Knott's Berry Farm Review | Theme Park in Buena Park, California

[@ReviewTyme]

Hey friends! Sorry for the re-upload. Had to fix an audio issue :)

[@fifthrider]

So glad you guys visited Knotts. The park is either really good in most spots, or really... In need of improvement. There's no in-between but the good far outweigh the bad. The fact that Walt Disney once rode the mine train with Walter Knott, and admired it enough that it inspired Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland should speak volumes.

[@SalivatingSteve]

The whole Fiesta Village land is getting refreshed along with Montezooma's Revenge. Since Matt Ouimet (former president of Disneyland resort) joined Cedar Fair management, I feel like Knott's is a lot cleaner and better maintained, repainted, etc. Walt Disney loved trains and I can see how Frontierland drew a lot of inspiration from Knott's Ghost Town.

[@kenfrancisworld8720]

Note that Knott's camp Snoopy is the original! I would say merchandising is a 10. What was missing to give it a score of 8? Jams, jellies, t-shirts, magnets...they have it all! My favorite attraction: Old Time Photos. My family has decades of memories made in the antique photo studio.

[@DeeEll86442]

I grew up in So Cal and I lived about 15 minutes away fro Knotts Berry Farm. Ever since I was a kid we would go there at least once a month. What many don’t know is that Knotts Berry Farm was a Berry farm that originally had mules rides as entertainment. The Fried Chicken restaurant was a place we would go on a regular basis because you didn’t have to enter the park or buy a ticket to dine there. One of the other fun things to do at the park was to pan for gold. Every time you went you would walk away with a small glass bottle with a tiny bit of gold in it. Now whether it was real or fools gold (pyrite) I had no way of knowing. As a kid you were just thrilled to think you actually struck gold. Another attraction they may have gotten rid of by now was “The Haunted Shack”. This was a guided tour through a shack where everything defied gravity. Water would run up hill and a broom 🧹 would stand sideways on its bristles. The log ride was another one of the older more popular rides along with the train or stagecoach ride that always seemed to get help by some kind of masked Desperados. We would never miss the goodies they had to eat there. We never left Knotts without getting a cinnamon candy apple and some saltwater taffy. Knotts is one of those family fun places that gives you a small look at how the wi.d west use to be.☺️👍

[@FanThemePark]

I seriously love Knott's Berry Farm. I think it is kind of underrated due to it being right by Disney. It really is a great park that serves both thrill seekers and families with young children. I've also been to their Halloween event and it was the best one I've ever been to. Highly recommend this park!

[@nathancruz9172]

Me too.

[@ThemeParkAvenue]

I feel that Knott's mixes thrills and theming incredibly well. The Ghost Town area is authentic and beautiful and rides like GhostRider fit while packing thrills.

[@SagaciousSilence]

Growing up, Knots Scary Farm was the gold standard for Halloween themed amusement parks. I adored Knots as a kid.

[@aussiethemeparker5373]

So glad you mentioned the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. For us it was simply the best food we have ever experienced at a theme park. As Australians we are used to pretty poor quality food at theme parks so this was a great experience. Also tried the loaded Funnel Cake before the end of the day. You should have another score for Food....knotts would surely be 10/10.

[@ZontarDow]

Walt used to go to Knott's to see what they where doing and take notes on what worked and didn't work, and was once dupped into thinking a ride was a walk on when he discovered their invention of the hidden queue line. Every time I see videos of the park I understand why, and I wouldn't be shocked if imagineers still do so.

[@myblujl7503]

Thanks for giving a great and honest review of such a nice park. In recent years, due to its location and relative value for its season pass, it turned into a dumping ground for teens. After a few highly publicized large brawls, they now wont let un-accompanied teens in, and it was the best move they could of made. Really upps the value for the rest of the visitors! The only thing I dont quite agree with is placing food under "services" category, unless I heard wrong. Alone, I would rate Knotts food well above the average Disney food, excluding the fancy sitdown services like Blue Bouye. Grouping it in with services seems to be a..... disservice? ;)

[@SalivatingSteve]

Yeah Knott's has a lot of really good food and a large variety! When I worked there, the employee cafe backstage had the same food as the chicken dinner restaurant. Mrs Knott's restaurant is a surprisingly good value too, it's a several course dinner for $25. They also have food festivals throughout the year.

