2004
Coaster Trips: 2004: Knotts Berry Farm
Thursday June 24th
As my hotel was just across the road from Knotts Berry Farm, I was able to get up at a civilized hour and still be present for park opening. I was rather taken aback when I found the park entrance swamped by what had to of been at least five hundred children in an identical white T-shirt for their summer camp. However, as my last full day in Los Angeles, this was going to be my Knotts day no matter what, so I used the discount coupon I had to get into the park for $25.95.
After a brief investigation of the park map, I made my way across to Montezooma's Revenge, a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop. Unfortunately, it turned out this ride was temporarily down, so I moved across to Jaguar! (#277) instead. This is a custom designed coaster by Zierer, which is what I believe is the only Zierer coaster I have come across with two lift hills. This makes it a rather long ride and definitely a candidate for two train operation, though only one was in use today, the other sitting parked on the transfer track. The cars could have done with a lot more padding, but otherwise was good fun. Part of the track threads through the loop on Montezooma's Revenge, so occasionally when the timing is right both coasters pass very close indeed to one another. However, there is no synchronization between the two rides, so this doesn't happen all that often.
At any rate, Montezooma's Revenge (#278) was now operating, so I took a circuit in the back seat. Like so many other rides designed by Anton Schwarzkopf, this one has aged exceptionally well. When you consider that it is now over twenty six years old, it still manages to ride a great deal more smoothly than the Boomerang, which is twelve years younger.
Continuing my journey across the park, I finally encountered the Supreme Scream, which I believe to be the tallest S&S Turbo Drop in existence. Getting on this ride, and enjoying it as much as I did, has finally confirmed to me that after two years of misery and a third of trepidation, I have finally beaten my fear of tower rides. Supreme Scream was really good fun. It did have an unnecessary twenty minute wait at this point due to only one of the three towers being in use, though to be fair to Knotts one of the other towers was also up and running later in the day.
I knew before arrival that Xcelerator was likely to be down. Nevertheless, I did spend some time staring at the ride and wondering what it would have been like. I'll just have to return to Knotts in the future, especially with the new Silver Bullet coaster that is under construction. (For those not aware, in early 2004 there was an accident on the "Hydro" ride at Oakwood Theme Park in Wales, in which a rider fell out and suffered fatal injuries. The California authorities have requested that the two rides in the state with the same restraints be shut down pending the results of the investigation. It is better to be safe than sorry.)
I moved across to the Boomerang (#279) at this point. I've had my fill of original Vekoma Boomerangs at this point (this being my seventh), but I will still ride each one once. While waiting for this one, I had an interesting conversation with the ride operator about irritating guests. He commented that he preferred days with complaints, as it gave him something to talk about, in comparison to normal days when things could be boring. He also said that there would be no wait for the Boomerang at all if Xcelerator had been operational. I wonder why...!
At this point, it was time to try Ghostrider (#280). It seems that the entire group of children mentioned earlier had congregated at this ride, as I ended up waiting a tedious ninety minutes. For most of this wait, I was watching a child about the age of ten arguing with what I assume was his elder sister, and it was very amusing to watch. It looked to me like he was happy enough to ride, but was putting on a not-entirely-convincing act in order to get his sister to try to bribe him. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work. They took a second row seat in the train in front of mine; I decided to hold out for a front seat. As the tallest wooden coaster in California, I was expecting something special out of Ghostrider. While it wasn't a bad ride by any means, I wasn't overly taken by it on my first circuit. I decided I'd come back later if the queue time was shorter and try again in the back.
Despite the fact that it is not listed on the park map, I eventually managed to locate the final coaster in the park, the Timberline Twister, but I was unable to ride as I exceeded the maximum height requirement (of 69 inches).
As the first theme park to be built in the United States, Knotts has a number of traditions. First among these is Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner, and I couldn't visit the park without trying it out. Fried chicken is still fried chicken, but the boysenberry pie was delicious and the salad wasn't bad either.
The heat was beginning to get to me at this point, so I decided to put my camera in a locker and do some water rides. First up was the Bigfoot Rapids. As rapids rides go, this wasn't one of the better ones, but nevertheless the objective of getting wet was at least partially accomplished. To finish the job, I decided I'd take a ride on Perilous Plunge.
