#Ghost rider knotts windows

And you know what: I like the new roller coasters. Things were pretty bright under Cedar Fair for the next five years, all the way up to the way cool Xcelerator replacing the dopey Windjammer in 2002 (coincidentally the year of my first and, until today, only visit to Knott’s).

As much as SoCal theme park lovers might feel nostalgic about Knott’s glory days, you gotta admit that by the time Windjammer showed up the place had long since jumped the shark, and I still can’t imagine a better improvement get Knott’s back in the game than Cedar Fair did with the announcement of the Supreme Scream / Ghostrider combo immediately after taking over. 1) Yet as easy as it might be, I’m going to hold off on that for a moment and note that Knott’s did need the corporate muscle to get to where they are today. There’s a lot of Cedar Fair influence that would be easy to rag upon (including a semi-questionable ticket practice I found at the main gate. I do think it sad that the Knott’s family agreed to a buyout from Cedar Fair over a competing offer from Disney on the belief that the former would let their established formula work rather than immediately bring in a new philosophy, but so far history has suggested that the opposite has been the case. Or maybe it was always like that and it took a decade before enough had been altered to genuinely change the perception of the park.

Somewhere around the time when they were sniffing out old Six Flags and Paramount properties, that philosophy from HQ changed and the company experienced a subtle shift from “no brand” to “The Generic Brand”. For an institution in which the people so clearly loved what they did, it still seems a loss that it had to be sold to an entertainment chain whose sole competitive advantage was big, loud roller coasters.īut there was even a time not too long ago when Cedar Fair was the white hatted good guy of the amusement park industry, partly because they didn’t obsess over brand like every other chain worldwide and allowed each of their parks to maintain and develop their own unique, locally specialized identity. That’s quite an achievement for a family owned business to have built, and that’s not even including the technological achievements such as opening the world’s first modern looping roller coaster in 1975. Their old west Calico Ghost Town is possibly the best known and loved tourist attraction of the ghost town genre, in a nation that is already madly in love with its romantic manifest destiny heritage. Knott’s is a popular, well-respected name in theme parks. As a park it certainly does not fit the mould of Cedar Fair’s traditional modus operandi, historically having much closer ties (at least as far as vision and audience) toDisneyland than Six Flags. There are high-quality themed environments, and high-quality thrill rides, and with few exceptions (none of them modern) these two identities do not come in contact with one another. Has Cedar Fair been a positive or negative influence on Knott’s Berry Farm since their takeover in 1997? One look around the original southern California themer reveals a competently run business, friendly and homely, with good rides and a pleasing, western frontier inspired aesthetic… yet it often has a schizophrenic, fractured identity. Once the train has passed and the gates have been raised, I cross the tracks and find a small lake is half filled with concrete, and a vibrant red and yellow $16,000,000 Swiss engineered steel roller coaster completely obliterates the few original remnants of the northwestern edge of Calico Ghost Town.

A shrill whistle cuts through the dry California air, emanating from the 41 Rio Grande Southern announcing its departure, which causes a nearby goose to momentarily give a glance before she goes back to preening her feathers. A nearby glassblower demonstrates his craft for a gathering of children, while the neighboring blacksmith hammers unperturbed. Travelers stop to peruse dry goods and provisions. As the coach draws up in Ghost Town, a man with a felt hat secures his six-shooter in his holster before stepping into the Calico Saloon.

#Ghost rider knotts windows

The Butterfield Stagecoach rolls by as its occupants peer out the windows to watch a Native American dance. A stray black cat hunts for mice between the grave markers of old Boot Hill.