Cordelia Knott opened her chicken dinner restaurant in 1934, next to her and her husband Walter's berry farm. Over the years, Walter added a Ghost Town and other attractions to entertain diners while they awaited tables. That evolved into the park that now welcomes more than four million visitors a year.
Knott's invented the after-hours theme park Halloween event with Knott's Scary Farm in 1973, which now runs select evenings in September and October. Knott's also puts on several food and entertainment festivals throughout the year, including the Peanuts Celebration in late winter, the Boysenberry Festival (celebrating the fruit hybrid first cultivated on Knott's farm) in the spring, and Knott's Merry Farm for Christmas.
Our recommendations below come from our ongoing survey of Theme Park Insider readers. Vote here to take part in our surveys and submit your picks for top attractions.
What to Do
Roller Coasters
GhostRider
A 4,533-foot Custom Coasters International wooden coaster, retracked by Great Coasters International in 2016, with a 108-foot drop and top speed of 56 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
Xcelerator
A 2,202-foot Intamin accelerator coaster with an 82-mph launch onto a 205-foot Top Hat. Height requirement: 52 inches
HangTime
A 2,198-foot Gerstlauer infinity coaster with a 150-foot beyond-vertical drop, top speed of 57 mph and five inversions. Height requirement: 48 inches
Silver Bullet
A 3,125-foot Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster with a 109-foot drop, top speed of 55 mph and six inversions. Height requirement: 54 inches
Pony Express
A 1,250-foot Zamperla Moto coaster, styled to look like you are riding on the back of a horse, with a 38-mph launch up a 44-foot hill. Height requirement: 48 inches
Sierra Sidewinder
A 1,411-foot Mack Rides spinning coaster in Camp Snoopy, with a 39-foot drop and top speed of 37 mph. Height requirement: 42 inches
Snoopy's Tenderpaw Twister Coaster
Zamperla Lift & Launch family coaster. Height requirement: 36 inches. Note that this coaster is a tight fit for many adults and unaccompanied children must be at least 42 inches to ride.
Jaguar
A 2,602-foot Zierer Tivoli with a top speed of 35 mph. Height requirement: 48 inches
MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress
The park's former Montezooma's Revenge, a 800-foot-long Schwarzkopf shuttle loop with a 55-mph launch and one inversion, is getting a new name and a rebuild. The new ride will feature a randomized launch sequence and its queue will get story upgrades about doomed treasure hunters searching for Montezooma's gold. However, work on this transformation has been intermittent, at best.
Other Rides and Attractions
Ghost Town
Timber Mountain Log Ride
Bud Hurlbut's 1968 log flume ride, which Disney Imagineers freely admit "inspired" their design for Splash Mountain. Height requirement: 36 inches
Calico Mine Ride
Hurlbut's iconic 1960 dark ride in the heart of Knott's Ghost Town
Ghost Town Alive!
Play along with the residents of Calico in this interactive production that takes place throughout the day in Ghost Town. Operates during the summer season.
Bird Cage Theatre
Various live shows throughout the year, but always worth watching.
Calico River Rapids
A 2019 reimagining of the old Bigfoot Rapids ride, with animatronics from Garner Holt. Height requirement: 46 inches
Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant: The table service fried chicken restaurant that started it all is located outside the park gates, in the adjoining California Marketplace.
Inside the park, you can find a variety of counter service restaurants and windows, as well as the table-service Ghost Town Grill. Knott's offers an All Day Dining Plan that includes one entree and a side at participating restaurants every 90 minutes while the park is open. A Premium All Day Dining Plan adds drink refills. Annual passholders can add an All Season Dining pass, too. Participating restaurants are:
Knott's Berry Farm is located in Buena Park, California - about six miles from Disneyland and 30 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). John Wayne Airport (SNA), in Santa Ana, is only 20 miles away, but more destinations around the world have nonstop service to LAX.
Once you get close to the park, watch for signs directing you to whichever parking lot Knott's is filling at the moment.
Strategy
Once you buy your tickets, plan to park and arrive at the entrance gate before it opens, usually at 10am. In addition to the main entrance on Grand Ave., there is a back gate on Western Ave. that Knott's opens if it is using the parking lot there.
Your first priority as soon as the gates open should be to get to GhostRider, which has absolutely terrible waits for most of the day. Compared with GhostRider, nothing at Knott's tends to have too long a wait, so do what you want, when you want to, noting our readers' recommendations above.
We very much do recommend the entertainment throughout the park, including the Ghost Town Alive interactive experiences throughout Ghost Town in the summer, anything playing at the Bird Cage, plus whatever is on at the moment in the Walter Knott Theater. And set aside time (and get your hand stamped as you exit) to visit Mrs. Knott's restaurant for a sit-down lunch or dinner. If you don't have a big appetite, or much time, try the chicken sliders at the bar.
Looking for discount tickets? Get Knott's Berry Farm tickets
