Knott's Berry Farm [Californie - 1940]

Accident survenu cette semaine sur le "Xcelarator" blessant 2 personnes au parc Knott's Berry Farm près de Los Angeles :
(Article du Los Angeles Times)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/knotts-berry-farm-roller-coaster-shut-down-after-accident-injures-2.html

Et selon Abc7 pour voir la video

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/index

hum, sale temps pour les coasters!

De biens mauvaises publicités en ce moment pour les parcs d'attractions .
(HS : Blessant et non "blaissant" ^^)

rien de bien mechant non plus

Ah ouais j'avais vu la vidéo sur You tube. Assez impressionnant quand même.

riend e bien méchant le petit à quand même des lacérations aux jambes quoi.

regardez l'état du câble et du train après l'explosion:

Pendant que j'etais a Los Angeles nous sommes aller au Parc Knotts quelques jours apres pour la soirée halloween Haunts et les freins en question ainsi que je cable avaient disparu .

je viens de voir la video sur youtube le gamin a l air d avoir mal quand meme et tres peur

Ouai on voit à la montée du top hat qu'il est dans les vapes pendant deux secondes.

A propos de Knott's Berry Farm, une très intéressante interview de son directeur général à propos du parc mais aussi de la récente nomination de Matt Ouimet (ancien Président de Disneyland Resort) à la tête de Cedar Fair (qui possède Knott's Berry Farm).

MiceChat's Fishbulb recently had the chance to sit down with Knott's Berry Farm's General Manager, Marty Keithley, about the Matt Ouimet announcement as well as news from the park. We think you'll find this very interesting:



MiceChat: There has been a lot of news about Knott's and Cedar Fair lately. I think the biggest question on most folks mind is about Matt Ouimet (former Disneyland President) becoming Cedar Fair CEO. Was the announcement a surprise to you?

Marty: For us, it was. I think, a really nice surprise. Matt is somebody who knows the Southern California market, somebody who is very established and we have heard nothing but great things about him.

MC: Do you think Matt will change things up very much for Knott's?

Marty: Well, I haven't had too much time with him just yet. He did come out for a couple of days recently to size up the property out here. He spoke with a lot of the employees and such. But I think what he is doing right now is being a good listener. I think he's soaking it all in. He may be formulating ideas, but I can't really speak for him. I think that he is taking it all in to see who we really are and what the next steps may be.

MC: What makes it interesting is that he was already in Southern California and has a fair understanding of what Knott's is.

Marty: Right.

MC: Matt was famous for instilling quality and premier level customer service practices during his time at the Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland Park. Do you think he is going to focus on bringing that same level of customer focus to Knott's Berry Farm?

Marty: I would like to think we already have a high level of service. Can it be better? It can always be better. So any kind of standards or challenges that he would present to us would be great, because there is always a different way to look at it and always a way to be better.

MC: What direction are you really hoping that Knott's takes under Matt's leadership?

Marty: He has already hinted at it. You can't lose the legacy of what Knott's is. You have to understand it, you have to live it. Each of the Cedar Fair parks is different. Each of them are a regional park in their area. Some are newer, like the Paramount parks. Others are older like Knott's, Cedar Point, and Dorney. They each have their own story to tell. I think, for us, that Cedar Fair has brought some thrill to Knott's but they've been careful not to mess with Ghost Town, not to mess with the legacy of the park. I know Matt understands that. He understands that you can't change that at all. Knott's is a little bit of a jewel, especially in Southern California, and we have an even longer history than Disneyland.

It doesn't mean you can't change. You have to. You still have to be in-tune with your guests and come up with new ways to keep the park revitalized. But you need to let the heart of the park remain.

MC: Everyone continues to bring up the old rides like Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, Knott's Berry Tales, The Soapbox Racers…

Marty: I was a shift leader at Knott's Berry Tales.

MC: WOW! Cool. Do you think there will be a direction taken that includes focusing on building more immersive, family friendly, attractions again like that?

Marty: I think there will be. And I say that because we do, we still have that big open spot up there that just totally lends itself to a dark ride. It's all about timing. It's about when we want to look at that as our next opportunity. It's always in a revolving 5 year plan. If it's not in the current one it'll be in the next one.

