Knott's Berry Farm: Information from Answers.com

Type: Private Company
Address: 8039 Beach Boulevard, Buena Park, California 90620, U.S.A.
Telephone: (714) 220-5200
Fax: (714) 220-5150
Web: http://www.knotts.com
Employees: 6,300
Revenues: $230 million (1995)
Founded: 1920
SIC: 7996 Amusement Parks; 5812 Eating Places; 5399 Miscellaneous General Merchandise Store; 2033 Canned Fruits & Vegetables

Knott's Berry Farm grew from a small roadside berry stand 22 miles south of Los Angeles into one of the most popular amusement parks in the United States, attracting more than 3.5 million visitors in 1996. It was privately owned by the family of Walter Knott, who started the berry farm in 1920.

In 1911, Walter Knott, then 22 and recently married, gave up his job as a bookkeeper in Pomona, California and bought 106 acres of land in the Mojave Desert to homestead. He later told interviewers, "With all that land, I thought we'd get rich." Instead, the land proved too poor to farm and Knott was forced to find other jobs, such as working in mining and highway construction, while his wife, Cordelia, stayed behind to raise their three young children, later to become four. Then in 1915, Knott learned about a cattle rancher in San Luis Obispo County who was looking for someone to sharecrop a few acres to provide the ranch with vegetables. The Knotts moved to the ranch and raised vegetables for the next three years, selling at market what they or the ranch hands did not eat. When they had saved $2,500, the Knotts moved again, to Buena Park, south of Los Angeles, where Knott and a cousin, J.L. Preston, leased ten acres of untilled land to start a berry farm.

Knott produced his first crop for market in 1920, a year that saw wholesale berry prices in California fall by 50 percent. In desperation, the Knotts put up a small roadside stand to sell what berries they could. So did a lot of other farmers. "We had to do something to make our berries stand out," Cordelia Knott told The Saturday Evening Post more than 20 years later. "But we didn't cut prices. All we did was wrap our baskets in plain, clean store wrapping paper and put rubber bands around them. Others were using newspapers and twine." The attention to marketing paid off and the Knott's berry farm survived its first challenge. By 1927, the Knotts had added a coffee shop and a small store for jams, jellies, juices, and pies.

That same year, they contracted to buy the ten acres they had been farming for $1,500 an acre, and they leased ten more acres. Two years later, in 1929, the stock market collapsed and land values in southern California fell to $300 an acre. Nevertheless, Knott continued to make payments on his original ten acres of land and bought an additional ten acres at the lowered price.

Not long afterwards, in 1932, Knott heard a rumor that someone had crossed loganberries, blackberries, and raspberries to produce a new, much larger fruit. He traced the rumor to Rudolph Boysen, city parks superintendent in nearby Anaheim, California, who had experimented with cross-pollinating the berries several years before. Boysen had abandoned his experiments, but showed Knott six scraggly plants growing near a ditch. Knott transplanted them to his farm, where they flourished. Within a few years, the oversized berries, which Knott sold in one-pound baskets because they did not look right in the usual half-pound baskets, were returning more than $1,700 an acre. In tribute to Boysen, Knott named them boysenberries.

In 1941, an article in Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife noted: "Over a hundred thousand cars stopped last year at a roadside farm known as Knott's Berry Place. ... In exchange for country fried chicken, berry pies, fresh produce, nursery stock and cut flowers, the occupants of these cars left $509,031 with Farmer Knott." At the time, Knott's berry farm had grown to more than 120 acres and employed as many as 400 people in peak season.

The Knotts had also added a small dining room to the original coffee shop and began serving fried chicken in 1934. On opening day, Cordelia Knott served eight chicken dinners at 65 cents apiece. By 1941, when Farm Journal visited, the restaurant, called the Chicken Dinner, had been enlarged to seat 600, and the neighboring farmers' wives and children hired by Cordelia Knott were serving an average of 10,000 dinners a week. On a banner day in 1941, they served nearly 6,000 chicken dinners.

By then, the Knotts had also added a gift shop and several "attractions," including a room of rare music boxes from France, Switzerland, and Germany; son Russell's personal collection of rocks that glowed under ultraviolet light; several rock gardens with miniature waterfalls, water wheels, and wishing wells; a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon fireplace, which the Knotts had admired while on vacation; and a 12-foot-tall volcano built of lava rock trucked in from the Pisgah Mountain and equipped with a boiler that rumbled, hissed, and spit steam at the push of a button. "It's not half as fool a thing as it seems," Knott told the Farm Journal. "When the customers pile up so we can't seat them, the girls send them out to ... play with the volcano. They get so interested that I've had to install a loud speaker system to call them to their meals when the tables are ready." The volcano cost $600, and Knott figured it paid for itself the first month.

In 1940, Knott had also started work on what would become the centerpiece of the developing amusement park--an abandoned, two-acre Old West mining town that he was moving board by board from the desert. In 1942, The Saturday Evening Post noted that the 1860s ghost town was "authentic to the last misspelled sign, and original bullets in some of the doors."

