Neon Cactus
Old Run Disney Addict
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2016
Hi. Just got back from my first trip to Knott's in two years. It was a bit of a crazy trip. It started with needing to use miles on Alaska Airlines for a free ticket and LA being the best option to do that. So I decided to spend a weekend in LA, go to Knott's Halloween Haunt and then Disneyland and fly home the next day. And then, my job wanted me to go man our booth at a conference in Vancouver and it just happened to be the same weekend. The good part was that I would still be able to keep my Friday plans at Knott's and then fly up to Vancouver on Saturday, and then fly back to Dallas after the conference. It's an easier flight from LA anyway. I grew up about an hour away from Knott's and my parents would take us during the day while the Halloween Haunt season was going, but never for the actual Haunt at night. A friend of mine used to go and when I got older, I was finally able to go and I've been hooked on it ever since. I've done Fright Fest at Six Flags and I've done the earliest version of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, but nothing comes close for me, so I try to get back here every so often. This year was a little different because I ended up buying an annual pass. When I was considering going to the Halloween Haunt, I saw that their annual pass for next year was $197 for the Cedar Fair platinum pass and it allowed for one visit during 2019, which would be the daytime visit. So I figured I would need four park visits to make it worth it. But I also saw next year, Knott's is celebrating their 100th anniversary. I'm a sucker for theme park anniversaries, so there's a better than average chance I will make it out for that day. They also have their Boysenberry Festival in April, so I'm going to see if the airfares will be good and allow me to go for that. There's also a Cedar Fair park in Kansas City, which is a day's drive from Dallas, so I can likely make a trip there. What sealed the deal was finding out the Cedar Fair just bought the Schlitterbahn waterparks in New Braunfels and Galveston in Texas, which I will definitely go to. So now I have the Knott's AP.
I have a basic strategy on my Knott's visits during the Halloween Haunt. Even though I have to buy an extra ticket, I always go during the day and ride all of the rides that are not "haunted". So when I come back at night for the Haunt, I can focus on the mazes and entertainment.
I was on the earliest flight of the day, a 6:15 AM flight that landed at 7:40. I like early flights because the plane is already there and there's less chance for a delay. I sleep well on airplanes and we landed early at LAX. Fortunately I beat the new ride share system by a few days and was able to get a ride curbside. I waited less than 10 minutes and was on my way. I was a bit worried about traffic, since it was 8 AM on a Friday morning, but my driver got me to the hotel in Buena Park in just over half an hour. I was excited at first because right across the street from the hotel was a Farrell's, the great ice cream palace I also grew up with. But sadly, it was closed and it was just the building. Since it was just me and I was going to barely be in the room, I was looking for cheap and I stayed at the Buena Park Inn. If you're staying with the family or on a romantic getaway, I wouldn't stay here. But if you're on a solo trip, want to be close to Knott's, don't really care about amenities and want a cheap price, it was actually perfect. It was about a 10 minute walk to the front gate. I got there at 8:30 and the park didn't open until 10, so I had some time to kill. The hotel didn't have a room available but they did hold my luggage in their office. I hadn't eaten yet, so I started thinking about breakfast. My go-to place in LA is always Tommy's Original Hamburgers, the best chili burgers anywhere. There was one a few miles away and I thought about having it delivered, but while several of them are open 24 hours or at least long hours, this location didn't open until 9 and I thought if it took too long for delivery, I'd miss the park opening. So my next thought was to go check Mrs. Knott's famous chicken restaurant. They have breakfast sometimes and it's very good. Except they didn't have breakfast that day. They didn't open until 11. That left Knott's bakery. They opened at 9, so I waited.
