Knott’s Berry Farm Update – March 12th 2016

With all the craziness going on elsewhere around the state, we can’t forget that Knott’s Berry Farm is undergoing major changes as well! With huge renovations, a new Starbucks, GhostRider and a whole revitalized Ghost Town, there sure is plenty going on at the Buena Park park. Today’s update takes a look at all that, ride refurbishments, Boysenberry Festival, and a whole lot more! 

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Let’s start right outside of Knott’s Berry Farm, at the Knott’s Market Place, where the reconstruction of Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner is in full swing!  The building will be towering way higher than it used to (you can see how tall the building used to be right below). I can’t wait to see the final product!  Facing the park from the chicken dinner restaurant, it wasn’t only a wonderful day out, I also spot their brand new Starbucks!  Right next to the temporary Chicken To Go location, walls wrap around the soon-to-open Starbucks.   And then there’s the grand logo we’ve all been waiting for, mark of quality… Starbucks! Which seems to be increasingly popular at theme parks. With an upgrade with more Starbucks awesomeness to Downtown Disney, a brand new HUGE Starbucks at Universal Studios Hollywood, countless new Starbucks at other Cedar Fair parks, all there’s left is waiting for Six Flags to get some 😛 Construction of Panning For Gold is still in full swing as well, with the awning placed and a lot of fundamental wood work going on. The final product will look great (from the looks of it). Right next to it we find the pre-lift of GhostRider (which has always been one of my favorite pre-lifts), which isn’t just a bunch of fresh GCI wood… But they’ve also just installed the new lights along the handrails of the ride! These lights were the signature feature of GhostRider at night. Something I absolutely LOVED about it! So I’m very excited to see the return of them!  Here’s a look at fresh new wood (in which you may see that fundamentally everything has been replaced that has anything to do with the smoothness of the ride), and a rope of new lights ready to be installed!  There was also quite some work going on at the top of the lift-hill, but not very notable what they were in fact doing.  The walls surrounding the new Panning for Gold attraction neatly advertised the 75th Anniversary of Ghost Town… and Knott’s Boysenberry Festival! For which we’ll be back opening day, this upcoming Saturday! Also in the area are the lockers and arcade, and GhostRider gift shop.  The Guest Services are new, and it seems that Knott’s is relocating their current Guest Services over here for traffic reasons, as the current location often has a line blocking the flow of traffic going into Ghost Town or exiting the park. 

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We may not forget that the amazing BOYSENBERRY FESTIVAL is next week!! Running from March 19th through April 3rd, this event is one of the best food events around, and totally Knott’s style. Theming for the event has obviously started already, with awesome scenery pieces like this light-string of jars in front of the School House!  And a bunch of bulbs where the whine tasting will be located!  In case you already forgot these dates, remember them now as they are on this official Boysenberry Festival banner.  There are several more light touches of theming as the flowers you’ll find all around Ghost Town.   And the wonderful set-up for the two shows coming to the fountain at the Boardwalk has also been placed already. I particularly enjoy the night time shows here during the Boysenberry Festival! 

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Going back to beautiful Ghost Town for a bit… We find the construction of the new Calico stage which will be located on the spot that previously housed Screamin’ Swings (More on the Screamin’ Swings topic later). Currently the construction of the side of the new building is underway, and seem to be facades for when the Calico and Ghost Town Railroad train passes by.  The rest of the area is filled with markers and will soon be prepared to become the new stage and viewing plaza for guests.  Pony Express has just closed for a refurbishment and will not reopen until Boysenberry Festival, luckily that’s less than a week from now!   The launch wheel-mechanism was taken out for refurbishment and should be back soon, There’s also only one train on the ride currently, hopefully the second train will be back before it reopens as well! 

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Back to the Boardwalk, you may already know Knott’s demolished Riptide in few days and currently the area is simply blocked off with walls. Hopefully we’ll soon see, or hear of, a replacement ride. I’m not hoping for another ‘Plant Seeker’ 😛

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On to Camp Snoopy real quick, where Sierra Sidewinder was another popular ride throughout the day, and seemed to be running incredibly fast. Absolutely love that ride!  But more importantly, the wonderful bloom-y Boysenberry Festival theming can be found all around this family-section of the park. 

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Moving on to Silver Bullet, which hosted a very (un)healthy 2 hour wait today, which was due to the one-train operations. This train is hopefully back up and running for the Boysenberry Festival and Spring Break crowds!  The ride is incredibly visually pleasing from each angle though, and it’s a fantastic inverted coaster. So waiting was definitely worth it.  Speaking of visuals… the visuals of you riding Silver Bullet are displayed on new screens on the opposite side of the photo-sales center.  More cool stuff below Silver Bullet… Pizza Box trashcans! Knott’s has recently placed some of these, which was a great idea!  Then night time hit… and The Farm was surprisingly busy all night! (Oh and please take the moment to appreciate my timing with Boomerang going through the loop, thank you). 🙂 ‘Til Friday the 18th (in 5 days) Knott’s will remain lighting up the Calico Mine Ride in pink for the Knott’s Cure breast-cancer awareness period they have each year.  Same counts for one of my favorite drop rides around… Supreme Scream. Here’s a shot of one of the lights used to light the gigantic structure in pink.  And here’s a shot of what it looks like at night. 🙂  Speaking of nights and lights… the new green lights around the Montezooma’s Revenge loop look amazing. I personally like them way better than the white ‘thunder’ light effects. Unlike those, the new green lights are on consistently. 

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Last but not least… the location in which the Screamin’ Swings is currently stored. An awesome site-reader met up with me at the park and took this shot shortly before. Funny enough I parked close to it, as the Screamin’ Swings parts are currently located in a storage/ parking lot, on the opposite end of the main general-parking lot, next to several buildings bordering near mall. I’m curious to see if this attraction will be going to any other Cedar Fair park or if perhaps Knott’s will reinstall it elsewhere?

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Thank you for checking out this Knott’s Berry Farm Update! We’ll have way more Knott’s coming your way this upcoming week! Check out our Joker Construction Update and Six Flags Magic Mountain Update from this weekend as well!

We also advise you check out our personal New Revolution tour report, with many exclusive looks around the ride! And check out the refurbished Jurassic Park- The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.

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