[@idunnobutyay2520]

I want to go to Knott’s for the food, tbh. And it has student discounts!

[@pinbot76]

Lived in So Cal in the early 2000's and had passes to both parks. Surprisingly used the Knott's pass way more. It took an hour to set foot into Disney with parking, bag check, and main gate queues. At Knott's we could be riding something within 10 minutes.

[@RankingTheMouse]

Lets gooooo. SO pumped to see Knotts getting the love it deserves. One of the most underrated parks on the West Coast of the US. If only the can increase their Ops a bit soon 🙏

[@BaboLocas58]

I grew up with both Knott’s and Disneyland and I think Knott’s is a very unique and charming park considering it’s humble history and ability to grow and adopt all through history. I don’t like it when knotts gets compared to Disneyland because I believe they’re in two different legues, each of their own. One is influenced by the magic of movie making techniques and practical effects, and one preserves history by making it authentic yet entertaining. I love them both for different reasons, but Knott’s will always be the little Berry farm that could :) Also Knott’s trains are late 1800s not early 1900 🚂🤓

[@9393t-c3y]

Knott’s Berry Farm is a national Treasure filled with unique California history and loaded with world class attractions and experiences. Knott’s Soak City is one of the best water parks in So Cal.

[@fifthrider]

I've come back to watch this video several times now. I know I've already commented but I just can't thank you enough for going and saying so much good about Knott's. Steve Martin performed in the Bird Cage Theater back in the day, and their shows have only gotten better over the years. Almost all of those old west buildings were actual old west buildings, purchased and moved to the park by Walter Knott back in the day. Anytime my travels being me past Buena Park I always stop in and order some takeout Mrs. Knotts chicken and Boysenberry punch. Knotts really doesn't compromise anymore, they learned from lessons 15 years ago when there were huge holes in the fiberglass mountains of the log ride and mine train. They swore it would never be like that again, and Cedar Fair has held true to their word.

[@fifthrider]

@Dorkwing Buck So true. People forget it began here.

[@mathewdaley4267]

When I was younger, where my Father worked, every year the company Christmas Party was a Knott's. It was one of my favorite memories. Knott's at Christmas is a pleasure. We also made sure to got to Mrs. Knott's for lunch. It was the highlight of the Christmas season growing up. I still look back on those times fondly.

[@lorenajones3729]

This was a great video! I visit Knotts about once every ten years because of where I live. As a result I have had the opportunity to see many changes. Everything from "Wow, this is great!" too, are they closing?, where it was so dirty and broken down with very few rides operating. One trip I left after about three hours because the park was full of running, yelling, and screaming intermediate school age kids with no parents. My last trip was before covid and it was wonderful! I hope to be able to go once more before I become too old to travel. Keep making videos! They are wonderful and so much fun to watch, not at all boring.

[@MatecaCorp]

I absolutely adore Knott’s. The vibe of Ghost Town is one of the best feelings in any park. Knott’s is my go-to every time I visit my old home state -Especially after Disney’s recent decline in quality and hike in prices. I definitely agree about the operations though. Last time I was there they weren’t even using the upstairs queue at GhostRider, bringing each train worth of guests all the way up and through the queue one at a time when it was time to load.

[@liamcollinson5695]

I think smaller parks in the states and Europe have a sort of charm that is lost in big parks like Disney or universal. A lot of the smaller parks seem to care more about guests Phantasialand been a good example they only have around 1.75 million people visit a year and they have 3 really well themed world class coasters. I would take rookburgh or klugheim over avengers campus any day

[@oscarmorris6736]

regarding store specific items, you may, at any store, purchase items to be picked up at the gate when you leave the park. no need to carry them around the whole day..