MC: Well, nothing is for certain.

Marty: Yeah that's right. We can talk about what we are going to do, but until I see ground break nothing is for sure.

MC: Any talk about revitalizing the Chicken Dinner restaurant and Marketplace?

Marty: Don't know. Obviously you have a historic structure and a historic piece of our past, so it's very important. It has always needed to be freshened up every so often. But as far as a huge investment, I'm not sure what that would be. Whatever it is, we know we want to preserve that for future generations with whatever the next logical step is.

MC: Up to this point, what would you call Knott's? Is it a theme park, a thrill park, an amusement park?

Marty: It's where my heart is and it's a theme park. It has been since Walter Knott started to bring in a few buildings and, for the most part, he was recreating a western town setting from bits and pieces he would get from the desert. The whole area and the whole park at Knott's Berry Place, as it was called in those days, was based on a themed area of a Ghost Town. Later on the family would continue to add themed areas. They would add a fiesta Village, a Gypsy Camp, The Roaring 20's or a Camp Snoopy. Each one a fully themed area from beginning to end. I keep coming back to that when I think about what the park is and it is a themed park.

MC: Many people would argue otherwise when there are pillars of steel for huge roller coasters which have been stacked on top of older attractions. What would you say to the fans that argue that Knott's has become a thrill park and has moved away from theme.

Marty: You can still have a theme park with thrills in it. Look at California Adventure. They have all these thrills, they have the roller coaster and Tower of Terror. There is probably more theme to it but the thrills are there. Now within the family of Cedar Fair parks we do have more thrill parks and amusement parks. But we have one very important one here and possibly a couple others, maybe Worlds of Fun in Kansas.

It's true that, over the past fifteen years, we have added nothing but thrill rides and roller coasters because that is what Cedar Fair is good at. When they were looking at Knott's when they bought it and realized that Knott's had stopped doing thrill rides for a while. We had done Montezuma's revenge and Boomerang but they saw that we were a little behind the times. So, they took the opportunity to add thrill rides. They have done that, but at some point I think they will realize that there needs to be a balance.

MC: Thank you for keeping the Log ride and Mine Train.

Marty: Those are our heart. Those aren't going anywhere.

MC: There's a certain nostalgia to them. And speaking of nostalgia, Matt was great at playing on nostalgia for Disneyland's 50th. Do you think that the same thing can be done for Knott's?

Marty: Absolutely!

MC: Both parks even have a famous "Walt."

Marty: The Walt's would converse with each other from time to time. They probably learned a bit from each other as well as both parks were built and expanded.

I realize that the nostalgia is for the long time fans. But again, we also have to balance that with the younger fans of the park. You have to be looking at this generation of fans and the next one and the next one after that. You're right, the ones we hear from are the fans of the park from the old days, the grandparents and the moms and dads will tell us what they miss from the old days of Knott's. But we have to be keep everyone in mind.

Right now, everyone is talking about The Log ride, the Mine Train and Berry Tales. But the next generation may end up talking about Xcelerator, Ghostrider, Big foot Rapids, and Windseeker. We are trying to offer something for everybody.

MC: Disney has capitalized on its fan base with D23. Do you see Knott's ever starting a fan club like that?

Marty: We have talked about it. We have a group of former ride operators and fans that meet every year, kind of like an alumni day. But coming up with a permanent fan club is something we talked about but never pulled the trigger on.

A while back we did that book signing for the Knott's Preserved book and we learned that a lot of people really care about the park.

MC: Did that shock you?

Marty: A little bit I think. I knew we had a lot of fans, but nobody had ever gotten them together. When the book came out, that was when we all realized that they are really out there.

When Eric Lynxwiler and Chris Merritt did the book, that was a huge step too, because it brought our history to everybody and it was probably the best book that was done on Knott's ever. It's an incredible history of what we are. A lot of those people that showed up were Disney fans too.

MC: Because both parks are OC landmarks.

Marty: That's right, it's Orange County and a lot of those people came to that event and it made us feel warm and fuzzy about ourselves and what we do. You need pats on the back occasionally and it was important that we got that.

