New at Knott's: Part 1 - The Boardwalk

After a six month-long hiatus, I am back with my first post of the year! Happy belated 2013, everyone!

Just in time for summer, Knott's Berry Farm has opened three new rides in the Boardwalk section of the park (formerly the Roaring 20's). The three new attractions, Pacific Scrambler, Surfside Gliders, and Coast Rider can be seen here in this official Knott's publicity photo. (The green track on the left belongs to the newly repainted Boomerang.)



A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new attractions was held on May 30th. Season Passholders were invited to enter the park starting at 7:30 a.m., so they could enjoy the three new rides prior to park opening. This pinback button was being handed out at the entrance. The Calico Log Ride is depicted here as well because it's official re-dedication ceremony (after undergoing a six month-long refurbishment), was also held that day.



These next three pics show how empty the park was at 7:30 a.m. Actually, these areas were still closed and everyone was being directed towards the new rides.



Unfortunately, my photos are a little on the dark side. Southern California's "June gloom" started a bit early this year.





A new sign marks the entrance to "Boardwalk Pier." Located off the Pier are two of the new attractions, Pacific Scrambler and Surfside Gliders.



Pacific Scrambler is the old Whirlpool/Headspin attraction that used to be located indoors in the Roaring 20's. It was later moved over near Bigfoot Rapids and renamed Wilderness Scrambler. When construction began on the Pony Express ride, it was dismantled and put into storage.



It's nice to see an old friend return to the park! Ahem...Haunted Shack and Knott's Bear-y Tales, anyone? :-)



By the way, the new Boardwalk Pier was built over the old splash-down pool of the former Perilous Plunge attraction. Portions of it were filled in and built upon, but it's the same basin.



Next up, we have Surfside Gliders. Part of Coast Rider can also be seen here on the far right.



Knott's gives the following description for Surfside Gliders: "Taking the ride into their own hands, guests will pilot their own Surfside Glider. From a height of 28 feet, these two-man aircrafts zip through the air providing a bird’s eye view of the Boardwalk area as they glide over Boardwalk Bay."



And here's an official publicity shot from Knott's showing a close up of the ride vehicle. You can see the child's hand on a handle which allows riders to control how high and how far out the vehicle will go.



Next door to Surfside Gliders, we have Coast Rider (not to be confused with Ghost Rider over in Ghost Town), which is a "Wild Mouse" type of coaster. Incidentally, Coast Rider sits in the spot that was the original location of the Pacific Scrambler/Wilderness Scrambler/Headspin/Whirlpool attraction. This is another official publicity photo from Knott's. I somehow failed to take my own photos of this particular attraction on opening day. See what a six month hiatus from posting does.....I'm slacking off! But I'll get back into the groove. In the meantime, thanks to Knott's for letting me use their press photos to fill in the gaps in my post!



For opening day, Knott's had "streetmosphere" performers wandering around. Here's a typical family from the 1950's.....or would that be the 1960's?



"Tourists."



And of course, SNOOPY!



Hey wait a minute, who's that? Why it's everyone's favorite Pop-culturist and Histo-tainer, Charles Phoenix!



Charles Phoenix was the master of ceremonies for the day. And how much are we loving his boysenberry suit? To borrow a line from Mr. Phoenix, "I KNOW!!!"



Knott's Berry Farm's general manager, Raffi Kaprelyan also spoke at the opening ceremony.



Then it was time for the ribbon cutting. The "ribbon" was actually a very long piece of boysenberry taffy that was brought out on a special board and then lifted off and cut by the "tourist family."



After the ribbon cutting, everyone posed for a photo op. The lady on the far left is Buena Park mayor, Beth Swift. I'm sorry, I do not remember who some of the other people in the photo are, but if someone out there knows and cares to identify them, please do so!



We will end this post with another shot of Mr. Phoenix's fabulous suit. Stay tuned, I will have more of what's "New at Knott's" and also Charles Phoenix as he rededicates the Calico Log Ride in Part 2 of this series!



