun!!! We actually brought one of these home, and it was just as good the following morning. 

Basically, the Fun Bun is a Cinnamon Roll, fried in Funnel Cake Batter and topped with a Boysenberry topping. It's amazing. 

Boysenberry Wings (sorry, we ate some before we took a picture) and  Boysenberry Trifle. 

Alligator Bites and Cheese Curds. One thing I would suggest on these, have a non-fries option. We got two of each for our group which meant we had a plethora of fries left over. 

Finally this year you can take home your own bottle(s) of the Boysenberry BBQ sauce. At only $5.99 a bottle it's a great deal, and with a Season pass Discount it's even better. =)

The Beary Tales shirts were flying off the shelf. It was hard to find the black shirt below in my size by 1:00pm. 

Other things included Boysenberry Cotton Candy, Boysenberry Honey, Coffee Mugs, Hats, Berry Festival Shirts, Magnets, Key Chains and much more. 

Knott's also held their first Boysenberry Pie Eating Contest. 

The always entertaining Mayor and his lovely wife. We actually got some one-on-one time with them in the Wine Tasting and they invited us over for dinner and Boysenberry Wine. Well, we had to have our people's, people's, people call their people's, people's, people. 
Since we have no people, I guess we'll just have to be happy to see them around town. =)

While the MC from Major League Eating may have gone on a bit (a lot) too long given the 90 degree temperatures, it was still great fun. 

Having some fun introducing the competitors

After about a 45 minute pre-show, it's time to get to eating. 

It was honestly quite entertaining seeing the different strategies and how these people get so much food consumed in such a short time. 

Joey Chestnut who held 35 world records prior to this competition

Now 36

And with that another day at the Knott's Boysenberry Festival comes to an end. 

Thanks so much to Knott's for having us out and for the tremendous hospitality. We truly appreciate it. And as always it was really nice seeing such great friends as Jim from Westcoaster, Tim from Knott's Network, Kolby from Kolby Konnection, Rick and Johanna from TPA and Kurt and his lovely wife from The Coaster Guy. 

We'll have a general park update later this week. Thanks for reading. 

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Yesterday we headed back out to Knott's for the 10th Annual Knott's Coaster Run. I had previously done this event 3 years ago and I have to say this years event was great, some things better, some things not so much (which we'll get into below). 

We also have some Iron Reef pics from our visit last Wednesday. 

Our Sunday morning started about 2 1/2 hours after our Saturday ended. Due to the time change we were up way too early with too little sleep. 

The start line at about 6:00am

After getting our bibs, hanging out a bit, seeing some of you who came out, we started to get in our corrals. And this was the one big issue of the day. 

The corrals made no sense. 

Usually corrals are sorted by your projected finish time. Now, I'll be honest, I can't remember if I put in a time when we registered, but I don't think we did. It seemed that the corrals were sorted by registration date, which makes NO sense. 

Hanging out in Wave 6, behind walkers and people with strollers. 

Even the people behind me were confused, or they were confused at how tired I looked. LOL. 

Now I'll admit, I'm not the fastest runner, usually around 10:30 per mile on my normal runs, but I admit it and will always put myself in an appropriate corral/wave/whatever. My wife walked the 5k and stated in the back, as it should be. 

Corral issues aside though, I will admit, that there was enough gap between waves that it really wasn't as big of an issue as it could have been. But catching up to the previous waves walker 3-4 minutes after the race started was kind of weird. 

Headed into the park

And here is the BIGGEST improvement over the last time we did the Coaster Run, actually running through the park. The last time we did it we ran around the park, but never in it. So this was awesome. 

Beware of Boomerang supports

Log ride looks awesome in the morning

Running through Ghost Town

Lines for character pictures weren't that long at all

Fog Alley

Heading out of the park

Looping around the Marketplace, through the tunnel and into Soak City

Believe it or not, this was actually my first time in Soak City. We'll certainly be checking it out this summer. 

The 5k/10k split. If you did the 5k, your course was entirely on Knott's Property (which is awesome). For the 10k the 2nd half of our race was on nearby streets, which was totally fine. Lots of great staff out to cheer you on. 