If you're familiar with Knott's, you know all about the boysenberry. If you don't, it's the reason for the park being there. I usually go for boysenberry overload when I'm there. So breakfast consisted of a donut with boysenberry frosting and Knott's boysenberry punch. The souvenir stores were open as well, so I walked through there and looked at all the boysenberry items: syrup, butter, salsa, bbq sauce, and more. Around 9:30, I went to the park area. It was quick to get through security and then wait for the park opening. Right before park opening, they played Whitney Houston's version of the Star Spangled Banner and then the park gates opened. My usual first ride would be their main coaster Ghost Rider, but since I knew I'd be riding it that night, I went towards the back of the park towards the rides that were newer to me. First up was their newest coaster, Hang Time, which ultimately was not the best choice. There were no crowds there initially and there were only two of us in the car and I was in the front row. Hang Time is a very poor choice to ride immediately after breakfast. The initial hill goes straight up 90 degrees. Luckily you have the restraint and a seat belt because I was not holding on. My hands were on my pockets to make sure my phone, wallet and keys did not fall out. And my stomach did not like going straight up. Then the car crested the top and paused there with the front row angling down. And now the food was sloshing to the other side of my stomach. The track curves inward so you actually descend at more than 90 degrees and then there was a series of several loops. I'm very lucky that I have a strong stomach and don't generally get motion sickness, but even so, I had a headache and felt awful by the time we got back in there. So of course the next thing to do would be to ride another coaster, another new one to me called Coast Rider. It's not nearly as crazy as Hang Time, and is more like a mouse, with a few switchbacks. I handled that fine, but my headache was getting bad and my stomach wasn't feeling great, so I decided to take a break from coasters for a while. They have one of the classic glider rides so I did that. Then I went to another new ride for me called Voyage to the Iron Reef. It's one where you go in and shoot at a screen to get points, and it was air conditioned and slow, so it was a nice break. It had been in the 50s in Dallas and I was getting 50 degree temperatures in Vancouver after today, but that day at Knott's, the forecast was 96 degrees.
Then it was time for some mellow rides. I went to ride the stagecoach. One of Knott's classic attractions is a stagecoach around the perimeter of the park pulled by horses. Lines can get long for it, so it's ideal to do it early.
There was a short line, but it only took about five minutes to get on. After that, I went to their other classic Ghost Town rides, the log ride and the Calico Mine Train. Both nice and long and nice and mellow so my stomach had time to get settled. The log ride was decorated for Halloween and it was a lot of fun.
After that, I decided I should probably have real food, so I went to the Boardwalk BBQ. Knott's has always had a good variety of food and good quality and the bbq was pretty good and having a nice regular meal helped me feel better. Then I decided to go jinx some roller coasters. I went over to the Mexico section of the park to Jaguar, which is a pretty tame coaster. Right as I was getting there, the ride broke down. So I went to the next one, Montezuma's Revenge. This was put in the park when I was a teen, so it's still a sentimental favorite of mine and still fun. So I got in line and there was no wait for the next coaster. It's pretty basic. It launches straight out of the station and goes into a big loop and then up a hill until it slows, then it drops down, does the loop backwards, goes back through the station to another hill and then comes down that hill into the station and stops. Except when it stopped, it didn't stop where it was supposed to. So they shut the ride down. It didn't look like a major issue, so I decided to wait. The maintenance crew came and basically just pushed the car back to where it was supposed to be, then made a couple of adjustments and we were ready to go in under 10 minutes. Still a lot of fun. So after I got off of that ride, I went back to Jaguar and just as I got there, they were reopening the ride, so I got in the front row with no wait and we went through the ride and then the brakes stuck with our car just out of the station. So they had to go get their maintenance team back and we were stuck out directly in the hot sun for almost 10 minutes. By this time, it was around 1:30 and I was going to be able to check in. So I rode the Voyage to the Iron Reef again, checked out the park's Halloween decorations and then left the park, walked back over to the hotel and checked in. Fortunately, there was a drug store on the corner and I got a big bottle of water to drink on the way. I got a nice quiet room and was able to take a nap before the night's festivities began.
NEXT: KNOTT'S SCARY FARM
I have a basic strategy on my Knott's visits during the Halloween Haunt. Even though I have to buy an extra ticket, I always go during the day and ride all of the rides that are not "haunted". So when I come back at night for the Haunt, I can focus on the mazes and entertainment.
I was on the earliest flight of the day, a 6:15 AM flight that landed at 7:40. I like early flights because the plane is already there and there's less chance for a delay. I sleep well on airplanes and we landed early at LAX. Fortunately I beat the new ride share system by a few days and was able to get a ride curbside. I waited less than 10 minutes and was on my way. I was a bit worried about traffic, since it was 8 AM on a Friday morning, but my driver got me to the hotel in Buena Park in just over half an hour. I was excited at first because right across the street from the hotel was a Farrell's, the great ice cream palace I also grew up with. But sadly, it was closed and it was just the building. Since it was just me and I was going to barely be in the room, I was looking for cheap and I stayed at the Buena Park Inn. If you're staying with the family or on a romantic getaway, I wouldn't stay here. But if you're on a solo trip, want to be close to Knott's, don't really care about amenities and want a cheap price, it was actually perfect. It was about a 10 minute walk to the front gate. I got there at 8:30 and the park didn't open until 10, so I had some time to kill. The hotel didn't have a room available but they did hold my luggage in their office. I hadn't eaten yet, so I started thinking about breakfast. My go-to place in LA is always Tommy's Original Hamburgers, the best chili burgers anywhere. There was one a few miles away and I thought about having it delivered, but while several of them are open 24 hours or at least long hours, this location didn't open until 9 and I thought if it took too long for delivery, I'd miss the park opening. So my next thought was to go check Mrs. Knott's famous chicken restaurant. They have breakfast sometimes and it's very good. Except they didn't have breakfast that day. They didn't open until 11. That left Knott's bakery. They opened at 9, so I waited.
