While at the park a couple of weekends ago, I went on one ride — despite spending over five hours at the park. The rest of my time was spent walking around the themed areas, exploring Santa’s Christmas Cabin and eating literally every bit of holiday fare I could get my hands on. This is, of course, coming from the perspective of someone who has been on Silver Bullet enough times to last a lifetime and will be just fine if he never hits the Calico Mine Ride again. Knott’s Merry Farm made the park, if only for a day, feel like new.
It’s no secret that this is the intention of a holiday event. The parks want to bring in visitors that feel like they’ve seen it all, that there’s no need to visit the park again. Between egg nog, holiday beer and chocolate cake; I assure you, there’s plenty to see and to do during the Knott’s holiday event.
I know I’ve said “holiday” several times, but if we’re being honest, it’s pretty much just Christmas. There’s no “Happy Hanukkah Snoopy” ice show and Kwanzaa doesn’t have its own pavilion; glossing over these other holidays while pretending the event is anything other than Christmas-themed is, well, not great. That being said, if Santa Claus and Baby Jesus are your idea of a good winter holiday, Knott’s has you covered.
There are 10 shows, including a revamped ice show themed to everyone’s favorite beagle, and of course, there’s Santa’s Christmas Cabin. Inside of the cabin (near the Pony Express and Haunt Museums at the edge of Ghost Town) guests can purchase holiday beer, holiday nuts, eggnog and desserts. Even as someone who doesn’t get too excited about desserts, the cabin was a lot of fun.
Beyond the shows and the food, Knott’s successfully built an atmosphere that has been sorely lacking at the theme park. Seeing what the park can achieve with an event like this gives me hope that they will continue to create and enhance the park’s atmosphere going forward.
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Besides the Snoopy ice show, the standout entertainment for me were repertory productions of A Christmas Carol and The Gift of the Magi, as well as Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies, who used to perform at Disneyland as Billy Hill and the Hillbillies and have since relocated to Knott's Berry Farm. All three perform in the Bird Cage Theatre in Ghost Town.
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