Can anyone fix Knott's Berry Farm?
Years ago, we had a series on Theme Park Insider called "Fix This Theme Park." I invited readers like you to brainstorm ideas to improve some of our favorite parks around the country and the world.
Today, I would like to revive that series with a conversation about a park that seems to elicit a lot of "like," but not much love. Knott's Berry Farm is the most-visited theme park in the United States without a single entry in Theme Park Insider's Top 50 attractions or Top 40 roller coasters worldwide.
I agree with that judgment, by the way. As much as I love a few of the attractions at Knott's, it's tough for me to argue that any of them should crack our Top 50.
That said, a park does not need to have a top-rated attraction to provide great value for people in its community and region. Knott's placement at number 10 in the United States for attendance - topping all theme parks not from Disney or Universal - shows that many people in Southern California and beyond find plenty to like at Knott's.
But I can't help but be tempted the park's potential to be more than it is today. So what could be done to improve Knott's Berry Farm?
My first solution would be for Six Flags to sell the park to Herschend. Knott's would be the perfect west coast companion to Silver Dollar City and Dollywood - two parks that offer the same old-time country/western vibe as Knott's. Under Herschend management, there would be no temptation to transform Knott's into a Magic Mountain-style iron park. Herschend could nourish Knott's Ghost Town roots while embracing the potential of Camp Snoopy to develop a family-and-budget-friendly theme park that even more Southern Californians could love.
But Knott's balance sheet relies on the success of its annual Halloween event, Knott's Scary Farm. Knott's created the after-hours theme park Halloween event, and Scary Farm has grown into a California tradition that helps pour millions of dollars into the park's bottom line.
So what's the problem here? Herschend would want no part of an age-restricted event, especially one with a horror theme. That's not the family-friendly environment that Herschend has committed to provide with its attractions. There is no way that Herschend is operating Knott's with Scary Farm and there is no way that Herschend would want any part of ending such a beloved local institution. Herschend had an opportunity to enter the California market with its purchase of Palace Entertainment. But it chose to sell Castle Park to Lucky Strike, instead. So my dream of Knott's becoming siblings with Silver Dollar City is nothing more than fantasy.
That means that we are sticking with Six Flags ownership here. What could Six Flags do to help breath some fresh creative life into its most unique property?
My first call, if Six Flags put me in charge of Knott's, would be to Sally Dark Rides. In 2023, Sally designed the perfect California-themed Knott's attraction. But they did it for Monterey's Cannery Row. Treasure Hunt: The Ride hits all the thematic notes that I am looking for in a Knott's attraction. California's history is filled with stories that could inspire a similar experience at Knott's.
I would not, however, consider this a replacement for Knott's current shooter ride, Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I rather would give Sally the old Mystery Lodge space, which would provide a better location within the park for an old-time-California-themed interactive ride that won't break Six Flags' budget.
I miss Mystery Lodge, but maintaining the dated tech of that Pepper's Ghost-style theater experience has proven too much for the park. Yet the park could use an attraction that honors the west coast's indigenous history the way that Mystery Lodge did.
Knott's best ride at the moment - in my opinion - is the Timber Mountain Log Ride. Bud Hurlbut's 1968 log flume ride remains an industry classic. But to rank among the world's best attractions today, it needs a more compelling story. Perhaps this is where a creative genius might find a place to tell a fresh story that honors and celebrates indigenous history?
A for entertainment, the park's recently renovated Bird Cage Theater is a gem that local theme parks fans ought to give all their love. Yet I also would love to see Knott's bring back regular saloon shows to Ghost Town, as well. The park's big house, the Walter Knott Theater, is also an underutilized asset.
All of these changes might be done for less than the cost of a major new roller coaster. I think that, done right, they would deliver a better return on investment than a big new coaster would, too. That might provide Knott's with the budget to take on a more substantial overhaul of the park.
Phase two of my grand plan for Knott's would see the park removing its Silver Bullet coaster and shipping it to another Six Flags park. Knott's is not and should not be an iron park, and Silver Bullet destroyed the vibe of the park's entrance. I would love to see everything inside the Stagecoach track become an expanded Camp Snoopy, with a Splash Battle ride and other all-ages, family attractions that appeal to visitors older than just early- to mid-elementary school as well. But, again, that's for some future moment, when the park has more money to spend.