Like many of the projects at Knott's Berry Place, the ghost town began modestly enough. Knott's grandparents had come West from Texas in a covered wagon and Knott commissioned an artist to commemorate the experience. The result was "The Covered Wagon Show," a cyclorama showing a wagon train struggling across alkali flats. A narrator would describe the hardships faced by the early settlers while a girl's voice could be heard in the background whimpering for water.

Knott decided it was not sufficient to display such a spectacle in a modern building, so he found an abandoned hotel near Prescott, Arizona, the Old Trails Hotel, built in 1868. He had it dismantled and shipped to Buena Park and reassembled on the berry farm. Before long, he had added several other abandoned, frontier buildings, including the Calico Saloon, serving sarsaparilla and boysenberry punch, and the Bottle House, built from more than 3,000 empty wine and whiskey bottles turned inward so they would not whistle in the wind.

He also added live Wild West shows, a Boot Hill cemetery with many authentic headstones, and the mile-long Ghost Town and Calico Railway, salvaged from the old Denver and Rio Grande rolling stock. In 1956, more than 625,000 passengers paid to ride the narrow-gauge railway and Knott's Berry Farm, renamed in 1947, brought in $9.8 million.

In the 1950s, Knott also bought and restored Calico, a 70-acre, abandoned silver mining town east of Barstow, California, which he later donated to San Bernadino County. It was still in operation as a tourist attraction in the mid-1990s.

In 1955, the Knott family attended a pre-opening tour of Disneyland, just a few miles away in Anaheim. As they left, Knott glumly asked his youngest daughter, Marion, if she thought anybody would ever visit Knott's Berry Farm again. They did, and in record numbers, but Disneyland had a definite impact on the development of Knott's Berry Farm.

Soon after Disneyland opened, Knott added a cable-car ride, a "mine" where youngsters could pan for gold, and an electronic shooting gallery. In 1960, Knott's Berry Farm added the Calico Mine Ride, described at the time as the park's "most adventurous undertaking." Six years later, Knott completed construction of a brick-by-brick replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, including a one-ton, cracked Liberty Bell. The structure was so realistic that the Philadelphia Bicentennial Reconstruction Committee later borrowed Knott's building plans when it could not locate the original blueprints for the historic landmark.

But perhaps the most significant change for Knott's Berry Farm came in 1968, when vandalism forced the Knotts to erect a fence around their 200-acre amusement park and, for the first time, begin charging a general admission. Until then, visitors had come primarily for the chicken dinners and shopped or viewed the attractions while they waited to be served. But once the restaurant patrons had to pay an admission fee, they expected to be entertained the way they were at Disneyland.

Under the guidance of Marion Knott Anderson, who had assumed creative control of the family business, Knott's Berry Farm launched a $17 million expansion. Between 1968 and 1975, the park added the Calico Logging Co., one of the country's first flume rides, to the Old West Ghost Town, and developed two new themed areas, the Fiesta Village, which portrayed Spanish California, and the Roaring 20s, which featured more traditional amusement park rides, including the Corkscrew, the world's first 360-degree roller coaster. The popularity of the Corkscrew propelled Knott's Berry Farm to the third most popular amusement park in the United States behind Disneyland and Disney World.

In 1976, Knott's Berry Farm added a 20-story Sky Jump, patterned after the famous parachute drop at New York's Coney Island, to the Roaring 20s theme area, and in 1978, the park added a second roller coaster, Montezooma's Revenge, which took riders from 0 mph to 55 mph in five seconds. Throughout the 1970s, Knott's Berry Farm consistently drew about three million visitors a year, making it the most successful, family-owned amusement park in the United States.

By 1979, however, attendance at Knott's Berry Farm had started to slip, dropping the park into sixth place behind Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood Tour, Six Flags Great America in Chicago, and Busch Gardens Dark Continent in Tampa.

To shore up its position, Knott's Berry Farm began a $100 million expansion that culminated with the opening of the Kingdom of the Dinosaurs in 1987 and Wild Water Wilderness in 1988. In 1989, an estimated five million people visited Knott's Berry Farm, up from 2.8 million in 1979. Only Disney World, Disneyland, and Universal Studios Hollywood drew more visitors. Walter Knott, however, did not live to see the revival. He died in 1981, at the age of 91. That same year, Terry E. Van Gorder became the first non-family member to take the helm as president and CEO of the company.

In 1996, the trade publication Amusement Business ranked Knott's Berry Farm, with 3.55 million visitors, as the thirteenth most popular amusement park in the United States. Disneyland, with 15 million visitors, was number one.

Amusement Business considered Walt Disney World as three separate parks: The Magic Kingdom (13.80 million), Epcot Center (11.24 million), and Disney-MGM Studios (9.98 million). Rounding out the top parks were Universal Studios Florida in Orlando (8.4 million); Universal Studios Hollywood (5.4 million); Sea World of Florida in Orlando (5.1 million); Busch Gardens Dark Continent, Tampa, Florida (4.17 million); Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey (4 million); Sea World of California, Orlando, Florida (3.89 million); and Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Island, Ohio (3.6 million).