MC: Something that has also been cropping up every so often is upkeep. In particular on the ride Ghostrider. I can remember riding it when it first opened and it was, obviously, a smoother ride. Are there any plans to bring that ride back to its former glory?

Marty: Probably three times a year we do what we consider pretty extensive track work on it. We do accelerometer tests and it meets within guidelines. We take the time to focus on the problem areas during the test. But, it's a wooden roller coaster. It's an organic thing. Where the track should be, where that spot is, is kind of a subjective thing. When people say it's rough, I could ride it and think it isn't but I can't discount what they tell us.

It's subjective. We have even done a few things that may not have pleased the fans. We slowed down the second half, but we are constantly looking at it and toying with it. Making a huge effort, we haven't gotten to that point, but we are looking at it.

MC: The Haunted Shack is another thing people go nuts over, me included. We understand it had to be torn down because it was literally falling apart. But why wasn't something similar built in its place? Have there been any discussions about building another permanent haunted walk through attraction in that spot?

Marty: We toyed with leaving a maze up year round. We even opened a maze up early one year, in the late 90's before haunt to kind of test the idea. But for some reason it didn't do what we expected it to do. Maybe it was something we missed on our end and didn't do it well enough, but it just didn't take off like we wanted it to.

MC: I think that something more permanent than just a maze, something like an old abandoned western house would be great. Not too scary, something for families. But it would also stand as a reminder that you guys are the king of Haunt.

Marty: We talk about that a lot and may give it a shot again.

MC: Haunt isn't the only thing you do well though, Christmas was great. Are there any other plans for more special events like that?

Marty: We are always cooking up special event ideas. One year we tried a Mardi Gras, it was terrible.

MC: You guys also just restarted your Country Fair days.

Marty: Right. We did that for a good 15 years and ended up taking a break from the idea. We brought it back this year and people responded well to it again. We thought it was a pretty good event. We hope to build on that in the coming years and see how it goes.

MC: Looking at the immediate future of the park can you tell us when your newest attraction, Windseeker, is finally going to open to the public?

Marty: We are hoping by the end of the month. All of the other versions of the attraction built this year in other Cedar Fair parks have opened, and we were able to use some of the knowledge they learned in their development to our advantage. We really are aiming for end of July, knock on wood.

MC: After Windseeker, what's next?

Marty: Honestly, I don't know. We have talked about several things that I can't mention just yet. But, with Matt Ouimet coming on board, that could be a major game changer. We don't know what direction he will take or where he would like to push us.

MC: Knott's used to out perform Disney on a regular basis in its prime. Do you think Knott's will ever reach that point again?

Marty: With the size of their property, with the two parks, the hotels, I don't know if we could ever compete on that level. But we are a treasure in Orange County and that will never go away. We will always be here, we will always be able to survive and we will always have our loyal customers that care about us.

MC: You know, Marty, I think you could.

Marty: We can certainly grow, there's always room for growth. But we have our niche. It's that niche that people appreciate.

MC: Marty, we really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us and the fans about what is going on at Knott's Berry Farm. We frequently see you out and about in the park, it is clear that you love Knott's and your job. We are huge fans of you for supporting the renovation and preservation of Ghost Town, especially considering the limited budget available for such things. That puts you on a short list of theme park managers whom we think are doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work Marty, millions of Knott's fans are counting on you.

Some thoughts about the interview:
We sincerely hope that with Matt Ouimet soon to be in charge of the company, more resources will be made available to Knott's so the park can recapture even more of that magic it was famous for.

http://micechat.com/blogs/in-the-parks/3036-disneyland-carmageddon-knotts-gets-corny-dca-castle-park.html

Perso, Knott's Berry Farm est un des pires parcs que je conaisse. la plupart des attractions sont vieillotes et, surtout, esthétiquement, c'est d'un mauvais goût absolu avec tous ces rides aux couleurs vives qui surplombent le village farwest qui du coup n'a plus aucun charme.

A part quelques attractions comme XCelerator, c'est vraiment pas un parc qui vaille la peine.

