Summer is finally here in beautiful Southern California. School is out and summer camps have started. Knott’s Berry Farm has been very busy getting ready for the summer months. Over all, quite a bit of work has been going on around here. A lot of rides have been undergoing routine maintenance and refurbishments. There are also new shows that have been underway for a few weeks now including “Blockbuster Beagle” Snoopy on Ice and Vertical Impact. We were expecting to find large crowds at Knotts Berry Farm, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a relatively empty park.
Silver Bullet was running two trains like always. Since this coaster has the best capacity in the park, we never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. This was how we found the line most of the time.
Boomerang was down at the beginning of the week. We saw them testing it Wednesday morning, before opening it late Wednesday afternoon. The line was about 45 minutes at its worst. We decided to skip this ride.
Ghostrider was running well. We never waited longer than 30 minutes to get on the wooden coaster. The silver train has finally returned after undergoing a refurbishment for many months. We got a few rides on both the silver and gold trains, and I can definitely say the silver one is smoother! They have replaced a large amount of the restraints and cleaned it up quite a bit. Its still rough but any improvement is great.
Iron Reef is still wildly popular. We decided to skip the ride, considering the line was always over an hour. That didn’t deter others though.
We are always happy to see Timber Mountain Log Ride using both sides of the dual loading station. The line reflected this as well. We never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride. This is pretty amazing considering that The Log Ride is the most popular attraction at the park.
Xcelerator is still running one train. It doesn’t seem like much progress has been made on the refurbishment of the purple train. It still sits dismantled next to the ride. You can see the blue chassis on the ground, and the purple panels leaned up against the fence.
Its hard to see here, but they have all of the wheels mounted on square metal rigs. I’m assuming this is for ease of access while they work on the wheel assemblies. You can see them poking up above the track here.
The new show Vertical Impact is running 5 days a week (no shows on Monday or Tuesday). We caught the show a few times, and it is just a blast to see. The show featured a variety of acts, including acrobatics, break dancing, trapeze artists, and BMX riders. I particularly liked the ring performer.
Overall the show has been a great success. The crowd extended past the railroad tracks at times. It seems that the cast has really stepped up their game, now that they have a few performances under their belts. I still have certain gripes about how the stage was set up. That center tower is still very hard to see over. Even so, the cast put on an amazing show. We even got to meet them after the show!
One of the best parts of summer is the warm summer nights. Knott’s is finally operating on summer hours, which means they’re open til 10pm all week and 11pm on weekends. I was very excited to spend some quality night hours at The Farm.
I managed to get a night ride on Xccelerator. It’s even more terrifying in the dark!
As quick as the silver train showed up on GhostRider, it disappeared. Friday night, they were running the bronze and the gold trains again. I did notice some new restraints on the bronze train. No matter what, GhostRider is a different beast at night and should not be missed.
I also recommend taking a night stroll through Camp Snoopy. Its lit up so beautifully. I’m a big fan of the lights on the Ferris Wheel.
We had to check out Vertical Impact: Geared Up! The night show has lights, fog and special effects. The trapeze artists were phenomenal in this show. Lit up hula hoops, rings, batons, and even lit up stick figures! they really had fun playing with the lights during this show. It certainly created some amazing effects in the dark. Overall, the night show of Vertical Impact: Geared Up! is not to be missed. Its much different than the day time performance, with the lights, props, and fog.
Thanks for checking out our Knott’s Berry Farm Update! We leave you with our old friend, the Catawampus. Moo. Make sure you check back soon for ride updates, park happenings, and more!
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