Let's keep dreaming. What would you like to see Six Flags do with Knott's to help this theme park achieve its thematic potential?
Replies (12)
I have been saying for a very, very long time that Knott's should get a Mad House themed to the Haunted Shack. There's aren't any on the entire West Coast anymore (we did have the old spinning tunnel for the Universal Studio Tour for a while, but that's been gone for ages). The theming would tie back to the park's heritage. It's family friendly. And it would likely fit great into the old Mystery Lodge space.
Always fun to hypothesize about my local park, especially as it's really a middle tier park at heart with extremely oversized attendance due to its location. I'm going to split this up into short term (within 5 years), medium term (5-10 years out), and long term (10+ years), with the goal of pushing it toward a true destination property. I'm also going to focus on major projects...smaller stock attraction additions and general improvements would still continue to occur interspaced between these.
Short Term
-First off, bring in permanent (or at least seasonally recurring) productions to the park's show venues. Knott's has three purpose-built theaters (Bird Cage, Wagon Camp, and Walter Knott), and I cannot remember the last time all three were in use.
-Perform a major overhaul of Knott's Bear-Y Tales. While the concept of the attraction isn't bad, the hardware rarely works properly and it's become increasingly common for it to be down a majority of the day. In my opinion, this should be the park's 2028 project (following Montezooma this year and a waterpark refresh next year).
-Speaking of Soak City, I'd add a more modern slide complex to the park replacing the Laguna Storm Watch Tower slides. These basic tube slides are redundant given the other offerings at the park, and with the new Wild Rivers just down in Irvine, Soak City's offerings are laughably basic. A water coaster would be the best choice, but even a high capacity raft slide featuring elements like wall, funnel, or bowl sections would be a solid option.
-Last on the short term list is a replacement for Jaguar. This is the park's oldest coaster, yet it is a junior coaster with a 48" height restriction. I'd replace it with a modern Gerstlauer or Vekoma family coaster similar to Dollywood's FireChaser Express or Big Bear Mountain, respectively.
Medium Term
-The first medium term project would be to redo the Boardwalk Pier. Eliminate Coast Rider and move the two flat rides over to this area, then convert the lagoon into a splash battle attraction. This could be an original concept or perhaps recycle the Iron Reef theme as a new legacy attraction.
-Time for another dark ride, but instead of Robert's proposal for something historical, we're going for something meta. Replacing both Pony Express and the Wilderness Dance Hall, this would be a year-round Scary Farm ride serving as a follow-up to the popular Origins maze currently occupying that space.
-Our big project in this time period would be not a ride or attraction, but a parking structure. To solve the parking woes that currently plague the park on busier days, the main lot would be replaced with a new entrance from Beach leading to a 3-5 story structure and become the only parking location for general parking (preferred and marketplace would still use their current lots). This would clear space to reorganize some back of house facilities to clear space for expansion.
Long Term
-In the 10-20 year range, the park would expand it's footprint southward, eventually occupying all land bordered by Crescent, Grand, and Western that isn't occupied by the hotel. This would allow the guest areas of the park to expand by roughly 40%, giving enough space for at least two additional themed areas. Access to this expansion area would be via the gate next to GhostRider (which is already opened for special events utilizing that space) and through an entry portal where the Mystery Lodge currently stands (the attraction would be demolished).
-The other long term project worth considering this far out would be the development of a second hotel property on the site of the current La Palma lot. The ultimate goal would be to make Knott's into a two-day destination, so additional on-site lodging would help entice visitors to stay overnight, especially if the facility was themed to the property rather than converted from a basic chain hotel.
I'm not sure if your post is supposed to be serious or fan fiction, but you start out by saying Knotts is Six Flags #1 park attendance wise, and then say they should sell it lol.
Anyway I think this park needs a major major new e-ticket attraction. They haven't added anything really compelling since 2002 with Xcelerator. Silver Bullet was added in 04 but that is a pretty mediocre invert in a market that already had a better B&M invert, and Gerstlauer Eurofighters are just nauseating and uncomfortable IMO. That hyper coaster they had planned for the entrance/perimeter of the park seemed like it would have been a great addition and i'm not sure why they gave up on that. Was it budget issues from the pandemic?