[@Itsjustfati]

I didn’t know this thank you!

[@WDWCentral]

Really dissatisfied how Cedar Fair treated this park…The Boardwalk area is one of the biggest downgrades in theme park history, wish they brought back Soap Box racers somedu

[@Peajay007]

i first second and third this...... ive been a few times over the years (im aussie) so much more could be done

[@averyeml]

I went to Disneyland for a week-long vacation, with a day’s detour to Knott’s and another day’s detour to Universal Hollywood. I had a very good time at Knott’s and I liked that the resort bus system has it as an on demand stop now. Bear-y Tales was cute, Hang Time was TERRIFYING, the mine train was shockingly impressive for the age, and it was so cool to just wander and explore. I tried a boysenberry latte which was better than I’d honestly expected it to be and went to the fried chicken place (which hot take, I wasn’t blown away by. It was fine, but I wanted more seasoning in the chicken) and it was a very nice smaller experience as a break from Disney! Universal saw me taking public transit across 2-3 different transit systems over several hours each way, but it was a cool experience too.

[@romeomarmol2195]

Thank you guys for the great content as always! I wish the podcast was weekly cause man y’all are hilarious! But I understand! Thank you for the good times and reviews!

[@sirbossk]

Great review! I grew up on this place and I'm still happy to call it my home park. So much character, so much history, and some of the best food in the game. One thing I will say, though: the problem with the operations isn't the Fast Lane to standby ratios. The problem with the operations is that the actual dispatches are just too slow. Ghostrider was designed for 3 train operations, and it really needs that to keep the line moving because it's so long. But they only ever run two because they just can't send a train fast enough; even with two trains they often stack. Fast Lane certainly exacerbates the problem, and I also wish it wasn't around, but FL would be less noticeable to standby guests if the actual ride could take more guests per hour. Look at how Kings Island operates their rides, particularly Mystic Timbers - that's what Knott's needs. I bet if they got loose articles out of the station, like with free double-sided lockers, they could speed things up a lot and improve crowd management.

[@astroguster5522]

Holy cow. The audio is near perfect. Worth it

[@rb5078]

“Live pianist” caught me off guard. 😅

[@demonoid7469]

Just avoid getting hit by one...explaining THAT accident will cause problems ;)

[@slashismyhommie8182]

I am a season pass member with my family, and they hold the general lines for any fast pass members way too much. Last visit we went on the Berry Tales ride, and it didn't look like a long wait. But the line moved really slow. There's a part of the ride right at the turnstile where the fast pass feed meets and there's a 5 minute max wait after that to get on the ride. We were held there while little by little trickles of fast pass groups kept coming up, and the employee can see them approaching. And when they could see those groups of 3 and 4 intermittently coming up, we kept being held there. I was periodically checking the time on my phone, when it wound up the people we were behind most of the line was just a couple back to get on I asked "so how many more fast pass people walking up are you gonna hold the general line before you let us go?" I said it in a kind yet exhausted tone. We both saw yet another group of 4 down below about to take their walk up their stairs, he let us go finally. It was about 9 minutes standing in place at the turnstile. Now, one thing I will mention. Not everyone using fast pass lanes are fast pass big spenders. The park allows those with handicaps and autism to get a sheet with each ride on it. And it allows one time use for each ride. And when I say autism, it's not mild highly functioning autism, like to the point of it being a handicap. Those groups using the fast pass lane seeing a family member that visibly had an impairment, I was totally fine with going ahead. In college I worked with autistic children in an after school program that worked with my school schedule and I loved that job. I learned a lot about the people, the different diagnoses, but I also learned a lot about myself. I felt uncomfortable at first working there, but then I had to look inward, and I got myself past a lot of preconceived notions of those with autism. They are actually great people. And I don't have those feelings today toward the community because I allowed myself to be open and learn, and maybe at times let myself feel uncomfort. But there are those in that community who feel social uncomfort every day. So for Knott's allowing those families a more comfortable experience allowing the sheet program, or whatever it's called, I commend them. But also, at the same time, figure it out. You can't hold up the general line every time you see one group beginning the walk up. Let some from the general through, then incorporate them into that tiny last bit of the cue line. It is doable and reasonable. The aholes who played way too much to go on rides skipping the lines don't need to go on immediately.