I ended up finishing the 10k in 1:03:46 and a pace of 10:07 per mile. Not my best, not my worst by a long shot. The 2nd half of the race was faster due to not having to dodge strollers and walkers.

And of course, no day at Knott's would be complete without some Boysenberry Pie. 

After a tasty breakfast at Mrs. Knott's, a post race selfie, showing off the medal in a theme park. =)

Overall, I'd give this race about a 8 out of 10, it's well organized, the course is great and the minor weirdness regarding the corral placement aside, we had an absolute blast. 

I would suggest having people with strollers at the very least start in the back next year. If you are pushing a stroller and can pass me more power to ya. But we'll certainly be back next year. 

Moving on to Knott's Iron Reef construction, they are starting to work on the outside of the building now. 

And apparently the ride vehicles have shown up at the park as well. 

The station is receiving a bulk of the work

Ground work for the building

An overview of the work area, looks like the brick is staying. 

Not sure what they are doing on this end yet

A peek inside

Around the rest of the park, is this thing ever open anymore? 

Jaguar was closed for a brief refurb, but was back open over the weekend. 

Montezooma's Revenge just returned from it's rehab and is running great as always. 

Lastly, not sure when these were replaced (probably been awhile) but they look great. I don't normally go into Camp Snoopy, just always find it weird when I'm without kids. =)

Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update, we hope you enjoyed it. 

We'll be back at the park on the 28th for the Boysenberry Festival. Looking forward to trying out lots of great food. 

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One of our favorite events of the year is coming back later this month, the Knott's Boysenberry Festival is returning on March 28th. 
Below you'll see a tease of the Food and entertainment you can enjoy at the park as well as the opportunity to buy some of "The Sauce". 

Click the link to see our review of last years Boysenberry Festival. 

BUENA PARK, CA (February 2015) – This spring, celebrate Knott’s delicious roots during its Boysenberry Festival harvested in the theme park’s historic Ghost Town. The 16-day festival returns with an unforgettable lineup of exquisite Boysenberry Bites, dazzling entertainment, gourmet food and the Wine and Craft Brew Tasting Garden, plus the limited time return of the classic Bear-y Tales characters in a pie making kitchen, and more! 

In the 1930s Walter Knott harvested the boysenberry, a cross between a loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry, and named the new berry after its originator Rudolph Boysen.  Today, all boysenberries in the world can trace their roots back to Knott’s Berry Farm. The Park will once again make delicious history with the debut of its very own farm-made Berry Market™ Boysenberry BBQ Sauce during the widely acclaimed Boysenberry Festival. During the food fest, the tangy, finger lickin’ good sauce will add the perfect flavor to ribs, BBQ chicken, chicken wings, and more. Other must try Boysenberry Bites include fried cheese curds paired with a spicy boysenberry dipping sauce, fish and chips sandwich with boysenberry tartar sauce, Boysenberry ICEE Floats, Boysenberry Frappuccino and Latte (served at the new Gourmet Coffee Hut which proudly serves Starbucks drinks), and more charbroiled treats cooked on open-air barbeques throughout the streets of the festival. Additional fee for tastings. Guests who want to take home the exquisite sauce can do so by stopping by the Berry Market, General Store in Ghost Town or by visiting knotts.com.

In honor of the delectable berry, guests can wine, dine, dance, and buy boysenberry inspired products throughout the winding streets of the Old West.  Festival entrances will feature rustic banners and oversized boysenberries, just ripe for taking that special photo. 

Eat Your Way Through The Boysenberry With:

-          Deep Fried Alligator Pieces & Fries with Boysenberry Aioli
-          Fried Cheese Curds paired with a Spicy Boysenberry Dipping Sauce
-          Craft Beer and Wine Vendors – boysenberry wine and Belgium boysenberry beer
-          Boysenberry Trifle (vanilla cake piece, frozen boysenberry, soft serve ice cream, and whipped cream)
-          Boysenberry Frappuccino & Latte
-          Berry Market™ Boysenberry BBQ Sauce smothered on an assortment of other delectable treats (an original Knott’s Berry Farm creation)
-          And more

The Boysenberry Festival also features an extensive line up of live entertainment from sun up to sun down. At the heart of all of the excitement is Birdcage Square, located in front of the famous Birdcage Theatre. Here, a stage will be set for daily contests like pie eating, a pie walk, and Grandpa’s Boysenberry PJs Contest, where guests will race to stuff the oversized long johns with balloons. In the evening, the Square will have guests kicking up their heels with vine dancing, a down home jug band and dueling fiddlers and banjos!  At night, just inside of the Birdcage Theatre, things get krazy when Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies mount their toe tappin’, knee-slappin’, gut-bustin’ country comedy show that will have audiences clamoring for more! 