I like all the little things that Matt Ouimet did to this park, but that was also a long time ago and the park just seems kind of stagnant and not compelling. Other than that I agree with AJ that a waterpark upgrade and parking structure would make sense as well.
Excellent ideas! I hope corporate sees this. I especially like the idea of working with Sally Corporation. I believe the company's debt is defining their decision making.
I think Xcelerator (sorry) and Coast Rider should go first. They can bring back Soapbox Racers as a multilaunch coaster, like Hiccup's at Epic or Dollywood's FireChaser Express. Xcelerator has a fun launch, but then there's nothing after that, and the number of problems they've had with it over the years makes it less reliable.
I also agree with bringing a dark ride experience to the old Mystery Lodge site. Knott's has a good dark-ride-to-coaster ratio, but I'll never say no to another dark ride or indoor boat ride. Diversity is the key to success!
It’s hard for me to think of many ways to fix Knott’s since it’s my favorite non-Disney/Universal park anywhere. But the biggest thing I’d like to see done is for them to do away with the Boardwalk section. Its cheap and tacky theming sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the park. I would lean more towards decorating the area to a wharf to keep with the California theme, keep all rides except the scrambler & gliders, and use the space to house a Mack Rides Rockin Boat attraction.
Improving Knott's is quite a conundrum, because the park does offer a viable and more affordable alternative to Disney and Universal in the LA market. The problem is that if SF choses to provide counter programing to Disney and Universal, those attractions would likely lean towards the thrill seeker side of the equation and compete directly with SFMM, which also draws from the same LA market. That means Knott's either has to go head to head with Disney and Universal, or try to thread the needle between being a coaster park and a full fledged theme park. There are portions of Knott's that are successful in this, and I do think that there is a blueprint for what can be successful.
It honestly a bit of a shame that the Montezuma's Revenge project was restarted, because they've now invested so much time and capital to reopen the coaster that they can't turn back now, and are essentially committed to operating it for at least 3-5 years. If the park had just decided to scrap the renovation when it hit complications, they could have utilized that space along with Jaguar to create a top tier attraction, and even more space if they wanted to retire Silver Bullet.. Having to live with Monte for another 3-5 years means that replacing Jaguar would not be as lucrative as it could be if they had a larger plot of space to work with. And yes, I 100% agree with AJ that Jaguar needs to go, it's just a shame that with Monte in the way, a replacement for the subpar family coaster can not be quite as good as it could be. I would be inclined to hand the plot over to ART to see what they can came up with for this space. ART has done some great work recently, and I think they might be best suited to come up with something to replace Jaguar. Whatever is put here, it should really lean into the Latin American culture from a thematic sense and up the ante for Fiesta Village, because that is a theme and style that should be a big hit with the region and something that Disney and Universal don't really use (until Coco opens at DCA).
I really like Xcelerator, and it works well as part of the Boardwalk, but given the consistent mechanical issues and overall age of the attraction, I think this coaster should be retired. This plot would free up quite a bit of space that could allow Knott's to go in a lot of different directions. They could do a full-blown dark ride or indoor coaster, or simply install a newer, more modern thrill coaster in this space (Mack Stryker).
Aside from Jaguar and maybe Xcelerator (and maybe Coast Rider, though I think there's a place for wild mouse in every park if done right), the one attraction that needs to go is Pony Express. Yes, this is a unique attraction, but is frequently plagued with technical issues, or is often an afterthought with their operations crews and is not run because they don't want to waste limited staff to operate it. The footprint for this coaster makes a replacement a bit tricky, but I think you could probably squeeze a Vekoma family boomerang into this slot.
The last major attraction change I would make would be to do a full retrack of GhostRider with Titan Track. I was amazed with the sections of Predator at Darien Lake that had Titan Track and how night and day the experience was when we rode the coaster last summer. I haven't ridden since 2019, so I don't know if recent retracking efforts have made a massive difference, but I think converting to Titan Track would not just ensure a smoother experience, but would increase the longevity of the coaster.
When it comes to the rest of the park, I think the park needs to commit to more year-round entertainment that rotates seasonally to encourage repeat visits. It's probably impractical, but I'd really like to see Ghost Town Alive be offered throughout the year, and not just during the summer.