In 1983, Knott's Berry Farm had signed an exclusive agreement with Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon characters, for the theme park to be the official home of Snoopy and the Peanuts Gang. The six-acre Camp Snoopy, the first themed park area designed solely for children under 12, opened in 1983.

Then in 1991, Knott's Berry Farm announced that it would develop a 300,000-square-foot, indoor theme park, called Knott's Camp Snoopy, at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Mall of America was the largest shopping mall in the United States. Opened in 1992, the mall's Camp Snoopy, operated by Knott's Berry Farm, featured a flume ride, roller coaster, and Snoopy Fountain, the largest attraction, where visitors could shoot coin-operated water cannons at moving targets.

Knott's Berry Farm's foods division, selling jams, jellies, pies and fruit syrups, remained strong even while the family-owned business concentrated on developing the amusement park.

In 1991, the company bought the PeggyJane's brand of salad dressings, creating PeggyJanes from Knott's Berry Farm, and introduced Knott's Berry Farm Premium Ice Cream and Nonfat Yogurt. The division had sales of $60 million in 1994. The following year, Knott's Berry Farm sold its packaged foods divisions to ConAgra Inc., in Omaha, Nebraska.

Knott's Berry Farm also continued to sell fried chicken at the amusement park, serving about 1.5 million chicken dinners a year. In 1991, Knott's Berry Farm formed a restaurant division and opened the first offsite Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant in Irvine, California. A year later, restaurants were opened in Moreno Valley and Mission Viejo, California. In 1992, Knott's Berry Farm reported that the offsite restaurants were struggling, in part because people perceived them as extensions of the chicken-only Mrs. Knott's at the amusement park. Within a couple years, only the restaurant in Moreno Valley survived.

Knott's Berry Farm


Location	Buena Park, California
Website	www.knotts.com
Owner	Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
Opened	1940
Operating season	Year-round
Area	160 acres (0.65 km²) (0.65 km²)
Rides	40 total 9 roller coasters 4 water rides
Slogan	'America's 1st Theme Park'

History

View of the entrance of Knott's Berry Farm. The cobra roll in the background is part of the Silver Bullet.

View of Silver Bullet from the Sky Cabin.

In the 1920s, Walter Knott and his family sold berries, berry plants and pies from a roadside stand beside State Route 39, near the small town of Buena Park.^[1] In the 1930s, Walter Knott was introduced to a new berry which had been cultivated by Rudolph Boysen. The plant was a combination of the red raspberry, blackberry, and loganberry. Walter planted a few plants he had received on a visit to Boysen's farm, and later started to sell them at their roadside stand.^[1] When people asked him what they were called he said "boysenberries".

In 1934, to make ends meet, Knott's wife Cordelia (1890–1974) reluctantly began serving fried chicken dinners on their wedding china. For dessert, Knott's trademark Boysenberry Pie was also served to guests dining in the small tea room. As Southern California developed, Highway 39 became the major north-south connection between Los Angeles County and the beaches of Orange County, and the restaurant's location was a popular stopping point for drivers making what, at the time, was a two hour trip. Before Interstate 605 and State Route 57 were built in the late 1950s, Highway 39 (now known in Orange County as Beach Boulevard) continued to carry the bulk of the traffic between eastern Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Within a few years, lines outside the restaurant were often several hours long. To entertain the waiting crowds, Walter began to build a ghost town in 1940, using buildings relocated from real old west towns such as Calico, California and Prescott, Arizona.^[1] They added attractions such as a narrow-gauge train ride, a pan-for-gold area, and the Calico Mine Ride.^[1] Frequent activities at what Knott called a "summer-long county fair" included—naturally—boysenberry pie eating contests. When Disneyland was built in nearby Anaheim, the two attractions were not seen as direct competitors, due to the different nature of each. Walt Disney visited Knott's Berry Farm on a number of occasions, and hosted the Knotts at his own park (including inviting the Knotts to Disneyland's opening day). The two Walters had a cordial relationship, and worked together on a number of community causes.

As time went on, more shops and interactive displays were opened to entertain patrons waiting for a seat at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Before long, the Knotts had added a gift shop and several "attractions," including a room of rare music boxes from France, Switzerland, and Germany; son Russell's personal collection of rocks that glowed under ultraviolet light; several rock gardens with miniature waterfalls, water wheels, and wishing wells; a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon fireplace, which the Knotts had admired while on vacation; and a 12-foot-tall volcano^[2] built of lava rock trucked in from the Pisgah Mountain and equipped with a boiler that rumbled, hissed, and spit steam at the push of a button. "It's not half as fool a thing as it seems," Knott told the Farm Journal. "When the customers pile up so we can't seat them, the girls send them out to ... play with the volcano. They get so interested that I've had to install a loud speaker system to call them to their meals when the tables are ready." The volcano cost $600, and Knott figured it paid for itself the first month.^[3] At some point in the late 50’s or early 60’s, the push button was replaced by a mechanical contraption encased in a 2”x2” glass-fronted wooden box. Inside the box one would see a small winged devil turning a crank, every few turns causing the volcano to hiss and steam.