New for 2015, right up the road from Birdcage Square, kids can join the classic Bear-y Tales characters in their very own pie making kitchen inside of Ghost Town’s Craft Barn. With the help of Razz Bear-y, Boysen Bear-y and the other Bear-y family members, each beautifully painted scene will follow the world famous boysenberry from field to blue ribbon winning pie! The pint sized chefs can also make their very own delightfully sweet boysenberry tarts complete with a crumble topping. Additional cost applies for tart making.

Festival Entertainment From Sun Up To Sun Down:

-          Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies
-          Daily pie eating contests
-          Dueling Fiddlers
-          Dueling Banjos
-          Peanuts Party in the Park
-          Jammin’ in the Dark (nighttime dance party)
-          Salsa dancing
-          And more

The iconic Charleston Circle fountain transforms into a beautiful floral fountain, adorned with colorful flowers and boysenberries creating an iconic centerpiece for the celebration.  Located in the Boardwalk area, the stunning monument will serve as a dramatic backdrop for two spectacular interactive shows.  Peanuts Party in the Park celebrates spring in a big way with infectious music, vibrant set design, and an invitation for the audience to be a part of the show! After sundown, Jammin’ in the Dark will transform the blooming circle into an immersive dance party complete with illuminated boysenberries, vines and LED lighting effects affixed to the Charleston fountain; DJ HowLy will spin the hottest dance music for all ages. The boysenberry celebration is almost too much fun to stomach!

While strolling the bustling streets of Ghost Town, guests can capture the moment and the memories at boysenberry themed stand-in cutouts, like wanted posters, a boysenberry farming family and more.  Festivalgoers can also watch special demonstrations including a chainsaw wood sculpting, glass blowing and blacksmithing.  While enjoying the festival, guests may meet Ghost Town’s mayor, Mayor Desmond Ryder and his lovely wife, Josephine.  From day to night, Ghost Town has never looked so lively.

Springtime fun has also taken root in Camp Snoopy, Fiesta Village and Boardwalk. During the limited-time event, the whole family can meet the Easter Beagle in his new home, blooming with colorful springtime décor, nestled inside of the recently rejuvenated Camp Snoopy area. The meet and greet location is the perfect place for shareable moments with the boisterous beagle and his friends – Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally and Linus. In Camp Snoopy Theatre, Lucy’s Really BIG Spring Show will showcase the Peanuts pals singing, dancing, and celebrating springtime. The theater will be filled with the sweet sound of little ones as they singing-along to the to the show’s cheerful tunes! Guests don’t have to be experts at the cha-cha-cha to enjoy Salsa Dancing in Fiesta Village, where everyone can to take to the floor to the rhythmic beat of popular Latin dance music. 

The Boysenberry Festival is included with admission to Knott’s Berry Farm, additional cost for food tasting experiences within the event, which also offers a full day of thrilling coasters and family fun rides, like the beautifully restored Calico Mine ride and the rejuvenated six-acre Camp Snoopy featuring three new rides.  Knott’s has extended hours from 10am to 10pm during the Festival March 28 – April 12, 2015 allowing guests extra time to take advantage of all of the limited-time offerings. For affordable year-round fun for everyone and to explore the all the Festival fun, Season Passes can be purchased online at knotts.com starting at $84 or with six easy installment payments of $14 now until April 12, 2015.

Join the conversation and share your day of boysenberry fun by using #KnottsSpring on Twitter and Instagram. For information about the day you plan to visit and available discounts, visit www.knotts.com, call (714) 220-5200, or download the Knott’s Berry Farm mobile app for your smartphone.

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