Knott's gets ready for Merry Farm as offseason refurbishments begin

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. 

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Knott's Merry Farm

It 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 Attraction

As 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 Refurbishments

I 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 Shop

Lastly, 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!! 

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