As Knott's Berry Farm continued to grow in the 1950s, new displays were added. In 1956, a miniature El Camino Real was completed, running from the train station north to the far edge of the park at La Palma Avenue. Along the way were models of the 21 California missions.^[4]

In the early to mid-1960s, the park was visited more by "locals" than tourists. Children fortunate enough to have grown up in the area should still recall the Model-T ride^[5] in the original parking lot along the corner fronted by Crescent Ave. and Grand Ave.^{[citation needed]}

Walking inside the park, youngsters might be treated to a burro ride^[6] or a walk through the Haunted Shack^[7]. Young and old alike wouldn't leave before at least one visit to the General Store. Mom and dad could take a seat by the cracker barrel^[8] next to the pot belly stove while the kids spent their pocket money on penny candy. If they were visiting on a weekend, though, at least one penny would be held back. Stepping out onto the main street kids of all ages would locate the nearest painted circle on the ground and wait for the organ grinder^[9] to come along. Turning the crank on the brightly painted music box, his trained monkey would hop around the edge of the circle, taking your pennies and tipping his hat by way of thanks.

Perhaps nothing was more exciting, though, than heading towards the area which would one day be home to Fiesta Village. Park goers were delighted by the sights and sounds (and smells) of the sea lion pool Amusement Parks. For a little money, patrons could purchase a half dozen sardines in a small paper bag.

Another attraction that went the way of the burros and sea lions was Old McDonald’s Farm.^[10] There were a handful of themed areas where, for a small fee, parents could host their children’s birthday party. The coveted spot was the birdcage, an actual metal framework built up on stilts. Situated in that same area was the petting zoo. Parents cautioned their children to keep a tight hold on their shirt tails and bags of candy, for nothing was safe from the curious nibblings of the wandering goats. In a glass-fronted wooden coop, you would find Henrietta, the piano-playing chicken.^[11] Depositing a nickel would signal her to peck out a song on her miniature piano; when she’d hit enough keys, a sprinkling of corn would be released into her food tray. The petting zoo was also home to a unique riding attraction. The Knott’s had ingeniously converted a hot walker into a kiddie ride. Pairs or trios of children would sit on wooden seats attached to the end of poles radiating from a central axis where a mule patiently waited. The handler, wearing overalls and a bandana around their neck, would take his/her seat on the rig behind the mule and start the animal walking and thus the ride gliding around in circles.

In 1968, the Knott family fenced in the property and charged an admission fee for the first time. In the 1970s the park included three theme areas: Old West Ghost Town, Fiesta Village (portraying Spanish California) and the Roaring Twenties, a nostalgic traditional amusement area with a 1920s-era airfield.^[1] In 1975 the Corkscrew debuted as the first modern-day roller coaster to perform a 360-degree inverting element. It was designed by Arrow Dynamics of Utah.

In the 1980s, Knott's built the "Barn Dance" featured Bobbi & Clyde as the house band. It was during the height of the "Urban Cowboy" era. The "Barn Dance" was featured in Knott's TV Commercials. Also during the 1980s, Knott's met the competition in Southern California theme parks by building two massive attractions: Kingdom of the Dinosaurs and Bigfoot Rapids, a whitewater raft ride. In 1990 the Boomerang roller coaster was introduced.^[1]

In 1995, the Knott family sold the food specialty business to ConAgra, which later re-sold the brand to The J. M. Smucker Co. in 2008. In 1997, the Knott family sold the amusement park operations to Cedar Fair. Initially, the Knotts were given an opportunity to sell the park to The Walt Disney Company. The park would have been amalgamated into the Disneyland Resort and converted into Disney's America, which had previously failed to be built near Washington, D.C. The Knotts refused to sell the park to Disney out of fear that most of what Walter Knott had built would be eliminated.

Since being acquired by Cedar Fair, the park has seen an aggressive shift towards thrill rides, with the construction of a number of large roller coasters and the addition of a high-performance Shoot-the-Chutes ride.

The Cartoon Network TV show BrainRush, which premiered June 20, 2009, is filmed at Knott's Berry Farm.^[12]

The present

In modern times, the vicinity of the park has been heavily suburbanized, and the landscape of the park is now dominated by the roller coasters, replacing much of the original theming and atmosphere of the park. The park serves as an anchor for other tourist-oriented businesses such as Medieval Times and Pirate's Dinner Adventure, and the Movieland Wax Museum which was located nearby until it closed in 2005. Buena Park Downtown, a series of shopping centers containing Wal-Mart and Kohl's stores, is located near Knott's Berry Farm.

In 2004, the park renamed the Radisson Resort Hotel the Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel. The hotel was formerly the Buena Park Hotel that Cedar Fair acquired in the late 1990s.

Two of Knott's Berry Farm's most recent areas of concern are that its parking lot is landlocked and cannot be expanded, and the closest train station was several miles away in Fullerton. Both have made travel to the park something of an inconvenience. That problem is expected to be solved in part by Buena Park's new Metrolink station which was completed in 2007.