Before going there though, I passed by Ghostrider, and as the wait was down to less than half an hour I took a ride in the back seat. Unfortunately, the seat beside me was taken by a severely horizontally challenged child, who was incapable of keeping his elbow out of my side. I was very relieved when the ride ended, but decided I'd give it a third try later on.
Perilous Plunge has to be seen to be believed. Think of a standard giant splash ride, then triple the height and increase the angle of the drop to about 75 degrees and you have a rough idea. While I hope that more will be built, I think it improbable given that both installations (this one and Hydro at Oakwood - see above) have had a rider fall to their death. Knotts has "fixed" this problem by installing a four point restraint system on their version of the ride. Unfortunately, this is not a solution.
The restraint system in use now takes an inordinate amount of time to put on, check, and recheck. The upshot is a ride which should have a boat dispatch every minute or so is lucky to get a boat out every seven minutes. In addition, while this ride is designed to get you wet, putting on a wet four point restraint is not one of the more pleasant experiences one can have.
The upshot of this crazy system is that I ended up waiting an hour and a half for a ride which, if run as the manufacturer intended, should have been a fifteen minute wait at most. I spent most of this wait - in an unshaded queue line I might add - in conversation with a family from Arizona. Most of the conversation was generic but the one bit I remember was a discussion about being sun burnt. The gentleman from Phoenix laughed and said that it was quite okay - where he came from, people were supposed to have red necks.
Anyway, not only were the boats taking seven minutes to dispatch, but the ride was operating with just one boat, and on many of the boats half the seats were empty. Six Flags would be proud; this is not a way to run a ride. If you have to have this ridiculous restraint system, at the bare minimum you should be able to begin loading a second boat while the second is out on course.
On finally boarding the ride and having my restraints secured properly (and properly in this case means tight enough to crush you), a debate ensued about whether I could wear my glasses or not. I have a strap which holds my glasses on; this, and my glasses, have been on hundreds of coasters and thrill rides of all descriptions. It is normally not a problem for any park; with the strap in place, my glasses are not going anywhere. Fortunately, the ride supervisor decided it was okay, and our boat was finally able to dispatch. Pet peeve; I wish parks wouldn't enforce their policies erratically. No loose items is fair enough, but I saw certain ride operators who allowed things that others did not. Either it's a rule or it isn't! Properly secured glasses are not a risk!
The chain lift takes the boat to the heights very quickly indeed, at which point you start rolling rapidly towards the steep drop. Unlike other splash rides I have been on, the top section of the ride doesn't have water running through it; the boat evidently has wheels or something similar to traverse the turnaround. And then you enter the drop. Forget what you know about ordinary splash rides; you are already soaked from the spray thrown up by the boat as it traverses the steep drop. Once you land at the bottom, the splash pours down water all over you, continuing for several seconds. You don't know the meaning of wet until you've ridden Perilous Plunge; I came off the ride dripping from head to toe. I also came off the ride, however, ecstatic. Perilous Plunge is a great ride hampered by a ridiculous restraint system and awful operation. Hopefully a proper fix will be made some day.
As another aside, Perilous Plunge features the second dumb sign I've noticed on this trip; this one saying that You May Get Wet. Oh really?
To dry off, I took two quick trips on Supreme Scream. The ride was a five minute wait at this point, thanks to two towers being operational. If anything I enjoyed these even more than my first ride earlier in the day. I just wish I could visit the Stratosphere Tower on this trip to ride the Big Shot, but that will have to wait for a future visit.
I made my way back across to my locker to retrieve my camera, and spent a good hour walking around the park and taking photos. I went up the Sky Cabin observation tower in the hope of getting some good shots but the windows were too dirty to get anything useful. I didn't get anything quite as good as my pictures from Disney's California Adventure last night, but I did manage some worthwhile shots, especially of Perilous Plunge and the Silver Bullet construction work.
Just before leaving the park for the day, I went back to Ghostrider for a final front seat ride. It was running far better at this point than it had been earlier in the day, and I really enjoyed my circuit. Though there would have been time to get another ride in before park closing, I decided to call it a day as fatigue was beginning to catch up on me.