[@astroguster5522]

I went to Knott's when I was around 9 years old and I ate so much fried chicken and then rode a kiddie coaster with my Dad and threw up everywhere 😂

[@disneydarling7573]

Those are the memories you keep forever! ❤ I had the same experience with my grandma at the fair where we got an ulimted icee pass and I went on the tilt a whirl 😂

[@thegreatpacoasters3134]

Definitely a bucket list park for me!

[@dennis7418]

Looks like a beautiful park. Cedar Fair Does a fabulous job when they want to. Where I live I'm 1 hour 45 minutes to Cedar Point and 4 and a half to Canada's Wonderland. 2other beautiful parks from Cedar Fair.

[@mitchellries256]

While I was satisfied with my visit to this park back in 2014, I must confess there were things I didn't do in this park that I wish I had done. For starters, I didn't ride the Calico Railroad or the Butterfield Stagecoach as I was in too big of a hurry to ride their major thrill rides and didn't realize how popular those two rides were with guests. I also missed out on the Mystery Lodge show which I hear today from guests is not to be missed. Finally, my visit was in 2014 before the immersive Ghost Town Alive was brought into the park, but I do wish I had explored that area more as it's such an important part of their history. I am definitely making it a top priority to do all this in the future. I did however did remember to get the fried chicken for dinner after our day. I had it to go rather than in the main restaurant but it's still the same thing in a way.

[@dustinkennedy2238]

Thank you for all the positive and kind words for the Farm!

[@brinks9073]

One of the best parts of knotts is leaving and stopping by their bakery and getting a cookie bigger than your face

[@JCW1013]

Better than Disney? No. Different than Disney. There are more thrills and more heart. A slower pace. History. Less corporate perfectionism.

[@seatspud]

At 6:05, those remind me of Jungle Island's Woodimals/Woodniks.

[@imrickjamesbricks]

These videos are helping my plan ahead. Thanks guys!

[@bhrisangelo8859]

Love Knott's but not recently as it fr has been Knott's Edgar Farm for a while

[@a_cowwithlegs]

I think this park will be incredible after the fiesta village revamp.

[@martinishot]

There is a reason you felt that you were walking back into history at ghost town. Long long ago Walter Knott traveled all throughout the American west to actual ghost towns and hand-picked every building that he would put in his ghost town. Then of course he placed them in a very natural way that an Old Town in the American West would be almost all of those buildings of historical significance. For example the courthouse is the actual courthouse of the historical figure judge Roy Bean. There was a Paul Newman movie made about him. That was the original attraction with the name Knott's Berry farm. The boysenberries are everywhere for sale far more so than other berries because the boysenberry was actually created at Knott's Berry farm.The full size steam train has pretty much the same origin.The knotts log ride is one of the first log rides ever. It has tremendous Disney like attention to detail. It opened in the spring of 1969 putting knotts way ahead of the curve .it's entire design is the influence on everyone who made a log ride that followed.