Independence Hall

Also on the property (but on the east side of Beach Blvd.) is a replica of Independence Hall and Knott's Soak City, USA. Independence Hall was so well recreated that it was used in the 2004 film National Treasure. Displays have included a replica of the Liberty Bell and a replica of the original "Star Spangled Banner," the flag which flew over Fort McHenry through a British attack during the War of 1812. An audio presentation, with speakers located at appropriate tables, recalls the debate which led to the United States Declaration of Independence.

Prior to the development of Camp Snoopy, an artificial lake, covering more than an acre, was located north of Independence Hall. The lake featured row- and paddle-boats, and a popular activity for local residents was feeding the ducks who lived there year-round; as well as Jungle Island, where children found adventure and played hide and seek games all day. Camp Snoopy was built in an area which had formerly been a parking lot, so the lake was removed to put in a replacement parking area. Some ducks moved to other parks and lakes, but many ducks still live and gather in a small river like body of water right next to Independence Hall, and many guests still stop by and feed the ducks on a regular basis.

Ghost Town

RGS #41 steam locomotive

GhostRider in Ghost Town

Ghost Town is the oldest part of the Knott's amusement park, and includes most of the buildings Walter brought to the property in the 1940s and 1950s.

This themed area includes attractions such as the narrow gauge Ghost Town & Calico Railway (using much historic equipment from Colorado narrow-gauge lines including C-19 engines 340 from the Denver & Rio Grande and 41 from the Rio Grande & Southern). The Butterfield Stagecoach ride includes 3 original Butterfield coaches, 1 Halloday coach, 1 Overland Southern coach and the Knotts Berry Farm coach that was built for the farm in 1954. Also there is a Pan-for-Gold attraction, the Calico Mine Ride dark ride, Timber Mountain Log Ride, Calico Saloon Show and The Wild West Stunt Show.

More recently, the much-acclaimed GhostRider wooden roller coaster has been added. In late 2004 Knott's opened the longest inverted roller coaster on the West Coast, Silver Bullet along with Screamin' Swing: the world's first air-powered swing.

Ghost Town itself has a place in history aside from the buildings brought here. The Bird Cage Theatre melodrama theater (currently only used during Halloween Haunt and the Christmas season) has launched many acting careers, including that of Steve Martin. The Calico stage is a venue that has hosted acts ranging from elementary school singers & dancers to the melon smashing Gallagher.

The Ghost Town section is based upon the real ghost town of Calico, California near Barstow, and other ghost towns in the Western United States. Walter Knott purchased the Calico ghost town in 1951 and restored it. In 1966 he donated the town to San Bernardino County, which made it a regional park.

The summer of 2007 had Knott's Nature Center being relocated to the Ghost Town area from the Wild Water section of the park. The building was once the 1-room Rivera School house in Rivera California. Arachnids, insects, amphibians and creepy-crawlies are here for your inspection.

Fiesta Village

Fiesta Village is a Mexican-themed area which features a number of carnival-style attractions, including the Montezooma's Revenge roller coaster and the Jaguar! family roller coaster. A classic Merry-Go-Round by Reflection Lake tops off this village. Other rides include the Dragon Swing, La Revolucion (Frisbee), Hat Dance (themed Tea Cups), and Wave Swinger. Fiesta Village was built in 1969.

The Boardwalk

Originally themed as a gypsy camp, and later re-themed to the "Roaring 20's" and "Knott's Airfield", this area is home to most of the park's major thrill rides. It is also home to the Sky Cabin Tower. Sky Tower which is closed during winds 25mph+ and during rain. Sky Cabin is very sensitive to up and down motion, such as walking. Sky Cabin was once also housed the Parachute Sky Jump attraction and was, at one time, the tallest structure in Orange County. Current rides include the recently constructed Xcelerator (which replaced the failed Windjammer Surf Racers, known to be a mechanical nightmare by employees), Supreme Scream, Riptide, and Perilous Plunge, and the roller coaster Boomerang. Supreme Scream is now the tallest structure in Orange County, at 312 feet (95 m) in height. Other rides include the Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars, Wipeout, and Screamin' Swing. The Boardwalk was built in 1969 as the "Roaring 20's" area. The Corkscrew roller coaster was installed in the "Roaring 20s" area in 1975 and was notable for being the first modern-day roller coaster to perform a 360-degree inverting element. The Corkscrew is currently located at Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho.

The world's largest Johnny Rockets restaurant franchise is located in this section of the park, featuring over 5,900 square feet (550 m²) of indoor dining space for more than 260 guests.

Camp Snoopy

Camp Snoopy is targeted towards younger visitors, with many of the rides and attractions being built specifically for children. Its theme is Charles M. Schulz' "Peanuts" comic strip characters. Snoopy has been the mascot of Knott's Berry Farm since 1983, and the characters can now be seen at all of Cedar Fair's parks, except Valleyfair and the former Paramount Parks bought by Cedar Fair in 2007. The 14 rides include a mini roller coaster called the Timberline Twister, a mini-scrambler called the Log Peeler, and a Zamperla Rockin' Tug called Lucy's Tugboat.