If you're familiar with Knott's, you know all about the boysenberry. If you don't, it's the reason for the park being there. I usually go for boysenberry overload when I'm there. So breakfast consisted of a donut with boysenberry frosting and Knott's boysenberry punch. The souvenir stores were open as well, so I walked through there and looked at all the boysenberry items: syrup, butter, salsa, bbq sauce, and more. Around 9:30, I went to the park area. It was quick to get through security and then wait for the park opening. Right before park opening, they played Whitney Houston's version of the Star Spangled Banner and then the park gates opened. My usual first ride would be their main coaster Ghost Rider, but since I knew I'd be riding it that night, I went towards the back of the park towards the rides that were newer to me. First up was their newest coaster, Hang Time, which ultimately was not the best choice. There were no crowds there initially and there were only two of us in the car and I was in the front row. Hang Time is a very poor choice to ride immediately after breakfast. The initial hill goes straight up 90 degrees. Luckily you have the restraint and a seat belt because I was not holding on. My hands were on my pockets to make sure my phone, wallet and keys did not fall out. And my stomach did not like going straight up. Then the car crested the top and paused there with the front row angling down. And now the food was sloshing to the other side of my stomach. The track curves inward so you actually descend at more than 90 degrees and then there was a series of several loops. I'm very lucky that I have a strong stomach and don't generally get motion sickness, but even so, I had a headache and felt awful by the time we got back in there. So of course the next thing to do would be to ride another coaster, another new one to me called Coast Rider. It's not nearly as crazy as Hang Time, and is more like a mouse, with a few switchbacks. I handled that fine, but my headache was getting bad and my stomach wasn't feeling great, so I decided to take a break from coasters for a while. They have one of the classic glider rides so I did that. Then I went to another new ride for me called Voyage to the Iron Reef. It's one where you go in and shoot at a screen to get points, and it was air conditioned and slow, so it was a nice break. It had been in the 50s in Dallas and I was getting 50 degree temperatures in Vancouver after today, but that day at Knott's, the forecast was 96 degrees.
Then it was time for some mellow rides. I went to ride the stagecoach. One of Knott's classic attractions is a stagecoach around the perimeter of the park pulled by horses. Lines can get long for it, so it's ideal to do it early.
There was a short line, but it only took about five minutes to get on. After that, I went to their other classic Ghost Town rides, the log ride and the Calico Mine Train. Both nice and long and nice and mellow so my stomach had time to get settled. The log ride was decorated for Halloween and it was a lot of fun.
After that, I decided I should probably have real food, so I went to the Boardwalk BBQ. Knott's has always had a good variety of food and good quality and the bbq was pretty good and having a nice regular meal helped me feel better. Then I decided to go jinx some roller coasters. I went over to the Mexico section of the park to Jaguar, which is a pretty tame coaster. Right as I was getting there, the ride broke down. So I went to the next one, Montezuma's Revenge. This was put in the park when I was a teen, so it's still a sentimental favorite of mine and still fun. So I got in line and there was no wait for the next coaster. It's pretty basic. It launches straight out of the station and goes into a big loop and then up a hill until it slows, then it drops down, does the loop backwards, goes back through the station to another hill and then comes down that hill into the station and stops. Except when it stopped, it didn't stop where it was supposed to. So they shut the ride down. It didn't look like a major issue, so I decided to wait. The maintenance crew came and basically just pushed the car back to where it was supposed to be, then made a couple of adjustments and we were ready to go in under 10 minutes. Still a lot of fun. So after I got off of that ride, I went back to Jaguar and just as I got there, they were reopening the ride, so I got in the front row with no wait and we went through the ride and then the brakes stuck with our car just out of the station. So they had to go get their maintenance team back and we were stuck out directly in the hot sun for almost 10 minutes. By this time, it was around 1:30 and I was going to be able to check in. So I rode the Voyage to the Iron Reef again, checked out the park's Halloween decorations and then left the park, walked back over to the hotel and checked in. Fortunately, there was a drug store on the corner and I got a big bottle of water to drink on the way. I got a nice quiet room and was able to take a nap before the night's festivities began.
NEXT: KNOTT'S SCARY FARM
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