[@ItsAVolcano]

For those wondering how favored fastlane is, for Ghostrider it's literally a 50:50 split on riders for general or fastlane.😢 This means that just 2 groups of 6-10 people can literally double the wait time for everyone in the regular line by constantly reriding in the early morning.😬

[@barbeej12]

Thanks for that. Your reviews hit it on the head. I am a local from LA, been to Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain countless time. Knotts Fried Chicken is great, this is coming from a black man who mother can cook some mouth watering Fried chicken. I Visted Disneyland Paris in early August. I had a great time. I wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland but Japan had that country sowed up for COVID. When you stated that Tokyo Disney Sea was better than my beloved (even though overpriced) Disneyland and since then every body who has gone has said the same thing, I have to go. I plan to visit next summer. Y9u review on Knotts Berry Farm is exactly what I thought of it knowing first hand you know how to score a theme park. So I have to accept that the Happiest Place on Earth is just not the best Disney park on earth. So I can't wait for next summer to go to Tokyo Disneyland.

[@alimatorstudios2692]

Bro Crazy Kirk is great, They used to be at Disneyland before btr was replaced by GE, and we (my family and I) moved with them, great show!

[@benjimoore7537]

Knott's is so family friendly compared to Disneyland! The all-day food pass at Knott's is a massive money saver for families :)

[@MattScotty]

I’ve only been to Knotts once… Ghost Rider absolutely blew me away… easily top 10 and #1 wooden coaster… I’d go back to Knotts just for this ride… but the queue speed really ruined it for me. It was painfully slow, which when you’re on day 9 of a busy holiday, was too much just standing still for hours so I only got on it twice sadly. And that might just be enough to put me off bothering again

[@davidarrington4144]

I just wish they hadn’t gotten rid of the dinosaur ride. That was a dark ride that really set it apart from other non-Disney amusement parks because it gave park-goers a chance to be immersed in multiple different worlds

[@earthdog7900]

Peanuts Celebrations is one of the best annual theme park events

[@idunnobutyay2520]

It looks so cute!

[@ItsAVolcano]

In regards to roaming teenagers, a huge chunk of the problem came from the large field trips from local high schools. Part of why it wouldn't be noticeable anymore is it being a pretty regular occurrence to hear yet another high school got banned over much of the last decade over stupid & dangerous behavior. Not just skipping lines and vandalism, but things like trying to hurl stuff at people on the coasters, pulling violent "pranks" on mascots, and at least one case of literally trying to derail the train.😮

[@malachirice3229]

Lol I still don’t know what’s easier being a ride operator at Knotts or security at Disneyland which is what I’m currently doing

[@ICE-go4xk]

I have been coming here lately with my family, and it’s the best. He can afford it and it’s not so pricey like Disney. Unlike other Thame parks ir has a place for KIDS! And more. Please vist this place!

[@SirPizzaPasta]

I fell into the snoopy pond once lol

[@xcoasterenthusiast]

Did you go to Six Flags Magic Mountain in your trip? Also, I realized that you were at Great Adventure on the same day I was there😅

[@Noct31]

Ever notice how similar parts of opening day Disney's California Adventure were to Knotts?

[@nathancruz9172]

I love 💕 visiting Knott’s berry farm.

[@Calakapepe]

fantastic vid!

[@Phoebus_LU]

Xcelerator is NOW OPEN! I literly live 10 mins away!

[@Joypyf]

I have been disappointed by the HUGE disparity with fast lane at some parks…like SFGAm, Michigan’s Adventure, Valleyfair. There should not be a small line and it take over an hour because of fast lane being a free for all because of the greed

[@marvelescobedo6153]

Just remember, knott’s is the reason Disneyland exists

[@DrFrankenolly]

Whittles' is the ghost town mascot of sorts.

[@rosaspanjol673]

😘I love Knotts Berry farm 😘👍!!

[@kevinwilt3918]

The biggest advantage Knotts has no reservations and no genie plus so you don't have to be on your phone all day. Just show up and ride rides.

[@disneyguy3116]

im so glad Disney was denied by the Knott family to be able to purchase knots back in 1997!

[@dfair]

Disneyland was inspired from Knott's

[@dfair]

They (Knott's) don't strive to be something similar - they set the bar for what a Theme Park is

[@RavenGlenn]

I don't get how Knott's berry farm gets away with calling itself 'America's First Theme Park'. Hell, just in my local city of PIttsburgh we have an older park called Kennywood. And it isn't the first either.