Knott's Berry Farm also built the Mall of America's indoor theme park, which itself was originally called Camp Snoopy. (In fact, Charles M. Schulz hailed from St. Paul.) However, save for some relics, today the park is no longer affiliated with Knott's or Cedar Fair, and is now called Nickelodeon Universe.

Wild Water Wilderness

Wild Water Wilderness is a small area that features two major rides: the Bigfoot Rapids river rafting adventure, and Pony Express, a horse themed family roller coaster installed in 2008. Nearby Bigfoot Rapids is Rapids Trader, a small merchandise stand. It is also home to Mystery Lodge, a multimedia show based on an Expo 86 pavilion featuring a Native American storyteller.

Indian Trails

Located near Reflection Lake, Indian Trails is a small area sandwiched between Camp Snoopy, Ghost Town, and Fiesta Village. It features no actual "rides," but instead is a showcase of Native American art, crafts, and dance.

Annual park events

The park's annual Knott's Halloween Haunt has drawn crowds since 1973. The idea for this event was presented at one of the regularly scheduled round table meetings for managers by Patricia Pawson. The actual event was created by Bill Hollingshead, Gary Salisbury, Martha Boyd and Gene Witham, along with other members of the Knott's Berry Farm Entertainment Department as documented in the DVD Season of Screams. During this special ticketed event, the entire park (or major portions of it) re-themes itself into a "haunted house" style attraction in the form of "mazes" and "scare zones" in the evening. Over a thousand specially employed monsters are also scattered - often hidden out of view - throughout the park at this time. Several attractions are decorated for the event including the Timber Mountain Log Ride and Calico Mine Train and there are 10 or more mazes of various themes from aliens to spiders to clowns from outer-space. Elvira (actress Cassandra Peterson) was introduced into the Halloween Event in 1982 and was prominently featured in many Halloween Haunt events until 2001. According to postings on her My Space page, Cassandra was released from her contract by the park's new owners due to their wanting a more family friendly appeal. ^[13] Interesting fact: During the month of October, Knott's Scary Farm generates half the revenue for Knott's Berry Farm's fiscal year.

Season of Screams is a DVD produced by an independent company which traces the beginnings of Halloween Haunt and the story behind how it all got started back in 1973. Season of Screams also highlights recent Halloween Haunts.

Winter Coaster Solace is an event that takes place in the first or second weekend of March every year when roller coaster enthusiasts can come before the park opens and stay after the park closes to ride the rides and eat at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Knotts Berry farm also used to give attendees behind the scenes tours of the rides.

The November 3, 1962, episode of ABC's western variety program, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, was taped at Knott's Berry Farm.

Every year since 1991, Knott's has offered free admission to Veterans and their families during the month of November. Originally started as a tribute to returning Gulf War veterans, they subsequently expanded it to include all Veterans and have run it every year since.

A Christmas event known as "Knott's Merry Farm" also happens annually. Previous "Merry Farm" events have included manufactured snow, handcrafts exhibits, and a "visit with Santa Claus." This event was originally created by Gary Salisbury in the Fall of 1985.

Current roller coasters

Ride	Year Opened	Manufacturer	Description
Montezooma's Revenge	1978	Anton Schwarzkopf	A steel roller coaster with an open-circuit that catapults riders through a 7-story vertical loop.
Timberline Twister	1983	Bradley & Kaye	Small steel coaster designed for young children.
Boomerang	1990	Vekoma	Steel roller coaster with an open-circuit takes riders upside-down a total of six times.
Jaguar!	1995	Zierer GmbH	Family-oriented roller coaster.
GhostRider	1998	Custom Coasters International	Wooden roller coaster with 4,533' of track.
Xcelerator	2002	Intamin	Accelerator Coaster featuring steeply banked turns and a vertical drop.
Silver Bullet	2004	B&M	Floorless coaches suspended beneath an overhead track whip around steeply banked turns and six inversions.
Sierra Sidewinder	2007	MACK Rides GmbH & Co KG	Family-oriented roller coaster featuring vehicles that spin freely on a turn-table chassis.
Pony Express	2008	Zamperla	Family-oriented roller coaster featuring sweeping turns.