Le pire, naaan )
Ca reste du niveau d'un bon petit parc d'attraction régional et il a une histoire.
A côté de DL, ça fait un peu pitié mais limite je le préfère au Six Flags MM (trop de coasters tue le coaster)

Panpan a écrit:

Le pire, naaan )
Ca reste du niveau d'un bon petit parc d'attraction régional et il a une histoire.
A côté de DL, ça fait un peu pitié mais limite je le préfère au Six Flags MM (trop de coasters tue le coaster)

S'il n'y a que (et peut-être trop) de coaster à Six Flags MM, le parc en possèdent certaines tout à fait géniales, voire génialissimes (X2, récemment Green Lantern, Tatsu, etc.). A knotts Berry Farm, hormis le Xcellerator qui déchire bien (mais tellement court !), le parc et ses coasters n'ont, à mes yeux, aucun intérêt particulier (du vu et du revu).

Windseeker est désormais ouvert!



YES, the wait is over. Knott's latest thrill ride, Windseeker, soft opened to the public during the busy D23 weekend. But not to worry, we are here with a full review of this new high-in-the-sky flight. At a lofty 301 ft. the Windseeker hoists brave souls high above Knott's Berry farm for a gentle, carousel rotation in the clouds.


Aside from the terrifying height, this is a gentle and very smooth ride. This is the tallest ride at Knott's, rising well above Supreme Scream's once extreme altitude. The view is simply breathtaking. The gentle, gliding bucket seats really make you feel secure, contrary to what it may seem. Your feet dangle but you are in a reclined position and it is pretty relaxing.

Our only complaints? First, there is the removal of the trees near Jaguar. The new area is nicely done but in much need of shade. With the beautiful trees removed, there is virtually no shade for those waiting for their aviator friends on the new ride. Hopefully this will be addressed soon. Then there is the out-of-place music played at the ride. Music fills the area. This is a good thing. But they use licensed clips from such highly recognizable songs as the John Williams Superman theme or his other theme from the Harry Potter films. It would have been a very simple thing to select movie themes from more "southwestern" films. As it stands now hearing the theme from E.T. playing steps away from the Mayan pyramid of Jaguar just doesn't work.

But really, the music is a trifle compared to the breathtaking view afforded by this new attraction. Great stuff. Get a ride on it as soon as you can!







http://micechat.com/blogs/in-the-parks/3080-parks-knotts-opens-windseeker-disneyland-dca-universal-update.html

Ce parc est de plus en plus hideux. Mais quel mauvais goût ! Vous avez vu les couleurs de cette tour ?
Pour avoir fait cet été Six Flags Great Adventure, c'est 100 fois supérieur à Knott's Berry Farm. Et bien moins moche !

C'est ce que je me disais, pourquoi avoir choisi toutes ses couleurs pour un truc aussi énorme?...

Surtout qu'en général les trucs énormes sont noirs.

Baston générale entre des groupes d'adolescents. Le parc a dû fermer 3 heures en avance tant la situation était tendue. Du jamais vu dans l'histoire de ce parc.
Après cela, il a changé son règlement intérieur en express : désormais les adolescents ne peuvent plus entrer dans le parc sans être accompagnés par un majeur de 21 ans minimum.

Reportage d'ABC en cliquant ici.

Si tu vas dans ce sens cette semaine il y a aussi eu une baston entre adultes au Magic Kingdom
Par contre c'est seulement les Vendredi et Samedi l'obligation d"accompagnement pour les mineurs

Réhabilitation du Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel (2023): https://airtimenews.org/2022/08/19/rehabilitation-knotts-berry-farm-hotel-2023/

Pour son show d'Halloween, Knott's Berry Farm tacle ouvertement Disneyland et le dragon de Fantasmic!

Je reviens d'un séjour à Anaheim pour DL à Halloween et la Blizzcon, ayant une journée de libre je suis allé visiter ce parc, c'était plutôt sympa, c'est sur ça vaut pas un DL ou Universal Studios Hollywood mais ça reste sympa, leur Ghostrider est plus agréable à faire que tonnerre de Zeus j'ai trouvé, le silver bullet est une copie quasiment exacte d'Oziris (en moins beau), le Xcelarator était fermé dommage pourtant il a tourné à vide tout la journée ou avec des employés.