[@marivickorial5241]

Is knotts a good place to take my 2 year old toddler? Will there be rides she can go on?

[@PetersPianoShoppe]

I love Knott’s.

[@rush1er]

BWUUUHHH??? 3 HOUR WAIT TIME?!?!

[@annetheelf8174]

I work at Knott's in foods and I will say while some of the pricing is a bit much, there's honestly some pretty good food. Also it's so weird to see employees I recognize in this video

[@joshseibert]

Is Widdles the Buffy of Knotts?

[@brianscotpatterson2101]

You know what Cedar Fair (FUN) is NOT going to do: Re-theme their log flume.

[@garrettcarter5622]

6:58 - A Live WHAT NOW?!

[@zaryuezy-youtaylor2994]

Wait, why did you re-upload this?

[@audiovideophile5317]

Because the initial load only come over the left speaker.

[@martinnkenn4031]

It’s nice and all but the staff and workers all need to be more nice and helpful and the lines are always soooooo long because they need to hire more staff

[@jonsmith6496]

👍

[@natanaelguadalupeaviles1550]

No audio

[@jish55]

Knotts had great potential until it was taken over and turned into 6 flags lite. They basically made it just another cheap thrill junky park and removed too much of what made the park such a great place to go.

[@MelRichardson-d8o]

Always liked Knott's been there many times,they have gotten too expensive for most families and DISNEY IS JUST OUT OF TOUCH WHAT HAPPENED to making it affordable for families.

[@g-pa2023]

Honestly I dont understand why everyone loves Disney so much when all the rides are mainly based for kids

[@growtocycle6992]

Nostalgia

[@masteroftoontown]

rides can still be fantastic even if they're not thrilling

[@ev7d167]

Theming

[@g-pa2023]

@@ev7d167 that low key doesn’t rlly matter in a park

[@ev7d167]

@@g-pa2023 it does. It amps up the immersion and experience.

[@DestinationsChronicles]

Better than Disney? No. Never. I have been going to both since I was a toddler. I base my opinion on this. Disney has WAY more cast member/ employees to moniter and fix things. The last time I took my family to Knotts there was intimidation from "local" pass holders. Jumping in line. Etc. I, a grandmother, was called out to fight with a teen because she was shoving my grands to pass them to get to her friends. Do I love Knotts? Yes. Better, NO!

[@rickpontificates3406]

Knotts is fun and they have some decent rides, but their rides don't rise to the level of "timeless classic" as rides like Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones do. Disneyland relies on your fond memories of childhood (and Walt's).

[@77blaidddrwg]

It's not better than disney but Knotts has a lovely charm that just works. I have an annual pass for a reason but after a while you do lose intrest. Knotts tries a little too hard to be in-between disney and six flags in being family friendly, well themed but full of thrill rides (anybody who tells you six flags has great theaming is lying). You get pulled put of the immersion easily because of the screaming thrill rides and the modern people spoil it too. Then there's the obnoxious crowds that show up which is why now they have an enforced curfew and chaperone rules. Theres also the employees who tend to be local teens 🙃 Knotts pulls out its best during their live shows. (Widdles is an original character to knotts). It's a great place for a day but it's never a resort level place as you can finish the park in less than a day. The chicken used to be alot better. Knotts is just a really great museum with thrill rides lol hopefully you get to try out the Halloween haunt which is one of the best events with original mazes and not relying kn IP

[@NamesSimba]

Glad you had a good time but I’d rather go the extra distance to six flags than Knotts Edgar Farm

[@SoCalAdventurer19]

That's a very immature comment from you. I will always love Knott's more that STMM and with their new chaperone policy the farm is being returned back to families.

[@SteveCarras]

Well, from an appropriate point of view, Knotts is much safer for famines than groomer Disney

[@AXander1978]

gang riots