Former rides/attractions

Mexican Whip	1969	Sellner Manufacturing	A classic Tilt-A-Whirl ride that was removed in 1986 along with Fiesta Wheel to make room for the Tampico Tumbler.
Fiesta Wheel	1969	Chance-Morgan	A Chance Trabant ride that spun and tilted riders at the same time as the ride changed direction rapidly. It was removed in 1986 to make room for the Grand Slammer.
Tampico Tumbler	1987	Zierer	A Zierer Hexentanz or Fireball ride. Two cars are mounted on each arm (eight arms total.) The entire ride lifts so that each arm can rotate both cars over each other at a rapid pace. Removed to make room for La Revolucion in 2004.
Grand Slammer	1987	Chance-Morgan	A Chance Falling Star pendulum ride removed in 2004 to make room for La Revolucion's queue line.
Tijuana Taxi	1969	Arrow Dynamics	This standard automobile track ride was torn down to make room for Fiesta Village's expansion in 1976.
Windjammer Surf Racers	1996	TOGO International	This twin racing coaster that sent riders through vertical loops and tight turns was removed in 2000. It was known to be a mechanical nightmare, and was closed more frequently than open.
Henry's Auto Livery	Unknown	Walter Beckman	This ride was located out of the main park near the corner of Beach Blvd. and Crescent. The ride had no tracks, just bumpers to keep you on the road. Removed sometime in the 80s
Corkscrew	1975	Arrow Dynamics	This was the first modern roller coaster ever to take passengers upside down. It was sold to Silverwood in 1990 to make room for the Boomerang.
Motorcycle Chase/Soap Box Racers	1976	Arrow Dynamics	This steeplechase roller coaster had four tracks parallel to each other. A favorite of many parkgoers, it was taken out in 1996 to make room for the Windjammer Surf Racers and later, the Xcelerator.
HammerHead	1996	Zamperla	This Zamperla Rotoshake ride flipped riders upside down on a theater-like platform while the main arm itself turned 360 degrees. Due to pricy mechanical problems, it was removed in 2003 to make room for RipTide.
XK-1	1990	Intamin AG	This rare Intamin Flight Trainer ride had a short eight-year run. After 1999, it was removed to make room for Supreme Scream.
Knott's Bear-y Tales/Kingdom of the Dinosaurs	1975	Fantasy Fair	This dark ride first took riders past a fairy-tale like plot set in the Roaring 20's with a Bear Family all named, Raz,Boysen,Girlsen,Elder, and Flapper Bear-y on a journey to the fair while being in contact with a pie thief named Crafty Coyote and Other Animals from the Fantasy Scenes. It later was revamped with a dinosaur theme in 1987 (While Bear-y Tales moved to the Peanuts Playhouse after Kingdom of the Dinosaurs opened to be renamed Bear-y Tales Funhouse until 1997)that took riders back in time to the Pre-Historic Times which would be removed in December 23, 2004 due to aging parts and lack of popularity. Many guests today complain about the loss of both of the rides and they are both demanded by fans to revive one of them. As of now nothing is planned in the formal building of the 2 attractions. The thematic design for Bear-y Tales was by the former Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump (who worked on the ride after being on freelance when he left Disney in 1972). Recently a few of the Knott's Bear-y Tales characters along with its theme song were re-located to the re-themed Craft Barn Store in Ghost Town.
VertiGo	2001	S & S	This S & S "Totally Insane" ride was taken out because Knott's sister park, Cedar Point, had its similar ride demolished due to an accident.
Whirlwind/Greased Lightning/HeadAche	1976	Reverchon	This standard Himalaya ride was a favorite for almost 30 years. In 2001, the ride was removed to make room for Perilous Plunge.
Propeller Spin	1976	Frank Hrubetz and Co.	This Hrubetz Round up ride operated from 1976 to 1989, until this space was vacated. Today, it is part of Perilous Plunge's track layout.
Loop Trainer Flying Machine	1976	Schwarzkopf	A standard Enterprise ride that was a bit smaller than most park models operating today. In 1989, this ride was removed to make room for the XK-1 in 1990.
Sky Jump	1976	Intamin AG	This parachute jump freefall ride was the highest ride in the park until its more modern successor, Supreme Scream was built 25 years later. The ride's companion, Sky Cabin, still stands.
Walter K. Steamboat	1969	Arrow Dynamics	A steam-powered ferry boat that sailed around "Reflection Lake." The lake was made smaller due to the installment of Silver Bullet, then removed completely to make room for Sierra Sidewinder.
Gasoline Alley	1969	Arrow Dynamics	This second car-track was under the motorcycle chase/wacky soapbox racer. Both rides were removed in 1996 to make room for Windjammer Surf Racers, and later, Xcelerator.
Whirlpool/Headspin/Wilderness Scrambler	1976	Eli Bridge Company	The "Whirlpool" was a classic scrambler carnival ride originally housed inside a building which included 'undersea' murals on the walls, a music soundtrack, and club style lighting effects. It was latter renamed "Headspin" in 1996 with the re-themeing of the 'Roaring 20's' to 'The Boardwalk'. It was later repainted and moved to a new outdoor location under the Windjammer to make room for the Perilous Plunge. In 2001 it was relocated again to the Wild Water Wilderness area and renamed "Wilderness Scrambler" to make room for the Xcelerator. Finally it was removed permanently in 2007 to make room for the 2008 Pony Express roller coaster.