I would love to see Knott’s add a Peanuts Snoopy themed dark ride that has seasonal overlays for spring, summer, Halloween, and Christmas. Knott’s needs another ride that the entire family can enjoy together. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts Gang have cross generational appeal. The park also needs another indoor ride to help guests escape the heat. If designed correctly, a Peanuts dark ride would help check all of those requirements.
SWO and BGT are similar parks owned by the same company, almost exactly the same distance from each other as KBF and SFMM, and in both cases one just happens to be like 15 minutes from Disney. While DLR isn't nearly as big of a destination as WDW, that area around those parks has like 15 million residents and Disneyland is always miserably crowded. Both parks should be able to do well with the same ownership they just have to offer an experience that people find worth the money IMO.
I haven't been to KBF since 2010 because I just don't find anything they have added to be compelling. To me the park defines mediocrity and since then could never justify paying more money to visit when it town, i'd much rather spend another day at DLR. I would definitely visit if they got that hyper. And on the other side of LA I haven't visited SFMM since 2012 because I just got sick of going there and being disappointed every time, the place was just depressing. If they made it a nice park and gave it some kinetic energy I would gladly visit.
KBF is a very special park to my family. My parents both met at the park while working there and were actually married in the chapel that used to be in the park. My grandfather was also a former special events manager there. I had a season pass throughout high school and spent so much time there with my friends as a teen.
To all of you saying remove GHOST rider, how dare you. That ride is incredible. I am also a big fan of Silver Bullet.
My suggestion has already been mentioned in these comments - fix the boardwalk area. The theming is off, the rides are kind of weird now. I don't know.... its just not working. Maybe it needs more? And replace Excellerator. That coaster had a reputation in my childhood of being unreliable/always being down. The theme of it also doesn't fit with the new boardwalk area so it needs either a major refresh or to be changed out.
Log ride and Mine Train are both great in their own respects and the dorky animatronics are part of the charm. However, they could both use a theme/story upgrade. The river rapids and pony express area could maybe use some refresh to. That corner of the park always feels a little dead to me.
On the ownership note: Herschend will never buy Knotts and if it did, that WOULD be the end of KSF. Herschend has said they don't want to be in the California market. And "the board" really doesn't like anything scary. They don't see the value in it because it requires A LOT of labor of opperating costs. I work in the industry and Herschend really is one of the best, but with how special Knotts history is to me, I hope they never own it.
Now I'm going to put my analyst hat on and go over which proposals are impractical or highly unlikely.
Sell the park: I honestly wouldn't trust any other theme park operator to do a better job with the property than Six Flags is right now, as I feel they either wouldn't give it the budget necessary to keep everything in good shape or would enhance some aspects while cutting others. It's also the biggest earner in the Six Flags chain, so I think they'd need to receive a really good offer while in a really bad position before they'd consider selling it off.
Hyper/Giga coaster: There are two main reasons Knott's hasn't built a coaster like this yet...it is ridiculously expensive due to California's earthquake building codes (I've heard a Candymonium-sized hyper would cost more than Orion, and that was a $40 million coaster), and the city of Buena Park is very strict on not increasing the noise output from the property. A ride of this type has been proposed several times over the past couple decades, but it has never won out as it would be very challenging to make it work on the property.
Replacing Xcelerator: The park just spent (reportedly) $8 million on a massive overhaul of the attraction a few years ago, and since this coaster has been much, much more reliable than in the past. Word on the street is that Buena Park likely would not let them build another thrill coaster here if it were retired as it's right on the edge of the property, which is probably why they seem committed to keeping the ride going.
Titan track on GhostRider: This is already the park's most popular coaster and one of the smoothest traditional tracked woodies out there. Titan track would be an unnecessary expense that wouldn't appreciably improve the ride, and would go against one of the core reasons the park decided not to have RMC do a makeover of the coaster (they wanted to preserve the experience of a wooden ride).
Also, after seeing how the Phantom Theater turned out at Kings Island, I really want Bear-y Tales to receive that treatment along with another Sally original coming to the park in some form.
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Shouldn't coast rider be the first to go? Sure, I've never been, but I've heard terrible things. Maybe a boat ride of some sort? For something high-tech, a Mack rides rocking boat, some sort of nautical theming. Something lower tech, a Mack rides splash battle.
Although if they're looking for a headliner, maybe replacing Jaguar with a modern Vekoma Family coaster is the best option.