***POST UPDATE!*** Part 2 of this series which covers the rededication of The Log Ride is now finished. Please click here for Part 2: New At Knott's: Part 2 - The Log Ride

Happy Birthday, Dick Van Dyke!

Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt: Part 4 - Camp Spooky & CarnEVIL

Happy Belated Halloween, everyone! We will continue today with my Knott's 40th Halloween Haunt report.

First up, we have Camp Snoopy, which is renamed "Camp Spooky" during the daytime. Camp Spooky plays host to a special children's costume party on select weekends during the Halloween season.

At night however, Camp Snoopy turns into "Necropolis." According to the Knott's Haunt press release, "Necropolis is a vampire world of flesh and machine, of gears and steam, offering a journey through the streets of a steam punk influenced city of the dead, where blood is power."

And these are just a few of the citizens of Necropolis.

One of the mazes in this area is "Uncle Willy's Slaughter House." The press release gives this description of the maze, "Folks near and far come a-runnin’ for Farmer Willy’s world famous BBQ! Guests are welcome to venture through the Slaughterhouse where Uncle Willy will feed them full of BBQ, slather them with special sauce, tenderize them with his chainsaw and grind them into a tasty treat. Bone appetite!"

One of the Haunt T-shirts being sold this year has an "Uncle Willy" design.

Next, we have Carnevil, which is the overlay that is given to the Boardwalk section of the park.

As a side note, Perilous Plunge has been removed from the Boardwalk area and is no longer listed on the park map. Cedar Fair just announced today what will be replacing it. You can go to the Knott's Berry Farm Facebook page to read the announcement and see the concept art.

Okay, back to Carnevil. The Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars are closed for the season and the maze, "Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)" is set up within that attraction space. The official press release for this maze states, "Venture into the forbidden jungle of El Chupacabra where sacrificial blood rains down from the sky. The screams of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, echo around you and the creatures of the night crawl from their crypts."

The Charleston Circle Fountain gets a special makeover this time of year.

Even Johnny Rockets gets some seasonal decor.

CarnEVIL is teeming with evil clowns, both fake.....

....and REAL!

Clowns are just plain scary, even when they aren't specifically made-up to be scary!

This one was actually wandering around outside of the Calico Mine Ride, but it was the end of the night, so perhaps he was going home.

This creature was a life-size version of those little cymbal-banging toy monkeys.

"Uncle Bobo's Big Top of the Bizarre" is a maze that's located near Xcelerator. The press release for the maze is as follows: "Step right up, don’t be shy. Inside you will find a villainous variety of vaudevillian visages to vex even the most valiant voyeurs! It’s the greatest slaughter on earth with clown carnage galore!"

Guests entering the maze first walk past this giant animated Jack-In-The-Box.....

.....and this animatronic circus barker.

The entrance to the maze is through the mouth of a scary clown.

There was a special souvenir trading pin issued for "Uncle Bobo's Big Top."

Yes, Knott's now has a Pin Trading Program which began earlier this year. Here's the official information.

The last maze in this area is a special interactive one created for the 40th Halloween Haunt. It's called "Trapped" and it is not included in the regular price of admission. There is an additional charge of $60 for a group of up to six people to experience this maze. Knott's provides this description of the maze: "This reservation only, interactive maze leads guests into an abyss of their deepest fears and phobias. You are part of the horror and an active participant in your own demise. Do you have the courage to enter a nightmare designed exclusively for you and face the challenge of finding an escape? Remember there are no doors in this nightmare."

"Trapped" is set up in the space that normally houses "The Laser Zone" attraction.

Prior to entering the maze, guests must sign this release form. The first part of the form is humorous, but the second part is real. Guests are actually given a "safe word" to use in case they want to suddenly exit the maze before completing it.

Included in the price of the maze is an "I Survived Trapped" photo of your entire group, taken at the exit of the maze.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!