Attraction/capital timeline

2010: Starlight Experience added.
2009: [[Pinks|, Remodel and rebrand of Viva La Coasters in the California Marketplace.
2008: The Pony Express, Peanut's Playhouse removed.
2007: Sierra Sidewinder; Wilderness Scrambler removed.
2006: Pacific Spin (Soak City U.S.A.); Johnny Rockets restaurant; New Perilous Plunge boats put into operation; Walter K Steamboat removed; Woodstock's Airmail relocated.
2005: T.G.I. Fridays restaurant (California Marketplace).
2004: Silver Bullet; Church of Reflections relocated to outside of park; Lucy's Tugboat; Rip Tide; Screamin' Swing; Kingdom of the Dinosaurs closed; Radisson Resort Knott's Berry Farm renamed Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel. Grand Sierra Railroad shorted.
2003: Tampico Tumbler removed; Gran Slammer removed; La Revolución; Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8; HammerHead removed.
2002: Xcelerator; VertiGo removed.
2001: VertiGo; Windjammer Surf Racers removed; Wipeout relocated; Headspin relocated and renamed Wilderness Scrambler.
2000: Windjammer Surf Racers closes; Perilous Plunge; Soak City U.S.A. water park; Haunted Shack removed.
1999: Wipeout; Coasters restaurant; Charlie Brown Speedway; Sky Jump removed; HeadAche removed; Pacific Pavilion removed; Radisson Resort Knott's Berry Farm.
1998: GhostRider; XK-1 removed; Supreme Scream; Woodstock's Airmail; Slingshot renamed Wave Swinger; Mexican Hat Dance renamed Hat Dance.
1997: Windjammer Surf Racers; Bear-y Tales Funhouse removed.
1996: The Boardwalk themed area (retheme of Roaring 20's); HammerHead; Greased Lightning renamed HeadAche; Whirlpool renamed Headspin; Wacky Soap Box Racers removed; Gasoline Alley removed.
1995: Jaguar!.
1994: Mystery Lodge.
1992: Indian Trails themed area.
1991: Studio K closed.
1990: Boomerang; XK-1; Whirlwind renamed Greased Lightning.
1989: Corkscrew removed; Propeller Spin removed; Loop Trainer Flying Machine removed.
1988: Bigfoot Rapids; Bear-y Tales Funhouse.
1987: Kingdom of the Dinosaurs; Tampico Tumbler; Gran Slammer; Dragon Swing; Slingshot; Happy Sombrero renamed Mexican Hat Dance.
1986: Bear-y Tales removed; Tijuana Taxi removed; Fiesta Wheel removed; Mexican Whip removed.
1984: Studio K. Was the largest teen dance club in Southern California, built to take advantage of the Break Dance craze. Opening night Knotts produced a TV special called California Break Dance Championship which was aired on KHJ-TV (now KCAL) channel 9. Dick Clark also filmed a two hour special called "Rock Rolls On" in this new facility. Studio K was credited with increasing the teen attendance by over 200,000 per year. Disneyland copied Studio K the following year and opened Videopolis. Magic Mountain opened their version a year later and named it "After Hours". The concept for Studio K was proposed by Gary R. Salisbury on February 11, 1984
1983: Barn Dance featured Bobbi & Clyde Country Western Dancing
1983: Camp Snoopy themed area created, forcing removal of a lake which had been built north of Independence Hall, so that a parking area could be relocated.
1978: Montezooma's Revenge.
1976: Motorcycle Chase; Sky Jump; Sky Cabin; Propeller Spin; Loop Trainer Flying Machine; Whirlpool; Gasoline Alley; Whirlwind.
1975: Corkscrew; Bear-y Tales.
1974: Wild West Stunt Show Opens.
1973: First annual Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt
1971: John Wayne Theatre (later the Good Time Theatre, then the Charles M. Shultz Theatre)
1969: Timber Mountain Log Ride; Fiesta Village themed area; Tijuana Taxi; Mexican Whip; Fiesta Wheel; Happy Sombrero.
1966: Independence Hall
1960: Calico Mine Ride.
1958: Mott's Miniatures
1955: Dentzel Carousel, Hunter's Paradise Shootin' Gallery
1954: Haunted Shack, Bird Cage Theater
1952: Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.
1951: Calico Saloon
1949: Stagecoach

In media

The park's ride Jaguar! is featured in one of Channel 4's idents. It shows the ride from the back car, but more signs for the other rides at the park can be seen throughout the ride, to form the '4' logo from a particular angle during the ride

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Adams, Judith A. (1991). The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills. Boston: Twayne Publishers. pp. 125–127. ISBN 0805798218.
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ [5]
^ [6]
^ [7]
^ [8]
^ [9]
^ [10]
^ "Cartoon Network Gets Real." Turner Newsroom. Press release. May 21, 2009.
^ Cassandra Peterson's MySpace page

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Knott's Berry Farm

Coordinates: 33°50′39″N 118°00′01″W / 33.844178°N 118.000267°W / 33.844178; -118.000267

v • d • e Cedar Fair

Theme Parks	Canada's Wonderland · Carowinds · Cedar Point · Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom · California's Great America · Gilroy Gardens · Kings Dominion · Kings Island · Knott's Berry Farm · Michigan's Adventure · Worlds of Fun · Valleyfair

Waterparks	Wildwater Kingdom · Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom · Wild Water Adventure · White Water Country · WaterWorks · Splash Works · Boomerang Bay (Kings Island, Great America and Carowinds) · Soak City · Knott's Soak City (Buena Park, Chula Vista, and Palm Springs) · Oceans of Fun

Former	Star Trek: The Experience · Knott's Camp Snoopy (Nickelodeon Universe)

Revenue: ▲$831.4 million USD (2006) · Employees: 1,300 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: FUN · Website: www.cedarfair.com

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