Archive for the 'Knott's' Category
Knott’s Berry Farm unveils Halloween Haunt 2009 mazes
July 8, 2009 5:30pm
Knott’s Berry Farm will add four new mazes for Halloween Haunt 2009, according to theme park officials.
The 37th annual Knott’s Scary Farm will take place on Wednesday through Sunday nights from Sept. 24 through Oct. 31, 2009.
The granddaddy of Halloween events will feature 13 mazes scattered throughout the Buena Park theme park, with construction currently underway in backstage areas.
New for 2009:
Read the rest of this entry »
Theme Park news: interactive Space Mountain queue; Witch Mountain motion simulator; Dino Mountain returns
June 13, 2009 7:02am
A round-up of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week (I sense a mountain theme):
* Dream job: Get paid $25,000 to ride 67 rides in Orlando. (Coaster Critic)
* Construction permits call for addition of an “interactive queue” as part of $12.3 million Space Mountain rehab at Walt Disney World. (Orlando Sentinel)
* Tightrope-walker Nik Wallenda to walk a high wire 80 feet in the air without a net or safety line at Knott’s Berry Farm on Sunday, June 21 at 2:30 p.m. The King of the High Wire will pull a similar stunt at Worlds of Fun in Missouri on Sunday, June 14. (Amusement Today)
Knotts Berry Farm celebrates 75 years of Chicken Dinners
June 6, 2009 7:05am
America’s first theme park started with chicken.
At the height of the Depression, Walter Knott convinced his wife, Cordelia, to sell her delicious fried chicken at a berry stand outside of their farm in Buena Park to earn some extra money.
Soon the lines outside the Knott’s berry farm were so long that Walter Knott began adding old ghost town buildings to the farm to keep customers entertained while they waited for his wife’s chicken and pies. The Knotts named the restaurant, appropriately enough, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
Eventually, Walter Knott added a covered wagon show, a narrow gauge railroad and the Bird Cage Theater, where comedian Steve Martin got his start.
Thus began Knott’s Berry Farm, recognized by the National Amusement Park Historical Assn. as America’s first theme park.
On June 13, Knott’s Berry Farm will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. The guest of honor at a rededication ceremony at 1 p.m. will be Marion Knott, the last surviving daughter of Walter and Cordelia Knott. For more details, go to the park’s website.
– Hugo Martín, Times Staff Writer
(Photo: Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant with staff and children, 1956. Credit: Orange County Archives.)
Best summer deals: Southern California theme park discounts
May 23, 2009 7:49am
With the Memorial Day Weekend marking the unofficial start of summer, here’s a look at the best deals at Southern California amusement and theme parks:
Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure (Anaheim) — Three-day summer fun pass for $99 after June 1. Check out Mouse Planet for the most complete list of Disneyland discounts.
Universal Studios Hollywood — Six-month pass for $60 starting June 15.
Knott’s Berry Farm (Buena Park) — All-you-can-eat barbecue, plus admission for $37.99 for adults and $28.99 for children and seniors. Weekends only.
More Southern California theme park deals after the jump.
2009 shaping up as a low-key year for California theme parks
May 4, 2009 8:03am
Disneyland sets the pace for theme parks in California. And with the Happiest Place on Earth taking a breather on major new attractions in 2009, the rest of the state’s amusement parks are following suit, opting for smaller fare this year over multimillion-dollar additions.
The lone exception: Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia adds the $11-million Terminator Salvation, a 2,850-foot-long wooden roller coaster which opens Memorial Day weekend with movie tie-in visual effects and a loading station fly-through. (Watch POV video)
A roundup of 2009 additions at California amusement and theme parks:
* Disneyland rehabbed the “It’s a Small World” boat ride in February, adding 29 Disney characters and a new “Spirit of America” scene to the mix. The Anaheim theme park also debuted the Celebrate parade in March and bundled a series of nighttime shows under the Summer Nightastic banner (running from June 12 through August 23).
* Across the way at Disney’s Construction Adventure, the five-year-long $1.1-billion overhaul has begun in earnest, with the Ferris wheel getting a new Mickey Mouse theme (opens in May).
* Universal Studios Hollywood brings “Creature From the Black Lagoon” to the stage in July as a campy Broadway-style musical (I kid you not) with special effects, dance choreography and romance (still not kidding).
* Legoland California unveiled a new “Bob the Builder” 4-D movie in March. The 30-foot-tall Dune Raiders racing slides opens at the Carlsbad kiddie park in time for the Fourth of July weekend.
* Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park offers absolutely nothing new of note for 2009. Here’s hoping they’re saving up for next year.
Octuplets’ mom Nadya Suleman visits Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm (sans octuplets)
March 16, 2009 12:21pm
Nadya Suleman took a few of her older kids to Disneyland on Friday and Knott’s Berry Farm on Saturday — with a phalanx of paparazzi in tow. See photos and video at TMZ and X17.
The celebrity websites showed pictures of Suleman and at least two of her older children (the octuplets are still in the hospital) riding Disneyland’s Mad Tea Party teacups, Astro Orbitor rocketships and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. At Knott’s Berry Farm, Suleman got wet on the Timber Mountain Log Ride and took to the skies aboard Flying Ace Balloon Race.
California theme parks to ring in the New Year
December 26, 2008 6:00am
Shortly after Christmas, the same question arises every year: What are we going to do on New Year’s Eve?
Here’s what California amusement and theme parks have planned for the last night of 2008:
Disneyland in Anaheim stays open until 2 a.m. with live bands and midnight fireworks. Across the way, Disney’s California Adventure remains open until 1 a.m.
For the first time ever, Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia stays open until midnight on New Year’s Eve with Rock N’ Ride — a mix of dance music and roller coasters.
“Praise ‘09” at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park features a contemporary Christian music concert with Kutless, Todd Agnew, Brandon Heath and Addison Road. Read the rest of this entry »
Knott’s Berry Farm looks ahead to Halloween Haunt 2009
October 31, 2008 7:09am
As Halloween Haunt 2008 draws to a close, Knott’s Berry Farm is already making plans for next year.
The Buena Park theme park works year-round to plan the annual event as well as Haunts for nine other Cedar Fair parks.
> See a list of all 13 Knott’s Scary Farm mazes.
Throughout the year, a creative team develops concepts, themes and storyboards that are mapped out as ground and elevation plans that eventually become maze structures. Then the painters and costumers go to work. The final touches: adding atmosphere and developing “scares.” Read the rest of this entry »
Scare Force pumps up the fear factor at Knott's Scary Farm
October 27, 2008 6:02am
An elite corps of deranged and demented mentor monsters has been unleashed at Knott’s Berry Farm in an attempt to boost the screams-per-scare ratio at this year’s Halloween Haunt.
The 20-member Scare Force is a select team of skilled and seasoned monsters culled from the ranks of the 1,000-strong seasonal army of zombies, maniacs and the undead.
Knott’s Berry Farm adds six new mazes for Halloween Haunt 2008
October 11, 2008 7:07am
With 13 haunted mazes for 2008, Knott’s Berry Farm’s Halloween Haunt offers a little something for everyone — blood, comedy, gore, fantasy and terror.
The Buena Park theme park adds six all-new mazes this year, with three of them ranking among the best and three ranking among the worst.
Quarantine, a movie tie-in maze, features an apartment house of ravenous zombies. It was my favorite by far, not because of the movie-set quality theming, but rather the relentless monsters. The monsters looked like real people, albeit foaming and bleeding at the mouth. They got in your face and stuck with the scare even after you shrank in fear.
